Jiang Youli parked the car, told her beautiful new mom to stay inside, and got out herself. She walked to the gate of the Long family compound and rang the bell.
Shortly after, a middle-aged butler came out.
Jiang Youli stated directly, "I'm looking for your Long family's Second Madam, Jiang Li. I am her niece, Jiang Youli."
As the butler of the Long family, he was naturally well-informed about the news circulating among the wealthy elite circles.
Recently, the hottest gossip in those circles was the return of the Jiang family's true heiress and how she had outshone the Beijing socialite talent Jiang Yonghe at her welcome banquet, stealing the spotlight.
Just last night, the engagement between the Jiang family's true heiress and the eldest young master of the Qi family was unprecedentedly grand. Everyone in the circle was saying that the Qi family patriarch and the eldest young master held the Jiang family's true heiress in the highest regard.
"Miss Jiang, please wait a moment. I will go inside to announce your arrival," the middle-aged butler said before turning back towards the main house.
In the main hall.
"What did you say?"
Upon hearing the butler's announcement, a wave of anger instantly surged in Jiang Li's heart.
She shoved her husband, Long Junyu, who was sitting beside her holding a cup of coffee, trying to wake himself up!
Pushed like that, Long Junyu spilled quite a bit of coffee on his clothes and lap. Annoyed, he snapped impatiently, "What's wrong with you now?"
"What's wrong with me? Didn't you hear the butler say my dear niece is at the door?!" Seeing his distracted attitude, Jiang Li's anger flared even hotter, her tone growing more resentful. "If I hadn't believed you could handle things with Chairman Zhou, I wouldn't have made that bet with my dear niece!"
Long Junyu took a tissue offered by the butler, wiped himself dry, stood up, and said with increasing impatience, "What are you afraid of her for? If she's here, she's here. We just won't open the gate. Can she force her way in and make you apologize?"
Jiang Li thought about it and agreed. As long as she didn't go out, could that wretched girl Jiang Youli really just stand guard outside the gate forever?
If she really could, then let her stand guard!
Although hiding indoors because of Jiang Youli was embarrassing, kneeling and apologizing to her would be not only embarrassing but utterly humiliating!
She would absolutely never kneel!
"Butler, did you hear that? Do not open the gate to let my niece in," Jiang Li instructed after calming down a little.
The butler nodded. "Understood."
"Losing your composure over such a small matter. Look at you, where's the bearing of the Second Madam of the Long family?" Long Junyu complained before heading upstairs to change his clothes.
Being criticized by her husband like this made Jiang Li feel even more stifled. She was clearly the one he had gotten into this mess, and now it was somehow her fault!
Thinking of this, Jiang Li hated her niece Jiang Youli even more. If that girl hadn't stirred up so much trouble in the Jiang family, she herself wouldn't have thought of going back to the Jiang family to wade into that muddy water! And ended up covered in filth!
A woman should just be responsible for being beautiful, focusing on spending her husband's money. But that wretched girl Jiang Youli had to go and think about fighting for the family inheritance!
It made her feel unbalanced and want to go back to the Jiang family to fight for a share too!
...
Jiang Youli waited outside the Long family gate for quite a while. Seeing that the butler hadn't returned with a reply, she guessed Jiang Li had specifically ordered him not to open the gate for her, thinking that would render her powerless.
What a joke.
How could she possibly be powerless?
Zhang Susu, her face flushed with anger, got out of the car and walked over to Jiang Youli. Staring indignantly at the compound inside the gate, she said, "It seems your third aunt is clearly deliberately leaving us out here to dry. As an elder, to renege like this is simply shameless to the extreme!"
Jiang Youli hurriedly comforted her beautiful new mom: "Mom, don't be angry. We're here today to vent, so we need to keep our cool. Since Third Aunt refuses to show herself and won't let us in, we'll just make her voluntarily and obediently invite us in."
Hearing her daughter say this, Zhang Susu couldn't help but ask curiously, "You've already thought of a way?"
A sly smile tugged at the corner of Jiang Youli's mouth as she replied, "Originally, considering we're both from the Jiang family, I didn't want to make too big a scene to avoid completely embarrassing Third Aunt in front of outsiders. But since Third Aunt wants to be this unreasonable, I'll just give her a taste of her own medicine and be even more unreasonable."
With that, she took her phone out of her pocket and skillfully dialed Ye Ying's number.
After the other party answered, she instructed, "Ye Ying, immediately help me hire a professional dragon and lion dance team, complete with gongs and drums."
...
Long Junyu changed his clothes and went straight back to sleep in his room.
Jiang Li, however, remained in the main hall, sitting on pins and needles, restless and uneasy for half an hour, constantly speculating about the situation outside the gate.
Finally, unable to contain her anxiety any longer, she turned to the butler who happened to be passing by and asked urgently, "Go quickly and see if my niece is still outside the compound gate?"
"Yes, Second Madam." The butler hurried out. Not long after, he returned with quickened steps, his expression somewhat complicated.
Seeing this, Jiang Li's heart instantly leaped into her throat, and she pressed anxiously, "Well?"
The butler answered, "Reporting to Second Madam, Miss Jiang is still at the gate and hasn't left. And..."
Here, the butler suddenly paused, his eyes flickering uncertainly as if hesitating whether to report what he saw next truthfully to Jiang Li.
"And what? Stop stammering and speak quickly!" Seeing the butler like this made Jiang Li feel increasingly uneasy.
The butler looked troubled, hemming and hawing for a moment before finally saying, "And... there are many people outside. Each of them is holding gongs and drums, looking as if they're ready to start making a racket at any moment."
Hearing this, Jiang Li immediately understood Jiang Youli's plan.
She trembled with rage, gritting her teeth and cursing inwardly.
That wretched girl Jiang Youli couldn't possibly be planning to make their bet known to everyone, could she?
Damn her!
Does she really not care about the Jiang family's reputation at all?!
Just as she was thinking this, an ear-splitting cacophony of gongs and drums erupted from outside the compound gate, accompanied by Jiang Youli's voice amplified through a loudspeaker.
"Third Aunt, come out and fulfill the bet. Kneel and apologize to me."
Every time Jiang Youli shouted, the gongs and drums would sound again, loud enough to be heard for a kilometer around.
Jiang Li stood up, dumbfounded, and ordered anxiously, "This is the death of me! That wretched girl Jiang Youli, how could she stoop to such vulgar behavior! Butler, take some people and stop her immediately! Don't let her disturb the old master and madam's rest!"
Who would have thought that the Long family matriarch would choose that moment to arrive from the corridor. "I am already disturbed."
Jiang Li flustered momentarily. "Mother... I'll handle it right away."
The Long family matriarch's tone was chilly. "Chase her away? Aren't you afraid that if she's only making a scene at our Long residence now, driving her away might make her take the scandal all over Beijing?"
Jiang Li was momentarily speechless. "...Mother, I didn't consider that."
Old Madam Long's voice was cold. "You've been married into our Long family for so long, yet you're still as brainless as ever. Always thinking about how to maintain that face of yours, why don't you ever think about cultivating your brain?"
Jiang Li dared not voice her anger and replied, "You are right to reprimand me, Mother..."
"It's not that I look down on your Jiang family, but just look—this niece of yours, whom you've only just taken in, is as thoughtless as you are. She actually came to our Long family to make a scene over such a trivial matter." Old Madam Long spoke in a tone of lofty superiority.
