Return of the Antagonistic Lady Boss

Chapter 980: Chapter 953: Plucking Every Feather as the Goose Flies By

After the bowing ceremony they were officially married; as for this wedding banquet for outsiders, it’s not that Qian didn’t care at all, it’s just that she didn’t care that much.

"I just can’t swallow this!" Chen Zilong didn’t have Qian’s kind of brain.

"Believe it or not, your brother‑in‑law is more upset than you are right now. He feels guiltier than you do." Qian scolded.

The room fell completely silent.

Thinking of all the good things about Yu Minglang, everyone tacitly accepted Qian’s words.

Yu Minglang was much more enthusiastic about the wedding than Qian; nobody wanted to get married more than he did.

Qian’s mom wiped her tears in silence. "Such a good couple, how did you end up running into something like this?"

"It’s nothing that serious. Isn’t it just one less person toasting the guests? Without him, I can still put on a good show."

Once the bow is drawn there’s no taking the arrow back; now even if you throw a tantrum it’s useless. If you get mad and don’t show up, whose face are you really throwing away but Xiaoqiang’s?

"I just don’t get it, why are you defending Yu Minglang so much?" Zilong was angry enough that he wouldn’t even call him brother‑in‑law.

"You don’t understand what power is, and you don’t understand what a marriage is. A husband and wife are one. Standing up for your man is the same as standing up for yourself. Don’t fly off the handle and ignore the consequences. Chen Zilong, the day you understand this is the day you’re grown up."

"Ai..." Qian’s mom wiped her tears, and Zilong clamped his mouth shut and said nothing.

"All of you go out. If you make things hard for them now, our Qian’er is going to have a hard time over at her in‑laws’ later." The emotionally intelligent Mr. Liao wrapped things up. With Qian’s tough stance added in, Qian’s mom could only dry her tears, force a smile, and Zilong didn’t dare let his emotions spill out.

As soon as she walked out, Qian immediately saw her mother‑in‑law’s face full of guilt.

"Well, this, this matter, this... Qian, it’s us who’ve wronged you. We never thought he’d suddenly get a call and just leave like that, I really..."

Mrs. Yu’s guilt surged like a tidal wave.

"What matters now isn’t who’s right or wrong. And don’t take it out on my dad. It’s a happy day, we can’t be like that. Since the wedding is done, that means we’re one family now. Sorting out the banquet is what we should be focusing on."

"Ai! Mom just feels sorry for you..." Such a sensible child, and she’s the one comforting her. Mrs. Yu’s eyes were already wet.

"All the elders are here. Minglang’s been transferred away, but our banquet can’t stop. I’ll go change, and then we go straight to the hotel and toast everyone—’Dear friends, I’m just going to change and touch up my makeup, then we’ll take plenty of photos. My husband had to leave on business first; when he’s back we’ll make up the group shots!’"

Since Qian herself said this much, and all her friends were reasonable people, they immediately acted as if nothing had happened. A crisis was so effortlessly defused by Qian.

Taking Shi Touyu into the room to change, Qian expressionlessly began taking off her wedding outfits. There were four sets altogether: one red bridal dress for the bowing ceremony, one dragon‑and‑phoenix jacket for entertaining the relatives at the Yu Family, a qipao for photos with her girlfriends, and another set for the toasting.

She’d really wanted Yu Minglang to see her face in the bridal dress, but he left without even lifting her veil. She could only slip straight into the qipao and pose with her girlfriends; how could she not feel regret in her heart.

"Why are you so deflated?" Qian asked while having Shi Touyu help her change.

"I feel kind of bad for you..." As Qian’s hardcore teammate in her inner circle, how could Shi Touyu possibly be unmoved?

"If even you feel bad, you tell me, wouldn’t he feel even worse?" Qian looked toward the window, wondering if Yu Minglang was distracted at this very moment.

Seeing Qian’s delicate profile gilded by the sunlight with a holy glow, Shi Touyu genuinely felt like she was witnessing a goddess descending.

The difference between a god and a person is that a god can endure what people can’t. As for whether that god’s heart hurts inside, probably only she herself knows.

Qian picked a path that preserved the Yu Family’s face, and at the same time gave Yu Minglang tremendous dignity.

On the way to the hotel, Qian’s mom quietly asked Mr. Liao.

"Our Qian’er compromising this much, over there will they think she’s cheapening herself? Or will the other guests look down on her and think she’s being too forward?"

Mr. Liao shook his head. "No. You should be able to see the position Qian has in the Yu Family. The less she makes a scene now, the more she gains."

Ultimately, he was someone inside the system; his way of talking and seeing things was more long‑term than Qian’s mom’s.

Qian’s mom had also made quite a bit of money from demolition payouts and under Mr. Yu’s protection, but her thinking was still stuck in those petty village squabbles.

She didn’t realize that everyone who could show up at today’s banquet was not village folk. Qian’s actions had their own logic.

This unusual wedding banquet, with the groom absent, seemed especially out of the ordinary, but the bride was poised from start to finish, following the Yu Family’s members in receiving guests. Everyone present had seen a bit of the world, and their views of the bride’s conduct were mixed.

Some felt the bride’s family must be eyeing the Yu Family’s status, and that this was a compromise made in the face of money.

Others felt the bride was protecting the absent Yu Laomao, that this was true love.

But whichever it was, all of them agreed the bride was no ordinary person. At such a young age she already had such deep strategic thinking; throughout, she never showed the slightest displeasure, and her words and behavior stayed gracious and at ease.

The out‑of‑town relatives of Yu were truly impressed by Qian. Leaving everything else aside, the fact that Mrs. Yu and Mr. Yu valued Qian didn’t even count for much; the key point was that the hardest one in the Yu Family to handle, Mr. Yu, stayed by his sister‑in‑law’s side the whole time. Everyone knew how tough Mr. Yu was and had assumed she’d clash with Qian.

But she didn’t.

At the table of Yu Minglang’s childhood buddies, some had met Qian before, some hadn’t. But for a woman who, in this situation today, did not make Yu Laomao lose face, that alone was enough for everyone to call her Mrs Me.

The one who’d video‑chatted with Qian last time also came and sat at the same table as Mr. Yu. He was in casual clothes today. Seeing him there, Qian thought of Xiaoqiang’s hurried departure, and her eyes narrowed slightly. Very good.

When it was time to toast that table, the man invited Qian to sit and chat a bit, and Mr. Yu stayed to accompany her.

"Chen, your behavior today really surprised me. Judging by how you were last time, I thought you’d rip me to shreds." The man was here purely in a private capacity to drink at the wedding, so he spoke casually, making a light joke of it.

"How could I? The mission my Minglang carries is what it is, I have to understand him." Qian’s words sounded very official.

If he hadn’t seen that "technical gift‑giving" con routine she’d pulled last time, the man would almost have believed she meant what she said.

Qian held a flawless smile, practically the model of a modern virtuous wife, yet that smile made the man’s heart faintly tremble.

"Actually, what happened today, originally they weren’t supposed to pull One away."

He hadn’t known in advance that they’d be transferring Yu Minglang. By the time he was already in the car headed to Q City, that’s when he heard Yu Minglang had been urgently called away today.

At the time, he was conflicted inside.

He’d wanted to have the car turn around. After all, he knew perfectly well how Qian had handled things last time, how she’d used that utterly harmless expression to say the four words "technical gift‑giving."

Last time when he asked this little girl for help, she’d already hinted verbally that it wasn’t free, that he had to remember the favor she’d done him.

And this time they’d directly taken One away on his wedding day. With Qian’s pluck‑every‑feather‑from‑a‑passing‑goose personality, would she really let him off?