390 Different Treatment
In the capital, girls from the four great families were not people that ordinary families had the confidence to marry. So, the girls would mostly marry partners from within the four great families. But a few still married into wealthy and noble families.
Even then, there were no exceptions. These girls were all either married to the eldest sons or the future leaders of the respective families.
After all, with the support of the four great families, their husbands would definitely be the future leaders of their families.
But in all influential families, how could there not be any competition?
People like Chu Cimo who were not keen to compete were simply too rare.
However, once this was the case, people would feel that they had to either marry someone from the four great families or not marry at all.
At this moment, the Chu Family could only be considered a new noble family in the capital.
However, Bai Shanshan’s status was special, and she married Chu Cimo first before getting reacquainted with the Bai Family. This was the first time such a case had ever happened in the capital!
So, even if Bai Shanshan had no intention to compete, her presence would still pressure Shen Ruojing.
At the very least, this was so from the viewpoints of outsiders.
For example, right now, the butler was considering the problem of the seating arrangements and had to decide whether Bai Shanshan was seated before Shen Ruojing or behind her…
As the butler sighed, Shen Ruojing waved her hand and spoke in a nonchalant manner, “I can simply sit at the second table.”
After all, she had no plans to become the Matriarch of the Chu Family.
Her company was already handed to Lu Hui, and she was living her life of retirement just fine. Why would she find things to trouble herself with? In the future, if Bai Shanshan became the next Matriarch Chu, wouldn’t Shen Ruojing be able to relax?”
“No way!”
“Absolutely not!”
Bai Shanshan and Matriarch Chu’s voices rang out in the same instant.
Matriarch Chu frowned. “You are Cichen’s fiancee. No matter what, this status of yours is immovable!”
Bai Shanshan also spoke, “Sis-in-law, I have only the utmost respect for you in my heart. You cannot sit behind me! I will sit at the second table, so you have to sit at the first table!”
Bai Shanshan took the initiative to say this. Just when Matriarch Chu was about to agree, the butler suddenly spoke, “I’m afraid this can’t be done. Second Madam, you don’t simply represent the Chu Family at the banquet; you are also representing the Bai Family’s prestige. People from the four great families would have to sit at the main table no matter what. This is the rule in the capital. If you broke the rule because of this, it would seem like our Chu Family is smacking the Bai Family’s face. At that time, both the Chu and Bai Families’ prestige would be damaged. Not only would everyone mock us for being country bumpkins, but the Bai Family would feel ashamed as well.”
At that time, Matriarch Bai would definitely feel awkward, not being able to lose her temper or keep her calm.
Matriarch Chu spoke, “We are originally outsiders here, so why don’t we just do things according to our rules in Sea City? Jingjing has to be seated at the main table! This matter is fixed.”
Bai Shanshan blushed due to anxiousness when she saw them being troubled over this matter. “I…I’m not considered a member of the Bai Family as I didn’t grow up there. Even now, I have not acknowledged grandmother, so we should just do things according to the rules of Sea City. I’ll sit at the second table!”
Her eyes were red. “I cannot allow elder sister-in-law to feel aggrieved because of me.”
Shen Ruojing was her benefactor.
If there was no Shen Ruojing, Bai Shanshan most probably would have been drained dry by that family of vampires and wouldn’t know the truth forever.
So, in Bai Shanshan’s heart, Shen Ruojing was much closer to her compared to the Bai Family.
Matriarch Chu immediately looked at Bai Shanshan. “No need for that! We will simply add one more chair! Even if it is unsightly, so be it. Let’s handle it this way!”
Matriarch Chu tyrannically returned the invitation list to the butler. “Just do things according to my instructions.”
When the butler saw how determined the matriarch was, she couldn’t help but glance at Shen Ruojing, hoping that Shen Ruojing could take the initiative to take a step back. After all, it would truly be unsightly for there to be an additional chair at the main table.
However, Shen Ruojing basically didn’t care about these things. She felt that they should just listen to Matriarch Chu since she had decided.
Rules were made by humans. Since the Chu Family were the ones who sent out the invitation, they naturally should be the ones to set the rules.
The butler silently sighed after seeing Shen Ruojing not saying anything. She then turned and left.
After settling the seating arrangement issues, the butler still had to handle many things.
Madam Yun then brought Yun Wei to purchase things needed for the wedding, while Matriarch Chu was responsible for arranging every detail of the banquet.
As for Shen Ruojing, she went upstairs to rest.
During the afternoon, someone knocked on her door.
When Shen Ruojing opened the door, she saw the butler standing before her. “Miss Shen, I’ve gotten a few top-tier brands to come here to provide clothes for everyone. They have arrived, so do you want to take a look?”
Shen Ruojing helplessly nodded. “Sure. Where? Bring me for a look.”
The butler then led the way and brought Shen Ruojing to a reception room.
After entering, she discovered that there was no one inside.
The butler also hesitated. “Where are the brands?”
A servant who was inside the room cast an awkward look at Shen Ruojing. “They said they are going to measure Second Madam’s size and let her try on the clothes first. They… they want M…Miss Shen to wait for a while.”
The butler. “…”
Her heart sank and felt that things were over.
Any ordinary person would be angry because of this.
Hence, the butler quickly looked at Shen Ruojing, only to see her turning and walking out. “Which room is Shanshan in? I’ll do it together with her, and we can mutually give each other some advice.”
The butler immediately heaved a sigh of relief.
At the same time, she involuntarily sighed in her heart.
Just looked at it.
Miss Shen’s calmness must be faked. But what else could she do? Her background was inferior to Bai Shanshan’s, and if she made a fuss here, both parties would look bad.
The butler suddenly felt some heartache at what Shen Ruojing had to ‘tolerate’.
Shen Ruojing, who completely didn’t have such thoughts in her mind, found it strange as she faintly sensed pity in the butler’s gaze when looking at her.
Shen Ruojing. “…”
She went to Bai Shanshan’s room and knocked on the door. After entering, all the brands were indeed inside, and Bai Shanshan was staring at the clothes and photos they brought over.
After seeing Shen Ruojing, she immediately spoke, “Sis-in-law, can you choose for me? Quickly advise me.”
Shen Ruojing calmly walked over and looked at the brands.
One of the brands had a white dress that looked very suitable for Bai Shanshan.
Shen Ruojing pointed at that as she spoke, “This one isn’t bad.”
Bai Shanshan nodded. “I feel the same too.”
After that, Bai Shanshan looked at a red dress from the brand named ‘Lada’. “Sis-in-law, this one suits you.”
“Is that so?” Shen Ruojing nodded. “Let’s finalize things then. You will wear white and I’ll wear red.”
If it wasn’t a Chu Family’s banquet, she couldn’t be bothered to wear such formal clothes.
The two of them casually finished selecting their clothes. After that, the brands had to take their measurements. The brand that was selected by Bai Shanshan was working assiduously to do so.
Shen Ruojing then walked to the ‘Lada’ brand manager, and just when she was about to lift her arms for the measurement, the manager ignored her and even glared at her. After that, she walked toward Bai Shanshan and spoke ardently…
“Madam Bai, why don’t you look at more clothes from our brand? We have white dresses too. As for that red dress you chose earlier, we can also change it to white color for you…”
These brands were competitive as well.
They were all top brands, and if nobility wore their dresses, it would make the brand’s image rise further. But if someone with no status wore them, it would only diminish their brand’s image.
Celebrities might beg to be the spokesperson for these brands, but when facing a truly influential family, these brands would always be the ones begging.
The Bai Family’s estranged granddaughter was finally found. This matter would become a popular topic in the capital sooner or later.
If the manager could get Bai Shanshan to wear an article of clothing from their brand at the banquet, it would be considered a free advertisement for the brand! Hence, these brands all put in a lot of effort today to get Bai Shanshan to choose them.
This was why when the butler told them to wait in the reception room for Shen Ruojing, these people took matters into their own hands and came to look for Bai Shanshan directly.
Upon hearing this, Bai Shanshan’s face turned red, and she cast an embarrassed look at Shen Ruojing. “I chose this red dress for my sister-in-law.”
The brand manager of Lada immediately spoke, “Pardon me for being blunt. This dress isn’t suitable for Madam Shen. Her demeanor doesn’t match the concept of our brand…”