This was simply the image of her ideal daughter! The more Tang Yanling looked, the more satisfied she felt. Seeing the thin body, she frowned. “You’re way too skinny, need to fill this up!”
She didn’t forget to remind the person outside again, “Chen Bo, put the things that I’ve just bought into the room opposite Shaoyuan’s room.”
She had already begun to prepare a room for Gu Xiqiao a few days ago. Although Yin Shaoyuan had failed to bring back a daughter-in-law for her, at least he had brought back a daughter that fit her ideals exactly.
Her son normally didn’t do things that harmonized well with her, but he did really good this time.
As though she had suddenly thought of something, she suddenly pulled her phone and pointed it at Gu Xiqiao who was still in shock, and with just a quick ‘click’, a photo was taken.
[Ding! The system has detected that Tang Yanling’s affection towards you has reached 60 points. Do you want to add her to your friend’s list?]
The warmth of the embrace still lingered on her body, and there was still a slight fragrance of Tang Yanling’s on her. Gu Xiqiao quietly approved the add. The problem was this was the first time she had encountered such… high favorability?
She touched the bracelet that Tang Yanling had placed on her hand, still feeling a bit dumbfounded.[1]
Her ancient martial arts had already reached Bone Refinement level, and she naturally could feel the aura flowing in the bracelet. Wearing the bracelet gave a boost to the energy flowing in her meridians, it really was a rare treasure.
Even if it was something for a close relative, wasn’t this too priceless a treasure to give?
“Aunt.” Yin Feifei finally found a chance to cut in. She had been concealing the shock and the overflowing jealousy at the sight, and took Gu Xiqiao’s hand in hers gently. “I’ve never seen this beautiful lady before?”
She had clearly seen Tang Yanling’s treatment towards Gu Xiqiao, and immediately knew that she had the wrong impression previously, and continued on Tang Yanling’s tone.
“This is the goddaughter that I have acknowledged. Since you both are about the same age, Feifei you have to get along well with her,” Tang Yanling said as her lips curved up, a warm and gentle smile on her face.
She was afraid that Gu Xiqiao would feel a bit awkward, coming here for the first time, so she had purposely found a girl that was in the same age group to introduce to her at the same time.
Goddaughter! Yin Feifei saw red at that word, gritting her teeth in anger. She had spent more than ten years just to gain such a little bit of favor with Tang Yanling, but then this unknown girl just flew in from god knows where and became Tang Yanling’s eldest daughter in her nest!
Gu Xiqiao. She knew this name. Wasn’t she the illegitimate daughter from the Gu family?
She really had such skills. Being abandoned for so many years but still managing to return to the Gu family, and then, pulling the Gu family down into the waters, now she even managed to climb to such a high position in the Yin family!
She glanced at Gu Xiqiao’s delicate features, her pale white skin that had a slight shimmer on the surface like white jade, and also Yin Shaoyuan’s gentle warmth in his eyes when he looked at her.
She suddenly had a thought, was Yin Shaoyuan the culprit behind the scenes that was responsible for advising Gu Xiqiao into the folds of the Yin family?!
Yin Feifei had a gentle and warm expression while looking at Gu Xiqiao on the outside, but was full of contempt and disdain within her heart. ‘Just wait, wait for the day when Yin Shaoyuan will get tired of you and reject you.’ That would be the day she would be filled with glee.
With those thoughts in mind, her smile became even friendlier on the outside.
Among the aristocrats of N City, the people in this circle only had a surface understanding of Gu Xiqiao. Naturally, they weren’t bothered to spend any more time than required on this abandoned child. Therefore, most people had never truly understood her, and the only words used to describe her was—illegitimate daughter, vicious, cruel and cold-hearted.
Gu Xiqiao didn’t care for most of these things, but what made her head swim was the fact that Yin Jinian had returned home. Not only had he returned, he had also brought back a gift that he had specially selected for her.
Yin Feifei stared at the bag in poorly disguised shock, her glare was so hard that it looked like it would burn a hole in the bag. She recognized the brand written on it—it was an internationally famous jewelry brand. There were only a limited number of accessories produced each year.
Her mother had been lucky enough to get a necklace from that place, and treated it like a treasure. No one else was able to even touch it!
But it was just the first time Gu Xiqiao had visited the Yin family household, and even Yin Jinian had prepared such an expensive greeting gift!?
What did Gu Xiqiao have to deserve this kind of welcome?
Yin Feifei had been following Tang Yanling for more than ten years, and had sent all kinds of gifts to the Yin family throughout those years. Even if she was a dog, she would be considered to be close to the family already, right? But when did she ever receive such treatment? Apart from Tang Yanling, no one else in the family had ever given her much thought or treated her nicely!
A few of her close friends were extremely jealous of her, because she had Tang Yanling’s favor. With this relationship, even the mayor had to show her some courtesy to a certain degree. She had been content with this initially, but now she found out that all of this was nothing in the face of Gu Xiqiao.
Yin Feifei took a deep breath, struggling to contain her emotions and calm down. It wasn’t easy to get into Yin Manor today—she couldn’t screw up because of something so insignificant.
“Uncle, Aunt.” A clear and melodious voice floated from the stairs.
Yin Feifei’s head turned in the direction of the voice, and her breath caught in her throat at the sight. A man was supporting another elderly man down the stairs. Every single move that he made was elegant and attractive. His delicate face held an indifferent expression, though his eyes had a hint of warmth in them. His eyes were a deep pool of ink, exuding a slight chill when you look into them.
She was dumbfounded.
She didn’t snap back to reality until they had all taken a seat at the dining table.
Jiang Shuxuan spared a glance at Yin Feifei—furrowing his brows slightly before smoothing out his expression to leave no trace, and said nothing. He only reached out to cut a piece of pork ribs for Gu Xiqiao.
Seeing this, Yin Guofu who was sitting at the head of the table, had realized what was happening. A smile stretched on his face, and the wrinkles on his forehead smoothened out, with a gentle expression on his face. “I heard that the results of the national finals have been announced, which places will you be preparing to take the exam at?”
Gu Xiqiao placed the chopsticks in her hand down, looking towards Yin Guofu, she responded obediently, “I’m preparing to take the exams in the Jing Capital, but I’m not sure which university yet.”
The corner of Jiang Shuxuan’s mouth turned slightly downward, but it was so slight that you would miss it if you didn’t pay attention.
“Oh, so Miss Gu is also a third-year senior,” Yin Feifei suddenly spoke, sweetly smiling which was complete in contrast with what she was feeling inside.
She was not the same as Gu Xiqiao, she knew how strict the Yin family rules were. In the many years she had been here, she had only seen Yin Guofu a handful of times, and she had never seen such a warm and inviting look on his face before. The most surprising thing to her was Yin Guofu’s attitude towards Jiang Shuxuan. It wasn’t like how he would treat a normal junior, but there was some respect there too.
For Yin Guofu to display such a respectful look towards a young man, Yin Feifei was unable to imagine how important this person must be to earn such a look.
Tang Yanling seemed to remember that fact when Yin Feifei had spoken up. “Oh, I forgot, Feifei you also sat for the national finals. You’ve always done well in school, have you checked your scores?”
“I checked this morning.” Yin Feifei stole a glance at Jiang Shuxuan, her grades in school were always top-notch, and this was one of the things she had always been proud of. Thinking of that, she shifted her gaze to Gu Xiqiao as she continued, “I got a total score of 671 points, which is about 100 points more than the minimum line, and within the top 100 in the province.”
“That’s good.” Tang Yanling praised, smiling. Even Yin Guofu who never really looked at her before nodded his head and said ‘not bad’.
Yin Feifei’s mouth was itching to twist upwards, but she restrained from the excitement that coursed through her body at their reactions. She glanced back at Gu Xiqiao from the corner of her eyes, but the features on that delicate snow-white skin face was calm, showing no obvious expression on it.
Gu Xiqiao didn’t say anything in response, and the others couldn’t help it, Yin Feifei… where did she get this confidence to boast about her own scores in front of the top ranker of the national finals? Yin Shaoyuan smirked lazily as he said lightly. “Dad, Mom, have you forgotten the main purpose for tonight’s gathering?”
“Look at me, I’m overjoyed!” Tang Yanling said as she clapped her hands together. “Aren’t we celebrating Qiao Qiao’s national finals victory?”
“Oh? What’s the occasion?” Yin Guofu asked, setting down his own chopsticks as he looked at Gu Xiqiao in surprise.
She smiled and didn’t reply as there was nothing to show off. Instead, she looked at Yin Guofu’s right hand thoughtfully.
“That’s right, this little girl not only placed as the top ranker in the province, but also on the national level. A University, B University, and even those schools in Hong Kong and Taiwan had directly contacted Brother Jiang in order to try to rope in this talent to their own place. Tonight’s gathering is of course, to celebrate for her,” Yin Shaoyuan boasted casually, rubbing his chin as he enjoyed the many emotions and colors crossing Yin Feifei’s face—from red to white and then red again. He continued slyly, “Grandfather, don’t you feel like rewarding her a little?”
[1] Not sure when this happened but it did