Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Chapter 334: Chapter 30: Great Talents are Late Bloomers, Success Can Go to One’s Head
 

When it comes to showing off, there are different methods for different occasions and different people.

For someone who knows cars, slowly stopping in a luxury car in front of them is the best way to show off. However, if the other person knows nothing about cars, then it’s like winking at a blind person—not effective at all.

For people like Xie Ruoxi’s parents and relatives, who might not even know how to use mobile banking, they’re unlikely to trust text message reminders from the bank.

A passbook, on the other hand, is the most visually striking thing.

As soon as Yan Yu knocked and called out from outside, Xie’s mother snapped out of her daze and immediately panicked, quickly stuffing the passbook back into her daughter’s hand, repeatedly saying:

“Put it away, put it away! With so much money, how can we just show it off casually?!”

Her actual thought was “We can’t let your aunt see it, otherwise if the news spreads back to the village, what would we do if everyone comes to borrow money?” But to the aunt’s ears, it sounded like a stark humiliation and mockery.

Seeing his wife’s demeanor changing, the uncle hurriedly changed the subject, saying:

“Is that Ruoxi’s colleague outside? I’ll open the door.”

He slid open the door to the study, and Yan Yu walked in from outside.

This guy usually dresses quite casually, but now he was formally wearing a white shirt with a dark leather jacket on top. His whole attire looked serious and solemn, and he had a stern expression on his face as if he were a young prosecutor from a TV drama.

Xie’s mother hadn’t reacted yet, but Xie’s father was taken aback and suddenly said:

“Yan Zhanlong?”

He hadn’t recognized Lin Ning previously, firstly because he hadn’t looked carefully, and secondly because when the girls of the Zhenhai Team appeared on screen, they usually wore heavy makeup (after all, even beauties looked plain on television without makeup), except for Yan Yu who didn’t wear much makeup.

Now that the real person was here, identical to the one in the videos, and with an imposing aura to boot, Xie’s father quickly recognized him.

That call of “Yan Zhanlong” scared the aunt’s soul half away in an instant.

Yan… Yan… Yan Zhanlong?!!

Yan Yu walked into the room, greeting everyone with a dignified nod, then turned to Xie Ruoxi and said:

“Pay attention to your appearance; the General Commander is coming over.”@@novelbin@@

General Commander… The four elders gasped again.

While this title might not sound very domineering, it had a more widely known and household name, “Grand Marshal of the Zhendong Army.”

Xie Ruoxi was somewhat speechless. Even if her brain was a bit slow, she could see that the captain was intentionally backing her up to make a statement, but seeing her parents and aunt utterly lost and confused, she still felt a subconscious, vicarious thrill of pretending to be important.

No, Ruoxi mustn’t laugh! If she laughed here, the atmosphere would completely collapse!

“Mhmm,” she said, also pulling a serious face, and asked, “Can I wear my backless evening gown?”

Everyone:………

Damn it, an evening gown! Are you also planning to wear high heels and carry a luxury bag? Yan Yu subtly corrected her, saying:

“No need, just wear something formal but ordinary. The elders can follow me downstairs to sit for a while and wait for her to change clothes.”

Xie’s parents thought that was reasonable and followed Yan Yu downstairs. The aunt was still in a daze and had to be tugged by her husband before numbly following along.

Only when everyone had left the bedroom did Xie Ruoxi finally allow herself to grin and burst into a hearty laugh.

She never knew that showing off in front of family and relatives could be such a delightful experience, it felt like gulping down an entire bottle of iced soda on a scorching summer day, as if every pore on her body had opened up to breathe.

Ever since childhood, the expression her mother showed most often was disappointment, and the most frequent words she said were “Can’t you be a bit more ambitious?” Later, it seemed that she had accepted the fact that “her daughter was a good-for-nothing,” and stopped nagging her, only sighing when issues arose.

To be honest, she would have preferred the nagging! There was always a sense of being completely abandoned by her mother.

Although her father had always been silent and taciturn, never scolding her harshly, whenever she did poorly in school or after a teacher talked to her parents, he would smoke a lot that day, smoking until the ash piled up out of the ashtray.

As for the relatives, even though they usually refrained from mentioning it to her face, during holiday gatherings, groups of them would gossip behind her back. The occasional disdainful glances they cast her way, though subtly painful, were never as bone-deep as her parents’ numbed expressions. Even though silent, they had been seared deep into her heart.

Perhaps after graduating from high school, the reason she subconsciously chose to give up studying was also to not continue spending her parents’ money while having to endure their expectations and disappointment…

Now thinking back to the stunned, speechless expressions on her parents’ faces and her aunt’s disbelief in reality, Xie Ruoxi felt an extreme sense of exhilaration as if she had vented out all the years of frustration.

Look at me now, I am no longer that failure!

After picking out the nicest clothes from the wardrobe and putting them on, Xie Ruoxi left her room with pride and walked downstairs. Then she saw all the elders carefully conversing with Yan Yu.

The fame of Yan Zhanlong spread to the rural areas of Jingnan not after he slayed the dragon, but during the October awarding ceremony when various new media hyped it up, playing the patriotism card, leading rural populations across the country to become aware of this young hero, “a formidable person who was personally honored by a big shot from the Privy Council”.

Now that the formidable person was here, despite a significant age difference, the four elders dared not neglect him at all. They only answered when Yan Yu asked a question, as if the order of seniority had completely reversed.

Yan Yu wasn’t overbearing. In front of Mr. and Mrs. Xie, he praised Xie Ruoxi extensively, “the absolute main force of the team,” “a future hero who is sure to protect the country,” “the commander who had personally inquired about her situation,” and then he started praising Mr. and Mrs. Xie, “You’ve raised a good daughter,” “I want to thank you on behalf of the nation for your effort and hard work.”

These words made Mr. and Mrs. Xie beam with pride, as if they had eaten elixir and been rejuvenated, so much so that they were barely able to speak clearly, stammering.

Looking at the other two, the uncle by marriage seemed quite proud himself, but the aunt looked as if she had eaten shit, her face full of a crestfallen grayish defeat, seeming to say, “I can’t accept this.”

“Xie Ruoxi has arrived, let’s go,” said Yan Yu as soon as he noticed Xie Ruoxi coming down the stairs.

He led everyone out the door, and Xie Ruoxi had only walked a few steps when Mrs. Xie hugged her tightly, laughing:

“Ruoxi has really done well this time. I told you that Ru Shan wouldn’t lie, your dad didn’t believe it, he had to come and see for himself, now he finally believes, doesn’t he?”

Although it seemed like she was mocking her husband, her gaze was on her cousin.

The aunt’s face immediately turned liver red, unable to speak coherently for quite some time, while the uncle by marriage, being more aware of what was appropriate, hurriedly came forward to smooth things over:

“Ah, we’ve seen Ruoxi grow up since she was little, we always knew she was a late bloomer. Now that she has finally made a name for herself, we as relatives are very happy too.”

This sounded incredibly fake because who was it that gossiped the most about Xie Ruoxi if not your wife?

But Mrs. Xie, after all, was someone who cared about appearances. When the relatives flattered her, she couldn’t keep harping on about it without coming off as petty, so she just hummed an acknowledgment and once again lifted her chin to look at her cousin, speaking arrogantly to her husband:

“Let’s go then.”

The group headed outside. Xie Ruoxi was also jubilant. As she passed by Yan Yu, for some reason, a whim struck her, and she suddenly reached out to take his hand.

But Yan Yu’s reaction was quicker, slapping her hand away with a snap.

Only then did Xie Ruoxi come to her senses, sheepishly retracting her hand with an embarrassed look.

Although others didn’t notice this little gesture, Mrs. Xie was aware of it.

She didn’t mention it, but internally, a bit of resentment grew.