After one round of Su Tingting greeting to his so-called ‘acquaintances’, the banquet almost started.
The theme of today’s banquet was ‘Admire the Beauty of Flowers’. So even the tea they held in their hands was made of all kinds of dried petals.
No one knew whether Su Tingting was on purpose or not, he happened to sit on the main seat next to Song Qinghan with only several other seats in between. They would surely meet each other in their eyes when he raised their heads.
Su Tingting sneered mockingly when he noticed that Song Qinghan was of great curiosity staring at the petals in the tea cup, and then he uttered leisurely in a big conceit, “It’s called colored flower tea which is made by the freshly-melted snow from ice mountain. Probably some people get his only chance today to have such a drink for their whole lifetime.”
It happened that it was the first time for the majority of the guests to drink such a novelty, so when they saw Su Tinting said so with a pretentious expression, all of them glared at him with annoyance. But the next moment they found that Su Tingting’s gaze was fixed on Song Qinghan, and they found out it was just a mocking words aiming to irritate Song Qinghan. After that, they withdrew their expression, seemingly pretending to be indifferent.
Anyway, it was the first time they drank this kind of tea, yet it didn’t mean that it would be their only chance to enjoy that. It would be funny if they admitted themselves to be the ones criticized
Song Qinghan took a sip of tea with a faint expression and then uttered while remaining his temperament of coldness, “Mhmm, this is kind of a great tea, I must say that it should be quite good for people to clear liver and improve vision, while moistening lung and reducing dryness at the same time. But now it seems that even someone drinks this quite often, he still gets a bad temper himself, I’m afraid he’d better go see a doctor.”
His words were even more clear, and he fixed his target at ‘someone’, so the others naturally wouldn’t be bothered by that at all. They wouldn’t be that kind of stupid to admit they were the only ‘one’ who needed to have a check.
As for the ‘dryness’ Song Qinghan mentioned, those femina husbands stared at each other in awkwardness as if they had misunderstood that the ‘dryness’ actually implied their sexual desire. In that consideration, they laughed but said nothing,
After all, all the people present were mature femina males now except for the husbands of a few candidates. No one didn’t know the relationship between Su Tingting and Lin Dafu. One possessed a good look and wealth, the other got the power and background. Probably it would be a true love if their possessions reversed, yet the one who got the good look and wealth was actually Lin Dafu. So, he who got the eyes would clearly see that it wasn’t love relationship at all.
Su Tingting was enraged by other people’s ambiguous gazes. He slapped the table without even noticing the sprinkling of tea, and then he shouted, “Song Qinghan! What are you talking about? WHO IS THE ‘SOMEONE’? Make it clear, don’t try to make yourself a sagacious wit!”
“By the way,” he paused, and then slowed down his tone, sneering, “Guys, probably this news would be quite a surprise for you. This Childe, the husband of that Wu guy, was just a concubine to my husband before. It might be beyond your expectation that he was actually a slut and had an affair with someone else. That’s the reason he was kicked by my husband out of his mansion that time. I heard that he had been pregnant for a total six months when he married Wu Dahu. Probably Wu Dahu was too magnanimous, so that he was most willing to help raise a mongrel, haha!”
Seeing everyone around gasping in disbelief, Su Tingting continued in satisfaction, “Well, well, old habits die hard, I wonder where will the next destination be for SOMEONE, hehe.”
“It’s quite lively. But how come you’re clearer about everything than the experiencer? Should it be that you were present when all these things happened?”
Before Song Qinghan could think about how to fight back, a familiar voice sounded.
He turned his head backward, and beyond his expectation, Hening emerged suddenly behind his back. With a great shock, he rose from the seat without knowing what the way he should adopt to pay a salute.
Su Tingting’s personality had always been domineering. But since he was safe these years without worrying himself to be punished, of course he also knew whom he should be afraid of at the same time. So it was the first time for him to be disputed.
He wanted to see who dared to talk at this time, but Song Qinghan stood there, completely blocking his sight to the man behind. The only thing he could see was that the other party didn’t get a seat to have a sit, so he just randomly thought that it must be an untrained servant, and then he sneered, shouting fiercely, “We masters are chatting here, who give you the gut to interrupt us? What are you waiting for? Slap yourself on your cheeky face for the punishment.”
Su Tingting couldn’t see and Hening’s appearance, yet the other could. They just didn’t react but was suddenly shocked by Su Tingting’s heaven-daring words. The next moment all of them expect Su Tingting rose from their seats and made a bow for paying their respect, and then greeted in chorus, “Your Highness.”
Song Qinghan imitated the actions of the rest of the guests. Just as he was about to make a bow, he was supported by a gentle force. With a shock he raised his head and met Hening’s eyes full of tenderness.
“Take your seats! I don’t want to bother your current happiness because of my presence.”
Su Tingting trembled and he quickly stood up. But it seemed that his softened legs failed him to make that, he even failed to make a integrate salute but knee down instead and lay on his stomach in a way of prostration.
A cold light flashed across Hening’s eyes and he calmly asked, “Su Tingting, right? Didn’t you just say that you’re a sovereign master? How come you make such a heavy prostration now to me, shouldn’t I slap myself on my cheeky face?”
Seeing Hening counted all his words one by one, Su Tingting knew that it wouldn’t be easy for him to settle this matter down. He didn’t even dare to raise his head and said in a weeping voice, “Your Highness, I beg for your great forgiveness to my pair of blind eyes. A great man is above being bothered by a small person’s faults, please spare my life!”
“Oh? Spare your life? What’s wrong with you? Confess to me now.” asked Hening.
He remained his calmness on face, acting like nothing was able to produce him more redundant emotions.
A trace of embarrassment flashed across Su Tingting’s face and he said hesitantly, “I should not have mistakenly misjudged you as a servant, and said something improperly, Your Highness…”
The crowd was silent. Seeing that Hening didn’t say anything, Su Tingting naturally knew that this wasn’t a standard answer. He frowned for a moment and mumbled, “I shouldn’t have been talking nonsense?”
Hening finally got a bit reaction on his face, he raised his eyebrows slightly and put his hands on his back, saying, “How come?”
At this moment, Su Tingting finally got his idea into shape. Although there was a trace of reluctance in his eyes, he still quickly answered, “I shouldn’t have randomly talked about Song Qinghan. After all, I can’t be sure if that is true.”
“Well, you should know that he who makes a mistake should pay for a price, right?”
Hening lowered his eyes staring on the ground, his expression still remained an extreme calmness as if he was currently talking about the weather.
Su Tingting suddenly raised his head and gritted his teeth and said to Song Qinghan, “Sir Song, I’m so sorry about the rudeness, please I hope it won’t bother you that much, if you are still angry, I will be all responsible for that, I will take that!”
Looking at the eyes of redness of Su Tingting, Song Qinghan got an expression the one same as Hening, and he responded calmly, “If you don’t look at me like the way a foe does, Sir Su, I will totally satisfied. And as for the other matter, I don’t demand excessively.”
Hearing that, Su Tingting tightened his fists and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He was waiting and trying to calm down as if he was eradicating the rage in his pupils, he stared at Song Qinghan calmly and said, “Thank you Sir Song, for your large-handed forgiveness.”
Things finally came to an end. The host of the banquet noticed the expression of Hening and quickly walked out to smooth things over. “Ah, this protagonist is finally going to go on stage. What a coincidence, Your Highness Hening! Please, you have to taste the newly-brand flower tea I have prepared. Though it pales into insignificance when comparing to the rare flowers and plants in Your Highness’s mansion, it’s still the rarest one in here!”
Everyone else was observant as well, so they echoed at the same time and tried to change the topic to the flower’s appraisal.
Song Qinghan sat back in his seat and when he saw Hening sitting in the main seat, he waved at Hening with a bit astonishment.
Seeing that, the host of the banquet walked over and pulled Song Qinghan over. He arranged a seat for Song Qinghan which was just one seat next to the main one, while the others had to move downward because of this change.
Same situation to Su Tingting, at the moment he just sat tight on his seat, he was forced to get up immediately by the change. With such a reluctance, he glanced at Song Qinghan angrily. But when his gaze met the one from Hening, which was full of extreme coldness, he reacted like a mouse encountering a cat, and the next moment he suddenly lowered his head, pretending to play with the cup in his hands.
Song Qinghan actually didn’t like to make such a big show. If he wasn’t informed by Li Ziniu that this banquet must-attend one, he should have refused it. He never bothered himself to steal anyone’s thunder here but just intended to show his appearance and leave without stirring up any waves. Hence, when he noticed that everyone was looking at him and sizing him up and down, he felt that the seat was seemingly equipped with thousands and millions of needles beneath his butt, making him be rather of unease.
After talking to the host of the banquet for a brief moment, Hening noticed Song Qinghan’s current situation, he put his hand on the one of Song Qinghan and whispered, “What’s wrong?” Are you feeling uncomfortable?”
Logically speaking, they actually were both femina man, there would be nothing strange even if they sleep together in the same bed. However, just at the moment Hening’s hand covered on the one of Song Qinghan, Song Qinghan couldn’t help but feel a sense of creepiness. He withdrew his hand subconsciously, saying, “Nothing, probably because this is the first time for me to attend such a luxurious banquet, I’m kind of like a fish out of water currently.”
Hening paused, withdrew his hand slowly as if he was totally indifferent, and then he pushed his tea cup to Song Qinghan on the table while taking over the one which was already cold while saying slowly, “Drink the hot one, the cold one is not that good.”
The host of the banquet had always been paying attention to the situation over here. When he heard Song Qinghan praise his banquet, he felt quite comfortable in mind. He didn’t care much about the incident he had caused today but just chuckled and said, “Sir Song, if you really like this kind of banquet, I will invite you if you would like to come. It will totally be our honor to have you in our banquets.”
To his surprise, Hening, the one who always put on a cold face, crooked his lips and said faintly, “Count me in! I almost miss the chance this time!”
Song Qinghan didn’t come to comprehend what Hening said, but the host of the banquet understood everything. Because he didn’t invite Hening this time, when he saw Hening suddenly appear, he still felt a little surprised. He asked the servant and found out that they had just arrived not long ago, and they didn’t let anyone make any sound of his arrival.
He clearly knew that it was no reason at all for Hening to attend such an ordinary banquet. Only one fact could be able to explain that– Hening came here for someone.
Thinking of this, he glanced at Song Qinghan and in the second thought, he had to admit that Song Qinghan indeed possessed an incomparable appearance. Even though Song Qinghan didn’t get a convictive temperament, the peacefulness and calmness on his face came with a faint temperament of bookishness, making him the most easy-going childe in this banquet.
Yet, this kind of temperament wasn’t a kind of thunder-stealing type at all. Thus, if Su Tingting didn’t create such a disturbance in the banquet, he would have no chance and mood to chat with Song QInghan even though one of his intentions to hold this banquet was to meet with these femina husbands of the candidates.