Hearing the furious reprimand, the person who had been scolding Xia Qingyu with disdain turned pale. She first shot Xia Qingyu a venomous glare, then whispered, "You've stirred up trouble! Just wait and see how the team leader deals with you! Offending honored guests! See how you'll die!"
Afterward, she quickly led Xia Qingyu inside to apologize immediately, "My apologies, this is a new part-time student who accidentally disturbed our honored guests. We sincerely apologize! We hope our esteemed guests will be magnanimous and forgive her this once!"
Pushing all the blame onto Xia Qingyu, she then turned and signaled Xia Qingyu with her eyes, hoping she would be sensible and apologize quickly. After appeasing the honored guests' anger, she would definitely speak clearly with the team leader. Such temporary staff should absolutely not be hired again.
She wanted Xia Qingyu to apologize sincerely, but saw Xia Qingyu staring with a bewildered expression at the handsome young man seated in the main seat. This infuriated her. What was with this temporary worker? Had she never seen a man before! Thinking this, she jabbed Xia Qingyu's arm hard with her elbow and commanded in a low voice, "Apologize already! What are you waiting for!"
Xia Qingyu finally snapped back to reality. She averted her gaze and said softly, "Sorry."
Is that it? The person beside her was extremely dissatisfied with Xia Qingyu's attitude. What if the honored guest got angry? What if she got punished along with Xia Qingyu? "Apologize properly!" she immediately chided. "At such a young age, your mind is filled with all sorts of crooked thoughts. Instead of working hard, you rely on your looks and dream of marrying into wealth every day!"
"I..." Xia Qingyu was speechless. When had she ever thought of marrying into wealth?
"Marrying into wealth?" Tang Qingkong, seated in the head seat, chuckled as he murmured the words. His gaze fell upon Xia Qingyu in her staff uniform, and the smile on his lips grew wider.
Hearing Tang Qingkong's reaction, a slightly younger person in the same Tang family lounge seized the opportunity to flatter. He followed up with a reprimand, "This is our Tang family's new patriarch. Do you dare to harbor ambitions with your kind of character?"
"The Tang family... new patriarch?" Xia Qingyu was startled at first, then her brow furrowed as if she had remembered something. The patriarch of the Tang family should have been Da Ya. How did it become Nie Qingkong?
"Did he do it?" Xia Qingyu stared at the person before her and questioned, "Answer me, is this related to him? What are you going to do? What are you all trying to do?"
"You rascal! You!" That person, seeing Xia Qingyu dare to speak to the new Tang family patriarch like that, was about to explode when Tang Qingkong interrupted him.
"This matter has nothing to do with you," Tang Qingkong said, looking at Xia Qingyu. "You leave now, and I can pretend I never saw you." He did not want to see Xia Qingtian today, but he wanted to see Xia Qingyu even less.
"As expected..." Xia Qingyu murmured upon hearing Tang Qingkong's words, her beautiful eyes growing firmer. "He's here too, isn't he? What are you going to do!"
"You leave now, and I can pretend I never saw you!" Tang Qingkong repeated his words, his gaze growing colder. He had once said that if they met again, they would be enemies. Towards an enemy, this was already his last moment of leniency. Today, no one could disrupt his plan. Xia Qingyu, not even.
The people in the lounge were stunned. Their eyes darted back and forth between Xia Qingyu and Tang Qingkong, and they couldn't quite tell what their relationship was, nor who the "he" Xia Qingyu mentioned was.
"Where is he!" Xia Qingyu seemed even more stubborn than Tang Qingkong. Xia Qingtian was also here today. Xia Qingtian had kept it from her before, most likely because this matter involved Xiang Xueyuan, and it might even be dangerous. Xia Qingtian didn't want her to be in a difficult position, nor did she want her to be in danger, which was why she had been hiding it and making everyone else hide it from her. Xia Qingyu clenched her fists at her side. She didn't want to be the only one protected; she also wanted to protect her sister and her family.
"Since you're not leaving, then stay," Tang Qingkong said, tapping his fingertips lightly on the table twice. "Stay by my side and watch the entire auction with me."
Hearing Tang Qingkong's command, someone immediately stepped forward to grab Xia Qingyu.
"Don't touch me!" Xia Qingyu stepped back two paces, directly falling into a warm, familiar embrace. Xia Qingyu looked up and met Xia Qingtian's profile. "Sister..."
"I'll deal with you later," Xia Qingtian whispered into Xia Qingyu's ear. Xia Qingyu immediately shrank her neck, not daring to speak further.
Seeing Xia Qingyu behave so docilely, Xia Qingtian then revealed a bright smile and greeted Tang Qingkong, "Long time no see, little brother Qingkong~"
Seeing Xia Qingtian appear, Tang Qingkong raised his hand, and those who were about to grab Xia Qingyu stopped in their tracks, awaiting further instructions.
"It hasn't been that long," Tang Qingkong said, looking at Xia Qingtian. "Today's matter has nothing to do with you sisters. Don't get involved; it's better for everyone."
"Hard to say~" Xia Qingtian said with a smile. "Until the final step, who can say for sure whether it's good or not?"
Hearing Xia Qingtian's words, Tang Qingkong's eyes twitched. When he saw Xia Qingtian today, he had vaguely felt that Xia Qingtian was there to cause trouble. Now, he was even more certain of it. Tang Qingkong's gaze shifted from Xia Qingtian's smiling face to Xia Qingyu's face, his heart growing heavier.
"Speaking of which, have I interrupted your reunion of old classmates?" Xia Qingtian looked down at Xia Qingyu and said, "Do you have anything else to say to him? If not, we'll be going back."
"There's nothing to say," Xia Qingyu replied, only giving Tang Qingkong a deep look before ignoring him.
"Since that's the case, we'll be leaving now," Xia Qingtian said, then took Xia Qingyu's hand and led her out.
"Patriarch!" An older person seated next to Tang Qingkong frowned, seemingly displeased that Tang Qingkong had let them go. Those two sisters were clearly here to cause trouble and should have been dealt with.
"You can go too," Tang Qingkong waved his hand. The stunned staff member immediately bowed and scraped as they left.
After this person left, Tang Qingkong picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea.
"Patriarch, one who achieves great things should not be so indecisive, caught up in sentimentality," the elder said, seeing Tang Qingkong act this way.
"Alright, you go kill her," Tang Qingkong said, taking a sip of tea before putting down the cup and looking coldly at the elder. "You kill his biological daughter, and let's see if he lets your entire family live through tonight."
Hearing Tang Qingkong's words, the elder immediately shuddered and broke out in a cold sweat. Recalling Xia Qingyu's reaction, he dared not say another word.