The Banquet

The resplendent hall was filled with gleaming lights.

Ronan and Wei Wei walked side by side. The dazzling brilliance ahead made him, accustomed as he was to the sunless darkness of Crescent Prison, feel slightly uncomfortable.

He instinctively narrowed his eyes.

Yet when Wei Wei saw this gesture, she took it as an obvious sign of stage fright.

That was only natural. A country bumpkin supposedly raised on a farm would inevitably feel nervous when suddenly faced with such a grand scene. At that thought, Wei Wei felt a burst of secret delight.

Tonight, she would definitely make this bumpkin thoroughly embarrass himself at Christine's party.

As the daughter of the Governor of Blue Sea Province, Christine's birthday banquet was naturally an exceptionally grand affair. Although she had always kept a low profile and had done her utmost to limit the dinner and party guest list, the parking lot at Gem Manor was still packed with over a hundred luxury cars.

Every one of those luxury cars was a high-end model powered by Primal Stones, far removed from the ordinary electric vehicles driven by commoners.

Christine wanted only young people at her birthday banquet, so none of the elders were present in the hall. At that moment, those gathered in small groups and chatting over raised glasses were mostly young men and women.

They wore luxurious formal attire, carried themselves with elegance, and spoke with refinement. They were true gentlemen and ladies.

Thus, the moment Ronan entered, he stood out from the crowd.

There was nothing improper about his clothes.

On Ronan's first day at Yi Lin Manor, Earl Will had personally summoned his three tailors to take Ronan's measurements. Working at full speed, they had produced several suitable suits and formal outfits. Ronan was now wearing a fashionable fitted blazer.

Its tailored lines clung to Ronan's chest, and paired with his naturally explosive musculature, it gave him a rather heroic look.

The real issue lay in his bearing.

When others entered the hall, they chatted and laughed with ease, without the slightest hint of discomfort.

Only Ronan had his eyes slightly narrowed and his body taut, like a spring compressed to its limit, ready to snap back at any moment!

In the eyes of those who cared to watch, such a subtle difference was easily magnified.

Ronan himself naturally had no idea that the vigilance he had developed amid countless dangers was seen by others as stage fright and cowardice.

He followed Wei Wei into the hall, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings.

For some reason, he felt a faint sense of danger.

As though someone were watching him from the shadows.

Near a bar not far away, three girls had gathered together to whisper among themselves.

"Wei Wei is here!"

"That's her fiancé? Haha, he really does look like a complete loser."

"Exactly. Look how nervous he is! He can still keep a straight face, but he's probably just putting on a brave front, right? How many things in this hall could he possibly have never seen before? I'm really curious..."

"If you ask me, that outdated rule that women can't inherit the family estate should have been abolished long ago. Our Wei Wei is such an outstanding girl, yet she has to marry a country bumpkin because of some stupid rule? Good thing I have an older brother who dotes on me..."

"Yeah. But after tonight, Earl Will will probably have to reconsider his plans. How could a man ridiculed by the entire young aristocratic class of Blue Sea Province possibly inherit the earl's enormous family estate?"

The girls chattered away, their gazes toward Ronan full of contempt and mockery.

They were already prepared to watch Ronan make a fool of himself.

They all knew Wei Wei's personality. Once she set her mind on doing something, no one could stop her.

Besides, Christine was helping her this time.

That poor country bumpkin would probably suffer a mental breakdown after tonight, wouldn't he?

The girls watched the situation unfold with curiosity.

"That is Christine. She's the Governor of Blue Sea Province's daughter and holds extraordinary influence in the Emerald Star Region. If we get the chance, I'll introduce you to her. She's one of my closest friends."

Wei Wei spoke softly.

As they walked across the clean plush carpet, she nestled against Ronan's side like a little bird, leaning in almost excessively close. When she spoke, her faint breath brushed against Ronan's neck.

The arm she had hooked around his kept occasionally brushing against the girl's impressively endowed chest, vibrant with youthful energy. Even Ronan, steadfast as he was, felt somewhat thrown off for a moment.

How could this woman change so suddenly? She didn't show me a single pleasant expression a few days ago. Why has she suddenly become so gentle today?

Ronan silently stayed on guard, but merely nodded and made no deliberate attempt to pull away.

There was no reason not to take advantage of what was freely offered.

Little did he know that, to the other guests at the banquet, this sight was utterly explosive!

The little witch Wei Wei was actually being so gentle with a man!

This was no less sensational than someone successfully breaking out of Crescent Prison!

In an instant, it was as though a silent bomb had detonated in the banquet hall.

More and more gazes settled on Ronan, apparently curious about his background.

Within aristocratic circles, no secret could remain hidden for long.

Very quickly, every detail about Ronan was dug up:

--He had entered Yi Lin Manor a few days earlier.

He was said to be Earl Will's nephew. But Earl Will had severed ties with his supposedly rebellious sister when he was young. The origins of this nephew were somewhat suspicious.

Especially at this critical juncture—when the Brinton Family, to which Earl Will belonged, was at its wits' end over its next heir, and even the stock price of the interstellar corporation it controlled—the Tri-Alliance Group—had suffered repeated setbacks, Ronan suddenly appeared!

It was hard not to read something into that.

According to certain customs in Blue Sea Province, women rarely inherited the family estate. The usual solution was to find a suitable husband among the men of the same generation in the family and continue the bloodline through him.

Yet the Brinton Family had been exceptionally unlucky in this generation. Not only had Earl Will, the family head, fathered a daughter, but the children of every other branch were girls as well! The only boy, upon closer tracing, had such an exceedingly thin blood connection that he was practically unrelated to the Brinton Family!

Under such circumstances, Earl Will, who was said to have not attended the group's board meetings for a long time due to health reasons, suddenly found himself a nephew—and that nephew had moved into Yi Lin Manor in grand fashion!

What did that mean?

To many political schemers, the answer was already obvious. Earl Will intended for this nephew to inherit the family estate. Barring any surprises, he would marry Wei Wei and carry on the Brinton Family bloodline. And Ronan's surname was even more thought-provoking.

Though the public knew nothing about it, some of Blue Sea's high-ranking nobles knew the unique significance of that surname. It might merely have been a shared surname, but it was also possible that the earl's sister had truly had some connection with that important figure from the First Star Region—though certainly not a direct connection. How could the child of such an important figure possibly marry into the Brinton Family?

In people's speculation, Ronan might have been a forgotten branch of that great family. He held no value or status in the eyes of the upper echelons of the Capital Star circle, so they had simply let him go. Of course, it might also have been nothing more than coincidence.

Besides, the boy was said to have grown up on a farm, and his father was a rare sort—a farmer. Naturally, he could not have seen much of the world.

Some people had even begun to wonder whether Ronan could read.

"Yi Lin Manor is about to become a huge joke." The young nobles present watched coldly.

No one knew Wei Wei's temperament better than the Blue Sea playboys she had tormented.

If she were told to marry such a country bumpkin, it would be strange if she did not explode.

"Why are they looking at us?"

Feeling everyone's gazes, Ronan remained calm and merely asked curiously.

Wei Wei's eyes rolled, and she suddenly said with a grin, "How would I know? Oh, right, these Rock Cakes are delicious. Want one?"

Ronan rubbed his stomach. He was indeed a little hungry.

Wei Wei suddenly cried out, "Oh, right! I forgot to go greet a friend. I promised him I would!"

"I'll go get him first. You eat some cake by yourself. I'll be right back."

With that, she gave Ronan no chance to respond. She flung off his arm and quickly left in short, rapid steps.

Ronan was left standing alone beside the dining table.

Many hard-looking yellow rectangular objects sat on the table, along with small bottles of red liquid. A label on the table read: Nana Workshop—Rock Cake.

Ronan frowned.

How was he supposed to eat this thing?

His gaze shifted between the rectangular objects and the red liquid, and he hesitated.

For most of his more than ten years of life, he had been accompanied by cold, hard loaves of bread. Exquisite food had essentially been beyond his reach.

He had never even heard of something like Rock Cake!

Was he supposed to bite into it directly? It looked really hard!

For a moment, Ronan felt a little lost.

Wei Wei had not gone very far.

She had merely pretended to head for the exit, then quickly doubled back under the cover of the crowd and met several of her girlfriends near the bar.

"Hahaha... Look at him. He doesn't even know how to eat Rock Cake!"

Wei Wei wore the triumphant smile of a successful scheme and clenched her little fist.

"Do you think he'll really bite into it directly?" A girl showed a hint of reluctance. "A little teasing is enough, isn't it? He looks pretty pitiful."

"Oh? Feeling sorry for him?" Wei Wei glared at her unhappily. "Wang Xiaoman, do you think that country bumpkin actually looks decent once he cleans himself up? I heard the Wang Family was interested in taking in a son-in-law?"

Wang Xiaoman's little face reddened. She muttered a few words but said nothing else.

At that moment, some of the people around Ronan were already letting out faint, suppressed laughter.

Out of noble breeding, they did not point or gesture at Ronan.

But they all understood Wei Wei's intentions. They gathered in small groups, seemingly discussing their own matters, yet their gazes kept drifting toward Ronan. Some even looked him over openly and without restraint, wearing the lofty attitude of those looking down from above.

They wanted to know what this country bumpkin would do.

"Perhaps backing down in the face of difficulty would be the best choice for him."

Beside Christine, a tall man said coldly, "I am not targeting him personally, but the son of a farmer, even if he has blood ties to an earl's family, should not overreach himself and attempt to become the master of Yi Lin Manor."

Christine neither agreed nor disagreed. She merely watched Ronan with interest.

Everyone was watching Ronan.

Ronan alone was watching the Rock Cake.

"What a boring bunch of people..."

He shook his head inwardly.

Just then, a girl carrying her high heels and walking barefoot across the red carpet passed by Ronan.

Ronan suddenly called out to her. "Miss, hello."

She was clearly at a loss.

She held her high heels in one hand and lifted her long dress with the other. She could not have looked more awkward.

"What is this man doing?! Can't he see my heels broke and I'm in a hurry to change them?"

The girl's face was flushed red with anxiety. She was already embarrassed enough, and what was worse, she could feel everyone's eyes focused on her!

"This is awful. I'm completely humiliating myself this time!"

She resented this man in front of her to the extreme. He was fairly good-looking, but his behavior was unbelievably unreliable!

Still, out of courtesy, she stopped and asked in the gentlest, most polite tone she could manage:

"May I ask what you need, sir?"

Ronan looked at the girl, slightly puzzled. He had only stopped her—was there any need for her face to turn that red? Or was this girl naturally shy?

But he did not dwell on it and introduced himself directly. "Hello, I'm Ronan, from Yi Lin Manor. May I know your name?"

"Of course. Su Xiao." The girl forced out a smile. In her heart, she was already stabbing a voodoo doll and cursing the man who had made her so embarrassed and awkward. Yet the polite small talk had to continue.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Oh, Miss Su Xiao." Ronan asked sincerely, "Do you know how to eat this kind of cake?"

The moment he said that, the entire room fell silent.

Su Xiao's misty eyes widened even further.

Ronan thought she had not heard him clearly, so he repeated himself in an even louder voice. "I just arrived in Blue Sea. We don't have things like this where I come from, so I don't know how to eat this kind of cake."

"Could you teach me?"

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