Accidentally provoking the spring tide

Chapter 117. Things Out of Touch with the Times

Qu Xuezhen herself was well aware that once Old Master Ji passed away, she would have little place in the Ji family, so she always tried to please Ji Yanci, the heir.

Unfortunately, the other party did not appreciate it.

Just like now, the man didn't even give her a second glance.

Qu Xuezhen's smile froze slightly, but she quickly recovered and gently leaned over to wake the elderly woman who was resting with her eyes closed on the chaise longue.

"Grandpa, Brother Ci is here."

Ji Yanci bowed his head respectfully: "Grandpa."

The old man lying down slowly opened his eyes. His pupils were a somewhat cloudy gray, and he had large bags under his eyes. His skin, dry as tree bark, clung tightly to his bones. He didn't look fortunate at all; instead, he looked rather frightening.

His gaze slowly swept over the crowd.

Despite his slow movements, the living room, which had been filled with laughter just moments before, immediately fell silent.

Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to meet his gaze.

This naturally includes Ji Yanci and Lin Feng.

The former felt that the gaze finally fell on him, scrutinizing and examining him.

Ji Yanci's Adam's apple bobbed slightly as he bowed his head respectfully and said, "Grandpa, I recently found a painting of wild geese flying south, and I wanted to bring it over for you to appreciate."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Yanci secretly gave Lin Feng a wink.

The latter immediately understood and opened the rustic wooden box.

The scroll was slowly pulled open.

It was a landscape painting in ink wash, with a wild goose flying among the mountains and forests, seemingly carefree and at ease, yet exuding a sense of loneliness and desolation.

The artist is unknown; otherwise, this painting wouldn't have remained at the auction until now, when Lin Feng finally bought it.

Old Master Ji's gaze swept over the painting before he finally spoke slowly.

"Now that everyone is here, let's start eating."

The sound was like a strong wind blowing through wooden planks, or like a broken accordion.

Dry and hoarse.

Then, with Qu Xuezhen's help, he got up and walked towards the restaurant.

Behind him, a group of Ji family descendants followed.

Seeing that the old man had left, Lin Feng breathed a sigh of relief and said in a low voice, "I was always on tenterhooks every time I came to see your grandfather."

"But your grandfather didn't say whether he was satisfied with the painting or not. Did we not do something to his liking?"

Lin Feng looked at the landscape painting in his hand, his brow furrowed. "It's a pity I don't know much about these things. If Jiang Jixu were here..."

Realizing he had said something he shouldn't have, the man immediately shut his mouth.

Then he looked blankly at Ji Yanci, who remained silent, and spoke in a voice barely audible.

"I'm sorry, Ci-ge, I didn't mean to."

Ji Yanci lowered his eyes, glanced at the scroll, and a look of weariness and coldness appeared in his peach blossom eyes.

Come to think of it, he had never bothered with such matters before.

Because as long as he casually mentions "I'm going to the old house today," Jiang Jixu will automatically prepare a gift for Grandpa Ji.

For more than 20 years, there has not been a single mistake.

Ji Yanci clenched his fists and looked away.

"Give the painting to the housekeeper, let's go eat first."

Lin Feng could only nod nervously.

When he turned around, he realized that there was someone else next to Ji Yanci.

The man had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and his appearance was somewhat inferior to Ji Yanci's; that was his cousin, Ji Yanting.

Lin Feng frowned slightly.

Ji Yanting has always regarded Ji Yanci as a thorn in his side, and his visit to him now is definitely not a good thing!

Sure enough, as soon as he walked back, he heard the man raise an eyebrow and say smugly, "Looks like you didn't prepare a gift this time. Grandpa doesn't even want to mention it."

"I heard Miss Jiang got married. What, now that she's married, you can't even afford to prepare a gift?"

"That won't do, my dear brother~" Ji Yanting said with a smile, "If you can't even handle this small matter, how will you take over the Ji family in the future?"

"Do you need your cousin's help?"

Lin Feng, who was listening nearby, was terrified.

Ji Yanting's behavior is no different from dancing in a minefield.

Ji Yanci looked at him expressionlessly.

"Since my cousin has such good intentions, why don't you go and mention it to Grandpa yourself?"

Ji Yanting's face darkened. After a long while, he sneered and lowered his voice: "Ji Yanci, without the marriage agreement from the Jiang family, what do you think you are? Why don't you guess why the old man suddenly called us over?"

The man said this and then slightly raised his head.

"I advise you to be sensible. I'll consider reserving a position for you in the company."

Ji Yanci lifted his eyelids: "I'll return those words to you."

“Ji Yanting, you’re already showing off before you’ve even climbed over my head. You’re celebrating too soon.”

"Alright, just wait and see. Don't say I didn't give you a chance!"

After making his harsh remarks, Ji Yanting strode away.

Lin Feng asked with some concern, "Is it really okay to completely break ties with him like this?"

Ji Yanci lowered his eyes: "We were originally enemies."

Lin Feng looked at the dejected man and his eyelids twitched: "Brother Ci, don't take that guy's words to heart. Regardless of whether the Jiang family supports you or not, you are the only heir of the Ji family."

But in fact, they all knew that Ji Yanci was valued by the old man partly because he was quite capable, but more importantly because he was engaged to Jiang Jixu.

If it weren't for Jiang Jixu, Old Master Ji would never have promoted Ji Yanci to President of the Ji Group, bypassing the usual ranks.
-
At the dinner table, Ji Yanting glanced at Ji Yanci and deliberately asked, "Yanci, where is Miss Jiang? Why didn't you bring her with you today?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present cast subtle glances.

Madam Ji's expression stiffened slightly as she tried to brush it off: "Ji Xu has been quite busy with work lately, and it's not appropriate for A-Ci to bother her at this time."

A woman next to her, who looked to be about the same age as Madam Ji, covered her mouth and chuckled.

"But I heard that the girl from the Jiang family got married?"

"Is it because the young couple is newly married that they don't have time to come and keep us company?"

"Married?" Ji Yanting feigned surprise. "Didn't Miss Jiang get engaged to Yanci? How could this be!"

Lin Feng gritted his teeth in anger.

That damn green tea b*tch!
Who are you implying here?
Ji Yanci's expression remained unchanged, only the knuckles of his fingers gripping the chopsticks turned white.

The others present clearly enjoyed the spectacle and, one after another—

"Oh dear, what's wrong with the Jiang family? They just canceled the engagement like that. They really don't respect the Ji family at all!"

"Wasn't that Jiang family member madly in love with our Ci-ge before? How come she suddenly changed her mind?"

"Don't be too sad, Ci Ge'er. There are plenty of fish in the sea. If the Jiang family doesn't work out, there's always the Li family or the Shen family, right?"

"But I've seen on Weibo that my brother has been getting very close to a female celebrity in the entertainment industry lately. Could it be that Jiang Jixu is angry about this and that's why she broke off the engagement with my brother?"

The speaker was Ji Mingyue, the daughter of Ji Yanci's second aunt.

A young girl who is still in junior high school.

The air fell silent instantly.

Everyone harbored their own ulterior motives, and many more were secretly observing Old Master Ji's expression.

Qu Xuezhen was removing small bones from the fish for the old man, her head bowed as if she hadn't heard anything.

After removing the bones, she placed the snow-white fish meat into the latter's bowl and said softly, "The sea bass is quite good today." Old Master Ji slightly raised his eyelids, his voice dry and hoarse.

"Take away anything that's out of touch with the times."

Ji Yanci pursed his thin lips and put down his chopsticks.

"I'm sorry, Patriarch, I didn't handle the matter with the Jiang family well." He lowered his head. "I accept the punishment, and I beg Grandpa to give me another chance."

Grandpa Ji raised his hand, which looked like a withered branch, and Qu Xuezhen immediately understood and handed him her cane.

Then she helped the old man to his feet.

“I don’t concern myself with other matters,” the old man said, his back hunched. “Just remember, the Ji family has no shortage of people.”

Ji Yanci's face immediately turned pale. His lips trembled for a moment before he finally managed to utter only, "...Yes, Master."

Ji Yanting curled his lips into a smile.

With Qu Xuezhen's help, Grandpa Ji moved slowly, his hoarse voice carrying over.

"Effective immediately, Ji Yanci is hereby removed from his position as president."

"The new president...whoever signs the first cooperation agreement for the company's latest project will become the president."
-
After Mr. Ji left, the others simply stopped pretending.

"I never expected the old man to be so ruthless this time, actually removing you from your position, Ci Ge'er."

"Yes, who doesn't know that the old man has always doted on Ci Ge'er the most since he was a child?"

Everyone has long been envious of Ji Yanci's words.

Not only his peers, but also Ji Yanci's father's generation.

There was nothing they could do. The old man had gone to great lengths to designate Ji Yanci as his successor, even at the cost of a generational leap. Now that they had finally gotten a chance to kick him while he was down, how could they let it go so easily?

Madam Ji's face darkened, and she sneered upon hearing this.

"Even if our Yanci family has temporarily lost power, do you think you can be so smug?" Her gaze swept over those who were laughing the loudest, and she said, word by word, "Don't forget what the old man said—"

"Whoever signs the order for the company's latest project first will become the new president."

She said coldly, "Yanci, let's go."

Ji Yanci got up and was bumped hard on the shoulder by the man as he passed Ji Yanting.

The latter said arrogantly, "My dear brother, I won't let you off this time."

Ji Yanci glanced at him.

"Come on if you dare."

As the atmosphere between the two became increasingly tense, a pair of clear, innocent eyes quietly observed everything from a distance, with a slight upturn at the corners of their pink lips.

An impatient female voice suddenly rang in her ears: "Let's go, Mingyue!"

Ji Mingyue obediently followed the woman out of the Ji family's old house.

When it was time to get in the car, the woman disgustedly shooed her to the passenger seat: "Go sit in the front, your brother needs to sit in the back!"

Ji Mingyue silently turned around and went to the passenger seat.

But as soon as I got on the bus, I was slapped across the face.

She couldn't dodge in time and was hit so hard that she saw stars and heard a buzzing in her ears.

The man in the driver's seat stared at her darkly: "If you dare to say anything out of line again, I'll sew your mouth shut!"

The girl obediently lowered her head and said, "Daddy, I'm sorry, I know I was wrong."

The woman sitting in the back seat also cursed, "You brat, if Ji Yanci targets our family because of you, I'll break your legs!"

Ji Mingyue remained silent.

Her maternal grandmother was not favored in the Ji family. After her grandmother passed away two years ago, their lives became even more difficult. Her parents only thought about how to make more money from the company and had no desire to compete for power.

The girl lowered her eyes, and in a corner where they couldn't see, a dark light flashed in her eyes.

*
When it was past midnight and both of them were asleep, Ji Mingyue took out a cell phone from the corner, inserted a brand new SIM card, and dialed a number she knew by heart.

The call was connected shortly afterward.

A familiar female voice came from the receiver.

Ji Mingyue's parents would be surprised if they heard this.

The person who contacted her was none other than Qu Xuezhen, who served by the side of Old Master Ji.

"Why did you call so suddenly? I wasn't prepared at all, and that old geezer almost found out."

Ji Mingyue still had a bright red handprint on her face, but her expression was indifferent.

"If you don't even have this much ability, you're not qualified to cooperate with me."

Qu Xuezhen was momentarily speechless, and could only mutter a few words to herself before continuing:
"Ji Yanci lost his engagement, and that old geezer also dismissed him from his post."

"Things are developing exactly as you predicted."

She paused, puzzled, and said, "But why did you say those things at the dinner table today? Wouldn't it have been better to have someone else do it?"

Ji Mingyue's eyes flickered slightly as she looked at the city shrouded in night, and said calmly, "I just can't stand the way he is."

Qu Xuezhen remained silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, scumbags don't deserve it."

As the stepmother, she had seen how the eldest daughter of the Jiang family treated Ji Yanci and had absolutely nothing to say about it.

Moreover, he was humble and polite, and never looked down on her because of her status. The gifts he prepared every time he came to the old house were clearly thoughtful.

Unfortunately, she ran into that scumbag Ji Yanci.

A blessed woman does not enter a family without blessings.

It's good to be free from the quagmire of the Ji family now.

"The first step of the plan has been achieved. What are your plans for the next step?"

A cold glint flashed across Ji Mingyue's young face.

"Two dogs fight, play off."

"Let them fight it out for now."
-
Jiang Jixu lay in bed, her mind filled with the conversation between Lu Lishen and Song Mingzhen during the day. After several failed attempts to fall asleep, she simply turned on the light and took out her tablet to draw.

After opening the software, the girl stared blankly at the recent photo files in the library.

Did she unknowingly paint so many portraits of Lu Lishen?

From bustling food alleys to campus streets blooming with pomegranate flowers.

It was as if as long as Lu Lishen was there.

She will then have endless inspiration.

Jiang Jixu licked his lips and posted the finished drawings to his account on a certain sweet potato platform.

She opened this account when she was in junior high school. At first, she just browsed it for fun. Later, she saw that many people posted their drawings and became bloggers on it, so Jiang Jixu also tried to post her own drawings.

She had no formal training at the time; her skill level was only amateur.

However, it may be precisely because it is closer to the general public's level that it has attracted a lot of fans.

From initially struggling with his writing to later becoming more adept and skilled.

This account has nearly 300,000 followers.

She's already considered a relatively large blogger.

As soon as I posted, comments popped up in the backend.

[Haha, finally caught a glimpse of the author's new work! Is this a new model she hired? They're so beautiful!]

[Who understands! A certain blogger hasn't updated in six months, but when they do, it's high-quality and top-notch! Ahem, let me admire the screen first before I come back to praise them!]

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