No one had ever seen Lu Xiaoling so emotional before. She was always calm and collected. She never engaged herself in petty fights and most of all, she never involved herself in fights between relatives, even when they concerned her children... but today was different and seeing this, Lu Yimo slightly shivered.
Lu Xiaoling: "AnLing is my daughter and a legitimate daughter of the Lu's. I was married before I met Xu Shen. So AnLing is my child with—"
"Mom!" Lu AnLing quickly stopped Lu Xiaoling from revealing her Tang heritage.
After all that had happened, Lu AnLing believed that it was not Lu Xiaoling's secret to tell anymore. After all, this had caused Lu AnLing so much suffering.
Lu Xiaoling gazed at Lu AnLing and saw the glint of anger and pain in her eyes. Seeing this, Lu Xiaoling nodded and then she took her seat.
When speaking to Lu Yimo, it was like a reaction Lu Xiaoling could not control. She wanted to help Lu AnLing and maybe even... protect her?
Something began to stir within Lu Xiaoling.
For a moment, everything had calmed and then Lu AnLing turned to face, Lu Yimo.
Lu AnLing: "Look, Auntie. I couldn't care less about if you believe I'm family or not. Actually, I'd prefer it if we weren't family. So if you want, we can both agree that we're complete strangers. Okay?"
Hearing this, Lu Yimo shook her head and then shrieked, "How shameless..."
Meanwhile, Kang Jun, who just watched everything unfold, felt Lu Yuxi cower in his lap. Feeling this, he looked down to see the little girl who had tears glazing her eyes.
Seeing this, Kang Jun's body reacted before he could think. He touched the little girl's hair with care.
To Kang Jun, it was obvious that Lu Yuxi was raised lovingly. She seems very emotionally frail and free. She had not encountered the pains Kang Mingyu or Kang Mei Xue had had so screaming made her scared.
Looking at her, Kang Jun felt a bit sad. This was how Kang Mei Xue and Kang Mingyu should have been, but the Kang family and Qiao Lan had stolen that from them...
Feeling the touch, Lu Yuxi looked up to the man. Seeing his strange expression, she touched his face gently.
Kang Jun's heart warmed.
The room was in too much chaos to notice this, but Xu Shen had seen it and this caused him to cock his head.
When Kang Jun's expression softened due to Lu Yuxi, Xu Shen felt like Kang Jun and Lu Yuxi looked strangely alike...
Xu Shen was fairly curious about if this was a figment if his imagination or if it was something else, but before he could think about it more, Grandma Lu spoke.
"Yimo, are you saying you aren't satisfied with my decision?" The old woman said as calmly as she could.
Lu Yimo turned to her mother with a dark face. "No... I just want to know why that mutt... ugh... why AnLing has as many shares as Jiayi and more than double than Xinya! It's not fair."
Grandma Lu scoffed. "It's completely fair. Like Jiayi, AnLing has got her diploma in business and she is working in the business field."
Lu Jiayi raised her eyebrows and then she glared at Lu AnLing from the corner of her eyes.
"Grandmother...The last time I heard, cousin was working as a lounge singer and an assistant." Lu Jiayi said as sweetly as she could.
Hearing this, Lu AnLing smiled.
The room had become much more civilized than before due to Lu Xiaoling's outburst.
"Well, I've moved up in life." Lu AnLing said.
Lu AnLing knew that Lu Jiayi did not want to hear her input or voice but because her grandmother, aunt and cousin were talking about her, in front of her, Lu AnLing did not want to let them do as they pleased.
"How so?" Lu Jiayi said, holding back her sneer.
Hearing this, Lu AnLing did not know if it was okay to say that she was working on the infinity project but before she could say anything, Kang Jun said, "She's working on the infinity project."
Many members of the family looked Kang Jun's way in complete confusion.
"I-infinity project?" Lu Jian said with pure shock. "Wait... have you guys already picked all the partners yet?"
Lu Jian could not stop himself when he saw a business opportunity.
Hearing this, Lu Xia rolled her eyes and held her breath. To her, her father was embarrassing but Lu AnLing and Kang Jun were not affected by the question.
"That's classified." Lu AnLing and Kang Jun said in unison.
"Wait... you're working for your husband?" Lu Jiayi scoffed. She then turned to Grandma Lu with a frown and said, "Isn't that unfair? She got the opportunity because of him, not by her own abilities like I have!"
Crossing her arms, Lu AnLing sighed. "I got the chance because of Jun, yes. But my husband isn't foolish enough to bring me on-board unless I had the abilities to fulfil what is demanded of me. Besides, all the partners have agreed with my employment."
From the sidelines, Lu Xia nodded her head.
"Either way, Is it wrong that she got an advantage because of her husband?" Lu Xia said with disgust looming at the back of her throat. "Didn't you marry just so you could get the family home?"
Hearing this, Lu Jiayi's face went pale and the man by her side turned to her curiously.
"T-that's not true!" Lu Jiayi said.
Seeing Lu Jiayi struggling, Grandpa Lu raised his voice. "Lu Xia, stop antagonizing your cousin!"
Lu Xia's face twisted with both humour and disgust. "Why? Isn't Jiayi doing the same to AnLing? And also, you're one to talk. Haven't you been antagonizing me for a while now? I bet you're the reason why Jiayi got 13%. "
Grandpa Lu scoffed. "Me, antagonizing you?"
Noticing that this was going to get into a territory which Grandma Lu did not want to tread upon, Grandma Lu sighed.
"Just stop." The old woman said before she began to massage her temple. "Just to make this clear, Lawyer Yu might have said 'Mr. and Mrs Lu', but that 54% of the company belongs to me. Your grandfather has no say in what I do with it. I decided to give Jiayi and AnLing the same amount because they both attended business school, they've both worked in related fields, they're both mentally capable of being good leaders and they both haven't caused trouble..."
Lu Xia nodded but she knew Grandma Lu was not finished speaking.
Grandma Lu: "On the other hand you, my darling Xia, recklessly slept with one of the sons of our business partners and cost us a deal, along with how your childish way of acting has affected certain business and familial relationships. Not to mention how good you are at creating rumours about yourself... you're a book smart girl Xia but you're far too much of a child to be able to take care of the company."
"Not like I wanted to..." Lu Xia said with a scoff. Though despite her reaction she understood where her grandmother was coming from. If she truly took over, the company would have been driven into a hole...
Hearing this, Lu Xinya's face twisted. "I understand that Xia has caused trouble before, but what about Shuya and I? Why do we only get 6%?"
Grandma Lu sighed. "I've been watching you, girls, since young and I've observed that neither you nor Shuya is the leader type. You both like to run away from your problems and act as if it isn't your problem."
Turning to Lu Shuya, Grandma Lu frowned, "Shuya, your pride blinds you and stops you from heading down the right path,"
Hearing this, Lu Shuya held her breath but she nodded, understanding where Grandma Lu was coming from. Lu Shuya had been like this since young. She wanted to keep face in front of others and be 'perfect'. If she worked in a team, she would have no problem with throwing someone under the bus for messing with her perfection.
She had done this to Lu AnLing, her own sister, after all...
Seeing the regretful expression on Lu Shuya's face, Grandma Lu turned to Lu Xinya, "And you, Xinya, are far too self-centred and manipulative. But not only that, you don't know how to take accountability for your own actions."
Lu Xinya frowned and then she said, "You're wrong..."
Hearing this, Lu AnLing couldn't help but snicker.
Tomorrow get ready for some fun face slaps.
For the next projects I've decided to dedicate some chapters at the end of this novel to side stories of other characters so after the story is done, you guys will get give or take one more volume full of side stories (including some with Lu AnLing, Kang Jun and the kids.)
As for the new story. I posted a little synopsis of it. It's called "The Goddess I Loved" feel free to check it out and add it to your library.