They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 72 The flattery backfired.
Zeng Xiaoyan instructed a male servant to take her husband to the area where the male guests were staying, and whispered to him, "If you don't want to talk to people, then don't. Just find a quiet corner to be alone. Anyway, there are many guests, and not everyone knows each other. Many people don't know each other. You don't need to feel restrained."

Liang Mingliang was somewhat relieved and nodded repeatedly: "That's good, that's good!"

As long as everyone else doesn't know each other, it's fine, and he won't seem like the only one who's being silly.

The stewardess, with a forced smile, led Zeng Xiaoyan and the other two towards the women.

Madam Zeng may not be here; she'll probably be extremely busy today.

Among the women, it was mostly Miss Zeng Mingzhu who hosted the guests.

Zeng Mingzhu was somewhat surprised to see that the Zeng family's rather respectable head housekeeper personally escorted Zeng Xiaoyan and her daughter-in-law, along with a woman surnamed Xu from some clan, over.

It's surprising that her third sister has become so shrewd! I wonder what she did to please Father that makes him value her so much.

Everyone witnessed the respectful attitude of the stewardess towards Aunt Liang and the others, and upon learning Aunt Liang's identity, they dared not treat her with disrespect.

This is the host's in-laws. The host has already made it very clear that they value their in-laws highly. As a guest, you must be out of your mind to deliberately make things difficult for them.

What good would this do them?

As soon as they sat down, some middle-aged women of similar age greeted Aunt Liang with smiles, and Aunt Liang gradually relaxed a bit.

The Zeng family also had some poor relatives who lived ordinary lives or even had a difficult life; not all of them were wealthy.

Aunt Liang wasn't the type to fawn over wealthy ladies; on the contrary, she was eager to greet them and then keep her distance. Soon, she was invited to sit and chat by two or three middle-aged women who looked to be around her age.

Zeng Xiaoyan breathed a sigh of relief.

Zeng Xiaoyan and Zeng Mingzhu had always been at odds. After exchanging greetings, she planned to pull Xu Zhichun away, not wanting to see the arrogant and disdainful expression on Zeng Mingzhu's bright face in front of her.

Even if Zeng Mingzhu disliked her, she wouldn't do anything in public at her father's birthday banquet. The two sisters exchanged a disdainful look and remained at peace.

Unexpectedly, an old woman called out to Zeng Xiaoyan with a grin, her long, cloudy eyes staring unabashedly at Zeng Xiaoyan's belly. She chuckled and said, "Xiaoyan, you've been married for over a year or two now, haven't you? Why is there still no sign of pregnancy? Doesn't your mother-in-law say anything to you?"

The guests present who heard this were speechless.

This is going to be interesting.

Zeng Xiaoyan's eyes flashed with disgust.

This old woman's snobbishness is comparable to her scumbag father's. This old woman is her second sister's mother-in-law, Lou Pozi from Loujia Village on the outskirts of the county town. Everyone calls her Third Aunt Lou.

Zeng Xiaoyan smiled enigmatically, "My dear in-laws, don't just worry about me, show some concern for my older sister too!"

Zeng Mingzhu's face instantly turned ashen. She glared at her fiercely, her cold gaze also sweeping over Aunt Lou.

If there's anything that bothers her, it's about having children.

She has been married for almost five years, but she still hasn't gotten pregnant.

In order to give birth to a son as soon as possible to inherit the family property, she even endured the terrible taste of the medicine and drank it for more than half a year to regulate her body.

She drank three meals a day without fail, finishing each large bowlful. Every time she took her medicine, she would close the door and only let her trusted maid, Cuiqiao, serve her, because the medicine was so awful that she would have to gag for a while after forcing herself to drink it, even though she was nauseous.

She was the dignified and noble eldest daughter-in-law, the future matriarch of the Qi family, so of course she couldn't let anyone see her in such a disheveled state.

However, although others cannot see it, she knows exactly how hard and miserable she is.

Her mother-in-law had given her an ultimatum: if she couldn't conceive in six months, her husband would have to take two concubines with respectable backgrounds.

two!

Despite her haughty, elegant, and dignified demeanor at her father's birthday banquet back at her parents' home, she was actually on the verge of going crazy with anxiety.

Aunt Lou's words were truly a reckless act of dancing in her own minefield.

What's more, Zeng Xiaoyan added fuel to the fire with that extra comment.

Aunt Lou's expression also changed.

Ever since the Lou family married the Zeng family's second daughter, who was born out of wedlock, the Lou family has been desperately trying to curry favor with the Zeng family so that the Zeng family would give them some benefits through their own hands.

Unfortunately, Master Zeng himself was a miserly miser who would take every penny he could get. He wanted to benefit from others, so how could he let others benefit from him? Not to mention Madam Zeng's direct descendants, what did it matter to them how Zeng Xiaojuan's family fared?
Lou Jia persisted, pretending not to know how annoying he was.

So, it was Master Zeng's birthday, and early in the morning, Aunt Lou arrived with her two sons and two daughters-in-law.

They claim to be here to help, but in reality, they just want to take advantage of their in-laws' good mood to gain some benefits.

As Zeng Mingzhu was the apple of Madam Zeng's eye, Aunt Lou naturally tried every means to please and flatter her.

Zeng Mingzhu disliked her half-sister Zeng Xiaoyan, but couldn't say anything openly due to the occasion. Aunt Lou saw the exchange of glances between the two sisters clearly and was overjoyed—her chance to make a name for herself had finally arrived.

If she helps Miss Zeng to thoroughly humiliate her half-sister Zeng Xiaoyan, wouldn't Miss Zeng be happy and give her some benefits?

Well, what could be more hurtful than stepping on a wife who can't have children?

After all, she is an elder, so it's only natural for an elder to show concern and ask after a younger person, right?

Aunt Lou thought she was extremely clever.

Unexpectedly, it struck a chord with two people at once.

Seeing Zeng Mingzhu's expression change, Aunt Lou panicked and hurriedly changed her words: "I was just expressing my concern, just expressing my concern. You are still young, being young is the best thing. There's no need to rush about having children. You'll have them eventually, you definitely will."

Zeng Xiaoyan smiled and said, "Thank you so much for your concern, Auntie! Among the three of us sisters, I'm the youngest and the youngest, so there's really no rush for me to have a baby. The one who should be worried is someone else. Don't you agree, Auntie?"

Aunt Lou's forced smile looked more like a grimace: "."

Zeng Mingzhu's chest heaved rapidly, and she was about to lash out when the head housekeeper, Madam Yu, who had already sensed something was wrong, hurriedly led several maids carrying trays in. She said with a smile, "Miss, I've brought you some ice jelly. This ice jelly is a rare delicacy that only exists in our Qingshan County these days. It's only available in limited quantities each day. It's only because our Zeng family is so prestigious that we bought a lot today. I specially brought it over so that all the ladies and young women can have a taste."

The Zeng family birthday banquet episode ended quickly.

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(End of this chapter)