They returned to the Lu family villa.
Like a country bumpkin, Lu Chi gaped at the nine-meter-long, diamond-studded chandelier overhead and the smooth marble walls around him, secretly overjoyed.
[Wow! Is this how rich people live? Being rich feels so good!]
[To think I used to be just a broke loser, a minor internet celebrity who'd never seen what a truly wealthy family looked like. I thought I'd never get the chance in this lifetime, but I've actually become the true young master of a wealthy family. Heaven really has treated me well!]
Seeing Lu Chi looking as though he had never seen the world, the fake young master, Lu Jiyang, kept calling him "Brother" and saying, "Brother, I'll make you some tea," while inwardly brimming with contempt.
"Tch! Country bumpkin! An ignorant dumbass. Look how excited you are! I'll let you enjoy your little surprise for now. Sooner or later, I'll drive you out!"
Listening to Lu Chi's inner voice, Lu Yuanqing and his wife were delighted.
Chi'er had suffered out there for so many years. From now on, they would never let him suffer even the slightest hardship again.
Pan Feng took Lu Chi's hand and led him over to sit on the imported genuine leather sofa.
She said gently, "Chi'er, this is our home. You won't have to stay in the slums, hungry and cold, anymore. If you need anything from now on, just tell Mom and Dad. As long as it's within our power, we'll do everything we can to give it to you."
Lu Chi nodded happily. "Mm, thank you, Mom. You're so good to me."
Lu Yuanqing patted Lu Chi's shoulder. "Chi'er, you have five older sisters, all outstanding. Your second sister is a popular singer and actress. She's in Ugly Country on her world concert tour right now, so she can't come home today."
"Your eldest sister helps me manage half our family's companies-well, just eighty companies. She's quite busy with work. Your mother has already called her, and she'll be back soon."
"Your third sister... Huh?" Lu Yuanqing turned and asked Pan Feng, "Where are Yanxin, Xiaoyue, and Yunke? Weren't they told to wait at home? Didn't you tell them Chi'er was coming home?"
Pan Feng shook her head. "I personally told all three of them before I went out today that they weren't allowed to go anywhere. They were to stay home and welcome Chi'er back. Where have those girls run off to?"
Pan Feng took out her phone and tapped it.
The next instant.
"Master, that fellow's calling again-"
"Master, that fellow's calling again-"
"Master, that fellow's calling again-"
The sudden ringtone rang out upstairs.
Lu Yuanqing seemed to understand something.
He sighed, looked upstairs, and shouted, "Third, Fourth, Fifth! Your little brother's home! What are you still holed up upstairs for? Get down here and welcome him!"
Beside the glass stair railing in the second-floor sitting room.
Three stunning women were huddled together, their heads touching as they looked downstairs with disdain.
They were discussing something in low voices.
Suddenly, the fifth sister, Lu Yunke's phone rang, giving all three of them a terrible fright.
Still shaken, they patted their chests. Before they could calm down, they heard their father, Lu Yuanqing, speak, and only then did they reluctantly head down the stairs.
Pan Feng raised her voice a little. "What kind of older sisters are you? Your little brother's here, yet you don't hurry over to welcome him. What were you hiding upstairs for?"
The third sister, Lu Yanxin, pursed her lips and muttered, "So he's here. It's not like he's anyone important, yet we're forced to stay home and welcome him. My beauty salon is really busy."
But Lu Yanxin spoke so quietly that no one present heard her.
The fourth sister, Lu Xiaoyue, also said unhappily, "Oh, Mom, I still have to work on my design draft this afternoon. You're happy he's back, so you can entertain him yourselves."
The implication was: what the hell did it have to do with her?
Lu Yuanqing said, "Can't you work on that design draft any other time? Does it have to be right now? We've finally found Chi'er and brought him home. Our family should sit down together, have a proper reunion, and speak from the heart!"
Lu Xiaoyue's face fell. She didn't dare talk back to Lu Yuanqing, but anyone with eyes could see that she was deeply unhappy.
The fifth sister, Lu Yunke, snorted. "What biological brother? He's obviously a gambling addict. We'd have been better off if he hadn't come back. Now that he's here, even the Lu family's vast fortune won't be enough for him to gamble away."
"Nonsense!" Lu Yuanqing corrected his fifth daughter, Lu Yunke. "Your brother doesn't gamble. That was a misunderstanding."
Lu Yunke stuck out her tongue. There was no telling whether she believed Lu Yuanqing.
From the look of it, she probably didn't.
Seeing that none of her three daughters seemed to welcome Lu Chi home, Pan Feng wasn't angry.
She merely felt that since the children hadn't grown up together and didn't know or understand one another, this reaction was normal.
Lu Yuanqing didn't reproach them further either. He simply called loudly to a servant, "Auntie Wang, go ask Old He how the family banquet is coming along."
Old He was the Lu family's private chef.
Auntie Wang bowed as she answered, "Yes, sir."
She hurried into the kitchen to the east at a jog.
Watching Auntie Wang leave, Lu Chi marveled inwardly. [Life in a wealthy family really is wonderful. There are servants to wait on you and even a private chef to cook. I've hit the big time! The big time!]
"Tch!" The third sister, Lu Yanxin, rolled her eyes and said under her breath, "He's never seen the world!"
The fourth sister, Lu Xiaoyue, also wore a look of contempt. "Sure enough, he's a country bumpkin from the slums!"
The fifth sister, Lu Yunke, nodded too. "Exactly. So rustic he sheds dirt!"
[If it weren't for all those awful problems, how happy I'd be living here! Get up in the morning and have some tea, sit upstairs and admire the garden, take a nap at noon, play some golf in the afternoon, then have a coffee and play a game at night. Mm, just imagining that life is wonderful.]
[Yes, host. That's the life Guagua wants too.]
"Dream on, country bumpkin!" The instant Lu Chi's inner voice rang out, Lu Yanxin snapped back.
Suddenly, she realized something...
She hurriedly looked up at Lu Chi's mouth.
Lu Chi was still looking around and didn't seem to have spoken.
Lu Yanxin was puzzled.
He didn't speak, so whose voice did I just hear?
She was just about to turn and ask the other two what was going on.
Auntie Wang ran back to report, "Sir, the food will be ready in ten minutes."
"Mm, good. I'll go take a look."
Lu Yuanqing nodded and headed toward the kitchen with Pan Feng.
Before leaving, he instructed his three daughters, "You three sit down too. Keep your brother company and chat."
Although the three sisters were reluctant, they had no choice but to obey Lu Yuanqing and sit on the sofa opposite Lu Chi. The moment they sat down, each began playing on her phone, treating Lu Chi as though he didn't exist.
Lu Jize sat with the three sisters.
When he looked up at Lu Chi, his face wore a gentle smile, but his eyes were full of gloating.
It was as though he were saying, "See? So what if you've come back? None of our sisters like you! You're still too green to compete with me!"
Lu Chi ignored Lu Jize's gloating and focused on chatting with Guagua.
Lu Chi: [These three are my third, fourth, and fifth sisters? As expected of my sisters, they're really beautiful. Unfortunately, they're a bunch of big-breasted, brainless idiots who don't even know how the fake young master is screwing them over. Sooner or later, they'll die unnatural deaths! Instead of loving their biological brother, they love that damned dog of an impostor!]
Hearing Lu Chi's inner voice again, Lu Yanxin hurriedly stared at his mouth. She seethed inwardly. Lu Chi had actually called them idiots and said they would die unnatural deaths!
He's gone too far!
You're the idiot! You're the one who'll die an unnatural death!
Guagua: [Host, of course they don't like you! Lu Jiyang said all sorts of bad things about you to them. He said you had nothing to eat or drink in the slums and went out stealing every day. He said you owed millions in gambling debts, and that you reeked of poverty. Right now, they can't wait to drive you out of the Lu family.]
[No wonder the Lu family didn't end well. With idiots like these, how could they possibly have a good ending? Instead of believing their biological brother, they insist on believing that fake brother. Since when did I gamble? I'm clearly an unparalleled catch of a man, with sound values, handsome looks, effortless charm, and dashing grace! Gambling? I don't touch it at all! I think they'll be killed off soon!]
Wasn't that how it always went in novels? The true young master's family was blind, and in the end, the fake young master seized their fortune and killed the entire family!
Lu Yanxin said, "What did you say? You country bumpkin, how dare you say we're-bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt..."
If Lu Yanxin hadn't been quite sure before, she was now completely certain.
Lu Chi's mouth hadn't moved from beginning to end, yet she had heard his voice.
Looking shocked, Lu Yanxin turned to ask Xiaoyue and Yunke whether they had heard Lu Chi's inner voice.
But once she opened her mouth, no matter what she tried, she couldn't make a sound about Lu Chi's inner voice. All that came out was the buzzing of magnetic interference.
"Xiaoyue, Yunke, did you hear Lu Chi say-bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt..."