The Heiress's Game

When Mrs. Lin returned home, although she had washed off the seaweed mud mask from her face, the warmth in her heart had not yet dissipated.

She changed into slippers in the entryway, put her Hermes bag on the sofa, and took a sip of the lemon water that the aunt handed her.

In the living room, the husband, Lin Zhengming, was sitting on the sofa looking at financial reports, while their daughter, Lin Lin, was sitting cross-legged on a single sofa at the other end, holding a laptop and presumably replying to work emails.

Mrs. Lin sat down on the sofa. "Linlin, what do you think of Bai Wenxiong, the guy you met at the charity gala last time?"

Lin Lin didn't even look up, and tapped the keyboard twice more.

"He's alright. He looks refined and speaks politely. He even helped a waiter pick up a napkin that had fallen on the floor during the dinner. He's well-mannered."

After she finished speaking, she looked up at her mother with a suspicious gaze. "Why are you asking this?"

"What does 'what' mean?" Mrs. Lin put down her water glass and leaned forward with great interest.

"Today I had a facial with Meng Wanqing. Several people wanted to introduce their daughters to Bai Wenxiong, but I beat you to it."

"Let me tell you, Pak Man-hung is young and promising, and he's also good-looking. If you could be with him..."

"Mom." Lin Lin closed her laptop.

"What advantage did you gain for me?"

"I just mentioned you to Meng Wanqing, I didn't go into too much detail, I just casually mentioned that you just came back from England and are working as an analyst at an investment bank."

"Why did you bring this up with them?" Lin Lin frowned, her tone clearly displeased.

"If Bai Wenxiong really has feelings for me, it wouldn't be difficult to add each other on WeChat at the charity gala, would it?"

He was indeed very polite that day. He shook my hand politely, said goodbye politely, and then that was the end of it.

What does this mean? It means he's not interested in me, and I'm just a casual friend to him at best. Please, don't try to set me up with anyone else.

Mrs. Lin opened her mouth, feeling that her daughter's analysis made sense, but she was unwilling to let such a good opportunity slip away.

She turned to look at Lin Zhengming, hoping her husband would stand by her side.

Lin Zhengming put down the financial report in his hand and took off his reading glasses.

"Don't get involved in this. Meng Wanqing is too cunning."

The Bai family's business appears glamorous, but in reality, the relationships are quite complicated.

"Old Master Bai has four sons, and the four branches of his family have been scheming against each other for decades. Our Lin family is just a real estate company; isn't it better to do business honestly and straightforwardly? Why get involved in the Bai family's mess?"

Lin Lin nodded beside her.

"Mom, I think Dad makes a good point. Besides, I was too embarrassed to be too direct just now."

"Mom, what do you think of Aunt Meng?"

Mrs. Lin was puzzled by the question: "She's very nice. She's gentle and generous, speaks very nicely, and is polite to her friends."

"So, how do you think she compares to Zhuo Shengnan and her wife?"

Mrs. Lin was stunned when she heard the question.

Mr. Lin leaned back on the sofa, looking at his daughter with a slight smile in his eyes.

"I've met Aunt Meng several times over the years on various occasions."

"She is indeed very good at interpersonal relationships, and she is very well-liked in your circle."

But Mom, have you ever thought about this—what is her biggest regret in this life?

Mrs. Lin blinked.

"It's Zhuo Shengnan. Madam Zhuo is Bai Jingchuan's first wife."

After divorcing Bai Jingchuan, Mrs. Zhuo married a wealthy man and built a very successful business.

Aunt Meng spent her whole life comparing herself to Madam Zhuo—her husband, her son, her status, and her connections.

But no matter how hard she tried, there was one thing she could never surpass: Madam Zhuo was the first wife, while she was the second. And frankly, there were many rumors circulating in their social circles about Aunt Meng's rise to power.

She couldn't shake off this label. Her standards for choosing a wife for Bai Wenxiong would only be higher than Madam Zhuo's standards for Bai Junze. And who did Madam Zhuo choose for Bai Junze?

Mrs. Lin opened her mouth: "Gu Yunjin."

"Think about it, what is Bai Junze's wife's background? The Gu family, one of the top tier of wealthy families in Dahai City."

Meng Wanqing's daughter-in-law, can she accept someone worse than Gu Yunjin? She says, "I won't interfere in the children's affairs," but do you believe her?

The daughter-in-law she wanted was someone who could help Pak Man-hung secure a position within the Pak family.

"Our Lin family isn't bad, but compared to the Gu family, are we good enough?"

Lin Zhengming turned to look at his daughter, his eyes filled with undisguised approval.

"Your daughter is more insightful than you in this matter, so don't bring it up again."

Mrs. Lin is not someone who is unwilling to listen to advice.

With her husband and daughter having already made their point, she was still muttering "what a pity" to herself, but in her heart she had already begun to rethink her plans.

She leaned back on the sofa and mentally went through all the wealthy families in Yunjing City that she could think of.

Finding someone on par with Gu Jia is an absurdly high bar.

In a place like Dahai City, where wealthy families are as numerous as fish in a river, the Gu family, as a first-tier family, is a truly old-money family.

In Yun Jing City, there are only a handful of wealthy families that can rival the Gu family. But the question is, why would a daughter of such a family marry Bai Wenxiong?

Bai Wenxiong is no slouch; he has the ability and the means to get Brilliant International listed on the stock exchange with the limited resources of the second wife's family. That truly shows his skill.

But the heads of top wealthy families aren't stupid; they won't marry their daughters off just because of the surname "Bai."

People are looking at how much of the family fortune Bai Wenxiong can get, what position he can hold in the Bai Group, and how much resources he can mobilize. And every one of these questions is inseparable from Bai Junze.

Bai Junze's wife is Gu Yunjin, and his ally is the Gu family.

If Bai Wenxiong were to marry a heiress of the same social standing as the Gu family, it would be tantamount to forcing the woman's family to take sides within the Bai family, placing them on the opposite side of Bai Junze and Gu Yunjin.

Which top-tier wealthy family would go head-to-head with Bai Junze and Gu Yunjin for the sake of Bai Wenxiong?

Thinking about this, Mrs. Lin suddenly felt her excitement at the beauty salon that afternoon cool down considerably.

She thought of Meng Wanqing, a woman who had faced many hardships from Taicheng to Yunjingcheng, from Bai Jingchuan regaining his memory to Zhuo Shengnan's divorce and remarriage.

She had worked so hard to raise her son to be successful, thinking she could turn the tables on her daughter-in-law, but what lay before her was an unsolvable problem.

The kind of in-laws she wanted didn't think much of her son.

She doesn't like the men who are interested in her son.