Chapter 1284 - 1286
"Brother Xu Ran, is it for real?"
"Bro, we’re not dreaming, right?"
Gong Ruini was still in a daze. She’d pinched herself who knows how many times, and it really did hurt.
"It should be real." As soon as Gong Ruwen finished, he quickly hopped to the side.
He honestly didn’t want to get grabbed by his own little sister; this girl really was terrifying beyond the usual level.
Gong Ruini was seriously unhappy that her big brother was dodging her like this.
"Big brother, is that really necessary?" What, did he think she was the plague?
Gong Ruwen nodded so fast it was a blur. "You’re pretty damn scary."
If she just wanted to check whether she was dreaming, couldn’t she have picked a gentler move? "Last time Xuran was standing right there, why didn’t you bite him?"
Well, about that, Gong Ruini was genuinely apologetic. "Really sorry about last time, my hand just moved on its own."
Only an idiot would grab Zhao Xuran’s hand and take a bite; nothing good would come out of that. Classmate Xuran would definitely find a chance to get back at her.
As for her own big brother, he was a real good guy. He might complain, but it would be just a couple of grumbles.
Gong Ruini knew she was basically bullying the honest one, but if she really didn’t bully him and instead bit Zhao Xuran’s arm, this big brother of hers would probably have all kinds of opinions about it.
"Hand just moved on its own"? Hah, he wasn’t stupid. Back then the easiest person to reach had clearly been Zhao Xuran.
Forget it. What’s the point of arguing with his little sister over this? Better to use that time to think about how reliable this whole thing was.
"About this thing..." Gong Ruwen lowered his voice and walked beside Zhao Xuran as he asked.
"For now it looks sincere, but later, who knows." At this moment, for the Dai Family, working together benefitted everyone a lot, but who could say about the future.
"No one cooperates forever." Gong Ruwen understood that much. "But if we can work well together for these few years, that’s enough."
"If we can cooperate, then we cooperate." Zhao Xuran still hadn’t completely come back to his senses. "But he does seem quite sincere."
"Anyway, right now we just need to level up our own strength as fast as possible."
"Relying on someone else always feels all kinds of unreliable."
"Oh right, how’s sis-in-law doing these days?" Only now did Gong Ruini realize she hadn’t seen Chu Ling for a while. Could it be that because Gong Ruwen had resigned so decisively, the Chu Family had new ideas about Chu Ling’s marriage—like those people who’d always been unhappy about this match wouldn’t let such a good chance slip by?
"She’s fine, just busy these days. She’s picking schools and getting ready." Gong Ruwen knew Ni Zi would ask; she was probably worried the Chu Family might make things hard for Chu Ling.
"The old man spoke up. He said Chu Ling can do whatever she wants." Before this, Gong Ruwen had been very unhappy that Old Sir Chu hadn’t stepped in to help at all.
But he hadn’t expected that this time Old Sir Chu would actually step up and support them, which made Gong Ruwen deeply grateful.
With Old Sir Chu stepping in to back Chu Ling, Gong Ruini also breathed a sigh of relief. Even if the rest of the Chu Family were dissatisfied, none of them would dare challenge Old Sir Chu’s authority.
The problem was, why did Gong Ruwen look so grateful? "Bro, did the old man say something else?"
"Yeah, otherwise you wouldn’t be making that face." Zhao Xuran had also noticed Gong Ruwen’s expression; he honestly didn’t get why he looked like that.
"The old man said that since Chu Ling won’t be going into the system in the future, she won’t get any help from the Chu Family in any form."
Whoa, no way. Gong Ruini knew Chu Ling didn’t plan to take a job in the system, and that was bound to stir things up in the Chu Family.
Even if Chu Ling wasn’t going into the military, that didn’t mean she could just follow her interests however she liked; she was supposed to contribute something to the Chu Family.
When the Chu Family members enjoyed the benefits that came with the Chu name, they were also supposed to contribute to the family’s development.
But now with one sentence from Old Sir Chu, it basically meant Chu Ling shouldn’t even think about leeching any benefits off the Chu Family; from now on she’d have to walk her own road.
Gong Ruini started feeling a little unhappy. She figured the reason Chu Ling hadn’t shown up these days was probably because she wasn’t in a great mood.
"On the flip side, whenever the Chu Family needs someone to make sacrifices in the future, they can’t make Chu Ling be the one to sacrifice."
"If someday Chu Ling is capable and wants to give something back to the Chu Family, then the Chu Family should support her a bit in return."
Oh-ho, now that part, Gong Ruini understood. Old Sir Chu had probably realized that once Gong Ruwen was no longer in the system, he’d just be a somewhat successful businessman.
In the eyes of many Chu Family members, without the aura of the system on him, this Chu-family flower, Chu Ling, would of course have to make the contributions she was "supposed" to make.
"Bro, looks like things between you and sis-in-law are completely settled now." Gong Ruini congratulated Gong Ruwen. Poor big brother—after all those twists and turns, thankfully his married life no longer had any problems hanging over it.
Gong Ruwen also let out a long breath. "Yeah, I’m really relieved."
"Um... after I graduate next year, before we go abroad, we’ll hold the wedding."
"The wedding will be very simple, just the two families having a meal together."
Just the two families having a meal? Gong Ruwen’s idea sounded nice, but would some people from the Chu Family even be willing to show up?
Would they feel like this was looking down on them, and then make a scene and embarrass everyone?
"The old man suggested keeping the wedding simple, no need for a big banquet. Just have both families sit down and eat together so everyone can meet him, and he’ll attend the wedding too."
Gong Ruwen felt this super straightforward way of handling the wedding was pretty suitable.
"I agree with the old man’s idea. No matter how grand you make the wedding, in the end it’s just spending money."
"If you’ve got money to show off and flex, you might as well use it on married life afterwards. Like, we could buy a house in the United States." Before, he’d had to consider a lot of factors. Now he didn’t have to think about any of that.
As long as there was enough money, he could do whatever he wanted.
Show off and flex—why did Gong Ruini feel like her big brother’s words were aimed at her? She had her own ideas about weddings.
She didn’t need a huge crowd of guests, but at least it had to be grand.
For example, since they were going to study in the United States, they might as well hold the wedding over there.
Like having a beach wedding, renting a nice seaside villa—the vibe would be great.
Even if not many people went, you couldn’t deny that hosting even a small wedding in the United States meant paying in US Dollars, and once you converted that into Grandpa Mao, it definitely added up.
"But just the two families eating together... I really don’t think that’s quite enough." Gong Ruwen immediately said something that slapped his own earlier words in the face.
Ha. Big brother had just said he wanted a simple wedding, and now he was saying he didn’t want to make it low-key. He was probably so happy about being able to marry Chu Ling smoothly that he’d lost all sense of direction, so his words were contradicting themselves.
"Um, Ni Zi, I want to ask you for a favor." Gong Ruwen took a deep breath.
Huh, ask her for what? Gong Ruini looked at Gong Ruwen, confused.