abcnovels
Chapter 702 - A Shrewd Person (2)
Chapter 702 - A Shrewd Person (2)
Chapter 702 - A Shrewd Person (2)
Li Meili tried her best not to scrunch her nose in disgust when she first saw the Zhang estate. Like the other wealthy families in the country, it seemed like the Zhang family liked to brag about their wealth in public.
Everywhere she looked, there was a servant station at the place where she was looking. It was almost comical when she imagined that the Zhang family might even station someone to guard outside their doors like royalties.
"This is the place where you grew up?" She asked Zhang Jiren.
"No. Half of my childhood years were spent in the orphanage." Zhang Jiren said in response, which shocked his wife.
Li Meili knew that he was an illegitimate child, but she never knew that he used to live in an orphanage. She then realized that she truly didn't know much about the man she had married. It now made sense to her why Zhang Jiren didn't seem close with the Zhang family and how he didn't hold their opinion in consideration when they got married.
When the car was pulled to a stop, Zhang Jiren opened the door and helped her slip out of the car by offering a hand to her. Li Meili placed her smaller hand into his larger one and allowed him to lead her inside the huge mansion where the family resided.
Li Meili tried to keep her poker face in place as she attempted to mimic her best friend's impassive face, much to Zhang Jiren's amus.e.m.e.nt. He was half tempted to tease her; that she didn't need to pretend like his twin sister.
"Do you really have to act like this? You aren't going to war, Li Meili. Just be yourself. You don't have to pretend you like them if you don't." He whispered next to her.
"You might not know this Zhang Jiren, but meeting your in-laws could be considered a war." Li Meili gave him a pointed look before turning her attention back to where they were heading.
Zhang Jiren's lips curled up but he didn't say no more and only shook his head. Women. It was really hard to tell what they were thinking sometimes. He thought. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why his twin sister and Li Meili got along very well.
When they arrived at the living area, they saw that Zhang Xianzhe and Zhang Liang were seated on the couch waiting for them. Another man, who Li Meili could assume was another of her husband's half-brother, was also there looking at Zhang Jiren with an unconcealed disgust on his face.
Li Meili didn't like how Zhang Liang and the other man looked at Zhang Jiren. It didn't matter whether her husband was an illegitimate child of the family or not, Zhang Jiren deserved her respect, not because of the favor he'd done for her, but because in Li Meili's eyes, Zhang Jiren was the better man compared to these two snakes wanting to strike him down.
"Ah, you are finally here." Zhang Xianzhe stood up, a smile spreading on his lip upon seeing Li Meili standing next to Zhang Jiren as if his eyes had just landed on a precious treasure he had to claim himself.
Zhang Jiren's expression stiffened upon noticing the old man's stare on his new wife. He could already assume what Zhang Xianzhe was thinking about, now that he had confirmed that Li Meili had just joined the Zhang family. As if he would allow them to take advantage of her.
"You must be Li Meili. I'm Zhang Xianzhe. I have to say I wasn't expecting that my youngest son would get himself a good wife on his own. We didn't even know you were seeing each other." The old man said with a wide smile on his face as he extended a hand to greet Li Meili.
Li Meili fought hard not to cringe over the old man's words and let out an awkward laugh before shaking his hand.
"Pleased to meet you, Sir. I'm Li Meili. I understand that our marriage came as a surprise to everyone. Jiren and I wanted to keep our affairs private, so please don't blame him if our marriage was so sudden." She said in response.
"Ah, you don't have to be so formal with us. You are now part of the family. You can call me Dad or anything you feel comfortable calling me with."
Zhang Xianzhe's smile was so wide, Zhang Jiren thought his face would split into two if the old man dared to smile even wider. He didn't need to be told that the old man approved Li Meili as his wife.
Was he really that ecstatic to know that he had the Li heiress as a daughter-in-law? Zhang Jiren inwardly scoffed. Too bad that Chairman Li had been shrewd enough to force such an agreement unto him before allowing him to marry Li Meili.
Meanwhile, Li Meili bit her inner cheek as she stopped herself from calling him an 'old fart'. If she wasn't afraid that Zhang Jiren would be embarrassed by her actions and attitude, she wouldn't mind saying her piece to this shameless old man.
Her father must have seen far enough to know that the Zhang family would use her and her child as leverage to get something from their family, hence he asked Zhang Jiren to sign the prenuptial agreement between them.
If Zhang Jiren was another man, he would have been offended by such a move coming from her family. However, since their marriage was just for convenience, something they both agreed to end after two years, Zhang Jiren didn't mind signing such a contract that heavily favored her and her baby.
Surely, this old man would vomit blood from anger once he found out about the existence of the prenuptial agreement between her and Zhang Jiren. Zhang Xianzhe wouldn't be able to use her or her baby against her family and they wouldn't get anything from this union at all.