Chapter 28 – Fiancé is a big block of ice
This tone used for making the report wasn"t loud, but due to today being the Elder"s birthday, everybody had lowered their voices to speak. From time to time, they would cast glances his way, now, all the ears that were perked up, heard this news that knocked everyone"s gla.s.ses off.
It seemed that this Prince Ying hadn"t attended these kinds of banquets in a long time!
He"d occasionally show up only for banquets held by the Imperial Family.
Today, he actually showed up here?
One after another, people"s heads turned aside to look at the sky. It didn"t seem that the sun had risen from the west today, nor did red rain fall from the sky.
Had they heard it incorrectly?
They couldn"t help but to stick a finger in their ears and start to clean it.
As if to validate the news, a white embroidered gown appeared at the doorway of the front courtyard. Being spring, the peonies bloomed vibrantly, but under that snow-like figure, they suddenly lost all of their color. The hem of his clothes brushed past the green slab, pa.s.sing through layers of hundreds of flowers on the top of the cliff. It was like a burst of cool breeze, dispelling all the noise and dusty smoke in the room.
Chu Qing-Yan simply didn"t put any thoughts on the banquet. After she made her greetings, she pasted a smile on her face. She emptied her mind and was only waiting for the banquet to end. As a result, when the servant made his announcement, she simply didn"t notice it. Only when she sharply perceived those prying and measuring gazes on her, all of a sudden, withdraw with a crashing sound, did she suddenly feel somewhat surprised. Recollecting her thoughts, she carelessly followed everyone"s gazes and saw——
A person like a snow lotus on a mountain stepping down from its summit, with an unsurpa.s.sable cold and clear aura. Like an aloof celestial being who always stood alone, leaving behind worldly life, his white gown floated and turned over, drawing arc after arc in mid-air. Bewitching like the mist between a sea of clouds, it added onto his mysteriousness, but also alienated him from the crowd.
Because Chu Family hadn"t antic.i.p.ated that so many people would honor the feast this time with their presence, they had hurriedly set the banquet outdoors in the front courtyard. Fortunately, the sunlight in April wasn"t that intense, on the contrary, it made people feel more at ease.
And so, Chu Qing Yan sat with her back to the light and watched the person who walked forward into the light. She couldn"t see this person"s face clearly, but the soft rays of light illuminated a blurry halo around this person. Rays of light bounced off his gown and hair in a mischievous manner.
Chu Qing-Yan, for a split second, suddenly felt that this person was even more dazzling than the sun in the distant horizon.
"Paying one"s respect to His Highness Prince Ying."
When the person stood firmly in the middle of the courtyard, everyone returned to their senses one after another and immediately kneeled down to make one"s salutations. The "plop" sounds that came in succession were so loud that Chu Qing-Yan"s heart trembled in fear. Was there a need to kneel so devoutly?
However, seeing the upper-cla.s.s ladies that were joking together in front of her from before, now kneeling with pale complexions and lips trembling, Chu Qing-Yan suddenly remembered something that she had tossed to the back of her mind. Her fiancé was known infamously outside as a demon!
She covertly lifted her head. He already stood before Elder Chu. Only at this moment did she realize that he wore a mask on his face. His face could not be seen from forehead to nose, only revealing a pair of eyes. A pity, she couldn"t see what that pair of eyes looked like from where she stood.
So, it actually turned out that what dazzled her eyes a while ago was the light that ricocheted off from the silver mask he wore.
If it was any other day, Chu Qing Yan wouldn"t have cared who had come. However, today wasn"t like in the past. No matter how she had dismissed this marriage before, in the end, this person was still her future husband. Moreover, he was also infamous, so she still couldn"t help but be a bit curious.
"There"s no need for everyone to be so polite."
A cold and cheerless tone that was like the ice at the edge of a pond in winter. Everyone gave a shiver, slowly returning to their senses after half a beat, before hurriedly getting up.
Chu Qing Yan was an audiophile. Hearing this voice, for no reason at all, a phrase popped up in her head. A stunningly beautiful voice!
Although the tone was flat to the point where it seemed grim, however, as an expert who was obsessed with the control of sound, Chu Qing Yan simply didn"t realize it; from the bottom of her heart, she thought it was similar to the sounds of nature.
Chu Qing-Yan didn"t know that if the surrounding people were to learn of her thoughts right now, perhaps the bloodbath would have already been three litters full!
"This king has prepared a congratulatory gift for esteemed Elder Chu"s birthday. I hope Elder Chu won"t dislike it." The clear, cold voice once again rang out. Once he finished speaking, the gift was delivered by the servants behind him to in front of Elder Chu.
Elder Chu would have never dreamed that there would come a day when a prince would come to congratulate him on his birthday. Being so overwhelmed by the favor, he quickly let someone put it away properly and promptly fawned over him to say, "Prince Ying coming is already a blessing to this old man, and to especially prepare a congratulatory gift, this old man really did not live in vain ah."
Chu Qing-Yan inwardly clicked her tongue. Originally, she thought that her great uncle was old-fashioned and did not like to speak. She never expected that when he started to flatter someone, his talent was also truly outstanding in this aspect.
At this moment, under the silver mask, specks of impatience streaked across those black pupils. He responded, "In the future, we"ll be one family. There"s no need to be so polite."
Once these words were said, everybody held their breath. In contrast, Chu Family was joyful from the heart. It seemed that Prince Ying didn"t reject this marriage as the rumors had implied. They unknowingly straightened their backs and stuck out their chests. See this? Prince Ying publicly recognized the marriage, this meant that, from now on, he"d be Chu Family"s backer. Their Chu Family would very quickly achieve meteoric success.
If Chu Qing-Yan were to know their thoughts at this moment, she would have thought that the three values (world view, values of worth and philosophy on life) would have to be rewritten again. She had seen shameless people, but never people who would even toss away their self-worth.
"Yes, yes, yes, wait until Chu Qing-Yan marries over, we"ll be one family." Elder Madam Chu agreed beside him, her face full of a reddish color from being proud of herself.
"Today, the person being celebrated is Elder Chu. This king will not continue to steal the spotlight." After Xiao Xu finished speaking, he searched for a corner and sat down.
This caused Elder Chu, who was planning to arrange a top seat for him, to be stumped for words. He hastily sent a few servants over to wait upon him properly, then, he announced the continuation of the banquet.
Seeing that Prince Ying had sat down, everyone else followed suit. Only, the atmosphere had already changed, it wasn"t as unrestrainedly clamorous as before. After all, a big Buddha was currently sitting there, making everybody somewhat fidgety.
Chu Qing-Yan sensed everyone"s mood and couldn"t help but to look at that person who sat on the side, uninvolved after giving the congratulatory gift. The kind of feeling was like disturbing the water in the pond, then absent-mindedly watching from the side with hands behind his back.
His hair was tied up high by a jade crown and hung down behind his body, contrasting against his snow-white gown, and it appeared an even richer shade of jet-black. Embroidered with gold thread depicting clouds arranged at both sides splitting from the lapel, it glittered and shone under the sunlight, just like the clouds drifting in the horizon, giving people a clean and n.o.ble impression.
Perhaps it was because she forgot to hide the gaze she used to seize him up, the figure who had his head down seemed to have sensed her gaze. He lifted up his eyes and her eyes met his head-on.
All of a sudden, the bloom in the middle of April ended, and the temperature dropped all at once.
For the first time, Chu Qing-Yan felt what it was like to be splashed with ice-cold water from the top of her head and felt it pour down. The feeling of the kind of chill that pierced through the heart.
Just right now!
She couldn"t see a hint of warmth in that pair of beautiful eyes. It was like stars that were composed of layers of ice crystals, with a beauty surpa.s.sing those of mined pearls. Only, for no reason at all, it gave people the impression of cold air being released.
It was no wonder that great uncle and great aunt were so polite just now and still didn"t dare to look him straight in the eyes. And the people present also shifted their eyes away in fear. It turned out that this person had an aura that aroused fear in everybody. It made people unable to speak or move, making them break out in cold sweat from head to toe and giving birth to fear that came from the heart.
The grim Yama, King of h.e.l.l; clearly, his reputation was well-deserved!