Not a single detail of Yueyue’s birthday banquet could be sloppy.
Han Qishan secretly made up his mind.
After all, this was his precious granddaughter’s first time appearing publicly in the circle. If he didn’t make it lively and splendid, would that make sense? For this, he didn’t hesitate to personally step in, arranging and overseeing everything.
Watching him every day, leaning on a cane as he met with the hotel manager, then the gift company manager, running around nonstop, Han Shen couldn’t help getting a headache.
“You think Dad needs to go this far?”
Han Ke spread his hands, shrugged: “He doesn’t need to, but he’s willing.”
Han Heng clicked his tongue: “Honestly, it’s nice when the old man stays busy. At least he has no time to watch me.”
As for Jiang Fuyue, the star of the banquet, she didn’t need to handle anything. She peacefully acted like someone who threw everything off to others.
Old Master Han: “Good girl, Grandpa guarantees he won’t let you down!”
Jiang Fuyue said okay.
Two days later, he called again: “Good girl, what color do you like? What flowers?”
“Purple. Iris.”
……
In the blink of an eye, the day of the birthday banquet arrived.
The guests were all long-time family associates of the Hans and business partners.
The men wore suits, bringing their families along.
The women had refined makeup and hair, skirts swaying.
It was a birthday banquet, but also a place of fame and fortune.
“Old Master Han, congratulations, congratulations! Two precious jewels lost and found!”
Han Qishan shook hands with him, smiling so widely his wrinkles overlapped: “Thank you for giving face, please come in.”
As the eldest son, Han Shen was also busy welcoming guests, shaking hands and making small talk.
Li Chen also came today, accompanying his father, dressed up like a model citizen.
Li Jiahui: “I don’t care how messy you are normally, but today you behave yourself!”
Li Chen pursed his lips. Another boring social event, did he want to come? Heh…
Wouldn’t staying home and studying two more pages of Investment Analysis feel better? Yes, while the classmates around him were either studying diligently or developing side businesses, Li Chen hadn’t been idle.
He had always been interested in investment. Occasionally he bought some stocks for fun, winning more than losing, but it really was just for fun. He had never studied deeply.
But after the Seven-School Joint Training ended, seeing others studying, creating clubs, it felt like if he didn’t do something he didn’t fit into the group.
But he didn’t like studying, and he had no particular talents. After thinking it over, it seemed the one thing he did decently was buying stocks. So he began systematic investment study, hired tutors, listened to online courses, and practiced real operations.
As he studied deeper and his knowledge expanded, Li Chen felt like he had opened the door to a new world.
Every teacher who instructed him said he had talent, an accurate intuition, and high alertness. He was a natural stock market hunter.
Receiving affirmation, Li Chen became even more diligent. He didn’t fall behind in schoolwork either. In his idle university years, he actually felt a hint of the tension usually found only before college entrance exams.
But the sense of fulfillment satisfied him immensely.
In his own words: “I feel like I have endless energy all over.”
Director Li was astonished to find that the family’s little troublemaker hadn’t caused trouble in a long time.
He called the school, and the teacher said everything was normal. But the McLaren in the garage hadn’t been driven out in ages, and the family doctor hadn’t come over due to fights and injuries.
Strange!
“Are you brewing another bad idea? Planning something big?”
Li Chen: “?” Is this my biological father?
Anyway, Director Li didn’t quite believe it. A dog can’t stop eating crap; how could Li Chen stop making trouble?
But facts proved that in the past one or two months he really had been unbelievably well-behaved.
Director Li: “?” Happiness came too suddenly.
At the other side, Liang Jingzhou also arrived, his bored expression identical to Li Chen’s.
While the adults chatted and socialized, the young ones finally slipped away.
Liang Jingzhou: “You’re here too?”
Li Chen: “Dragged by my dad.”
Liang Jingzhou immediately grabbed his hand: “Fellow sufferer.”
Li Chen: “……”
“I don’t even know what this banquet is. I was just dragged over. By the way, what banquet is this?”
Li Chen scanned the hall. Everything was purple-themed, satin ribbons, a red carpet, irises lining both sides. It looked youthful, vibrant, unexpectedly girlish?
He was confused too. Wasn’t this a business event? “What’s the surname of this family again?”
Liang Jingzhou: “?” You’re asking me? I want to ask you!
“Well well, you two actually hid here. Made me and Old Cheng search everywhere.” At that moment, Gu Huaiyu and Cheng Lian walked over side by side.
Great. The whole set was complete.
Liang Jingzhou: “Why are you two here too?”
Gu Huaiyu raised a brow: “Sister Yue’s birthday banquet allows you two to come but not us? What kind of logic…”
“Sister Yue?! Birthday banquet?”
“What? You didn’t know?” Gu Huaiyu twitched the corner of his mouth and reminded him: “This is the Han family!”
Oh right, Jiang Fuyue was the Han family’s granddaughter. Li Chen had investigated her background before.
Liang Jingzhou cleared his throat: “…Now I know.”
Gu Huaiyu: “Your reaction arc is really long.”
At least Li Chen, who had only just found out, was smarter. He stayed quiet to avoid being mocked.
“Where’s Sister Yue?”
Cheng Lian checked his watch: “The banquet hasn’t officially started yet. She shouldn’t be here.”
Liang Jingzhou: “Hehe… maybe she’s still getting her makeup done. Girls are so troublesome. Unlike us, just put on a suit and we’re out the door.”
Gu Huaiyu rubbed his chin and blurted: “Actually, she looks good even without makeup.”
“Of course,” Liang Jingzhou nodded, “her stunning beauty isn’t an exaggeration.”
Li Chen muttered: “Looks good without makeup, looks even better with makeup, and if she puts on a long dress…”
From a male aesthetic perspective, he felt Jiang Fuyue would look extremely beautiful in a long dress, especially one with a fitted cut, strapless design, and silk fabric.
Every step would be graceful and charming.
Pair that with those luminous peach-blossom eyes, a light sweep, a faint glance, any man probably couldn’t resist.
“…Old Li?! What are you thinking about? I called you several times and you didn’t respond.” Gu Huaiyu elbowed him. “And you’re smiling so nastily.”
Li Chen snapped back: “Did.. did I? I didn’t, right.”
“Ohhh! Still not admitting it! Fishy, very fishy!”
“Hehehe… were you thinking about Sister Yue?” Liang Jingzhou showed a wicked smile of I have already seen through you. “Don’t deny it. A real man admits what he thinks. Sister Yue is pretty and smart. Only an idiot wouldn’t think about her.”
“Oh! So you admit you thought about her!” Li Chen countered.
To his shock, Liang Jingzhou nodded openly: “Yeah, of course I thought about her. Sister Yue is the dream girl of all the boys in school right now. Old Gu, Old Cheng, I ask you both, haven’t you thought about her? Don’t pretend. Be honest, OK?”
Gu Huaiyu’s eyes flickered.
Cheng Lian looked up at the sky.
Choosing silence at a time like this already said everything.
Liang Jingzhou wiggled his brows at Li Chen: See? Only you deny it. Only you’re fake!
Li Chen: “……” Wants to punch someone.
But Old Gu and Old Cheng’s reactions…
He was quietly shocked.
Suddenly——
“Hey, you guys, what do you think? How about I pursue Jiang Fuyue?” Liang Jingzhou dropped a bombshell.
Gu Huaiyu’s face darkened: “Not good.”
Li Chen curled his lip. “You?”
Cheng Lian directly shook his head and slowly spat out three words. “You’re overthinking.”
Liang Jingzhou was so angry he rolled his eyes wildly. “What’s that supposed to mean? Huh? You’re jealous! You’re just cowards, and you still want to drag others down? Insidious! Deceitful! Narrow-minded!”
“Just wait till I win Sister Yue over. I’ll make every one of you start calling me brother-in-law!”
Li Chen: “Jiang Fuyue’s eyes work just fine, and her brain isn’t broken either.” The implication being, how could she ever like you?
Gu Huaiyu: “Aren’t you the grandson? And you still want to be the brother-in-law?”
Cheng Lian: “Wake up. Dream too much and you’ll start drooling.”
Liang Jingzhou: “……” D*mn!
The four boys chattered back and forth. Some cursing, some mocking, their voices growing louder and louder, with several clear mentions of “Jiang Fuyue” sprinkled throughout.
A bunch of teenagers, their fondness and admiration unabashed, reckless and unruly.
Suddenly, the joking stopped abruptly.
Because in their line of sight, a dark figure moved!
Right by the fountain pool not far away.
Because the lighting was so dim, aside from the steady sound of rushing water, no one would normally spare the spot a second glance.
Yet in that exact place… someone was standing there!
When he didn’t move, his silhouette blended almost completely into the darkness. Li Chen and the others hadn’t noticed at all.
“Hey, you, why’re you eaves—” dropping?
Before the words finished, the figure walked away directly, his steps steady with not a hint of panic from being caught eavesdropping. On the contrary, his departing back even gave off a trace of… coldness?
“Seriously… who is that? Does he not know manners?”
“Silent as a ghost, and when caught he acts all high and mighty.”
“That… did he hear everything?”
The four looked at each other, their expressions a bit unnatural.
“Let’s hope he doesn’t know who we are.”
“And doesn’t know Jiang Fuyue.”
Amitabha!
Cheng Lian: “The banquet’s about to start. Let’s go in.”
“Yeah.”
The four left.
……
Inside, their eyes met a sea of purple.
Not cheap stickers, and no messy decorations. The backdrop was a massive purple folding screen.
Silver thread embroidered a young phoenix spreading its wings, about to take flight.
But from the other side, the design became a young tiger chasing a butterfly among flowers.
Majestic on one side, playful on the other.
The phoenix’s nobility, the tiger’s fierceness.
“What a gorgeous double-sided embroidery! This must’ve cost a fortune!”
“I remember ten years ago Christie’s auctioned off an embroidered screen called ‘Phoenix and Tiger’s Youthful Play’. It set the all-time record for the highest auction price of an embroidered piece and still holds it. Could this be that one?”
“Seems the rumors outside weren’t false. The old Han master really dotes on this granddaughter to the extreme. Even a sky-high auction piece is used like a decoration, casually put up to dress the venue.”
“By the way, what’s the story with this Han family young miss? How come we never heard of her before?”
“That’s because you don’t know. It started twenty years ago with the Han family’s youngest daughter…”
Most of the guests today hadn’t investigated Jiang Fuyue like Li Chen had. So ninety-nine percent of them didn’t connect “Jiang Fuyue” with “the Han family’s young miss.”
They only knew the Han family had a hidden gem who’d never shown her face in elite circles, and that online there was a genius girl named Jiang Fuyue.
Although thanks to Han Heng, Jiang Fuyue’s identity wasn’t a secret to gossip-savvy netizens, how many of the guests here spend all day glued to Weibo?
So when the banquet began and Jiang Fuyue came down the stairs arm-in-arm with the old master, the astonishment and admiration in everyone’s eyes were unmistakable.
She wore an off-shoulder white dress trimmed with lace ruffles, revealing pale shoulders and a beautiful collarbone.
The skirt used feather elements, draping elegantly, the light feathers floating slightly as she walked.
Light makeup, long hair pinned up, and a dazzling diamond mini-crown tilted slightly in her hair.
Skin like snow, eyes shimmering.
She stood there, without doing or saying anything, already a breathtaking sight.
Liang Jingzhou stood in the hall, looked up, and at one glance, swallowed involuntarily.
So beautiful…
Beside him, Li Chen was also stunned, suddenly remembering when Jiang Fuyue grabbed the back of his neck and slammed him into the ground.
In his mind, her current ethereal appearance kept switching with that wild, ruthless version of her who beat him up back then.
Wearing a long white dress, yet with a hotter temper than fire.
Gu Huaiyu’s eyes were equally unfocused.
Cheng Lian also looked stunned.
If even the four of them reacted this way, one could imagine the impact on everyone else.
At that moment, the conversations faded, replaced by waves of quiet inhalations.
“So this is… the Han family’s lost pearl?”
“I thought a child raised outside would inevitably be rough and lacking poise. Didn’t expect this. This is a wake-up call! Interesting! Very interesting!”
“This calm temperament, that gracious smile, how is this someone raised in an ordinary household? Just her bearing alone surpasses most of the young ladies here.”
“No wonder old Han treasures her like his life. If I had such a beautiful granddaughter, I’d want to hold her in my palm and keep her in my heart.”
“I heard the Han family’s youngest daughter was also charming and stunning back then. Such a pity…”
“This little girl is even prettier than her mother was!”
Not just her looks, but that cool, frost-like, snow-chill aura.
You want to approach, yet you don’t dare.
From afar she stands unmoved, while your side is anxious and restless, wanting yet unable to reach.
“Hmm… why do I feel she looks familiar? Have we seen her somewhere before?”
“So I’m not the only one thinking that.”
“Yeah! Definitely familiar!”
“I remember now, she’s that super impressive top-student Sister Yue online! The one who just published three CNS papers a few days ago, with every major media outlet reporting and trending nonstop.”
“Ah! My two kids practically worship her like a study goddess, calling her Sister Yue this, goddess that, all day long.”
“It’s actually her!”
Everyone was stunned.
What kind of monstrous genes does the Han family have? Their child is not only beautiful like a fairy but also an academic star?
Just then, Jiang Fuyue and the old master finished descending the last step.
Han Qishan announced loudly before everyone. “This is my granddaughter—Jiang, Fu, Yue! In the future, I hope all of you uncles and aunties will take good care of her.”
The old master paused, then added, “Moon-moon’s been spoiled rotten by me. She’s very willful and can’t take even the smallest grievance. If she offends anyone, tell me and I’ll discipline her. But if anyone dares lay a hand on her, don’t blame me for flipping the table!”
The old master said this all with a smile. But no one was foolish enough to take it as a joke.
Han Ke folded his arms. “Dad is blatantly biased. How come I never got this treatment growing up?”
Han Shen: “I didn’t either. So what are you complaining about?”
Han Heng clicked his tongue. “That deadly grandparent-bias, huh? In the old man’s eyes, the three of us brothers probably rank below the family dog.”
The dog tied up in the back garden right then: “Woof woof—woof woof woof—”
……
After Han Qishan finished, the crowd was silent for a moment.
Then, recovering from their daze, they all stepped forward smiling to offer congratulations.
“Old Han, you hid this granddaughter well. Only now do you introduce her to us. Congratulations, congratulations. After hardship comes blessing, her future is bright!”
Han Qishan cupped his hands. “I’ll borrow your good words.”
“Chairman Han, your granddaughter is incredible. Yesterday she was all over the news!”
“You flatter her. Kids shouldn’t be praised too much. Might make them arrogant!”
“That’s not flattery. I’m just stating facts.”
Surrounded by praise for Jiang Fuyue, Han Qishan beamed with pride.
He acted modest, but inside he was smug.
The three Han brothers were speechless.
Could you not be so “dog-like” at your age?
Han Qishan proved with actions: No. He is exactly “dog-like.” So what?
“……”
Because the old man stole all the spotlight, Jiang Fuyue, the rightful center of attention, was instead overlooked.
She seized the chance and slipped out decisively.
Outside, the clinking glasses and bustling chatter faded behind her, and only then did she exhale lightly.
The moonlight was bright overhead, and nearby the fountain pool lay in dim light.
Suddenly, someone tapped her shoulder lightly.
Jiang Fuyue turned around…
So… can everyone guess who the dark figure was?
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