Knocking on the Daughter

There were nine people at the dinner table.

Yet the dishes covered the entire table.

That was because Chu Lintian had arranged the meal according to the standards for a twenty-four-person banquet.

She had done it all for Lin Mo.

After all, Chu Lintian had always known that Lin Mo had a huge appetite.

But to be honest, given Lin Mo’s current condition, it didn’t really matter whether he ate or not. At his level of cultivation, he could go without food indefinitely.

Jiang Yunlu, on the other hand, had genuinely developed a much larger appetite.

Ever since she began practicing martial arts, Jiang Yunlu’s food intake had more than doubled. Normally, Situ Yunshu delivered her meals separately every day so she could eat in the car and avoid giving herself away in class.

But now, there was no longer any need to hide it.

Jiang Yunlu still ate with perfect decorum. Her chopsticks never reached more than three inches from the dishes, and she kept her lips closed while chewing. There was no trace of wolfing down her food.

She was simply eating at a much faster pace.

Jiang Chengshan sat beside Lin Mo. He picked up a bite of food and asked casually, “Did everything go smoothly in the competition? Did you run into any trouble?”

Lin Mo put down his chopsticks and went over what had happened with the organizing committee.

Of course, he skipped over the part involving the Soul-Seizing Arts Control Committee.

He only said that someone had filed a report later, which had finally brought the truth to light.

It turned out that Grubo’s group had connections with the Americans and had tried to interfere with the competition.

“What about the American team? Didn’t you say people from their side had offered bribes?” Jiang Chengshan asked with a frown.

“They’re fine.”

Lin Mo shook his head. “The person who contacted Grubo wasn’t officially part of their team, so the evidence couldn’t be tied back to them.”

“Those foreign devils are all bastards.”

Auntie Zheng slapped her chopsticks down on the table. The sound was not loud, but her attitude was unmistakable.

“They’ve always been rotten to the core. Back then, they bullied us however they pleased. Now they’ve just found a new way to keep doing it.”

Xie Yuling hurriedly poured Auntie Zheng a cup of tea. “Mom, calm down. Lin Mo won, didn’t he?”

“Winning is winning, but I still can’t swallow this anger.”

Auntie Zheng lifted her teacup and drained it in one gulp before snorting. “If we run into them again, beat them so badly they won’t even be able to find their underwear.”

It had been a math olympiad, but in Auntie Zheng’s telling, it sounded more like a battlefield.

Still, it was obvious that Auntie Zheng was a traditional Chinese woman who harbored a deep dislike for foreigners.

Lin Mo nearly choked on his food.

Even so, he nodded solemnly. “Absolutely. Next time, we’ll crush them completely.”

Chu Miaomiao and Xie Yuling exchanged a glance, both struggling to hold back their laughter.

The three girls actually knew far more about what had happened behind the scenes, but none of them said a word.

When it was time to play dumb, they knew how to play dumb. They had that much unspoken understanding.

As for what had happened with the Superpowered Youth Group, Lin Mo had no intention of telling them in detail.

It sounded far too dangerous.

They would certainly make a big fuss over it.

So the atmosphere at the table remained balanced at a rather delicate point.

Everyone was eating, everyone was chatting, and everyone was avoiding certain topics.

But Situ Yunshu still made her move.

Unhurriedly, she picked up a piece of sweet-and-sour pork and placed it steadily into Jiang Yunlu’s bowl.

Her movements were gentle, and so was her tone.

“This restaurant really does have good food. I think it’s better than most places outside.”

Jiang Yunlu obediently nodded. “Mm-hmm. It is pretty good.”

“No wonder you’re always trying to set your father up with the lady who owns this place.”

There it was. It had finally come.

Jiang Yunlu’s chopsticks froze in midair, and her mind went blank for a moment.

She cast a pleading glance toward Jiang Chengshan.

Jiang Chengshan was busy shoveling rice into his mouth, his head lowered so far that his chin was nearly touching the rim of his bowl.

His expression had not changed, but he remained completely motionless, refusing to look up.

He was pretending to be dead.

Completely and utterly pretending to be dead.

Little Yunlu, your father can’t help you either.

Lin Mo silently picked up another bite of food, looking perfectly normal.

The corner of Chu Lintian’s mouth twitched, and she lowered her head to drink some soup.

Xie Yuling sat upright, but the tip of her chopsticks trembled slightly. Her spiritual sense quietly brushed against Lin Mo.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” she asked.

“What’s the rush?”

Lin Mo replied through his spiritual sense, his tone calm. “What’s wrong with letting Auntie Situ say a few words? Jiang uncle was imprisoned in the Situ family for so many years, yet he never gave up on her. And she never gave up on him either. Naturally, she’s going to feel a little upset about this.”

“But Yunlu is innocent too, isn’t she? She didn’t know the truth before. She thought her mother had died.”

“So Auntie Situ is only giving her a few warnings. She isn’t really going to do anything.”

Xie Yuling fell silent for a moment.

Lin Mo shifted his gaze slightly, letting it rest on Xie Yuling’s profile.

“When did you become so close to Jiang Yunlu? You’re even speaking up for her.”

Xie Yuling sensed his gaze and turned her face away, pointedly ignoring the question.

At the table, Jiang Yunlu’s mind was racing.

Apologize? No. That would only make things worse.

Explain? Explain what?

It was true that she had spent all these years trying to find her father a partner.

Who could have known her mother was still alive?

At that moment, Jiang Yunlu was thinking only about how to placate her mother with the greatest possible tact.

“Ahem, I…”

She had barely begun speaking when Jiang Yunlu suddenly realized that her mouth had closed.

Not by her own will.

It was Lin Mo.

A nearly imperceptible strand of energy lightly lifted her lower jaw, forcing her mouth shut.

As Confucius said: in a situation like this, the more you say, the more mistakes you make. Say nothing, and you make no mistakes.

She obediently lowered her head, picked up the piece of sweet-and-sour pork from her bowl, and began eating it in tiny bites.

Looking at her daughter’s docile appearance, Situ Yunshu felt somewhat satisfied, but also a little sorry for her. Had she been too sarcastic? Had she gone too far and hurt her daughter with her words?

In the end, her daughter was innocent.

Jiang Yunlu had not known the truth. She had not known that her mother was still alive. Wanting to find someone to look after her father was not wrong in itself.

The real fault lay with the circumstances that had kept Situ Yunshu from revealing herself all those years.

Situ Yunshu sighed and reached out to ruffle Jiang Yunlu’s hair, neither too gently nor too roughly.

“Good thing your mother came back. Otherwise, you’d have been done for, you little brat.”

Jiang Yunlu’s hair was tousled by the rubbing, but she did not dare dodge. She merely gave a foolish little grin.

Situ Yunshu then turned her gaze toward Jiang Chengshan.

Jiang Chengshan finally raised his head. He looked like a poor student who had just been called on by the teacher.

“You’ve done all right, I suppose.”

Situ Yunshu raised an eyebrow. “After all these years, you didn’t raise my daughter into a delinquent.”

Jiang Chengshan nodded repeatedly. With his mouth still full of food, he mumbled an agreement, not daring to say another word.

His lowly position in the family was on full display.

In truth, Situ Yunshu had never intended to do anything serious. She had merely been teaching her thoughtless daughter a lesson.

And, at the same time, she was teaching her husband a lesson.

After all, he had kept the fact that she was alive from their daughter for so many years.

But when she thought about it carefully, telling Jiang Yunlu would not have changed anything.

And so, the only disturbance of the meal passed just like that.

As for Chen Yunli, Situ Yunshu had no intention of making things difficult for her.

After all, the Situ family had already been destroyed, and Situ Yunshu had only ever been an outside operative.

That night.

Chen Yunli finished cleaning up the restaurant with the others. Only then did she receive a call from Situ Dingyi.

“The eldest miss says that the Situ family is gone. You’re free now.”

Chen Yunli was completely stunned when she heard the news.

She felt a sense of relief, yet at the same time, it was as if she had suddenly lost the purpose of her life.

She looked at the building, then at the dishes and utensils around her.

Her mood, which had been low just moments ago, seemed to lift again.

“Heh, I guess I’m a rich woman now.”