Stepping on the Demoness to become the strongest

Chen Lingyun's mother, who will be referred to as Mother Chen from now on, is the sole daughter of the head of Jianghai Investment Group.

Chen Lingyun's grandfather was the largest landlord in Jianghai Prefecture back in the day. During the industrialization era of Lu Country, he directly donated all his land, turning it into state-owned property, in exchange for high praise from the clear streams of Lu Country.

Chen Tianming was able to rise rapidly through the ranks, and his father's illustrious reputation was, of course, inseparable from this success.

What's more incredible is that although his father converted all his wealth into reputation, causing the family to go from "landed gentry" to "impoverished gentry," Chen Tianming quickly married the sole daughter of the head of Jianghai Investment Group, thereby making a remarkable comeback—it's clear that within the genes passed down in the Chen family, there must be some element of radical speculative opportunism as not going all-in seems to make them uncomfortable.

Mother Chen was also a local miss of Jianghai, who had studied for her MBA degree in England in her early years, returning to take over the family business. Although rumors had it that the two were love at first sight, Yan Yu highly doubted it.

Because Chen Tianming was the kind of man whose mind was set on making great achievements and was full of ambition, he barely had any other pursuits, and during busy times, he would even let his secretary buy him a fried dough twist and a pancake to serve as lunch; Mother Chen was the other extreme, pursuing the finest quality in life to such an extent that even saying she 'eats only the most refined and finest-tasting food' would be an understatement.
Continue your saga on My Virtual Library Empire

Yan Yu even remembered, from his past life, the first time he went to Chen Lingyun's home. There were a shoe cabinet and a soft bench outside the door. Chen Lingyun pulled him to a soft bench, lifted her feet, and a maid came out to help them remove their shoes...

At that time, he had been somewhat embarrassed, then Chen Lingyun explained that the maid was "in charge of the hallway," instantly giving him the illusion of having traveled back to ancient times to become a noble consort.

Of course, this was no longer the feudal era where people were distinguished by rank or status, so the Chen family didn't have any "servants" at home, only "various types of service personnel." For example, just in the kitchen staff alone, there were about twenty chefs specializing in Shandong, Sichuan, and Huaiyang cuisines, as well as Western cuisine, desserts, and coffee—Mother Chen was the type who would rather not eat at all than eat anything but the best.

Yan Yu did not like this kind of person. In his past life, he and Old Taishan merely had a difference in philosophy, while with his mother-in-law, it was pure mutual disdain.

However, since in this life he had decided not to pursue Chen Lingyun, he naturally need not care about Mother Chen's impressions or assessments of him. After all, it was fine as long as he simply brought the team to eat.

The group left the school, and two luxury cars had already stopped at the school gate—Yan Yu wasn't clear just how expensive they were. He didn't care much for sports cars, since he usually traveled by Sword Control in his previous life.

The girls were also quite calm about it because everyone knew long ago that the Ling Yun family was indeed wealthy.

The car stopped in front of the Oasis Hotel, and soon, someone came to open the door and usher everyone into the hotel.

Yan Yu glanced around casually and knew that Mother Chen must have booked the hotel's dining area again, then switched in her own team of chefs to cook—when Chen Lingyun traveled in her previous life, she stayed at only a select few hotels, bringing her own toiletries and everything else. Guess where she got that habit from?

So particular! Too particular!

Upon entering the private room, just as the girls were about to take their seats, Chen Lingyun suddenly said:

"Wait a moment."

She whispered to the butler next to her for a moment and began calling out names:

"Ningning, you sit there."

"Yun Jin, come to this side."

"Sister Zhao, sit next to Yun Jin."

"Ruoxi, sit on Ningning's left-hand side."

Yan Yu suddenly jerked in alarm and quickly sent a telepathic message to Chen Lingyun:

"What the heck, I don't want to sit next to your mom!"

"Who do you think she's here for?" Chen Lingyun responded to him.

"Didn't you say this was to treat the team to a meal?" Yan Yu chose to feign ignorance directly.

"Be a good boy and sit here, okay~" Chen Lingyun coaxed him as if soothing a child, "I'll sit next to you in a bit, and I'll help you out if anything comes up."

"Get lost!" Yan Yu was about to berate her fiercely but then thought to himself, I'm not your boyfriend, what's there to be scared of your mom for?

Even if your mom continues to treat me like a 'crude son-in-law' or a 'dandy in fancy dress' as she did in the past life, so what?

What can she do, have her daughter bite me?

Thinking this, Yan Yu sneered to himself, thinking Chen Lingyun, don't blame me for this, it was you and your mother's own choice.

Everyone took their assigned seats, and the cold dishes started to come in one after another, but nobody picked up their chopsticks.

It wasn't long before Mother Chen came in.

The Chen Family typically embraced late marriage and childbearing, with Mother Chen having had Chen Lingyun in her thirties, so she was nearly fifty now. However, due to proper maintenance, she appeared to be in her early thirties.

Her hair was cut very short (completely exposing her ears), starkly different from Lu Country's traditional aesthetic for women and instead exuded a sense of fashion reminiscent of foreign ladies.

Mother Chen's gaze swept across the room, pausing on Yan Yu's face for three to four seconds before she took a seat right between him and Chen Lingyun, smiled, and said:

"Why aren't you all eating already?"

"Everyone is waiting for you." Chen Lingyun said with a smile, hugging her arm.

Yan Yu rolled his eyes in a sickly sweet manner, thinking to himself, why did he feel like he was suddenly witnessing a scene where Wang Xifeng is fawning over Grandmother Jia?

"Why don't we all introduce ourselves?" Mother Chen suggested warmly.

The girls honestly took turns introducing themselves. Mother Chen nodded with a smile at each introduction, but Yan Yu noticed that she seemed a bit displeased with Xie Ruoxi and Zhao Yuanzhen, preferring Lin Ning and Su Yunjin instead, lingering on these two a bit longer with her gaze.

In this regard, although Chen Lingyun was proud, she wasn't as prejudiced as her mother who seemed to judge people through tinted glasses from the first meeting...

"Hold on." Just as Su Yunjin finished introducing herself, Mother Chen suddenly called out towards the doorway, "Is Xiao Shi there?"

"I'm here." A professional woman dressed in OL attire walked in—it was Shi Meijing, the housekeeper of Chen Lingyun's family.

Yan Yu vaguely remembered that this woman's father had served Chen Lingyun's grandfather and now she was serving Chen Lingyun's parents, a veritable "servant for generations."

"Look at this dish." Mother Chen pointed to a plate of salted vegetables stir-fried with edamame, frowning as she spoke, "It's cut so small?"

Shi Meijing glanced at it, picked it up, and said:

"The knife work was from a newbie that Chef Xie recently trained, not done well, I'll have them redo it."

"Forget it, forget it, just take it away," Mother Chen said impatiently, waving her hand to have Shi Meijing take away the cold dish.

Seeing the other girls looking confused, just as Mother Chen was about to speak up, they heard Yan Yu snicker and he explained to everyone:

"The salted vegetables burnt with edamame, each piece should be cut exactly to a third of the length, no more or less, so it looks good with the edamame... Heh heh, this is how wealthy families are, so particular."

There was not the slightest attempt in his tone to hide the mockery, causing the girls to tense up. Even the usually calm Chen Lingyun's face slightly changed colors, fearing that her mother would slam the table and storm out.

Mother Chen initially felt some subconsciously offended displeasure, but her expression quickly shifted. After examining Yan Yu for a moment, she revealed a satisfied look as if to say "you understand quite well," and explained with a smile to the girls:

"It's not that Auntie is being overly fastidious. My father, which is Ling Yun's grandfather, partnered with others to start a business and we were poor at the time. We often made this dish at home with rice. But he would always cut the salted vegetables nearly as long as the edamame. My father said, we might be poor at home, but not in spirit.

Rice must be fluffy, vegetables finely chopped, a nail is a nail, a dowel is a dowel, this principle applies to dealing with people and living life as well."

The girls listened in awe, their expressions as if they were undergoing some sort of religious revelation. Only Yan Yu, with his hand propping up his chin, thought, yeah yeah yeah, your family also has its reasons for having the maid help with shoes, when you're rich and have status your logic is the biggest, right?

"You're Yan Yu, aren't you?" Mother Chen said pleasantly, "I've seen your videos, quite impressive."

"You flatter me, Auntie." Yan Yu responded coolly, "I wouldn't say impressive, just doing my best."

"The kid has promise," Mother Chen was even more satisfied, turning to Chen Lingyun she continued, "The boys your father wanted to introduce to you before, they themselves have no real ability, relying entirely on their parents' fortune, yet each one thinks too highly of themselves. That's just clueless behavior. If they were all like Yan Yu, would I disagree?"

With Mother Chen's cards laid on the table, the girls' expressions also subtly changed. Only Chen Lingyun playfully nudged her mother's hand, saying with a smile:

"We rarely get together to eat, why bring this up now, Mom?"

"Alright, alright, I won't talk about it. You've always had your own opinions since you were little," Mother Chen said, as the corner of her eyes caught the others' expressions, deducing the answers in her heart and in private, holding Yan Yu in even higher esteem.

Her principle was, "everything must be the best," which of course applied to selecting her son-in-law as well.

Ordinary family background, cautious character, groveling in the face of power, such phoenix men, even if they struggle, Mother Chen would not be impressed—are the things you struggle for your whole life something our Governor's family would value?

Even with those from official aristocratic families or born into rich merchants' households, Mother Chen was still not impressed—gold-plated toilets soiled by waste, those who are incompetent and rely solely on their family to keep up appearances, how could they be worthy of my Ling Yun?

But then looking at Yan Yu, so young and already a nationally known cultivator, even Chen Tianming looked at him in a different light. And there were so many beautiful girls around him... perfectly normal. You see, outstanding men are like hot commodities in the market; they don't need any extra promotion, the long line outside the store is the best proof!

Having so many competitors by his side just proves his excellence!

With this in mind, Mother Chen grew more determined in her thought: This is my son-in-law!

With this resolve, her glance at Yan Yu became increasingly inappropriate: how she looked at him, she saw only good points, as if everything about him was perfect.

Noticing the problem with the length of the salted vegetables proved he had a refined and elegant taste in life, a man well-suited to be a life partner.

His speech might have been cold and his attitude not the best, but it just proved he wouldn't bow down to power, a man of dignity and spirit.

Having a bunch of beautiful girls around him, each seeming to be interested in him, further evidenced he was certainly one of those top-notch men, a natural perfect match for my girl!

With this thought, Mother Chen didn't hesitate any longer and straightforwardly asked:

"Yan Yu, do you have a girlfriend or not?"