The stiff smile betrayed Su Ying's displeasure as she rolled her eyes at Wen Qiao. "If others offer you kind hospitality and take the time to whip up good food for you, a 'thank you' would suffice. There's no need to veil your words with sarcasm."
Wen Qiao raised a brow. "Kind hospitality? What has our family done to deserve such stellar treatment? Actually we didn't really want to come, but Uncle had insisted."
Su Ying clenched her teeth. "Wen Qiao, why are you so rude? Is this the attitude one should have when speaking to their elders?"
"Elders? I should think that only those who shower us with at least a little bit of concern can be considered an elder. Can people who leave us to fend for ourselves when we had nowhere to go, be considered elders deserving of our respect?"
Bam! Su Ying slammed her hands on the table. "It's my dad's birthday today. What's the meaning of this? Must you dampen everyone's mood with that atrocious attitude of yours?"
He Mei and Su Hai hurriedly tried to ease the tension in the air. "Alright alright, Xiao Ying, that's enough. Qiaoqiao is your younger sister, just give in to her a little."
Give in?! Su Ying gnashed her teeth in anger.
Wen Qiao watched this family of fraudsters with keen interest.
He Mei was all smiles as she spoke. "Your cousin is getting married soon. His future wife-to-be also lives in Ocean City and her parents both work at the Industry and Commerce Bureau. She's quite pretty too."
Wen Qiao, who didn't even bat an eyelid, said nothing in response.
Su Yun, however, gave them plenty of face and responded with some praise. "Xiao Lei graduated from a famous university. On top of that he's handsome and capable. It's not surprising that he's able to marry such a good girl."
Su Lei wore a look of smugness.
Wen Qiao knew that these two cousins had always despised them.
"It's like this, we plan to buy a house in the city for Xiao Lei since he's getting married."
Ah. Bingo.
So this was their true motive in inviting them over today.
"Mm, he does need to buy a new house since he's getting married." Su Yun was rather cooperative.
"You see, we're short of a bit here and wish to borrow some from your side."
Wen Qiao lowered her head and smiled. As expected.
"Aunt, you must be kidding. If we have the money to buy a house, would we still need to live in someone else's house?"
He Mei was all smiles as she looked at her. "Aiyoh, didn't your father just give you two million yuan?"
Wen Qiao's fake smile turned cold.
How did her aunt and her family find out about this? Even Su Yun was surprised to hear that the money had already been transferred.
Wen Qiao plastered a fake smile on her face again. "Aunt, who did you hear this from? Don't you have any idea how our dad treats us? How could he possibly give us two million yuan?"
He Mei quickly whipped out her phone. "You… I received a text message saying you received the two million yuan two days ago. And here you are, denying it. We're merely borrowing it from you and it's not like we're never going to return the money. We're relatives after all, how can you…"
There was no doubt in Wen Qiao's mind that Xu Lu was the one who tipped them off.
How devious.
She took note of the phone number on He Mei's phone.
Su Hai said, "Qiaoqiao, your uncle is only asking you guys because I want to buy a house for your cousin since he's getting married. How can you be so calculative? Don't all ordinary folks borrow money from their relatives when they buy a house?"
He Mei chimed in, "Yeah, we're merely borrowing 1.5 million yuan. We're not planning to buy a big house or anything, we're just short 1.5 million yuan."
Wen Qiao looked at her with a smile. "Aunt, don't you know you can borrow from a bank? If you find the interest too high, you can borrow using your provident funds. Since Cousin and his wife both hold good jobs, their employers probably credited a lot of money into their provident funds. Repaying the loan shouldn't be a great burden for them."
"Won't we have to pay interest if we take out a loan? Why should we let the bank earn this money, don't you agree?"
Maintaining a smile, Wen Qiao said, "Aunt, so are you saying you wish to let me earn this money instead? Alright, if I'm not wrong the interest charged by the provident fund is 3.5%? Well, since we're relatives, I can lend you the money. How about an interest rate of 3%? That's generous enough, considering the amount, isn't it?"
The faces of that entire family unanimously turned cold in an instant.