Hearing his eldest sister Lu Sangning speak up for him, Lu Jiyang hurriedly put on an affected tone and said:
"Eldest Sister, it's fine. It's all my fault for not knowing Brother Lu Chi was allergic to fruit juice. Brother Lu Chi isn't to blame.
"I'll make sure to ask first next time. Don't get angry over this, Eldest Sister. You're so busy all day, yet you still have to worry about us. My heart practically aches to death for you."
His words only made Lu Sangning feel even sorrier for him.
At the same time, she found Lu Chi even more hateful.
It was just as Jiyang had said: Lu Chi had a bad character and a deeply scheming mind. He had come back to fight for the family fortune.
Lu Yanxin, Lu Xiaoyue, and Lu Yunke had all thought Lu Jiyang was in the wrong just moments earlier, but after hearing him speak so pitifully, they felt he had done nothing wrong after all.
Lu Chi must have been overthinking things!
How could someone as good as their little brother Jiyang hurt anyone?
Absolutely impossible!
Lu Chi sat back down and shoveled a mouthful of rice into his mouth. Looking at his decidedly unfriendly sisters, he remembered that Lu Jiyang had interrupted before he could hear the gossip about his eldest sister Lu Sangning.
He hurriedly said to the Gossip System, [Guagua, you said Lu Sangning had some juicy gossip earlier. Go on, let me hear it!]
Guagua: [Sure thing, Host~ Doesn't Lu Sangning have a fiancé named Zhang Yong? They're getting married next month, but that fiancé of hers isn't even human!]
Lu Chi: [Not human? Don't scare me. Is he a ghost?]
While Lu Chi was talking to the system, everyone at the table appeared to be helping themselves to food and eating, but in fact, every one of them had their ears pricked up, listening to his thoughts.
Even Lu Sangning heard Lu Chi's thoughts!
She looked in shock at Lu Yanxin, who was sitting beside her. Lu Yanxin made a shushing gesture, signaling her not to speak.
"Eldest Sister, keep listening..."
Lu Sangning nodded and turned her attention back to Lu Chi.
Guagua: [That Zhang Yong is worse than a ghost. He's always despised Lu Sangning for being stuffy and boring and refusing to sleep with him before marriage. He's secretly keeping a mistress, and they've been together for three years.]
"Lu Chi, what did you say?"
Lu Sangning was furious. Zhang Yong was such a good man, handsome and learned. Most importantly, his feelings for her had never wavered.
How could he possibly have a mistress?
And Lu Chi had even called her stuffy and boring.
Was it wrong to save her best for her wedding night? How did that make her stuffy and boring?
At that thought, Lu Sangning slapped the table and shouted, "Lu Chi, how dare you bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt..."
Lu Chi looked up at her in bewilderment. "What did I do? I didn't say anything!"
Lu Sangning said, "You!"
Third Sister Lu Yanxin hurriedly pulled Lu Sangning back into her seat and whispered, "Eldest Sister, we can all bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt... but we can't say it aloud. We can't even write it down. We can only understand it without saying it."
Lu Sangning was both shocked and furious, feeling as though something supernatural was happening.
Lu Yuanqing, Pan Feng, Lu Yanxin, Lu Xiaoyue, and Lu Yunke had all heard Lu Chi's thoughts too.
Lu Yuanqing suppressed the violent agitation inside him and kept listening to what else Lu Chi would say to Guagua.
If Zhang Yong really was scum, then for his eldest daughter's sake and the Lu family's, he would never let him off!
Pan Feng was so angry that her whole body felt weak and sore. Zhang Yong seemed so gentle and refined on the surface. Could he really be worse than a beast?
Lu Yanxin and her two sisters felt chilled to the core as they listened, too.
Lu Chi finished a bowl of rice.
Standing nearby, the sharp-eyed Auntie Wang immediately asked, "Eldest Young Master, would you like more rice?"
Lu Chi nodded.
Auntie Wang added a scoop of rice to his bowl.
Lu Chi picked up some food, and Pan Feng placed the Australian lobster she had shelled onto the plate in front of him.
"Thanks, Mom."
As he ate, Lu Chi continued chatting with the system in his mind.
*[Whoa, that Zhang Yong really is worse than a ghost! But wait, what I don't understand is, if he thinks Lu Sangning is stuffy and boring, why get engaged to her?*
*Why not just be with his mistress? Why take such a winding, roundabout route?]*
Guagua: [Why? For the Lu family's money, of course! Lu Sangning currently controls half the Lu family's companies. Once Zhang Yong marries her, he can slowly infiltrate those eighty companies with his own people,
then gradually infiltrate the remaining companies and claim the Lu family's assets and shares for himself. He promised his mistress that once he got the Lu family fortune, he would make their relationship official.]
Lu Chi: *[No way. Wouldn't that mean he'd swallow up my entire family's fortune? Then what was the point of my coming back? When the time comes, he'll definitely try every possible way to get rid of me for the inheritance.*
*Ugh, I'd better find a way to grab some money and run. I really can't keep following this plot. Once he succeeds, I'm dead.]*
Guagua: [Exactly! Lu Jiyang thinks you're his biggest threat in the fight for the Lu family fortune, but his biggest threat right now is actually Zhang Yong. Zhang Yong has a human face and a beast's heart. No one even knows he's a bad person.]
Lu Chi looked up at Lu Sangning and shook his head.
*[Sigh, sure enough, all these Lu daughters are brainless idiots with nothing but good looks! They can manage dozens of companies, yet they can't see through one scumbag.*
*It doesn't take a guess to know that once Zhang Yong gets the Lu family fortune, he won't let Lu Sangning have an easy time. Her ending will probably be death too.]*
Guagua: [Yes, Lu Sangning will eventually be poisoned to death by Zhang Yong, though that happens after Lu Jiyang kills you. Lu Sangning says Zhang Yong is currently on a business trip in Shanghai,
but he isn't at all. He's traveling in Kunming with his mistress, Zou Nana. Right now, the two of them are getting hot and heavy in a hotel! Smack, smack, smack! Quite a strong rhythm! His stamina is decent too!]
After hearing Lu Chi's thoughts, Lu Sangning couldn't eat another bite.
Using the restroom as an excuse, she slipped away to call Zhang Yong.
Lu Yuanqing put down his chopsticks too and said, his face livid, "I'm full! I'm going out for a bit!"
As he walked outside, a bodyguard came forward.
He was the bodyguard Lu Yuanqing had sent to intercept Scarface after Scarface slandered Lu Chi, back when Lu Yuanqing and Pan Feng had gone to pick Lu Chi up.
"Sir, we've finished investigating. The second young master hired Scarface to slander the eldest young master. The goal was to ruin the eldest young master's image in your eyes and Madam's. He was to receive five hundred thousand upon success!"
"Understood. That unfilial son! I'll deal with him later!" Veins bulged with Lu Yuanqing's fury, but the most important thing right now was to investigate whether the matter with Zhang Yong was true.
Lu Yuanqing said to the butler, Zhou Fu, "Zhou Fu, look into where Zhang Yong is right now. Remember, do it in secret."
"Yes, sir!" Having received his orders, Zhou Fu went to investigate.
Lu Yuanqing returned to the dining room, the fury inside him surging higher and higher.
But he didn't want Lu Chi to know he could hear his thoughts. Forcing down his anger, he sat in his chair and waited for Lu Chi to finish eating.
In the restroom, Lu Sangning called Zhang Yong. The phone rang more than a dozen times without an answer.
Lu Sangning called again, but still no one answered.
Cracks began to appear in her trust in Zhang Yong.