He Yu regretted saying this the moment she finished the last word. Qiao Peiyu was a scheming woman and none of her children were fools. They had been, since childhood, educated in how to behave properly on different occasions. As a result, Qiao Peiyu"s children had never used offensive language in front of outsiders before.

This time He Yu had really been angered, which was why she lost her temper and blurted those remarks out. She had just finished her sentence when she felt a twinge of regret and immediately held her mouth as if she had done something wrong, smiling in embarra.s.sment, "Hha. I was just joking."

Unfortunately, no words said could be withdrawn. Her parents and Li Tiangang halted their steps, their faces sullen.

He Zheng"s face darkened. He was just about to speak when he saw the man beside him staring at He Yu with cold eyes.

Li Zong"s gaze filled He Yu with fear. She felt as if she had dropped into an ice house immersed in piercing coldness.

Qiao Peiyu quickly walked up to He Yu and directly slapped her across the face. In stunned disbelief, He Yu looked at her mother who had an icy look on her face.

"Mother..."

"Apologize to your elder brother! Now! You"re supposed to show as much respect to your elder brother as you do to your father. How could you vilify your elder brother like that? If anybody else knows about this, they will laugh at He family for our ignorance of how to educate our children!"

Qiao Peiyu had really got angry. Her voice was so high that it cracked.

Seeing that his younger sister was scolded, He Jin went indignant, but He Qin, Qiao Peiyu"s oldest son, immediately blocked the path of his younger brother and unnoticeably shook his head, a somewhat cold look in his eyes.

Everybody fixed their eyes on He Yu, which filled her with embarra.s.sment. She moved her sparkling eyes onto Li Zong with the intention of playing cute to get herself out of this awkward situation, but the moment she made eye contact with him, she was nearly scared to death. The icy look in Li Zong"s eyes sent chills down her spine.

She wept, "I"m sorry, Elder Brother Li. I shouldn"t have said that." Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes down her cheeks, making her a pitiful sight. She looked up at Li Zong in an adorably manner, as if trying to soften Li Zong"s heart.

Watching this farce, He Zheng sneeringly curled his lip.

The indifferent look on Li Zong"s face stood unchanged. In a total disregard for her tears, he observed, "It"s not me but He Zheng that you are supposed to apologize to."

"What?! You want me to apologize to He Zheng?!" He Yu raised her voice again.

Li Zong slightly frowned, "You don"t want to?"

Even demons would be scared by the apathetic look in Li Zong"s eyes and flee, not to mention He Yu. Lips twitching, she replied haltingly, "I-I do."

He Zheng didn"t even want to lay eyes on them. The very thought of her apologizing in front of him in a tearful voice gave him twitches of disgust.

He was just about to say "That won"t be necessary" when He Yu stormed up to him, brusquely said "Sorry" and then ran away.

Though it was an apology, she uttered the word through gritted teeth, as if He Zheng had inflicted an unbearable humiliation on her.

He Jin slid a sideways glance at He Zheng, said "I"ll go and check on her" and then ran away as well.

Qiao Peiyu apologized repeatedly.

Since the visitors were here to consult with He family on a happy event, they decided to let it go, though somewhat displeased.

The group of people walked into the hall of He family. It was grand and splendid, but Li Zong didn"t even glance at it. He calmly walked inside, fished a little casket made of sanders out of his pocket and put it down in front of He Changchun. He Changchun"s eyes gleamed with fervency.

"Is-Is this by any chance..."

Li Zong gave a slight inclination of his head. "Dragon scale."

He Changchun was itching to grab that dragon scale and hold it in his arms, smiling from ear to ear.

"We want the wedding to be as simple as possible. If there"s anything you need us to prepare, feel free to tell us."

"Hha. I know Supt. Li is a busy man. You don"t need to prepare anything. In fact, we should prepare some gifts for you." He Changchun"s eyes were fixed on the dragon scale.

He Zheng hated this kind of occasion. In fidgetiness, he twisted his head aside and leaned against the sofa. Seeing the behavior of his son, He Changchun felt an urge to scold him but eventually held it back.

With a spurious smile, Li Zong looked at He Zheng who was sprawling in a sofa in an undignified manner, and then withdrew his gaze and said, "So be it. Actually, this time I also came here to take He Zheng to Li family."

n.o.body had expected that Li Zong would be so impatient, but currently, the dragon scale was the only thing that He Changchun cared about, and where He Zheng would be living seemed to be of little importance, so he repeatedly waved his hand and replied, "Okay, okay. That"s at your discretion."

And then He Changchun exchanged some usual pleasantries with Li Tiangang. Li Tiangang had come here as a token gesture of formality. After a few remarks, this matter seemed to have been nailed down.

Just like this, He Zheng was casually given away by his father to be another man"s spouse. Sitting on the side with a sneer on his face, he suddenly felt that this whole thing was so ironic.

He failed to withdraw the sneer quick enough when his eyes met Li Zong"s. The two of them exchanged glances and He Zheng twisted his head aside somewhat awkwardly, saying nothing.

When they were taking their leave, Qiao Peiyu prepared a lot of gifts. He Zheng couldn"t help being impressed by this woman"s mastery of pretence. People who were unaware of the truth might actually believe that as He Zheng"s stepmother, Qiao Peiyu cared about He Zheng very much.

The butler handed the list of presents to He Zheng for him to go over.

He Zheng ran his eyes over the list, tossed it aside and asked rhetorically, "Did you feel any shame when making this list?"

His abrupt question interrupted the conversation of others.

"When my mother married into this family, she brought a lot of trousseaus including some real estate. I don"t see any of them on this list."

Qiao Peiyu"s face changed.

He Zheng curled up the corner of his mouth and looked at her. "Are you by any chance intending to keep them and someday use them as your precious daughter"s dowries?"