My Wife is a Frustrating Genius!!! - Chapter 30

Who Am I? I’m Your Ancestor!

Cheng Yi shot Wang San a cold glare. She had overheard every word he said to Lu Jiahe from outside the door. If it weren’t for the crowd, she would have dragged him out and given him a good beating!

“I am Jiahe’s betrothed. What? Are you deaf or blind?” Cheng Yi rolled her eyes at Wang San in front of everyone, then put on a virtuous wife’s demeanor and began serving food into Lu Jiahe’s bowl.

“You!” Wang San’s face flushed crimson with anger at her words. With his peers around, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything improper to the woman in front of him. Instead, he turned to Lu Jiahe and said, “Jiahe, is this the match Old Master Lu and Old Lady Lu arranged for you? I wonder if her family ever taught her how a woman should behave with propriety in public.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jiahe set down his chopsticks and looked at Wang San.

Cheng Yi patted the back of his hand. She knew Lu Jiahe’s temperament well, and given how aggressive the other man was being, she realized she wouldn’t be able to out-argue him. She had to step in herself to take him down a peg.

“Hah!” Cheng Yi scoffed, casting a disdainful glance at Wang San. “And who are you? What does the Lu family’s opinion of me have to do with you? I’m marrying Lu Jiahe and becoming the Lu family’s daughter-in-law. Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to criticize?”

Smack!

Unable to bear the humiliation in front of so many people, Wang San stood up and slammed the table. He glared viciously at the woman. “Jiahe and I are classmates and friends. Even if you don’t understand propriety, surely he does!”

Bang!

Que Ke Ya, who had been waiting outside the door, heard the commotion and shoved the door open forcefully. “What’s going on? Trying to cause trouble in my establishment? Don’t you know whose turf this is?” Rolling up his sleeves, the scar-faced man strode up to Wang San.

“You!”

Wang San was genuinely intimidated by the burly man in front of him. He might dare to bully a weak woman, but facing someone so much larger than himself, he feared he’d come off worse in a fight.

“What do you want? I’m a paying customer here. Are you planning to assault me?”

“Hmph!” Que Ke Ya shot the man an annoyed glare, then clapped his hands, signaling the waiter outside to bring in the food.

The female server, carrying the dishes, entered and saw her boss sitting next to the man who had verbally harassed her earlier. “Um.”

She kept blinking at her boss, and even after setting down all the dishes, she showed no intention of leaving.

Seeing her constant winking and eye signals, Cheng Yi thought she had something to say and stood up to leave the room.

“Cui’er, what’s wrong? Are your eyes bothering you?” Cheng Yi stood at the stairwell, looking at Cui’er, who had followed her out.

“Boss, do you know that gentleman?” Cui’er frowned, her face full of distress as she looked at her boss.

Cheng Yi was taken aback. “Which gentleman are you talking about?”

“The one sitting next to you during the meal.”

“I know him. Why?” Cheng Yi was puzzled, thinking to herself that Cui’er had just met Lu Jiahe last night. How could she not recognize him now?

Cui’er’s expression grew even more troubled. “Boss, earlier that gentleman tried t-to take liberties with me.”

“Hiss.”

Cheng Yi gasped in disbelief upon hearing this. Given Lu Jiahe’s timid nature, barely daring to speak to outsiders, how could she possibly have acted improperly toward anyone.

“How did she harass you?”

“She kept giving me suggestive looks, Boss. I was terrified at the time.” Cui’er recalled the scene, on the verge of tears.

Cheng Yi rubbed her temples. If she didn’t know the other party was face-blind, she might have believed every word. “Are you sure you didn’t recognize who she was?”

Cui’er shook her head tearfully.

“Forget it. I have matters to attend to, now. I’ll explain tonight. Go handle other tasks for now.” Cheng Yi’s focus was entirely on Wang San at the moment. Besides, Lu Jiahe needed to return to the academy for afternoon classes, so she decided to address the matter during dinner when everyone was together.

When Cheng Yi returned to the room and found Wang San had taken her seat again, she walked over to Lu Jiahe and tugged at her sleeve.

Lu Jiahe, who was eating lunch, looked up, surprised Cheng Yi had returned. “What’s wrong?”

“Waaah! You didn’t even care that someone took my seat! You’re so mean!” With that, Cheng Yi squeezed onto Lu Jiahe’s lap, sitting squarely on her legs.

Everyone in the room, including Lu Jiahe, stared at Cheng Yi in stunned silence, jaws agape.

Lu Jiahe’s lips trembled uncontrollably. She had never experienced anything like this and was frozen in shock.

Finding Lu Jiahe’s terrified expression utterly adorable, Cheng Yi took the chopsticks from her hand, picked up a piece of her own thick rolled omelet, and fed it to her. “If you can’t come home for lunch in the future, send Lu An to tell me in advance. Understood?”

Lu Jiahe chewed mechanically, nodding dumbly. Her heart fluttered with a mix of resistance and secret enjoyment of the attention.

Wang San, seated beside them, fumed like a boiling kettle. “Miss, we’re all men here. Don’t you think your behavior is inappropriate?”

He envied Lu Jiahe’s romantic luck, grumbling inwardly that after over a decade as a ladies’ man, he’d never encountered a woman who’d treat him with such bold affection.

Cheng Yi turned and gave him a disdainful once-over. “My future husband hasn’t complained. Why are you chirping like a cricket?”

Wang San bristled at her tone. “I’m paying for this meal, so what I say goes.”

“Oh?” Cheng Yi smirked as if watching a comedy. “So, whoever pays gets the final word? My husband’s family is the wealthiest in Bianjing. Since we’ve just met, why don’t I treat everyone today?”

Wang San felt ready to spit blood. He refused to be shown up by a woman in front of so many people and immediately summoned his lackey to call for the bill.

The gap-toothed server entered with the check. “We have a discount today. Your total is five taels of silver.”

Wang San produced his purse, slapping five taels onto the table.

“I’ll pay ten. This meal is on me.” Cheng Yi was determined to make Wang San bleed today, punishment for bullying Lu Jiahe.

Furious, Wang San pulled out another ten taels. “Fifteen! My treat.”

“Twenty-five.”

“Thirty!”

“Tsk!” Cheng Yi curled her lip in disdain. “Only five taels more? If it were a hundred taels, I’d treat.”

“Two hundred taels!”

Cheng Yi glanced at the other party and, seeing that Wang San had taken the bait, immediately took out her purse. She pulled out all the silver notes Old Lady Lu had given her and placed them on the table. “Five hundred taels.”

She counted out five silver notes and tossed them onto the table in front of the gap-toothed man, flaunting an air of “I’ve got money to burn.”

Wang San was truly provoked. “A thousand taels!” He slammed his own purse onto the table.

Hearing this, Cheng Yi didn’t raise the bid further. She was afraid that if she continued, the other party would back down and refuse to pay. “Fine, since you insist on treating, I won’t argue with you.”

Wang San’s lackey stood nearby, growing anxious. He leaned close to his young master and whispered in his ear, “Young Master, we didn’t bring that much money with us!”

Wang San glared at his lackey, gritting his teeth. “Go back and get it right now!”

The lackey had no choice but to hurry back to fetch the money.

Cheng Yi had no interest in watching the master-servant drama unfold. To ensure Lu Jiahe could eat in peace, she left the room as soon as Wang San handed the money to the gap-toothed man.

“Sister-in-law, you really have some tricks up your sleeve! You made that freeloader Wang San ‘bleed‘ for once.”

Back at the academy, Jiang Huai quietly praised her beside Lu Jiahe.

“Yeah, heh heh.” Lu Jiahe gave an awkward laugh in response, then picked up a book and pretended to be engrossed in studying, ignoring further comments.

After a hectic day, Cheng Yi finally had a chance to sit down and rest. Glancing at the sky outside, she figured Lu Jiahe would be finishing school soon. She instructed Cui’er and Guo’er to prepare dinner while she went to the city gate to wait for Lu Jiahe.

Because of the incident at noon, after school ended, Wang San voluntarily walked home with Lu Jiahe and Jiang Huai.

“Jiahe, does your family really approve of you marrying such a wild woman?” Wang San walked beside Lu Jiahe, complaining about the woman from noon the entire way.

Lu Jiahe nodded. “Yes, and I like her too. What’s the problem?”

“You like a woman like that?” Wang San stared at him in disbelief. “That woman is clearly trouble. With the Lu family’s wealth and status, if something happens later, wouldn’t it bring shame to your family?”

Lu Jiahe had endured this all afternoon. Although she and Cheng Yi had no real relationship, Wang San kept belittling her without any respect.

“What’s it to you? If there’s an issue, it’s the Lu family’s business. Why should an outsider like you worry about it? Out of consideration for our classmate relationship, I didn’t say anything about the noon incident. But now, why do you keep insulting my wife in front of me? Do you think I, or the Lu family, are easy to bully?”

“W-what kind of talk is that? I’m only looking out for you!” Wang San had never expected the meek Lu Jiahe to stand up to him over a woman.

Lu Jiahe had never thought much of Wang San to begin with. If Jiang Huai hadn’t insisted on bringing him along for the noon meal, she wouldn’t have associated with him voluntarily.

Too lazy to engage further, Lu Jiahe shot him a glare and prepared to leave with Lu An.

“Well, well, well”

As luck would have it, Cheng Yi appeared beside them at that very moment.

“My future father-in-law can’t even control my husband, and you think you can? What? Could it be that you’re interested in the position of the Lu family’s head? Should I go speak to my father-in-law tonight and ask him to hand the position over to you?”

The moment Wang San heard this voice, he deflated entirely. The anger he had barely managed to suppress at noon surged back instantly.

“It’s you again, woman! What exactly do you want?” Wang San shouted furiously, pointing at Cheng Yi.

“What do you think you’re doing? This is my wife!” Lu Jiahe’s temper flared up at the sight. She had been holding back for a long time.

Cheng Yi had initially intended to provoke him further, but when she saw Lu Jiahe pull her behind to shield her, she quieted down like a meek little woman, hiding behind her protectively.

Lu An stepped forward, positioning himself in front of Wang San as if ready to throw a punch if he uttered another word.

“You just wait!” Wang San was livid! If he couldn’t deal with the two of them, he refused to believe that Lu Zhengliang wouldn’t be able to handle them either.

Cheng Yi looked bewildered as she watched Wang San run off and tugged at Lu Jiahe’s sleeve. “What’s wrong with him?”

Lu Jiahe grabbed Cheng Yi’s arm and led her through the city gate. “Don’t mind him. He’s probably gone home to tattle again.”