The gaze

Bonus update for reaching 30 yuan in gifts

In a female-dominated world, women like Jiang Miao, who showed interest and curiosity toward men and freely voiced their judgments, were the norm.

In fact, Jiang Miao already counted as a wealthy young lady with a strong sense of equality.

She put on no airs and was not arrogant.

Another girl might not have stopped at appraising them and might even have teased them a little.

Xiao Yan sighed helplessly. "Please, give Rafayel a break."

Jiang Miao knew when to stop and invited Rafayel to sit down.

Then she moved on to Sylus.

Sylus raised an eyebrow indifferently. "Look all you want. Until you've had your fill."

Jiang Miao gave him a thumbs-up. "How generous, Sylus."

"Compared to a certain fish, I am pretty generous." Sylus did not forget to tease Rafayel.

Rafayel turned and glared at Sylus.

Only then did Jiang Miao return to Xiao Yan, looking thoughtfully at Caleb.

Xiao Yan drank her tea, her social awareness rising to a new level.

Once the balance of social power was reversed, men could only occupy the position of being subjected to the female gaze. It really was a peculiar feeling.

It inevitably reminded Xiao Yan of that strange feeling in her original world, when men inexplicably stared at her endlessly.

Now her five husbands had become the objects of the female gaze.

She wondered what they thought about it.

They probably felt uncomfortable, offended, and helpless too.

"Hmm... Caleb, you don't seem very happy," Jiang Miao concluded.

Caleb slowly rose and smiled at Jiang Miao. "Not at all. I simply didn't want to interrupt your observation time, Eldest Miss Jiang."

"..." Jiang Miao took a step back. "What an intimidating presence!"

"He's so tall and broad. Of course he's intimidating when he stands up." Xiao Yan had to put a stop to this. "Jiang Miao, stop fooling around, or I'm going to get angry."

"Oh, don't!" Jiang Miao hurriedly waved her hands at Xiao Yan. "I just wanted to see who I could invite out to have fun in the future. I didn't mean anything else. Don't get jealous!"

"No, too late. I'm already jealous," Xiao Yan said. "Unless you formally apologize to me."

Jiang Miao caught the two corners of her pleated skirt in her hands and bent her knees, bowing in a playful curtsy to Xiao Yan as she lowered her head in surrender. "I'm sorry! I'm formally apologizing to you! Bestie, I was wrong! I'll never dare do it again!"

In truth, Xiao Yan had asked for this apology on behalf of the five men.

Regardless of whether Jiang Miao was acting within society's rules and doing something she already had every right to do.

She had still been just a little rude.

No matter how much social conditioning had taught the five men to tolerate that gaze.

Or whether they understood Xiao Yan's intentions.

Xiao Yan wanted them to hear a sincerely meant "I'm sorry."

But clearly, Zayne was the first to realize it.

He turned a gentle gaze toward Xiao Yan, silently thanking her.

Rafayel was no longer as angry as before either.

He even graciously added, "Since you're being so sincere, what do you want to do next time? I can come along with my wife to hang out with you."

"Hehe, that would be great!" Jiang Miao said happily. "Once I've picked a few husbands today, I'll find the ones who love having fun and know how, and we can all have a good time together!"

"Then you'd better plan something genuinely fun. I'm not interested in the ordinary stuff," Rafayel said.

"Okay~" Jiang Miao made a high-five gesture toward Rafayel across the room.

Rafayel looked disdainful, but still raised his hand for a token high five from a distance.

As expected of Little Fish, he had a knack for defusing awkward situations.

He had also cleverly helped preserve Xiao Yan and Jiang Miao's friendship, keeping Jiang Miao's little display of female superiority from becoming a potential rift between the two friends.

Xiao Yan reached up and tugged Caleb's hem. "Don't just stand there. She's just very playful. She's actually a good person, so don't be so tense."

Jiang Miao immediately seized the opening. "Yes, exactly! I'm bad at it but can't get enough. I love playing and fooling around, but I'm actually a good person!"

Caleb gave Jiang Miao another perfunctory smile.

Then he obediently sat back down beside Xiao Yan.

Just then, the door to the small reception room suddenly opened.

Another group of people came streaming in.

Xiao Yan's other two close friends, Tang Qi and Xing Xiaowan, had arrived.

The people behind them... Xiao Yan struggled to recognize them before finally remembering.

Eldest Miss Fang, Fang Xinlei, and Second Miss Tang, Tang Yi.

Weren't these two always making trouble for Xing Xiaowan and the others at university?

Hadn't Fang Xinlei once chosen Xavier as a husband? The penalty for refusing marriage that Xavier had used his Lightseeker Merit Medal to cancel had been for refusing this very Fang Xinlei!

And Fang Xinlei had invited Rafayel to that husband-selection banquet too, but Rafayel had simply declined the invitation and never attended.

As for Tang Yi, she had reportedly once been determined to have Sylus, but unfortunately, Sylus had rejected that invitation with utter disdain.

Tang Qi and Xing Xiaowan were both six months older than Xiao Yan and had long since finished choosing their husbands.

They had each chosen two human men.

They had brought them along today too.

Fang Xinlei and Tang Yi, on the other hand, had both chosen beastmen as husbands, and each had brought five.

All at once, the small reception room was packed with a sea of heads.

Xiao Yan's trypophobia flared up again.

At her own husband-selection banquet, though, she had only recently transmigrated after the car accident, and seeing a dense crowd of people all staring at her had given her a terrible headache.

Today was much better. She only experienced a brief moment of psychological discomfort.

She soon recovered.

Jiang Miao dropped her earlier clowning manner.

She lifted her chin arrogantly and walked over to the group.

After some formulaic pleasantries, Jiang Miao invited everyone to sit on the sofas.

The ring of sofas in the small reception room was immediately filled.

Still, a larger crowd had its advantages.

Introducing their husbands simply involved calling out their names one by one.

The men whose names were called only had to stand up and greet everyone.

The universal convention was to follow the host-guest hierarchy of the banquet, then rank everyone by their families' power.

The less important and less powerful someone was, the earlier they had to offer greetings to show respect.

Tang Qi's family was relatively less powerful. She sat stiffly and shyly introduced her two husbands.

Both men had refined dispositions, making them an excellent match for a wife like Tang Qi, who was shy and introverted around strangers but revealed a somewhat endearing side once she grew familiar with someone.

After standing up, both men wore friendly smiles.

First, they greeted Jiang Miao, the banquet's host.

Then they greeted Xiao Yan, whose family was the most powerful among the guests present.

Next came Fang Xinlei, Xing Xiaowan, and Tang Yi.

After that, Tang Yi introduced her five beastman husbands.

These five looked far flashier, each with the personality of a peacock spreading its tail.

Once they stood up, sure enough.

When greeting Xiao Yan, one or two of them even cast flirtatious glances at her.

Those two seemed quite restless.

Xiao Yan leaned against Caleb. Problems with men ought to be left to men to resolve.

Caleb followed Xiao Yan's wishes and fixed a cold gaze on those two with their sultry eyes.

"Oh, a military man really is different," Tang Yi said snidely.

Although she knew her family's influence fell short of Xiao Yan's, Tang Yi simply refused to accept Xiao Yan.

Especially when she saw that Xiao Yan had relegated Sylus, whom Tang Yi liked so much, to the outermost position among her five husbands.

Tang Yi felt even more displeased.

If Sylus had agreed to attend her husband-selection banquet back then, how could he have ended up relegated to the edge?

Tang Yi would certainly have made Sylus her principal husband, the man among the five most entitled to stay close by her side!

Hearing Tang Yi speak, with her husbands now seated as well.

Xiao Yan knew the war between women was about to begin.

She gave Tang Yi a faint smile. "You've done quite a bit of homework on my husbands. You even looked into my principal husband's military background so thoroughly?"

"Did that need any special investigating? After your husband-selection banquet, it sat so prominently on the trending searches for days. Who doesn't know he's Caleb, and that he was later promoted to commanding officer of the near-Earth orbital patrol fleet?"