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Engagement Banquet (3)
Bai Qi licked his lips and found the atmosphere was a little stiff. He asked in a low voice, “Xi-ge, where do you spend your New Year’s?” He didn’t ask if Xi Chengyun had other relatives, just in case he rubbed salt into his wound.
“I’d usually spend it in production sets.”
Bai Qi reached to touch the pen. “So...” ‘Since mom and dad know anyway, and they’ve also sent the invite...’
“Would you like to come home with me?” Bai Qi asked.
Xi Chengyun froze and immediately turned to look at him.
The car was on the road.
Colorful lights flashed one after another from behind Xi Chengyun. Some of the light shone on Xi Chengyun’s eye and reflected a magnificent color.
Xi Chengyun stared at Bai Qi.
‘Huh?’ Bai Qi thought.
Xi Chengyun suddenly laughed and whispered, “It’ll be very difficult to separate after I’ve met your parents. They would relentlessly question you to get to the bottom of things.”
“...” Bai Qi thought.
He had a point.
And this was something that Bai Qi hadn’t considered.
‘But... What excuse can I give to dad to explain why Xi Chengyun won’t be coming to our house for the New Year’s?’
‘Oh, I can say that he’s busy with work.’
“Thank you for your invitation,” Xi Chengyun said.
At that moment, the color in Xi Chengyun’s eyes seemed to have changed again.
He then said, “I will accept the offer.”
‘HUH???’ Bai Qi thought.
‘This is different from what we’d just concluded!’
‘But I am the one who invited him, and it doesn’t seem like the best idea to tell him to not come just because I’ve already thought of an excuse for you!’
They were in the car for almost an hour before they reached their destination.
They were at the gate of a small manor on the outskirts of Jing City.
The red carpet had been paved and at the entrance, there was a flower arch made from fresh flowers with bows made from white fine gauze on it.
Bai Qi took the pen off temporarily and placed it back into the box.
Xi Chengyun pinned a ruby brooch on him in replacement, but the brooch looked like it was worth 10 dollars and could be bought in bulk.
The car door opened, and they both went down, one after another.
Many guests had already arrived, so there weren’t many people outside. There were a few servers outside who were stunned when they saw Xi Chengyun.
“Xi, Mr. Xi?”
Xi Chengyun bent his elbow and Bai Qi immediately linked his arm with his and handed the invitation to the servers.
The servers looked at the invitation and escorted them into the place, still in shock.
Jiang Fangcheng was standing and looking down from a room on the third floor.
He didn’t expect Xi Chengyun to attend his engagement banquet.
However, as is seen now, his older brother is crueler than he’d expected.
Xi Chengyun brought Bai Qi along after the live broadcast.
For a moment, Jiang Fangcheng even thought about the outcome if he were to jump down from where he was.
Would Bai Qi finally realize how much he likes him and that he had no choice with the engagement? And would Bai Qi realize just how scary his older brother is?
Just as he contemplated, Father Jiang entered the room.
“Your older brother is here, we should go down to greet them.”
Xi Chengyun brought Bai Qi along with him and from the look on the faces of the guests, he could tell that many of them were shocked.
It was a given that they could recognize Xi Chengyun’s face, but they weren’t sure about how he and the Jiang family were related.
Father Jiang was dressed in his usual Tangzhuang* and was slowly walking down the stairs.
*Tangzhuang (ć”èŁ…) is a type of traditional Chinese wear, a kind of Manchu jacket with a straight collar.
He broke into a smug smile.
His eldest son still came home.
He was very pleased.
This meant that Xi Chengyun could still be a pillar of support to the Jiang family.
Slowly, some people couldn’t help but chatter about the situation.
“Why did they invite a celebrity?”
“What do you mean by a celebrity? Oh my, Old Lee, did you not get wind of anything? Best Actor Xi may be an impeccable actor, but there’s no way he could avoid scandals and easily climb to the top of the industry by simply being brilliant, right?” The person who was listening laughed before the other continued, “He is the sole successor of the Xi family.”
“Which Xi are you referring to?”
“Are you drunk? It’s the renowned Xi family from abroad.”
“... F*ck.”
President Peng was listening in and couldn’t help but feel shocked and regretful.
He and the Jiang family had real estate dealings, and that was why he was invited.
Before he could internalize the generosity of the Jiang family, he’d now heard such exceptional gossip again.
President Peng couldn’t help but mutter to himself.
‘People who are born at the top of the world are different from the likes of people like myself.’
Despite being addressed as President X and CEO Y, most of his income was from the few construction sites he owned, and he had to give countless numbers of toasts each day
 Whereas for people like Best Actor Xi, who’d inherited the riches from his ancestors, they’d already done the accumulation of capital for him, so all he had to do was to relax and let the money roll in.
President Peng had a wine glass in hand. ‘If I don’t manage to give a toast to Chairman Jiang later on, I can give it to Young President Jiang instead.’
As for Best Actor Xi, he could forget about it, since he couldn’t even squeeze into the gossiping group.
President Peng walked forward.
Just then, he saw Young President Jiang approaching Best Actor Xi.
Young President Jiang’s cheeks seemed to be trembling.
He didn’t know if it was due to anger or something else...
“You truly are my
” good older brother.
Before Jiang Fangcheng could complete his sentence, Bai Qi smiled brightly and said, “The Jiang family did a great job of exterminating unwanted guests.”
Jiang Fangcheng was turning all sorts of pale and swallowed all his words back down.
“... I, at that time, I didn’t want to lie to you, I...”
President Peng watched as Young President Jiang hung his head low.
‘This is so odd.’
‘Young President Jiang usually has a terrible temper.’
While President Peng was exclaiming, something else caught his eye.
‘Why does the boy next to Xi Chengyun look so much like Old Bai’s son?’
The last time he saw Old Bai’s son was a few years ago, so he wasn’t too sure either.
The kid back then was honey-tongued. He wasn’t fully grown yet, so he looked both feminine and masculine, which actually enhanced his natural facial features.
When he found out that something happened to his dad’s company, his eyes were teary, and he looked absolutely lost and uncertain about life. Bai Qi said to him, “Thank you, Mr. Peng.”
He looked oh so pitiful.