Chapter 321: Can’t Control a Woman like that

Translator: CokeZero      Editor: Rainystars

Lu Jiao’s eyebrows twitched as she carefully glanced at Xie Yunjin. This guy wouldn’t suspect anything, would he?

To her relief, Xie Yunjin showed no suspicion and asked with interest, “What kind of math?”

After the First Born dipped his chopsticks in his soup, he wrote several numbers on the table. Lu Jiao hadn’t taught him how to write numbers yet, but he was able to write them down crookedly from memory.

“Mommy said these are from zero to ten.” The First Born explained.

Xie Yunjin recognized that this must be something from Lu Jiao’s world, but he was still surprised to see this kind of arithmetic notation. He had never seen anything like it before.

Xie Yunjin didn’t really understand it. Lu Jiao explained, “This is a new counting method that I developed. It’s more convenient.”

Xie Yunjin smiled and said, “Can I learn it too? It’ll be useful to use it for counting in the future.”

Since he showed no signs of skepticism, Lu Jiao nodded and said, “Sure, you can learn it.”

Lu Gui, who was eating on the side, couldn’t help but laugh when he saw his brother-in-law wanting to learn math from his sister. Lu Jiao turned to him and said, “You should let the First Born teach you too when you have time. Learning more is always beneficial.”

Lu Gui was about to protest, as he had no interest in learning these things.

However, before he could say anything, Feng Zhi came in with an invitation. “Young Master, Lady, someone outside the gate has delivered an invitation for you. I have it here.”

When Lu Jiao heard the word “invitation,” she immediately thought of the incident at the Hu family’s full moon banquet. She had developed a phobia of such banquets.

“Who sent it?” she asked. She had only been in Qinghe District for a few days and met only a few people. Miho would send her an invitation?

Feng Zhi opened the invitation and read it before reporting back, “It’s from the wife of the Qinghe District School’s Dean, Lady Xia. She’s inviting you to a banquet at their house tomorrow afternoon. She says she has invited several other mothers of district scholars to gather together.”

After hearing Feng Zhi l s report, Lu Jiao remembered the headmaster’s wife, Lady Xia, whom she had met before. Lady Xia spoke with elegance and refinement and was clearly well-educated. Lu Jiao believed that her intentions for the banquet were pure.

Lu Jiao turned to Xie Yunjin and asked, “Do I have to go?

Xie Yunjin thought for a moment before he said, “Lady Xia often hosts these types of banquets to socialize and expand her network. It’ll be easier to get things done in the future if you have more connections. But if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.”

Xie Yunjin did not want to force Lu Jiao. Lu Jiao thought for a moment and said, “Never mind, I’ll go. They sent an invitation and if I don’t go, people will say I am too arrogant.”

Moreover, such banquets will likely happen in the future, even when she becomes separated from Xie Yunjin. When she becomes a doctor or a businesswoman, she will often attend such banquets. So it was better to go.

“It’s okay, I’ll go tomorrow at noon.”

Xie Yunjin asked worriedly, “Do you want me to accompany you?

Lu Jiao immediately shook her head with a smile, “It’s okay, I can handle it. Besides, the people invited by Lady Xia should be quite decent. It shouldn’t be like what happened at the Hu family last time.”

After Lu Jiao spoke, Xie Yunjin nodded in agreement. Indeed, the banquets hosted by the Dean’s wife only include a few people each time, so there shouldn’t be any trouble.

There were only seven or eight people invited to Lady Xia’s banquet, and several of them were acquaintances of Lu Jiao.

Zheng Zhixings wife Zhu Baozhu, Du Yi’s wife Tan Xiaoya, Luo Xinwu’s wife Liu Laidi, and several others Lu Jiao didn’t know.

But one woman in red was particularly eye-catching.

The woman not only dressed gorgeously but also acted very presumptuously and unconstrained. She gave a feeling of doing whatever she pleased.

Beside Lu Jiao, Zhu Baozhu whispered in her ear, “Have you seen the woman in red across from us? She is Li Wenbin’s wife, Zhang Biyan.”

Lu Jiao turned her head in surprise and asked, “Really?”

She knew Li Wenbin, who seemed like a very honest and simple person. How could his wife be so ostentatious? Moreover, judging by her attire and behavior, she should be from a very wealthy family. How could she marry a simple man like Li Wenbin?

The more Lu Jiao thought about it, the more unbelievable it seemed. Zhu Baozhu quickly gossiped with her.

“You know the four big surnames in Qinghe District, Zhang, Liang, Cao, and

Wang, right? This woman is Zhang Biyan, the daughter of the Zhang family. You can’t say she married off to Li Wenbin’s family – it’s more like Li Wenbin married into her family.”

Lu Jiao still didn’t understand. Even if Li Wenbin was less successful, he should still be very wealthy. Why would he dress the way he did? She always thought Li Wenbin came from a poor family, but in reality, he married the richest woman in the Qinghe District.

Lu Jiao lowered her voice and said, “I thought Li Wenbin was poor.”

Zhu Baozhu had more to say on this topic, “It’s because Li Wenbin has a strong sense of self-esteem. He says he won’t spend any woman’s money and won’t use anything that belongs to his father-in-law. He would rather wear old clothes and eat vegetarian food.”

Lu Jiao pursed her lips, not knowing what to say. If Li Wenbin didn’t want to spend a woman’s money or use his father-in-law’s things, why did he accept the invitation to join the Zhang family? Was it just for fun?

Lu Jiao was thinking to herself when Zhu Baozhu, who was beside her, whispered, “Initially, he was willing to marry into the Zhang family as a proper son-in-law. I heard it was because his mother was sick and they couldn’t afford the medical bills, so he agreed to marry into the Zhang family and become financially dependent on them instead. Later on, the Zhang family indeed used their money to cure his mother’s illness, and he fulfilled his promise by marrying into the Zhang family and giving up his independence.”

Lu Jiao turned her head and looked at Zhang Biyan, the woman in the red dress sitting opposite her.

Zhang Biyan happened to look up and saw Lu Jiao. She smiled and nodded as a way of greeting.

With just a simple nod, Lu Jiao could tell that Li Wenbin couldn’t control a woman like Zhang Biyan.

Although there were only seven or eight people in the flower hall, they divided themselves into two groups.

One group was led by Lu Jiao and comprised several women from poor families, while the other group was led by Zhang Biyan and comprised several women from wealthy families. Those on the other side looked down on this side, but luckily the educated women here didn’t say anything, even if they didn’t like it.

It wasn’t until the wife of the Dean came over and said, “I’m really sorry for keeping you all waiting. I hope you won’t blame me.”

Several people quickly replied, “Lady Xia, you are too kind. You invited us here to enjoy delicious food, how could we blame you?

“Yes, Lady Xia, please take a seat and rest.”

“I know that Lady Xia personally made the osmanthus cake for us.”

“Lady Xia’s osmanthus cake is simply unparalleled.”

Everyone was saying something, and it was clear that they had all attended the banquet at Madam Xia’s house before..