As night deepened, the Housewarming Banquet gradually drew to a close.
The guests had eaten and drunk their fill. One by one, they rose to take their leave of Chen Jing and his father, Chen Sanwu, praising Chen Jing's strength without reservation.
Chen Jing and his father escorted everyone to the gate, exchanging pleasantries and seeing them off with all due courtesy.
As the figures outside the courtyard grew sparse, Zhuang Tao still didn't leave. Instead, he deliberately slowed his steps and fell behind the others.
Seeing this, Chen Jing already had a pretty good idea what was going on.
Once Chen Sanwu turned back into the courtyard to clear up the mess, Chen Jing went with Zhuang Tao to a secluded corner beside the courtyard and asked with a quiet smile, "Brother Tao, is there something you want to say?"
The smile on Zhuang Tao's face slowly faded, replaced by a rare look of gravity.
He glanced around, making sure no one was nearby, then lowered his voice. "Xiao Jing, there's something I have to warn you about."
"From now on, try not to get too close to the three Inner City families, especially the Liu Family, who came today."
Chen Jing's eyebrows lifted slightly, a flicker of doubt passing through his mind.
Liu Chuzhou had come to visit of his own accord today, speaking courteously and repeatedly offering him an olive branch. Though Chen Jing had turned him down, Liu Chuzhou had shown no obvious ill will.
Could the Liu Family actually be a smiling tiger, hiding their intentions to take revenge on him behind his back?
Thinking this, Chen Jing asked in a low voice, "Brother Tao, what do you mean?"
Zhuang Tao lowered his voice even further, speaking with a note of caution. "You know that