Chapter 1037: The Essence of Playing the Pig to Eat the Tiger 1

"Daughter, we are doing this for the sake of long-term peace in the future; your mother and I cannot just watch and do nothing while there is a ticking time bomb by your side."

Shi Ran: "I can just ignore him."

"He shouldn't be staying in A Country for long either. I heard his father decided to have him study accounting or finance. We won't be at the same school or in the same major, so there won't be any intersection in the future."

Shi Ran is very smart, but she is still young and lacks life experience.

Looking at things, she still tends to see the surface; it is too one-sided.

There are some people who, even if you don't provoke them, will still come to provoke you.

Shi Youxuan: "If you don't invite him, I will go myself. You decide what to do."

Shi Ran:...

"You can't go. Don't I have any reputation to maintain?"

For her own mother to go to school to invite a male classmate to their home for a meal, and to invite him alone at that—it doesn't sound good.

Shi Youxuan: "If you don't go, I will."

Shi Ran compromised: "Fine, I'll invite him."

She specifically waited for a time when no one was around and secretly slipped a small note to Chen Ran: "My mom is inviting you to dinner. Do you have time after school today?"

During class, Chen Ran replied with a note that had only one word on it: "Yes."

A moment later, another note flew over: "Should I bring some gifts for your parents? What do they like?"

When Shi Ran passed the note, no one saw.

But when Chen Ran returned the note, he did it right in front of the whole class, tossing the note brazenly; everyone saw it.

Even the teacher saw it.

The teacher coughed twice on the podium, putting on a show of authority, and said pointedly: "Ahem, students, please listen carefully during class time. If you have anything to say, you can say it in person after class."

"Hahahaha..."

The students burst into laughter.

This made Shi Ran furious.

At home.

Zhang Ma made a table full of dishes, and after she finished, Shi Youxuan took the apron and tied it around her own waist.

The door outside rang; her daughter had returned from school.

Shi Youxuan walked up with a beaming smile, and the two walked into the house one after the other: "Chen Ran is here, come in quickly."

"There were too many classmates last time, so I didn't host you well. I've been thinking about this for days, and I always felt I had wronged you," Shi Youxuan said very enthusiastically.

Chen Ran replied: "Auntie, you are too polite. You didn't wrong me at all. Being at your house feels just like being in my own home; seeing you is as affectionate as seeing my own mother."

"Really?"

Shi Youxuan was so happy she couldn't close her mouth, praising Chen Ran repeatedly for being sensible and well-spoken, much better than Qi Heng.

She didn't just praise him herself; she also insisted on dragging her daughter over to prove she was right.

Shi Ran felt so embarrassed that she went back to her room without a word to do her homework, out of sight and out of mind.

"Come, Chen Ran, sit down and have an orange."

Shi Youxuan peeled an orange for him herself, making small talk.

"What kind of sports do you like? For example, swimming or basketball?"

"My Litian grew up by the sea since he was a child and loves to swim; he swims better than a fish in the ocean..."

Chen Ran became alert.

When he was in Jiangzhou, he had disguised himself as a teenager returning from playing ball and bumped into Wang Yingzhi.

Now that Shi Youxuan mentioned sports, he instinctively avoided it: "The place where I lived when I was little was also by the sea, but I don't like water. When I was young and ignorant, I went to play in the sea and almost drowned. Ever since then, I've had a deep childhood trauma and don't dare to go into the sea."

Shi Youxuan: "Oh, is that so? That's a real pity. Do you like playing basketball?"

Chen Ran shook his head again: "I don't like it. It's embarrassing to say, but I don't like any sports; I only like playing computer games."

This did not match the information they had gathered.

The investigation data indicated that Zhu Qingrui was more lively and cheerful than his brother Zhu Qingxiang, and he liked many things; basketball and swimming were both his strengths.

For Chen Ran to say he didn't like sports, especially swimming and basketball, there were only two possibilities.

Either he was not Zhu Qingrui.

Or he was lying.

"Does Chen Ran like fishing? Children who grow up by the sea usually like fishing," Shi Youxuan began to set a trap.

"I do."

"That's great. Our whole family is planning to go fishing by the sea this weekend. It's boring for you to be alone in A Country, why not join us?" she invited.

Chen Ran pondered for a moment, then smiled and agreed: "Alright, I'd be honored to accept."

Shi Youxuan was very satisfied: "Let's eat."

During the meal, she shamelessly claimed Zhang Ma's handiwork as her own, constantly urging Chen Ran to eat more.

He performed very well, and of course, he also ate his fill—more than just full, he was stuffed.

After he left the Sheng Family, Shi Youxuan and her husband saw him to the gate, waving continuously until the car was out of sight before turning back home.

She rubbed her cheeks and complained to her husband: "I used up a lifetime's worth of fake smiles all in one day today. How did I do?"

Her husband gave her a thumbs up and praised her: "You performed very well. You portrayed being mercenary, opportunistic, snobbish, superficial, and two-faced very thoroughly." He also wanted to say it was a natural performance.

But the moment that sentence was about to come out, a strong desire to survive made him swallow it back.

"Hmph!"

Shi Youxuan glared at her husband with dissatisfaction: "Do you think I wanted to? If you and Ranran could cooperate with me even a little bit, I wouldn't have to work so hard all by myself."

Everything today was not just a test, but also a performance for Chen Ran to see.

He has a close relationship with the Finance Minister of L Country; Shi Youxuan doing this was not only to paralyze Zhu Qingrui, but also to put the Finance Minister of L Country at ease and lower his guard against the Sheng Family.

In a duel between two sides, the losing party is often not because they lack ability, but because they mistakenly believe their opponent lacks ability!

Arrogance and underestimating one's opponent often make it easier to lose.

The main purpose of Shi Youxuan having Chen Ran come today was to leave him with exactly this impression.

Chen Zhai.

Study.

Chen Ran is on a video call with the Finance Minister.

"Father, I don't think that woman is as smart as she looks."

Finance Minister: "Do not let your guard down. Rumors outside say Shi Youxuan is a very formidable character. Looking at a person only on the surface won't reveal anything. You cannot just look at what she says, you must also look at what she does."

"Yes, Father."

He lowered his eyes and kept a submissive expression.

He was obedient to this nominal father of his, at least on the surface; as for what he was actually thinking, only he himself knew.

"Going fishing on the weekend is very good, you should..."

The news that the Chen Family and the Sheng Family were interacting closely and were on very good terms soon spread through the upper-class society of L Country.

Everyone was talking about it fervently, and almost everyone was certain that the Sheng Family had once again climbed to a high branch.

Qi Fu.

Lady Qi returned from outside, furious.

Qi Xiansheng was idle at home, spending his days tending to flowers and plants, cultivating his character.

When Lady Qi returned, he was watering flowers in the courtyard; seeing her appearance, he knew without needing to speak—she had been provoked again!

"Heard more gossip again?"

He said with a chuckle: "I told you not to go out, but you insisted on going; you get provoked whenever you go out, why bother?"

It would have been better if Qi Xiansheng hadn't spoken.

With him saying it like that, Lady Qi became even more furious.

She immediately flared up at him: "Do you think I want to go out and get provoked? You do nothing at home every day; if I don't go out and get active, what will happen to the future of our two children?"