After talking with Old Master Min for a while, the old man sent him and Min Xingchuan to entertained the guests.
He knew that the old man was doing this for his own good, and it was also a way for him to become more familiar among the top tiers in H City.
Although Shen Ran was very reluctant, he still stood beside Min Xingchuan obediently and called him softly, “Brother Chuan.”
Min Xingchuan glanced at him, said nothing more, and walked up to shake hands with a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties.
Anyone who can be greeted personally by Min Xingchuan must be of extraordinary status.
Sure enough, the moment the other party saw Min Xingchuan, he said, “The last time I saw you was at the H City Young Entrepreneurs Summit. You won the H City renovation project in one fell swoop. You’re really formidable!”
Min Xingchuan said very politely, “Secretary Ji, you are so kind. Grandpa has been waiting for you for a long time. Please come this way.”
As he spoke, Min Xingchuan invited Secretary Ji to sit at Old Master Min’s table, and the old men at the table exchanged greetings with each other.
Shen Ran realized that staying here was of little use, so he quietly slipped over to Shen Jue’s table and started chatting with Ruan Letian.
As soon as the two kids sat together, they started gossiping. Xiaotian whispered in Shen Ran’s ear, “See that guy sitting in the corner? He’s Min Xingchuan’s illegitimate brother, who’s never been seen before. I heard he’s the most favored of all his illegitimate siblings.”
Shen Ran looked over there and saw a young man with very fair skin but a somewhat unhealthy look.
Ruan Letian said, “I heard that he has been sick since he was a child and in poor health, so Uncle Min never took him out.”
Shen Ran was speechless and said, “It’s Min Xingchuan’s birthday, and his father brought so many illegitimate children here. Wouldn’t that make him feel disgusted?”
Ruan Letian said, “He’s probably been used to it since he was a kid. You know how eccentric Uncle Min is. Even Grandpa Min can’t control him, and now he just ignores everything. I heard that Uncle Min once pissed Grandpa Min off so much that he fell ill. Since then, the old man has turned a blind eye, as long as he doesn’t cause any trouble, he won’t bother to talk about it.”
Shen Ran glanced at the illegitimate brother again and asked, “Then why did he bring him out this time?”
Ruan Letian whispered, “I’ve heard that he wants to arrange a blind date for him.”
Shen Ran: ？？？
Ruan Letian continued, “He’s the only one among the Min family brothers who has a fertile physique, and he’s already eighteen. It’s impossible to keep him any longer [footnote]Actually, I’m a bit confused here…..Raw is 再留就留不住了(Zài liú jiù liú bù zhùle); impossible to keep him any longer. I guess this just like old tradition where a girl reach adulthood must have a fiancee?[/footnote].”
Shen Ran understood now, Min Xingchuan’s father was indeed weird.
Ruan Letian chuckled softly and said, “Let’s guess, will Min Hongru bring a male or female companion this time?”
Shen Ran had nothing to do anyway, so he made a bet with Ruan Letian.
Ruan Letian said, “I’ll bet one thousand on the female.”
Shen Ran said, “Then I’ll bet on the male and send it to the group of three of us.”
Ruan Letian nodded in agreement, and then he and Shen Ran each sent a 1,000 yuan red envelope to the WeChat group chat of three person [footnote]I guess the group chat member is SR, RL, including SJ[/footnote].
A few moments later, a man dressed in stylish clothes, who looked to be no older than forty, confidently walked in.
He was Min Hongru, the father of Min Xingchuan.
The name Min Hongru carried many hopes and expectations from Old Master Min, but unfortunately, the person named Min Hongru was completely incompatible with those expectations.
He looked more like a street thug, but with a slightly more authoritative and sophisticated air, almost like a gang leader.
He has always been like this since he was young; now that he was old, his spirit remains youthful, and he enjoys life even more.
Even more surprisingly, he brought along a male and a female companion with him today.
Shen Ran: ……
Ruan Letian: ……
Both of them instinctively looked towards Min Xingchuan and the old patriarch. Min Xingchuan’s expression remained calm, but the old patriarch’s face was ashen, indicating that he was extremely angry.
Min Xingchuan gently patted his grandfather’s hand, presumably to calm him down.
Shen Ran felt that the young woman accompanying Min Hongru looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t quite remember where he had seen her before.
The two sat at a table not far from where Shen Ran and Ruan Letian were seated, it was probably a deliberate arrangement to keep them at a distance from Old Master Min.
This made Shen Ran and Ruan Letian feel a little awkward about whispering to each other, as it would be embarrassing if he heard them, since he was his nominal father-in-law.
At that moment, a woman of high status nearby muttered disapprovingly, “What a flirt! She’s throwing her charms around everywhere, who is she trying to seduce?”[footnote]Okay. So, I’m not sure who the lady talk about here, might be MH or the companion he brought, since google give me “she”, then I will keep this for now.[/footnote]
Shen Ran couldn’t help but glance over there, just as he was about to grab a piece of melon[footnote]Gossip[/footnote].
But he only ate the outer layer of the melon, and then Min Min ran excitedly to Min Hongru’s side.
Shen Ran thought Min-min was going to greet her uncle, but instead, Min Min bypassed Min Hongru and, looking delighted, asked the woman standing next to him, “Excuse me, are you Ms. Tia?”
The woman smiled and nodded, saying, “Is there something you need, young lady?”
Shen Ran: ？？？
F**k?
He wasn’t completely unfamiliar with the name Tia; he had heard it before.
She was the top-ranked female streamer on his Entertainment Live Broadcast, and reportedly several wealthy men were vying to sponsor her.
Finally, one wealthy patron offered her 100,000 yuan upfront and obtained her contact information.
Unexpectedly, this person turned out to be Min Hongru; it was truly a small world[footnote]Raw is 无巧不成书(Wúqiǎobùchéngshū); curious coincidence; it’s a phrase said to show your surprise that people or events in different places are connected[/footnote].
Min Min unexpectedly was a fan of female internet celebrity?
How could this heiress, who returned from abroad, be so fascinated by the style of online influencers?
It wasn’t that female influencers were inherently inferior in any way; it was just that within this industry, there was an unspoken rule that often leads people to view influencers with a biased perspective.
And, to be honest, this anchor, Tia, was really good at teasing men’s interest.
In this streamer competition, Tia was practically guaranteed to win; her votes were already far ahead of the second-place candidate.
However, other streamers were not to be underestimated; although she ranks first in the entertainment category, her overall ranking on the popularity chart isn’t very high.
The top spot goes to that campus heartthrob from H University; although his live streaming sessions were short, he has a large number of loyal fans.
He never campaigned or even spoke during his live streams, yet many girls went crazy voting for him.
The key point was that it wasn’t just a few female fans who were spending money on him; every female fan who comes in ended up spending money on him without even realizing it.
For this reason, he has stopped streaming recently and has stated that he will not participate in that competition.
It was precisely because Senior Brother Qing won so easily that it further aroused the competitive spirit of the other streamers.
Many streamers have already started aggressively boosting their rankings, and Tia was one of those who has been doing it very excessively.
Shen Ran checked the data from her live streaming platform’s backend, and found that she had already earned over 200,000 yuan this month, even though it was not yet mid-month.
If things continue like this, reaching one million in sales within a month will be no problem at all.
Shen Ran was still lost in thought, while Min-min and Tia had already taken their photo together and left.
Ruan Letian patted him on the shoulder and asked, “What are you staring at?”
Shen Ran said, “No, I just remembered something. Xiao Tian, do you know Cheng Yu?”
Ruan Letian shook his head and said, “I don’t know him. What’s wrong?”
Shen Ran said, “Oh, nothing, I was just asking casually.”
It was understandable that Xiao Tian didn’t recognize Cheng Yu, since he had just returned from abroad.
Cheng Yu was also invited today, and he was currently sitting with Min Min and her other cousins.
Within the Min family, there was also a hierarchy of social status; children born in wedlock look down upon children born out of wedlock, and children born out of wedlock look down upon those from collateral branches of the family.
Min Xingchuan completely disregarded all these younger people.
The fact that Cheng Yu was seated among the children born from legitimate marriages clearly indicates his high status.
Min Xingchuan personally greeted him for a short while, but since many important figures were present today, even the protagonist from the original story didn’t receive much attention.
Looking at this large and lively family, Shen Ran felt a headache coming on.
The advantage was that being surrounded by such a group of oddballs making him seemed less unusual.
He was happy to remain inconspicuous, simply wandering around the periphery of the party with Ruan Letian, enjoying the atmosphere and watching the events unfold.
At lunchtime, the waiter brought the cake over.
Min Xingchuan planned to personally distribute slices of cake to the important figures present, and the symbolism was clear; he hoped that everyone would have the opportunity to enjoy cake together in the future.
Shen Jue was also invited to sit at the head of the table, but when it came time to cut the cake, he suggested, “Wouldn’t it be better if we invited the mistress[footnote]Raw 闵家主母(Mǐn jiāzhǔ mǔ); The head of the Min family (female)/mistress. Actually it’s a little awkward to refers SR who is a boy as a “mistress”, but since the raw context is 闵家主母 , so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯[/footnote] of Min family’s household to join us in cutting the cake?”
Shen Ran, who was casually strolling along the edge of the crowd, was suddenly cue. He turned his head to look towards the center of the group, and even considered finding someone to stand in front of him.
Old Master Min waved at him with a kind smile and said, “Ranran, why are you hiding? Come on over, you little rascal, and help Xingchuan cut the cake.”
Min Xingchuan looked at Shen Ran calmly, his expression unperturbed.
Shen Ran cleared his throat and said, “Okay, I’m coming right now.”
In front of so many important figures, Shen Ran didn’t want to appear too petty or narrow-minded.
He calmly walked up to Min Xingchuan, but instead of holding the knife together with Min Xingchuan, he gently placed his hand on the handle, smiled at him, and said, “Husband, you cut it, please!”
Everyone at the table burst into laughter, especially the older men, who, upon hearing Shen Ran address Min Xingchuan that way, whispered to Old Master Min, “The two younger ones seem to have a good relationship.”
Sheng Ran’s inner thoughts: I can perfectly portray whatever kind of supportive wife role you want me to play.
See how thoughtful I am?
After cutting the cake, Shen Ran shyly let go of the knife handle and handed the paper plate to Min Xingchuan, asking him to put the slices of cake on it.
Shen Jue watched from the side, nodded, and thought that their interaction was quite good; it wasn’t as tense and hostile as people outside had claimed. Perhaps most people simply didn’t want them to be happy together.
After all, when Shen Ran first married Min Xingchuan, everyone in their social circle predicted that the marriage would fail.
Min Xingchuan finally noticed something was wrong with Shen Ran; he seemed to be subtly distancing himself from him.
Min Xingchuan could tell from Shen Ran’s subtle movements when he gripped the sword handle that he was deliberately avoiding physical contact with him.
Was it his(MX) disgust that finally made him(SR) realize something?
Min Xingchuan glanced at him, then cut a piece of cake and handed it to him.
Shen Ran took the cake, smiled sweetly, and said, “Thank you, husband. You can have some first.”
Saying this, Shen Ran gently placed the cake to Min Xingchuan’s lips, his expression as playfully coquettish as usual.
As a result, he saw his personality fit score soaring upwards, and the score, which had dropped recently, finally climbed back up to 70% again!
Min Xingchuan understood what was going on in his heart; he realized he had been overthinking things. How could he possibly distance himself from me?
He seemed to have matured and become more considerate, but one can still see that raw, unbridled admiration in his eyes.
Shen Ran: No, that’s not true, I didn’t. Don’t falsely accuse me!
Looking sideways, he noticed a hidden corner where someone was secretly recording his interaction with Min Xingchuan.
Shen Ran frowned and raise his head to looked at the person behind the camera.
The other person seemed to notice and immediately put away their phone.
It turned out to be Tia, who was standing next to Min Hongru. Taking advantage of Min Hongru’s position blocking her view, and knowing that no one in the crowd recognized her, she quietly opened the camera on her phone.
Shen Ran remained silent, then whispered in Min Xingchuan’s ear: “Husband, you go ahead. A friend of mine called me, so I need to go meet her for a bit.”
Standing so close to his wife made Min Xingchuan feel a sudden jolt of electricity run through his body, but he calmed down again after Shen Ran left.
It was a bit exciting.
Did MX enlightened? ⊂(▀¯▀⊂ )
Thank You for the new chapter ( ꈍᴗꈍ)💕
Thank you for reading!❤️