I was exposed for adding my female boss to my group of female friends.

"He doesn't look like he just came back from the gym."

Lu Qingxuan ignored him and simply asked, "Where are the order details you prepared? Bring them here."

Hearing that she was going to review his work, Lu Xiaojie immediately frowned. Lu Qingxuan was always strict, or to put it bluntly, nitpicky. If anything he did didn't satisfy her, she would hang him up and berate him for an hour.

He handed the red-printed order form to Lu Qingxuan with trembling hands. Lu Qingxuan rolled her eyes at him, took it, and said, "A drama queen, huh? What are you acting out?"

After she finished speaking, she picked up the gift list.

Arranging seats for guests may seem like a simple task, but it is actually a very important one. It's not just about assigning everyone an empty seat and that's it.

In China, other things can be disordered, but the seating arrangement must never be disordered. As soon as Liangshan was on the right track, the first thing Song Jiang did was to rank the 108 heroes.

This remains true even today. For example, in the evening news program, whenever important figures appear together, their names are always in a strict order, making their status immediately apparent.

The people attending Old Master Lu's birthday celebration are all of extraordinary status. If any of the bigwigs are dissatisfied with the seating arrangement and cause a scene, it will become extremely troublesome.

Lu Qingxuan certainly wouldn't entrust such an important task to her younger brother alone. She only gave him a first draft, and she herself would review it twice. After that, it would be submitted to Committee Member Gao for final approval.

After glancing through the gift list, I was surprised to find that the completion rate was actually quite good. Lu Qingxuan only changed three or four positions and rearranged the positions of a few people. The rest were not much different.

After revising the order details with Lu Xiaojie, Lu Qingxuan was still not entirely satisfied, so she picked it up and scanned it again.

The more she looked, the more something felt off; it was as if she had forgotten something.

After thinking it over carefully, she finally realized what she had forgotten and looked up at Lu Xiaojie, asking, "Why isn't Chen Ya on this?"

"Who?" Lu Xiaojie was taken aback, then quickly realized, "Oh, Lu Ruixiang's family, right? The collateral branches weren't arranged to sit in the main hall, they're all in the side hall. You can sit anywhere in the side hall, there are no assigned seats."

Lu Qingxuan frowned.

"No, arrange for him to be placed in the main hall."

Lu Xiaojie was a little embarrassed: "Wouldn't it be better if they were all together? It's hard to arrange seating in the main hall, and there aren't many empty seats..."

"We can't add seats if there aren't any?" Lu Qingxuan said firmly. "Let's move to the main hall and see if we can find any empty seats."

"If we can't find an empty seat, then let's just forget about it?"

"If you can't find it, then sit in the side hall."

"..."

Lu Xiaojie opened his laptop and used software to create a seating chart. He stared at the chart for a while, then said:

"If he wants to move to the main hall, he can only sit at the table where our Lu family members sit."

"Then sit down."

“But we can’t fit everyone at our table. I’ve already spoken with the hotel. Each table is designed for 12 people, so if they add them in, it will be 16 people.”

"Why are there so many people sitting here?"

"Let me explain. The person at the very top of this table is definitely Lu Ningna, right? Below Lu Ningna are Lu Mingjie, Lu Hongtai, Chai Xian... a total of 13 people. All 13 people have to sit at this table, and none of them can be moved, right?"

Lu Qingxuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Lu Xiaojie continued, "But unfortunately, my great-aunt is a Christian, and she absolutely refuses to let 13 people sit at the table. So we can only add people, but even adding one, or 14, won't work. Great-grandmother will think the number is unlucky. We can only add two people."

After saying that, he concluded, "So, there are 15 people sitting at this table now, and if we add more, there will be 16. Everyone is sitting close together."

Lu Qingxuan sighed, rubbed her forehead, and said helplessly, "Give it to me, let me take a look."

Lu Xiaojie pushed the computer over to her. She moved the mouse and looked at it for a while, when she suddenly saw the name "Qin Yunchu".

Qin Yun Chu was seated at the table with the guests from prominent families, representing the Qin family.

There weren't many people at this table, only nine, making it a bit quiet. Suddenly, Lu Qingxuan had a bold idea: to arrange for Chen Ya to sit at this table.

Thinking of this, her heart started beating faster.

The rest of the Lu family didn't know Chen Ya's true identity and only regarded him as a member of a collateral branch, not giving him a second glance. But only Lu Qingxuan knew that this guy's hidden identity was astonishing.

Not only is he the young boss who runs Jiang Lizhi Company, but he is also the author of masterpieces such as "Bring in the Wine". It is not disrespectful for the aristocratic family to sit at their table.

Actually, she herself found her own idea somewhat amusing. Even if Chen Ya had two Jiang Lizhis, let alone one, his great-grandmother and the others would definitely disagree with him being placed among these established families.

However, after scanning the bill two or three more times, she found that there really wasn't a single empty seat in the main hall. Finally, she made up her mind and decided to simply put Chen Ya at the Shijia table.

Next to Qin Yun Chu were Xia Zhijian and his wife Fang Bai, and below them was Xia You. They represented the Xia family.

She wasn't familiar with Xia You, but she knew Xia Zhijian and his wife. Xia Zhijian was a very strong-willed person, and he probably wouldn't stand the carefree Chen Ya. She couldn't arrange for Chen Ya to sit next to him.

On Qin Yunchu's other side was Wang Shaoxian from the Wang family. This guy had the airs of a rich young master and probably wouldn't get along with Chen Ya, so they couldn't sit next to each other.

Further down the line... none of them were easy to deal with. Lu Qingxuan felt that with Chen Ya's temper, there would be problems sitting next to anyone.

After thinking for a moment, she added two seats to the table of the aristocratic families, filling one seat with "Chen Ya" and the other with "Lu Qingxuan".

Mission accomplished!

Lu Qingxuan clapped her hands, printed out the order form, and drifted away under her younger brother's glaring gaze.

Holding the gift list, I found Committee Member Gao, who was discussing the birthday arrangements with my great-grandmother.

"Grandma, the order form is filled out. Please take a look."

"Ah."

Great-grandmother, with great poise, responded softly, put on her reading glasses, and began to look at it intently.

Before long, he frowned deeply.

"Qingxuan, everything else is fine, but why... did you and Chen Ya sit at the aristocratic family's table?"

"Is that not allowed?" Lu Qingxuan felt her face turn a little red, but her answer remained relatively calm.

"You mean you'll go and keep her company, right? It's not that it's impossible, but why do you have to bring Chen Ya along too?" Great-Grandma stared at her, adjusting her glasses.

Lu Qingxuan's actions seemed a bit inexplicable to her, making her wonder if there was something going on between the two of them.

Committee member Gao spoke up from the side: "Chen Ya is indeed a handsome and talented man with excellent piano skills. However, he is from a collateral branch of the family and does not have the surname Lu. If people find out that we have arranged him at this table, I'm afraid many people will have mixed feelings about it."

Lu Qingxuan cleared her throat and said, "Actually..."

"Moreover, he has a rather flamboyant personality, and my original intention was to have him move to the side hall," the great-grandmother said.

“We can’t go to the side hall. Given his status, it’s inappropriate to place him there,” Lu Qingxuan said immediately.

“Why? I think it’s inappropriate to place him in the main hall,” said Committee Member Gao. “Actually, we have been paying close attention to him recently, but Qingxuan, you also need to consider the opinions of the other young people. Paying too much attention to him is not good for him.”

"Actually...actually...he has a very important identity."

Lu Qingxuan said.

Chapter 275 The Beauty Group Holds a Meeting

"A very prestigious status? What kind of status? A top student who studies piano with Langlang?" Committee Member Gao said, "Even if his status is very prestigious, he can only attend this year's Lu Old Master's birthday celebration as a member of the Lu family, sitting with people from other prominent families. Isn't that a random arrangement?"

Before Lu Qingxuan could speak, Committee Member Gao added:

"Besides, if we're talking about powerful status, aren't your father and your second uncle powerful? Even if they come back, they can only be filial sons to Old Master Lu. Do they think they can sit at the table with the businessmen? No matter how powerful Chen Ya's status is, can it be more powerful than your father and your second uncle's? Doesn't that make no sense?"

Gao Jinliang was somewhat displeased.

He thought that Lu Qingxuan, like some other members of the Lu family, was using the matter of arranging seating order to intimidate her great-grandmother after seeing the decline of the main Lu family.

It's no wonder he overthinks things; a similar incident happened not long ago.

Yesterday, the Lu family held a small family meeting where several matters concerning the Lu family's assets were dealt with.

Perhaps the outcome displeased some people, because Lu Yuanhu's daughter immediately gave everyone a hard time.

She openly said, "If it's not related to my family, then we shouldn't invite our family to future meetings. My family's business doesn't really overlap with other businesses in the clan."

Upon hearing this, Great-Grandma's face turned pale. Lu Ningna, who was mild-mannered, blushed and couldn't speak for a long time. It was Gao Jinliang who immediately reprimanded her severely. It's unclear whether Lu Shuying listened to him.

Ever since yesterday's meeting, my great-grandmother has been looking depressed and wouldn't answer when asked what was wrong. It wasn't until this afternoon that she started to feel a little better.

The reason they reacted so strongly was that Lu Shuying's words struck at the very point of their deepest fears.

The reason why the Lu family was so prosperous in the past, and why the younger generation was united, was all because they held the huge Aihua enterprise. Lu Yuanlong was in charge at home, and his word was law. Whatever he arranged went, and everyone got something. Everything was harmonious.

Since Lu Yuanlong was arrested and imprisoned, and the family lost Aihua Company, the family is no longer as harmonious as before, and there are discordant noises everywhere.

It can be said that even if the two brothers, Lu Yuanhu and Lu Yuanbao, were to leave the Lu family from this moment on, it would not have any impact on their careers.

In fact, their actions were close to splitting up the family business.

If the family were to actually split up, the Lu family would truly fall from being a top-tier aristocratic family to a second-rate one, becoming a laughing stock in Beijing's elite circles.

In Gao Jinliang's eyes, Lu Qingxuan's behavior was a dangerous sign. She could put him and Chen Ya on the same level as those powerful families today; he didn't even dare to imagine what she might do tomorrow.

Lu Qingxuan was slightly annoyed by Committee Member Gao's unwarranted misunderstanding. Being incredibly intelligent, she naturally knew what Committee Member Gao had misunderstood, but she didn't know how to explain, as it would only make things worse.

Fortunately, at this moment, Great-Grandma spoke up: "Let them sit at that table. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Both of them are outstanding talents in our Lu family. If they go to that table, they can keep the guests company and chat with them, so that the distinguished guests won't be bored."

Gao Jinliang looked at the old lady: "But..."

"There are no buts. I understand Lu Qingxuan's personality. She is competitive and unwilling to admit defeat, but she has always been on the side of the Lu family and wants the Lu family to be well. She would never intentionally harm the Lu family."

The old lady's gentle words touched Lu Qingxuan, and her eyes welled up with tears as she softly said:

“Great-grandmother, please don’t misunderstand. I don’t necessarily want to sit in another family’s seat. My surname is Lu! It’s just that we couldn’t coordinate the seating arrangements for all parties, so we simply put Chen Ya here. It’s also as you said, so that he can keep the guests company.”

Great-Grandma smiled and said, "But Qingxuan, you still need to revise your order details."

Lu Qingxuan already knew that the location she had chosen would definitely have to be changed, so she humbly said, "Yes, it's okay, please tell me, I'll remember."

"Before I tell you how to change it, I have some news for you that I don't know if it's good or bad," Great-Grandma said with a smile.

"What?" Lu Qingxuan raised her face curiously.

"Gu Yuqing, the president of Yunshan Group, also volunteered to attend the old master's birthday banquet!"

Upon hearing this news, both Lu Qingxuan and Committee Member Gao swayed slightly.

Gao Jinliang hurriedly asked, "Great-Grandma, when did this news come about? How come I didn't know about it?"

Great-Grandma smiled and said, "I just received the news this afternoon and haven't had a chance to tell anyone yet. You two are the first to know."

Gao Jinliang was momentarily dazed before he realized why the old lady had been in such a bad mood earlier, but had inexplicably improved her mood in the afternoon.

Lu Qingxuan was still in shock.

After the initial shock subsided, the first emotion that welled up within her was anger.

“Gu Yuqing…why is she here? What right does she have? She’s clearly the culprit who annexed Aihua, Great-Grandma, why did you invite her…”

She saw a smile on her great-grandmother's face and gradually became puzzled. But then she suddenly realized why her great-grandmother wasn't angry.

"She requested to come here, which means... she wants to ease the tension between the Gu and Lu families?"

Grandma Yu smiled and shook her head, saying, "I don't know."

"And you are...?"

“I don’t know what she means by coming here, nor do I need to know,” said Mrs. Yu. “But her coming here is a signal. It’s a signal not only for us, but also for other prominent families.”

Grandma Yu continued, "For the old master's birthday, the Gu family still came under these circumstances, and even sent Gu Yuqing as their representative. In the eyes of other prominent families, this is a sign of respect for the old master Lu, and also an endorsement of our Lu family. The four great families, Xia, Gu, Lu, and Qin, are ultimately on equal footing. For other families like the Wu and Wang families, it will not be so easy to advance further."

Lu Qingxuan finally understood and smiled slightly, but then frowned again and said:

"But what if Gu Yuqing comes not to congratulate us, but to show off and mock us? I've heard that Gu Yuqing is arrogant and willful, and she might actually do something like that."

Grandma Yu gave a cold laugh and said, "If she comes to cause trouble, then let her cause trouble. My old man is just old, not dead. He has so many old subordinates all over the world. If Gu Yuqing dares to cause trouble at the birthday banquet, she should be prepared to be attacked by the masses the next day!"

Lu Qingxuan became more and more excited as she thought about it, nodding repeatedly and saying, "Then it seems that this really is a great thing."

When Grandma Yu heard her say "great news," she seemed to think of something, her brow furrowing slightly, but she didn't say anything. She eventually relaxed her brow and said:

"However, I'll have to trouble you to rearrange the seating and arrange for Gu Yuqing to sit there. Could you tell me where you'd like to put her?"

Lu Qingxuan knew that the old lady was testing her, so she looked down at the order form in her hand.

This is indeed a difficult problem.

The banquet tables were round, not square. Originally, the seating arrangement at the aristocratic family's table was for Xia Zhijian and his wife to sit side by side with Qin Yun Chu at the head of the table, with Xia Zhijian and his wife on the right and Qin Yun Chu on the left. Xia You sat to Qin Yun Chu's left, separated from Xia Zhijian and his wife.

The Xia and Qin families held a higher status than the other families, so their representatives were seated in the most prominent positions. This was one of the reasons for this arrangement.

In addition, according to dining etiquette, the right side is the place of honor. Xia Zhijian is older than Qin Yunchu, so he sits on the right and Qin Yunchu on the left. In order to avoid suspicion, Qin Yunchu is separated from Xia You and Xia Zhijian and his wife, so that there is no question of who is more honored than whom between the two families.

But if Gu Yuqing comes, things will be completely different.

The Xia, Gu, and Qin families were all four major families in the past, with equal status and basically on equal footing.

If we were to rank them, there would be several ways, such as Xia Gu Lu Qin or Xia Gu Qin Lu. Regardless of which way we rank them, the Xia family would always be number one, slightly higher than the other families.