Chapter 347: Ke Zhongyu Will Look Up to Her

Jiang Lai showed a surprised expression because of Ke Zhongyu's words—when Ke Zhongyu liked her, he still didn't know her identity?

That early...

Wang Ruohua hadn't been surprised, though; she had noticed it as early as the first time she saw Ke Zhongyu at Jiang Lai's side, which was why she had said then that the Ke Family Eldest Miss had a quite good personality, while the Ke Family Young Master was a person of considerable depth.

The Ke Family was a wealthy clan, but at the end of the day they were still merchants; merchants chase profit, merchants don't rise early without gain, and Ke Zhongyu stood at the pinnacle of the pyramid—anyone he took time from his busy schedule to approach came with his own purpose.

At that time Jiang Lai's identity was hidden, and the value a merchant might want wasn't yet apparent, so only that matter between men and women remained.

She had thought Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu had no chance, not expecting that they would ultimately end up together.

She was of course happy that Jiang Lai had someone by her side, and Ke Zhongyu being willing to announce the relationship in his social circle also showed he was serious, but hearts change in an instant.

Wang Ruohua clearly felt that her health over the past two years was not what it used to be, so she needed to be even more careful—there could not be another "Shen Xun Number Two."

"President Ke, I recall that at the time Jiang Lai hadn't yet announced her divorce."

"Yes." Ke Zhongyu knew exactly what Professor Wang wanted to say; he admitted his own baseness, "But I knew she was already preparing for divorce. She had made up her mind to divorce—even without Shen Xun's father intervening, I would have intervened."

Wang Ruohua: "Jiang Lai told you?"

Jiang Lai remembered that she had told him later, but the first person she told was Ke Zhongying.

Ke Zhongying shook her head: "Sister Jiang Lai, I'm on your side."

After saying that, she went back to quietly being a good girl.

Ke Zhongyu shook his head: "No."

Jiang Lai couldn't help asking: "I didn't say anything—how did you know?"

Ke Zhongyu turned his head to look at Jiang Lai: "I asked you how long you and Shen Xun had been married, and three times in a row you gave the same number."

Ke Zhongying remembered that number: "Four years and one hundred fifteen days!"

Ke Zhongyu nodded.

"You..." Jiang Lai pressed her lips together and fell silent.

That he could notice such a fine detail showed Ke Zhongyu had cared deeply about Jiang Lai from the very beginning. Wang Ruohua then posed a hypothetical: "What if she hadn't divorced Shen Xun in the end?"

The eloquent Ke Zhongyu fell silent.

Jiang Lai couldn't grasp the significance of her parents asking this hypothetical for a moment, and just as she saw Ke Zhongyu's difficulty and was about to speak up to defuse the situation, the man's calm voice sounded again.

"I am not that noble."

"I cannot answer for who I was before; I can only answer for who I am now, having already gained Jiang Lai. I am not that noble. I would not have let her and Shen Xun remain undivorced—she and Shen Xun would definitely have divorced."

Jiang Lai would definitely be his.

He could give Jiang Lai more—love, family, wealth, reputation, status... he could hold up the road ahead for Jiang Lai.

Jiang Lai had no reason not to choose him.

Before these worldly things, Ke Zhongyu had always been confident and assured, because he had them all and could afford to give them.

Jiang Lai keenly sensed that Ke Zhongyu's expression was a bit taut, just like when he had asked her whether a broken mirror could truly be made whole again.

She reached out and gently tugged Ke Zhongyu's sleeve, saying earnestly: "I was absolutely set on divorcing at that time. A broken mirror cannot be made whole."

Wang Ruohua caught a glimpse of Jiang Lai's small gesture and was slightly taken aback.

Jiang Lai had revealed a childish side in front of Ke Zhongyu, which was very rare, and it also showed that Jiang Lai cared deeply about Ke Zhongyu in her heart—not merely the cool, rational judgment of the seven reasons Jiang Lai had told her.

But then again, matters of the heart have always been hard to keep calm and restrained.

Ke Zhongyu caught Jiang Lai's hand and pulled it under the table to hide it; he actually didn't want to hide it, but Jiang Lai wasn't the type to show affection in public.

Jiang Lai glanced at her mentor's wife and Butler Deng, wanting to pull her hand free, but couldn't.

Ke Zhongyu clearly wasn't using force.

She also seemed... not to be using much force either.

Never mind.

Let him hold it.

Ke Zhongying caught a glimpse and silently lowered her head, smiling.

Jiang Lai sat composedly; Ke Zhongyu's lips curved slightly upward as he continued looking at Professor Wang and answered the original question: "I liked her the first time I saw her."

"We met a long time ago?" Jiang Lai looked at him with a puzzled face, not believing that Ke Zhongyu would fall for her upon seeing her with disheveled hair, a slap mark on her face, and tears streaming down.

Ke Zhongyu: "The time in the elevator."

Jiang Lai: "?"

It wasn't that she didn't know how to speak; she simply couldn't bring herself to ask.

Weren't love-at-first-sight moments all supposed to be beautiful? How could it instead be love at first sight for her in such a wretched state?

Jiang Lai looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.

Ke Zhongyu offered Jiang Lai no superfluous explanation, continuing to look at Wang Ruohua: "I don't know whether Jiang Lai attracts other people's liking, but she very much attracts mine."

"She hits my aesthetic points, and my aesthetic points are what can open up unknown territories within me."

"Before Jiang Lai appeared, I didn't know what kind of person I liked."

Lively and cute? There was already an annoying little sister at home.

Bright and magnanimous? Even without Chi Ce, Fu Youqing still couldn't stir his heart.

Gentle and attentive? Gu Yinxue could exhaust every trick in the book and still couldn't elicit any reaction from him.

Wang Ruohua: "You think Jiang Lai is your awakening?"

Ke Zhongyu nodded: "Yes, so I will look up to her. When I look up to her, no one can look down on her."

Shen Xun and the Shen Family had always looked down on her from above, belittling her.

Jiang Lai's heart was thrown into turmoil by Ke Zhongyu; she parted her lips and said: "You don't usually speak so recklessly."

It seemed like a reproach, but in truth she was at a loss.

Her heart was in a tangled mess.

Her heart pounded like a drum.

Her emotions surged.

"Don't say anymore, drink water, drink more." She kept pouring water for Ke Zhongyu.

Ke Zhongyu drank it all.

He knew Jiang Lai was shy.

Wang Ruohua also knew, so she didn't ask further.

She could see Ke Zhongyu's affection for Jiang Lai, and also see Jiang Lai's affection for Ke Zhongyu; perhaps because she was older, she couldn't help but worry.

After seeing the three off after the meal, she specially called Jiang Lai aside and affirmed her: "Being willing to enter a new relationship, I'm happy for you, because you haven't lost courage, and you haven't denied all the world's feelings because of one failure."

Jiang Lai clung to the master's wife's hand, being more clingy than ever before.

Wang Ruohua patted the back of her hand, earnestly adding: "But I still hope you remember this saying: words contain the element of flattery; language is words, you must not only look at what he says but also at what he does. All talk and no action makes your flesh suffer; all action and no words makes your soul suffer. In love, lacking either is unacceptable. I hope Ke Zhongyu's appearance is an added blessing for you. Understand?"

Jiang Lai nodded, embraced her: "Master's wife, sometimes I really wish I bore the surname Wang or Cui."

Wang Ruohua naturally understood the little girl's meaning, smiling as she patted her back: "Surnames Wang, Cui, Tang are all fine, but the surname Jiang is best. Jiang Lai, Jiang Lai, don't be trapped by the matter of surnames; the surname Jiang is fine. You are the first person in the Jiang family genealogy; you will have disciples and children in the future."

Jiang Lai's heart jolted.

She was shocked that the master's wife had already stepped beyond the original framework of thought, while she herself remained confined to the narrow sense of surnames.

She seemed to have understood something.