In the evening, Lu Aotian had finished dressing up. He knocked on Lu Meili's door. "Princess, are you done?"

The door opened and out of the room stepped a diamond shoe, followed by another. Lu Meili was wearing an ankle-length pink gown that hugged her body. Her long hair was in an updo and her make up was light.

"I'm looking at the past version of my wife." Lu Aotian exclaimed with pride. His daughter was so beautiful. Truthfully, any man who wished to marry her would have to be handsome and extremely hardworking. His background will have to be clean with no trace of unnecessary scandals. If not, they wouldn't deserve to even take a glance at his princess. Most importantly, he would have to gain full approval from his princess.

"Daddy, I'm ready." Lu Meili said.

"Let's go."

Lu Meili held his arm with both hands respectfully. The last time she attended a banquet wuth her father, she was a child. She felt exultant.

...

Lu Meili only knew that Katy Blanc was preparing to go somewhere, but she didn't expect that she was attending the same banquet to accompany Henry Blanc.

She took one look and wondered why Lin Lihua wasn't accompanying Henry Blanc instead.

In her case, she was going with her father probably because Wan Jia was too busy, paired with the fact that the two of them had not been spending much time together thanks to her busy filming schedule.

Her eyes briefly skimmed through the other guests. Her face went pale. "Daddy, these are all partners of Lu Enterprises."

Lu Aotian snuck a glance at her. He had felt her hand stiffen. "I'm glad a certain someone did their homework and knows their future partners. You will get to interact with many of them tonight. This is a Lu Enterprises banquet."

Lu Meili felt uneasy. Was she really supposed to be here?

Lu Aotian chuckled. "Can you not look like a scared kitten? Those who didn't know would think I'm marrying off my daughter to a stranger."

Lu Meili was no longer too happy about accompanying him. "Daddy, if you only want me to get to know them, I will. But can you not make me take over the company?"

Lu Aotian: "Heh... who is forcing you to take over the company? Are daughters of the Lu family so scaredy nowadays?"

Lu Meili smiled faintly. It was not as she thought?

Soon, several people gained the courage to approach Lu Aotian and speak to him.

A renown businessman even audaciously asked, "President Lu, the lady beside you is too young to be Mrs. Lu, but looks so much like her. Is she Miss Lu?"

Lu Aotian was not too unfriendly. "My eldest daughter."

The businessman was awed. "Miss Lu is very beautiful. As expected of the nation's top family.

Erm... President Lu, can I say something audacious?"

"Go on."

"My second son should be just a few years older than Miss Lu. He completed his studies in Country A and is currently holding an important position in the family business. He is single and has never had any entanglement with girls."

Although he didn't completely state what he was trying to bring up, his intention was obvious. He was putting in a few good words for his son. If Lu Aotian was impressed, his son might get lucky enough to marry the eldest miss of the Lu family.

However, Lu Aotian turned him down. "The issue of marriage will be decided solely by my daughter."

Seeing that Lu Meili didn't look interested, he retreated. Later, he would ask his son about it and if the brat liked Lu Meili, it would be up to him to go after her before other men did.

As soon as he left, another appeared. "President Lu, my eldest son is much better than old Gu's. He took over the family business when he was just a young teenager and has led the company to drastic improvement. He..."

"President Lu, my youngest brother..."

"President Lu, my grandson..."

"President Lu..."

Lu Meili was already tired of these proposals. Did someone ask them to go and propose to her?

"That's enough. My daughter is not interested." He shooed them off.

In the silence that followed, Lu Meili noticed someone else and her eyes went wide. What in the world was Xu Tang doing here?

The young man went over to them with a smile. "Good evening Uncle Lu."

Lu Aotian nodded in greeting and said to the girl beside him, "Have you said hi to Katy yet? She's here with Henry."

Lu Meili knew that he was trying to send her off so he could have a word with Xu Tang privately. "I haven't yet, but..."

"Are you scared that I'll make things difficult for your future husband?"

Lu Meili felt embarassed that she had been exposed too easily. "Of course not. You are not that kind of person."

Lu Aotian smirked. But your eyes are begging me to not bully him.

Of course, this conversation was only between the two of them. Xu Tang did not hear a word.

As soon as Lu Meili left, Lu Aotian's gaze turned extremely stern.

It made Xu Tang slightly nervous. When he was young, Lu Aotian was especially fond of him and would let him stay in Southside Villa and play with Lu Meili.

He didn't know why it changed, but Lu Aotian started being extremely strict with him at some point. He was no longer welcoming and would act as though he was snatching something that belonged to the former, or he had wronged him terribly.

Right now, for example, what was that fierce gaze for?

If he remembered correctly, he was still a clueless child when Lu Aotian's temperament changed against him. There was no way he could have done something wrong.

Lu Aotian glared at him coldly. "If you are going to hurt my daughter, stay far away from her."