You're dumping me, huh? Fine, then I'll just pick up the school beauty and make her my wif

"Sister Qinghe, is this your first time in the capital? If you get bored in the future, you can come and play with me."

Su Qinghe's eyes crinkled into a smile. "Okay."

"There are quite a few fun places in Beijing. I usually go horseback riding, get a spa treatment, and attend some brand exclusive events."

As Jiang Yueyao spoke, she gently fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist and smiled softly at Su Qinghe, "If Sister Qinghe is interested, I can take you to see it another day."

She spoke in a light and cheerful tone, as if she were sharing her life.

Yet every sentence carries a subtle, almost imperceptible undertone.

It showcases her sense of superiority as the daughter of a wealthy family.

Su Qinghe didn't understand what a private gathering was, nor did she understand the rules of those circles.

But she could sense the condescension in the other person's tone.

Oh, so you came here to show off.

So Su Qinghe just nodded obediently, "Mmm."

If it weren't for the fact that this person was A-Che's sister and she had to be polite, Su Qinghe wouldn't have wanted to pay any attention to her at all.

Jiang Yueyao saw that she didn't respond, and a hint of impatience flashed in her eyes.

She originally thought that a girl like Su Qinghe from a small town would be somewhat intimidated by such things.

Even if Su Qinghe were to ask a few more questions, it would only allow her to flaunt her sense of superiority.

As a result, Su Qinghe could only say "uh-huh".

This gave her a feeling of frustration, like punching a pile of cotton.

Jiang Yueyao sneered inwardly. It seemed that this vixen was quite good at hiding and knew how to play dumb.

She quickly changed the subject, "By the way, Sister Qinghe, that dress you're wearing is really pretty. What brand is it? I'd like to buy one too."

Su Qinghe looked down at the hem of her skirt. "I don't know. A-Che bought it for me. I guess he just bought it online."

Jiang Yueyao's smile remained unchanged. "Oh, I see. At first glance, it looked just like a niche haute couture brand. Turns out I was mistaken."

Su Qinghe immediately understood the sarcasm in Jiang Yueyao's words. Wasn't she implying that the clothes she was wearing were counterfeit?

Jiang Che naturally understood as well. He stopped picking up food with his chopsticks and then glanced coldly at Jiang Yueyao.

Jiang Yueyao noticed the gaze and immediately put on an innocent expression. "Brother Che, I was just asking casually. It's normal for girls to talk about clothes."

"Is that so?"

Jiang Che's eyes flashed with mocking coldness as he slowly retorted, "It's normal for girls to talk about clothes, but why don't you talk about what brand of foundation you're wearing? You've applied so much foundation, yet you still manage to hide that sour, jealous smell emanating from you."

"I'm telling you this so that my Qinghe can avoid this kind of trouble."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yueyao's sweet smile shattered instantly, her face turning red and white in turns, so embarrassed that her lips trembled.

When Zhou Yazhi saw her beloved daughter being criticized, her face hardened and she was about to explode.

Jiang Che didn't give her a chance to make trouble. He grabbed Su Qinghe's slender wrist, stood up, and greeted Jiang Zhenshan and Song Huilan at the head of the table: "Grandpa and Grandma, Qinghe said she wants to go to the restroom. I'll take her there. You two eat first."

The two left the restaurant quickly.

Jiang Yueyao's sweet smile faded slightly as she lowered her head to drink her juice, her heart filled with resentment.

On what grounds?

Jiang Che had never been this protective of her cousin before.

A girl who appeared out of nowhere was able to sit next to the grandmother on her very first day at the Jiang family, and Jiang Che even publicly supported her.

She is not convinced.

……

Jiang Che led Su Qinghe through the corridor and stopped at the corner of the courtyard corridor.

Su Qinghe leaned against a pillar, tilted her head slightly to look at Jiang Che, and asked softly, "A-Che, were you angry just now?"

"Hmm." Jiang Che, who had been emotionally charged earlier, had calmed down considerably. He patted the girl's head and said, "I'm really annoyed by how they talk to you in such a pretentious way."

Su Qinghe pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, and then asked the question that had been on her mind for a long time.

"Ah Che, I always feel... there's something off about you and your second uncle's family?"

"You barely interacted during the meal, and the way your second uncle, second aunt, and Yueyao looked at us clearly carried... a kind of hostility?"

Jiang Che nodded. "You're right."

"To put it simply, my second uncle, Jiang Dahe, has always wanted to compete with my father for the family property and control of the company since he was young."

"He's the second oldest, my dad is the eldest."

"My grandfather handed over the core of the family business to my father, while my second uncle only received a few subsidiaries and peripheral projects."

"Anyone would feel uncomfortable in this situation, and I can understand that. After all, the two brothers are both biological children. The old man was biased in this matter, but time has proven that the old man was right."

Su Qinghe blinked in confusion, not quite understanding Jiang Che's meaning.

Jiang Che paused for a moment before continuing, "Because Jiang Dahe's abilities are not as good as my father's."

"Just dealing with the few subsidiaries and peripheral projects that his grandfather assigned to him has kept him extremely busy and caused him to make repeated mistakes. The losses he incurred in a year were more than the total losses of all the other businesses in the Jiang family combined."

Jiang Che shook his head helplessly, "With results like this, how can the old man, as the head of the family, dare to hand over the core business of the Jiang family to him?"

"Think about it, if a normal person knows that they are not capable enough and therefore cannot access the core industries, they might feel a little resentful, but they certainly won't say anything."

"Jiang Dahai is different. He dares to do dirty tricks in the dark, such as winning over shareholders, embezzling project funds, and even colluding with outsiders to suppress the company's stock price."

"As for my second aunt, Zhou Yazhi..."

Jiang Che sneered, "She's even more audacious than my second uncle."

"My dad told me that she was behind several internal personnel upheavals in the company."

Su Qinghe's mouth opened slightly as she listened.

Therefore, the attitude of that mother and daughter towards her just now was not a normal greeting between relatives, but a deliberate attempt to make things difficult and test her.

So that's what happened.

She had been desperately telling herself to be patient and not to be disrespectful in front of her elders.

As it turned out, they didn't treat her like family at all; instead, they were using her as a scapegoat to establish their authority.

Su Qinghe blinked twice, then slowly raised her head, her eyes filled with excitement as she looked at Jiang Che.

"Ah Che."

"Um?"

"You should have said earlier that they didn't get along with us."

"I've been keeping a straight face the whole time, afraid of saying or doing something wrong and embarrassing you."

"It turns out they had ill intentions to begin with, so why should I pretend to be virtuous and kind?"

Jiang Che looked at the eager young girl in front of him and couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart.

I definitely feel sorry for them.

From the moment Su Qinghe entered the Jiang family's gate, she had been carefully maintaining her composure and politeness, afraid that any action she took might cause him to lose face.

The results of it?

The more she yielded, the more excited the mother and daughter became.

"But don't get too worked up." Jiang Che ruffled her hair, his tone tinged with helplessness. "We'll just deal with it normally when we get back. There's no need to lower ourselves to argue with them."

"Don't worry, A-Che, I know what I'm doing."

Su Qinghe patted her small chest, looking very confident.

Jiang Che sized her up for two seconds, feeling that the glint in the girl's eyes didn't quite seem like she was "knowing what she was doing."

But he didn't say anything more.

Anyway, with Su Qinghe's brains, it's hard to say who would win if she really went up against Zhou Yazhi and Jiang Yueyao, that mother and daughter duo.