Zhao Suihua was terrified that she wouldn't return, so she continued with another message.
"Yueyue isn't coming back today; she won't arrive home until tomorrow evening, and she'll leave the moment the birthday banquet ends."
"Qingyi, Auntie knows you were wronged taking the blame for Yueyue, so Auntie has pulled some strings to secure an opportunity for your development at A University."
"Be a good girl, Qingyi, and let Auntie fulfill her duty as a mother."
"Come home, finish celebrating your birthday, and our whole family will sit down to discuss your future."
"Auntie only has this one request."
The messages ended there.
Zhao Suihua's meaning was blindingly obvious.
What A University, what future—it was all just bait and an excuse to string her along and make her return to take the blame for Song Yueyue.
Song Qingyi drafted a refusal, but before she could send it, she saw a message pop up from Song Julan.
"Be a good girl and come home tonight. You must attend tomorrow's birthday banquet. The young master of the Tang family, who is preparing to sue Yueyue, will be there. You'd better not try any tricks or play hide-and-seek with me."
Looking at this message, Song Qingyi knew she had no way out.
If she wanted her grandmother's surgery to proceed smoothly, she had no choice but to attend this birthday banquet.
***
The next day.
After lunch, Song Qingyi was dragged by Zhao Suihua to try on clothes.
"Qingyi, come and try on this pink dress."
Zhao Suihua pulled a dress covered in pink diamonds out of Song Yueyue's walk-in closet.
Song Julan, who had just finished an online meeting in the living room, frowned when he saw it.
"Auntie Zhao, this dress was designed by Yueyue's favorite haute couture designer, and those pink diamonds are extremely expensive. It's not really appropriate for her to wear it."
The mockery and disdain in Song Julan's eyes were so thick they were practically spilling over.
Song Qingyi glanced past his moving lips. Even though she was long used to his malice toward her, she still couldn't control herself from instinctively clenching her hands and tensing her entire body.
"Julan, Qingyi is your sister too. Don't speak like that." Zhao Suihua brought the dress over to Song Qingyi, took her by the arm, and led her into the walk-in closet.
"Be a good girl, Qingyi, and don't listen to your older brother's nonsense. This dress suits you very well."
"Thank you, Auntie, but this dress really isn't right for me. I'd rather wear my own clothes," Song Qingyi refused, pulling back.
Since Song Julan had already said those things, why should she deliberately invite humiliation by insisting on wearing this dress?
If even a single pink diamond went missing, Song Julan would definitely pin the blame on her, and she would undoubtedly be berated all over again.
"Nonsense. Listen to Auntie today."
In the end, Song Qingyi gave in to Zhao Suihua's demands and changed into the pink diamond dress.
As evening approached, guests arrived at the Song residence in a steady stream.
Just as Zhao Suihua had said, Song Yueyue returned in the evening.
However, the two of them merely exchanged a glance in the villa's living room before Song Yueyue, surrounded and fussed over by Song Yecheng and Zhao Suihua, went upstairs and never came down again.
"Qingyi."
Inside the reception hall, Xia Beiji, dressed in a white suit, walked gracefully toward Song Qingyi.
At the sound of his voice, everyone in the reception hall finally noticed one of the guests of honor sitting quietly in the corner.
"Well, well, isn't that the Xia family's adopted son? Why isn't he keeping his fiancée company instead of coming over here to say hello to a murderer?"
"You didn't know?"
"Know what?"
"I heard the Xia family's adopted son used to date the eldest Miss Song. It was only after she went to prison that he got engaged to the second miss for a commercial alliance."
"Oh, I really wouldn't have guessed."
"The eldest Miss Song? That murderer? Isn't it her birthday today too, along with Song Yueyue's? How is she the eldest miss?"
"The same birthday? How is that possible? Didn't the current Madam Song marry in three years after the previous one passed away?"
"Tsk, does anyone not know how Song Yecheng made his fortune? Is an extramarital affair really that surprising coming from him?"
"This Song family is certainly full of drama. The father kills his wife, the kids kill their sisters-in-law... Only the Xia family has the guts to bring someone like that home."
"And even then, they just had an adopted son marry her. The real young master of the Xia family is making a marriage alliance with the Tang family..."
The whispers among the guests went on endlessly.
These people knew all the sordid little scandals of the Song family inside and out, but no matter how much they looked down on the Song family, they still had to maintain a polite surface relationship because of the family's status as energy tycoons.
As for the Song family's dirty laundry... most people just brushed it off and laughed it off as post-dinner gossip.
"Shh—"
The moment Tang Zhiwei was pushed in by Fang Yu, the people still murmuring around them instantly fell silent.
"Oh! Young Master Tang!" A tall man around twenty-seven or twenty-eight stepped out from the crowd, wearing a loose casual outfit with his long hair half-tied into a topknot.
"Haven't seen you in half a year, and you've still got a broken leg."
As Gu Mingfeng walked up to Tang Zhiwei, he pulled off his sunglasses, revealing a pair of phoenix eyes with dark circles underneath, and looked down with a smile at the pale, sickly beauty sitting in the wheelchair, whose expression was less than pleasant.
"Get lost." Tang Zhiwei got annoyed the moment he laid eyes on Gu Mingfeng.
As for the reasons behind his annoyance, they went all the way back to their childhood.
The Tang and Gu families had been close family friends for generations.
The children of both families had been raised together since they were little, whether attending school or going on holiday trips.
As a result, Tang Zhiwei—who had been strikingly handsome since childhood—was constantly harassed by the Gu family's playboy of an eldest young master.
Ever since they were old enough to crawl, Gu Mingfeng had chased after Tang Zhiwei just to pull down his diapers, and during puberty, he had even confessed his feelings to Tang Zhiwei over and over again.
After reaching adulthood, having been rejected countless times, Gu Mingfeng resorted to physical tactics, either suddenly pulling him into a hug or deliberately tripping over his own left foot and falling right into Tang Zhiwei's arms.
Such days continued until the two of them graduated and gradually began their respective careers.
"Hello, President Gu." His own boss might detest Gu Mingfeng, but Fang Yu certainly didn't.
If there was anyone in this world capable of making Young Master Tang miserable, Song Yueyue was one, and the other was this very Eldest Young Master Gu standing right in front of them.
Being relentlessly squeezed by capitalist exploitation, Fang Yu loved nothing more than watching his boss wear the expression of someone who had just swallowed shit.
"Mr. Tang. Mr. Gu."
Song Yecheng and Zhao Suihua slowly walked into the reception hall.
Seeing their figures, Xia Beiji composed his expression and softly called out to Song Qingyi.
"Qingyi, your uncle and aunt are here." He stood up and offered his hand to Song Qingyi.
Song Qingyi raised her head to look at him, then glanced over at Song Yecheng and Zhao Suihua, and finally at the man sitting in the wheelchair before them, understanding dawning on her.
No wonder Xia Beiji hadn't stayed by Song Yueyue's side; no wonder he had made a bee-line straight for her the moment he walked in.
Ignoring the hand Xia Beiji was holding out, Song Qingyi stood up and brushed past him.
"Father."
Cutting through the crowd, Song Qingyi arrived at their side.
Just as Zhao Suihua and Xia Beiji had hoped, she addressed Song Yecheng as father.
"Mr. Tang, regarding the lawsuit, let's go upstairs to discuss it further." Song Yecheng didn't acknowledge Song Qingyi at all.
Wearing a smile, he looked toward Tang Zhiwei with a somewhat flattering expression.
Tang Zhiwei looked at Song Yecheng, then glanced at the gaunt young woman standing beside them wearing a pink dress that didn't quite fit her properly.
His gaze shifted slightly, and he rejected Song Yecheng's proposal.
"Mr. Song, if I remember correctly, I was invited here tonight to attend Miss Song's birthday banquet. Let's leave talk of the lawsuit for another time."
With that, Tang Zhiwei looked straight at Song Qingyi.
"Why don't you introduce this Miss Song standing beside you, Mr. Song? Otherwise, in case the day of the lawsuit comes, I might end up suing the wrong person."
At Tang Zhiwei's words, Xia Beiji froze in his tracks.
He had guessed that the Song family intended to use Song Qingyi as a scapegoat.
The smile on Zhao Suihua's face stiffened.
Her hand, resting on the back of the wheelchair, involuntarily tightened.
For all her calculations, she had missed one detail.
On the night Song Yueyue hit Tang Zhiwei while drunk driving, the other party hadn't missed seeing her face.
On the contrary, Tang Zhiwei had not only seen it, but had actually seen her in a hotel bed just an hour ago.