Zhong Guanyu had already been told that this cousin of hers had returned. She wasn’t very happy about that though. After all, her mother had used the opportunity at once to remind her of the mistake she had made in her childhood. How had she ever been able to think that her cousin was good-looking? Obviously, nobody could win over that handsome boy she had seen in the teahouse!

That was right, Guanyu still hadn’t managed to get over her crush on Xiao Dong. All these years, she had waited for him to return without her prayers ever being heard. So today, she felt even worse about it than usual. How come her cousin returned but not the person she was waiting for?! This wasn’t fair at all!

Thus she stepped onto the stairs with a disgruntled expression. Halfway down when she looked over at the table, it changed though. First, she blinked, her steps halting while she stared over.

Jing Yi who had been treated to her frequent attacks when he had been young immediately tensed up, making the person next to him also take note of the new arrival. Seeing Zhong Guanyu, Qiu Ling’s brows almost furrowed but he held back on the accord of the fact that this girl was still his beloved’s cousin. Even though he didn’t like her, he couldn’t let her family find out. After all, he wanted them to have a good impression of him.

Thus he only stared at her, still thinking to himself that he didn’t like her at all. Thankfully, he had already managed to completely destroy her chances with his Jing He. This kind of clumsy girl that would always trip over herself while charging at him and getting herself dirty was definitely not the kind of person that his beloved would consider as his future partner. Thus she was relatively safe and just not very nice to look at.

Coming to this conclusion, Qiu Ling turned away with disinterest, instead eyeing the dishes on the table. Mn … This kind of set up could also be used to advance feelings. He just had to pick out some things that Jing Yi liked and give them to him, showing just how well he knew him and was willing to take care of it. His beloved would certainly be impressed if he did so.

Meanwhile, Zhong Gang and his wife also noticed that their daughter had arrived. "Guanyu, since you’re here, come down quickly and sit down. Jing Yi was just telling us about his time in the Yun Zou Sect."

Guanyu didn’t answer. Her gaze was still fixated on the person next to Jing Yi. She had never seen such a beautiful man. Never mind her cousin that wasn’t all that great, even that handsome boy from the teahouse with the strange hair color was nothing compared to him. She really couldn’t help but feel that this man wasn’t a simple mortal. Obviously, he had to be one of these immortals that people always talked about! She just couldn’t explain to herself why he would be so handsome otherwise.

Mi Fan looked up at her daughter when Guanyu still didn’t move and couldn’t help but smile to herself when she saw her expression. Ah, it seemed that things were going in the right direction. Apparently, even without her needing to push the child in the right direction, she had already taken a fancy to Jing Yi again. Well, this was very good. She only needed to give the two of them some opportunities to spend more time together and then things would work out almost on their own.

Thinking of that, Mi Fan lightly called out to her daughter again, reminding her that she still hadn’t come down. "Guanyu, did you forget something? Then you should better go and get it fast. Otherwise, come down and let’s start eating. It’s the first time that your cousin has returned in five years. I’m sure he has a lot of things to tell us."

Guanyu naturally didn’t care about her cousin but her mother’s inquiry at least reminded her that she couldn’t just continue to stand on the staircase. She took a deep breath and then slowly descended, making sure to display as much elegance as she could. She finally reached the foot of the staircase and then went over to the table with a seemingly shy smile, looking at all the people that had gathered and greeted them in a delicate voice.

Unfortunately for her, her parents just waved at her to sit down, her aunt Ru Chun gave her a friendly smile, her cousin Jing Yi tensed up and, worst of all, Qiu Ling didn’t care.

Guanyu’s eyes almost teared up as she looked at the handsome man that wasn’t paying any attention to her. What was happening? Hadn’t she been loud enough? Should she repeat her greetings?

Thankfully, Mi Fan saw her daughter’s indignant expression. She glanced at Jing Yi and seeing his face that seemed to have 'too scared to look up' written on it, she sighed lightly. "Guanyu, quickly sit down or the food is going to get cold." She reached out, grabbed her arm and then pulled her down. She definitely couldn’t let her daughter have one of her temper tantrums or Jing Yi would be even more scared!

Just look at him right now: He was obviously still left with the impression she had made on him all these years ago. It would be hard enough to slowly whittle away at that and make him open up. She couldn’t add any new grievances to the old ones.

Thus, Mi Fan turned to her husband, giving him an urging look to help.

Zhong Gang cleared his throat and then smiled. "Let’s eat, ah. You must be hungry from trav—"

Before he finished, a pair of chopsticks appeared in Qiu Ling’s fingers, a piece of meat was secured and then placed in Jing Yi’s bowl at lightning speed. Then Qiu Ling turned to his beloved, blinking his eyes, clearly asking for praise for his fast reaction.