Chu Yucheng signaled his eldest son, Chu Wenming, to make the introductions.
Accompanying them were the Chu Family’s eldest son, Chu Wenming; his wife, Bai Shuangjiang; and their two children, a son named Chu Gaobo and a daughter named Chu Gaotao.
Also present were the Chu Family’s second son, Chu Xinming; his wife, Jiang Yuli; and their three daughters: the eldest, Chu Xiaojue; the second, Chu Xiaolan; and the youngest, Chu Xiaocao.
Yunyi nodded to each of them in turn, considering it a sufficient greeting.
Once his eldest son finished the introductions, Chu Yucheng took over. "Gaobo is twenty this year, so he should be older than you. Just call him Elder Cousin from now on."
Yunyi nodded. "I am eighteen by nominal age this year."
Chu Yucheng pointed to his granddaughters standing near his grandson. "Gaotao and Xiaoju are the same age as you; one was born in March, the other in June."
Yunyi looked at the two girls. "My birthday is on September eighth."
Chu Yucheng then said to his two granddaughters, "In that case, she will have to address you as ’Elder Cousins’."
Finally, pointing to Chu Xiaolan and Chu Xiaocao, he said, "These two are twins, sixteen this year. They are your younger cousins."
Yunyi nodded at them, again taking this as a greeting. Being asked to address them by kinship terms feels quite awkward, as we aren’t actually related by blood. This whole act of acknowledging kinship is somewhat embarrassing.
Chu Yucheng seemed to realize this as well. "It’s fine. You’ll all get to know each other better with more interaction."
Upon hearing this, Yunyi frowned. What did he mean by that? More interaction? How? Did it mean what I think it did?
In these times, it’s not uncommon for people to bring their entire families to rely on relatives. Unfortunately, my courtyard really does have spare rooms, which makes this newly acknowledged kinship rather difficult for me. If I let them stay, I’d worry about all the potential trouble later on; after all, inviting guests is easy, but getting them to leave can be hard. Yet, if I refuse directly, people will likely call me inconsiderate.
Hearing this, Jiang Yuli, the Second Daughter-in-law of the Chu Family, looked somewhat displeased. "There’s no need to trouble others, surely? That will just indebt us with favors."
Huo Jingrui, easily seeing through her intentions, replied, "He’s a good friend of mine; there’s no need to worry about owing favors. You can stay there without any concern. It’ll only be for a few days anyway."
Whatever their motives, his main concern was preventing them from causing trouble for Yi’er.
Seeing that the matter was settled, Chu Yucheng said, "That really is very kind of you. By the way, you are?"
Yunyi smiled and introduced him. "This is my fiancé, Huo Jingrui."
The Chu family members were visibly surprised by this news, especially Jiang Yuli. She had been diligently inquiring about Yunyi’s affairs these past few days. She only knew that Yunyi previously had a fiancé but that the engagement had been broken off before Yunyi went to the countryside. Hearing that, Jiang Yuli had been overjoyed, thinking that with no elder family members around, they could naturally have some say in Yunyi’s marriage. But how on earth does she suddenly have a fiancé?

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