Ye Xingchen narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Although he didn’t hear what was spoken between the Liu family and the Shens, he could tell Shen Lingqing wasn’t pleased to meet them tonight. As for Liu Zhongji’s intention for wanting to meet his Qing Jie, Ye Xingchen had no idea.

“Mr. Liu…” He wanted to tell Liu Zhongji to leave his Qing Jie, but Shen Lingqing stopped him.

“Xingchen, do you mind leaving us for a moment?”

Ye Xingchen frowned, but he didn’t deny his cousin’s wishes. He eyed Liu Zhongji for a moment before he left the two at the lounge area to find his mother and his aunt.

“What is it that you want to talk about?” She asked.

“I want to know how Brother Jin is faring.”

When Shen Lingqing only gave him a pointed stare, Liu Zhongji continued.

“I’m worried about him, and while it’s true that my father has wronged him over these years, I don’t share his sentiments. I believe Brother Jin should inherit the Liu Corporation, not me,” he said in a guilty tone.

This wasn’t something Shen Lingqing was expecting to hear from Liu Jinfei’s cousin. With a greedy father, Liu Zhongji surprisingly came out as a decent man.

“Have you ever asked him what he wanted? Perhaps you are mistaken,” she said in response, testing to see whether Liu Zhongji was merely acting in front of her or not.

“I-I don’t know,” he said lowly as he admitted to his ignorance. “I haven’t seen or talked to him for years.”

Liu Zhongji had tried to keep his communication with his cousin, but that was just for him to protect Liu Jinfei from his father’s interference. When Liu Jinfei left the country, he had no other means of contacting Liu Jinfei anymore, without raising the suspicion of his father.

“Then, you better make a choice now, Liu Zhongji. You should know by now that your father wouldn’t willingly give back the company to your cousin,” Shen Lingqing said as she stood up. “The Shen family would not get involved in your family affairs unless we deemed it necessary to intervene. I don’t want my chef losing his focus at work over trivial matters. “

Liu Zhongji didn’t need to be told what the Shen princess meant. If his father went overboard and tried to threaten his cousin’s life, Shen Lingqing wouldn’t stay still and watch them harass Liu Jinfei.

“Is there a need for this, Miss Shen? You are willing to help my cousin even though he is just your employee?” Liu Zhongji asked her.

Shen Lingqing stopped in her tracks and looked over her shoulder. Was he trying to see if she had the guts to protect Liu Jinfei against his father? However… why the hell would she do that?

Unless Liu Jinfei’s life was threatened or his work performance was being affected by his family issues, Shen Lingqing wouldn’t give a damn about their issues. However, it would be smart if the Liu family took her warning seriously.

“That’s true. He’s just my employee,” she agreed with him, “but he’s an important employee I couldn’t afford to lose at the moment. If you are really concerned about Liu Jinfei, then you better make an effort to convince your father to stop making his life miserable. It was hard enough that he had lost his family.”

Liu Zhongji wanted to question her some more, but as he stared at Shen Lingqing’s face, he bit back the words he wanted to say.

“I see…” He already knew what Shen Lingqing said was right, but it was hard for him to oppose his father, especially now that Liu Zhongyi didn’t want to retire yet and hand over the company to his son’s hands. It was for this reason that although Liu Zhongji was already at the right age, he was still the Vice President of their company.

“Then, if you’ll excuse me,” Shen Lingqing said, leaving him alone in the lounge area. She had enough of socializing for today and wanted to return home.

Liu Zhongji didn’t have the backbone to oppose his father. As for him truly wanting to hand back the Liu Corporation to Liu Jinfei, Shen Lingqing doubted it. It wasn’t easy to give up on something worth millions of dollars.

When she came back to the banquet hall, she found her mother still with her Aunt Feiyan. This time, Ye Xingchen was with them. He gave her an inquisitive look, wondering what Liu Zhongji wanted from her. However, she only shrugged.

“Qingqing, I think you should bring your mother home. It wouldn’t be nice if people see her in her drunken state.” Sun Feiyan told her before nudging Lu Xinyi on her side. “Xinxin, you better go home with your daughter now. I’ll take it from here.”

Lu Xinyi’s face was slightly flushed from the amount of alcohol she drank that evening. She smiled the moment she saw her daughter’s face. She hadn’t seen her daughter for years, and she was glad that Qingqing was here with her now.

“Alright. Since Qingqing and I were done here, we should get going.” She smiled and leaned towards her daughter. With her daughter’s tall stature next to her, it only made her aware of how grown up her Little Qingqing was.

“Thank you for your help and insight today, Aunt Feiyan. I’ve learned so much from you.”

Sun Feiyan only nodded, but her eyes were smiling back at Shen Lingqing.

“It’s nothing,” she told her niece. “It’s only natural that I teach you such things on your mother’s behalf.”

Since Lu Xinyi didn’t complete her training as a young miss during her stay at the Sun Estate, she had missed a lot of etiquette classes for the upper society that Shen Lingqing needed now. The thing Lu Xinyi knew was how to act properly as a Madam of the Shen family, but she had no idea what entailed to be an heir like her daughter.