Chapter 214 Family Gathering On Cruise Ship (Part I)


    When Hiram showed up at the party, he would undoubtedly be the center of attention. So instead


    of going inside directly and greeting everyone, he stood in front of the entrance and waited for Rachel.


    Rachel was shocked by the number of people at the party when she arrived. Stunned, she stood


    between Susan and Shirley, barely noticing when Hiram took her hand.


    Hiram and Rachel walked into the hall hand in hand.


    Since it was Rachel''s first official introduction to the family, everyone turned their eyes to her. She was


    the heroine tonight.


    Because of the atmosphere, Rachel felt like a superstar as she walked down the red carpet.


    There were at least a hundred people gathering here, all rted to the Rong family one way or another.


    The moment she entered, she heard the children''s yful noises die down and saw the benevolent


    smiles on the elders'' faces fade, as everyone turned to look at her and Hiram. The younger generation


    of men and women couldn''t keep their eyes off them either.


    Suddenly, they all broke out into apuse out of nowhere, and it went on for a long time before


    stopping.


    "Wow, our Hiram finally brings his wife to meet us. See, Mom, I told you not to worry. He always does


    everything at the right time. Now look, here they are," said Kun while apuding.


    Kun Rong, the director of the Public Security Department, had yed a huge role in helping rescue


    Rachel from the kidnappers. Now, he was pping his hands enthusiastically and talking to the gray-


    haired woman next to him.


    "Oh, hey, in spite of how poor the Ruan family is, their daughter looks very good. She has good


    mannerisms, too," Kun''s mother said approvingly with a big smile on her face.


    In another part of the room, Hearst looked at Susan, who had juste over to him, and said," Sister,


    why are you sote? I need your help. Please ask mom to stop. She keeps nagging at me about


    marriage. I can''t stand it anymore."


    Susan stuck out her tongue at him. If Shirley hadn''t insisted oning with her, she would have


    arrived at the party a long time ago.


    In the middle of the room, Hiram, who was still holding Rachel''s hand, started to introduce her to all the


    rtives of the Rong family.


    Rachel counted and found that a lot of the people present were men. Hiram had about five uncles who


    all had sons, making the count 15. On top of that, most of those sons were married and had children.


    Since it was meant to be a family gathering, everyone had brought all their family members here, so it


    added up to more than one hundred people at the party.


    Besides, the Rong family had been around for more than a hundred years, so their poprity had


    swelled up as well.


    Rachel, who was being swept around the room by Hiram to be introduced to all his rtives, was


    starting to feel dizzy. There were so many of them that she couldn''t remember them all in such a short


    time. She thought that even if they met like this every year, it would take her a few more years before


    she could distinguish all of them.


    After the introductions were over, Rachel was brought by Susan to a table where all the youngdies


    like them sat.


    Sitting down, Rachel felt like she could finally rx and breathe a little. To keep up appearance today,


    she had put on high heel shoes, which made her feel even more tired. She was taking a sip of water to


    rx a little when she heard the girl sitting opposite her say," Shirley, aren''t you close to Lydia? Do you


    know why she doesn''te back this time?"


    "Yeah, she used toe back just for this reunion. Why is she absent this year? Do you have any


    idea, Shirley?" another girl asked.


    All of them had been attending the family reunion since they were children, so it was very obvious to


    them when one of them was absent. And with everything that had happened recently, they were really


    curious about Lydia''s absence.


    Shirley seemed to know that people would definitely ask her about Lydia. The truth was that while Lydia


    had a bad rtionship with Rachel, her rtionship with others was much better.


    "Lydia is busy with her studies. And besides, she hasn''tpletely recovered from kidnapping incident


    yet. That''s why she doesn''te this year. But she told me to tell all of you that she misses you very


    much."


    Shirley nced at Rachel as she spoke.


    When she was done, the whole table was silent for a moment.


    Everyone knew how the kidnapping at the theater had gone down. When Hiram had to choose one


    person to save, he had chosen Lydia over Rachel. They''d all assumed that Rachel would be angry at


    Lydia because of that.


    What other reason did Lydia have to avoid the family reunion? She''d never missed it in the past years.


    Rachel sneered in her heart. She''d been curious about why Shirley hade here with Susan. Now, it


    turned out that it was for Lydia''s sake.


    She knew that since almost no one knew the details of what had happened that night, they would


    assume that she was the reason Lydia hadn''t shown up to the party. It would reflect badly on her.


    "Shirley, I know you keep in touch with Lydia. Can you please pass my message to her that she doesn''t


    have to me herself for the incident? I understand that she didn''t tell the kidnappers about me on


    purpose. I almost lost my life because of her mistake, but... Let bygones be bygones. I hope she won''t


    beat herself up about it anymore,"


    Rachel said to Shirley with a sincere smile on her face. To any third person, it would seem like she had


    really forgiven Lydia for the terrible things that she had done to her.


    After all, if Lydia could pretend to be sorry, why couldn''t she?


    She didn''t want to talk about the kidnapping incident to anyone, but if Lydia wanted to make use of it to


    get sympathy from her family members, then she was more than happy to help her do it.


    Shirley opened her mouth to reply, then controlled herself. She didn''t want to lose herposure or


    reveal too much in front of the family members.


    Rachel''s words had made all the youngdies curious. They looked at each other and wondered if


    there was anything more to the kidnapping incident that they didn''t know about.


    "Rachel, what happened at the theater? Is there anything that we don''t know about?" Susan asked


    curiously.


    Rachel shook her head with an easy smile on her face and said," Susan, it''s all in the past, I''d rather


    not talk about it now. I want to let go of those unhappy memories."


    Susan nodded her head understandingly and held Rachel''s arm tofort her. "Rachel, I understand


    how bitter you would have been feeling about that incident. Even I can''t stand thinking about it. Lydia


    should be appreciating you. If you hadn''t been there to rece her, then..."


    But before Susan could finish, Shirley, unable to stand it anymore, interrupted. "Susan, how can you


    speak for other person instead of our sister? She''s of noble birth, like every member of the Rong family.


    Rachel just did what a sister-inw should do. There''s nothing to appreciate."


    "How can you say such..." Susan trailed off, shocked at how Shirley could say such things.


    "Shirley, I think you''re right. I''m just an outsider who married into the Rong family. Besides, Hiram and I


    haven''t even had a wedding, so I''m not really a family member yet. Even if something had happened to


    me when I was kidnapped, the Rong family would be suffering no loss. However, Lydia is different. She


    is a member of the Rong family and a person of noble birth. She shouldn''t be put in any danger,"


    Rachel said with her eyes casting downwards.


    Her words immediately gained the sympathy of all the women sitting around them.


    Among them, there were manydies who had married into the Rong family, and they felt angry on


    behalf of Rachel.


    "Shirley, how can you speak like that? So what if we''re daughters-inw of the Rong family? Do you


    mean we''re all just outsiders?" one of the women suddenly said, standing up and ring at Shirley.


    Rachel remembered that she was Kun''s wife.


    "Yeah, Shirley, that''s nonsense. We have all given birth to children of the Rong family. Are you saying


    we don''t deserve any respect for that?" another daughter-inw of the Rong family said.


    Hearing that, Shirley anxiously tried to exin. "Sisters, please don''t be mad. I''m not talking about you.


    You''ve all contributed a lot to the Rong family. I was just talking about that particr issue. I wasn''t


    trying to offend any of you."


    Her words angered Rachel, who fixed a light but cold smile onto her face.


    "So, Shirley, I''m the only one you''re talking about, right?" Rachel asked.


    Shirley was stunned by Rachel''s cold voice. She bit her lips and swallowed the words that were


    threatening to spill out of her mouth. Instead, she looked around the table, as if gathering support, and


    said with a fake smile," Look at the other daughters-inw, they all have one or two children already.


    But look at you! You''ve been living with Hiram for so long. Why don''t you have children yet?"


    "Shirley, you''d better stop right there. She''s lived with Hiram for barely half a year. It''s not a big deal if


    they haven''t had kids yet," Kun''s wife said sharply.


    "Are you kidding me? How about you and your husband? If I remember correctly, you conceived during


    your honeymoon. Having children can be the easiest thing in the world. But it seems it can also be the


    hardest," Shirley said with a smug smile on her face.


    Rachelughed coldly and said," Shirley, I used to think that you were too young to be concerning


    yourself about certain matters, but it seems I was wrong. Since when did Hiram and I need you to n


    Ccontent ? exclusive by N?/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    our future?" Then, dropping her sarcasm, she said," If you don''t feelfortable staying here, or if you


    ever make me feel ufortable again, the yacht outside will be waiting to send you back at any


    time!"


    Rachel stood up and walked towards Hiram, leaving a dumbstruck Shirley in her wake.


    Even as she walked away, Rachel''s pace was rxed and she looked calm, as if nothing had


    happened at the table just moments ago.


    All the women sitting at the table watched Rachel as she joined Hiram, who was in conversation with


    someone. She was smiling calmly and didn''t seem affected by the episode at all. Her demeanor was


    that of a hostess''s.