Gu Xiqiao normally arrived on the dot, and hence all the guests were present and just waiting for her arrival.
With Jiang Shuxuan"s position, it was obviously an inconvenience to appear in public, and the Yin family didn"t dare let him out to entertain the guests either, so he arrived with Gu Xiqiao.
The man was dressed in a crisp white s.h.i.+rt and sleek black slacks, his entire body radiating with a dangerous aura. His face held the usual indifferent expression, an elegant and regal sight on his exquisite features made it seem as though his face was carved from ice.
The woman was dressed in a pastel green dress, catching everyone"s breath with just a brief glance. Her features were delicate, as though it had been painted on her face like a graceful painting with unparalleled beauty.
They both had complete opposite temperaments, but it was hard to tell that with the way they stood together in perfect harmony. They made for a perfect fit, as though they were meant to be.
For a moment, everyone in the hall was stunned and could only stare at the two in a silent daze.
Jiang Shuxuan"s status was special, and even in the Imperial Capital he rarely made an appearance in public. With that said, it was impossible for the Yin family to have Jiang Shuxuan play the host. In N City, the Yin family was in second place, and no one would dare to claim the top spot, and no one dared to cause any trouble in their territory.
"Master Jiang, are you heading up?" Yin Shaoyuan greeted Jiang Shuxuan as he tried his best to ignore the other"s intimidating gaze. "With you standing here, n.o.body dares to talk normally…"
He glanced around the hall, and sure enough, everyone had their heads down, talking in barely audible voices. Their actions were also cautious and slow, how did this look anything like a banquet at this rate? The people here obviously didn"t know Jiang Shuxuan personally, but it was strange that they would be so afraid of him. As long as Jiang Shuxuan was around, they wouldn"t be able to hold the banquet properly.
Jiang Shuxuan glanced at Gu Xiqiao, who was standing not too far off. He raised an eyebrow, and pursed his lips tightly, "Now?"
"Of course, the effect of your presence has already been achieved," Yin Shaoyuan said, scratching his nose. "So, in order for the banquet to proceed as usual, you have... to go!"
Once the words were out of his mouth, Jiang Shuxuan s.h.i.+fted his gaze towards Yin Shaoyuan, his obsidian eyes seemingly able to see through his every thought.
Yin Shaoyuan shuddered and endured it. Fortunately, Jiang Shuxuan left upstairs once he was done. If Master Jiang didn"t leave on his own accord, what else could he have done?
As soon as he left, the atmosphere in the hall loosened. Like a switch that was suddenly turned on, the liveliness of the party came back on.
Speaking of adopting a G.o.ddaughter or any other relative, the ceremony has a bit more depth to it than just a banquet. Usually, it is the child"s parent that would host guests, and also prepare gifts for the G.o.dparents. Of course, due to certain reasons, the banquet was held in the Yin Manor, which to a certain extent also showed how important the Yin family regarded Gu Xiqiao. Tang Yanling had even prepared a golden bowl, a pair of golden chopsticks, and a longevity lock for Gu Xiqiao as gifts. She had also personally gone to Huguo Temple to request for a protection lock for the sake of auspiciousness.
Both sides of the gates were piled high with gifts, and these were no ordinary gifts. It was said that it was a big gift that had been jointly prepared by several families, and the recipient was Gu Xiqiao.
The gifts were indeed huge in size, and the people who were coming in or going out would stop in front of it for a while to marvel at the size before going on their way. They didn"t know why all the prestigious families were displaying such an att.i.tude, but they also guessed that it wasn"t for the sake of pleasing the Yin family, it was purely for the sake of that person—Gu Xiqiao!
The biggest shock came when even Yin Guofu who rarely showed up had been moved to make an appearance. When he looked at Gu Xiqiao, there was only kindness and contentment in his eyes. Everyone who saw this could obviously guess that this old man was extremely pleased with Gu Xiqiao.
The guests present could see the signs, and their gaze and impression of Gu Xiqiao changed over and over. Even though she was only a G.o.ddaughter of the Yin family, she was definitely highly favored. It looked like the favorite daughter in N City would soon be replaced. Although the other ladies present were green with envy, none of them dared to show any signs of it on their face, maintaining the smiles on them.
Tang Yanling took Gu Xiqiao on a walk among the n.o.ble ladies, and suddenly she was the most popular person around, as every single Tom, d.i.c.k, and Harry was clamoring to greet her. Gu Xiqiao was also behaving well, showing a generous yet decent behavior, much unlike a person who was attending a banquet for the first time. With that, Tang Yanling felt rea.s.sured to let her wander and deal with the crowd on her own.
***
"System, I want to get out." Even though Gu Xiqiao"s talent in maintaining a facade was amazing, keeping up the mask of fake politeness for such a long time would inevitably take a toll on any person. The kind where you put on a smile all the time, while not wanting to smile in the least, or the kind where one sentence had an abundance of hidden meanings behind it, or the turns and twist that tried to curry favor with her. Thinking about all of these made her head hurt.
In the virtual s.p.a.ce, the system spirit had stopped playing its game. The floating projectile which displayed the ongoing cut scene was in front of it, a gleaming ray of light s.h.i.+ning from the character with the name "For A Millenium" on top of it, and then the top boss in the game falling immediately after. The system spirit laughed in satisfaction before processing Gu Xiqiao"s words, [Do you...want me to teleport you out of there?]
"Only you are able to say this kind of things, teleporting out in front of such a ma.s.sive crowd, are you stupid?"
[Don"t you think it would be cool?]
"Rather than be cool, my life is more important."
[...]
In the end, it was Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen who came to her rescue. Both of them had come with their families, but had refrained from greeting Gu Xiqiao when they saw that she was busy. Their families had also brought them along with the intentions to introduce them to some of their business partners, so it was only now that they had the chance to get away.
Gu Xiqiao was only able to relax when the people around her finally left.
"I came with my elder brother, but he"s talking to a group of old men. It was very suffocating," Xiao Yun complained.
Wu Hongwen scratched the back of his head. "That"s great for you, your brother is so protective of you, nothing can touch a hair on your head. What"s so suffocating about it!"
Xiao Yun was foaming at the mouth at that, and glared at Wu Hongwen before proceeding to ignore him. She lowered her head, her expression serious. "I don"t really understand the Yin family, but I saw how well Mrs. Yin treated you just now, so I"m relieved."
Gu Xiqiao was well aware that the two of them were not the kind with patience to attend banquets, and they were here for her sake. "When we have time, I"ll explain it properly to both of you. The most important thing right now is, I have to go to the washroom."
As soon as she left, the woman in red who had been in the corner placed her gla.s.s down, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly as she moved to follow.
***
In the washroom, Gu Xiqiao was patting her face with water. She glanced in the mirror and straightened up suddenly.
[Beauty Qiao, a hostile person approaches. She is someone from the ancient martial arts world, and has reached the level of Bone Refinement. It seems that she can be considered to be a genius on Earth, but she"s still not as good as you.]
Hearing the system"s words, Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes. She pinched a tissue and used it to wipe her hands, finger by finger.
Murong Miaoxue crossed her arms under her bosom, her eyes sizing up the person standing in front of her.
She was leaning against the sink, her pastel green dress outlining her lean body, and her skin was white like a fresh layer of snow. Her eyes were crystal clear, a slight s.h.i.+ne in them resembling a jade. Her brows were delicate, like a well-painted painting, and she had a faint aura radiating from her, but what was undeniable was…
No matter how you look at her, she was just an immature and inexperienced little girl!
"You"re Gu Xiqiao, I suppose," Murong Miaoxue said through her red, glossy lips, "Don"t look so wary, little girl, I have no bad intentions. Of course, I"m not the kind who bullies others either. Today I just have some things I want to discuss with you."
"Go ahead," Gu Xiqiao said, giving her a light smile. Tossing away the tissue paper in her hand, she continued, "I"m listening."
Murong Miaoxue was surprised to find her appearing so calm.
"I know that you"ve been around Jiang Shuxuan for the past two months, but after so long, do you know who he really is?" Murong Miaoxue paused a while, searching Gu Xiqiao"s face, "I"m guessing he didn"t tell you, and I wouldn"t blame him. Our families are naturally secretive, and not many people on the outside know. I see that you"re quite pleasing to the eyes, so I"m giving you a reminder that we"re not from the same world. We"re divided into ranks, and you... are just on the lowest rank. Even if I don"t spell it out for you, you should feel it yourself, right?"
Gu Xiqiao mulled over the words that Murong Miaoxue had just spoken. She didn"t really understand what Murong Miaoxue had meant, but if it was meant to insult Gu Xiqiao with those words, then she would be sorely disappointed.
Nodding politely, she replied, "Thank you for the kind reminder."
It was like hitting cotton with a fist—she wasn"t fazed at all. Murong Miaoxue narrowed her eyes, and then she waved her hand suddenly.
Gu Xiqiao felt a wave of energy sweeping past her face, and a "crack" sounded behind her. The mirror beside the sink had cracked, slowly shattering and turning into dust.
"Do you see that? That is the difference between us." Murong Miaoxue said, looking Gu Xiqiao dead in the eye, with arrogance and conceit in her own, "Jiang Shuxuan is the hope of this generation of the reclusive families, and I am not the only one who is enamoured with him. There is another demon girl who even I am afraid of, so how much more of a chance do you have compared to us? Otherwise, when you arrive in the Imperial Capital, you"ll be dead before you even know how it happened. After all, Jiang Shuxuan will not be able to stay by your side to protect you all the time!"
[Beauty Qiao, beat her up!] The system spirit shouted from the virtual s.p.a.ce, looking very angry, [She"s just at Bone Refinement level, and she"s even older than you by a few years. What a thick face she has. If she"s so special, why doesn"t she compare herself to Jiang Shuxuan instead!]
"Difference?" Gu Xiqiao lifted her head, a gentle expression on her face as she laughed lightly. She raised her hand. "This is what difference means."
She crooked a finger, and the narrow s.p.a.ce they were in fell instantly into a void.
Murong Miaoxue"s haughty expression vanished abruptly, staring at the void in bewilderment. Her eyes were wide as she stared, and after a long time, she stuttered, "This...this is...the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Array, how is that possible?!"
She had been fortunate to have seen the elders in the family who had not known how to perform the formation, but used jade and amulets to put it up as a decoration. Those who were trapped inside here, no matter how high their rank was, they wouldn"t be able to use brute force to break their way out of it. One could only try to find the center of the formation. There were only a handful of formation masters in the world, even less of those that could break the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Array, and even less of those that could arrange the array at will.
Using chi to draw the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Array was basically making a self-contained s.p.a.ce, and the master who was able to control the array must have a deep, profound understanding of chi. A person trapped in here could only await slaughter with no way of escape. Thinking that she had pulled out the big guns in front of the other person and had the advantage, Murong Miaoxue felt extremely ashamed of herself!
Gu Xiqiao waved her hand to dispel the array, and glanced at Murong Miaoxue once more, before walking around her to leave without a word.
Murong Miaoxue could only stand there as she watched Gu Xiqiao walk away without stopping her. The back of the girl really was thin, not at all like someone with such profound strength.
Murong Miaoxue was unable to move for a long while. How old was she, and how was it that she had already reached this level? Was it another "Jiang Shuxuan" that had been born? Even if she were to go against that demonic girl, it seemed that she would be able to hold her own? But the members of the reclusive families that she knew had never heard of this girl, so who in the world was she?
Or was it possible that she was a descendent of some master? Murong Miaouxue could only make guesses in her heart, no one being able to give her any answers.