Chapter 290: Impressive

 Chapter 290: Impressive

Seeing how much trouble Sun Jiayue was causing, interrupting and defending Fang Liangji, she could no longer hold back. She walked in front of Daohua and Dong Yuanyao to speak on his behalf: "Two younger sisters..."

"Who is your younger sister?" Dong Yuanyao immediately cut in coldly, interrupting Sun Jiayue without giving her any face.

"I..." Sun Jiayue didn't expect Dong Yuanyao to be so direct. She glanced around at the people in the pavilion, feeling both ashamed and frustrated. Within moments, tears filled her eyes, and she stood there, clenching her teeth, looking utterly helpless.

However, no one responded to her at all. The group of people, including Xiao Yeyang, acted as though she didn't exist. The only person who threw her a disdainful glance was Yan Wenkai.

As soon as Sun Jiayue spoke, Sun Yongyi knew things were about to go south.

The children of official families typically looked down on the merchant class. His younger sister making such a bold move and calling them sisters was reckless.

Sun Yongyi quickly stepped forward with a smile: "Please, don't be angry, my younger sister lost her manners. I hope you can forgive her."

Dong Yuanyao snorted. Just as she was about to say something, she saw her elder brother glance over. She immediately pursed her lips and decided not to continue the conversation.

Dong Yuanxuan laughed: "It’s just a small quarrel. There’s no need to take it to heart."

Sun Yongyi expressed his gratitude with a smile and quickly led his younger sister aside.

Sun Jiayue, looking reluctant, was shot a fierce glare by Sun Yongyi before she meekly retreated.

Fang Yiyun, sensing the awkward atmosphere, smiled and spoke up, turning toward Daohua and Dong Yuanyao: "Miss Dong, Miss Yan, the glutinous rice cake, once properly made, isn’t sticky. If you’re interested, I’d like to invite you both to my house sometime so my family’s cook can demonstrate."

Daohua and Dong Yuanyao exchanged a look, both having a speechless expression on their faces.

Were they really talking about the glutinous rice cakes?

Fang Yiyun didn't seem too bright.

Daohua twitched the corner of her mouth and simply turned her head, not responding.

The Fang family only connected with them because of her Zhixuan's cousin. Since Fang Liangji was already betrothed, and still wasn’t keeping his distance from other women, why should she care about giving the Fang family face?

Daohua ignored her, and Dong Yuanyao didn’t care either.

If not for the Yan family’s reputation, she wouldn’t have even appeared at this gathering with children of the merchant class.

Sitting aside, Fang Hao had the impulse to cover his head.

He knew the collateral branches of the Fang family had poor manners, but he hadn’t expected them to lack intelligence as well.

As an elder of the Fang family, Fang Hao had no choice but to step in with a forced smile: "What nonsense are you talking? Don’t you know that the cooks from the Dong and Yan families are no less capable than ours? Why do you have to be so flattering?"

Fang Yiyun’s face stiffened: "My niece misspoke, please, Miss Dong, Miss Yan, don’t be upset."

Daohua waved her hand: "There’s nothing to be upset about. We didn’t know each other before, and we still don’t. If we can chat, we’ll talk more. If not, we should simply part ways instead of forcing unnecessary pleasantries, or it’ll just make everyone uncomfortable."

With that, she picked up a piece of glutinous rice cake and gave Fang Liangji a mocking smile.

"For instance, someone might like glutinous rice cake, but someone else insists on serving him red bean paste cake. If the person is straightforward, they should speak up immediately instead of accepting the red bean paste cake while secretly thinking about the glutinous rice cake. That would be disrespectful both to the cake and the person offering it."

"Don’t you agree, Young Master Fang?"

Fang Liangji took a deep breath. Today, he truly experienced how sharp the daughters of the officials were. Daohua’s subtle words, while not directly showing any hostility, made him feel utterly ashamed.

Last time, when he went to An Le Street, Zhixuan's cousin followed him to the theater and even fought in the theater.

Now, today, encountering the scene with Sun Jiayue, he was probably furious, wasn’t he?

At least, Zhixuan had such a protective cousin, which was fortunate for him.

However, he felt that dealing with Zhixuan’s cousin was incredibly troublesome.

Fang Liangji walked up to Daohua and bowed deeply, making a 90-degree bow: "Miss Yan, today’s incident is all my fault. I’ve been careless, but I will improve in the future."

Daohua raised an eyebrow.

This one knew how to humble himself.

Fang Hao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this nephew of his still had some sense.

Daohua didn’t stop there and continued: "Many people make promises, even swearing by heaven, but very few actually follow through. Just saying but not doing seems to be a common issue with many people."

Fang Liangji raised an eyebrow and sighed inwardly. He decided that in the future, he should avoid dealing with Zhixuan’s cousin. She was too difficult to handle!

While he was still pondering how to clear the air and ease Daohua’s hostility toward him, someone else entered the pavilion.

"Little sister, what are you doing?"

Yan Wenxiu had seen from a distance that someone was apologizing to his sister, and he couldn’t help but speak up when he saw that she hadn’t yet stopped her confrontation with the other person.

"Big Brother!"

Upon seeing Yan Wenxiu, Daohua’s face lit up with a smile, and she quickly walked toward him. "When did you come back?"

Yan Wenxiu smiled and replied, "I’ve been back for a few days." He greeted Xiao Yeyang and the others before turning his attention to Fang Liangji. "And who might this be?"

Daohua looked away, not saying a word.

Li Chenyi, who had come with Yan Wenxiu, immediately chimed in: "This is the young master from the Fang family who is betrothed to Zhixuan."

Yan Wenxiu immediately smiled and greeted Fang Liangji: "My apologies, my father was busy with the handover, and I had to help my mother with some matters. I wasn’t able to join in the celebration of your engagement with cousin Zhixuan'."

Fang Liangji, seeing that Yan Wenxiu was polite and respectful, with no sign of disdain, immediately smiled and replied: "It’s an honor."

Daohua then asked, "Big Brother, did Father and the others go to Ningmen Prefecture?"

Yan Wenxiu nodded: "Father needed to take office on time, so he left the day after he returned. Mother and Grandmother also left by boat on the same day. I was the last to leave."

Daohua nodded, knowing the crowd was too large to ask more questions, and she returned to sit beside Dong Yuanyao.

Fang Hao had been observing Yan Wenxiu since he entered the pavilion. Seeing him greet everyone with warm smiles and courteous greetings, Fang Hao couldn’t help but nod in approval.

Yan Wenxiu’s arrival made the atmosphere in the pavilion much more harmonious.

Daohua didn’t continue to push Fang Liangji; she wasn’t afraid of him, but she wasn’t going to embarrass him in front of everyone. She simply sat there, playing with the silk cord around her waist in a disinterested manner.

Dong Yuanyao was also bored. There wasn’t much in the pavilion to interest her, and the tea snacks didn’t appeal to her at all.

Seeing this, Xiao Yeyang turned to Defu and whispered a few words. Defu nodded and quickly left.

After a while, Defu returned, nodded at Xiao Yeyang, and the latter stood up.

"We’ve been sitting here long enough, shall we go elsewhere?"

Hearing this, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao immediately stood up.

(End of this chapter)