Chapter 15: Li Family’s Cousin Zhu Xishan

Today, only relatives who were close to the Li family came. However, counting big and small, men and women, there were more than a dozen people. The long-unused table in the dining room was fully occupied, and the entire dining room suddenly became extraordinarily lively.

With more young people, the usually quiet house seemed much more vibrant.

The wife-master and husband of the Li family sat at the head of the table. Li Zhenguan brought Wang Zhao to sit at a position on the lower right, while across from them sat Li Zhenguan’s elder sister and several cousins.

The Li family had only two children, one daughter and one son. The son was Li Zhenguan, still in university, while the daughter was called Li Zhenwei, six years older than Li Zhenguan. She had studied abroad to enhance her qualifications and was now working at the family company for several years.

The reason Wang Zhao didn’t see her when she entered was that the Li family’s eldest daughter hadn’t finished work yet. It was said that she had to attend a particularly important meeting in the morning, so she specifically set aside two hours at noon to come back for lunch and also to meet her future sister-in-law.

She had just returned and greeted Wang Zhao at the dining table. The first impression she gave was of a serious workaholic. Even sitting at the dining table, her phone placed aside was still vibrating, and after the meal started, she went out to take a call, looking very busy.

Li Zhenguan noticed Wang Zhao’s gaze and lowered his head to whisper in her ear, “My elder sister is a workaholic. Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, she’s basically at the company every day, even during the Spring Festival. You’ll see later.”

Wang Zhao nodded and withdrew her gaze.

Because there were many people in the family, the family chef had prepared numerous dishes in large quantities.

Several large Australian lobsters were placed in the center, along with claypot baked A5 Wagyu beef, Korean-style mixed noodles with geoduck, soup dumplings with king crab filling, and a stew made with abalone and seafood, filling the entire table.

It was evident that the chef was very innovative. While they were eating, Zhang Shu came over to ask if anyone wanted dumplings.

Today, the family had bought a lot of seafood and meat, so they had made many types of dumpling fillings, such as sea urchin, tiger prawn, king crab with vermicelli, and snail meat, wrapped in various colors. This opened Wang Zhao’s eyes, making her feel that the Li family’s chef was truly skilled at combining Chinese and Western cuisines and breaking through conventions.

In such a lively scene, once the atmosphere picked up, it was inevitable to drink a little alcohol. This was an unavoidable part of the dining culture in their country, especially since it was Wang Zhao’s first formal visit today. Despite refusing several times, the wine glass in front of her was still filled with half a glass of red wine.

“This red wine has a low alcohol content, it’s fine to drink a little,” Li Le said with a friendly smile.

Wang Zhao could only smile bitterly and refuse, “Aunt, I need to drive back later.”

“We have many rooms at home. You can stay and play a bit longer in the afternoon. It’s fine to stay overnight. After we finish eating, I’ll ask your Uncle Zhang to prepare a room for you,” Li Le said, completely unconcerned. She then turned to Yang Jin beside her and said, “Later, tell Zhang Shu to prepare a room upstairs. Little Zhao won’t go back tonight, she’ll stay overnight here.”

With things said to this extent, Wang Zhao couldn’t refuse anymore and had to reluctantly drink this glass of wine.

Seeing this, Li Le smiled and also had someone take out two more bottles of red wine from the wine cabinet, asking Zhang Shu to let the wine breathe first.

There were too many people, and she was afraid it wouldn’t be enough to drink. Mainly because usually there were only a few people at home, and when they wanted to drink, they couldn’t find anyone to accompany them. Today was a good opportunity to drink to their heart’s content.

This meal lasted for a long time. The two younger children left the table first and went to play with building blocks in the living room.

Only a few elders were left at the table, still drinking and eating, occasionally saying a few words, mostly discussing the current economic market. Wang Zhao couldn’t really join in these conversations. Both her undergraduate and master’s degrees were in law-related fields, and she hadn’t studied the current financial circles. As for the few financial products she had bought, they weren’t worth mentioning in front of the Li family.

So she remained silent most of the time, occasionally saying a few words to liven up the atmosphere.

In the end, only five or six people were left at the dining table. As for Li Zhenguan’s elder sister Li Zhenwei, she had left half an hour ago after receiving a phone call, probably having something urgent to attend to. However, before leaving, she had taken the initiative to add Wang Zhao’s contact information, seemingly not completely indifferent to her younger brother’s affairs.

The dining table was in disarray, and Li Zhenguan, sitting next to Wang Zhao, couldn’t bear it anymore and couldn’t help but yawn. Usually, at this time, he would be taking his afternoon nap.

Wang Zhao happened to see this and noticed the slight redness at the corners of his eyes. She asked in a low voice, “Sleepy?”

“A little,” Li Zhenguan said, trying to stay awake, his voice drowsy as he rubbed his eyes.

This meal had lasted about an hour and a half. Actually, most people had left the table half an hour ago. It was just the Li family elders who were keeping Wang Zhao here, drinking and talking, wanting to understand her personality better.

Wang Zhao said, “Then you go upstairs to rest first. You don’t need to keep me company here, I’ll be fine on my own.”

Li Zhenguan shook his head.

He wasn’t comfortable leaving Wang Zhao sitting here alone. His mother wasn’t as amiable as she appeared on the surface. Having been in the business world, she was as cunning as a fox, with more tricks than one could count. She was an old fox. It was only because he was sitting here now that the few elders at the table didn’t dare to be too unrestrained. Otherwise, Wang Zhao wouldn’t be able to leave the table sober today.

Wang Zhao had no choice. Although Li Zhenguan looked delicate and soft, he was actually very stubborn, as could be seen from their daily interactions. He was good at gentle persistence and acting coy.

So, she put down her chopsticks first and apologized to the elders at the table, while pressing her brow and saying, “I’m a bit drunk, I need to leave the table first.”

Li Le glanced at her son, who had been sitting there like a nail the whole time, her brow twitching slightly. In the end, she didn’t say anything and just waved her hand, “Your Uncle Yang has had someone prepare a room upstairs. If you’re not feeling well, go up and lie down for a while.”

She knew that Wang Zhao had drunk several glasses of wine earlier. Although the alcohol content wasn’t high, the wine had a strong aftertaste. Now it was already showing on her face. Wang Zhao’s skin was fair, and even a little redness was very noticeable.

Wang Zhao nodded.

The two of them left the table. Li Zhenguan no longer tried to hide it and yawned again, his eyes welling up with tears.

Zhang Shu, who was busy nearby, saw this and quickly came over. Seeing Li Zhenguan yawning, he said, “Is Zhenguan sleepy?”

“Yes, I’m going to sleep now,” Li Zhenguan nodded. He could now smell the strong scent of red wine on Wang Zhao. He turned his head to look at her and asked, “Do you want to go upstairs to sleep for a while too?”

Wang Zhao was actually feeling a bit drowsy, mainly because she had drunk some alcohol and her stomach wasn’t feeling very comfortable now. She probably hadn’t drunk much alcohol before and couldn’t hold her liquor well.

So she agreed with Li Zhenguan’s suggestion and prepared to go upstairs together.

However, before going upstairs, Zhang Shu stopped Wang Zhao and brought out a cup of sobering tea from the kitchen, “Drink a little of this to prevent feeling unwell later.”

Li Zhenguan watched as Wang Zhao calmly drank the cup of sobering tea. He looked around and noticed that only a few uncles were sitting in the living room, while Zhu Xishan and Wan Yao were not there.

Perhaps because he was too sleepy and his head wasn’t very clear, he didn’t think much and directly asked, “Where did Brother Xishan go?”

Hearing this, Wang Zhao couldn’t help but glance at Li Zhenguan. She felt that from the moment they met Zhu Xishan at the door, Li Zhenguan had been acting differently towards this cousin, but she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was off.