Chapter 97 The Banquet (2)
Nonetheless, the two of them did not behave well even as they walked into the banquet hall hand-in-hand. An Xia deliberately raised her foot to kick Bai Jingshu from time to time, but the latter went even more over-the-top.
Bai Jingshu wrapped his arm around An Xia’s waist and tilted his head to say something to her, causing her to kick him hard in the leg—the two of them nearly came to blows. Su Ziyue couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of this.
Hearing her laughter, Qin Muchen turned around to look at her and asked, “What’s so funny about this?”
Su Ziyue locked her arm in his; she still had to raise her head a little to look at him despite wearing heels. “Don’t you think that it’s funny?”
Qin Muchen raised his brow and walked into the elevator with his arm around her waist. He did not speak another word, for he did not find anything funny about the sight of another couple flirting with each other.
…
After the elevator stopped on the 17th floor, the four of them stepped out of the elevator and headed straight toward the banquet hall.
Bai Jingshu and An Xia walked at the front while Su Ziyue and Qin Muchen followed behind; Nan Chuan, on the other hand, did not come upstairs.
As soon as they entered the banquet hall, Su Ziyue immediately saw Su Yige and Gong Zeyang, both of whom were standing at the center of the crowd.
She tilted her head to look at Qin Muchen and asked, “Is this banquet being held by the Gong Family?”
Qin Muchen did not speak a word, but his silence indicated that it was the case.
No wonder he mentioned that we just have to eat and drink at the banquet, Su Ziyue thought to herself. With that being said, why is he attending a banquet held by the Gong Family?
Bai Jingshu and An Xia parted ways with them and went to another side of the banquet hall as soon as they entered.
“What would you like to eat? I’ll get it for you,” asked Qin Muchen as he took her to the buffet spread. Holding a plate in his hand, he turned to ask her, “What would you like to eat?”
Su Ziyue was speechless. Did he really mean it when he said that we’re just coming to eat and drink?
Qin Muchen’s lips quirked into a smile when he saw the puzzled expression on her face. He picked a few things that she liked to eat before taking her to another side of the hall to sit down.
All the other guests exchanged greetings and tried to make friends with each other as soon as they entered, for they were only too eager to befriend influential people. On the contrary, Su Ziyue and Qin Muchen sat in a corner and ate quietly, looking as though they were distancing themselves from the other guests.
Qin Muchen realized that he had forgotten to get some drinks after they sat down, so he got up and said to Su Ziyue, “Sit here obediently while I get us something to drink.”
Sit here obediently… I’m not a kid, Su Ziyue groaned inwardly.
“Hurry up and go if you want to get the drinks.” She cast a disdainful glance at him without knowing that there was salad dressing on the corner of her mouth.
Qin Muchen stared at her for a second. Then, he suddenly bowed his head and kissed her, licking the salad dressing off the corner of her mouth.
Stupefied, Su Ziyue looked at him before turning her head to look around. After making sure that nobody was looking in their direction, she turned her head back to glare at him.
However, Qin Muchen wasn’t annoyed at all. He reached out his hand and pinched her face before turning around to get some fruit juice.
No sooner had he turned around and left, Gong Zeyang suddenly appeared in front of Su Ziyue and called out to her, “Ziyue.”
Su Ziyue stared blankly at Gong Zeyang as he stood right in front of her before she recalled the incident last time. Feeling guilty for some inexplicable reason, she turned to look in the direction where Qin Muchen had gone off to.
Luckily, Qin Muchen couldn’t see what was going on with her here from where he was heading.
She then turned to look at Gong Zeyang with a smile on her face as she wanted to get rid of Gong Zeyang as soon as possible. “Anything?”
Gong Zeyang glanced toward Qin Muchen’s direction with a cold expression on his face. He asked, “Are you still together with him?”
He spoke in a tone that sounded a little odd.
“Why can’t we be together? We’re a legally-wedded couple with a marriage certificate.” Su Ziyue felt that it seemed quite strange; she wondered why Gong Zeyang always poked his nose into her own affairs.
Gong Zeyang put down the glass of champagne which he had been holding in his hand and frowned slightly. “Ziyue, not everyone trusts you as I do. You’re too naive, so you’ll be deceived. Does he know anything about your past?”
Su Ziyue gave him no answer.
Gong Zeyang thought his words had hit home when he saw that she did not speak a word. He walked up and sat next to her before asking in a low voice, “He doesn’t know that you had an abortion before, does he?”
“What do you mean?” Upon hearing him, Su Ziyue could no longer keep the smile on her face; she couldn’t help but wonder if Gong Zeyang was out of his mind.
“You don’t have to be so sensitive. I know that you were deceived at that time because you were young, but that’s not important anymore; you don’t have to demean yourself to marry that man at all. He has nothing, so he can’t make you happy.”
Gong Zeyang looked down upon Qin Muchen, whom he thought had no future as a man who worked as a vice-chairman in a small company.
Su Ziyue realized that Gong Zeyang might have misunderstood what she had said to him last time. Even so, Gong Zeyang wouldn’t listen to what had to say even if she explained it right now. Being an obstinate person, he persisted only in what he believed.
She had no idea if this was a good thing or a bad thing; he chose to believe the false allegation that she had an abortion back then, yet he did not look down upon her because of that.
To him, Su Ziyue was merely naive, and there was nothing so serious about her having done such a slightly inappropriate thing. Her reputation wasn’t great, but he wasn’t going to marry her anyway.
Even so, she felt obliged to explain herself to him. “Whoever I get married to is my choice. Whether or not he is rich and what life I’ll be living is solely my business, and you don’t have to worry about that.”
Gong Zeyang frowned. “Ziyue, I’ll be angry if you say anything like that again. You should marry someone better and live a good life.”
Su Ziyue retorted, “I’m doing great now…”
She felt that Gong Zeyang must have gone insane.
However, Gong Zeyang simply retorted, “You’ll do even better if you break up with him.”
“Mr. Gong, can you tell me why my wife will do better if she breaks up with me?”
Su Ziyue turned her head sharply to see that Qin Muchen had returned to the table without them realizing; it was apparent that he was angry because his face looked as black as thunder.
Feeling guilty, Su Ziyue shrank back toward him, for she had no idea how much he had heard.
An awkward look flashed across Gong Zeyang’s face as he also seemed to have not expected Qin Muchen’s sudden appearance.
However, his pride as the eldest son of the Gong Family forbade him from yielding. He stood up and said, “Excuse me for speaking bluntly, but you aren’t a good match for Ziyue, Mr. Qin. Ziyue deserves a better man.”
Qin Muchen’s face darkened even more. How dare an outsider stand in front of me to say such a thing?
“In that case, what sort of man do you think is a better match for my wife, Mr. Gong?” asked Qin Muchen as he sat down with his upper body leaning back slightly.
Although Qin Muchen sat in his seat while Gong Zeyang stood there, the latter had a strange feeling that he was inferior to the former.
Gong Zeyang’s face fell at the thought. He then replied with a cold snort, “At the very least, she doesn’t deserve someone like you.”
Su Ziyue looked impatient as she heard Gong Zeyang asserting repeatedly that Qin Muchen wasn’t a good match for her.
She stared frostily at Gong Zeyang with a long face. “Please hurry up and leave since Su Yige is looking for you. My affairs are none of your business, and it is my problem whether or not I’m living happily with him. You didn’t choose to believe me back then, so you don’t have to shed crocodile tears right now since I can’t care less about that.”
