Take her as my wife

The 15th was a Friday, and Tan asked his supervisor for leave in advance.

The leader approved the leave for him without asking any questions.

The next morning, Tan Wen saw their leader's name on the invitation list—no wonder.

The Xia family ancestral hall was built separately in a prime location in the suburbs, and the old man actually had a mountain villa with a hot spring there.

After the lengthy ancestral recognition ceremony, it was already noon. Tan Wen was led by Xia Xun to offer wine to the collateral relatives of the Xia family.

Although his relatives were all his elders, when Tan Wen went to offer toasts, they all lowered their glasses and smiled so kindly.

How could he not be kind and approachable? On such an important day, Xia Zhengyi and his son Xia Yuanshan were nowhere to be seen. It's said that Xia Zhengyi even lost his position as the president of the Public Security University. Now, suddenly, a young master appears, and he's Xia Zhengyue's bloodline. What else can't everyone understand?

Sooner or later, the power in the Xia family will belong to this young master.

These people would clink glasses with Tan Wen, and Tan Wen would receive a large "red envelope" in return.

Xia Wei helped collect the gifts from behind; the trays were almost overflowing. Finally, the toasting ceremony was over.

Tan Wen had nothing in his stomach except for alcohol, so Xia Xun let him go and went to drink with others.

"Take it easy, be careful of gout."

Xia Xun waved his hand, seemingly impatient, but actually with a smile on his face: "Enough with the nagging, I know what I'm doing."

Once Tan was free, the first thing he did was go find Jiang Ni.

Jiang Ni, Jiang Qiaonan, Liu Jiaren, and Jiang Fengyu sat at a table with Lin Jiao, Jiang Yan, Jiang Ze, Liu Jiaren's parents, and Jiang Fengyu's parents.

Huo Huo was being held by Jiang Fengyu and drinking milk.

Seeing him arrive, Jiang Ni pulled out the chair next to her and invited him, "Come and eat something to fill your stomach."

Tan Wen didn't sit down. He first greeted Jiang Qiaonan politely and respectfully, but the word "Dad" got stuck in his throat. He then changed his words with difficulty and said, "Hello, Uncle."

He gave his father-in-law, Jiang Qiaonan, a lot of face.

Many people were watching them, and some who were not familiar with Jiang Qiaonan began to speculate about his identity—who was such a big shot that he could make the young master of the Xia family, who was so popular today, bow and nod?

Jiang Qiaonan was overjoyed: "Sit down, come and eat."

Tan Wen sat down and greeted the other elders at the table.

Both Liu's and Jiang's parents were business people, and no matter how wealthy they were, they knew they weren't on the same level as the Xia family. This meal was entirely thanks to their own children.

They responded warmly to Tan's question and took the initiative to toast him.

Tan answered them all.

Liu Jiaren and Jiang Fengyu were friends with Tan Wen, so they sat there without moving, eating and feeding their children as if nothing had happened.

It was Jiang Qiaonan who came to her rescue at that moment.

"This is your Aunt Lin, we had breakfast together last time. These are Nini's younger brother and sister, sister Jiang Yan and brother Jiang Ze," Jiang Qiaonan said, looking at the two children. "Call him brother. This is your sister Nini's boyfriend."

Tan Wen stared at the two middle school kids for a moment. These two kids were young and couldn't hide anything. They reluctantly said, "Hello, brother."

"Hello, everyone," Tan replied indifferently, then buried his head in his food.

He ignored Lin Jiao again.

Jiang Qiaonan saw through the trick; Tan Wen was shrewd and knew that this "cold shoulder" was clearly intentional.

However, he couldn't figure out what Tan Wen meant. But there were many people at the table, and even more people watching them, so Jiang Qiaonan had no choice but to pretend he didn't know anything and didn't deliberately mention Lin Jiao's existence again.

Tan Wen was indeed hungry. He had been drinking with the people at the table, and Jiang Ni had taken the opportunity to put a lot of food into his bowl. He quickly finished the food in his bowl.

Jiang Ni stood up, picked up an empty bowl to ladle soup for him, but Tan Wen grabbed her wrist: "I can do it myself, are you full, sister?"

"Okay," Jiang Ni handed him the bowl, "Eat more, you'll definitely have to go out for a business dinner this afternoon."

As a result, in the afternoon, not only Tan Wen, but also Jiang Ni were summoned by Xia Xun.

Because several of Xia Xun's old comrades-in-arms came, all of whom were retired top leaders or second-in-commands in the army, holding high positions and great power.

"This is my little grandson—Xiao Yue's son," Xia Xun patted Tan Wen on the shoulder, "Xiao Zong."

Several old comrades looked Tan Wen up and down, and one of them praised him, saying, "You have a great spirit, just like you did when you were young."

"Old Li is just talking nonsense. Of course my grandson looks like me," Xia Xun said, pointing to Jiang Ni after introducing Tan Wen. His tone became even gentler. "Jiang Ni, my future granddaughter-in-law, is a lawyer. She's a very outstanding young lady."

Jiang Nichong nodded to the several serious old men: "Hello, grandfathers."

The old men, their faces tense, replied with a "hello" in unison. They seemed serious, but in reality, they were filled with jealousy towards Xia Xun. Wasn't Xia Xun's grandson only 21? How come he had already found a girlfriend, and such a charming and capable girl at that!

In their families, not to mention the grandchildren, even their own sons are still single or divorced!

After meeting Xia Xun's old comrades, Tan Wen was asked to stay and keep them company. Several old men, unwilling to admit their age, all wanted to test their skills against Tan Wen when they heard he was a criminal investigator.

Jiang Ni went back to find Jiang Qiaonan and the others first.

Xia Xun made all the arrangements, providing rooms for the guests to rest in the afternoon.

Jiang Qiaonan comforted Lin Jiao in the room. Lin Jiao had also figured out what happened at noon, and after lunch she started making a scene and wanted to leave.

"Your son-in-law clearly doesn't like me and gives me attitude," Lin Jiao didn't yell or shout. Instead, her eyes reddened as she pretended to wipe away tears with a tissue. "As your stepmother, I don't believe I've ever mistreated your daughter, but can you honestly say that it wasn't Nini who spoke ill of me to him that caused that young master Xia to embarrass me at the dinner table!"

Although Jiang Qiaonan didn't know the reason, she still spoke up for Jiang Ni: "How could that be? You know Nini's personality. She's not the kind of person who gossips behind people's backs."

"She wasn't born of me, so I have no idea!" Lin Jiao turned her body away from Jiang Qiaonan and continued to fake cry.

She had barely finished speaking when there was a knock on the door.

Jiang Ni stood at the door, tall and elegant, her tone indifferent: "Then Aunt Lin can ask me to my face, or question me, whether I have spoken ill of you to my boyfriend behind his back."

Lin Jiao's body stiffened.

Caught between his wife and daughter, Jiang Qiaonan could only try to smooth things over: "If there's any misunderstanding among family members, it's good to talk it out openly—Nini, come in first."

We can't let anything unpleasant happen on this important day for the Xia family, making us a laughingstock.