Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1743 Ode to Joy + The First Half of My Life 7

As expected, Qiu Yingying brought her supervisor, Bai, back to the 22nd floor. Even though Qu Xiaoxiao was originally the kind of person who thrived on chaos, after seeing so many handsome men recently, she couldn't stand Bai's below-average demeanor and greasy manner. Unfortunately, Qiu Yingying was a fool. She subtly and overtly teased him, but he didn't understand. Instead, she was so angry that she almost couldn't eat.

Finally, at least the manager had some self-awareness and left the girls some private space. Qu Xiaoxiao immediately lashed out, pointing her finger at Qiu Yingying and saying, "Qiu Yingying, what's wrong with you? It's a neighborhood gathering and you have to bring that thing back!"

Qiu Yingying genuinely didn't understand, and she was even feeling wronged. "When I called Sister Fan, Manager Bai happened to overhear. I was the one who invited him, not the other way around. He even bought groceries and cooked a meal. He didn't eat for nothing!"

Seeing that Qu Xiaoxiao was really about to get angry, Fan Shengmei quickly stopped Qiu Yingying, the younger sister, and said to her, "Yingying, you really went too far today. Today, Andy and Qu Xiaoxiao invited you, me, and Guan Guan. They didn't invite Manager Bai at all. You shouldn't have taken it upon yourself to invite strangers over the host."

Qiu Yingying felt even more aggrieved and emphasized, "Manager Bai is not a stranger. I've told you all about him, and you all know him!"

Seeing Qiu Yingying like this, Qu Xiaoxiao didn't even have the desire to speak. She just patted Fan Shengmei and Guan Juer on the shoulders and said, "This girl still needs you guys to teach her a thing or two. Thanks for your hard work."

Fan Shengmei and Guan Juer pulled Qiu Yingying away. Andy turned to Qu Xiaoxiao with a smile and said, "I thought that, given your tendency to stir up trouble, you would do something, but I didn't expect you to let Qiu off so easily."

Qu Xiaoxiao replied with a grin, "Oh dear, Andy, I hadn't even noticed until you mentioned it. I guess I see Qiu Yingying the same way my sister sees me."

Andy carefully considered Qu Xiaoxiao's analogy, and suddenly became interested in Qu Xinxin, who everyone was talking about. "I remember now, Xiao Fan asked about your sister before dinner. It seems like I'm the only one on the 22nd floor who hasn't seen her, right?"

Seeing that Andy was interested in her younger sister, Qu Xiaoxiao immediately put on a proud and boastful look: "Andy, you want to see our Xinxin? I'll ask her to come out next time you're free~"

“You are all highly intelligent people, so you must have a lot to talk about when you get together. My mother is always worried that Xinxin will get bored at home alone. If she can have more friends and go out more, my mother and I will feel more at ease.”

Seeing how unreliable Qu Xiaoxiao is, yet how much she cares for her younger sister, and hearing her say that their mother worries about them in every little detail, Andy thought of her own complicated background and her brother who is still missing. She felt envious, but her mood couldn't help but become depressed.

Qu Xiaoxiao felt that she had a good relationship with Andy, and that they weren't just fair-weather friends, so she quickly said, "Our family situation is very complicated. Andy, you can see that I have to live in Ode to Joy and stage a self-inflicted injury with my dad. But I don't think there's anything to worry about. I can't have all the good things in this world by myself, can I?"

Andy pondered it carefully and couldn't help but laugh, "I thought you were so ignorant that you reached a certain level, but I never expected you could say something so philosophical."

Qu Xiaoxiao, in a strange manner, protested on her behalf: "Andy—"

"I was trying to comfort you, you can't just turn around and stab me in the back."

In 2201, Andy and Qu Xiaoxiao parted ways happily, but in 2202, the argument between the three of them had just begun.

Qiu Yingying still didn't think there was anything wrong with inviting Manager Bai to the party. She argued that there were too many hairy crabs for everyone to eat, and Manager Bai's presence would help consume them, preventing any waste. She reiterated that Manager Bai had also bought vegetables and fruits as gifts and cooked at her home, so she didn't eat for free at all.

Fan Shengmei could only emphasize, "Yingying, have you ever seen a customer come to your door with another customer?!"

Qiu Yingying didn't understand Fan Shengmei's meaning at all. She still felt wronged and even felt that she was being ostracized. "But I told everyone in advance, and none of you objected!"

Guan Juer said cautiously, "We never expected you to bring Manager Bai up. We thought Manager Bai would just see you downstairs and leave."

Seeing that even Guan Juer, who usually had no objections, said this, Qiu Yingying was utterly disappointed. "Guan Guan, how can you say this about me too?!"

Qiu Yingying stormed into her small bedroom and slammed the door. Fan Shengmei was so angry she felt like she was about to have a heart attack. Guan Juer quickly comforted Fan Shengmei: "Sister Fan, Yingying really didn't think that much of a deal..."

Fan Shengmei said weakly, "Qu Xiaoxiao was already unhappy today. Didn't you hear what she said back then?"

"I really didn't expect Yingying to be so stubborn. Why didn't she think that she was just a guest and could just bring people to Andy's house?"

Guan Juer didn't judge anything, but just looked at Qiu Yingying's bedroom and said to Fan Shengmei with concern, "Xiao Qu is easygoing, what's done is done, and Andy won't think too much about it, but will Yingying be angry with us?"

Fan Shengmei waved her hand, not wanting to interfere any further. "Alright, Guan Guan, you should get some rest too. You guys are so busy with work, you need to get enough rest."

"As for Yingying, she's easygoing, she'll be fine in a few days."

Fan Shengmei didn't mention that Andy and Qu Xiaoxiao didn't blame Qiu Yingying, so how dare she, the culprit, blame her and Guan Juer, who are both reasonable people? Is it because she's not smart enough and doesn't understand basic etiquette and reason?

During the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, Andy was still busy, Fan Shengmei didn't go back to her hometown, and Guan Juer and Qiu Yingying didn't go home to reunite with their families either. Only Qu Xiaoxiao went home alone.

Qu Lianjie also went home this time, not because he was going home specifically for the holiday reunion, but because he was out of money and needed to curry favor with his father.

Qu Xiaoxiao and Qu Xinxin simply greeted Qu Lianjie casually; after all, even though they were blood-related siblings, they were practically enemies.

Oh, this is only because Qu Lianjie unilaterally treated his stepmother and her two daughters as enemies. In reality, no one took Qu Lianjie seriously. Even Ms. Qian, although she disapproved of Old Qu's preference for sons over daughters, stopped caring about the small amount of money Qu Lianjie spent after she crippled him and ended Old Qu's hopes.

The problem lies with Lao Qu.

Even if Qu Lianjie was a complete scoundrel in the past, as long as Old Qu still valued carrying on the family line, he would have to grit his teeth and endure Qu Lianjie's incompetence. But now that Qu Lianjie couldn't even carry on the family line, how could Old Qu still tolerate such a good-for-nothing constantly irritating him?

So, with a wave of his hand, Lao Qu decided that Qu Lianjie could only receive 50,000 yuan in pocket money each month, and he was no longer allowed to go to the company.