The CEO’s Substitute Wife Is A Genius
Chapter 272: The Real Young Lady is Pampered by Her Four Brothers (Two - s Combined)

Chapter 272: Chapter 272: The Real Young Lady is Pampered by Her Four Brothers (Two Chapters Combined)

No way!

Arranging to go to the University of Hong Kong was crazy enough, but Harvard too?

Is Harvard some lousy school that you can just attend if you wish?

"Grandpa, Harvard has easy admission but tough graduation policies. Even if I get in, if I can’t graduate, it’s all for nothing..." Jiang Rou stammered.

"Dad, if you want to arrange for Manman to go to Harvard, why not take Rourou along too?" Hu Fangqin finally piped up from a corner.

Her feelings at that moment were complex.

Unlike her husband, who wasn’t related by blood to her father and couldn’t wait for him to die.

But she wanted the inheritance and also wished her father well.

Now that her father had regained consciousness, she felt relieved.

Leaving the Hu family all these years, she regretted it deeply.

Instead of living comfortably as a young lady, she suffered hardship with Jiang Yueping for many years.

Thinking about this, she felt so wronged she wanted to cry and stealthily wiped away her tears for a long time.

But soon she realized, wasn’t it better that her father was still alive?

As long as she could obtain her father’s forgiveness, couldn’t she return to the Hu family and enjoy a life of luxury?

"I... will also attend Harvard?" Jiang Rou looked at her foster mother incredulously, almost biting her own tongue in excitement.

Hu Fangqin immediately squeezed her hand.

Jiang Rou got the hint and underwent a 180° shift in attitude, "Grandpa, even though Harvard has easy admission but tough graduation, being able to experience a world-class institution and see the world is definitely different!"

Old Master Hu didn’t utter a sound.

He had been bedridden for too long. These past twenty years, every day had been like a year to him, more painful than prison.

Sometimes he even thought, why didn’t his son let the doctor pull out his oxygen tube and end his suffering?

Later, as his son repeatedly brought him good news—getting married, having children, his first grandson being born, his second grandson being born...

The fifth grandson came of age and travelled to Antarctica.

The sixth grandson, at a tender age, showed an extraordinary talent and won many gold medals.

Gradually, he reignited his hope for life.

He started looking forward to family visits, to hear about all sorts of novelties in the outside world.

Over twenty years, it was no longer the era of using pagers.

His son explained that now it was something called 5G, which not only allowed phone calls but also video calls.

At that point, he wondered, after all these years, did that unfilial daughter have any regrets, even just a little bit?

It seemed now, she had none.

It was clear that a leopard can’t change its spots.

This daughter, being the youngest, was spoiled by her four older brothers, which resulted in her capricious and selfish nature.

A person like that, and he was still expecting her to have any real feelings?

It was bad enough that she was unkind to her own father, but she was also so biased towards her biological daughter!

"Jiang Rou has nothing to do with the Hu family." Old Master Hu’s face darkened, his tone lacking any warmth, "There’s no need to bring her before my eyes in the future."

"Dad..." Hu Fangqin was at a loss for words.

Jiang Rou was so embarrassed she didn’t know where to put herself.

"Aren’t you going to leave now?" Hu Hao glanced over and raised his voice, "Your relationship with the Hu family, at best, is like that of Granny Liu with the Jia Mansion, got it?"

"Why are you telling her so politely?" Hu Ming rolled his eyes, "You and that loser should just leave! If it wasn’t for someone’s blood relation to us, you’d be kicked out too!"

"You..." Hu Fangqin’s face turned livid with anger, "Dad, I know I was wrong. I was thoughtless when I was young, not understanding that you and my brothers were looking out for me. They say the greatest kindness is to recognize one’s faults and correct them. I’ve realized my mistakes. I hope to stay by your side, dad, to take care of you in your old age. Please don’t be so hostile towards me and Rourou."

"Psh." Hu Ming wasn’t buying any of it.

Exhausted, Old Master Hu waved it off with a sigh, "Enough."

He no longer paid attention to his daughter, but looked at his granddaughter: "Manman, what do you think? Do you want to attend a prestigious university? If you do, even if it’s the stars in the sky, Grandpa will pluck them for you."

Jiang Man was very touched.

Her grandpa and uncles pitied her, protected her in every possible way, and showered her with love. She was truly moved.

She didn’t know if it was because of the blood ties, but she felt a strong sense of kinship.

This feeling of kinship was completely different from what she felt at the Lu Family’s.

It was being pampered by the elders in both places, but at the Hu family, there seemed to be a bit of irrationality—a sense that they just wanted to be good to her.

"Grandpa, I appreciate your kindness," Jiang Man said with a slight smile, self-possessed and calm, creating a stark contrast with the mother and daughter beside her: "I’m fine with continuing my studies at the Northern Film Academy. Academic qualifications aren’t that important to me."

If those words had come from someone else’s mouth, people might think she was uneducated and deliberately pretentious.

But coming from Jiang Man, it gave the impression that she was speaking the truth, and it was convincing.

"Indeed, qualifications aren’t necessary. I think if our cousin wanted to be a doctor in Harbour City, plenty of top hospitals would fight to hire her," Hu Ming said with a chuckle.

Jiang Man responded with a smile and said no more.

A few minutes later, the group left the hospital room.

The old man had just woken up, still rather weak and needed something to eat to replenish his strength.

Hu Yaohua moved his restaurant over, almost sending a full Manchu Han Imperial Feast into the hospital room.

Since the elder wanted to dine, everyone stopped lingering, each claiming they had other matters to attend to, and left one after another.

"Sister, do you have any other arrangements?"

Hu Qingyu and Hu Qinglin, the two brothers, caught up with Jiang Man and inquired.

Jiang Man raised her eyebrows: "I’m unfamiliar with Harbour City."

"Shall we take you to the old mansion for a tour?"

"Sure."

After getting into the Bentley, Hu Qinglin introduced himself, "I’m Hu Qinglin, your second brother, and this is Hu Qingyu, your eldest brother. The eldest brother holds the position of Executive CEO at Hu Corporation, and I’m his assistant."

Jiang Man sat casually in the luxury car, with an indifferent expression on her face.

She wasn’t a very enthusiastic person, and her personality took time to warm up, even if the other person was a relative.

"I heard from father that you’re already married?" Hu Qinglin kept the conversation going.

Jiang Man nodded.

"Lu Xingzhou, quite a legendary figure. My brother and I are both very interested in him. We’ve been thinking about the chance to compete with him in the business field. I never imagined he’d become our brother-in-law," Hu Qinglin said with sparkling eyes as if he were discussing an idol he greatly admired.

Indeed, Lu Xingzhou was quite young to have secured a spot near the top of the Forbes rankings.

He had long been an idol to many young people.

But since Jiang Man was not interested in doing business, she didn’t really share the sentiment of admiring him.

What she didn’t know was that out of ten young people in business, nine were his fans.

Just as the Bentley was about to drive away, someone knocked on the car window.

Jiang Man turned her head to see, it was the brothers Hu Ming and Hu Hao.

Besides them, there was the ostracized Hu Yuexiang.

Hu Zonghua was walking behind them, arriving belatedly.

The window rolled down, and he said to Hu Qingyu: "Arrange dinner. You should gather with your siblings and include Jiang Rou as well. After all, she’s your sister in name. Entertain her together and don’t let outsiders laugh at us."

"Okay," Hu Qingyu said indifferently.

As the car door opened, Hu Ming got in with a bold stride.

Hu Hao, also very casual, sat down next to Jiang Man.

Hu Yuexiang carefully glanced around the car’s interior before finding a natural spot to sit in a corner.

There weren’t many seats left in the car. When Jiang Rou squeezed in, she hesitated for a moment.

After some thought, she finally sat down next to Hu Yuexiang.

She felt that she and Hu Yuexiang were the same kind of people, both ostracized by this group.

"What would you like for dinner?" Hu Qingyu was rather aloof, speaking less.

When he unexpectedly turned to look at Jiang Man and spoke, everyone in the car was somewhat surprised.

Jiang Man’s response was quite indifferent, "Anything is fine."

"How about we eat at the restaurant opened by Third Uncle?" Hu Hao suggested casually.

But his brother rolled his eyes at him, "We’re all tired of it, let’s switch to a different one."

"You’re tired of it, doesn’t mean Manman is, she hasn’t even had a chance to try it," Hu Qinglin rolled his eyes.

The brothers went back and forth, each with his remark, all of them revolving around Jiang Man.

Jiang Man did not join in, took out her phone, and got ready to play games.

Deciding on what to eat was always troublesome; everybody had different tastes.

If it weren’t for a particularly close relationship, she wouldn’t proactively suggest where to dine.

Otherwise, by the time they got to the dining table, something wouldn’t sit right with someone’s stomach, or another would end up unhappy.

Such matters were bothersome, so she simply chose not to provoke them.

"Let’s go to Victoria Harbour for a buffet."’

Seeing the brothers unable to come to a decision, Hu Qingyu spoke indifferently.

Being the eldest brother, he held considerable authority among the group.

The buffet he mentioned wasn’t just any buffet, but one costing 8888 yuan per person, where one could enjoy delicacies from all over the world in a Michelin three-starred restaurant.

Since he was unsure of Jiang Man’s preferences, he thought that such a buffet would be a safe bet.

...

An hour later, the group arrived at the 66th-floor restaurant of the Victoria Harbour X Hotel.

Jiang Rou had never been to such a high-end restaurant, and just outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was the night view of Victoria Harbour.

Moreover, she had heard there would be a light show outside, and it was about to start any minute now!

She purposely chose a seat by the window.

Owing to the high consumption at the restaurant, the hall was very spacious, with only two single tables, two four-person tables, and one ten-person table placed alongside the hundred-meter-long floor-to-ceiling windows.

The group settled down at the ten-person table.

The brothers intentionally left the window seats for Jiang Man.

She walked in last, and like Jiang Rou, who rushed to get the first seat, she ended up sitting at the spot with the best view.

"Help yourself to the menu; order whatever you want," Hu Qingyu said nonchalantly, handing the tablet to Jiang Man first.

Jiang Man propped up her chin and played with her phone with one hand, "You guys order first."

She was texting Lu Xingzhou.

Lu Xingzhou told her that he went to the mine today and would come to see her in another two or three days after signing the contract.

Jiang Man also shared her situation with him, "I’ll have to go back to Beicheng in two or three days too, and then come over after the New Year."

She hadn’t been to the research institute for a while, and after calculating the time, she felt she should go back and check on things.

When Jiang Rou and Hu Qinglin each took a tablet to order, Hu Hao reached for a box of cigarettes.

With a cigarette in his mouth and his hands fumbling aimlessly in his pockets.

Unable to find his lighter, he was about to ask a waiter for one.

Before he could beckon, he looked up and, as if seeing a ghost, hastily tugged at the person beside him, "Talk about bad luck..."

Hu Ming looked up, holding his phone and about to call his celebrity girlfriend.

When he saw three stunning ladies walking towards them under the ornate crystal chandelier, he almost jumped out of his chair.

The three ladies also spotted them.

There weren’t many patrons in the restaurant, so their good-looking group was quite noticeable.

"Anna..." Female Companion A first scanned the Hu brothers and finally set her gaze on Jiang Man.

The past couple of days had left Chen Anna in a particularly foul mood, as she squared off with Xu Chengzhou, the star she had promoted herself.

Chen Anna didn’t like him forming an on-screen pair with female celebrities and wanted him to drop out of the variety show, but he refused.

As a result, the two had a big fight and parted on bad terms.

To cheer up their "Missy," her two best friends had suggested coming to this restaurant for a meal.

Because by eight o’clock, with the harbor’s lights and fireworks display, it was stunningly beautiful.

With good food and a beautiful view to heal, a bad mood could easily vanish like smoke into thin air.

But what they hadn’t expected was that Jiang Man, the nobody from the variety show who had those ambiguous scenes with Xu Chengzhou, would actually come alive and show up in Harbor City!

And not only show up in Harbor City, but she was also with the Hu brothers?

One of the best friends cast another glance at Jiang Rou, thinking that Jiang Man and Jiang Rou must be the same type of women, coming to dine with the Hu brothers.

"That person... is Jiang Man, right?"

She wasn’t entirely sure, having only seen her on TV.

The other female companion squinted her eyes, studying her closely for a good while, "It’s really her! What is she doing here?"

They both couldn’t believe it.

Chen Anna was already annoyed with this Jiang Man and had wanted to use her capital influence to force Jiang Man out of the program.

And yet, had Jiang Man seen the writing on the wall and voluntarily dropped out?

"Hey? Anna~"

Just as her companions realized what was happening, Chen Anna, clad in her high heels, marched toward Jiang Man with great purpose.

"Hi, may I sit here?" she asked as she pulled out one of the empty chairs.

As luck would have it, at a table for ten, there were seven people in Jiang Man’s group and three in Chen Anna’s, making it just enough to fill one table.

"Chen Anna, we are walk different paths; we do not scheme together!" Hu Ming adjusted the suit jacket slung over his shoulder, hostility brimming.

Chen Anna scoffed lightly and only then noticed that her fiancé was also present.

Her lips curled upwards, her eyes sharp, "Five men and two women, that’s not enough to go around, is it? Now with my girlfriends, it’s five men and five women, just perfect."

"So, who is your date here?" she asked, looking directly at Jiang Man.

At that moment, Jiang Man was still fiddling with her phone, completely oblivious to the newcomer or anything that was said.

"Don’t talk nonsense; they both are our younger sisters!" Hu Ming frowned and spoke with a deep voice.

Chen Anna’s laughter grew even more unrestrained: "Oh, I see."

Younger sisters? More like kept sisters.

"Miss Chen, you are not welcome here, please find another table," Hu Qingyu said coldly, his gaze flicking towards the person sitting diagonally across.

In his eyes, a chilling frost could be seen, fiercely intimidating.

Chen Anna was a bit afraid of him, but despite her fear, she maintained her pride.

"Big brother, our families are practically in-laws. Why be so indifferent?"

"Miss Chen, if you don’t change tables, then I’m afraid I’ll have to call security!" Hu Qingyu’s expression was unnervingly calm, his authority undoubted.

Chen Anna’s smile faded, and she slapped the table hard, "Hu Ming, don’t wait until I marry into your Hu family!"

Dare to humiliate her?

Just you wait!

"Big brother, why provoke her?" Hu Ming looked helplessly troubled: "In the end, won’t I be the one to suffer?"

"Didn’t you lose the marital home to me in a bet? What now, you’re still planning to marry her?" Hu Qingyu mocked with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.

Hu Ming’s shoulders drooped in resignation, "That was said in a fit of pique. Our marriage is settled, it’s just that I do my thing, she does hers. But play or no play, we can’t break the marriage tie."

"It gets me so angry talking about it. What kind of woman is as arrogant as she is? Supporting a pretty boy, making it known to all - who doesn’t know that she put such a big green hat on her brother? In my opinion, that Xu Chengzhou should be castrated!"

Hearing the familiar name ’Xu Chengzhou’, Jiang Man finally reacted.

She lifted her eyelids, her voice casual, "Xu Chengzhou? Which Xu Chengzhou?"

"Who else could it be? The one you were on the variety show with!"