The atmosphere in the main hall was as strange as tea left overnight.
Si Che sat in the seat of honor. Though he had been the household head for twenty years, even he found this situation a little too much to handle.
Third Uncle Granduncle wore an equally courteous smile, but in his mind, he had already beaten Si Shuo a dozen times with the cane in his hand.
The ladies' hands were hardly idle, either.
Su Miaoyin was the first to take a white jade box from her sleeve and hand it to Qing Li. "A small gift to welcome little Chen home."
The box remained closed, but the quality of the jade alone made it clear that whatever lay inside was no ordinary thing.
Leaning by the window, Mu Qianqian casually slipped a ring off her finger and dropped it onto the table. "Saw it while passing by. Take it and have some fun."
The others began bringing out gifts as well...
Some took them from their sleeves, some from storage pouches, and some from the scented sachets they carried.
Spirit pills, magic treasures, cultivation-method jade slips, heavenly materials and earthly treasures...
They pressed them into Qing Li's hands, one after another.
Qing Li could barely hold the pile with both arms. She looked toward Si Che as though pleading for rescue.
Si Che's face darkened. Accepting these things felt wrong, but refusing them felt wrong, too.
How could we possibly accept them? The Si Household is the one that owes them!
But refusing would be even worse.
They came all this way with gifts offered in goodwill, and you're going to turn them away?
He glanced at Third Uncle Granduncle.
Third Uncle narrowed his eyes, seemingly lost in thought.
The Si Shuo in his mind had already