He Meiying finished recounting her story.Tseng Fei Hong sneered: "She"s so rude and disrespectful. She"s always been like that since we were young. She never took an interest in joining us and socializing. She was always in her room avoiding us. She refuses to speak more than 5 words to anyone like we were beneath her. What, does she think that her words are gold?"
Shen Mo Chou: "You were doing what you thought was best, she should have supported you as a colleague."
He Meiying: "So she"s a doctor? What year of training is she in?" She herself was in her second year of dermatology specialty training.
Li Na and Li Yu Yan looked at each other. Li Yu Yan gently and tentatively spoke: "Well you see senior He, actually she..."
Waitress: "h.e.l.lo I apologize for interrupting. My colleague and I have your drinks."
Chen Wei motioned for her to serve the drinks.
Li Yu Yan breathed a sigh of relief. She did not want to have to explain that Li Xiuying was actually more senior and has more experience.
He Meiying took a sip of her opium c.o.c.ktail: "She still has no respect for seniority. She isn"t even coming over here to greet YanYan who is her older sister and Chen Wei her future brother-in-law. Has she even congratulated you both on your engagement?"
He Meiying had a huge ego, an inability to see her wrongs and was incredibly hard headed. She only believed what she believed and no one could persuade her otherwise. Additionally, she had completed most of her formal education and training in the UK, she was away from family and the political arena that most socialities have learned to navigate through from when they could speak. She only came back for the holidays and thus she wasn"t aware of the underhanded acts of the company she was keeping.
Li Na: "Sis Meiying, this is just typical for her. No matter how nice JieJie is to her she just doesn"t care. Since she left auntie and uncle have been worried sick about her but she won"t even return their calls. "
Tseng Fei Hong: "For years she has been getting in the way of YanYan"s engagement with Brother Wei. She"s unhappy with her miserable life and wants others to be equally unhappy."
Li Yu Yan: "Fei"er, Ge and I are together now. That"s all that matters. It wasn"t little sisters fault." She and her family had run damage control by spreading rumors in various social circles that Li Xiuying had pushed for the engagement even though she knew Chen Wei and Li Yu Yan were in love.
Shen Mo Chou was indignant: "YanYan, why are you still defending her after everything she"s done? She tormented you for over 5 years and you didn"t say a word of complaint. You didn"t even tell us, your best friends anything that was going on. Do you still want to suffer in silence." She was helping Li Yu Yan even though she knew the truth of the situation. Li Yu Yan had promised her certain things in exchange for her cooperation.
He Meiying: "We should go over there. She doesn"t deserve to even be in the same room as my junior. Looking at her now makes my skin crawl."
....
Yao Changying: "This is the best food ever! Do you know what makes it taste even more delicious? The fact that our enjoyment is enraging those little white lotuses over there." She took another bite of the pulled beef ravioli. The meat was so moreish and juicy that it made you salivate even more when it entered your mouth.
Lài s.h.i.+-on was about to stab his fork into a ravioli when Yao Changying moved the plate out of his reach.
Lài s.h.i.+-on: "Why are you being so stingy?"
Yao Changying: "Stick to your side of the table, this is ours."
Lài s.h.i.+-on: "Sharing is caring."
Yao Changying spoke with a blank expression: "I don"t care." She then stuffed another ravioli in her mouth.
Lài Yongliang: "I apologize for intruding upon your discussion. May I ask who these white loti are?"
Ren Daiyu glanced at Li Xiuiyng who was sampling all dishes in front of her before replying: "The two women sitting diagonally opposite us in the purple and blue."
Lài Yongliang dabbed a napkin on his lips before placing it on the table: "Do they have enmity with you?"
Ren Daiyu: "That young woman in purple is called Li Yu Yan, her engagement with Chen Wei featured in the Beijing times."
Lài s.h.i.+-on: "Huh?"
Ren Daiyu kept her voice even: "Li Yu Yan"s cousin a certain Dr Li Xiuiyng broke off her engagement with Chen Wei so he and Li Yu Yan could allow their hidden love affair to be brought into the open."
Lài Yongliang: "If that is true then it would seem that they are utterly despicable characters. However, there was a certain rumor circulating that Dr Li was in fact the interloper. Li Yu Yan and Chen Wei were a couple even in childhood."
Li Xiuying finally looked up and smirked menacingly at Lài Yongliang. She then looked into Qilin"s eyes: "It seems you have chosen the wrong acquaintance of Qilin"s to a.s.sociate with."
Lài s.h.i.+-on elbowed his brother hard: "Dude even I know that was the wrong thing to say."
Lài Yongliang: "Forgive me, I did not mean to suggest that I am in support of those rumors. I just wanted to point out that the Li and Chen family have been spreading said rumors to combat that article.
Ren Daiyu squeezed Li Xiuying hand under the table and then let go. Li Xiuying just shook her head slightly. She had initially felt fine when she saw the couple, she didn"t care if they were happy or not they would both end up in her hands anyway. What she couldn"t stand was being accused of being an interloper. All her past life she was "the third party", the supporting cast, the manual laborer who worked behind the scenes to elevate the main cast to the pinnacle.
Lài s.h.i.+-on tipped his chair back slightly to look at Li Yu Yan and company: "I can tell just by looking at them that they"re evil."
Yao Changying wanted to diffuse the situation, so she asked curiously: "Oh what else can you tell?"
Lài s.h.i.+-on put his chair back on all 4 legs: "I can tell that both those guys over there are doctors. They have this arrogant know-it-all vibe that a lot of doctors carry. Woman in silver - doctor. The others are just sidekicks especially the one in blue. She looks like a super sidekick to the purple, the kind that starts jumping before she asks how high."
Li Xiuying found herself smiling a little in spite of her anger. Lài s.h.i.+-on had described Li Na to a T. She slowly shook away the thoughts of herself being a lackey and looked at Lài s.h.i.+-on.
Yao Changying: "What else?"
Lài s.h.i.+-on:" Hmmm. I"ll probably have to charge for my insight."
Yao Changying rolled her eyes and put the ravioli back in its initial place.
Lài s.h.i.+-on picked up the plate and put it in front of him: "Oh and they look like they"re ready for a fight. I would say in about 30 seconds."
Ren Daiyu: "How could you..." She trailed off as she saw Li Yu Yan and all the women of her table get up from their seats.
Everyone on Li Xiuying"s table turned to look at the women.
Yao Changying: "Mayday. Mayday, we have incoming. It appears to be a pack of harpies."
Li Xiuying looked bored as she watched Li Yu Yan lead the pack of women towards her table.
Li Yu Yan smiled and spoke with emotion: "Little sister Xiu Xiu how are you? You look well."
Li Xiuiyng continued to stare with a nonchalant expression.
Li Yu Yan smile dropped slightly: "Who are all your friends? I don"t think I"ve met any of them before. h.e.l.lo Everyone, I"m Yu Yan. Li Xiuiyng"s older sister. Thank you for looking after her all this time."
Yao Changying: "Friend 1."
Ren Daiyu: "Friend 2."
Lài s.h.i.+-on: "Oracle, Friend 3."
Qilin and Lài Yongliang became friends 4 and 5 respectively.
Li Na: "I see all your "friends" are just like you."
Yao Changying tipped her head: "Thank you."
Li Xiuying finally spoke: "Are you here for a particular reason miss Li?"
Li Yu Yan had tears in her eyes:" Little Xiuying have I done something wrong? You won"t even call me big sister anymore? Please forgive me if I"ve done anything to hurt you. I"m sorry okay? Please don"t be angry with me anymore."
Shen Mo Chou: "Li Xiuying! How can you treat YanYan this way? You should be the one apologizing to her after everything you"ve done to her and brother Chen."