Xu Tingyu thought either she was having auditory hallucinations or this man had gone crazy.
But seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of the two people opposite, she knew it was the man who had gone crazy.
It was the first time he had called her "wife" in front of others. His voice was very low, and there was an indescribable tenderness in it.
Xu Tingyu knew she should be cold and not cooperate with his act.
After all, this man wouldn't "show off his love" for no reason. Maybe the recent rumors had been too intense, and he needed some proof that their marriage was stable.
But when she turned to look at the man, she saw him with his head bowed, his chin resting lightly on her shoulder, looking extremely affectionate.
In the end, she didn't move, didn't respond, and didn't argue with him.
She pretended not to hear and looked at Qi Ruixi, starting to talk about other things.
Qi Ruixi seemed to just come to her senses then, sensing a bit of awkwardness. She quickly chattered about her own affairs.
The dishes were served one after another.
Each of the four had one or two dishes they liked.
Qi Ruixi took a photo with her phone and posted it on Moments, saying, "Having a meal with my brother and sister - in - law. My sister - in - law is really so beautiful. I love her so much."
Putting down her phone, she sighed, "How long has it been since the three of us siblings had a meal together? I owe this to my sister - in - law today."
This was true.
Qi Ye had lived alone abroad for a long time and would never come back if there was no business.
And she used to study abroad. Even when she came back, she only stayed in the old mansion.
As for Qi Shifeng, he was the busiest man in the world. Not to mention having a meal with his siblings, he often missed family dinners.
Today's impromptu dinner had actually managed to gather the three of them.
Originally, there was nothing wrong with this remark, but Xu Tingyu somehow thought of Xu Jia.
She also remembered the farce in the sanitarium just now.
She would never be able to have a meal with her younger brother again, and she no longer had a younger brother.
The other two didn't know about Zhang Qiu scolding her. Only Qi Ye opposite noticed her chopsticks pause slightly and looked at her worriedly.
The two looked into each other's eyes. Xu Tingyu didn't want him to worry about her, so she smiled at him to show that she was okay.
This interaction fell completely into Qi Shifeng's eyes.
How ridiculous.
His wife was sitting right beside him, and even their legs were touching.
As long as he turned his face slightly, he could see her, close enough to even make out the individual lashes on her eyes.
But even so, he still felt that she was far away from him.
She would smile tacitly with Qi Ye and would listen patiently and gently to Qi Ruixi.
Those dark eyes would only look at him coldly.
So the high - and - mighty Second Young Master Qi, who was always coaxed by others, was unhappy.
He put down his chopsticks and under the table, grabbed her left hand, holding it tightly and caressing it from time to time.
Xu Tingyu turned to look at him, her eyes filled with a warning, and she tried to pull her hand back.
But he just wouldn't let go, with a hint of provocative interest in his eyes.
Unable to break free, Xu Tingyu could only silently evaluate him as "childish" in her heart and let him be.
At this time, Qi Ruixi was talking about an interesting piece of gossip.
"Sister - in - law, do you know? There's really a scandal in the Su family. It turned out that the child of the adopted daughter Su Yue is actually her brother Su Yi's. It's really a big drama."
"Moreover, I heard that Su Yue used some means to get pregnant. She kept it a tight secret until she gave birth."
"Otherwise, this child would never have come into this world. But even though the child is already in school, the Su family still hasn't acknowledged it and has long since kicked Su Yue out."
"Why did this matter become such a big deal now? It's because Su Yi is going to get engaged. His fiancée is Li Xingxing, a well - behaved girl from a scholarly family. The Su family is very satisfied with her."
"As a result, Su Yue disagreed. She exposed the matter of the child to Li Xingxing. Li Xingxing was so disgusted that she vomited on the spot and insisted on calling off the engagement."
"A friend of mine was there at the time. She said that when Su Yi's mother came, she immediately slapped Su Yue and said that her family had been kind - hearted but had let in a wolf."
...
Qi Ruixi was so excited while telling this gossip that she didn't notice that the expressions of the two people opposite were a bit strange.
Especially Xu Tingyu. Her hand trembled slightly, and it was quickly noticed by the person beside her, who glanced at her.
Xu Tingyu didn't look at him. She just smiled and said, "Ruixi, there are a lot of dirty things in the Su family. You should stay away from all of them."
Qi Ruixi immediately remembered the time when they met Su Yue in the hot - pot restaurant.
She also remembered that Su Yue was Xu Tingyu's classmate.
She became even more excited. "Sister - in - law, do you know any more gossip? Tell me quickly."
Who doesn't love gossip?
Moreover, at the dinner table, the conversation would turn cold without some gossip.
Qi Ruixi thought she was just looking for something to talk about, but she didn't expect that the person who didn't like gossip was right in front of her.
Qi Shifeng gave her a cold look. "You seem to be quite free. If I remember correctly, you have the lowest performance in your group, right?"
Now Qi Ruixi wished she could find a hole to crawl into.
He had actually said such a face - losing thing in front of her favorite sister - in - law.
And she couldn't even "argue" because it was indeed the truth.
In other words, if it weren't for the fact that she was a "connected person", she might have been fired long ago.
After all, besides her, no one else would dare to quarrel with their boss every few days.
Her devilish boss, it was said, had to take sleeping pills to fall asleep since she joined the company.
Qi Ye stroked Qi Ruixi's head and said with a smile, "Ruixi, if you have any problems, you can ask your second brother more often."
The relationship between the siblings was really not good. No matter how cold they were to each other in private, they still put on a good show on the surface.
Just like today at the dinner table, Qi Shifeng and Qi Ye hadn't said a single word to each other.
But no one could tell that their relationship was extremely bad.
Now that Qi Ye had said this, it gave Qi Ruixi a way out and didn't make Qi Shifeng look bad either.
Qi Ruixi hugged Qi Ye's arm and coquettishly said, "Big brother still loves me."
She was now a bit convinced that Qi Ye really didn't have any romantic feelings for Xu Tingyu.
Maybe because he had been left abroad for a long time, he had an excessive longing for family affection.
That was why he was so good to his younger siblings.
In the end, the meal ended without any major problems.
Qi Ruixi originally planned to go back to the company with Qi Shifeng.
But Qi Shifeng said he had something to do in the afternoon and was going out. He asked Xu Tingyu to go with him and would drop her off on the way home.
So the four separated at the restaurant entrance, and Xu Tingyu got into Qi Shifeng's car.
At first, neither of them spoke, but Xu Tingyu could feel that his mood was off. After thinking for a while, she took the initiative to explain what had happened today.
"Big brother just happened to pass by the sanitarium and saw my mother running out, so he called me."
"I'm grateful for his help, so I invited him to dinner."
After she explained, she thought he would keep pestering her about it and get angry.
Who would have thought that Qi Shifeng suddenly asked her, "You've met the Su family?"