Chapter 1266: Embarrassing Gu Jinxiu
While talking, he turned slightly to Xia Ling and nodded gentlemanly in greeting. “Madam Li, long time no see. You’re still as beautiful as before, it’s no wonder you’re the Phoenix that heaven is taking care of.”
Xia Ling stared coldly at him in silence.
Wei Lingnan didn’t mind being treated so coldly. He raised his hand and nodded towards the little bag in his hands. “I’ve brought you a gift, Madam Li, to thank you for taking care of Yingluo all these years.”
At this point, everyone could tell that Wei Lingnan was here for Xia Yingluo and her family.
As for Gu Jinxiu? This man simply did not have her in his eyes.
Gu Jinxiu’s face turned pale. She also felt it. Actually, if Wei Lingnan was a little more heartless and gave her a bit more face, he wouldn’t have shown goodwill to another woman in front of his own fiancee! She felt perplexed and confused, angry and awkward, but she just didn’t dare throw a tantrum at Wei Lingnan. Who knew what this man would do to make her more miserable given his temper?
“Lingnan…” she called weakly.
Wei Lingnan just walked towards Xia Ling and handed the gift to her.
Xia Ling looked at him coldly and didn’t reach out to take it.
Wei Lingnan’s hand stopped half an inch away from her.
The two of them stayed there motionlessly.
Xia Yingluo finally broke the silence. “Wei Lingnan, keep your things away, my mother doesn’t want it.”
Wei Lingnan looked at her sideways. His glance made Xia Yingluo feel a strange kind of fear.
Wei Lingnan smiled and said softly to her, “Yingluo, do you hate me that much?”
Xia Yingluo didn’t know how to reply to him.
Hate? No, it should be resentment. This man had done many overboard things to her. At this thought, she wanted to cut him into pieces. But besides resentment, there seemed to be something else… she didn’t understand, but every time he appeared, her heart was confused.
She reached out a hand and grabbed the gift from Wei Lingnan’s hands.
It was Li Lei who looked at Wei Lingnan sternly. “Your fiancee is still there, our Li family can’t accept your gift. Even if you want to send a gift, you should give it to Ms. Gu Jinxiu. Ms. Gu should be the willing one to accept it.”
He really reached out and handed the gift to Gu Jinxiu.
The atmosphere turned chilly and even the drop of a needle would be heard.
Du Jingjing and Jin Ying already stopped talking. They desperately wanted to shrink their bodies to prevent the fire from spreading to them.
Gu Jinxiu stared at the gift that was suddenly placed in front of her. She was at a loss and instinctively took a glance at her fiancee. But she saw that Wei Lingnan simply didn’t care about the present nor the atmosphere, he was only staring intensely at Xia Yingluo, ignoring everything about the surroundings.
An unnamed fire rose in Gu Jinxiu’s heart.
She felt aggrieved and tormented. It felt like her heart had been dropped into a pot of simmering hot oil. She took a deep breath quietly and managed to control her emotions with much difficulty. Gu Jinxiu reached out to take the gift from Li Lei, then she turned around and glanced at Wei Lingnan.
She wished Wei Lingnan would look at her, even if it was to blame her for accepting the gift.
But Wei Lingnan just ignored her and continued staring only at Xia Yingluo.
She was extremely disappointed, and simply wanted to smash the heavy gift onto Xia Yingluo’s face.
Seemingly sensing her anger, Xia Yingluo turned and looked at her. The sun shone in her crystal clear eyes and her mood was unpredictable.
Gu Jinxiu stared back coldly and couldn’t help but mock her. “Why, now that the gift is mine, Ms. Xia finds it a pity?” Since Li Lei had already said that the Li family wouldn’t rebuild relationships with the Gu family, then Gu Jinxiu simply didn’t have to purposely submit to Xia Yingluo. And with Wei Lingnan wedged between the two of them, there was more resentment for her, so she was ready to fight for life and death with her.
But Xia Yingluo wasn’t in the least bit interested.
She swept her eyes over Gu Jinxiu apathetically and said softly to Xia Ling, “Mother, I’m tired, let’s go in.”
She felt like she was really foolish to have her mood affected by a man like Wei Lingnan. She had already felt uncomfortable at the mention of “fiancee” from Gu Jinxiu, and the fact that Wei Lingnan didn’t explain made her feel even more uncomfortable. This unhappiness continued when Li Lei had rejected the gift that had originally been for Xia Ling and then given it to Gu Jinxiu. But Wei Lingnan had remained aloof nonetheless. What did he mean by it was a gift specifically for her mother? And what did he mean he missed her? They were all fake, he actually didn’t care, did he?
At the thought of this, Xia Yingluo’s mood worsened and she didn’t even want to look at him.
She wasn’t interested in being wedged between this man and his fiancee.
Xia Ling glanced at her daughter in pity and held her hand. “Let’s go, come drink tea with me. Old Master Shan Kouya, Ling’er, come along too, you’ve been standing for a long time outside and must be tired.”
Old Master Shan Kouya smiled and, together with Jin Ling’er, they entered the silent hall.
Li Lei glanced warningly at Wei Lingnan, then followed behind his daughter and wife and closed the door behind them.
Leaving Wei Lingnan standing on the alley at the vegetation hidden from view, his expression unpredictable.
Gu Jinxiu looked at him carefully. “Lingnan…”
This time, he seemed to have heard her calling. He looked down and glanced indifferently at the gift in her hands. “Since you’ve accepted it, just take it.” Then, he disappeared into the alley immediately without a second word.
Gu Jinxiu looked at his disappeared back view longingly, her mind full of complexed thoughts.
Du Jingjing and Jin Ying exchanged glances, feeling like the atmosphere was becoming extremely awkward—Gu Jinxiu’s fiancee had given a gift to another woman and expressed goodwill in front of her. She didn’t accept it and had thrown the gift to her like rubbish, but she regarded it as a treasure instead.
Du Jingjing and Jin Ying both felt that if such a thing was to happen to themselves, how could they possibly endure it?
They really didn’t know what kind of taste Gu Jinxiu had to fall for such a fickle man like Wei Lingnan. Why was she willing to endure hardship gladly?
Gradually, they began to belittle Gu Jinxiu.
Gu Jinxiu’s mind was still buzzing with thought. She looked at their expression and knew what they were thinking, so she forced a smile and tried to explain, “Lingnan and the Li family have business together and, since he knew that the Li family has come back to China, it’s only normal for him to send a gift as a form of greeting.” This kind of explanation was so weak that even she couldn’t stand it. But all aristocrats wanted their pride. So, even if it was to gloss over it forcefully, she still had to justify it.
Du Jingjing and Jin Ying didn’t believe her. If it was really a usual conventional form of greeting, why didn’t the Li family accept it? Why did they make the atmosphere so stiff?
However, they couldn’t expose Gu Jinxiu in public. They had to keep the shameful secrets of the aristocrats amongst themselves, and nobody would dig further if they could still maintain their pride. “I didn’t expect your fiancee to actually have business with the Li family, that’s impressive.” Du Jingjing laughed.
Jin Ying also said half-heartedly, “Impressive.”
The two of them stopped digging further and moved away from this topic quickly.