The best way to solve this problem and stop everyone from gossiping was to solve the root cause. Her man, Xiaoqi’s father, was Jun Shiyan. That was enough to make everyone shut their stinky mouths obediently!
Because of a dog, she had been running around the whole afternoon. By the time she returned, the sky had already darkened. It originally got late early in winter, so when she got out of the car, snow had started falling from the sky.
Huo Xiao did not know what had happened in the afternoon. He was in the living room, surrounded by his children and grandchildren talking. He had thought that Huo Ci and his family had yet to return from the Rong Family!
The youngest son of Huo Xiao’s third son, Huo Xuanchen, the son of his fourth son, Huo Xuancheng, and the son of the fifth son, Huo Xuan’an, had returned in the afternoon with their girlfriends and were talking to the Old Master to make him happy!
“Sheng Sheng, come here.” Huo Xiao saw Ling Sheng immediately. After all, Huo Ci was like air to him. He grinned, “Come and sit beside Grandpa.”
Ling Sheng took a look. There were juniors surrounding him. There were also a few pretty young women from Huo Xuanzhou’s generation. They seemed to be the girlfriends brought back by her cousins.
Although she did not want to go over, she should not make things difficult for Grandpa. She handed Xiaoqi to her father and went over herself.
She had guessed right. They were indeed her future cousins-in-law. When they saw her arrive, they were very polite and amiable. They were all young girls who could chat together.
Upon seeing that his granddaughter was chatting quite happily with others, Huo Xiao made the boys leave and let the young girls confide in one another to bond.
He knew what his daughters-in-law were like in private, but as the head of the family, he was unwilling to give up. He hoped that the whole family could be harmonious and become a real family. He did not want them to be wary or scheme against one another.
Huo Xuanchen’s girlfriend was called Gu Shiqi. She was related to the Gu Family by blood, but she was also very far from the main bloodline. She was very pretty, 25 years old, and a PhD student and painter at the Imperial Capital Academy of Fine Arts.
Huo Xuancheng’s girlfriend was called Lu Fu, and she was the daughter from a collateral branch of the Lu Family. She was 24 years old and had returned from studying abroad. She carried herself well too, and she had a very attractive appearance.
Huo Xuan’an’s girlfriend was called Jing Wen. She was a year older than Ling Sheng and was still studying in university. She was from the finance department of the Imperial Capital University, and she had a baby face and long curly hair. She looked quite adorable.
Everyone looked pretty nice, but when Ling Sheng chatted with them, she could clearly feel their discrimination and disdain.
When girls chatted, especially in such a setting, what would they talk about when they first met? Of course, they would chat about cosmetics, bags, pretty clothes and gossip.
However, what were they talking about with her? They were talking about music, art, economics, politics, academic qualifications, the international situation, and so on. These were subjects that they regarded as refined and believed that she definitely would not understand.
Ling Sheng did not know if she should curse ‘son of a b*tch’, but of course she did not. They really thought she was just a pretty face. As they chatted, they started talking about investments. “Sister Shiqi is right. The domestic oil painting market is a new investment field. Compared to foreign oil paintings or Chinese paintings, the price is still very advantageous.
“Besides, I think the biggest advantage of oil paintings is that the source of the collection and auction is traceable. It can reduce the probability of forgery very well.”
She was not very knowledgeable about paintings, but she could still play with them. After all, although she did not have great talent, she had some experience in every field.
Gu Shiqi had not expected that she would even be able to talk about investments and make a lot of sense. She said somewhat resentfully, “Sister Sheng Sheng is right. However, some people are more fond of short-term capital speculation, such as speculating about houses, stocks, and artworks. They buy all the works of a single painter at once and then hoard them to hype them up. In the end, they sell them at a high price. They have completely disrupted the market and tainted the purity of the artwork.”
The other two women looked at each other secretly, jealousy evident in their moodiness. Didn’t they say that Ling Sheng was a fool?
They had initially planned to find their respective specialties and topics that she could not discuss or understand. They wanted to humiliate her, make her feel awkward, and make her realize her capabilities. It would be best if they made her feel inferior and ashamed and crushed her beneath their feet.
However, in reality, things had already gone out of their control completely. Be it discussions about music, art, or even finance, she could grasp the topics very well and talk about it with much ease and fluency.
What was even more frightening was that she could control the tempo and the right to speak seamlessly. She had become their center and even led them by the nose.
Although Ye Ru and the others seemed to be chit-chatting, they had actually been paying attention to Ling Sheng and the others the whole time!
Earlier, the few of them had already reminded their future daughters-in-law to deliberately isolate Ling Sheng and embarrass her.
The three of them were all top students, and she was the only high school student. What could they talk about? When the time came, they would talk about their topics happily. It would be very funny if she was the only one left by the side, bewildered and unable to get a word in.
The Old Master should know then, how unsightly and uneducated his pampered granddaughter was.
However, the scene they had expected did not appear. Ling Sheng was not embarrassed at all as she chatted and laughed with ease.
On the other hand, the other three could not even answer her sometimes. They were completely suppressed by her by a landslide!
“What are you girls talking about? Why are you so happy?” Upon seeing her future daughter-in-law, Gu Shiqi’s expression turn slightly ugly, Ye Ru hurried over and asked with a smile.
“We’re talking about oil painting investments!” Ling Sheng’s voice was crisp and sweet. She looked at Gu Shiqi again and said, “Sister Shiqi, a lot of short-term speculation is accompanied by a financial bubble of relative value. Currently, the oil painting market bubble is very big, just like the stock price of last century’s Sheng Island.”
“After accumulating a certain amount of social wealth, one will reach the highest point in a period of time. After a slump, one will suffer decades or even tens of decades of decline. If you want to enter this industry, you must be careful.”
Ye Ru did not understand what they were talking about. She only saw that the other ladies were a little embarrassed. She smiled and said, “Why are you girls playing with investments? This is what men do. You don’t have to worry about not having enough money to spend. Our Huo Family won’t lack money for you guys.”
Xiao Hui and Cao Yunxian also joined in and quickly changed the topic. From professional topics, they moved into talking about skincare, anti-aging, body management, gossip, and other things that women liked.
Ling Sheng thought to herself, Let’s chat! Let’s continue chatting! Anyway, whoever is the ignorant one would be embarrassed. Whoever finished the ink in their stomach first would be embarrassed[1]. They wanted to embarrass her? Dream on. She was an omnipotent little fairy who knew every subject in the world. Humph!
[1] ‘Having ink in one’s stomach’ is another way of saying that someone possesses knowledge and culture.