QTIMP -Chapter 145 Character Persona – Love Brained (Part 16)

Si Qiu folded her arms and took two steps forward, stopping about two steps away from the other girl. She looked her up and down from a position of superiority. “Are you satisfied with my answer, Miss Huang?”

Huang Ziying bit her lip, her whole body trembling. In the end, she covered her mouth and ran off crying.

Si Qiu glanced at the expressions of the people around her. After all, she was new here—no matter how unpleasant Huang Ziying might be, she had been their friend for many years.

Hearing Si Qiu speak so aggressively, some of them inevitably felt a bit uncomfortable. But Huang Ziying’s words earlier had been too harsh. Since Si Qiu had the ability to refute them, she wasn’t willing to let herself be wronged.

So she didn’t put on a kind act by persuading Lin Zixiang to just let the matter go.

However, she also didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere of the gathering. Smiling, she clapped her hands lightly and said, “I heard you were having a get-together, so I brought some fruit on my way here, and also made some homemade barbecue seasoning.”

“Let’s take everything down and give my cooking a try later.”

When Shao Yang heard this, he quickly raised a hand. “Come on, little sis, I’ll help you carry it.”

The other boys joined in the commotion as well. They went to the car, opened the trunk, and quickly unloaded everything together.

Only two boxes of exquisitely packaged tea were placed into Lin Zixiang’s hands. “Granduncle isn’t home, right? Help me store these. I went through quite a bit of trouble to get them.”

“Got it. I’ll have Aunt Zhao put them away right now.”

With everyone deliberately easing the mood, the group soon became lively again. Si Qiu’s barbecue seasoning was quickly put to the test.

The crowd couldn’t stop praising it, and the juice and fruit helped cut through the greasiness. At that moment, someone brought up what had just happened.

“Qiuqiu, I’ll call you that too. That attitude you had just now was really something…” The boy speaking was Liu Kong—thin, dark-skinned, and sharp-looking.

Hearing his question, Si Qiu sighed theatrically. “I don’t really mind if she talks badly about me. The key is, she mustn’t tarnish my parents’ reputation.”

“My grandfather died in the line of duty. One of my uncles and one of my aunts also died in the line of duty. The honor they earned with their lives cannot be insulted because of me.”

They were all children from military families. It could be said that anyone living in this compound had experienced loss.

If their elders’ reputations were insulted, they might react even more strongly.

In an instant, everyone’s impression of her shifted.

Several girls who hadn’t spoken to her much before also came over, introducing themselves and chatting quietly.

The short-haired Fang Yiyi nudged her with her shoulder. “Hey sis, spill it—how did you manage to win him over?”

Seeing Si Qiu look at her in confusion, Fang Yiyi wiggled her eyebrows. “That guy Zhou Chenyu—he learned from his older cousin to be arrogant as hell. He looks at everyone like they’re idiots.”

“But as far as I know, you haven’t known him for long, right? So how did you manage to win him over?”

Si Qiu blinked. “I don’t know. He confessed to me. I thought he was decent enough, so I agreed.”

As she spoke, her phone buzzed with a text reply. Fang Yiyi, standing beside her, happened to glance at it.

She immediately took a big bite of her skewer and gave Si Qiu a thumbs-up. The others also looked at her with envy.

Si Qiu secretly felt pleased.

Look at how she chooses her boyfriends—since she wasn’t planning to go as far as marriage, of course she’d pick someone presentable. A handsome boyfriend was a girlfriend’s pride.

It was already late at night. Lin Zixiang and Shao Yang drove Si Qiu home, and then she had them drive the car back again.

Her family owned more than just this one car, and she didn’t have anything urgent to do anyway. Letting them take the car back wouldn’t delay anything.

When Si Qiu got home, she saw her aunt sitting in the living room waiting for her. She hurried over and threw herself into her aunt’s arms.

“Auntie, it’s so late—why are you still waiting for me?”

Si Anqi smiled at her. “I wasn’t exactly waiting for you. I just tend to sleep late.”

As she spoke, she gently smoothed Si Qiu’s loose hair. “I saw that it was the Lin family’s boy who brought you back just now?”

“Mm. Cousin Lin hosted a small gathering at home, so I went too and ended up playing a bit late.”

“I’m not blaming you. Their family has good values, and the compound in the new district is safe—staying out a bit longer is fine. It’s just that recently I’ve heard you’ve been getting quite close to the Zhou family’s boy.”

Buried in her aunt’s arms, Si Qiu nuzzled against her, a faint smile tugging at her lips. “I guess you could say that. Zhou Chenyu and I are dating now.”

“The Zhou family may not have been very prominent in our generation, but among the younger generation now, every one of them is outstanding. The family is willing to invest a lot of effort and resources in cultivating them. So their expectations for the future will certainly be high—and naturally, their expectations for their partners won’t be low either. Marriage alliances are a good way to maintain a family’s strength, but Qiuqiu… your aunt hopes you’ll be happy in the future.”

Although she didn’t say outright that marrying into such a family would be exhausting, the meaning was clear. Seeing her aunt rack her brains trying to prepare her in advance, Si Qiu felt a warmth in her heart and snuggled closer into her embrace.

“Auntie, I went to the Zhou family this morning, so I completely understand what you’re saying. But I’m only 18 and still in university! I’m nowhere near the point of thinking about those things.”

Hearing this, Si Anqi finally relaxed and stopped holding back, beginning to complain about the Zhou family.

“Your background is a good match for the youngest son of the Zhou family, but the third branch only has this one son. Zhou Chenyu’s mother isn’t easy to deal with. I’ve met her before—she carries a kind of disdain and arrogance deep in her bones. But honestly speaking, among the daughters-in-law of the third branch, her background is the lowest.”

“That’s probably a case of lacking something and trying to make up for it,” Si Qiu said from a completely detached perspective, without the slightest thought of putting herself in the role of a future daughter-in-law.

Si Anqi was finally completely at ease. “I’ve also met the eldest sister-in-law of the Zhou family’s main branch—she’s a very decisive and forceful person. As for the second branch, both husband and wife are diplomats, so they’re more open-minded. They have a pair of twin sons—one’s a doctor, the other a researcher. Actually, I think they’d suit you better.”

Si Qiu burst into laughter. “Auntie, do you think the Zhou family will let me pick whichever one I want? Besides, you said it yourself—the Zhou family has plans for all their children. Even if the second branch is more open-minded, they still have to consider the family’s interests.”

She pulled herself out of her aunt’s arms and went to the fridge to take out a bottle of water.

“You’re right. Since the chances with the Zhou family are slim, what kind of person do you want to marry in the future?”

Her aunt quickly came over, snatched the bottle from her hand, and went to the kitchen to pour her a cup of cooled boiled water instead. “Your period is coming soon, and you’re still not being careful.”

“Auntie really dotes on me.”

Si Qiu took the cup and drank more than half of it in one go, her gaze drifting toward the sofa in the living room.