Chapter 456 – Family Banquet (First Part)
Zhao Hai sat in the carriage with his eyes closed. His face didn’t express happiness nor sadness, he just held a calm expression. However, his heart wasn’t very tranquil.
Megan was looking at Zhao Hai with a somewhat uneasy feeling. Zhao Hai had been like this ever since they went out of the Robert Family’s shop. Seeing Zhao Hai closing his eyes made her restless.
Megan was not afraid of anything else but Zhao Hai misunderstanding her relations.h.i.+p with Terry. In fact, she and Terry were childhood friends. But when she transferred to Sky Water City, their interactions became minimal. After seeing him after some years, she saw that something changed with Terry. Smith also opposed to her meeting up with him. Since Megan didn’t have any particular feelings towards Terry, she also slowly drifted away from him.
Later on, with the exception of relatives and those belonging to great powers, all men who came in contact with Megan had suffered bad luck. Moreover, she also heard that these seem to be caused by Terry.
Megan wasn’t worrying about Zhao Hai’s safety, but seeing how calm Terry was today made her very nervous. She was afraid that Zhao Hai might misunderstand. So she just sat there soundlessly, becoming more nervous as time pa.s.sed by.
Laura naturally noticed Megan’s expression. She was a perceptive woman so she immediately understood what Megan was thinking. However, she thought that Megan’s worries were all useless. She believed that Zhao Hai’s thoughts weren’t on those matters. In order to not make Megan worry, Laura asked Zhao Hai, “Brother Hai, what are you thinking about?”
Zhao Hai opened his eyes and looked at the group before saying, “This Terry isn’t very simple. I can see that this guy looks very enthusiastic when meeting Megan. But when his gaze wanders to me, he would reveal a small killing intent, and manages to hide it quite well. And the fact that he didn’t make any moves while doing business with us made me think that he isn’t a good person to deal with. I think he would use underhanded methods to take a shot at me.”
When she heard Zhao Hai, Megan relaxed. It seems like Zhao Hai didn’t suspect her relations.h.i.+p with Terry.
Megan let out a long sigh and said, “Big Brother Hai, it’s alright, there’s no need to fear Terry. Although Terry is the first in line successor for the Robert Family, he wasn’t someone who can cover the skies with one hand. Those in higher positions in their family are also keeping a keen eye on him. The Robert Family isn’t like mine, the heirs of the family all came from the grandsons, making their status quite high. Even if Terry is indeed a grandson of the current Patriarch of the family, there were a lot of grandsons who held the same right to succession like him. Once he does something wrong, the family wouldn’t hesitate to abolish his status as first in line and would just give it to another one. But their family doesn’t have a testing phase like ours, the family’s heir immediately becomes very powerful.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Naturally, I don’t fear him, but I really don’t want to reveal my strength. Because of this, Terry’s actions might give us a bit of trouble. Don’t forget, even if I’m engaged to you, in the eyes of the Rosen Empire, I am an outsider. If I do reveal my hand just to deal with Terry, those n.o.bles might join up to deal with me. When that time comes, I’m afraid that even Calci Family wouldn’t be able to help me.”
Megan didn’t oppose, instead she agreed. Now that she had more contact with this aspect of the world, she naturally understood the power of the n.o.bles. If those n.o.bles did ally up to deal with Zhao Hai, then Zhao Hai’s troubles certainly wouldn’t be small. Let alone the Calci Family, even the Rosen Imperial Clan wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Laura also nodded, then said, “Right, Brother Hai is right to be worried. But I’m afraid Terry knows about this too, so if he decides to begin to move, it would certainly be troublesome.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “This person is very sinister and manipulative. We should take care and pay more attention to his future actions.”
Megan nodded, “Big Brother Hai, I will say this matter to Grandpa, making him take note of this as well. If Terry dares make a move on you, then we wouldn’t spare him.”
Zhao Hai looks at Megan and smiled, “What happened? I thought that you have a good impression with that fellow? Did he offend you?”
Megan shook her head and said, “He didn’t, but I heard about how sinister he was, not just from what I heard from Brother Hai. Father told me that since our families are close friends, the two of us grew up together. In the past, our relations.h.i.+p has been good, and after I moved to Sky Water City, out communications have been cut short. But we still see each other everytime I go to the capital. Afterwards, Father told me that he is too sinister, and to not make contact with him. Because of that, I slowly drifted away from him.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “Uncle Smith must have known something. We must seriously be careful with Terry, this person hides too much.” While they were talking, the bull-pulled carriage arrived at the foot of Dark Mountain.
Megan thought for a moment and said, “Brother Hai, I think there would be a lot of banquets in the city. Terry will definitely partic.i.p.ate in them, you must be careful whenever you attend one.”
Zhao Hai nodded, “Be relieved, if worse comes to worst, I can just exterminate his Robert Family, hmph.”
Megan didn’t think that Zhao Hai was lying, if Terry really does provoke Zhao Hai too far, the Robert Family surely wouldn’t fare very well. Not only the Robert Family, even the entire Rosen Empire can be turned upside down by Zhao Hai.
Before long, their carriage stopped on front of Dark Soldier Fort. After the group changed vehicles, they entered the fort and proceeded to Rustling Tree Courtyard.
When they arrived at the courtyard, a servant immediately greeted them, “Young Master, Young Lady, the Patriarch conveyed a message. Tonight, our Calci Family would be doing its Family Banquet. Everybody must partic.i.p.ate.”
Megan nodded and said, “Alright, you can head back.” The servant nodded and then turned away.
Zhao Hai smiled bitterly and said, “I’m going to say it, this feast wouldn’t be better than eating at home.”
Megan smiled, “This Family Banquet isn’t much different than normal banquets. This feast is done by the family every year, even servants partic.i.p.ate. When the event comes, people would go to the main square and loosen all tensions regarding their status. Everyone will sit and drink with each other, it is the Calci Family’s most popular party.”
When Zhao Hai heard Megan, his eyes turned bright as he said, “That’s good, I must prepare well. Right, we bought a lot of snacks today. We should contribute those to the banquet, let’s go tell Grandpa Gan.”
Megan nodded and smiled, “Alright, let’s go see Grandpa Gan. While we’re at it, we should also give Grandpa Green the goods that we bought earlier. Iron Mountain Fort will also have their festivities, it would be great if Grandpa Green receives those much earlier.”
Zhao Hai nodded, he looked around and said, “Right, Blockhead, Rockhead, you two also head back to Iron Mountain Fort and help Grandpa Green and the others.” The two nodded, then Zhao Hai led his group as they vanished into the s.p.a.ce and headed back to Iron Mountain Fort.
Iron Mountain Fort will also be celebrating G.o.d’s Grace Day. Although the things here were still very crude, Zhao Hai still felt the warmth coming from this place. The people in the fort stopped their work and went busy on cleaning up and getting new clothes for themselves and their families. While they were getting ready to eat, everyone’s face were full of smiles.
This was no mystery, because they were slaves, they weren’t able to experience G.o.d’s Grace Day. Although they knew when the day was, their master told them that G.o.d’s graciousness doesn’t reach to lowly slaves. Because of this, for them, G.o.d’s Grace Day was just any ordinary day.
Zhao Hai looked at the people and became very happy. He found Green and handed the things he bought over. He also left Green a lot of seafood, even a Blade-Scale Whale. This thing was huge, Zhao Hai wanted Green and the others to eat this fish and have a very nice evening.
After leaving the things behind, Zhao Hai and the others returned to Rustling Tree Courtyard. No matter what, they were living inside the Calci Family right now, leaving this place for too long won’t be ideal.
After returning to the courtyard’s living room and sitting down, Megan turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Brother Hai, do you plan on returning to Iron Mountain Fort on G.o.d’s Grace Day?”
Zhao Hai thought for a moment and then said, “I think I must go back, but I’m afraid that there would be a lot of things happening. Right, what do you usually do during G.o.d’s Grace Day?”
Megan replied, “Actually, G.o.d’s Grace Day is the most boring day. Grandpa and Father would be going to the imperial palace to attend a banquet. And they would come back very late. At the same time, we would be having a delicious meal and then after lighting some incense, we were free to do what we want.”
Zhao Hai’s eyes lit up, “I didn’t think that it would be that free. Then after we eat our meal and lighting some incense, we can just return to Iron Mountain Fort, what do you think?”
Laura nodded and said, “That’s also good, but Megan seems to have a lot to take care of during that time. Can you spare some?”
Megan nodded and said, “Rest a.s.sured, I also want to go to Iron Mountain Fort and celebrate G.o.d’s Grace Day with Big Brother Hai. I want to look at how they will celebrate.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “I would also like to see how they’d do it. Among those people, aside from Grandpa Green’s group, it would be everybody’s first time to experience G.o.d’s Grace Day. I’m looking forward to it.”
Laura and the others chuckled. Besides Green’s group, there were only human and beastman slaves in the fort. Beastmen celebrate their ten thousand beast festival while the human slaves only experience G.o.d’s Grace Day as any ordinary day. Both of them weren’t able to celebrate it before.