I'm not willing to be a cannon fodder for the female supporting role anymore

If he wants to get rid of Li Qiao successfully, he has to cultivate a good relationship with the father and son of the Qiu family.

"Well, I just told my mom that I'll be living with my dad and grandpa for the time being."

Li Qiao hung up the phone. She should have been happy because Yueying was not at home and she didn't have to see that annoying and money-losing person. But Lu Dingnan kept nagging in her ears, and his words made her feel that her husband was complaining about her not taking good care of the children.

In the past few years, Lu Dingnan seldom took care of the family affairs except for his own children. Although he was always kind to Li Qiao, and asked about her from time to time, and especially sent her gifts on every festival, she could feel that it was only because she took good care of the family that she was treated with courtesy.

What makes Li Qiao uncomfortable now is that a few days ago, Qiu Yueying suddenly quarreled with her for some reason. After that, Lu Dingnan started to ask about Yueying from time to time.

In previous years, when there were banquets or parties, her husband never mentioned taking Yueying with him. But this time, he urged her to bring her daughter back, saying that she should take the child to see more of the world.

"That girl's temper is getting worse and worse. She refuses to come back to the party and wants to stay there."

During dinner, Lu Dingnan asked again. Li Qiao sighed, wiped away tears that clearly did not exist, and then began to complain that Yueying was difficult to discipline.

"Before, she was busy with school and seldom went back to see her father and grandfather. It's only natural that she stayed a little longer this time. It shows that she is filial. Don't think too much about it."

Lu Dingnan himself couldn't explain it, but he always felt that his stepdaughter was not like what Li Qiao said, and he couldn't help but make excuses for Yueying.

In his eyes, Li Qiao is a responsible wife who devotes herself to his children. If he can be a peacemaker and repair the relationship between them, his reconstituted family will look truly harmonious and happy.

Li Qiao is not stupid. She knows what her husband means and will not take the initiative to make others unhappy.

Since Lu Dingnan didn't think Qiu Yueying was a bad girl, she wouldn't talk back to him. At most, she could create a few more misunderstandings and let the man see some "truth" with his own eyes. Wouldn't that be more effective than just her words?

"Maybe. I hope this child can be filial. It doesn't matter if she is not filial to me. Girls love their fathers. It would be good if she can be more filial to her father."

As she said this, her eyes moved to Lu Xiaowei who was having a meal. Lu Dingnan naturally glanced at his daughter as well. He felt warm in his heart and even his tone became more relaxed.

"It's a pity that the child has grown up. Xiao Wei will go to Beijing to study at the beginning of the semester. We can only see each other during the winter and summer vacations in the future."

"Yes, Zirui will go to college next year, and we will be the only two lonely old people left at home."

When Lu Zirui heard Li Qiao mention him, he raised his head indifferently, glanced back and forth between her and his father, then lowered his head and continued eating.

He always felt that he and his stepsister were like outsiders in this family. Only Li Qiao, Lu Xiaowei and his father were like a family of three. Li Qiao would only mention him when she was pretending to be nice. It is said that if there is a stepmother, there will be a stepfather, but for some reason this saying only seemed to work for him. Maybe Li Qiao and Lu Xiaowei were attracted to each other?

"Zi Rui has good grades and is good at English. He can go abroad directly after the college entrance examination."

Lu Dingnan had planned long ago to let his son go to Ivy League to study business management and then come back to inherit the family business.

“I don’t want to go abroad.”

Lu Zirui didn't even raise his head, continued to eat his food, and replied vaguely.

"Studying business management at a university in the country is like wasting four years of your youth."

“I don’t want to study business management either.”

Putting down his chopsticks, Lu Zirui raised his head, glanced at Lu Xiaowei who was eating elegantly, and then looked at his father. He tilted his head slightly, his face expressionless, and replied in a cold voice.

"you……"

"I want to study biopharmaceuticals."

Lu Dingnan took a breath, furious. He had indeed communicated very little with Lu Zirui in the past few years after his remarriage, but Li Qiao often talked to him about their children, so in his impression, his son was still very obedient, it was just that the boy was older and could talk better with his classmates and friends.

"Zi Rui, you are the only boy in your family. Your elder sister and Xiao Ying are studying... By the way, what major did Xiao Ying choose?"

Li Qiao was confused by the man's sudden question. To be honest, she had never cared about Qiu Yueying's grades. Every time the monthly exam or final exam results were released, she only heard Lu Xiaowei talk about the top few students in her class.

Occasionally when she was in a good mood, she would ask Yueying, but the child kept hesitating, so she believed in her heart that she couldn't say it because her grades were very poor.

After she determined that Yueying had poor grades, she felt that she would be embarrassed at the parent-teacher meeting, so she made various excuses not to go to school. However, Yueying's academic performance had always been among the best, and the teacher knew that she was from a reconstituted family, so she did not care that her parents never showed up.

This series of coincidences led to the fact that Li Qiao really didn't know that Yueying was a child with excellent grades.

"How can I care about her academic performance? If I ask her, it's like I'm her enemy. I'll support her in whatever school she can go to. If no school wants her, she'll have to repeat the year."

Li Qiao was good at arranging the moon shadow, and she also felt that it was the truth.

"Xiao Wei, isn't your sister in the same school as you? Have you ever heard about her grades?"

When Lu Dingnan heard this, he felt it was a bit of a pity. If he had discovered the problem between mother and daughter two years earlier, Yueying's grades might not have been so bad.

"We are not in the same class. Mom also knows my sister's temper. How dare I ask more about her?"

When Lu Xiaowei heard his father bring up the topic, he looked up at Li Qiao, then followed up on what she had said before and responded to Lu Dingnan with a tone of grievance.

After all, she was his beloved daughter. When he heard the child's words, he believed even more that Qiu Yueying had poor grades and was difficult to discipline, which hurt Li Qiao's heart. His favorability towards this stepdaughter dropped a few points.

Lu Zirui watched the family's performance as if he was watching a joke. Although he knew Qiu Yueying was a top student, he didn't want to help him clarify what the burden brought by that strange woman had to do with him.

"Zi Rui, Xiao Wei is studying psychology. If you don't study business management, who will manage the family business in the future?"

"I love you. When my mother passed away, I swore that I would research and develop anti-cancer drugs myself."

You guys are just singing the same tune for fun, don't bring this into my head.

Lu Zirui was a little impatient, and he looked over at his father's angry expression without fear. Lu Dingnan was pierced by the determination in his eyes and dodged for a moment, a little moved, and could not say anything else to force him.

Soon it was the day of Grandpa Ding's birthday. Although he only invited some relatives and friends, there were quite a few people at the scene. Yueying and the two elders of the Qiu family arrived early in the morning. Grandpa Ding saw that she had no intention of attending the social events, so he arranged for her to stay in the private lounge.

As soon as Ding Yanle arrived at the banquet hall, he was pulled to the lounge by his mother Jiang Xin. When he opened the door, he saw Yueying wearing a light-colored dress, a blanket covering her legs, lying on the sofa, playing with her mobile phone.

The man couldn't help but frown, thinking back to their first meeting. The girl smiled politely the whole time, and showed neither disgust nor joy about the engagement, as if it was none of her business.

The two people exchanged contact information as requested by their elders. Out of courtesy, he took the initiative to send a message, and the other party replied with a few simple words. After that, no one sent messages to the other again.

He originally thought that this girl had no feelings for him, but today she was so casual in the host's lounge, as if she didn't consider him an outsider, which made him feel like he had misjudged her.

Yueying was playing games out of boredom. She saw someone come in from the corner of her eye, but she ignored them. As long as no one came near her, she would finish the game first.

After a while, the door opened and closed again. Yueying had just finished a game and looked up, her eyes meeting the other person's.

Ding Yanxi.

Out of politeness, Yueying showed a sweet smile with eight teeth, but she didn't expect that the other party would walk over directly and sit down on the empty sofa at her feet.

"What game are you playing?"

The question was asked naturally, but Yueying was not satisfied with his overly familiar state, and her smile instantly turned cold.

"pesticide."

“WeChat area or Q area?”

"WeChat."

"I'm also in the WeChat zone. Can I add a friend to play together?"

I don't know what Ding Yanxi means. He clearly told me he has someone he likes the last time we met. Is this because his hard-to-get trick didn't work, so he's not going to act anymore?

Forget it. After all, he is the master's grandson. It's just a game. It would be a bit too much for her to refuse.

So Yueying clicked on the QR code business card and asked the other party to scan it. She glanced at Ding Yanle who was sitting on the sofa in the distance and discovered that the other party seemed to be taking a secret photo of her.

When the other person was looked at by Yueying, his face turned red instantly and his body moved unnaturally.

Yueying's mouth curled up slightly. What a boring family! She looked down at the new messages on her phone and the friend request. It was indeed the account she refused to add that day.

I bit my lower lip. Since the other person wasn't embarrassed, there was nothing to be embarrassed about either.

No one knew what the two cousins ​​were planning. Yueying didn't want to waste her energy on such a battle for power, so she secretly set an alarm for herself. After a few minutes, she pretended to answer the phone and went out.

The birthday party hasn't started yet, but most people have already arrived.

Li Qiao was just hanging out among the ladies chatting about gossip as usual, when suddenly she glanced and saw a girl walking out of the corridor outside the door while talking on the phone. Although it was only her back, she immediately recognized it was Qiu Yueying.

"excuse me."

After interrupting the conversation with a few ladies, Li Qiao walked quickly towards the door with a cold face.

"Qiu Yueying, why are you coming to this kind of party if you have nothing to do?"

Just as she was about to put away the phone that was pretending to be on a call, Yueying was pulled from behind and staggered.

She turned around with a frown and saw that it was Li Qiao who was looking at her coldly. Yueying suppressed her displeasure. After all, there were other people she was dealing with. Even if her mother was not a good person in the eyes of outsiders, as a daughter she should be more tolerant.

"Grandpa and Dad brought me here. What's wrong, Mom?"

"you……"

Li Qiao wanted to find some fault with her, such as scolding her for her clothes or makeup, but when she looked at her from head to toe, she found that everything from her hairstyle and makeup to her clothes was exquisite, especially her elegant standing posture, which made her unable to find any fault at all.

This child was obviously raised by her to be introverted and timid, and he usually exudes pettiness. Why is he so radiant today?

"What's wrong with me? Mom, is the banquet about to start? Let's go in first."

Yueying smiled and walked forward to hold Li Qiao's arm, looking like a loving mother and a filial daughter, and the two of them slowly walked into the banquet hall.

After entering the room, Yueying quickly scanned the seats of the Qiu family father and son, then sent Li Qiao to Lu Dingnan, greeted her stepfather, asked her grandfather to arrange another seat for her, and then walked gracefully to the main table.

When Lu Dingnan saw Yueying, he was also a little stunned. He knew that his stepdaughter was good-looking before, but he always felt that she was inferior to his own daughter. Today's outfit showed her best qualities and she looked comparable to his own daughter.

Looking at Yueying's back as she said hello and left, Lu Dingnan thought for a while, then turned around and asked Li Qiao beside him.

"The Qiu family and the Ding family have such a good relationship?"

Li Qiao naturally didn't know and could only shake her head awkwardly.

“Never heard of it before.”

Lu Xiaowei, who was standing aside, pursed her lips. It was unknown what she was thinking, but her expression did not look good.

After Lu Zirui finished browsing his phone, he looked up and saw his sister's jealous eyes fixed on one place. He followed her line of sight and wondered who else but his stepsister? He curled his lips. The moon shadow he saw today was different from the past, which made him feel that things seemed a little interesting.

In the second half of the banquet, Mr. Ding said that he would let all the young people go to the garden to play, and he prepared some outdoor entertainment facilities. He also specifically asked Ding Yanle to take Yueying with him.

It was the old man's birthday, so naturally the two of them would not offend the old man. Yueying followed him closely to the backyard and wandered around for a while without saying anything. Ding Yanle was a little bored, so he made an excuse, saying that he forgot to bring his cell phone and had to leave for a while.

Yueying felt that Ding Yanle disliked her. She was still thinking about how to tell him that she had no intention of getting engaged and that there was no need for them to be so awkward with each other. But he ran away before she even started talking. Did she look like she was really eager to marry into the Ding family?

"Sister, Grandpa Qiu and Grandpa Ding seem to be very familiar with each other?"

When he turned around, he saw Lu Xiaowei who had come to his side without him noticing.

She is wearing something very exquisite and beautiful today, probably because she hired a professional stylist to do it.

"Well, the two old men are comrades-in-arms."

Yueying watched Lu Xiaowei take two steps towards her. She lowered her head slightly, lifted her skirt, and moved a step to the side.

"I heard that you and Yan Xi are still engaged?"

"Ding Yanxi?"

It was obviously Ding Yanle, but Lu Xiaowei could admit his mistake.