372 Shui's birthday banquet arc (2)
Chyou then sighed as her ears clearly caught the murmurs and gossip regarding them. “Did you see the trending post?”
“Ah, yes…” Yating shook his head. “That one sneaky fan clicked our pictures and everything exploded.”
She cried. “I am sorry. First, you were attacked by my fans and now this misunderstanding. I am just causing you too much trouble, am I not?”
“Hey, hey why are you blaming yourself? There is nothing to apologize for. More than me, it’s you getting affected by this rumor, and I feel it’s my fault. I should have chosen a different place for shopping.”
Chyou proudly said, “Doesn’t matter. Somebody or the other would have definitely recognized my charm anyway. I am very popular.*
“…”
His brow twitched. But then his gaze fell on the pendant on her neck, and a joyous smile formed on his lips. “So you wore the pendant tonight.”
“Yes!” She chirped. “Perfect occasion to start with. And it looks so pretty. You have some good taste.”
Yating nodded. “You look beautiful.”
“Hehe thanks~”
Then Chyou closely looked at him and softly took a breath. “Hey this is the same coat of fire!”
He was dumbfounded. “Coat of fire?”
“Yeah I just gave it a name. You saved me from that fire with your coat, so it’s a coat of fire. You wore it tonight.”
“Ah, yes,” Yating chuckled. “Well, you took so much effort to clean and iron it. I definitely wanted to start using it again from a good occasion. A birthday banquet was the perfect choice.”
Chyou was indeed thrilled to hear this. “You are so thoughtful. Yup for me, this coat will always look the best on you!”
Jun, who was watching them intently, couldn’t help but question. “When did they get so close? Or is it after the fire incident…” he mumbled.
Ai nodded. “It must be definitely that. After all, he saved her that day. They must have gotten closer.”
Nuo said, “Ah? You don’t know?”
“What?”
“I heard from Xiang that Gu Rong went to Uncle Xiaosi with a proposal for Chyou for his son, Gu Yating.”
“…”
They stared at her, stunned. Jun asked, “When did this happen?”
“I am not sure but around Mom and Dad’s anniversary banquet maybe? Hehe, do you think that’s why they are so closer? Maybe they decided to give it a try.”
The two were sure that it wasn’t the case because Chyou had no relationship with Yating in the past life as she had married Cheng Yin.
So in the past too, did Gu Rong try to set them up like this? He wondered.
But because Yating dated Ai and Chyou had Cheng Yin in her life, their paths simply never crossed. But this life’s trajectory was going on completely differently.
Watching Yating and Chyou together made him aware that if things remained the same in the form of Zixin’s accident, then there were other events too which were slowly taking a different form.
The lights then dimmed and the birthday banquet was soon going to start.
Xinyi and Zhiyuan proudly looked at their daughter with the most radiant smile on their lips. “Our Shui turned twenty-one today…”
Zhiyuan stared at Shui with tears in his eyes, feeling emotional. “Damn it, why does time fly so fast? I still cannot believe that twenty-one years have passed by.”
“Oof!” Shui hugged him tightly and pouted. “It’s my birthday. You are not allowed to cry, Dad. You don’t have to feel so emotional because I am gonna stay with you for a long long time!”
That was definitely something Zhiyuan wanted to hear. “Yes, yes. Shui will always be by her father’s side.”
The mother-son duo watched them with helplessness. “Zhiyuan, do you want to spend the whole banquet here itself?”
“Of course not. But let me admire her beauty which she has inherited from my dearest wife.”
Xinyi sheepishly grinned. “As always, you have the sweet tongue.”
Siying started to look for Nuo. “Okay, I am missing my girlfriend now.”
The birthday girl, Shui, made her way down and everybody broke into loud claps and cheers. The maid brought a huge cake wheeled on a table in front of her.
Zhiyuan took the mike and said as he hugged his dearest daughter. “Thank you all for coming here and being a part of Shui’s birthday celebration. This is a day which has always been so special to me. From a newborn baby who I held in my arms to seeing a beautiful twenty-one years old woman grow up right before my eyes has been such a beautiful journey.”
Then tears sprung from his eyes, and he sniffled. “She is growing up too fast. Why can’t time just stop?”
Shui’s mouth twitched.
Xinyi and Siying facepalmed.
“Mom! Dad is embarrassing us!” He whispered. “Why does he always have to cry? I knew this would happen! I told you to let me do all the talking stuff.”
Xinyi pursed her lips. “But Zhiyuan promised me that he wouldn’t do it this time!”
“And you believed him?”
She stared at him. “He…he kind of seduced me after that, so I don’t remember much…”
“…”
“He definitely fooled you using his body, Mom! And you fell for it!”
“I-I definitely won’t get fooled the next time!” She blurted out with her reddened cheeks.
Zhiyuan continued. “But Shui is going to live with her father for a long, long time so that gives me some comfort.”
Everybody laughed.
“So if anybody tried to hit on Shui tonight and crush all my hopes of my long, long time with my daughter, then you are dead.”
“…”
A deep and sharp silence fell.
At this point, Siying really wanted to bury himself in a hole.
Dad!!!!
The only ones who were agreeing with Zhiyuan were the other fathers themselves with a daughter complex like Jinhai and Liang. Xiaosi secretly agreed in his heart too though he maintained a poker expression on the outside.
“I know you definitely support Han Zhiyuan in this,” Caihong didn’t fail to remark, making his brow twitch. “Your face cannot fool me.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he shamelessly feigned ignorance.
Ai asked Jun on the other side, “Are you going to be like this too in the future?”
“Of course not,” Jun snorted.
“That’s better. Because if you pulled this stunt, then you can forget about our marriage.”
“…”