Chapter 32: When Flowers Are Ready to Be Plucked, Pluck Them Without Delay, Part 1

"Strange, where did Xiao Xun'er run off to?"

"Who is Xiao Xun'er?" The faces of the Great Elder Hen Ruofeng, Hen Ruogang, Luo Nongyou, and the others darkened instantly. Yet, seeing Hen Queqian’s behavior, they followed her gaze and looked around.

However, as Hen Queqian’s muttering reached their ears, Hen Ruochen, Luo Nongyou, and even Luo Li frowned. They immediately questioned her: who was this Xiao Xun'er? Neither the members of the Hen family nor Luo Li had ever heard any rumors about such a person.

"Isn't Xiao Xun'er just..." Hen Queqian started to answer, but as she opened her mouth, she instantly snapped back to reality. Luo Li's attitude and the entire matter of the annulment were exactly like the plot of a novel she had read in her past life.

Suddenly, it dawned on her: Right, why was she the only one standing up for the family? It wouldn't do to not have an accomplice to help mock and sneer at Luo Li. For a moment, her mind had drifted, making her feel as though she were inside that book, and she had instinctively wanted to call out Xiao Xun'er to join the battle against Luo Li.

Once she spoke, she realized this was the real world, not a book. Hen Queqian froze for a second before offering a sheepish laugh.

"Xiao Xun'er? I just said that randomly! Haha, you were all fooled by me, weren't you?" Hen Queqian laughed with a guilty conscience, managing to brush off the elders.

Turning her head, she saw Luo Li huffing, her face full of resentment and anger.

*Thwack!* The folding fan landed on Luo Li's head once again. Luo Li clutched her head and shrieked, "Ah... you're hitting me again?" Back in her hometown, Luo Li was a pampered young lady; even in Luofeng City, the nobles and royalty treated the Luo family with great courtesy, and she was always held in high regard.

She never expected that here in Jiuxiao City, she would be hit on the head repeatedly by this hateful man, Hen Queqian!

"Hitting you is to wake you up! Tell me, how can you still be living in such an ideal world? Can't you be a bit more realistic? If you want to annul the engagement, be practical—bring out the money! Don't you get it? I mean gold coins!"

Hen Queqian leaned in close to Luo Li, looming over her as she shouted. Seeing Luo Li dazed by her outburst, Hen Queqian sighed and rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"You really... the way you are, if you left Luofeng City without anyone watching over you, you’d be sold off to some dark corner to cry your eyes out. You don't understand the ways of the world at all!

If you want to end this engagement, it's simple! Just toss a few million or ten million gold coins at my head! Knock me unconscious with them, and the engagement will be annulled immediately! You’ve truly wasted that pretty face of yours!"

Hen Queqian was thoroughly enjoying her lecture, stepping closer and closer to Luo Li. She didn't care at all that her words, spoken with such conviction, were practically making Hen Ruochen and Hen Ruofeng want to cough up blood.

If someone had millions or tens of millions of gold coins, why would they waste them on an annulment? Besides, even with that much gold, it wouldn't necessarily buy what one truly needed. Wouldn't that be losing the watermelon to pick up a sesame seed?

Yet, no one realized that Hen Queqian possessed an omnipotent system. With that much gold, turning the Hen family into a top-tier clan would be as easy as breathing.

"Don't go too far..." Hen Queqian continued her lecture, finally patting Luo Li’s delicate face with her folding fan.