The fact was, Qin Li really did look down on Yun Jian.
It was not a stretch to say that he looked down on Zhang Meihua and family. His father and Zhang Meihua were siblings, among many others in their generation.
Coming to Yun Jian’s generation now, they were not as close-knitted as their elders were. Distant relatives, who knew if they could maintain the rapport in the future generation to come?
Working in the bureaucracy, Qin Li was a habitual personification of bluster and pomposity—even more now during a reunion dinner of Lunar New Year, when friends and family gathered like today. It was the time for him to brag about his status.
It was one thing to sit around and have dinner. What was more important was talking about what they had done in the year or how much they had earned. Comparison was inevitable, more so evident among those who raked in a lot and preened while those who earned lesser were relatively meeker as they did not hold such a strong status in the society.
Qin Li was the type to show off his extravagant status and high annual income to feel on top of everyone else. As for the reason he looked down on Zhang Meihua and family, it had been his impression that the children of Zhang Meihua, his father’s younger sister, had never been anything exceptional!
No one was like anyone on his side—excelling academically, enrolling in elite high schools and universities, then finally working a decent job.
The reality, however, was that Zhang Meihua and others did not seem to notice how Qin Li disdained them, saved for Yun Jian, and continued sucking up to him.
Yun Jian could care less about what Zhang Meihua said, even though the latter was obvious with what she meant, implying that Yun Jian fawn over Qin Li like her.
This way, it was like Zhang Meihua had pulled the string for Yun Jian to get to know someone authoritative like Qin Li. The woman figured that Yun Jian would owe her a favor like that.
Zhang Meihua had never thought that Yun Jian was not buying it.
“Jianjian, your uncle’s complimenting you. Aren’t you going to say something?” Zhang Meihua urged when she saw Yun Jian staying aloof.
As she spoke, she had even made eyes at Qin Yirou, as if asking her to make Yun Jian listen.—It was not like Qin Yirou noticed what she meant. She only thought that her mother’s eyes hurt and asked in both confusion and worry, “Mom, what’s wrong? Are your eyes hurting?”
“I’m fine!” Zhang Meihua huffed, heaving when she heard what her daughter said.
She could not say too much in this situation anyway. Just when she thought that Yun Jian was not going to say anything, the girl smiled and met Qin Li’s eyes with a gaze that did not speak about inferiority.
“Thank you for flattery,” Yun Jian said with barely parted lips.
If Qin Li’s compliment earlier was incredibly hypocritical, Yun Jian’s reply was equally impassive in return.
Qin Li could not help the double take at Yun Jian upon catching the four words but he had just thought that she was nothing but a stroke of luck.
She was good for founding a small company at this age but there was no way she could be any more spectacular.