The third daughter of the Lan Family, brought home from outside, had never had much say within the household.
The inevitable plan was for the parents of the Lan Family to find her a spouse, and give her a dowry.
Her future after marriage, whether within her husband's family or on her own, would no longer concern the Lan Family, and she was definitely not going to enter the Lan Family's business empire.
Lan Xin seized the chance when the second sister declined to marry. Being proactive, she solved a pressing problem for the Lan Family, and was exceptionally allowed to enter the family business.
However, as long as her elder siblings remained, she would never be entrusted with significant roles in the family business by her father.
Even the non-blood related second son-in-law would qualify for a significant position, but she, as his biological daughter, could not.
She is also a meticulous and discreet person. When the sister-in-law of the Lan Family and the second son-in-law were having an affair, Lan Xin was the only one in the family who noticed. Even the other halves of this couple remained oblivious till she discovered the clues that eventually unveiled this shocking secret.
At the same time, she is ruthless and decisive. She grabs hold of the enemy's weak point and delivers a lethal blow, never showing any leniency even if the enemy was a family member.
Look at this incident, the eldest brother and the second sister of the Lan Family brought shame upon themselves in front of their father and peers. As for her - the youngest daughter, she stood by her parent's side in a very thoughtful and appropriate manner.
Everyone has a balance in their hearts. Once compared with their siblings, it is clear who is at the top and who is at the bottom.
Clear assessments were made instantaneously - who to prioritize and who to let go.
Shi Li thought to himself, "She really earned her title as the sole female antagonist of this book."
Students who heard his inner voice didn't think too much about it. Shi Li was known for regularly saying some strange things. Over time, everyone got used to it.
No one really took it seriously. They merely thought that Shi Li had an affinity for being dramatic.
The wedding banquet was originally planned to end before two o'clock, but it dragged on until four.
None of the guests had lunch before they left, yet not a single person showed dissatisfaction.
After leaving the hotel, all of them had satisfied expressions, as if they had eaten and drunk to their heart's content.
The banquet today was more enjoyable than all the other banquets they had previously attended.
Of course, the guests who witnessed a grand drama were happy.
However, the members of the Lan Family were not happy. According to unverified rumors from the outside, a fierce war of words broke out when the Lan Family returned home.
The eldest brother of the Lan Family was beaten up by his brother-in-law while the youngest sister slapped the unfaithful husband and sister-in-law.
The scene was nothing short of spectacular. It was a real pity that there were no spectators.
The parents of the Lan Family casually sat on the sofa, apathetically watching their clawing children, as there were no outsiders in the house.
The rumors of the brawl were confirmed by neighbors living near the Lan Family. Later, the maid of the Lan Family was seen buying medicines for bruises and sprains in a nearby pharmacy.
In addition, some nosey visitors purposely went to the Lan Family's house.
They saw the eldest brother and the second sister of the Lan Family with bruised and swollen faces, looking like pig heads. Neither the sister-in-law of the Lan Family nor the second son-in-law of the Lan Family was seen, leading to speculation that they were ousted from the family.
The attendees of the wedding had indulged themselves so well that they didn't forget to share with fellow students at the other end of the screen.
One kind student had shared the video recorded that day in the group chat.
Not only the skillful students were recording videos, but some older folks refrained from waving their phones around, though their younger family members didn't have such inhibitions.
The first two eye-catching episodes of disrobing were only caught on camera by the students who had been forewarned by Shi Li, and by a dozen or so camera angles stationed all around.
Adding it all up, there were quite a number of people who caught that sight.
When other guests came to their senses and wanted to record, it was already too late. The big screen was turned off by the staff, leaving shots of the Lan Family performing martial arts on stage.
However, the excitement of that wasn't far behind.
Seeing all the video clips and messages, the students were astonished.
[Did I see that right]
[I'm shocked]
[Did the sister-in-law and the brother-in-law get together?]
[They must be. They're rolling around half-naked, can't be simply learning a foreign language, right?]
The ones making the sharp, shrilling noises were few, most were quietly watching the video.
Kind people who posted the video only shared a couple of short clips, carefully blurring some content to avoid getting reported.
A few minutes later, those who watched all the small clips were tossing comments around.
[What? These two are a couple?]
[My mind was blown multiple times in just a few minutes]
[You rich people sure know how to have fun]
[I can't even imagine, you rich people eat really well usually, huh]
[Yes, there must be so many juicy moments, like office stamp fights]
Students at the scene spilled the beans [Do you know who released this little movie?]
[Who? Don't beat around the bush. Tell us.]
[Must be their competitor, right? (humor)]
[The third child from the Lan Family, their illegitimate daughter]
Those who didn't know much about the Lan Family, seeing the suffix, were able to roughly guess the motives.
[This woman is merciless to put her family to shame]
[But she reaped real benefits]
The group chat was buzzing with discussions around the internal issues of the Lan Family, everyone summarizing the gossip, even the ones who hadn't been interested in this type of stuff before found it insightful.
[In the future, we should keep pace with Shi Li, following him guarantees some juicy bits!]
Now the rich kids could still afford to end up in such a group, normal students could only sigh in despair.
Then one smart alec came up with an idea: [Even though we don't have invitations, we could work at the hotel as temporary waitstaff]
[Yes, the hotel must need waitstaff, right?]
[You guys are going too far for some gossip]
Everyone lost a good rest this weekend, dwelling on the scoops they just got.
Despite the Lan Family's attempts to suppress the news, they made it to the trending list several times. Thousands of questions were simmering among students, like, are the grandsons and grand-daughters blood-related to the Lan Family?
That's when they remembered Shi Li.
Wei Yi was entrusted by everyone to question Shi Li about this.
During the break, Wei Yi casually brought it up, "Shi Li, have you been watching the trending news? People are saying that the Lan Family made a fool of themselves at a wedding, quite embarrassing."
"I should have gone with my mom, but some urgent matter came up at her company, she couldn't make it, and I couldn't go alone."
She pouted slightly, "If I had known it would cause a commotion, I would have gone alone. If we had gone together, at least we could have kept each other company."
Shi Li looked at her, with an expression that seemed to say 'you're asking the right person', “I was lucky enough to be there when it happened. Tell me, what do you want to know?”
At that moment, the students sitting in front, behind, and on either side of Shi Li were all ears.
Hearing her describe it as mere luck, others protested: nonsense, you definitely knew something would happen to the Lan Family and rushed over to see what was going on.
Wei Yi, circling a big roundabout, pretended that she didn't know anything else, "Is it like what they say online? I saw some videos in a gossip group on WeChat."
"What have they been saying online?"
Shi Li, who had been busy munching melon seeds, had paid no attention to what was going on online. She truly had no idea what the buzz was.
Shi Li appeared confused. “Can you still watch videos in gossip groups?”
Vision was definitely impossible. This was all made up by Wei Yi.
Afraid that Shi Li might ask to watch the videos, Wei Yi changed the subject, “They've been saying that the sister-in-law of the Lan Family and her brother-in-law were together, and there were some clips of the two at the wedding scene. They also say that the two used to be lovers. All this sounds too mystifying. It can't possibly be true.”
Shi Li nodded, “It's true. Reality is more exciting than television.”
Wei Yi covered her mouth in astonishment and said in disbelief, “God, it's actually true.”
Shi Li's neighbors heard Wei Yi's exaggerated voice and frowned in irritation at her overacting.
Wei Yi casually tossed out another topic, “Are the twins the Lan Family's sister-in-law gave birth to her husband's children, or are they her brother-in-law's?”
While others wouldn't have known the answer to this question, Shi Li did.
