The figure was Xu Lai.

He was chatting with Luo Chu's husband, Qian Song, and Zhou Feng while feeding the goldfish swimming in the pool beneath the gallery.

Hearing the voice behind him, Zhou Feng couldn't help but freeze. Who is this woman?

Qian Song's brow barely furrowed, but like Xu Lai, he remained silent.

"Darling," Jiang Yuanxi said, pointing at Xu Lai. "That man is the husband of the university classmate I mentioned a few days ago. The two of them are incredibly vain."

Xu Lai, vain? Give me a break. If Director Xu truly cared about fame, why would he give up the author credit for his medical theories and teach his skills so unreservedly?

Zhou Feng looked at Jiang Yuanxi with displeasure. "Watch your mouth, or you'll regret it."

Liu Qing hesitated before whispering, "Yuanxi, be polite to our guests. If you disrupt the wedding, I'm afraid for the Liu family…"

"Darling, look at how shabbily they're dressed. They can't possibly be guests. They probably snuck in to freeload off the food and drinks."

Jiang Yuanxi lifted her chin arrogantly. "Do you have an invitation?"

"No," Xu Lai said calmly.

Just as I thought!

A mocking expression crossed Jiang Yuanxi's face. "This isn't a place for people like you. Get out before I call security."

No longer holding back, Liu Qing said with displeasure, "If you don't have an invitation, then leave!"

Xu Lai pinched another bit of fish food and scattered it into the pond. The goldfish swarmed in an instant, splashing in the water.

Qian Song wore a strange expression.

Zhou Feng, however, said incredulously, "Who do you think you are? How dare you speak so arrogantly and try to throw us out."

"I am, naturally, a member of the Liu family," Jiang Yuanxi declared with the haughty air of a hostess. "And my husband, Liu Qing, is the pillar of the Liu family!"

Liu Qing? Confusion flickered across Zhou Feng's face. The younger generation of the Liu family only has Liu Nanwei and Liu Beiming; there is no third person. In all his years of practicing medicine, he'd never heard that the pillar of the Liu family was someone named Liu Qing…

But since the other party dared to make such a claim, Zhou Feng's expression softened slightly. "If you are part of the Liu family, then this is all a misunderstanding. Director Xu and I are colleagues of Liu Nanwei."

Xu Lai? Hearing the name, Liu Qing frowned, trying to place it. It sounded familiar, as if he'd heard it somewhere before.

Jiang Yuanxi sneered. "Nice try. My cousin Nan Wei is a core figure at Dongli University's Medical Research Institute. And just who are you?"

"What's the Medical Research Institute?" Xu Lai asked Zhou Feng, curious.

"Pfft," Jiang Yuanxi scoffed. "You don't even know what the Medical Research Institute is, and you dare to impersonate Nan Wei's colleagues? How ridiculous."

Zhou Feng explained to Xu Lai, "Director Xu, it's the medical research institute that Dr. Li Shouzhong and the others established. They invited you to join as its director, but you... declined."

Xu Lai now remembered and nodded. "Oh, that."

"Director?" This time, even Liu Qing laughed.

Even the Liu Family Head, a grandmaster of traditional medicine, wasn't qualified to join the Medical Research Institute. And this man dared to boast about being its director? Absolutely ridiculous!

"Please leave the Liu estate, or I will call security."

Realizing these three didn't have an invitation, Liu Qing dropped all pretense of courtesy.

"Director Xu, I'll call Dr. Liu right now," Zhou Feng said helplessly, pulling out his phone to make a call, but no one answered.

Unwilling to give up, Zhou Feng dialed again, but still, no one answered.

This scene only made Jiang Yuanxi and Liu Qing more certain that the three of them were impostors.

Qian Song looked up towards the door, as if sensing something, and said softly, "Let's take our seats. The bride is coming."

"Mm," Xu Lai nodded.

The three of them, including Zhou Feng, walked toward the second table, a spot unquestionably reserved for honored guests.

To put it in perspective, only major figures like Li Shouzhong, the director of the Medical Research Institute, and Yan Gui, the groom's own teacher, were seated at the second table.

Jiang Yuanxi yelled, "You don't even have an invitation, yet you think you deserve to sit at the second table? If you don't get out of here right now, don't blame me for being rude!"

Just then, an excited voice called out from the doorway.

"The groom is here with the bride!"

The groom, Liu Beiming, clad in a suit, walked in slowly, cradling the bride in a princess hold.

As the bride and her two bridesmaids came into view, a collective gasp of amazement rippled through the guests.

The three women were simply too beautiful, breathtakingly so.

"I'll have security throw you out in a moment," Jiang Yuanxi snorted, turning her gaze toward the bride, whom she had yet to meet since returning to the country.

But as her eyes locked onto the face of the bride in the white wedding dress, held in Liu Beiming's arms, her breath caught in her throat.

She recognized not only the bridesmaids but also the bride. The three women were Ruan Tang, Luo Chu, and her future sister-in-law… Xu Yaoyao!

BOOM!

Jiang Yuanxi's mind went blank. Xu Yaoyao is the bride? The future leader of the Liu family? How is this possible?!

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

Applause erupted from the crowd.

Qian Xiao and Xu Yiyi, both dressed in exquisite outfits, carried flower baskets, tossing rose petals into the air. Their procession was utterly splendid.

Upon seeing his wife and daughter, Xu Lai's lips finally curved into a faint smile.

But soon, he couldn't smile anymore.

Because Qian Song actually said, "My son and your daughter seem like a good match. Why don't we arrange a child betrothal?"

"How could Xu Yaoyao possibly marry into the Liu family? She, Luo Chu, and Ruan Tang are all terrible people…"

Jiang Yuanxi's mind had completely shut down, her face exceptionally pale.

Seeing his agitated wife, Liu Qing asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

"They…" Jiang Yuanxi pointed at the bride and groom on the stage, biting her lower lip as she explained everything.

When Liu Qing learned that he and his wife had just offended his new cousin-in-law and her two best friends, he was so shocked he nearly lost his footing.

Suppressing the despair in his heart, he forced a smile. "Don't panic. It should be fine. We'll just apologize later."

"Director Xu, please take your seats. The wedding is about to begin." Following the bridesmaids was Liu Nanwei, who approached them briskly with a smile.

"I wouldn't dare," Zhou Feng snorted. "Someone wants to throw us out. I don't mind, but what about Director Xu's dignity? And Qian Song's?"

"Stop your nonsense. In the Liu family, who would dare disrespect Director Xu?" After teasingly chiding Zhou Feng, Liu Nanwei personally went to the second table and pulled out a chair for Xu Lai. "Director Xu, please."

Jiang Yuanxi was completely dumbfounded, a chill spreading through her limbs as if she had been plunged into an icy abyss.

Liu Qing's vision went black, and he wished he could slap himself. He finally remembered where he had heard the name 'Xu Lai'—it was the name both Liu Nanwei and Li Shouzhong had mentioned when she was introducing the latter to him!

Completely ignoring Jiang Yuanxi and her husband, Xu Lai sat down first. "It's a happy occasion. Let's not make a scene. Let's sit."

Zhou Feng didn't press his advantage but simply warned, "Dr. Liu, you should manage your own family members."

Liu Nanwei was puzzled.

But when she saw Luo Chu's husband, Qian Song, sigh and shake his head, and then noticed the cold sweat dotting the foreheads of her distant cousin and his wife, an ominous premonition bloomed in her heart.

Grabbing Zhou Feng's arm, Liu Nanwei's expression changed as she asked, "Zhou Feng, what on earth just happened?"

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