Yue Song went back to the dormitory and told Qian Wei: “I promised Zhang Qi to go to her birthday party.”
“F*ck, what?” Qian Wei poked his head out of the bed, “Why…oh! I see, it was Zhang Qi who came to you just now, right?”
Yue Song thought that Qian Wei would be upset, but Qian Wei thought for a while and said, “Then I will go too.”
Yue Song was surprised: “Don’t you hate her the most?”
“A rich young lady who drives a sports car to school,” Qian Wei said, “I want to see what a rich man’s home is like? I guess this will be the only opportunity in my life.”
Yue Song laughed.
“But we have to prepare a birthday gift, right? Such a loss.” Qian Wei planned carefully, “No, I have to eat a lot when I go there, and I have to eat again before I get back!”
He was distressed again: “Hey, tell me, what are you going to prepare for her birthday gift?”
Yue Song said, “Let’s ask the others. It’s better to put the money together and buy a gift together.”
“You really have a fast brain!” Qian Wei patted the bed, “I was just thinking about it and I can only give up to 100 yuan. No matter how much it is, I’m still worried about what I can buy. After all, her family is rich, and we can’t be too shabby to be looked down upon.”
Qian Wei is not the only one who is worried about the birthday gift. Basically, everyone who has been invited from the student union is worried about this. Usually, these students give each other birthday gifts. More than 100 yuan is expensive, but usually dozens of yuan can be dispensed.
But Zhang Qi is a big lady who drives a sports car and carries a C bag. Everyone knows that it is absolutely impossible to give her a gift of more than a hundred yuan quickly.
Qian Wei mentioned it to others, and everyone responded to the call and decided to put the money together. After discussing it, they adopted a girl’s suggestion to buy a gift box of big-brand cosmetics for Zhang Qi.
After this estimate, it should be less than 200-yuan contribution per person.
Yue Song also shared it with everyone. Qian Wei has always felt distressed: “I have lost, I have lost, it is too expensive!”
Yue Song comforted him: “Don’t worry, you will eat this money back.”
Everyone did not pay much attention to this matter, and dealt with the final exam first.
After the exam, the two girls took the money raised by everyone to buy the cosmetic gift box. On the third day after the exam, everyone followed the address given by Zhang Qi to attend her birthday party.
Although they knew Zhang Qi’s house must be a mansion before going there, they were still shocked when they got there. Even the very expensive cosmetic gift box they bought still feels that it is not so good.
Sure enough, Zhang Qi only said “thank you” politely when she accepted the gift, and put it aside without taking it seriously.
Zhang Qi smiled and let everyone feel at ease, but her gaze turned on Yue Song.
Yue Song was wearing the same plaid shirt as Qian Wei.
Zhang Qi knew this shirt because he was laughed at by the girls in the student union — it was bought by Yue Song’s dormitory and the two dormitories next door. One piece is only a few tens of dollars, a standard plaid, and a proper otaku shirt.
But it is such a bargain, and it can be worn by Yue Song on his body, and it feels good to wear it.
He has the face of a celebrity, has a hanger figure, and even his burlap bag looks fashionable.
Luxurious mansion, uniformed aunts, sumptuous self-service drinks, snacks, fruit plates… the students could not help being very cautious. Even Qian Wei, the person who snorted when he mentioned Zhang Qi, didn’t know where to put his hands and feet.
When Zhang Qi’s mother came out to meet with everyone, they all became more cautious.
Zhang Qi’s mother is a bejeweled lady, and she is very well-maintained at first glance.
But she greeted everyone with a smile, and everyone just felt that she didn’t see them in her eyes, and they felt that the smile in her eyes was a bit cold.
With a little disdain and contempt, she didn’t even bother to cover up and hide it. She came out to say hello purely to show her existence and upbringing.
It was not only a few people from the student union who came to celebrate Zhang Qi’s birthday, but also her three suitors. Zhang Qi’s mother only talked to them alone with a few words.
These three suitors are all from good families and can be called rich second-generation people. Looking at Zhang Qi’s mother’s appearance, she obviously knew of their existence.
Then, the lady smiled and said, “Feel at home and have fun.”
Before she left, she casually glanced over Yue Song, who was wearing the same plaid shirt as Qian Wei, and turned upstairs.
Yue Song observed her for a while when she first appeared. He had seen a lot of such arrogant ladies, and it was nothing unusual. It’s just a bit strange why such a mother would teach Zhang Qi such a character.
Zhang Qi is rich and beautiful and she should obviously be a proud lady like her mother. But in fact, what Yue Song saw from her different attitude towards senior sister Jiang, her preference for being surrounded by others, and many other small details, was the lack of confidence in her bones. Eagerly want to overwhelm others and seek recognition.
She didn’t have the pride of being spoiled as a real rich young lady.
When Zhang Qi’s mother greeted everyone separately, Yue Song observed that it was easy to distinguish several groups of people, which are high school classmates and children of their family friends.
There is a girl and two boys who are more special, and the three of them are obviously younger than the others. Moreover, they were very affectionate with Zhang Qi’s mother, calling her “auntie”, so he knew that they were Zhang Qi’s cousins.
What about her younger female paternal cousin?
Where is Zhang Yanyan?
By the time lunch started, Yue Song understood that Zhang Yanyan would probably not arrive.
In theory, everyone thinks that the same surname is a family. But for Zhang Qi’s birthday, she invited her maternal aunt’s younger children, but did not call her paternal cousin. It can be seen that she is closer to her maternal relatives.
This means that her relationship with Zhang Yanyan is not very good, right?
The lunch is also a luxurious and sumptuous buffet, and a team of professional party chefs was invited.
Before Qian Wei came, he clamored that he must eat a lot to get his capital back, but when the time came, he couldn’t let go of his hands and feet, and he ate much more gracefully than usual.
According to Zhang Qi, there are still some arrangements after the meal, some multiplayer games or something. But Yue Song was no longer interested, and he planned to leave after lunch.
He went to the bathroom, and when he was about to go back to the dining room, he passed by a small living room. He glanced at it accidentally, and was suddenly attracted by a picture on the wall.
There is a western-style fireplace in that hall, and a family portrait hangs on the wall above the fireplace.
The two sons took their wives and children and surrounded an aristocratic old lady.
Needless to say, this old lady must be Madam Song Lanying, the current head of the Zhang family. The Yue family has no relationship with the Zhang family, but old man Yue has also heard of this old lady Song. She is the number one among several powerful women in this city.
The old lady was sitting on a chaise longue, and sitting on her left side was the lady just now, Zhang Qi’s mother. Then the lady on her right side should theoretically be another daughter-in-law.
It’s just that this woman is so thin, why is she so thin?
Yue Song remembered that his cousin, Xue Xintong, once told him that Zhang Yanyan’s mother passed away a few years ago. Looking at the appearance in this photo, she should have died of illness.
Zhang Qi in the photo is much younger than she is now, and she was still a young girl standing next to her mother, standing meticulously.
The other little girl was also sitting on the chaise longue, snuggling up to the bony woman.
The three men of Zhang’s family are all standing behind.
Seeing that there is also a prosperous family and an influential big family, if his grandfather sees it, he will definitely be envious. The Yue family has been single-passed for three generations.
“Yue Song!” Zhang Qi suddenly appeared at the entrance of the hall, smiling, “I was wondering why didn’t I see you there, you’re just here.”
“Ah, sorry.” Yue Song apologized for entering the hall without permission. At first glance, this is the space used by her family, not for entertaining guests, “I can’t help but come in and take a look when I see this.”
Zhang Qi was very happy to have the opportunity to talk to Yue Song alone. She walked over and glanced at her, and said, “It’s our family portrait from a few years ago. That was my aunt and she had passed away.”
Sure enough, it was the same as he had guessed.
Yue Song didn’t know that the Zhang family took family portraits every year. But because Zhao Lanfen couldn’t look up to Liang Yingying, Zhang Yu’s family kept the last photo with Zhang Yansheng’s mother and did not replace it with a new family portrait.
The old lady’s place and Zhang Huan’s house were replaced with new ones for Zhang Heling and Zhang Shuocheng.
Yue Song looked at the little girl in the photo snuggling intimately with her slender mother, and asked, “This child is…?”
“Oh, this is my cousin, Zhang Yansheng.” Zhang Qi exclaimed in a compassionate voice, “She lost her mother at a young age, which is pitiful.”
Yue Song turned his head and asked somewhat unexpectedly, “What about Zhang Yanyan?”
“Zhang Yansheng.” Zhang Qi wondered why he was so interested in an elementary school student in the photo, “Yan like wild goose and Sheng for sound.”
Yansheng?
The male and female geese are matched. If they are lonely, the remaining one will not find a partner until they die. Since ancient times, it has symbolized unwavering faith.
He really admires his cousin, a girl with a temperament like her, how could his cousin make up a cheesy name like ‘Zhang Yanyan’ to match her?
Yue Song closed his open mouth, nodded and said: “Good name.”
Zhang Qi’s compassion disappeared, and she said reluctantly: “Well, yes.”
Yue Song stopped talking, and looked at the little girl in the photo again. It could be seen from those eyebrows that it was her. She has been so good-looking since she was a child.
But unlike herself now after growing up, the girl who was nestling next to her mother had very gentle eyes. At first glance, you can see that she was a soft and warm girl.
Yue Song remembered Zhang Yansheng’s bright and cold face, the corners of her unsmiling mouth, and her cold eyes.……
There was a slight wave in his heart, and a touch of pity appeared.
Back at the dining hall, Yue Song told Qian Wei that he planned to leave after lunch, and asked Qian Wei if he wanted to go back together.
Qian Wei didn’t want to leave yet: “I want to stay for a while. There may not be any opportunities in the future to have this experience!”
Yue Song sent a text message and waited for everyone to have lunch and moved to the meeting hall. He waited for a while, and when he received a response to his text message, he got up and said goodbye to Zhang Qi – old man Yue actually wanted him to go to the company today. He has already lost all morning time for Zhang Qi, and it is not worth continuing to spend more time there.
Of course, Zhang Qi wanted to keep him, but Yue Song refused: “I still have something to do at home.”
A rich second-generation suitor of Zhang Qi spoke: “What matter can be more important than Zhang Qi’s birthday?! You’re being rude! Come on!”
Yue Song kept a low profile in college so that his college life could be unaffected by his family background and interact with his classmates normally. It wasn’t for being shaken.
His cold star-like eyes glanced over, and the rich second-generation suitor paused, his momentum obviously shrank from this cold glance.
He immediately felt ashamed. However, looking at the cheap plaid shirt on Yue Song, he felt confident again and wanted to talk again.
Zhang Qi stopped him and asked Yue Song: “You said there’s something wrong at your home?” She said to Yue Song tenderly and empathetically: “Are you in a hurry? I’ll ask our driver to send you back.”
Yue Song smiled and refused: “No, I have already called a car.”
Zhang Qi went to the door to send Yue Song off, but she didn’t see the car called by Yue Song. Yue Song left Zhang Qi’s home and kept walking until he disappeared.
The rich second-generation suitor sneered: “Where is the car he called? He’s obviously going to take a bus, right?”
***The complete translation of this novel is available on my Patreon account. Please support. Thank you! ^^