Chapter 228: Family Standing
Seeing that Gu Qinghuan had become the center of attention, Shen Jianwei pretended to grab some food and walked over to a long table nearby, just in time to overhear everything Gu Qinghuan had said.
She kept a straight face, barely holding back her laughter. With her back turned to Cui Wanning and the others, she pulled out her phone and typed at lightning speed, live-updating the group chat.
Qin Yue: [I’ve always acknowledged the class monitor’s offensive power.]
Ming Xiaolan: [Highly suspect the academic rep’s mom is internally roasting the class monitor right now.]
The fact that Yu Yuan wasn’t the Yu family’s biological daughter was something most of Class Three more or less knew—just never openly discussed.
After all, their social circle was small. At the start of the school year, people might not have known, but once they mentioned Yu Xin at home a few times, parents would naturally recall the Yu family situation.
However, since Yu Xin and Yu Yuan got along well—and Gu Qinghuan had even invited Yu Yuan to participate in a program before—everyone instinctively believed Yu Yuan wasn’t the problem.
Which meant the problem lay with the Yu family’s attitude.
Even without knowing the full details, and despite Yu Xin herself not minding, the class privately felt the Yu family was completely muddled.
Now that they saw Gu Qinghuan subtly “showing off” in front of Cui Wanning, everyone felt a satisfying sense of payback.
Shen Jianwei continued quietly observing. She noticed Wei Xiao had arrived—so the woman beside him must be his mother.
Xu Zhishu, right? Was her name taken from “refined and well-mannered”? Just as Shen Jianwei was thinking this, she saw Cui Wanning’s attitude turn noticeably more attentive.
Compared to the Wei family, Gu Qinghuan clearly wasn’t worth much in Cui Wanning’s eyes—only what she could grasp firmly counted.
She pulled Yu Yuan close by the shoulder. “Yuan Yuan, Aunt Xu is here.”
Yu Yuan instinctively clenched her fists, but in front of everyone, she still greeted politely, “Hello, Aunt Xu.”
Xu Zhishu’s gaze fell on Yu Yuan, then slid past Yu Xin. Just as she was about to withdraw it, she noticed Gu Qinghuan beside Yu Xin.
She pulled her gaze back and smiled kindly at Yu Yuan. “Yuan Yuan, why haven’t you come visit our house lately? Wei Xiao even said last night that he missed you.”
Gu Qinghuan curled her lips slightly—she’d bet a whole day’s meals that was a lie.
Wei Xiao, on the other hand, showed no discomfort at all. He even smiled at Yu Yuan, his tone gentle. “Yu Yuan, when I came in earlier, I saw lemon tarts over there that you like. Shall we go get some?”
That was essentially an invitation. The two of them walking off together would also send a clear signal to the ladies present—about the impending relationship between the Wei and Yu families.
Shen Jianwei didn’t catch on at first, and went straight to the group chat to complain: [The cockroach suddenly started speaking human language—I feel weird about it.]
Thanks to Jiang Chuchu’s persistent promotion, quite a few people in Class Three had taken to calling Wei Xiao “cockroach.”
Yao Shali: [Wait… isn’t this that thing?]
Ji Tianxiao: [What? There’s actually an arranged marriage? Even TV dramas don’t use this trope anymore!]
Shen Jianwei stared at the words “arranged marriage” for a full minute, then panicked: [WHAT?!]
Song Yi: [Hold on—so he has a marriage arrangement with Yu Yuan, and he’s still trying to cozy up to my sister? Playing with Yu Yuan’s feelings while eyeing my sister’s advantages?]
Ai Ning: [Didn’t you teach them self-defense? Did you teach the brutal moves yet?]
Song Yi: [I’ll teach even harsher ones next time.]
Previously, when Yu Xin asked Song Yi to teach Gu Qinghuan and Yu Yuan self-defense, she only mentioned that Wei Xiao was trying to get close to Gu Qinghuan—she never mentioned the engagement.
So Song Yi had assumed Yu Yuan was just tagging along. Teaching one or two people made no difference to him.
Now that he knew the truth, he was furious.
Just thinking about Yu Yuan being engaged to Wei Xiao—and how hard she had been training just to protect herself—made him feel sorry for his student.
Meanwhile, Yu Yuan had no idea that a storm had erupted in the class group chat because of her.
She gave Yu Xin a slight nod, then walked toward Wei Xiao and left with him.
Gu Qinghuan leaned toward Yu Xin and whispered, “I think Wei Xiao didn’t recognize me.”
Yu Xin thought the same. Earlier, Xu Zhishu’s gaze had clearly recognized Gu Qinghuan.
As for Wei Xiao, he hadn’t looked at her at all—whether because he was focused on Yu Yuan or simply uninterested in others was unclear.
That worked out fine. Gu Qinghuan’s target was Xu Zhishu anyway—she didn’t want to waste time dealing with Wei Xiao.
With Yu Yuan and Wei Xiao gone, Cui Wanning visibly relaxed. In Gu Qinghuan’s opinion, it practically radiated the confidence of someone who felt victory was already secured.
The other ladies also gathered around Cui Wanning, trying to extract confirmation about the situation.
Xu Zhishu went to pick up a glass of champagne, and upon returning, deliberately positioned herself beside Gu Qinghuan.
She smiled and said, “I think I saw you at the auction a few days ago, didn’t I? Are you a classmate of Miss Jiang and Yu Xin?”
Gu Qinghuan’s mind raced.
It wasn’t surprising that Xu Zhishu recognized her. But the second half of that question required careful handling.
Even if her intentions weren’t pure, Wei Xiao had been trying to get close to her lately. Logically, Xu Zhishu should already know her basic information—there shouldn’t be any need to confirm.
Since she asked, there were two possibilities.
First, the question itself was a test—she suspected Gu Qinghuan had been deliberately using Jiang Chuchu and Yu Xin to attend various gatherings.
Second… perhaps Xu Zhishu genuinely didn’t know that Wei Xiao had been trying to befriend her.
If it was the second case, it meant Xu Zhishu’s standing in the Wei family was even lower than Gu Qinghuan had imagined—so low that she didn’t even know what her own son had been doing recently.
Gu Qinghuan decided to test which it was.
She returned the smile. “It really is a coincidence. Auntie, you’re Wei Xiao’s mother, right? He mentioned your surname is Xu—may I call you Aunt Xu?”
Xu Zhishu’s smile faded slightly. “You know my son?”
“Of course,” Gu Qinghuan showed a hint of surprise. “He tried to join the student council but didn’t succeed. I’m Xia He’s secretary, so he said he wanted to learn from me and be my assistant, to prepare for applying again next time.”
She casually borrowed Xia He’s name. Instead of addressing him formally, she used his name directly—Xu Zhishu, being perceptive, would naturally infer that she had some connection with him.
Xu Zhishu looked at her steadily. Her smile disappeared for a brief moment before turning into surprise. “That child, Wei Xiao… he never told me about this.”
“Probably because he didn’t get into the student council and felt embarrassed to bring it up,” Xu Zhishu sighed, looking slightly troubled. “Kids grow up and stop sharing things with their families.”
Gu Qinghuan didn’t believe for a second that Wei Xiao hadn’t told Wei Yan.
Wei Xiao had always acted so “restrained” toward her—wasn’t it precisely because Xia He was backing her?
There was no way he hadn’t told Wei Yan. In fact, approaching Gu Qinghuan might even have been Wei Yan’s idea.
It wasn’t that he didn’t share things with his family—it was that he didn’t share them with Xu Zhishu.
Gu Qinghuan smiled, smoothly shifting the topic. “I actually like telling my mom about things I encounter—for example, last time…”
She began chatting casually with Xu Zhishu. To outsiders, it looked like a perfectly harmonious exchange.
It was now clear—neither the father nor the son in the Wei family truly cared about Xu Zhishu as a wife or mother.
In that case, could this be used to drive a wedge between Xu Zhishu and Wei Yan?
As she chatted, Gu Qinghuan continued thinking of a plan. Before she could come up with one, a sudden sound of something shattering rang out in the distance.
It immediately drew attention. Several people headed over.
A manager-like figure hurried toward them and spoke in a low voice, “Ms. Xu, Ms. Cui, your children have caused a bit of an incident. Please come with me to handle it.”
Gu Qinghuan and Yu Xin heard this as well. They exchanged a glance, nodded in tacit understanding, and followed behind Xu Zhishu and Cui Wanning.
What had happened between Yu Yuan and Wei Xiao?
Could it be… Yu Yuan actually hit him?
