Gu Jiangfeng came home from the company before dinner. After he had rested for a while, Aunt Sun had dinner ready.
The five of them sat down at the dining table together, and Zhao Wanling said wistfully, "We can finally all sit down together for a meal."
Gu Jiangfeng nodded slightly. "Yes. During those years when our fourth child was away, your mother cried her eyes out every holiday."
"Why bring that up in front of the children? Are you deliberately trying to upset my darling?"
"Of course not. I was just feeling a little sentimental."
Gu Zhiyue asked with a smile, "Mom, how did you and Dad meet? You set Lin Dad and Mom Qinglan up, so how did you and Dad get to know each other?"
Gu Jiangfeng smiled. "Your mother was an absolute beauty back then. I pestered her relentlessly before she finally accepted my confession."
Zhao Wanling said one thing and meant another as she ladled soup for Gu Jiangfeng. "I just thought you were too annoying. I figured I might as well agree so you'd give me some peace."
"All right, all right. Whatever you say."
Gu Shuoyan clicked his tongue. "Mom, if you and Dad want to get all lovey-dovey, can you wait until you're back in your room? We're eating. We don't need a helping of your romance."
Zhao Wanling put a piece of pork stewed with red peppers into Gu Zhiyue's bowl. "Xiao Yue, this meat is especially tender. Eat some more. Xiao Chuan, you should eat more too. I can tell you haven't been eating properly out there. You've lost weight."
Chewing his food, Gu Zhiyue voiced the question on his mind. [Why is it that whenever people haven't seen someone for a long time, the first thing they say when they meet again is that the other person has lost weight? What if they've been living well and gained weight? What do you say then?]
Xiao Jiu sat on the edge of the table, swinging two short little legs. [I don't know either. The Main System said it's a rule of human small talk.]
Gu Zhiyue shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth. [Can you look up information on my eldest brother's fake girlfriend and that Eldest Young Master of the Fu Family?]
[Yes. Searching identity information... That Eldest Young Master of the Fu Family is called Fu Yanting. The Fu Family also has a second young master competing with him for the right of succession, and they're evenly matched. The fake girlfriend is called Wu Jiaojiao. She's a niece of the Wu Family, which ranks eighth among Anzhou's wealthy, prominent families.]
Gu Zhiyue frowned in confusion. [A niece? There's even a distinction like that?]
Gu Shuoyan was puzzled too. He even stopped chewing the food in his mouth and tilted his ear to listen.
Xiao Jiu explained, [Wu Jiaojiao is from a branch of the family. After both her parents died, she was taken in by relatives from the main branch. That Wu Family couple are her paternal aunt and her aunt's husband.]
[Oh~ Don't that Wu Family couple have children of their own? Why didn't they send their own child? If this actually worked out, whether she married my eldest brother or into the Fu Family, wouldn't they rise in status along with her?]
[That brings us to the peculiar way that Wu Family couple's minds work. They actually have a son and a daughter. Their daughter is called Wu Wanqing, and she's close to Wu Jiaojiao in age, one year older. After Wu Jiaojiao was brought into their home, Wu Wanqing was forced to give way to her in everything. Her parents and older brother all said her younger cousin was pitiful and she should be more accommodating.]
Gu Zhiyue clicked his tongue in disgust. [Keep giving way, and she'll end up giving away her own future too, right? That couple arranged for Wu Jiaojiao to meet Fu Yanting too, didn't they?]
Zhao Wanling's brows furrowed slightly as she listened. Although she wasn't against treating relatives' children well, how could anyone neglect their own child for someone else's?
She couldn't be that generous about something like this. A relative's child might indeed be pitiful, but why should her own child suffer unfair treatment so they could care for that child? It wasn't her own child's fault that the relative's child was pitiful, so why should her own child suffer? She had no idea what that Wu Family couple was thinking.
Gu Tingchuan thought back. Fu Yanting was the eldest young master of the Fu Family, which ranked fifth among the wealthy, prominent families. He did have a younger brother. Gu Tingchuan had never met Fu Yanting, but he had met this second young master a few times.
In all fairness, the Fu Family's second young master was better suited to be the heir than Fu Yanting.
Gu Tingchuan picked up the water beside him and took a small sip, then set down the glass and took the initiative to start a conversation. "The group has a collaboration with the Fu Family coming up. Their second young master, Fu Xiaoye, was following up on it before, but I heard they've switched to their eldest young master, Fu Yanting, this time."
Gu Jiangfeng calmly picked up the conversation. "Have you met that Fu Yanting before?"
Gu Tingchuan shook his head. "It was always Gu Xiaoye who discussed our collaborations before. Besides, I only personally followed up on two or three of them. I left the others to the manager, so even Fu Xiaoye is someone I've only met two or three times."
Zhao Wanling said, "It's only a collaboration, but it'll be your first meeting. Pay a little more attention to him when the time comes. You should never let your guard down."
"I understand."
One of Gu Zhiyue's cheeks bulged as he chewed. [Do you think I should drop a hint to my eldest brother and remind him to watch out for Fu Yanting? Fu Yanting might not intend to harm him, but he really did plant a spy by his side.]
Xiao Jiu rubbed its chin and thought for a moment. [How about telling him you can read faces, Host?]
[Even a child wouldn't believe that. My eldest brother is a grown man in his twenties. Do you think he'd believe me?]
[Uh... I suppose he probably wouldn't.]
Gu Zhiyue sighed. [This is tricky~]
Gu Shuoyan nudged Gu Zhiyue. "Little brother, what's your feeling about this Fu Yanting?"
Gu Zhiyue pointed at himself incredulously. "You're asking me? I haven't even seen what he looks like. How am I supposed to have a feeling about him?"
"Go with your instincts. Your instincts have always been pretty accurate. Just get a feel for whether our eldest brother's collaboration will go smoothly this time."
"Well... I get the feeling it won't go all that smoothly. You should pay more attention to anyone who suddenly appears around you, Eldest Brother."
Gu Tingchuan chuckled and nodded. "All right. I'll keep that in mind."
[Does that count as successfully warning him? I didn't expect it to be so easy. And there I was, racking my brains over it.]
[I have to say, Gu Shuoyan really is reliable when it counts.]
Gu Shuoyan smugly ate two more chunks of meat. Of course he was. He was an older brother, after all. He had to be reliable in front of his little brother.
Seeing that they had more or less finished, Zhao Wanling interrupted their conversation. "Let's eat first. We can talk about these things later. Xiao Yue, have a chicken wing."
"Thanks, Mom."
The fresh chicken wings had already been deboned during preparation. After being marinated in seasonings and cooked over high heat, the meat was soft and tender, with just the right amount of spice and a faint hint of fragrant spices on the tongue.
Gu Zhiyue sighed in satisfaction. [Mmm! This is what I work so hard to stay alive for every day. If I suddenly died one day, all this delicious food would have one fewer person who understood it.]
Xiao Jiu smacked its lips twice. [I have to work hard to earn points and upgrade the system. I want to eat delicious food too!]
[Then do your best. I'll take you out to eat every day when the time comes. Let's see whether you get fat.]
[Impossible. I'm a system, not a human. Humans get fat because they have fat. I don't have fat, so I won't get fat, and I won't need to use the toilet either.]
Gu Zhiyue threw cold water on that. [Then what's the point of eating? If you don't get fat or poop, that's a real waste. Wouldn't all that food have died for nothing?]
Xiao Jiu's face flushed red as it loudly retorted, [What do you know? That means I can eat as much as I want!]
Before you continue