Little did Su Yanyi know that she had come to regard Qin Zhenyi as an enemy who needed to be defended against, and she had no intention of letting off other members of the Qin family, let alone after Qin Zhenren’s self-proclaimed clever act, which only served to infuriate Su Yanyi even more.
Qin Jiran had been coldly observing this farce all along, feeling the chill in his heart grow thicker. These were the Qin family members, and he suddenly realized how fortunate he was not to have grown up in such a family, as surely life would have been even harder.
At this moment, Qin Jiran also came to a deeper understanding of a fact—being an orphan was unfortunate, but sometimes, not being an orphan could be even more so.
"Mr. Qin, please don’t falsely claim relations, alright? Evil deeds will result in self-destruction, do not think that your actions are unknown to others." After leaving these words behind, Su Yanyi took Qin Jiran’s hand and walked inside, no longer in the mood to speak with these people—a group driven by greed, whom she intended to punish.
Su Yanmo also watched coldly from the side, and upon seeing Su Yanyi leave, felt there was no point in staying. The time for the banquet had arrived, and there was no longer a need to receive any guests. Just as he turned to go in, someone called out to him.
"Brother Su, long time no see. My parents and I sincerely came to wish the old man a happy birthday. Can we go in, please?" A woman’s tender voice emerged from the Qin family crowd. Su Yanyi looked over and felt a faint sense of familiarity; it seemed to be an infatuated classmate from her middle school days.
It’s well-known that Su Yanmo was undoubtedly a handsome heartthrob, and with his splendid family background, he had been pursued by countless girls since he was young. Qin Ying, the woman speaking, was one of them. She was the only daughter of Qin Zhenli, the Qin family’s third son, a typical rich lady and also Su Yanmo’s middle school classmate.
It was said that Qin Ying had written love letters to Su Yanmo during middle school in pursuit of him, but Su Yanmo had never so much as glanced at them. To him, Qin Ying was nothing more than a familiar face.
"My sister dislikes the Qin family members, so that means the Su family dislikes the Qin family members. Do you think my grandfather would welcome people he dislikes to celebrate his birthday?" Su Yanmo explained with a cold face, and he too had no fondness for the Qin family. The Su family members, although seemingly independent, placed great importance on familial affection. A family like the Qin family, which disregarded kinship, was highly looked down upon by the Su family members.
After Su Yanyi finished speaking, she had no intention of continuing the conversation and turned to leave, leaving behind a group of bodyguards who coldly watched over the Qin and Wang families, making the faces of members from both families turn ashen.
"Second Brother, look at the good son you’ve raised, allowing us to be treated like this, and you didn’t even speak a word for us. It’s no wonder you sent him off to an orphanage," Qin Zhenren said as he turned around and started to provoke Qin Zhenyi, considering him his greatest rival.
Among the three brothers of the Qin family, although Qin Zhenren was the eldest and rather frivolous, he wasn’t the most valued one. Instead, it was the second brother, Qin Zhenyi, whose old-fashioned and steady nature made him the favored one in the old man’s eyes, with many important matters entrusted to him. As for the third brother, Qin Zhenli, although also doted on by the old man, due to being born later, he did not have much control over resources and was more slick, rarely directly confronting his two elder brothers, preferring to sit back and watch the tigers fight from the mountain.
Qin Zhenyi remained silent from beginning to end, merely frowning as he listened and looked on. Although his gaze lingered on Qin Jiran for quite some time, it bore none of the affection one would expect from someone looking at their own child. Instead, it carried a sense of scrutiny and even disdain, as if he was looking at a blemish he was forced to acknowledge.