Before I noticed, I had spent quite a while observing Chen Qing Yan and unwittingly turned into a wallflower. When a waiter came with a tray of drinks, I noticed that I felt somewhat thirsty. Balanced on the waiter"s tray were some sort of rainbow-colored c.o.c.ktail, and I conveniently snagged one in pa.s.sing.
Just as I was about to take a sip, I heard someone interject from the side.
"This c.o.c.ktail, must be this year"s newly concocted Rainbow." I turned towards the source of the voice. To my dismay, Chen Qing Yan was standing right by my side. Each of her ten fingers was long and slender, and her nails were painted the same hue of scarlet as the swirling skirt of her dress. Her apparent friendliness felt overly invasive. With two fingers, she elegantly pinched the gla.s.s stem and held her drink in the air for a moment, observing its rainbow layers. She then languidly said, "Rainbow can only preserve its distinctly colored layers because its been stored in cold temperatures. Consequently, one mustn"t use the palm to grip the body of the gla.s.s. The warmth of one"s palm or even one"s fingertips will ruin the l.u.s.ter and the taste."
I saw that in my c.o.c.ktail gla.s.s, which I had carelessly gripped by the body, the layers of colors had already started mixing. It quickly lost its iridescent beauty and became a mess of colors. Chen Qing Yan elegantly took a sip of her gla.s.s and revealed a slight, shallow smile. She didn"t even spare me a glance.
She was the only one here who had seen Yin Li enter with me, yet she didn"t see me as a threat to her amus.e.m.e.nt at all. Her self-confidence and social standing were her birthright. And her belittling words seemed to make me the b.u.t.t of some cruel joke.
In a huff, I downed the whole gla.s.s and glared hatefully at her. At this moment, she put down her gla.s.s which she had only taken a few sips out of, and flung a glance my way. Addressing the waiter, she asked, "Do you have any c.o.ke? It"s not proper for young ladies to drink more than a few sips of alcohol; more than that would be inappropriate."
The waiter nodded and immediately went off to fetch her c.o.ke.
I shook with anger. Every word out of this woman"s mouth made me uncomfortable.
In a short time, the waiter was heading back in our direction with two cans of c.o.ke on his tray. Halfway, a girl stopped him to ask something. The waiter turned and placed the tray aside on a nearby dining table before he began to make gestures with his hands, explaining something to her.
I suddenly saw that this was an opportunity. The room right now was filled with the sound of chatter, the cacophony of voices diverse and varied.1 I took advantage of the hubbub and, pretending that I was getting a slice of cake, slowly inched my way towards the dining table. Everyone was preoccupied with their respective conversations, and their gazes slid right over me. I hastily grabbed a can off the tray and vigorously shook it. Sadly for me, the waiter quickly finished his conversation. When I saw that he was right about to turn around and retrieve the tray, I had no choice but to give up on shaking the other can too.
1 The author uses 陆离 from the chengyu 陆离光怪, meaning “diverse in color and bizarre in form” to describe the clamor in the room. It comes from the late Qing Dynasty novel《孽海花》(A Flower in a Sinful Sea) by Jin Tianhe and Zeng Pu.
Chen Qing Yan had been very popular at this gathering since it began, and until now she was occupied with chatting with some gentleman so she hadn"t noticed my movements. Without any trace of suspicion, she thanked the waiter and took a can. However, just as she was about to pull open the tab, that gentleman hurriedly s.n.a.t.c.hed it over.
"Qing Yan, allow me. Otherwise, if you break a nail, I wouldn"t dare show my face in front of your father again."
With a hiss, the tab was popped open. The soda bubbled out the top of the can and spilled onto the man"s hands and sleeves, with even more foam dripping onto the carpet. I made a sound of disbelief, unable to process what had just happened. Even if some a.s.s-kissing skirt-chaser hadn"t just popped out of the middle of nowhere, given how vigorously I shook the can, c.o.ke should be spewing everywhere. Besides that man getting a face-full of sticky soda, even Chen Qing Yan who was standing next to him should have been fully drenched!
This was the only trick I could think of to embarra.s.s Chen Qing Yan, but the schadenfreude2 I was antic.i.p.ating at the sight of Chen Qing Yan in a wretched state, drenched from head to toe in c.o.ke, actually didn"t occur. She still stood there looking like a G.o.ddess descended to Earth. The refined expression on her face matched Yin Li"s, as if they were a match made in Heaven.
2 Turns out there"s an equivalent for “schadenfreude” in Chinese: 幸灾乐祸 (to take joy in calamity and delight in disaster).
I ground my teeth, so furious that my temples were about to burst. I cursed my idiot self, feeling the need to take a drink to calm myself down. In my fit of anger, my mind apparently ceased to function and I conveniently swiped the other can of c.o.ke off the tray. Without thinking, I pulled open the tab.
The sudden explosion of c.o.ke very accurately splattered all over my face. Later, my mind"s memories of that exact moment would be a complete blank. Because it happened so fast, I couldn"t even react in time. Only when c.o.ke was dripping down my face did I realize what had happened. Just now, the can Chen Qing Yan had taken wasn"t the one I shook. Rather, the one I had applied all my strength to was currently spilled all over my face. Turns out that what goes around, really does come around!
The c.o.ke"s splash zone sure enough extended to the handful of people around me, and little white flecks of soda spangled their formal wear like stars. In the instant that the soda exploded, various yelps of shock and indignation had risen one-by-one, but those soon quieted. Now the whole room had stilled in response to this unforeseen event, and an empty bubble devoid of people formed around me. A puddle of c.o.ke had also appeared on the carpet beneath my feet. All sorts of glances came my way, some pitying, some disdaining, and some amused. My empty mind was unable to discern which of these expressions Chen Qing Yan wore.
"Yan Xiao!"
I lifted my dripping head and saw Yin Li pushing through the crowd.
This time he didn"t even have a frown on his face. He just looked at me helplessly, and then scooped me up in a princess carry. The c.o.ke immediately seeped through his shirt and stained his clothes, yet he hardly paid any attention to that. He just continued carrying me and announced to the crowd, "Any of our guests, whether they"ve gotten their clothes dirty or not, can send their clothes to the dry cleaners. Everyone here will be sent an Yin Corporation gold credit card. I"ll first take my leave to help my fiancée change. Apologies for my absence."
These words were like a bomb dropped amidst the gathering, and on the faces of everyone present was a look of astonishment and shock.
Candle: Confession time, Niang Niang and I initially wanted to change the drink that Chen Qing Yan asks the waiter for from c.o.ke to Perrier to make her more sophisticated~hohoho …Unfortunately it wouldn"t have worked with the rest of the scene….forgive us Author for our sins OTL
Niang Niang: One time when I went to visit Candle, we were in line at the store and saw these two fobs stuffing bottles of Perrier into a carry-on. They cleared out THE WHOLE RACK. I never knew Perrier was a national specialty… o_o