388 Shui's birthday banquet arc (18)
The socialites were scared shitless by Nian’s challenge.
Cutting hair and going bald!? Wasn’t that the worst form of humiliation for any woman?
Going bald was more of a nightmare to them than confessing and getting rejected.
Xing Bi gasped in horror and even she felt the goosebumps on her skin. She unconsciously touched her hair, swallowing her gulp and imagining this horrible nightmare happening to her just in case.
That’s not just a punishment. That’s hell!
Everybody was way too shocked and aghast to respond, especially the socialites.
Nuo sighed.
There he goes again…
Nana facepalmed. She scolded Jinhai. “Why do you and your sons like doing this stuff so much?”
“What did I do?” He asked.
“It’s all your fault,” she harrumphed.
“…”
Sweating, paling and trembling – The women could hardly maintain their balance with tears in their eyes. Three reasons? At this point, their brains weren’t functioning to even give one valid reason.
“Ahahaha,” Nian suddenly burst into laughter amidst the sharp silence clutching his stomach, “Look at your faces…hahaha. They are so funny. You look like clowns,” he then waved his hand in dismissal, “Scram. I was just kidding. No matter how many good reasons you come up with, my heart is already set for Xing Bi. I will forever chase after her!”
Xing Bi’s heart thumped, forcibly pulling her out of her going bald just-in-case imagination.
N-No matter how much you chase me, it’s not going to matter…! She thought so in her mind, but her drumming heartbeat gave a different story altogether.
Nian smiled. “You should have resisted when I told you to prove your worth in the first place. There is nothing wrong with liking me. But you have to like me for the right reasons and before that, you have to like yourself enough to not bend to what I say unconditionally. You were thinking of reasons to give me but actually, you should have slapped my face for threatening you with your worth and hair. You know, if I had ever dared to ask Xing Bi this, she would have beaten me mercilessly black and blue and dumped my sorry body into the ocean with the sharks!”
Xing Bi seriously nodded.
The women froze and their faces burned with embarrassment.
“If nobody has the right to judge you, then nobody has any right to judge my Xing Bi either. So, your hair is safe as I am a very generous person. I just wanted to give you a teensy tiny scare~”
They stiffened and the moment Nian took back his words, they heaved a big sigh of relief.
That wasn’t a teensy tiny scare!
Nian yawned lazily. “But next time, it won’t be if you speak nonsense about Xing Bi again. Remember, I am not a very tolerant man, and there are things I could forgive only once,” he narrowed his eyes.
They swallowed their gulp but their throats felt too itchy.
On the other side, the socialites Jun was ‘handling’ weren’t faring any well either.
He sneered. “You are such a good writer for somebody declaring that they could become one so easily if they wanted.”
Their hands were cold and trembling and they felt like just throwing the notepad and pen away from them.
One of them bit her lip hard and amidst his taunting gaze and words apologized. “I-I am sorry…”
Jun raised his brow.
Joining her, the rest of the socialites quickly apologized to him too. Rather than not being able to write anything and then see their family business getting destroyed, they chose to apologize to soften his heart and the blow to their reputation.
“Sorry for what?”
“S-sorry for humiliating Zhou Ai and taking writing lightly.”
“I-I am sorry for accusing Zhou Ai…”
“Yes please forgive us…!”
“We won’t insult Zhou Ai anymore…”
The guests’ gazes at them felt too humiliating but it would not compare to the humiliation they would face if their family business was destroyed because of them.
Shui and Xing Bi snorted.
Glad they came to their senses! Spewing nonsense just because they feel like it!
There was a long silence where every moment felt like a needle pricking the women.
W-will he not forgive us?”
Jun coldly remarked after a long pause. “Get out. And don’t ever show me your faces again!”
They looked at him, dumbfounded. They didn’t expect him to let them go. But they only thanked the heavens and scrambled on their feet.
After such a tightening and suffocating atmosphere, the banquet’s mood was already ruined. There was no point in continuing with it after such a big ruckus.
Siying showed them the way out and all the guests quietly but hurriedly began to leave. The banquet had left a huge mark in their minds, not just with what Jun and Nian did but also due to the revelation of Yating’s feelings for Ai.
Shui pursed her lips and hugged Ai. “I am sorry, Ai…It was my birthday banquet and you were my guest, but you had to suffer such-“
Ai shook her head and kindly smiled. “You don’t have to apologize for anything, Shui. You are not responsible for their actions. Also, I wasn’t really affected by their words,” she shrugged. “People I don’t know and who don’t know me as a person cannot affect me with their humiliation.”
Jian laughed. “Hahaha, she is right! Did you look at their faces? It was pure gold when she talked back!”
Liu Hai’s nose grew longer with pride. “As expected of my future granddaughter-in-law! I like the chilly tongue, hoho~”
Nuo wiped her forehead. “Bro Nian, you were too terrifying. Do you know what mental damage it was for the women to imagine losing their hair and going bald?”
“Hmph. They needed that scare so that they wouldn’t target my Xing Bi again.”
She kicked his foot. “I can take care of myself.”
He cried. “But I am your future husband, dear. You are super duper strong, but let me protect you sometimes!”
“Shut up!”
Zhiyuan gritted his teeth. “I wanted to have a perfect banquet for my daughter but everything spiralled out of control…” he looked at Ai and said, “Let me apologize too. We are the hosts. You shouldn’t have faced such a situation…”
“Please don’t. Neither it was Shui’s fault, nor yours.”
Yating clenched his fists and didn’t know how to face Ai. “But it was definitely my fault, Ai. I…I don’t know why the hell Mr. Lin wasn’t aware of such a big fact. If not for his misunderstanding, nothing would have happened-“
Suddenly, he sharply stumbled back as a vicious sound of a punch reverberated in the air.
A slight cut appeared on Yating’s cheekbone, and he turned his face towards Jun in disbelief. “What the hell are you doing, Liu Jun!?”
It happened so fast and suddenly that everybody was still in shock with the turn of events.
Ai anxiously pulled him back. “What happened?”
He chuckled. “What happened? I think it’s pretty clear but nobody is able to see it?”
She blinked.
Jun grabbed his collar and snarled. “You are apologizing to Ai but wasn’t this just your plan to cause this mess in the first place!?”
Yating stared at him in bewilderment. “Have you lost it, Liu Jun!? My plan? What the hell are you talking about!?”
“You are right. That Mr. Lin should have known that you cancelled the project, but he didn’t. And what a coincidence that he was here today and spoke so loudly about your project at the banquet that it was inevitable for people to hear about it. Gu Yating…” he gnashed his jaw, “you planned to do this on purpose, didn’t you? You wanted the whole world to know that you love Ai! You wanted the whole world to misunderstand that Ai possibly had feelings for you too. That’s why you thought of making a company for her. What? Did you want to give an image that I snatched Ai away from you? I mean, people could have taken that meaning too.”
He froze.
“Sky and Dream High are rivals in the publishing industry and to take you down, maybe I brought Ai to my side on purpose to make you weaker. But it backfired and people started accusing Ai instead.”
“This is pure nonsense!” Yating pushed him away. “I didn’t even know that Mr. Lin was going to be a part of this banquet! I panicked myself when he was talking so loudly-“
“Shut up!”
He charged to punch him again, but Ai and Nian held him back this time.
“Jun, stop!”
He angrily laughed. “Why should I stop? Clearly, he planned this to happen. Mr. Lin didn’t know that the project was cancelled? That’s bullshit! He surely fed him some nice chunk of money to say the opposite.”
“Liu Jun, you are going too far with your accusations!” Yating roared.
“Am I? Or is it you who just doesn’t want to leave Ai alone!? Whether it’s accidentally dropping her message for her to rush to take care of a sick Gu Yating or now when you wanted everybody to know your love for Ai, you want people to see that it was always supposed to be Gu Yating and Zhou Ai together. But Liu Jun came in between and rest was history.”