Chapter 121: Preparations Before the Banquet
At Ye Lingyu’s request, Ji Yunqi did not continue to follow Ye Xuan around. She spent the entire afternoon at the manor and went nowhere.
Ye Xuan originally just wanted to visit his great-grandfather, but since he didn’t see him, he didn’t want to leave just like that, so he stayed to wait for his great-grandfather to return with Ji Yunqi.
Ye Xuan sat by the side, watching Ji Yunqi swinging back and forth on the swing.
He hadn’t paid close attention to this “sister” before, but now that he looked closely, he realized that this sister was quite pretty. He wondered if she had a boyfriend.
If she had a boyfriend, should he help her vet him, to prevent her from being deceived?
“Little sister, do you have a boyfriend?”
Ji Yunqi, sitting on the swing, looked at Ye Xuan with a strange expression. Why was this kid asking such a thing out of the blue? Did it have anything to do with him?
“What? Why are you asking that?”
“Just asking casually, I’m afraid you’ll be tricked.”
“Heh, I really thank you for that~”
“So, do you have one?”
A faint smile appeared on Ji Yunqi’s face. How should she answer this question? If she didn’t have one, you wouldn’t even be seeing me, damn it!
“Of course, otherwise, how would you have met me?”
“Then you have to bring him to see me later, let me vet him, you know?”
Ye Xuan had completely taken on the identity of a brother. Although Ji Yunqi didn’t really acknowledge him, it didn’t matter.
It was enough that he thought so in his heart.
“There will be a chance…”
Of course, there will be a chance. This person is your former aunt, but now they are nominally in the same generation.
She wondered what the scene would be like when his wife returned. His grand nephew suddenly had the same generation as her. He would definitely be confused.
Perhaps the only normal one among them was his son, but like him, he had never been to this house in all these years.
She wondered if her son would come to visit, and if he could adapt if he did.
…
As they chatted aimlessly, time passed by quietly…
At night, Ye Lingyu noticed that Ji Yunqi seemed to have something to say to him, because she spoke to Ye Xuan and asked him to see the boy off first.
“Little Xuan, you should go back first. Come again another day.”
“Ah? This… Alright…”
Ye Xuan looked back. Although he didn’t know why his great-grandfather was driving him away, since his great-grandfather said so, there must be a deep meaning behind it. He just had to do as he was told.
Who asked him to be the most respected elder among all the Ye family members?
If he didn’t listen, his father would probably beat him up later.
…
At this moment, only Ye Lingyu, Jiang Hua, and Ji Yunqi were left in the main hall of the old house.
“What do you want to say? No one else is here now, so say whatever you want.”
Ji Yunqi wanted to speak directly, but the words didn’t come out as she didn’t know how to express them.
Previously, she was proud and always felt that she could bring everything to her family, but now that she knew the truth about the Ye family, she felt inferior.
If the Ye family was just ordinary wealthy nobles, she could still tell herself that she had the ability to help and do things, and that she was not worthless.
But…
The Ye family was too enormous, and she was just an ordinary person. How could she be worthy of being the heir to such a family?
Ji Yunqi never thought about things like “her husband elevating her status” or “her son elevating her status.”
What Ji Chengyun was like was his life and his destiny. How she was was her own business. If she was not capable, she was not capable.
What was the difference between relying on her children to achieve all this and being a “phoenix man”?
“Dad… Ye Xuan told me the general situation of the Ye family…”
Hearing this, Ye Lingyu basically understood what Ji Yunqi wanted to say. He had not revealed the true situation of the Ye family before, precisely because he was worried about the current situation.
But he hadn’t expected to be unable to prevent it. Ye Lingyu looked at Jiang Hua beside him, and both of them saw helplessness in each other’s eyes.
This child in front of them was good in everything – capable, responsible, and had a good personality, but was just a little unconfident.
“What do you want to say?”
Ji Yunqi pursed her lips, wanting to look up at Ye Lingyu’s eyes, but now, a strong sense of inferiority overwhelmed her, making it difficult to face this father-in-law directly.
“I… Dad, I want to ask, my identity is so low, why did you agree to let me be with him back then?”
The more she knew, the more confused Ji Yunqi became. She hadn’t thought about it carefully before, but now, it seemed like everything was something she couldn’t understand.
The patriarch of a big family, why would he agree to let his only daughter marry an ordinary person?
Ye Lingyu did not answer Ji Yunqi’s question directly but took Jiang Hua’s hand.
“Do you know our story?”
Ye Lingyu and Jiang Hua…
Back then…
Ye Lingyu, adhering to the Ye family’s upbringing, had never revealed his identity. Everyone around him thought he was just a child from an ordinary family.
The social atmosphere back then was different from now. Relatively speaking, it was still a bit chaotic, at least more chaotic than now.
He had also had some conflicts with his family at that time and wanted to temper himself outside to prove himself.
But how could the cruelty of society be easily handled by a young him?
Fortunately, he met the most important person in his life to help him. If not for that, he probably couldn’t even return home.
…
Ye Lingyu simply explained his story with Jiang Hua, mainly to tell Ji Yunqi that the Ye family didn’t care about these things.
“Child, don’t overthink it.”
“The Ye family doesn’t care about these things. In the words of today’s young people, the Ye family has always been… ”
“Pure love!”
“Oh, right, that’s it.”
Ji Yunqi fell silent…
So that’s how it is?
Seeing that Ji Yunqi still seemed unable to get out of it, Jiang Hua stepped forward and took her hand.
“Child, don’t overthink it. You are our family, and that will never change.”
Ji Yunqi’s hands trembled slightly. She looked up at Jiang Hua in front of her, opened her mouth, and wanted to say something, but swallowed it back.
Jiang Hua reached out and stroked Ji Yunqi’s head, comforting her, “You’re just thinking too much because you’re pregnant and your emotions are fluctuating. Don’t mind these things. Just be as you usually are.”
Ji Yunqi nodded.
She could tell whether someone’s words were sincere or false. So, they wouldn’t dislike her…
Since her mother-in-law had said so much, if she still didn’t listen, it would be ungrateful.
“Alright, alright, don’t overthink it.”
Ye Lingyu couldn’t stand such an emotional scene. He walked forward and looked at Ji Yunqi.
“Rest well tonight. Come with me to a banquet tomorrow. Ye Xuan will pick you up then.”
“Ah?”
Ji Yunqi was a little stunned. Was the “formalizing her identity” that her father-in-law mentioned specifically for holding a banquet?
“Tomorrow is the birthday of the patriarch of another noble family in Kyoto. Most people in Kyoto will attend. Do you understand?”
So that’s how it is…
“I understand, Dad. Don’t worry, I’ll adjust my mood.”
Ye Lingyu stared at the rather strained smile on Ji Yunqi’s face and knew that the child had taken it to heart, but just couldn’t adjust yet.
Since they were going tomorrow night anyway, there shouldn’t be any problems.
“Okay.”
…
“Hey, can I pick it myself?”
Ji Yunqi looked at Ye Xuan, who was looking back and forth but couldn’t decide which dress to choose, feeling speechless.
Isn’t this what she was going to wear? Why was this kid helping her pick it out?
“You don’t understand. You just got back, how would you know how to pick these things? I’ve seen more of the world. Picking for you will definitely have a better effect than you picking for yourself.”
“Sigh…”
Ji Yunqi finally realized that Ye Xuan was good in everything and very enthusiastic about helping her, but… he was stubborn and didn’t listen to anything.
He always wanted to do everything for her.
Like this… he insisted on picking the dress himself.
It wasn’t that Ji Yunqi was saying it, but if she didn’t care about the young man’s face, she would have said it on the spot.
You, a young man from Chu’nan, do you understand picking dresses? You’ve barely touched a girl’s hand, and you’re helping pick out dresses?
After a lot of effort, Ye Xuan finally picked out a dress that would look good on Ji Yunqi and wouldn’t be too revealing.
This point made Ji Yunqi think more highly of him.
“However, young man, I thought you were just casually looking. You have quite good taste~”
Ye Xuan put his hands on his hips and looked at Ji Yunqi proudly, “Heh, of course. I majored in fashion design in university, so these things are a minor problem for me~”
“Fashion design?”
“Yeah, why? Is something wrong?”
“Didn’t you study finance to manage the Ye family in the future? Why did you choose fashion design?”
“There are so many people in the Ye family, why should I do this tedious work? I don’t want to manage it. Someone will always do this thankless task.”
So many people?
Ji Yunqi pondered in her mind. It seemed that there were more people in the Ye family than she had imagined. The ones she saw now were only a small part.
Perhaps she would have a chance to meet others in the future.
Ji Yunqi put away the dress Ye Xuan had chosen and looked at him, “The dress has been chosen, what should we do next?”
“Let me think…”
While Ye Xuan was thinking, Ji Yunqi couldn’t help but feel a little unhappy in her heart again.
She originally thought that she only needed to dress up a bit to attend the banquet, but who knew that the old man would insist on Ye Xuan taking her to dress up properly.
Everything from head to toe needed to be changed. Now that the dress was settled, there would be other accessories, right?
If that was the case, the workload would be almost as much as her preparations for her son’s wedding…
“Oh, right, right. Great-grandfather specifically told me to take you to buy some jewelry.” After saying that, Ye Xuan also looked Ji Yunqi up and down.
Then he frowned, “I say, are you a woman?”
“Ah? What?” This startled Ji Yunqi. Did this kid find something out?
“I said, are you a woman? Why don’t you wear any jewelry? I’ve never seen you wear makeup. Don’t girls like to wear all sorts of jewelry and wear beautiful makeup? Why are you so special?”
“Uh… I guess I’m lazy…”
…
Ji Yunqi didn’t have any special requirements for matching jewelry, so Ye Xuan continued to take Ji Yunqi around everywhere, looking left and right.
If anything suitable was found, it would be taken on the spot. But unfortunately, they couldn’t find anything suitable after visiting several stores.
It wasn’t that Ye Xuan’s taste was too high, but he hoped to choose the most suitable one for Ji Yunqi, but he hadn’t found anything suitable after going to so many places.
“Let’s look here.”
“Treasure Pavilion?” Ji Yunqi lost the courage to enter just by looking at the name of the store. Mainly, the name was too common.
Just looking at it made it seem ordinary, and it was probably full of mass-produced items. Hadn’t she seen enough of these things?
If she had to say it, why not just do it like this? She looked pretty good as she was.
“Let’s go in and take a look.”
“What do you need?” As soon as Ye Xuan and Ji Yunqi entered, a staff member approached them and asked.
Ye Xuan quickly waved his hand, “No, no, we’ll just look around ourselves. Don’t bother with us.”
“Then… alright, sir. If you need anything, feel free to ask us at any time.”
“Mm.”
Ye Xuan was unwilling to let these so-called staff members offer their opinions. He had some research on these accessories and knew what was good and what was bad.
If he listened to these staff members for everything, he might even mistake plastic for a gemstone.
Ji Yunqi also looked around with Ye Xuan. The situation was different from what she had imagined. She thought it would all be ordinary goods, but unexpectedly, there were many exquisite accessories.
“Hey, come here quickly.”
Hearing Ye Xuan’s call, Ji Yunqi turned and walked towards him.
“What is it?”
Ye Xuan pointed to a smaller white jade hairpin in the counter, “This suits you well.”
Ji Yunqi looked in the direction Ye Xuan pointed. She saw that the hairpin in the counter was exquisitely made and cast entirely from white jade. It stood in stark contrast to the flashy appearance of the other accessories around it.
Ji Yunqi herself was a little loli, and the refreshing and elegant style suited her. Most of the current jewelry was also made with the main style being luxurious.
This was also the reason why Ye Xuan had not been able to find suitable jewelry for Ji Yunqi before. He had not expected to find such a suitable piece here.
Indeed, when luck comes, it can’t be stopped.
“Please wrap this one for us.”
“Okay, sir.”
Just as the staff member took it out of the counter and was about to take it to the front desk to wrap it, an accident occurred.
“Hey, Ye Xuan, why are you here?”
From behind them, a voice suddenly came.
Ji Yunqi looked back and saw a girl dressed exquisitely standing there, and next to her… was a familiar acquaintance!
Anyone who could walk with Gu Yunzhi was probably also a young lady from a noble family in Kyoto.
Ye Xuan first sighed slightly, then turned around helplessly.
“Why is it you again?”
Ye Xuan’s words angered the girl. Her originally fair and tender little face instantly turned red.
“What do you mean by that? Are you very uncomfortable seeing me?”
Ye Xuan waved his hand, not bothering to care, “That’s indeed true. I usually don’t hang out with idiots~”
“You…”
The girl was too angry to back down and kicked Ye Xuan, but her leg was intercepted in mid-air.
Seeing that the girl in front of her was about to resort to violence without saying a word, Ji Yunqi immediately grabbed her leg.
It was a joke. This kid was taking her out to shop. If he got beaten up with her around, how would she explain it to the old man when she got back?
“Miss, let’s talk it out. Why are you in such a hurry to act?”
“No, who are you to interfere with me?” As she exerted force, the leg held in her hand was retracted.
Seeing that the young girl in front of her was speaking so rudely, Ji Yunqi also put away her smile.
As the saying goes, one doesn’t hit a smiling person. This person was so tactless, and perhaps she had some past grievances with Ye Xuan.
Ji Yunqi raised her right hand and poked Ye Xuan, whispering, “Who is this? Your ex-girlfriend?”
“Cough cough… No!”
Ye Xuan vehemently denied it. Who was his ex-girlfriend? How could he say such a thing?
“A mortal enemy…”
“I accidentally tricked her in the past, and then she held a grudge against me. The conflict was never resolved, so it has become like this…”
“Oh~ is that so~~”
“Xiao Yue, if you’re here to cause trouble, then you can leave. I don’t have time to mess with you today.”
“Heh…”
Xiao Yue glanced at Ji Yunqi beside her, then put her gaze back on Ye Xuan, “Heh, just you wait, I’ll make you pay next time!”
…
Seeing the two of them leave, Ji Yunqi felt a little baffled.
What the heck, man, who is this person? Why is she yelling at you with her finger pointed at your nose?
“Does this woman have a problem? Why is she making threats for no reason?”
Ye Xuan shook his head, “No choice. Her family itself is at odds with our Ye family, and she herself is also at odds with me. They are like fire and water when they meet, which is normal.”
“I apologize for getting you involved this time.”
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing.” Ji Yunqi didn’t care about these things. Ye Xuan was her own person, after all. How could he be bullied by others?
“By the way, what did she mean when she said she’ll make you pay next time? Is there any hidden reason?”
“No.”
“It’s because in a while, we’ll be participating in a charity event, but there are also categories, and we’ll be divided into different activities. But since most of these activities require multiple people to complete, and I’m alone, so…”
Ji Yunqi understood!
This guy needed help.
Helping the younger generation, she was duty-bound, especially for charity.
Ji Yunqi raised her hand, stood on her tiptoes, and patted Ye Xuan’s shoulder, “It’s okay, I’ll accompany you then!”
Ye Xuan’s eyes lit up, “Really?”
“Of course, it’s a small matter~”
“Thank you then.”
“You brought me out to get all these things done, and I’ll go with you to complete a charity event. Isn’t that normal?”
…
After buying the hairpin, with Ji Yunqi’s strong dissatisfaction, Ye Xuan gave up the idea of picking out other accessories.
Since they had decided on an overall refreshing and elegant style, it was naturally better to be simple, without having to wear too many accessories.
Too much would look cluttered and not like anything.
“Let’s go, we’ll go to the venue.”
The banquet was being held tonight. There was still some time before the banquet officially began, and they still had time. There was a special fitting room there, and they could go there to change clothes.
Moreover, this banquet was being held at the Purple Gold Palace, which was no different from going home for them.
“According to Great-grandfather’s request, I’ll take you there first to have a look around. Afterwards, he will personally introduce your identity to others here.”
Ji Yunqi nodded. She knew very well that after tonight, her identity would be made public, and she would no longer have to worry about being harmed by the Gu family.
At the same time, Ji Yunqi had already decided that after the banquet tonight, she would accompany Ye Xuan to complete the so-called charity event, and then go to see a certain lonely middle-aged old man, and she could return to Rongcheng to be with her wife.
At this point, everything was considered complete.
After that, she could safely nurture her baby in Rongcheng. Since she was only a little over a month pregnant, she should enjoy herself more during this time, as there would be no more such opportunities.
…
When they arrived at the venue, many people were already present.
Looking at the various people in the venue, Ji Yunqi felt a sense of unreality.
This kind of plot that could only be seen in TV dramas and novels was actually happening to her so easily.
At this moment, she felt like she was the female lead in a novel, a pampered wife marrying into a wealthy family and achieving upward mobility.
But she knew very well that this was different!
They married into wealthy families to change their social class, while she, Ji Yunqi, was not simply marrying into a wealthy family.
Instead… she had become one of them.
They were not her in-laws’ family; they were her own family!
…
