No wonder this woman had appeared with Lan Yuge! She was only helping Master Dongfang and was not his chosen daughter-in-law.

　　The entire hall heaved a sigh of relief.

　　Lan Yuge furrowed her brows in annoyance and her eyes swept past Master Dongfang, ignoring his attention.

　　“Yun’er, let’s ignore that old fart. Come and sit with me!” she said as she softly held Gu Ruoyun’s hands and pulled her to the seats.

　　“Wha…” Stunned, Master Dongfang turned aggrievedly to Dongfang Shaoze and asked, “Is your Mother angry?”

　　Dongfang Shaoze pursed his lips disapprovingly. “I’ve told you to treat Yun’er a little better. Now that she has become Mother’s precious jewel, did you really think Mother would be happy to see you treating her so roughly?”

　　He spoke the truth. Over the years, Yun’er had lived a hard life and at the very mention of the subject, his mother would be filled with guilt. She wished that she could make it up to Yun’er with her life. Besides, his mother loved his sister Yu’er dearly. While his mother was not the kind of person to scold the old man whenever he dared to bark at her, she would coldly ignore him the entire day.

　　Master Dongfang grew angry. He had previously treated Gu Ruoyun well so that she would agree to help coax Lan Yuge to come home, thinking that he could return to his original habits after that. He certainly did not anticipate that the girl would have his own wife eating out of the palm of her hand.

　　It looks like this stupid girl will govern the rest of my life, he thought furiously.

　　“Father, for your peace of mind, it may be better to speak to Yun’er nicely in the future.” Dongfang Shaoze patted his father’s shoulder sympathetically before walking away happily.

　　The old man’s face turned sour at the very thought of it as if he had been forced to swallow a bitter pill. He looked sadly at Lan Yuge who was chatting happily with Gu Ruoyun. He quickly regained his composure and sat down next to Lan Yuge as if nothing had happened. He then cleared his throat to make a speech, “Welcome, honorable guests, to my wife’s birthday celebration! I will be making an important family announcement after the festivities and I hope to receive your best wishes.”

　　Big announcement? Best wishes?

　　The entire hall was stunned.

　　Could this be about Young Master Dongfang’s wedding?

　　The banquet hall buzzed with excitement.

　　Which lucky woman had been chosen by the Dongfang family to receive their favor?

　　Amongst all the guests, only the Lin family was particularly excited. They could almost see it happening – that the Dongfang family would announce the marriage between Young Master Dongfang and the eldest daughter of the Lin family, Lin Yue’er! After all, only the Master of the Dongfang family had ever expressed such an interest to them. The Lin family members were giddy with excitement.

　　“Master of the Dongfang family,” Lin Shao smiled as he stood up, “I’ve come to represent my father in this year’s celebrations. I’m especially excited to hear your big announcement! Allow me to be the first to offer you the blessings of the Lin family! My father has heard that Mistress Lan is particularly fond of cultivating herbs and had painstakingly collected buerger lespedeza root from the wild lands in her honor.”