25 1.1.25: Meet the Zhou Family II

The week surprisingly went by fast. Faster than Xiao Yunhua expected, anyway.

She currently wore a pastel-pink, long sleeved wrap dress. Paired with a pair of white pumps, her straightened hair and her minimal makeup, she was gorgeous.

She gulped and decided to take a taxi to the destination since she had continued to keep her location a secret. Zhou Lang didn't mind too much as he knew that she values privacy deeply.

When she arrived, she stood before the same mansion that she was already in before. The first time, it was from the memories of the original Xiao Yunhua. The second time, she saw the conversation between the Zhou Elder and Eldress with Butler Luo as Han Yunhua, a vulnerable girl who was crazed because she didn't want to lose her grandmother. Now, she stepped inside as Xiahu Yunhua, the woman who would make them pay.

Not only for preventing Han Mi from getting treated, but because she was going to find out Han Mi's connection with the Zhou household once she captured her first target's heart. This was the condition that Xiao Taotao set with her via the dimensional space during these past few years. She was sure that whatever connection Han Mi had with the Zhou household, it wasn't anything good.

She remembered the way that the trio talked about Han Mi like she was a sinner. She even remembered the way that Zhou Elder grew angry when Butler Luo mentioned that Han Mi had a granddaughter—which was her, Han Yunhua.

Even though she wanted to contemplate for a little longer, Xiao Yunhua took a deep breath and walked closer to the mansion. A large, buff man stopped her and crossed his arms. "What do you want here? You're trespassing on private property."

Xiao Yunhua raised her eyebrow, "I'm not on the mansion property, am I? So how am I trespassing? Also, is there a doorbell to ring around here?"

The security guard didn't crack a smile at Xiao Yunhua's attempted humor, and he told her to leave. Xiao Yunhua could only whip out her phone and send a text to Zhou Lang. He immediately replied and a few minutes later, he greeted her. He glared at the security guard for being so rude as he grabbed her hand in his.

"They're excited for my surprise." He told her as they walked inside the mansion. Xiao Yunhua pursed her lips as she wickedly anticipated their reaction. This surprise was a calamity in the waiting. This surprise would surely make things more interesting.

Once they stood before the entrance door, Zhou Lang and she took a deep breath. Zhou Lang twisted the doorknob with his hand and they were immediately greeted with a maid. The maid guided them to the living room, where the entire family was gathered. From the three sons of the first wife, to the only daughter of Zhou Eldress, to even their children, they all were inside for this family meeting. Even the Zhou Elder and Eldress were sitting and waiting. They didn't understand what Zhou Lang wanted to surprise them with.

The boy was always the mischievous and spoiled one of the family.

When Zhou Lang and Xiao Yunhua were announced and went inside, a hushed and tense silence loomed over the Zhou family.

A variety of different reactions exploded. There was silence, envy, horror, admiration, and confusion from multiple people.

Finally, Zhou Elder spoke up and asked, "Lang'er, who is she?"

"The surprise that I told you about." Zhou Lang tightened his grip on Xiao Yunhua's hand and continued, "This is my girlfriend, Xiahu Yunhua."

Once again, astonishment met his statement. The infamous playboy that changed women often, now actually had someone like a girlfriend which required commitment!?

But others, like Zhou Elder, couldn't help but feel sadness when he heard her name. She had the same name as the girl who disappeared approximately a decade ago. The girl who saved his life and he decided to adopt as his granddaughter. To this day, he remembered her kind nature and wished her well, wherever she was. To this day—on the day that she disappeared—he would go and make sure flowers laid on her grave. Though her grave was empty, Zhou Elder was sure that she was dead because even the best experts they've hired couldn't find her.

"She is... not fit for the role." Zhou Eldress finally spoke, her cold, snake-like eyes trying to intimidate Xiao Yunhua. But unlike the first time that Xiao Yunhua saw her, she wasn't scared. Her soul hadn't even come into contact with the old woman directly at that time, yet she still shivered. Now, after going through so much, this old woman's complaints and cold nature was the least of her concerns. Instead of backing down, Xiao Yunhua shot the old woman even a colder look, startling Zhou Eldress.

In all her years, Zhou Eldress had never been intimidated like so! The only time that she was intimidated was with that woman many years ago when that woman confronted her for her deeds. But that woman was already dead, so she wasn't going to let herself fear the gaze of a young woman, no matter how cold her eyes were.

"Grandmother, I don't care what you say, I love her." Zhou Lang's furious tone showed that he truly did not care what this old woman had to say. Usually, he respected her, but she was going too far for judging Xiahu Yunhua based on her appearance and name.

A young woman, who would've been considered a beauty had it not been for Xiao Yunhua being in the room, fiercely glared at Xiao Yunhua. "Lang'gege, this woman is definitely the product of multiple plastic surgeries. My friend, Mu Lihua, has been in love with you for so long! And she's a natural beauty, unlike this plastic whore!"

"Zhou Yaoyao!" Zhou Lang—and surprisingly, a few other people—scolded. "Watch your language."

"It's true!" Zhou Yaoyao complained with her arms crossed. "I've seen many women like her while studying abroad."

"You're wrong because Little Beauty is a natural beauty with no work done."

"False!" Zhou Yaoyao couldn't believe and accept that there was such a beautiful woman without any type of work done. She couldn't believe that such a woman even existed and looked better than her!

Zhou Lang ignored her whines and ushered for Xiao Yunhua to sit on an available seat.

Surprisingly, her seat was next to Zhou Feng, who stared at her intensely with his cold eyes. Speaking of Zhou Feng, he had grown extremely handsome. Sure, he was handsome before at the age of eighteen when she first interacted with him at sixteen, but now, he excluded an aura of masculinity and his cold eyes were even sharper than before. Xiao Yunhua could smell a patchouli cologne drifting off of him.

He looked ravishing as he sat there with his black suit. Thanks to the updates from Xiao Taotao, Xiao Yunhua knew that he was now in charge of a side branch of the family business. The official heir and controller of everything was Zhou Ming, who was also the oldest out of the four brothers.

But, unfortunately, he had not made it to the family meeting.

But as Xiao Yunhua scanned Zhou Feng from the corner of her eye while maintaining a straight face, Zhou Feng was doing the same thing. The young woman was beautiful, that he could admit, enough to shake the world. But Zhou Feng also realized something else about her—she was the entertainer from Riverside. Zhou Feng was almost one hundred percent positive that she was the entertainer because he was getting a sideway glance of her face because she was looking forward. And that sideway glance was only half of her face. And that half of the face was the half that wasn't hidden in every show.

But she was also the only woman that rejected him a few years back. She also rejected his brother, so how come she was here holding his hand? Subconsciously, Zhou Feng felt a type of jealousy towards his brother.

Of course, Xiao Yunhua could feel his eyes on her. She turned her head and their eyes met. It was a clash between cold and cold, albeit different types of cold. His coldness was the type that didn't like people getting close to him, while hers was the type of being alone. Both didn't know that there were also a few sparks of passion and desire, courtesy of the system trying to hasten things up.

Seeing their interaction was a young woman named Kang Yiyi with clenched teeth and clenched fists. She couldn't stand that her fiancé was eyeing another girl, one with such threatening beauty, like so. So before Zhou Feng could react, she looped their arms together and shot a glare at Xiao Yunhua.

"Feng'ge, you shouldn't be looking anyone other than me." She said cutely while Zhou Feng kept trying to shake her arm off. Weirdly, he didn't want Xiao Yunhua to misinterpret despite her being his brother's girlfriend.

"Kang Yiyi," he coldly said, "let go."

"No." Kang Yiyi flashed him a mischievous smile which made everyone around them smile at the couple's interactions. Despite the marriage being arranged, they were sure that Kang Yiyi was the only woman who could thaw Zhou Feng's cold heart.

Seeing them interact like so, Xiao Yunhua's heart throbbed and her eyes glazed with an unfamiliar greediness and desire to destroy Kang Yiyi. But as soon as the thought entered her head, she shook her head and tried to calm down her loudly thumping heart.

What was that!?