The private room door was closed again.
Zhang Zhifang took Zhang Yan by the arm and led her toward the table, her face full of unconcealable delight and appraisal.
"You really have changed these past few years. You look brighter, your complexion's better, and you dress beautifully too. When you first came in just now, I almost didn't dare recognize you."
Zhang Yan felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze. Her fingers curled slightly as she said in a low voice, "It's all right—after I started working, I just paid a little more attention to it."
"Yanyan." Li Guangyuan, seated to the side, smiled as well, rarely showing a bit of warmth.
Li Hang kept sizing up this cousin he had not seen in three years, his expression both unfamiliar and a little indescribably restrained.
"Uncle, Hanghang." Zhang Yan nodded lightly, her voice still soft.
"Sit, sit." Zhang Zhifang pulled her down to sit beside her, still reluctant to let go of her hand. "It's cold outside, isn't it?"
"It's all right." Zhang Yan pressed her lips together and said softly, "I'm dressed warmly."
With Zhang Zhifang's enthusiastic greeting, the atmosphere in the private room finally loosened little by little.
At least on the surface, it really seemed like nothing more than an ordinary family gathering.
But Zhang Zhiqiang sat beside the main seat, his expression somewhat dark.
He had originally still been holding on to a bit of a father's dignity, thinking that after his daughter entered, she should at least call out to him first.
In the end, from the moment Zhang Yan came in until now, she had greeted her aunt, her uncle, and Hanghang first, yet she alone had not taken the initiative to look at him.
The awkwardness of being left aside was like tiny