“An Siyao? Well…” The man pondered for a moment before he started to talk.
This made Jiao Heyu and his four friends even more curious.
The man said with hesitation, “At school, An Siyao is very close to two girls.”
“Isn’t East Land a girls’ school? It should be normal for girls to be close, isn’t it?” Jiao Heyu said.
“Not that kind of close. You know, the kind of close that happens at girls’ schools.” The man acted as if he couldn’t say what he wanted.
“Really?” Shen Xiaowen’s eyes glittered.
“Really?” Jiao Heyu breathed a sigh of relief.
The other three people didn’t react very much.
“???”
The man was confused. Wouldn’t most people frown, if not feel repulsed, by a thing like this?
Was this upper-class society? Was this normal now?
With this thought, he glanced at Jiao Heyu and distanced himself.
“There are also other things.” Though his first scheme didn’t work, the man didn’t want to give up. He started to spread more rumors.
He used a lot of hearsay instead of saying anything outright. He shared a lot of made-up stories.
Such as how An Siyao disrespected elders, acted flirty in public, fought over girls, etc.
The five people’s expressions changed, until the man started saying An Siyao was bullying defenseless girls but avoided stronger girls.
“Wait, you’re saying An Siyao bullies the weak?” Shen Xiaowen interrupted the man.
“I’m afraid to say anything else.” The man said so much he almost bought the fake stories himself. He had an apologetic expression.
Shen Xiaowen and Jiao Heyu looked at each other and then exchanged glances with the rest of their friends.
The other stories could be true, but was An Siyao bullying the weak?
The scene from last night, when An Siyao toppled that bare-chested man and faced off a dozen men, was still vivid in their mind.
The five of them exchanged looks and surrounded the man.
The man thought they had all believed him and wanted more stories. He was about to make up more lies when four of them grabbed his limbs and the fifth person grabbed his head.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Under the young man’s frightened gaze, the group of five tossed him into a pond in the garden.
“If you bad mouth Yao Bro anymore, we’ll toss you into the sea!” Jiao Heyu warned the man and left with his friends.
Feeling the icy-cold water, the man didn’t understand how things ended up like this.
…
At 5 p.m., Xia Yu logged onto An Siyao’s body.
“You’re back.” An Siyao greeted him.
“Hm.” Xia Yu was in a good mood.
“We can go in now,” An Siyao said. “The gift is on the left. Once you give it to mom, we are free to do whatever.”
Xia Yu looked to the left and saw a palm-sized gift box.
“What is it?” He was curious about what upper-society people gave as gifts.
“A piece of jade,” An Siyao replied.
It wasn’t that different from ordinary people’s gifts.
Well, this was a typical world. If they didn’t give gifts like this, would they give things like shriveled fingers or eyeballs?
Picking up the gift box, Xia Yu was about to head out before An Siyao stopped him.
“You need to change into an evening gown,” the girl said.
“…”
You couldn’t have changed before I arrived?
Opening the closet, Xia Yu looked at the clothes.
There were 10 evening gowns, five of which were pretty revealing, so they were vetoed by Xia Yu. He chose a white one among the other five.
He liked the skirt’s folds and the lace in the upper body.
It was a little tight and showed off the curves, making him awkward.
He felt a little embarrassed.
Dressed in the evening gown, Xia Yu left the room.
One maid who was waiting outside yelped when she saw what Xia Yu wore.
“Miss, this dress…”
“What is it?” Xia Yu turned to look at the maid.
“The madam is wearing something similar today. Please change to something else,” the maid answered.
Wearing identical clothes was embarrassing, so guests would usually wear different styles at a party.
Changing the outfit wasn’t a big deal, but the maid’s tone made Xia Yu frown.
“Please change to something else” sounded polite, but it was obviously forceful.
Maids at An Siyao’s mansion weren’t the only bossy ones.
Xia Yu’s mind churned with the information he found on the An family.
Xia Yu already got all of the family information from An Siyao. He’d done a simple search a few days ago.
An Siyao’s father was the An Tianfeng he found before, who made his fortune in real estate. The encyclopedia said he had a son, but it didn’t mention An Siyao at all.
Given the fact that An Siyao lived alone in the mansion her mom left, the An family didn’t really care about An Siyao.
It seemed as if An Siyao was in a dire situation, but it was actually not the case.
An Siyao was the only granddaughter of the founder of Da Liang Capital, Yu Liang.
Da Liang Capital had faded in recent years, but it wasn’t much weaker than the An Group.
Xia Yu had read an online article about the two families’ relationships.
The An Group was seemingly led by An Siyao’s dad and shareholders. Supposedly, it started from zero, but in fact, one company was constantly doing clean-up for the An Group.
That company was Da Liang Capital, the company owned by An Siyao’s grandfather.
In fact, the article gossiped about the relationship to explain how, ten years ago, the An Group did a series of financial maneuvers, diluting Da Liang Capital’s shares, until Da Liang Capital went from a major stockholder to a marginal character in the An Group.
This was the main reason for Da Liang Capital’s decline.
This birthday party for An Siyao’s step-mom would not have An Siyao’s grandfather present either.
Ten years ago, when Da Liang Capital was pushed out, An Siyao’s mom passed away at the same time.
Based on the above, Xia Yu concluded:
An Siyao didn’t need to be concerned with An Tianfeng and the step-mom. She had her grandfather. Also, her life in the mansion was supported by her grandfather as well.
Neither An Tianfeng nor the step-mom treated An Siyao well.
“Miss, please change to something else. The madam would be upset.” The maid tried to block Xia Yu.
Knowing An Siyao’s status, Xia Yu said to the maid coldly, “Tell her to change.”
Not expecting Xia Yu to say something like this, the maid froze. When he passed by her, she finally reacted.
To stop him, the maid grabbed Xia Yu’s hand.
Xia Yu frowned even more. He raised his hand.