Zhao Yuan was stunned, too. He hadn't expected Lin Liqiang to personally come and greet him.
'This isn't how the script is supposed to go,' he couldn't help but think. 'Aren't fathers supposed to give their daughter's boyfriend a hard time, to put them in their place, when they first meet? Why is Lin Xue's dad being so polite to me? Oh, right, I'm not actually Lin Xue's boyfriend yet...'
Zhao Yuan quickly composed himself and shook Lin Liqiang's outstretched hand. "Hello, Uncle Lin," he said, half-joking, half-serious. "I have to say, I'm a little overwhelmed by this warm welcome."
Lin Liqiang couldn't help but smile. "When Lin Xue had her episode, we were able to relieve her pain entirely thanks to your help. I've been wanting to thank you for a long time, but I never had the chance. Besides, I wanted to see for myself what kind of person you are."
At this, he sized Zhao Yuan up for a moment before nodding. "Confident, but not arrogant. Very good."
"You're too kind, Uncle Lin," Zhao Yuan said modestly.
"Alright, let's not stand here talking at the door. Come on, inside." Lin Liqiang patted Zhao Yuan on the back and led him and his friends into the villa.
Once inside the villa, Zhao Yuan and his friends realized that quite a lot of people had shown up.
Lin Liqiang explained with a wry smile, "We didn't originally plan to invite so many people. It was just supposed to be a small get-together for family and Lin Xue's close friends, like you all. But word somehow got out, and starting this morning, uninvited guests began to arrive one after another. Since they'd already come, we couldn't exactly kick them out, could we? And so, it turned into this situation. Ai, Xiaoxue is going to kill me."
What could Zhao Yuan say? He could only offer some comfort. "It's actually great. It's a birthday party, after all. The more, the merrier."
Lin Liqiang sighed. "I just hope Xiaoxue sees it that way."
He led Zhao Yuan over to a beautiful woman who bore a strong resemblance to Lin Xue and made the introduction. "This is Xiaoxue's mother, your Aunt Xue."
"Hello, Aunt Xue," Zhao Yuan greeted her politely and promptly.
"So you're Zhao Yuan?" Xue Wanyun looked him up and down, her gaze full of scrutiny. It had the distinct air of a mother-in-law inspecting a potential son-in-law.
Lately, the name Lin Xue mentioned most often to her parents was Zhao Yuan. As a woman of experience, how could Xue Wanyun not know what that implied?
Zhao Yuan felt very uncomfortable under her gaze, and even a little nervous.
'To think I wasn't even this nervous when I was facing down the Jinling Zhao Family!'
Fortunately, Xue Wanyun didn't stare for too long. She smiled and said, "We're glad you could come. Please, make yourself at home. Xiaoxue is upstairs getting changed; she'll be down shortly."
Lin Liqiang also said, "Xiaozhao, make yourself comfortable. Don't stand on ceremony. I have other guests to greet, so I'll have to leave you for now."
Zhao Yuan nodded, excused himself, and walked over to Liu Zhu and his friends.
Once he was out of earshot, Lin Liqiang asked in a low voice, "What do you think of him?"
Xue Wanyun replied, "He's decent-looking, and he seems composed. As for his character, we'll have to wait and see."
Lin Liqiang nodded. "My thoughts exactly."
Meanwhile, Zhao Yuan had returned to his friends.
"So, how did it feel meeting the in-laws?" Liu Zhu teased with a grin.
Zhao Yuan shot him a look and said irritably, "There are too many people around. Don't talk nonsense."
Liu Zhu lowered his voice. "How is that nonsense? A minute ago, you looked exactly like some dopey son-in-law meeting his father-in-law."
Wu Yan leaned in to tease him too. "Yeah, Third Brother, I've never seen you so nervous before."
Wang Rongfeng remarked, "Actually, Third Brother handled himself pretty well. I bet when you two eventually meet the parents, you won't do nearly as well as he did."
In response, he got two middle fingers as Liu Zhu and Wu Yan said in unison, "Like you could do any better!"
As the four guys were joking around, Yang Zi, Qi Xia, and Luo Dan came over. "See that?" they said to Zhao Yuan. "You've got a lot of competition! Every one of them is pulling out all the stops, trying to outshine everyone else today!"
Zhao Yuan's eyes swept across the villa. He saw that besides Ye Feng, there were four other guys around his age.
These guys were all quite handsome, dressed in designer suits with their hair done by well-known stylists. They carried themselves with the air of high-society elites. At first glance, they certainly seemed to be in a different league than the plainly dressed Zhao Yuan.
"Are those all Lin Xue's suitors? This doesn't look good," Wu Yan said with a frown.
Zhao Yuan, however, was calm. He just smiled and said, "Isn't this perfectly normal? Lin Xue is so beautiful, it'd be stranger if she didn't have a few suitors."
Yang Zi whispered, "Xiaoyuanzi, what did you get her for her birthday? I did some secret recon for you. Those guys spared no expense on their gifts! You can't let them show you up!"
Zhao Yuan patted the sandalwood box in his hand and said with complete confidence, "Don't worry. No matter how much they spent, their gifts are nothing compared to this one." He then added, "Oh, right, I got presents for you guys, too. I'll give them to you later."
"We get presents, too?" Yang Zi and the others' interest was immediately piqued. "What is it?" they asked curiously.
"You'll find out later," Zhao Yuan said, keeping them in suspense.
As they were joking around, a beautiful figure appeared at the top of the second-floor landing.
The guest of honor for the day, Lin Xue, had appeared.
All heads turned, their gazes fixed on her.
In an instant, the once-noisy villa living room fell silent.
No! That wasn't right!
It wasn't completely silent. Although no one was speaking, the living room was filled with the sound of sharp, collective gasps!
Everyone was absolutely captivated by how Lin Xue looked today!
She wore a beautiful white dress that, combined with her lovely face and graceful figure, made her look like a Fairy drifting down from the heavens into the mortal realm!
She was intoxicatingly, breathtakingly beautiful!
Several minutes passed before the dazed crowd finally came to their senses.
The five young men, Ye Feng included, simultaneously straightened their postures and struck their best poses, wanting to display their most handsome sides. A competitive fire ignited in their eyes as they sized each other up warily, like medieval knights about to duel for the heart of a beautiful princess.
The gazes of all five swept over Zhao Yuan.
Aside from Ye Feng, the other four paid him no mind.
In their eyes, while Zhao Yuan might have been a little handsome, his clothes were far too shabby. He couldn't possibly be their rival; he wasn't even qualified to compete with them!
Lin Xue looked at Zhao Yuan, a sweet smile spreading across her face as she said softly, "You're here?"
All five men assumed Lin Xue was talking to them and immediately responded with beaming smiles.
"I'm here, I'm here!"
"Xiaoxue, I didn't tell you I was coming. I wanted it to be a surprise."
"You shameless bastards, Xiaoxue was obviously talking to me. Stop trying to horn in."
Several dark lines seemed to appear on Lin Xue's forehead. She shot the men an exasperated look and said, "I was talking to Zhao Yuan. What are you all getting involved for?"
"Why is it him again?" Ye Feng seethed, gritting his teeth.
The other four men looked at each other, completely baffled.
Zhao Yuan? Who was Zhao Yuan?
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