"The illegitimate daughter?" Ouyang Qian’s eyebrows furrowed even tighter.
Lai Sheng Xia placed the exquisitely carved ivory porcelain teacup back on the saucer and hummed in affirmation, "The public doesn’t know Ah Li is Dad’s daughter, so we’ll just say she is a niece. As long as we treat Ah Li as a close kin, hardly anyone will truly care about whose daughter she actually is."
Ouyang Qian, "You want her to marry Han Jifeng?"
Lai Sheng Xia did not deny it.
"I disagree!" The thought of Tang Li becoming the wife of a governor made Ouyang Qian’s face darken, "An illegitimate girl with an improper background, you want her to become a lady official, isn’t that just asking for ridicule?"
"I never said they had to actually get married."
Compared to her impatient mother, Lai Sheng Xia remained unhurried, "The ’marriage’ I’m talking about is merely letting Dad set up an engagement for now."
"The original purpose of this marriage alliance was to tie Jifeng to the Lai Family’s boat. If engagement alone can settle the matter, naturally there is no need to go through with the act for real."
It’s better to have Han Jifeng under her watch than become someone else’s son-in-law.
"Dad doesn’t want Ah Li to be an actress, right? Jifeng’s mother doesn’t like girls being in the entertainment industry. Once Ah Li and Jifeng are engaged, someone will be there to look after her and then you all don’t have to worry about her causing trouble outside all the time.
As far as I know, Ah Li quite likes Jifeng. Letting her get engaged to Jifeng won’t be like with the Xia Family, she probably won’t refuse this time."
As she spoke, Lai Sheng Xia paused, then continued, "Actually, I also want to try and see if Jifeng is still worth me taking a chance, if his feelings for me are still present, he won’t do anything with Ah Li. When the time is right, I will propose a breakup with Yansheng."
"Will Han Jifeng agree?" asked Ouyang Qian.
Lai Sheng Xia slowly said, "If he really still pines for me as you say, then he won’t refuse."
When you like someone, you always want to be closer to her.
If Han Jifeng still loves her, even if he doesn’t like Tang Li, he would still agree to the engagement with her.
After all, it’s just an engagement which can be revoked at any time.
Tang Li, far away in Diannan, didn’t know her marriage was being discussed again. After blacklisting Lai Wenyan, she blow-dried her hair and went downstairs. After she finished eating and returned to her room, it was around 7 p.m.
At 9 p.m., Tang Li leaned against the headboard, a script resting on her legs.
Moments later, she reached for her cellphone beside the pillow.
After hesitating for a moment, she began composing a text message.
Around 9:20 p.m., Tang Li finally sent the message.
The content of the text was very much like a casual greeting—
[Just saw the weather forecast, it might rain in the Capital these few days, with temperatures around minus 4 degrees Celsius, keep warm.]
To convey that she had no other intentions, she purposefully added "no need to reply" at the end. After the message was sent successfully, she put her cellphone aside and picked up a pen to continue making notes on her script.
Ten minutes later, someone rang the doorbell from outside.
Tang Li got up to open the door.
It was Qi Liang’s assistant, asking her to attend a meeting in the director’s room.
"The others should be there by now, hurry over."
Because the assistant urged her, Tang Li switched from slippers to shoes, grabbed a jacket, and left her room.
The meeting went on for almost an hour.
By the time Tang Li returned, it was nearly eleven o’clock.
Sitting by the bed, she picked up her phone to check the time, only to notice a missed call.
Looking at the caller ID, her heartbeat quickened for a moment.