At the other end, Xu Siyu was still caught up in the ongoing argument.
Qin Tianming had completely sided with Xu Siyu, loudly retorting at Xu Siyan, "She also carries the surname 'Xu'!!"
"So what? Just because her surname is Xu, does that make her one of us, a member of the Xu Family?? Her blood doesn't carry our lineage, she's unwanted, both her parents are dead, and she also has a grandfather who doesn't even want her and drove her out! What kind of person is she, who is rejected even by her own grandfather?? Qin Tianming, do you actually treasure her that much??"
"Enough!!" Xu Siyu interrupted Xu Siyan with a somewhat pale face, Her hands trembled behind her back, but she managed to maintain a faint smile in front of everyone. Her beautiful eyes coldly swept over Xu Siyan, "Miss Xu Siyan, have you said enough? This is a high society banquet. The attendees are either presidents of large companies or noble ladies, socialites. It's not your fault that you lack class, manners, and culture, that you act like a shrew, but at least try to restrain yourself, lest you lower the standards of this setting!"
After Xu Siyu finished speaking, the crowd gave her disdainful glances, and many of the elite ladies mocked her in low voices.
"Exactly! She's been making a scene since she arrived, she has no manners."
"Who invited them here? They're lowering the class!"
"The clothes she's wearing, so tasteless, they're out of fashion. This design is from 2002, and she had the audacity to wear it here!"
Hearing the whispers of the crowd, Xu Siyan's face darkened.
"Trying to challenge me? Xu Siyan, you would need to be reborn to stand a chance." Xu Siyu spoke in a low voice, a sentence only audible to the two of them. Under Xu Siyan's murderous gaze, she revealed a triumphant smile and calmly walked towards the banquet.
But her steps were involuntarily faltering, for Xu Siyan's words had deeply affected her.
The issues regarding her parents and past events relating to Qi Tianhao were taboo topics for her.
No matter how much time had passed, every mention of it was an agonizing cut to her heart.
She was merely six years old that year, waiting for her parents to attend her wedding on her birthday, only to receive a cold phone call telling her.
Her parents were killed on the spot in a severe collision with a large truck on the highway.
On the day when the sky seemed to feel her sorrow, the rain poured unusually heavily. She took refuge in her brother Qi Siming's arms, crying, clueless about everything else.
Then an old man visited her home, referring to her as "that woman's child" the moment he arrived.
"Where is that woman's child?" A stern old man asked as he got off the car and glanced at Qi Siming at the door, heading straight into the house as if he knew his way around.
"Her name is Qi Xin! Not 'that woman's child'!" Qi Siming was evidently annoyed.
"Qi Xin??" The old man stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the young boy next to him with a sarcastic smile on his face, "Which of Qi's children could she possibly resemble? I even wonder if she is a child of the Qi Family!"
After his words, he seemed to remember something else. He tapped his dragon-headed cane against the marble floor, "Even if she is, the Qi Family wouldn't want a child conceived by that woman." Would you?" He raised his chin slightly and walked towards the house.
Qi Xin was only six years old at the time. All she remembered was how much she feared the old man, because he didn't seem to like her at all.
The old man haughtily sat down on the couch, looked at Qi Xin who was curled up on the opposite sofa, and immediately frowned at her silliness as she just looked at him without uttering a word, "Is this how that woman taught you? Can't you even greet me when you see your elder at home??"
Qi Xin swallowed, "I... don't know you."
"Really!! That woman didn't even teach you this!" The old man coldly snorted and signaled to a man in black nearby, who grabbed Qi Xin, who was curled up on the couch, and shoved her off.
Caught off guard, Qi Xin fell off the couch and onto the corner of the coffee table, causing blood to ooze from her forehead.
"Xinxin!!" Qi Siming rushed over, holding her tightly, frantically using tissues from the coffee table to dab at her forehead. But he couldn't stop the bleeding. The gash was too deep and likely to leave a lasting scar.
Qi Xin tightly held onto the hem of her dress, but did not shed a single tear. She just stared silently at the old man, her eyes filled with a complex mixture of emotions, "..."
"Xinxin...Xinxin, tell your brother, are you okay?" Qing Xin's lack of crying alarmed Qi Siming, who hastily asked her.
Qin Xin pursed her lips, putting her hand on her head, her eyes filled with an eerie serenity, "I'm okay."
Seeing that Qi Xin said she was okay, Qi Siming immediately shifted his attention to the old man, roaring, "She is your granddaughter! How could you do this to her??"
"Granddaughter?" The old man laughed, as if he'd heard the world's funniest joke, "I, Qi Tianhao, only have one grandson. I do not have a granddaughter. The child that woman gave birth to doesn't deserve to enter the gates of the Qi Family, nor does she deserve to carry the name 'Qi'."
"Don't you dare speak about my mother like that!!" Qi Xin broke free from Qi Siming's arms, picked up the blood-stained tissue from her forehead and threw it at Qi Tianhao.
The blood, unable to be stemmed, flowed down Qi Xin's face, segmenting her face into several patches.
They looked ghastly.
"Do you know what you're saying?" Qi Tianhao narrowed his eyes furiously, his gaze filled with rage and a ferocious expression.
"I don't know you, but don't you dare speak about my mother like that. My mother is the most beautiful, kind and tender person in the world, what right do you have to enter my home, act so arrogantly, what right do you have to speak about my mother like that!"
"Why?" Qi Tianhao coldly laughed, turned to look at Qi Siming, "Siming, why don't you tell her, how did her mother die?"