Xia Jingcheng watched Hua Yichen after he returned, his eyes fixed on him the whole time.
Seeing this, Qin Xiaoran scorned himself for having been so blind before. It was not as if this was his first time seeing the two of them together, yet he had failed to notice the affection hidden between them.
Bing Ling wanted to watch the excitement, but he was hungry. Rubbing his stomach, he said to them, "Didn't we come here to eat? If we don't eat soon, my stomach will be flat from hunger!"
Seeing him make it sound so serious, Feng Wuhen chuckled. "Didn't you just eat a few buns? Why are you still so hungry?"
"How could those few buns possibly fill my stomach? They only laid the slightest foundation. I'm still hungry."
Feng Wuhen had merely been teasing him. Seeing that he really was starving, he said to Qin Xiaoran, "Senior Brother, let's order. We really are hungry."
Hearing that, Hua Yichen stopped Qin Xiaoran from calling over the waiter. "I already said I'd treat you to this meal. Waiter, clear away everything on this table. Then bring out all your signature dishes. Cook two basins of Jade-Stem Rice as well, arrange a few spirit dishes as you see fit, and prepare two pots of fine wine."
Hua Yichen had stayed here for two days, and everyone in the inn knew he was a man who did not lack money. Hearing him order so many dishes in one breath, the waiter's mouth nearly split to his ears.
The more the guests ordered, the more silver they would receive at the end of the month. With that in mind, the waiter eagerly agreed, happily flicked the towel over his shoulder, and hurried to the kitchen to urge the cooks to get moving.
Feng Wuhen and the others found seats. With red ears, Hua Yichen took the initiative to invite Xia Jingcheng. "Senior Brother, you didn't eat well just now either, did you? If you don't mind, sit and eat with us!"
Naturally, Xia Jingcheng did not mind. He leisurely came over and sat beside Hua Yichen. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Hua Yichen's ears reddening because of his closeness, and the corners of his lips could not help but curve upward.
Feng Wuhen had just sat down and poured each of them a cup of tea when he saw someone he did not particularly like sitting across from him.
Some people truly were shameless. No one had invited her, yet Xu Niannian found herself a seat and sat down anyway.
Hua Yichen considered her his junior sister after all. Even if he disliked her, he could not drive her away after she had already sat down.
Meng Hongying, however, was not so good-tempered. She had always been straightforward and said whatever was on her mind. "Some people really have no shame. They just ruined someone else's image in front of others, yet they still have the nerve to mooch off that person's table. They have truly displayed the four words 'brazen and shameless' to the fullest!"
Xu Niannian knew Meng Hongying was talking about her, but since Meng Hongying had neither named nor pointed at her, arguing would only make her seem guilty. She could only pretend not to understand a thing.
Seeing how ugly Xu Niannian's expression had become, Qin Leyan lightly tugged at Meng Hongying's sleeve beneath the table, telling her to stop talking.
In a low voice, she added, "I heard that eating while looking at someone with a bad complexion can cause indigestion. So stop talking. Spare her, and let us eat in peace too."
Meng Hongying had initially thought Qin Leyan was telling her to stop because she pitied Xu Niannian. Who would have thought her senior sister was even more ruthless?
Was Qin Leyan not telling Xu Niannian that if she wanted to eat, she should put on a pleasant expression, and if she did not, she should get lost, lest she stay here and spoil everyone's appetite?
Xu Niannian's already ugly expression turned even uglier at those words. She not only bore a grudge against Meng Hongying, who had constantly opposed her, but now she also resented Qin Leyan.
Qin Leyan hated people like this most—people who knew someone already had someone they liked, yet still insisted on pushing themselves forward. Thus, she disliked Xu Niannian immensely.
Qin Xiaoran knew why his younger sister disliked Xu Niannian. Tenderly, he reached out and rubbed her head. Qin Leyan turned and smiled at him, indicating that she was fine.
Xu Niannian looked toward Hua Yichen, hoping he would protect her, but she had forgotten what she had done earlier. How could Hua Yichen possibly defend her now?
Seeing Hua Yichen avoid her gaze, Xu Niannian's hand beneath the table clenched involuntarily, her nails leaving crescent-shaped marks in her palm.
Feng Wuhen watched the spectacle with great delight, muttering inwardly, I never expected my two senior sisters to be so formidable. They talked until Xu Niannian's face went green, then red—their destructive power is simply maxed out.
But Xu Niannian is no good person. She bears a grudge against both senior sisters and is plotting how to make them lose face later!
Oh, so she plans to pour wine for my two senior sisters, then secretly add Itch Powder to it and make them embarrass themselves in public.
Heh, with me here, it is still uncertain who will be the one to lose face!
Hearing an unfamiliar voice ring beside his ear, Xia Jingcheng saw that none of Feng Wuhen and the others had moved their lips. Just as he was wondering whether to ask if the others had heard it too, Hua Yichen's voice transmission sounded in his mind.
"Senior Brother, do not make a sound. This is the inner voice of Junior Brother Feng from Mount Grand Mystery. For some unknown reason, we can hear it, but everything he says is true.
Senior Brother Qin said we must not let Junior Brother Feng know that we can hear his inner voice, so Senior Brother, do not reveal anything."
After listening to his inner voice, Xia Jingcheng turned to look at Hua Yichen's bright, spirited eyes and gently nodded.
Hua Yichen's face flushed scarlet at once. He turned away, not daring to look at him, only to hear thunderous rumbling in his ears. It took him a moment to realize it was the sound of his own heartbeat.
Very soon, the dishes they had ordered arrived. Xu Niannian was the first to take the wine cups and one of the wine pots. As she poured, one hand covered the cup while the other took advantage of the blind spot in everyone's vision to flick the powder hidden beneath her fingernail into it.
The powder vanished without a trace the moment it entered the wine, leaving behind not the slightest evidence.
Xu Niannian poured two cups. She drugged the second cup in the same manner, then placed the two cups of drugged wine before Meng Hongying and Qin Leyan.
She poured herself a cup as well. Of course, her own cup contained no drug.
Xu Niannian raised her wine cup toward Meng Hongying and Qin Leyan. "Only upon seeing you two junior sisters today did I understand what peerless beauty truly meant. I admire and envy you greatly. Might I become friends with you?"
As she spoke, she wore a gentle, admiring look. If they had not learned from Feng Wuhen what she had done, who would have thought someone like her was a bad person?
Feng Wuhen felt it was time to act. He snapped the bracelet he had prepared in advance, and its beads fell to the floor with a tinkling clatter, rolling everywhere.
Feng Wuhen smiled apologetically at everyone. "I'm terribly sorry. This bracelet is quite old. I've always wanted to restring it with something sturdier, but I never got around to it.
Who knew it would come loose outright this time? Could I trouble you all to help me find the beads? They are very important to me."
Shen Ziheng and Bing Ling were the first to lower their heads and search. Seeing this, the others hurriedly did the same. In order not to seem like an odd one out, Xu Niannian also set down her cup, bent over, and looked beneath the table.
Feng Wuhen took advantage of the moment she lowered her head to switch her wine with Qin Leyan's. As for Meng Hongying's wine cup, he simply put it away and replaced it with a fresh one.
When the waiter had brought the wine earlier, Feng Wuhen had specifically asked him to bring several extra cups. This was precisely for this moment.
By the time Xu Niannian lifted her head empty-handed, Feng Wuhen had already finished switching them.
Xu Niannian noticed nothing amiss and continued offering wine to Meng Hongying and Qin Leyan. The two of them drank generously.
They knew that Feng Wuhen had deliberately caused that little commotion in order to switch the wine.
The wine they drank now was certainly fine, but as for what Xu Niannian was drinking, that was...
Before you continue