Chapter 11: The True and False Heir 2

  Su Luo was crossing over when the story had just developed to Qin Huai wanting to celebrate his birthday, inviting her and Su Xiao Peng to attend the party.

  Suoluo opened his eyes and looked around at his surroundings.

  The room is not big, and the house is also old, but it's very clean, without any feeling of being messy or uncomfortable. Against the window, there is a 1.2-meter single bed with a white floral quilt cover, and the pillowcase and sheet are a set, just like the kind that universities give to new students when they start school. In fact, it was given by the landlord's daughter from her school, but she thought it was too plain and didn't want to throw it away, so she gave it to the original owner. On the right side of the bed is a 0.5-meter square bedside table with a cup for drinking water and a small notebook for keeping accounts on it. The four corners of the cabinet have wheels, but one of them is broken, so the original owner put a piece of wood under it to prop it up. On the north side of the room near the door, there is a cloth closet that's over 1 meter wide and almost 2 meters high, the kind you can buy on Taobao for around 100 yuan. However, it's filled with the original owner's clothes for all four seasons, and it's not even full. As for a dresser or desk, there aren't any - she doesn't wear makeup anyway, and she can just do her hair in the bathroom where there's a mirror. Occasionally when she reads books, she'll sit on the bed or take a small stool to the courtyard. The most eye-catching thing in the whole room is the row of glass bottles on the windowsill, which were left over from the landlord's family after they drank milk or foreign wine and didn't want them anymore. The original owner thought it would be a waste to throw them away, so she washed them clean, peeled off the packaging, filled them with water, and planted some aquatic plants that the shopkeeper gave her, like green radish, copper money grass, and common ivy. Because they were taken care of well, they grew very lushly, and in the sunlight, there's a bit of a dreamy and fresh feeling. Plus, the quilt cover and cloth closet are both in a country style, so overall, it feels unexpectedly harmonious.

  Looking at such a room, Su Luo's good impression of the original owner increased again. She asked herself, if she were to grow up in such an environment, it would be difficult for her not to become self-abased or resentful towards society. At the very least, it would be hard for her to become as independent and strong as the original owner, who was able to support herself and also help her younger brother (male three) attend school. What's even more precious is that she still maintained her love for life, which could be seen from those small plants and details, showing that within her capabilities, she made her greatest effort to live a better life.

  But this beautiful girl is about to become not so beautiful, and the upcoming party will be the turning point.

  Looking at the exquisite gift box in the center of the bed, Su Luo let out a vexed sigh, next was going to be a tough battle!

  This is the evening dress that the male lead had sent over, wanting her to wear it tonight, but the original host's temperament really can't hold up. It's not that the male lead wanted to make things difficult for her, it's just that he didn't think it through carefully and wasn't familiar enough with the life of the poor class, thinking that with the original host's figure and beauty, wearing such clothes would definitely add to her charm. Unfortunately, good intentions led to bad results, and a girl who was used to not even wearing skirts could be expected to wear high heels and a long trailing dress and sway gracefully? That's just too much to ask.

  It's okay, the shell is still the same but the kernel has changed. As a family member of a diplomat, social etiquette is professionally trained, and in some cases, it represents the national image, every move is carefully considered, so this small party is naturally not a problem, but it can't be too different either, or people will notice something is off.

  Time is no longer early, and if we don't set off now, we'll probably be late. Su Luo quickly pulled up the curtains and changed into her dress with a flourish. Fortunately, the male lead's taste was not bad, although it didn't suit the original owner, but the clothes themselves were quite good-looking, Roman-style classical long skirt, natural and elegant design, and suitable size. Because it was backless, the clothes themselves had chest pads, so there was no need to wear a bra, but the original owner couldn't accept it, and insisted on wearing a wrapped chest inside, finally becoming everyone's laughing stock. However, this can't be blamed on her, from childhood she grew up in an orphanage environment, and never had the opportunity to come into contact with these things, she also knew that wearing her own clothes would be out of place, afraid of losing face for the male lead, so she forced herself to put aside her dignity and accept the male lead's dress, unfortunately, being careful everywhere still ended up being ridiculed. Su Luo thought about it and felt heartbroken.

  The original host's face, plus Su Luo Luo's temperament, and then Liu Qianqian made some "small" moves, it was already stunning enough without any makeup. Moreover, even if they wanted to put on makeup, there were no conditions for that, so Su Luo Luo simply applied some lip gloss (a gift from a fellow working sister), which made her look even more vibrant and spirited.

  As soon as she had casually tied up her long hair, Su Xiao Peng's urging voice came from outside the door: "Luo Luo, are you done?"

  It's really annoying to listen to. Yes, Su Xiaopeng was opposed to her going from the start, thinking that Qin Hui wasn't someone from their world, and Su Luoluo must have been infatuated to agree to his invitation. Unfortunately, it's too late to stop her now, and they're also worried that something might happen to her alone, so they can only accompany her to the end.

  "Alright, I'm coming right away!"

  As soon as the door opened, Su Xiaopeng was stunned and stared blankly.

  To be honest, Su Xiaopeng's feelings towards Su Luoluo are very complicated. On the one hand, this older woman without blood relation, who is two years his senior and accompanied him throughout his childhood and adolescence, especially after Xiangya left and the orphanage closed down, became his only reliance, whether emotionally or financially. On the other hand, he also looks down on her a bit in his heart, thinking she's vulgar, petty, sometimes a bit mean-spirited and loves to take advantage of small benefits, taking things that even the landlord doesn't want, making him feel very embarrassed, yet unable to say anything, only silently complaining to himself. Being from the same orphanage background, why can't she be like Xiangya, who is self-respecting, self-loving and good at understanding others?

  It's not entirely the original owner's fault, after all, they're both young and need to survive. Especially with her appearance that can easily attract people, living in a bustling city and struggling to make ends meet, if she wasn't tough enough, she wouldn't be able to protect herself and her brother. They might have been taken advantage of or become playthings for the wealthy. As for picking up things the landlord threw away, in her eyes, there's nothing wrong with it. Who doesn't want dignity and face? But that requires conditions, right now, getting by is what matters most to them. Being frugal whenever possible isn't a bad thing, besides, she's not stealing or robbing anyone, just openly using discarded items, which can even be seen as utilizing waste to protect the environment.

  Su Xiaopeng strongly opposed Su Luo's pursuit of Qin Huai. In his opinion, this rich young master was just greedy for Su Luo's beauty and wanted to play with her. Once the novelty wore off, he would definitely dump her without batting an eye. Any normal person knew that these two were not a match made in heaven, whether it was their upbringing, family background, education, interests, or social circle - they were worlds apart. But Su Luo, this silly girl, had been blinded by love, and although she refused with her mouth, Su Xiaopeng could see that her heart had already fallen deeply for him. The fact that she agreed to attend the party was proof of that. He could almost predict the scene where she would be surrounded and ridiculed by a group of wealthy young ladies, just thinking about it gave him a headache. Alas, he couldn't just leave her alone, so he had no choice but to accompany her to the end - if things really got out of hand, he would take her away.

  Su Xiao Peng had mentally prepared himself to accompany Su Luo and lose face, so that she could truly give up and understand the difference between her and Qin Huai. He planned to return home and live a peaceful life, without pursuing any more unrealistic dreams. However, as a bookworm and a young man, he still had some pride and dignity, which made him feel annoyed and impatient about what might happen next. His tone in urging Su Luo was also tinged with displeasure. But when the door opened, and he saw the person standing before him, dressed in white, his mind suddenly went blank.

  This... This is Su Luo Luo, isn't he mistaken?

  The person is still the same, with no change in their facial features or physique, but the ordinary and pretentious expression of weakness and timidity has disappeared. Instead, it has been replaced by a warm, gentle, and slightly cold demeanor, which makes Su Xiaopeng, who has always been familiar with her, feel a sense of shame and guilt, thinking that his previous harsh tone was an affront to her.

  "Let's go, the driver is waiting for us at the alley entrance." Su Luo had no idea about Su Xiao Peng's thoughts and simply followed social etiquette by naturally hooking her arm around his, unaware that this action would make someone's heart skip a beat.

  Originally, Tan Hui was supposed to pick them up, but it just so happened that a migrant friend who had returned from the United States wanted to gather with his brothers on his birthday, and they opened a poker game ahead of time, which made him unable to leave. He could only ask the driver to come and pick them up, after all, he couldn't let his sister and brother take a taxi or bus.

  The party was not held at the old mansion of the Qin family, but in a villa on the outskirts owned by Qin Hui himself. Since all the guests were young people and there were no elders, everyone felt more relaxed here. After all, the old mansion had too many rules, and it would be boring to play there.

  "Hui Zi, I heard you're really into that street vendor girl lately. You've been single for so many years, I was starting to suspect your sexual orientation. So it turns out you have a thing for this type? What about all those high-society girls who had a crush on you, how are they supposed to feel now?" The one who brought up this topic was Chen Chi, an old friend who had just returned from visiting his family abroad. He was always gossiping, and Hui Zi sometimes called him "gossiping aunt". So he didn't respond to the comment and instead urged the next player to hurry up and play their card.

  "Xiao Hui, tell your brother about it, what's the taste of plain porridge and small dishes like? Is it especially pure and delicious?" Although Qin Hui didn't respond to him, he kept asking.

  "Yes, how did you get to know each other? Hui Zi, tell us about it."

  "Come on, let's talk." The other idle guys also chimed in, wanting to get some information out of him.

  "Alright, stop asking, you guys are so nosy. When the person arrives, you'll see for yourself. But remember, don't bully them." He was annoyed and could only tell everyone that Su Luo would be arriving soon. Originally, he hadn't planned to introduce her to everyone today, after all, he still hadn't won her over yet. Moreover, Luo had never seen such a big scene before, and he was afraid she wouldn't adapt in front of these brothers. He just wanted to bring her out slowly and let her get familiar with everything first, but looking at the situation now, it seemed like these people's curiosity wouldn't be satisfied unless they saw her for themselves. There was no other way, so he had to push things forward and bring her out earlier than planned.

  "Alright, alright! You don't know what kind of people we are, the most gentlemanly demeanor, absolutely won't scare your little darling. Okay, stop playing cards, it's so boring, everyone go down, the party is about to start, don't keep the beauties waiting." And then, a group of these masters and young lords made a magnificent appearance.