Chapter 231 | Chapter 232 | Chapter 233
Chapter 231: Unfamiliar
By the time Cui Wanning returned to the Yu residence, it was already around two in the afternoon.
According to the original schedule, she should have finished lunch by now and then gone with Xu Zhishu to the club she had booked for a beauty treatment.
After that, Wei Xiao would take Yu Yuan out, and only send her back in the evening.
A smooth and perfect day—completely ruined.
Wei Xiao’s injuries weren’t serious at all. In fact, calling them “injuries” almost felt like an exaggeration.
But the fact remained—Yu Yuan had made Wei Xiao lose face at the wine tasting.
Xu Zhishu hadn’t said much, but not only had she declined Cui Wanning’s offer to cover the medical expenses, she had also firmly refused when Cui Wanning suggested calling Yu Yuan over to apologize, politely yet resolutely asking her to leave the hospital.
Even though Xu Zhishu had said something like “let’s meet again another time,” Cui Wanning couldn’t calm down at all.
On the ride back, her anger only grew stronger.
She had already heard from Wei Xiao—the so-called dispute had simply been because he wanted to take Yu Yuan to try some novel cuisine, and she refused.
When Cui Wanning heard that, she almost laughed in anger.
Over something so trivial… such an insignificant matter!
Being able to stay with the Yu family was Yu Yuan’s blessing. If she hadn’t been adopted by them, how could she have enjoyed such privileged living conditions?
Just look at Yu Xin when she had first returned—although her adoptive mother wasn’t Yu Yuan’s biological one, without money or status, how good could things have been?
Cui Wanning pressed her temples irritably. As expected, not being a biological daughter meant she was lacking at the genetic level.
No matter how obedient she had been as a child, her true nature would show as she grew older.
Her expectations for Yu Yuan were already so low, and yet she still couldn’t meet them. Then she shouldn’t blame her for enforcing discipline.
The car stopped. Cui Wanning tossed her handbag to a servant who came to greet her. “Where is Yu Yuan?”
The servant lowered her head. “The eldest and second young ladies are both in the dining room. They heard from the driver that you hadn’t had lunch yet, so they prepared some food…”
Before she could finish, Cui Wanning strode toward the dining room.
She didn’t feel moved at all. What was the use of this kind of concern? What she needed was for Yu Yuan to please Wei Xiao and marry into the Wei family as soon as possible!
“Yu—”
“Mother.”
The moment Cui Wanning stepped into the dining room, before she could even call out Yu Yuan’s name, she was forcefully interrupted by Yu Xin.
Yu Xin stepped forward, grabbed her hand, and spoke quickly but clearly. “Yu Yuan feels deeply sorry about what happened today. She has realized her mistake and is currently reflecting in her room.”
“Mother, please sit down and have something to eat first—don’t harm your health. I’ll go call her over.”
She guided Cui Wanning to the table and lifted the cloche covering the dish—
“Ahhh—!”
Cui Wanning let out a sharp scream, instinctively stepping back, even stumbling over the chair and nearly falling.
“What is this?!!!” Her face turned pale, and she didn’t even dare point at the plate.
Yu Xin looked at her in confusion. “Didn’t Wei Xiao tell you? This is the specialty cuisine he wanted Yu Yuan to try.”
“Yu Yuan said she shouldn’t refuse just because she was afraid. To avoid similar situations in the future, she asked Qinghuan, who then asked Ms. Han, to pack some insect dishes from the wine tasting and bring them back.”
“She’s decided to overcome her fear and try them. I thought—since Wei Xiao likes this kind of cuisine, it must come from his family’s influence. So I prepared a portion for you as well. That way, next time you and Ms. Xu will have something in common to talk about, right?”
On the white porcelain plate lay a black spider, its eight hairy legs spread out, about the size of an adult’s palm.
Beside it were short, segmented white bamboo worms, and a long, neatly skewered centipede.
Just one glance was enough to give Cui Wanning nightmares.
She barely processed Yu Xin’s words, but it didn’t take much thought to realize—Yu Xin was doing this on purpose.
Gripping the chair, Cui Wanning snapped, “Yu Xin, are you accusing me?”
Yu Xin’s surprised expression faded, replaced by calm. “So you also think I’m deliberately making things difficult for you by asking you to eat this?”
“This is exactly what Wei Xiao did to Yu Yuan.”
Cui Wanning fell silent.
She wanted to defend Wei Xiao, but for a moment, she couldn’t think of a single argument.
Anything she said would just be turned back on her—and then she’d have to face those horrifying dishes herself.
But she quickly grasped her advantage and shouted, “I’m your mother! Are you helping outsiders against your own mother now?!”
“Outsiders?” Yu Xin chuckled lightly, as if she’d heard something amusing. “Mother, how exactly do you define ‘family’ and ‘outsiders’?”
“My household registration isn’t under you or Father. Yu Yuan is the one listed in your family register.”
“So only—no, as long as someone is useful to you, they’re family. If they’re not, they’re outsiders. That’s your logic, isn’t it?”
“Yu Xin!” Cui Wanning snapped in fury.
She raised her hand to slap Yu Xin, but Yu Xin didn’t intend to take it. She crouched down and easily dodged the blow.
Instead, Cui Wanning lost her balance from the force, her hand slamming onto the table—just centimeters away from the plate of insects.
She shrieked and pulled her hand back, while Yu Xin stood up again, looking at her calmly.
“Are you going to keep making a scene?” Yu Xin said lightly.
Cui Wanning panted, staring at Yu Xin in shock.
It was as if she was seeing her daughter for the first time. Since when had this timid, unimpressive girl become like this?
“What are you trying to say?” she demanded.
“This incident was just an accident,” Yu Xin said decisively. “It ends here.”
“And what about the damaged relationship with the Wei family?” Cui Wanning asked reflexively.
“We’ll handle it,” Yu Xin replied without blinking—an outright lie.
What was there to handle? They were already planning to deal with Wei Xiao and have him transferred, not to mention the engagement.
Cui Wanning couldn’t think of any better solution anyway. In fact, too many shocking things had happened—she didn’t have the capacity to process them.
“Do as you wish,” she said stiffly, straightening up. “I won’t interfere in this matter anymore.”
She was truly exhausted.
That feeling of everything slipping out of her control—it was unbearable.
She didn’t believe Yu Xin and the others had any way to regain Xu Zhishu’s favor. She simply didn’t want to deal with this mess anymore.
If Yu Wenli questioned it later, Yu Xin and Yu Yuan could explain it themselves.
It had nothing to do with her.
Chapter 232: No Longer Worth Keeping
Before Cui Wanning returned to the Yu residence, Gu Qinghuan had already gotten into Han Yun’s car and left.
Just thinking about the “dishes” waiting for Cui Wanning at home made Han Yun want to laugh.
Although using such tactics on an adult might seem a bit childish, a tit-for-tat still felt immensely satisfying.
Gu Qinghuan glanced at Han Yun’s expression and asked cautiously, “Aunt Han, aren’t you curious?”
“I can more or less guess,” Han Yun replied with a smile.
When Cui Wanning had lashed out at Yu Yuan earlier, Han Yun had been busy discussing supply channels for the Han family’s hotel chain and couldn’t step away. Still, she had heard some of what happened.
Though she was firmly against marriage and had no plans to have children, meaning she would never take on the role of a “mother,” she had once been a “child.”
She understood exactly how much a mother’s behavior could hurt in such situations.
Did being a mother give someone the right to do anything to a child?
No. Before anything else, one had to be a “person.”
In Han Yun’s eyes, at least part of Cui Wanning’s behavior ran counter to what a mentally healthy and morally sound adult should be.
Simply put—she didn’t think Cui Wanning was acting like a decent human being.
In that case, why shouldn’t the child fight back?
In fact, being able to help in that retaliation made Han Yun feel quite pleased.
Gu Qinghuan relaxed—and right on cue, her stomach growled.
She felt a bit embarrassed, but Han Yun simply smiled and told the driver, “Let’s go to the hotel. We’ll have lunch there.”
The latter part was clearly directed at Gu Qinghuan.
Since the Han family owned hotels, Han Yun naturally took her there.
Gu Qinghuan enjoyed a hearty meal, and the unpleasantness from earlier was completely swept away.
Afterward, Han Yun stayed behind to handle hotel matters and didn’t personally send Gu Qinghuan back.
Standing by the car window, she smiled at Gu Qinghuan in the back seat. “If something like this happens again, you can come to me.”
There was a refreshing feeling of having participated in the children’s “secret gathering,” and being able to help them also made her feel gratified.
“Sure,” Gu Qinghuan smiled back. “Then I’ll trouble you next time. But next time—it won’t be retaliation anymore.”
So… proactive offense?
Just hearing that made it exciting.
Han Yun smiled as well. “I’ll be waiting.” If nothing else, spending time with young people made her feel more energetic—maybe she could take a more proactive approach when dealing with Han Lang too.
“Oh, right—Aunt Han, the hat…” Gu Qinghuan remembered the cap Han Yun had lent her and was about to return it, but Han Yun waved her off.
“No need. I prepared it for you—take it as a gift,” she said.
Gu Qinghuan thought for a moment, then accepted it readily. “Then thank you, Aunt Han. I’ll wear it often.”
Han Yun stepped back and waved goodbye through the car window, watching the car drive away before turning and walking back into the hotel.
The automatic doors slid open and closed again.
Reflected on the glass were the busy streets outside—and a face veiled in curling smoke.
Xu Zhishu took a deep drag from the Esse cigarette between her fingers and exhaled a ring of smoke.
She used to be a smoker. Later, when she lost weight, she quit—because in Wei Yan’s view, women shouldn’t be associated with smoking or drinking.
However, while abroad, one of the wives Wei Yan wanted to connect with happened to enjoy smoking. Xu Zhishu volunteered to “learn,” successfully building a relationship with her.
After that, Wei Yan turned a blind eye to her smoking—only asking her not to do it too often, as it wouldn’t be good for the child’s upbringing.
A person who operated purely on利益… how ridiculous.
Xu Zhishu turned away from the window, stubbed out the remaining cigarette in the ashtray, and instructed a servant to clean it up before leaving the room.
When she went downstairs, she saw Wei Xiao sitting on the sofa in the living room, both hands wrapped in bandages, angrily sending voice messages.
From his tone, it was clear he intended to teach Yu Yuan a lesson.
In reality, his injuries were minor—just some disinfectant would have been enough. But since it was a private hospital with high service standards, the nurses had carefully bandaged his hands anyway.
“Wei Xiao,” Xu Zhishu said coldly, “haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough today?”
Wei Xiao choked back his words, canceled the voice message, and turned to her with irritation. “So we just let this go?”
“You bear most of the responsibility for this. If you keep pursuing Yu Yuan, it will only worsen others’ impression of you,” Xu Zhishu said.
The word “impression” struck a nerve.
With a mocking tone, Wei Xiao replied, “You’re already damaging people’s impression of me enough.”
Xu Zhishu’s brows furrowed tightly.
She had always known her son wasn’t a good person. But no matter what, he was still her son—and she herself wasn’t any better.
She had become Wei Yan’s mistress for wealth and status, used childbirth to secure her position. Whatever people said about her didn’t matter.
But for her own son to say this…
Then this “bad thing” was no longer worth keeping.
She had arranged for Yu Yuan to be Wei Xiao’s fiancée precisely because she knew the Yu family, eager to attach themselves to the Wei family, would make Yu Yuan obedient.
With Yu Yuan as an outlet, Wei Xiao might behave himself outside.
But judging from Yu Yuan’s behavior today… something must have changed. She was no longer as compliant as she had been as a child.
Gu Qinghuan and Yu Xin’s faces flashed through Xu Zhishu’s mind, and she let out a faint scoff.
Friendship, was it?
One day, they would understand how harsh reality was—and how worthless such intangible things could be.
Wei Xiao had expected Xu Zhishu to lose her temper, but instead, after waiting, all he got was a scoff, leaving him awkward.
“What are you laughing at?” he asked stiffly.
Xu Zhishu ignored the question and said calmly, “Do whatever you want. The engagement with the Yu family can be canceled as well—it hasn’t been finalized anyway.”
Likewise, she would do what she needed to do.
Originally, she had planned to rely on Wei Xiao inheriting the Wei family, allowing her to continue enjoying wealth and status as his mother.
But seeing his attitude now, she’d better not count on him.
It would be wiser to start making plans for herself.
Xu Zhishu turned and went upstairs, leaving Wei Xiao sitting in the living room, baffled.
Was she angry? Was she really going to stop caring about him? Was canceling the engagement just a moment of anger—or serious?
Wei Xiao couldn’t figure it out.
But then another thought struck him—and a pleased smile spread across his face.
He had come up with a brilliant idea.
Chapter 233: Changing the Target
On the first day back at school after the wine tasting, the incident between Wei Xiao and Yu Yuan was thoroughly interrogated by the students of Class Three.
Song Yi was overjoyed. “Well done! Yu Yuan, that was impressive!”
What did teachers like most? Students putting what they’ve learned into practice!
Just thinking about it made Song Yi want to lift Yu Yuan up and show everyone how outstanding his student was.
Ming Xiaolan pushed up her glasses. “Although I agree with Song Yi, after this incident, with Wei Xiao’s personality, he’ll definitely want revenge on Yu Yuan, right?”
“Absolutely,” Jiang Chuchu said bluntly. “What’s more troublesome is that the Yu family won’t support Yu Yuan.”
She turned to Yu Xin. “So what happened after you got back yesterday? How did you deal with your mom?”
Yu Xin took a sip from her thermos. “We classified it as an accident. That’s also what we told Father.”
“What about the engagement?” Song Yi immediately asked.
The moment that question came up, everyone in the class perked up.
Given their family backgrounds, they all understood arranged marriages—but being matched with someone like Wei Xiao was basically a lifelong stain.
“Judging from what Xu Zhishu said at the wine tasting, she might be considering canceling the engagement,” Gu Qinghuan mused.
“My mom, on the other hand, still wants to find a way to maintain it,” Yu Xin said, though her tone was casual, clearly not taking it to heart.
Everyone was discussing in a mess, while Gu Qinghuan twirled her pen thoughtfully.
From her interactions, Xu Zhishu was even more decisive than she had expected—and she didn’t seem to care much about her son.
At the wine tasting, Xu Zhishu had remained coldly detached while Cui Wanning lashed out at Yu Yuan. That calmness felt excessive. At the very least, she should have asked Yu Yuan what had happened.
But she didn’t.
She simply listened to the dispute, only speaking up to “forgive” once Yu Yuan stepped forward and shifted everyone’s attention to her.
It wasn’t that her handling was wrong—but it was undeniably cold.
Not just toward Wei Xiao, but toward Yu Yuan as well.
After all, Yu Yuan had been someone she once selected as a marriage candidate for Wei Xiao. Yet there was neither anger nor comfort—just indifference.
No matter how she thought about it, Gu Qinghuan could only conclude—
She didn’t care.
Not about Wei Xiao, not about Yu Yuan, not even about the feelings of the people present.
Was it arrogance from believing others were beneath the Wei family? No… if that were the case, she would have pursued accountability more aggressively.
Gu Qinghuan frowned, thinking so hard her head almost hurt.
She felt this might be the breakthrough in understanding Xu Zhishu, yet couldn’t quite grasp it.
Fortunately, the class bell rang, forcing everyone to temporarily set aside the gossip and focus on lessons.
At lunch break, Jiang Chuchu and Yu Xin dragged Gu Qinghuan along to eat, continuing their discussion.
“It feels like we can use this opportunity to cancel the engagement,” Jiang Chuchu said.
Yu Xin nodded. “I think so too. My mom doesn’t want to deal with it anymore. Since both sides are leaning that way, a little push might make it happen.”
Gu Qinghuan snapped out of her thoughts. “So the only variable left is Wei Xiao?”
Jiang Chuchu and Yu Xin exchanged looks.
Right—they had forgotten to consider his attitude.
Just as they were about to continue, a familiar voice interrupted them, instantly souring their mood.
Wei Xiao was calling Gu Qinghuan’s name as he walked toward them.
The trio thought in unison: Bad luck—we should’ve checked the calendar before leaving.
Still, they were all seasoned “actors.” By the time he reached them, their expressions were perfectly normal.
Gu Qinghuan spoke first. “Is your hand okay now?”
It wasn’t concern—she just wanted to confirm the injury, to reduce Yu Yuan’s perceived fault.
Wei Xiao was slightly surprised. He hadn’t even noticed her yesterday, focusing only on Yu Yuan and Yu Xin. He assumed Yu Xin must have told her.
He waved casually. “Thanks for asking. It’s nothing serious—the bandage was removed that same night.”
Gu Qinghuan glanced at his hand—just a few faint red marks remained.
So why had he gone to the hospital?
Leaving Yu Yuan alone to face everyone’s scrutiny—and Cui Wanning’s anger?
Suppressing her thoughts, she asked lightly, “That’s good. By the way, I heard you and Yu Yuan have an engagement?”
She had intended to test his attitude—but to her surprise, Wei Xiao seemed… pleased.
As if he had been waiting for this topic.
Alarm bells rang in all three of their minds.
Sure enough, Wei Xiao said, “My mom did have that plan before. But after what happened, she thinks Yu Yuan isn’t suitable, and wants the Yu family to switch to someone else.”
Jiang Chuchu had to use all her willpower not to grab Yu Xin and run.
Switch to someone else?
Which “someone else”?!
There were only so many daughters in the Yu family!
This disgusting cockroach had previously set his sights on Gu Qinghuan—now he was targeting Yu Xin too?
Why was he fixated on her two best friends?!
Gu Qinghuan clenched her teeth inwardly, forcing herself to stay calm.
It seemed Xu Zhishu really was considering canceling the engagement. But as for Wei Xiao’s second statement—she highly doubted it.
A woman who had once concealed her criminal identity, reinvented herself to marry into the Wei family, and even dared to swap Wei Yan’s son…
There was no way Xu Zhishu would choose Yu Xin.
Not because Yu Xin wasn’t good—but because Xu Zhishu would recognize that Yu Yuan, raised to be compliant, was easier to control.
Yu Xin, by contrast, would be much harder to handle.
Perhaps the engagement was being reconsidered precisely because Yu Yuan had changed.
Gu Qinghuan paused.
Wait—not just Yu Yuan.
Wei Xiao himself was also hard to control.
Xu Zhishu’s coldness wasn’t just indifference—it was disengagement.
She didn’t want to deal with Wei Xiao anymore.
His true identity was a buried time bomb.
Xu Zhishu was indeed someone who took risks for wealth—but she never aimed for a dead end.
If a son was unreliable, she would discard him.
It sounded ruthless—but very few people could actually do it.
And Xu Zhishu clearly could.
After all, she had already abandoned once for the sake of wealth and status.
She could do it again.
While Gu Qinghuan was deep in thought, Yu Xin’s expression had also turned grim.
She stepped back. “This kind of matter should be discussed between the two families first. It’s not something I can handle personally.”
“We’re in a hurry to get today’s limited dishes, so we won’t chat further.”
With that, Yu Xin hooked her arms around Gu Qinghuan and Jiang Chuchu, pulling them away.
Wei Xiao looked slightly displeased, but then thought it was normal for Yu Xin to feel nervous. He simply stood there, watching them leave.
Just wait.
The real show was about to begin.
