Liu Yuyang was a bit depressed. The beautiful woman he had admired for years, whom he once thought was his destined wife, was flirting with another man right now. How could he remain calm? The fact that she pinched his hip clearly showed that their relationship was very close; even if Li Yan might have said this on purpose to provoke him, Yurong’s reaction didn’t seem like scolding—it was more like embarrassment...

"Ahem... ahem!"

He had no choice but to clear his throat to remind Li Yan not to go too far.

Li Yan seemed to remember his presence and continued speaking to Yurong with a hint of resentment: "I’ll behave right away. If you want to pinch, go ahead..."

Saying this, he turned his head and said to Liu Yuyang with a stern face: "Comrade Liu Yuyang, I thought you had good intentions. My Yurong wasn’t comfortable accepting your questionable ring, and she might consider accepting the box as a gesture, as if accepting a gift. But you’re too unscrupulous; take it back!"

He quickly closed the jewelry box, put it into the package, and even grabbed the wrapping paper, shoving it all into Liu Yuyang’s hand.

"Um... How am I unscrupulous?" Liu Yuyang was puzzled, seeing Li Yan’s stern face, not looking like he was joking. In his heart, he already felt wary, suspecting Li Yan was using this as a pretext.

Jiang Xueyin was also very curious, "Yes, brother-in-law, how was Brother Liu unscrupulous?" She thought to herself, if they knew you were married and still sent a ring, that could be considered unscrupulous. But it’s a secret, and people don’t know that.

Her single word ’brother-in-law’ was another blow to Liu Yuyang. Could it be that Li Yan was really Yurong’s boyfriend now? No! Impossible, he must have bought Jiang Xueyin off with favors, making her speak for him!

Unfortunately, he had only met Jiang Xueyin this afternoon; he hadn’t prepared a gift for her, and it was too late to win her over now. He had planned to make it up later, but now she’s already speaking for Li Yan.

"This Mr. Liu, looking imposing, talented, refined, and suave, but alas, lacking a bit in character..."

Liu Yuyang was upset; how was he lacking in character?

Everyone was perplexed as Li Yan spoke praise while also criticizing his character.

"Hmph, just because Yurong rejected your gift with unpleasant intentions, you seized the opportunity to make insinuations..."

"How did I make insinuations?" Liu Yuyang frowned, you can eat recklessly, but you can’t speak recklessly!

"Just now, Yurong pinched me, and you, while indicating you didn’t touch me, talked about rats and cockroaches. What’s your motive?" Li Yan sneered and questioned, "Could there really be cockroaches or rats in this environment? I have only two people next to me; you emphasized it wasn’t you, but it was Yurong who pinched me. Aren’t you just using jealousy to insultively imply Yurong is a cockroach or a rat?"

Jiang Xueyin was stunned, this cheap brother-in-law was truly a master of twisted logic! He managed to seize on those words and make a far-fetched argument!

"I did not!" Liu Yuyang quickly shook his head seriously. However, he quickly reacted, the more Li Yan twisted and caused trouble unreasonably, the more likely Yurong would get annoyed! He immediately calmed down, showing a fake smile: "Haha, I get it, Brother Li is joking! Haha..."

Zhang Yurong also slightly frowned, tugged Li Yan’s sleeve, and whispered: "Alright, stop talking nonsense. He is a guest!"

Hearing Yurong indeed stopped Li Yan, Liu Yuyang felt his contrast had worked effectively, and he immediately continued to smile, showing a detached demeanor that didn’t mind the joke, thus highlighting Li Yan’s shamelessness. But the next sentence was another blow to him—’He is a guest’! Am I a guest? That means he’s regarded as one of their own?

At this moment, Zhang Yurong’s mother, Yang Yun, came over, smiling, inviting everyone to dinner.

...

Everyone sat down for dinner together. Since it was Yurong’s birthday and Xueyin was also present, plus there were guests, the dinner was quite sumptuous.

During dinner, naturally, Li Yan sat next to Zhang Yurong, while Liu Yuyang sat at the guest seat.

Jiang Xueyin initially wanted to cause some trouble for him, but considering no matter what, Li Yan is now her brother-in-law and her boss at work, she couldn’t help outsiders. So she actively pulled the two to sit together.

To avoid letting Liu Yuyang know about their relationship and spreading it, Li Yan spoke little during dinner, and it was inconvenient to address Zhang Tianyi or Yang Yun, and he couldn’t normally call them Dad and Mom, or even Uncle and Aunt, he could only avoid calling names, appearing familiar with the place.

After the meal, Liu Yuyang was quite uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Li Yan noticed Yang Yun’s favorable opinion towards Liu Yuyang.

Of course, it’s the fondness of an elder towards a younger generation. Yang Yun had previously regarded Liu Yuyang as a perfect son-in-law fit for her daughter, but later she eventually accepted her husband’s opinion, and this year gradually accepted Li Yan. Now she believes her daughter marrying an equally excellent man might lead to strong collaborations in business and clashes in life, whereas it’s better with a weaker man who pampers her.

Now that her daughter had married Li Yan, seeing an even more mature and outstanding Liu Yuyang made her feel a bit wistful; and it was a bit regrettable yet touching that he traveled from Lan Country with good intentions to celebrate her birthday but was left empty-handed.

After the dinner, a four-tier large cake was brought out, and everyone sang the birthday song, urging Yurong to make a wish and blow out the candles.

Before making her wish, Yurong unintentionally glanced at Li Yan beside her. Her mood was very complicated, should she wish for a happy separation after the New Year, or for them not to divorce and stay together long-term?

In any case, it seemed quite difficult for him to be devoted solely to her, right?

Her expression fell into Zhang Tianyi’s couple and Jiang Xueyin’s eyes, undoubtedly with a hint of affection, guessing her wish was something like the two loving each other for a lifetime. If Liu Yuyang weren’t there, they might have joked about it, but now everyone smiled ambiguously and remained silent.

Liu Yuyang also saw it; he could only smile bitterly in secret. Although he stayed to celebrate, he originally hoped to be the leading man, but now he’s just an extra!

"Whoosh—!"

Everyone helped Yurong blow out the candles, then the youngest, Jiang Xueyin, cheered.

Before the lights came on, Li Yan quickly kissed Yurong’s cheek and whispered near her ear: "Happy birthday!"

Zhang Yurong was startled, her heart racing; in front of so many people! This guy was too bold. If they saw that, how embarrassing would it be?

Just as her face turned red, a servant had already turned on the lights. Jiang Xueyin handed the knife to Yurong, urging her to cut the cake, noticing her blushing, and couldn’t help but say, "Cousin, what wish did you make? Why are you blushing? Did someone secretly make some intimate moves when the candles were blown out?"

Her eyes already glanced towards Li Yan.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Yurong glared at her. "Cut the cake!"

Having just finished dinner, they were too full for cake, Zhang Tianyi and Yang Yun were getting older and couldn’t eat high-sugar cakes; everyone mostly ate symbolically.

The four-tier cake certainly couldn’t be wasted; it wasn’t a young people’s party for cake fights either. But the Zhang Family had many, like housekeepers, servants, chefs, security guards, who could share the cake.

After having cake, they chatted for a while longer, Liu Yuyang took the chance to say goodbye. Everyone felt his presence was quite awkward, only offering polite, minimal persuasion to stay.

Thinking Li Yan might cause more trouble, Liu Yuyang didn’t continue to disgrace himself with the platinum diamond ring. However, he didn’t want to let Li Yan off. So before leaving, he smiled and suggested: "Brother Li, where do you stay? Let’s go together! It’s difficult to call for a car here; let me drive you!"

Saying this, everyone looked at him, then at Li Yan. (To be continued. For more details, please log on to www.qidian.com, support the author and read original content!)