"Duan Jinghan, you shut your mouth!" Seeing the situation turning sour, Qi Yue quickened his pace with his bodyguards, trying to stop Duan Jinghan from saying more.
Seeing this, Jiang Youli couldn't help but tease with a smile, "It seems we haven't even made a move yet, and Qi Yue has already crashed and burned on Duan Jinghan's end."
Qi Huan also smiled. "Qi Yue will never understand that the only reason he could ever scheme against me was because I trusted him enough in the past, not because he's so capable."
As for Qi Yue's warning, Duan Jinghan had no intention of shutting up at all. Still looking at Jiang Youli with a fearless expression, he said, "You say shut up, so I shut up? I refuse! I thought it was strange back then. Why would this Qi Yue help me get you for no reason?"
Jiang Youli played along this time and asked, "Oh? Why?"
Duan Jinghan pointed at Qi Huan beside Jiang Youli. "He said it was to help his big brother, Qi Huan. Qi Huan wasn't sincere about marrying you through this alliance, so he deliberately asked me to come to the engagement party to ruin your wedding!"
After saying this, Duan Jinghan looked smug. Now that he had exposed Qi Huan in front of so many people, Jiang Youli surely wouldn't go through with the alliance marriage with him anymore!
Jiang Youli let out an "Oh," looking very interested as she continued to press, "Is there more? What else did Qi Yue say, or what else did he want you to do?"
Encouraged by Jiang Youli's response, Duan Jinghan immediately straightened up. "Yes! There's something even more despicable!"
Qi Yue was so angry his face was flushed. He almost ran the final distance to Duan Jinghan, grabbing him by the collar.
"Didn't you hear me tell you to shut up?"
After the warning, he immediately waved his hand to command the bodyguards behind him. "Grab him! Absolutely cannot let him spout any more nonsense and ruin my brother's engagement party!"
Unexpectedly, before the two bodyguards could step forward, they were blocked by Cheng Jing and his men.
Qi Yue's expression turned ugly. "Cheng Jing, why are you stopping me?"
Then, from behind came Qi Huan's voice, filled with oppressive force. "Qi Yue, step aside. Let this young master Duan continue. I want to hear what else he has to say."
Qi Yue clenched his fists, his eyes fixed fiercely on Duan Jinghan, hoping he would know his limits and not say anything more outrageous.
With his worries gone, Duan Jinghan cleared his throat and continued his accusation to Jiang Youli:
"Not only that, this biological brother of Qi Huan also suggested a vile plan to me. He wanted to find an opportunity to drug you at tonight's engagement party, so I could take advantage of the situation and 'cook the rice,' so to speak. That way, when you were caught in bed by so many people at the engagement party and lost your virtue, you'd have no choice but to marry me!"
"Jiang Youli, do you understand now? All of this must have been masterminded by Qi Huan behind the scenes! Qi Huan doesn't love you, doesn't want to marry you, but since it wasn't convenient for him to act personally, he came up with such a sinister scheme!"
"I truly look down on people like him! That's why I had to come and tell you the truth today, no matter what. I absolutely won't let you jump into a pit of fire! Jiang Youli, I like you, sincerely! Will you give me another chance? No matter what happens in the future, I will never again think of testing your feelings for me. I'd rather die than break up with you again!"
After pouring out these words with deep affection, Duan Jinghan raised the rose in his hand a little higher and declared loudly, "Jiang Youli, if you're willing to believe me, I'll take you away right now! Tomorrow, I'll hold an equally grand engagement party for you!"
Jiang Youli said, "Duan Jinghan, although I've been quite annoyed by your pestering since we broke up, I still thank you tonight for doing a good deed for me and Xiao Huanhuan."
Duan Jinghan, holding the rose, was instantly bewildered. "Thank me for what?"
Qi Huan added, "If it weren't for your public accusation, I'm afraid I would still be in the dark, completely unaware that I had been ruthlessly betrayed by my own brother without even knowing it."
Hearing this, Duan Jinghan, who had been in a state of confusion, finally snapped back to reality. "What? Are you trying to tell me that everything Qi Yue did was entirely his own doing and has absolutely nothing to do with you?"
Qi Huan nodded. "Indeed, it has nothing to do with me. I have been looking forward to my engagement with Little Li'er for a long time. How could I possibly ask Qi Yue to find you to ruin our engagement party?"
After speaking, he turned his gaze towards Qi Yue, his eyes filled with questioning. "Qi Yue, how do you intend to explain this young master Duan's words? You're not planning to say that this young master of the Duan family is deliberately trying to slander you, are you?"
At this moment, Qi Yue seemed as if he had been hit by a paralysis spell, standing rigidly in place, not daring to move a muscle.
He could clearly feel the collective gaze of everyone around him piercing into him, making his back prickle.
"I heard this Qi Yue was sent away by Grandpa Qi before because he might affect the Qi family's fortune. If it weren't for the eldest young master of the Qi family pleading for him, he might not have been able to return to the Qi family as a young master."
"Looking at it now, the eldest young master really brought back a thankless wretch!"
Qi Tianxiang looked at his son Qi Yue, inwardly cursing his son's recklessness!
He had already told Qi Yue not to waste extra effort targeting Jiang Youli—leave Jiang Youli for Jiang Yangxu's family to deal with!
He never expected Qi Yue to still go behind his back and do these things, and now he had gotten himself caught in his own trap!
The rest of the Qi family were also watching the drama unfold.
Grandpa Qi spoke up, his voice carrying the authority and finality of an elder. "Qi Yue, if you cannot give a reasonable explanation today, you will leave the Qi family like Qi Yu, and no longer be a young master of the Qi family."
Grandpa Qi had never liked Qi Yue.
First, he was genuinely concerned that Qi Yue might affect the Qi family's fortune. Second, in the three years since Qi Yue was brought back, Grandpa Qi had discovered that Qi Yue, like his father Qi Tianxiang, was both incapable and arrogant.
If it weren't for the fact that Qi Yue was, after all, the biological brother of his most admired grandson, Qi Huan, Grandpa Qi wouldn't have even wanted to acknowledge this grandson.
"It seems Grandpa Qi is determined, actually planning to directly expel him from the family!"
"Doesn't this further prove that the eldest young master of the Qi family still holds a very high position in Grandpa Qi's heart?"
"I think so!"
Qi Yue knew he was cornered.
His only way out now was to immediately implement the second plan he had originally prepared for dealing with Jiang Youli tonight, to divert attention onto Jiang Youli, and then seize the chance to come up with a reasonable excuse for himself!
Thinking this, he secretly retracted his hand into his jacket pocket and forcefully pressed a remote switch.
At that moment, a man's scream suddenly echoed through the banquet hall.
"Ah! Snake!"
"There's a snake! It's venomous!"
"Everyone be careful, don't get bitten!"
"There's more than one! How are there venomous scorpions too..."
In the banquet hall, panicked voices from the guests rose and fell one after another.
[I was away for a while having a baby. The process was quite difficult, so I've been recuperating recently. I'm now resuming updates, temporarily posting one chapter per day!]
