The chime signaling the official start of the banquet sounded three times, the deep ring of the bronze bell echoing through the hall as the noisy chatter gradually quieted down.
Gu Yanqing stood up from the right side of the head seat, straightened the cuffs of his ink-black robe, and walked to the center of the hall.
The light from dozens of spirit lanterns fell upon his shoulders, casting sharp contours across his youthful face.
His gaze swept over everyone present. After two breaths of silence, he spoke in an unhurried manner.
“Today is my eighteenth birthday. Thank you all for gracing us with your presence; allow me to drink first in your honor.”
He lifted the wine cup from the table and drained it in a single gulp, his movements crisp and neat.
After setting down the cup, he offered a few polite pleasantries in a casual tone.
He essentially asked for their forgiveness for any shortcomings in his hospitality, urging everyone to eat and drink as they pleased without standing on ceremony. Once the courtesies were out of the way, his tone shifted.
“Additionally, I was young and ignorant in the past. If I have ever offended any of you, I offer my apologies today for all of it. If anyone wishes to speak with me privately afterward, please do. Whatever amends I can make, I will not shirk from doing so.”
The moment the words left his mouth, a low murmur of discussion rippled across the tables. Quite a few of those present had been bullied by the original owner of this body; even those who hadn’t had heard of his notorious reputation.
Now that he had said this publicly—neither servile nor insincere, but sufficiently earnest—it caught everyone off guard, leaving them struggling to process it for a moment.
Lin Zhixue sat at the lowest seat in the corner, holding her teacup without taking a sip.
Watching the black-robed youth in the center of the hall apologize to everyone without changing his expression, a certain knot in her heart suddenly loosened.
It wasn't an illusion. Ever since that day in the rainy alley, she had been constantly guessing.
Guessing that he was putting on an act, guessing that he harbored hidden motives, guessing that he would sooner or later reveal his true colors.
Yet now, standing before the children of every prominent family in the city, he said something of the same nature as that day in the rainy alley—and far more substantive than a simple apology.
Perhaps... he truly wasn't the same as before.
Just as she was staring at Gu Yanqing in a daze, his gaze casually swept past the corner and collided squarely with hers.
Lin Zhixue froze for an instant before jerking her head down as if scalded.
Lifting her teacup, she gulped down a large mouthful, not daring to look toward the head seat again.
Fortunately, after finishing his words, Gu Yanqing declared the feast open without any further chatter.
Maids filed into the room, serving dishes onto the tables one after another, and the hall grew lively once more.
Lin Zhixue quietly ate the food in front of her, doing her best to avoid attracting any attention, wanting only to finish quickly and leave early.
“Well, isn't this Zhixue?”
A voice came from beside her, gentle to the point of being nearly warm and affectionate.
Lin Zhixue set down her chopsticks and turned her head.
A youth dressed in a slate-gray brocade robe stood beside her seat, holding a cup of wine in his hand, a well-measured smile on his face.
His facial features were not particularly striking, but he was clean and neat. His posture was upright, and he appeared refined and polite, a stark contrast to the surrounding scions who were laughing and shouting loudly.
Lin Yuanfan. A direct descendant of the Lin family, at the great perfection of Qi Refining.
He possessed the highest cultivation among the Lin family’s younger generation and was deeply valued by the elders.
Ordinarily, he was polite and courteous to everyone; whenever clan members spoke of him, they had nothing but praise.
Yet Lin Zhixue knew he was not who he appeared to be on the surface.
She had seen with her own eyes during a clan competition how he secretly sabotaged a fellow clan disciple and injured them, only to be the first one to rush over afterward to support the victim, wearing an expression of concern so seamless it was flawless.
A person like this was far more terrifying than Shen You.
“What are you doing here?”
Lin Yuanfan widened his eyes slightly as if he had only just recognized her, his tone carrying just the right amount of surprise.
“I didn’t notice earlier. So you came too.”
The words sounded like an ordinary greeting, but with even a moment's thought, one could tell something was off.
She was sitting in a corner, and no one had announced her name when she entered.
To “notice” her would require deliberately looking for her.
“The Gu manor sent an invitation,” Lin Zhixue said, setting down her chopsticks.
“So I came.”
“True.” Lin Yuanfan nodded, the smile on the corner of his lips never wavering.
“The Gu clan invited quite a lot of people this time. They probably just went down the roster name by name and wrote them out; they must have forgotten to filter anyone out.”
Having said that, he didn’t wait for Lin Zhixue to respond, turning around with his wine cup and walking toward the head seat.
Lin Zhixue watched him walk away, her hands resting on her lap slowly relaxing.
She was used to this long ago. In the Lin family, she had heard words like these countless times.
This was what Lin Yuanfan excelled at most.
Smiling to your face while stabbing you in the back.
He wouldn’t humiliate her in public like Shen You did; he would only slip an ethereal thread of sarcasm into an otherwise gentle tone.
Taking a deep breath, she picked up her chopsticks again to take a bite of food, swallowing the bitterness and fury rising in her throat back down together.
Arguing back here would only make herself look worse. She couldn't let him get what he wanted.
Over by the head seat, Lin Yuanfan had already carried his wine cup over to Gu Yanqing, the smile on his face appearing a few degrees more sincere than before.
“Brother Gu, congratulations, congratulations. An eighteenth birthday is a momentous occasion; allow Yuanfan to toast you a cup.”
Gu Yanqing glanced at him, standing up to clink cups with him.
He didn't have much of an impression of this direct descendant of the Lin family. The original owner's memories only contained a few vague fragments, mostly seeing each other a handful of times at banquets in the city during festivals—mere nodding acquaintances.
“Thank you.”
“I’ve heard that Brother Gu has been practicing quite diligently of late. If you find time some other day, why don’t we spar a little?”
After saying this, Lin Yuanfan drained the wine in his cup, cupped his hands with an easy posture, and retreated to his seat.
Watching his retreating figure, Gu Yanqing couldn't shake the feeling that this man smiled a bit too impeccably.
Still, today was his birthday banquet, so he had no time to ponder it.
Halfway through the banquet, after three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere gradually relaxed, and the topics among the younger generation shifted from polite greetings to more casual chatter.
Some spoke of unusual demon beast activity outside the city lately, some boasted about their newly acquired artifacts, and others discussed the cultivation progress of scions from various families.
Right then, Shen You set down her wine cup. Her voice was neither loud nor soft, just enough to cut through the surrounding chatter for most people to hear.
“Just drinking wine is rather dull, isn't it?”
She smiled as her gaze slowly swept across the banquet, finally landing squarely on Lin Zhixue.
“I’ve heard that Little Sister Zhixue has been frequenting the Gu manor lately.”
“Even Young Master Gu said she’s working for him. Presumably, she’s received quite a bit of guidance, and her skills must have progressed leaps and bounds.”
“Why not take advantage of today’s lively occasion and have Little Sister Zhixue show us a thing or two? Anything will do—let everyone broaden their horizons.”
The moment she finished speaking, the lively hall went quiet for a beat.
Who among those present didn't know Lin Zhixue's background?
A branch member of a minor family living in a dilapidated alley in the western part of the city, whose cultivation was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining—what talents could she possibly have?
On the surface, Shen You's words seemed like praise, but in truth, she was putting her over a fire to roast.
Going up would mean making a fool of herself; refusing to go up would mean giving no face.
Under the gaze of the crowd, Lin Zhixue froze in her seat.
Her breath seemed to halt for an instant. She could feel gazes from all directions pricking like needles, but she did not raise her head.
Seated not far away, Lin Yuanfan lifted his wine cup and leisurely took a sip. His gaze drifted past the rim of the cup onto Lin Zhixue, a faint smile playing on the corner of his lips.
He watched on quietly, as if waiting for a good show.
Gu Yanqing set down his wine cup and glanced up at Shen You.
Back in the alley, when he dropped that line about how “her wages are paid by the Gu manor,” it was precisely to let Shen You know Lin Zhixue was under his protection.
For Shen You to still dare make a move under such circumstances, there were only two possibilities.
Either she was too stupid to see he was shielding Lin Zhixue,
or she saw it and simply didn't care.
Whichever it was, she had no sense of propriety.
“My manor doesn’t teach performance arts; it only teaches hard work,” he casually took over the conversation.
“Her skill at loosening soil has indeed improved. Is that what you wish to see?”
As soon as the words fell, a wave of good-natured chuckles rippled through the banquet.
The tension instantly eased, and the gazes that had been waiting to see Lin Zhixue make a fool of herself retracted one after another.
With a single sentence, he had dissolved Shen You's deliberate trap of “displaying her talents” into a harmless joke; Lin Zhixue no longer had to step forward.
Yet he did not stop there.
“However, since Miss Shen mentioned enlivening the atmosphere, why doesn’t Miss Shen show everyone a skill or two first?”
He lifted his wine cup and raised it in Shen You’s direction, his smile faint.
“The Shen clan is a prominent family in Canglan City as well. Miss Shen’s talents surely will not disappoint.”
The smile on Shen You’s face froze for a fraction of a second.
She hadn’t expected Gu Yanqing to stick up for Lin Zhixue so directly, much less kick the ball right back into her court.
Just as she opened her mouth to decline, a bold scion in some corner chimed in, “Young Master Gu is the star of the day on his birthday. Surely you wouldn't refuse even such a small request?”
Several murmurs of agreement immediately rose from the surroundings—some genuinely wanted to watch the fun, while others who couldn't stand Shen You’s usual arrogance took the chance to jeer along.
With the atmosphere forced to this point, Shen You was riding a tiger with no way to dismount.
Forcing a strained smile, she took a seven-stringed zither from a maid's hands, walked to the center of the hall, and sat down.
Taking a deep breath, she placed the zither across her lap, her opening posture still reasonably composed.
The first note was passably accurate. The second note quavered slightly.
By the fourth measure, her fingers slipped and pressed the wrong note; the crisp sound of the zither instantly turned into a harsh discord.
Fine beads of sweat broke out across her forehead. Her fingers grew increasingly stiff, and the more nervous she became, the more mistakes she made, stumbling through the final measures.
When the final note fell, the hall went silent for a moment.
Then someone in a corner couldn't hold it in and let out a soft snort of laughter.
The laugh was so brief it vanished before Shen You could even glare in that direction, but it was enough to make her entire face flush red down to the tips of her ears.
Shoving the zither into the maid's hands, she lowered her head and briskly walked back to her seat, not daring to look in Lin Zhixue's direction again.
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