At that moment, the living room of Bai Menghan’s home was filled with people of all ages.

A quick glance revealed at least a dozen people.

Of course, as Bai Menghan and Fang Chenyi pushed the door open and walked in, all dozen or so pairs of eyes in the living room focused on Fang Chenyi.

"You must be Chenyi. You should have just come yourself, why did you bring gifts? Come in, come in."

Seeing the middle-aged woman who came to greet him, Fang Chenyi quickly smiled and said:

"Hello. It’s so nice to finally meet you. I’ve wanted to visit for a long time, but I’ve been swamped with things recently. I’m sorry for being late, I hope you don’t mind."

It was just like the old saying about a mother sizing up her son-in-law; the more Bai Menghan’s mother looked at the dashing young man before her, the more she liked him. She took the gifts from Fang Chenyi, placed them on the coffee table, and turned to Bai Menghan, saying:

"Silly child, what’s there to mind? Come and sit down. Menghan, what are you just standing there for? Introduce Chenyi to everyone."

Bai Menghan glanced at the large crowd in the room, then shot Fang Chenyi a helpless look. The message was clear: she had no idea so many people would be here either. But helpless or not, she began the introductions.

"Chenyi, this is my grandmother."

Looking at the stately, well-to-do old woman sitting in the center of the sofa, Fang Chenyi quickly and respectfully followed Bai Menghan’s lead:

"Hello, Grandma."

The old woman looked Fang Chenyi up and down, repeating, "Good, good. What a handsome boy! So handsome!"

"This is my second uncle, my second aunt, my third uncle, and my third aunt."

Following Bai Menghan’s lead, Fang Chenyi quickly greeted them:

"Hello, Second Uncle. Hello, Second Aunt. Hello, Third Uncle. Hello, Third Aunt."

The few people on the sofa all smiled and nodded after hearing him.

"See? Our Menghan is so fortunate. Look at this young man, so impressive."

After they had greeted the elders, Bai Menghan pointed to the person next to them and continued, "Chenyi, this is my cousin from my second uncle’s family."

After Bai Menghan finished the introduction, this cousin just grunted in acknowledgment, which counted as a greeting.

Then, before Bai Menghan could speak again, the man sitting next to the cousin laughed and spoke up first. "Haha, hello there, Xiaofang. My name is Chen Xi, I’m Menghan’s cousin-in-law. You look about the same age as Menghan. Are you still in college?"

Hearing Chen Xi’s words, Fang Chenyi gave a faint smile.

"Hello, cousin-in-law. I’m actually two years older than Menghan. I’ve already graduated and started working."

"Oh? Graduated already? Look at you, all dressed up in a suit. You must be some kind of manager. So, where do you work?"

When he heard Fang Chenyi was working, Chen Xi immediately pressed with the question. At his words, everyone else in the room subconsciously perked up their ears. Of course, this was the question they all wanted to know the answer to. It was just that as elders, they were too polite to be the first to ask.

Fang Chenyi hadn’t expected him to ask so directly where he worked. For a moment, he didn’t quite know how to answer. ’After all, I have quite a few businesses of my own, but where do I actually *work*? I don’t really have a specific place.’

With that in mind, Fang Chenyi answered very honestly:

"Er, haha, I don’t really work for anyone right now. I’ve partnered with some people on a few small projects, but I’m not very involved in managing them. The global environment has been severely damaged recently, so I’ve started dedicating myself to environmental protection."

After he said this, everyone looked confused. Beside him, however, Bai Menghan shot a helpless glance at the men’s clutch tucked under Fang Chenyi’s arm.

Inside that clutch was his treasured woven bag that he never went anywhere without.

"Oh? Partnered on a few small projects? Sigh. Let me give you a piece of advice as someone who’s been there. You can’t just ignore your partnerships these days. After all, you never know what people are really thinking. It might be fine now while your business is small, but it won’t work once you get bigger. Also, don’t be in such a rush to get into environmental protection or whatever. That’s the kind of thing you can do after you’re making a few million a year. It’s not too late then."

After Chen Xi finished his speech, delivered with the air of an expert, his wife chimed in at just the right moment:

"That’s right. What your cousin-in-law said is all for your own good. You don’t know the half of it. It’s fine when your business is small, but when he first started a company with partners, he had the same idea as you—he didn’t pay any attention to it. But once the company grew and started earning millions a year, his two partners started playing tricks. If he hadn’t discovered it in time, the losses would have been immeasurable."

"Uh, I’ll be careful in the future. I’ll definitely be careful."

Fang Chenyi had no idea how to respond to all this. Of course, he wasn’t going to argue with this cousin and her husband whom he had just met. After all, on the surface, they seemed to be concerned for his well-being.

At this moment, the grandmother, sitting in the center of the sofa, waved her hand at Fang Chenyi and Bai Menghan.

"Alright, alright, let Xiaofang sit down and rest for a bit. He’s come all this way. Come on, you two, come sit here by Grandma so I can get a good look at you. A good look. Alright, you from the second and third families, it’s already past three. Get to the kitchen and start preparing dinner!"

As soon as the old woman spoke, several of the aunts stood up to go prepare dinner in the kitchen. But hearing this, Chen Xi, who was off to the side, quickly interrupted.

"No, no, Grandma! This is Xiaofang’s first visit. We should go out for a nice meal tonight. I’ve already booked a private room at Zhao Fu Building in town. Haha, and as it happens, someone gave me two bottles of Sky Blue yesterday. First Uncle, Third Uncle, oh, and Xiaofang, we’ll all have a good drink tonight."

The two bottles of Ocean Blue that Fang Chenyi had just brought in were sitting right there on the coffee table, yet Chen Xi was talking about drinking Sky Blue tonight. This made Bai Menghan, standing next to Fang Chenyi, frown slightly.

This cousin, only a year older than her, had been overshadowed by her since childhood. Whether in looks or academics, she could never measure up to Bai Menghan. Perhaps having been in Bai Menghan’s shadow for too long, she had finally found a sense of superiority after getting a boyfriend who owned a company.

And as they say, birds of a feather flock together; this cousin-in-law was also quite the show-off. It wasn’t just this time—at every previous family dinner, he had to be the center of attention.

After saying this, Chen Xi suddenly seemed to remember something. He slapped his forehead and quickly added:

"Hey, look at me, I forgot, I forgot. Xiaofang brought liquor today too! Haha, we’ll drink Xiaofang’s ’Ocean Blue’ first tonight. Two bottles won’t be enough anyway, so when we finish those, we can move on to the Sky Blue."

[To be continued...]