Chapter 79: Chapter 79: Bitter Wine Down the Throat

Gu Muxue’s brow furrowed as she shot Xue Rui a fierce glare.

Xue Rui was just running his mouth; he didn’t actually grab her hand and make her touch anything. After all, her parents were right in the next room.

Besides, he was afraid of getting bitten again.

"Come on, let’s go inside," Xue Rui said with a smile.

The two of them often ate together at school, so they settled into their seats naturally. Gu Muxue picked a spot on the left, and Xue Rui habitually sat to her right.

Xue Yao wanted to be closer to the older girl who had given her a gift, so she made a beeline for the empty seat to Gu Muxue’s left.

However, Xue Rui grabbed her arm and gestured for her to sit to his right.

"Brother, why’d you grab me?" Xue Yao complained, shaking her little arm free from Xue Rui’s hand.

’With the parents here, I’m not afraid of him!’

"Muxue is left-handed," Xue Rui said offhandedly. "If you sit on her left, your chopsticks will end up clashing."

When Gu Qingshan heard this, his eyes snapped toward Xue Rui.

Xue Jianfeng glanced over as well, a wide grin on his face. "Seems the two kids get along great."

Gu Qingshan muttered under his breath, "I’m starting to seriously suspect you put Xue Rui and my daughter together on purpose."

He’d only recently discovered that his daughter and Xue Jianfeng’s son had been attending the same schools since elementary.

Gu Qingshan deeply regretted not listening to his wife. She had wanted to send Gu Muxue to a prestigious private school.

But having come from a rural village himself, he’d been unhappy with his wife’s disdain for ordinary public schools.

Moreover, he looked down on those arrogant, flashy second-generation rich kids, so he had insisted on Gu Muxue attending a regular public school.

But who could have possibly imagined that this very decision would result in Gu Muxue and Xue Rui attending school together for ten years!

A while back, when he’d tried to make her transfer schools, Gu Muxue had been a tear-streaked mess...

How could he not see that his daughter liked that Xue Rui kid?

Back in the day, Gu Muxue’s high school entrance exam scores were among the best in the city; she could have gone to the top high school.

But as fate would have it, she "mistakenly" filled in the wrong school on her application.

Gu Qingshan had considered pulling some strings to get it changed, but Gu Muxue insisted there was no need, saying, ’A good student will succeed anywhere.’

’Thinking about it now... did she really make a mistake?’

Gu Qingshan sighed in resignation, picked up a glass of baijiu, and downed it in one go.

"Qingshan, we’ve known each other for so many years. Why are you always suspecting me?" Xue Jianfeng said, displeased.

He genuinely knew nothing about it; the whole thing was a complete coincidence.

To toughen Xue Rui up, he hadn’t picked him up or dropped him off at school a single time since he graduated kindergarten.

That was why Gu Qingshan had subconsciously assumed that Xue Jianfeng’s son couldn’t possibly be at the same school as his own daughter.

"I guess I was overthinking things," Gu Qingshan sighed.

’Since the misunderstanding is cleared up, there’s no point dwelling on something so baseless. A coincidence is a coincidence, I suppose.’

"Rui was born in March. What about your daughter?"

"Xue’er was born in September."

"Rui weighed seven pounds, six ounces at birth."

"Xue’er was a plump, fair baby, too. She was seven pounds, eleven ounces..."

Ren Qunfang and Zhao Lizhen held hands, fondly recounting amusing stories from their children’s past.

"Mom~" Gu Muxue cried out, her face beet red.

’What in the world are they talking about?’ she thought.

’And... I was actually heavier than Xue Rui.’

Ren Qunfang gave Gu Muxue a beaming smile, then turned to Xue Rui.

"Rui, why don’t you take Yaoyao and Xue’er to a separate table next door? The adults will probably be drinking late into the night."

Gu Muxue had been stealing glances at Ren Qunfang the whole time. She couldn’t help but feel she looked a lot like Xue Rui’s mother.

Now that Xue Rui’s mother had bailed her out, she sent a grateful look in her direction.

"What a shame," Xue Rui muttered, getting up and heading to the private room next door.

"What’s a shame?" Gu Muxue asked irritably.

"It’s a shame I won’t get to hear all your embarrassing childhood stories. I’m sure they were about to share a lot of them," Xue Rui said with a sly grin.

Gu Muxue waited until no one was looking and secretly pinched Xue Rui’s arm.

Xue Rui called a server to bring their food. Once the three of them were seated in the private room, it suddenly felt quiet and a little empty.

Gu Muxue glanced at Xue Rui, only to find him counting money.

Xue Rui clicked his tongue in amazement. ’A ten-thousand-yuan red envelope on our first meeting?’

"Aunt Zhao is really magnanimous," Xue Rui remarked.

"That’s what you get for not reading more," Gu Muxue corrected. "The word you’re looking for is ’generous.’"

"Right. Generous, too," Xue Rui agreed with a smile.

’Of course he knew the difference between ’magnanimous’ and ’generous’.’

’He’d expected that getting all these women together would lead to scheming and passive-aggressive sniping.’

’He hadn’t expected Zhao Lizhen to be so magnanimous, completely unconcerned with the past.’

’It was almost as if she was happy about being a "substitute."’

Xue Yao leaned in close to Xue Rui’s ear. "Brother... how come Sister Muxue..."

"It’s just a coincidence," Xue Rui said, shooting Xue Yao a look. He knew what she was trying to ask.

’The real reason was just too difficult to explain.’

Of everyone there, only Gu Muxue and Xue Yao were in the dark.

’It was better this way,’ Xue Rui thought. ’He had no intention of telling anyone.’

The food arrived quickly. Gu Muxue and Xue Yao started chatting about interesting things from school, occasionally leaning in to whisper to each other before looking over at Xue Rui and stifling giggles behind their hands.

From their expressions, Xue Rui instantly guessed Gu Muxue was digging for embarrassing stories about his past.

’If this were the past, how would he have reacted? Feel awkward? Fly into a rage? Yell at Xue Yao?’

’But now? He was completely unfazed. In fact, he found it a little funny.’

"Rui, come out here," Xue Jianfeng said, poking his head in.

’That’s weird,’ Xue Rui thought. ’What does Dad want?’

"Where’s that red envelope Old Gu’s wife gave you?" Xue Jianfeng asked, his face grim. "I’ll hold on to it for you."

Xue Rui’s eye twitched. He’d thought he was ten thousand yuan richer, but he hadn’t expected his father to come all the way out here just to demand it from him.

"Dad, that’s not fair," Xue Rui retorted. "You tell me to go after Uncle Gu’s daughter, but you won’t approve any funds for dating. What am I supposed to court her with?"

Xue Jianfeng snorted. "Do you think Old Gu’s daughter is someone you can win over with money?"

Xue Rui was speechless. His dad was right.

"Here, take it," Xue Rui said, annoyed.

He slapped the thick red envelope into Xue Jianfeng’s palm with a loud SMACK.

"Ouch. Got a strong arm on you," Xue Jianfeng said, shaking out his hand before smiling and stuffing the red envelope in his pocket.

Before leaving, he didn’t forget to add, "I’m only doing this for your own good."

Xue Rui just smiled and shook his head. This was how things always were in his family.

He and his sister had both received ten-thousand-yuan red envelopes, yet his was the one being confiscated.

In the past, he never understood why and had felt some resentment.

It wasn’t until after he graduated from college that he learned the real reason: Xue Jianfeng was afraid he would get involved in the wrong things.

Smoking and drinking? Those were small potatoes.

Several of Xue Jianfeng’s business associates had children who fooled around, ran wild, and ended up as drug addicts.

Some of them, it was said, died before they were even out of their early twenties.

The rich kids of that era were mostly from nouveau riche families. Their parents had suffered hardships and were determined not to let their own children do the same.

But it was precisely this doting that led so many of them astray.

His sister, Xue Yao, on the other hand, didn’t need such supervision. She barely ever left the house, spending all her time playing video games. Perfectly safe.

Xue Jianfeng wasn’t highly educated; what did he know about properly raising children?

So he just took the old saying, "Raise a son poor, raise a daughter rich," at face value.

His thinking was limited by his era, and he was a firm believer in anecdotal evidence from his own social circle. There was nothing Xue Rui could do about it.

As for Xue Rui, the financial restrictions on him wouldn’t be lifted until he graduated from college. Only then would he truly become a second-generation heir.

In his past life, when Xue Jianfeng found out Xue Rui wanted to start his own business, he’d proactively transferred a huge sum of money to him.

But in this life... Xue Rui couldn’t afford to wait.

A few days ago, he had checked the price of Bitcoin. It was only about 100 yuan per coin.