Overturning the Dinner Table

Yan Xianjue opened his mouth in surprise.

This time, he did not say anything else disparaging about Yan Ci.

Honestly, Yan Ci managing to do this much truly shocked him.

Just as Yan Ci was the one in the family who understood him best, he was also the one who understood Yan Ci best.

They were close in age, and each held plenty of the other's embarrassing history in their hands.

For example, Yan Ci cared deeply about saving face and could never bring himself to swallow his pride.

Making him apologize would have been more painful than killing him.

[Remember this, remember this. This is all material for mocking Second Brother later.]

Father Yan and Mother Yan exchanged a glance. Their children really did have a great relationship.

Yan Ci easily read the meaning in his parents' eyes.

He made an incredulous face and asked, "Mom, Dad, are you serious?"

That little bastard Yan Xianjue never forgot to collect some ridiculous material, even at a time like this.

And that counted as a good relationship?

But he did not say it aloud, only muttering to himself internally.

At the same time, he felt fortunate that Yan Xianjue was the one being publicly executed after having his thoughts overheard.

No, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

Although Yan Xianjue's thoughts were the ones being overheard—

He was the only one being victimized!

Yan Ci could not figure it out no matter how hard he thought, but he did not immediately sit down as Yan Yi'an had said.

Instead, he went clockwise around the table and refilled everyone's tea before setting down the pot and returning to his seat.

Just as he was about to say something, a loud crash came from the private room next door.

[That sound... did they tear the private room apart?]

Yan Ci immediately stood up. "I'll take a look."

After all, it was his friend's restaurant, and he had invested in it too.

Yan Xianjue sprang up and said cheerfully, "Me too, me too."

Father Yan and Mother Yan exchanged another glance, then slowly rose to their feet.

Fine. Yan Ci rubbed his face. Not one person in his family could miss out on gossip.

Before he could call for Yan Yi'an to come along as well—

He heard sharp crying and cursing, along with Father Shen's stern rebuke.

Something had clearly happened, enough for Father Shen to lose his temper despite being outside.

Yan Yi'an quietly explained, "The Shen Household has been a rising force in recent years. President Shen is first-generation wealthy."

"He wasn't an easy person to deal with in his earlier years. Only in recent years did he begin cultivating his temperament."

Yan Xianjue raised his brows.

No wonder he had barely heard of them before.

He did not particularly enjoy attending outside banquets.

Besides, the Yan Household did not require its children to go into business.

As long as they had something they liked, they could try it.

Otherwise, their eldest sister, as the eldest daughter, would not have spent all year touring the world with a ballet company instead of staying home.

Their second sister had lived at a research institute ever since graduating from an advanced youth program.

Their second brother had entered the Esports Youth Training Camp at a very young age.

Compared to them, Yan Xianjue merely disliked attending banquets.

But this also resulted in one thing.

The Yan Household had a very high threshold. Someone like Father Shen might not receive an invitation even once out of ten banquets.

Furthermore, the Yan Household was famous among Shenzhen's wealthy circles for rarely hosting banquets.

The last time they had held one was for a major event like Yan Xianjue's coming-of-age ceremony.

Such events generally invited relatives and close business partners.

Naturally, Father Shen had no chance of getting a ticket.

But Yan Xianjue could not be blamed for that. Every day in Shenzhen, so many people went bankrupt while so many newcomers rose to prominence.

He could not possibly know every single one of them.

Neither he nor Shen Fangli had particularly high-profile personalities at school, so it was normal that they did not know each other.

Yan Ci pushed open the door and saw a flustered server about to head to the kitchen to call Fatty Bro over.

They rarely encountered situations like this while working here, so they were at a loss for the moment.

Yan Ci stopped the server. "I'll take a look."

The server knew that this person was an acquaintance of the owner, though he did not know just how close they were.

But judging by how he familiarly pushed open the private room door, he should be able to handle it, right?

It was not that Yan Ci did not want to be polite and knock first, but he felt the noise inside was too loud for anyone to hear a knock.

Rather than waste time, he might as well push the door open.

The moment he walked in, the mess before him stunned him.

Yan Xianjue poked his head in behind him.

[Was it really this intense?]

Hearing the familiar inner voice, Shen Fangli knew who had arrived without even looking up.

See? Yan Xianjue knew more about her affairs than she did herself.

Shen Fangli thought resignedly.

She sat steadily in the only untouched patch of ground in the room.

Amused, she watched her second aunt's performance of shock, rage, crying, and hysterics.

After that whole spectacle, her mother had indeed changed from being initially furious and angry to gently persuading Second Aunt to get up from the floor.

Yes, the floor.

When Second Aunt brought up the marriage alliance, Shen Fangli directly exposed the information Yan Xianjue had revealed.

Originally, she had merely wanted to scare her into shutting up.

She had not expected her to be so easily frightened that she would confess everything outright.

Her father had immediately overturned the table in fury.

Noticing Yan Ci enter through the door, Father Shen suppressed his anger a little. "Sorry. I will compensate you at full price."

His efforts to restrain himself clearly did not accomplish much, and his tone remained stiff.

But none of the Yan family minded at that moment. On the contrary, they understood him completely.

If someone had set their sights on their daughter like that, they would not have been able to stand it either.

Shen Fangli's second aunt was still speaking self-righteously, not believing she had done anything wrong. "Little Shen, that's the Lin Household! A nouveau riche's daughter like Fangli only got the chance to marry into the Lin Household because I have connections!"

"I'm her second aunt. Would I harm her?"

"Just a little of what slips through their fingers would be enough for you to live off."

Father Shen's face turned livid. He roughly pulled away his wife, who was still trying to persuade him in a low voice.

He raised a hand and pointed at Second Aunt's nose. "If you're so eager to cling to the Lin Household, send your own daughter."

"Even if I go bankrupt, I won't sell my daughter!"

[No wonder Shen Fangli entered the entertainment industry to earn money after her father's company faced a funding shortfall in the novel.]

[To be fair, her dad seemed much more reliable than her mom, and he cared about her enough too.]

Mother Yan nodded. Looking at the woman who had worn an aggrieved expression ever since her husband pulled her away, she nodded along.

You felt wronged? Wasn't the most wronged person here your innocent daughter?

She had not even thought to show any concern for Shen Fangli, who had been sitting in the corner from start to finish.

Mother Yan was somewhat speechless. With a mother like this, the child was bound to suffer greatly.

Thinking of that, she shook her head.

[So the reason Shen Fangli's second aunt could exploit a gap in timing and information in the novel, keep Father Shen in the dark, and fool Mother Shen was really because the author went easy on her!]

Shen Fangli's gaze flickered.

She no longer minded Yan Xianjue bringing his entire family to watch her family's embarrassing scene.

What did a momentary loss of face matter? The intelligence she had overheard was the real deal.

Father Yan and Yan Yi'an had exchanged a few words and arrived a little later.

But Yan Xianjue's inner voice had broadcast everything live, so they had not missed much.

Father Yan quietly said to Yan Yi'an, "This President Shen has principles. He's someone worth befriending. If there are good projects, we can consider working with him."

Yan Yi'an nodded. Yan Xianjue had been right about one thing.

Since they were both villains, they could lend a hand when convenient.

Perhaps it would prove useful someday.

Ever since learning that a vicious wolf had been watching the Yan Household from the shadows—

Yan Yi'an had prepared himself mentally to fight that wolf.

Building up their strength was merely the simplest first step.