Xie Zhuzhou found a quiet place to sit, and his mood relaxed without his realizing it.
Before long, Ji Wangchen, handsome and tall with an imposing air, found him and motioned with his eyes for him to follow.
Many people here could not be sure he was Xie Zhuzhou, so they showed no reaction to him walking half a step behind Ji Wangchen.
The Sheng family was indeed very wealthy. The house had been made luxurious, elegant, and artistic inside and out. Unlike conventional gilded splendor, every detail of its decor spoke of taste.
They passed through a sparsely occupied corridor and reached the end, where two bodyguards opened a grand, towering door.
Ji Wangchen said, "Grandfather, happy birthday. May your blessings be as vast as the eastern sea and your life as long as the southern mountains."
Xie Zhuzhou said, "Elder Sheng, happy birthday. May you enjoy blessings, longevity, peace, and health."
"Good, good, good. Thank you both." Elder Sheng had a kind face, and his hair and eyebrows were already silver-white. He studied Xie Zhuzhou carefully with a gentle gaze, then nodded.
Xie Zhuzhou noticed several other old men sitting beside Elder Sheng, with some young people standing behind them.
This was quite a formal gathering.
Xie Zhuzhou only swept his gaze over them once and stopped looking around. He hid half his body behind his eldest brother, seeking a sense of security. Although his expression was calm, he was actually a little intimidated inside.
In his previous life, even at palace banquets, few people had focused their attention on him. What was going on in this modern world?
Xie Zhuzhou looked at his eldest brother's back as he stood in front of him, his eyes dark and deep.
At that moment, the people following them with the gifts also presented the birthday gifts Ji Wangchen had prepared.
Because Elder Sheng disliked opening gifts on the spot, which also spared this group from comparing their gifts, the butler accepted the gift boxes before handing them to someone specifically responsible for managing gift grades to put away.
"You two, come sit over here too."
He had thought he could quietly keep his head down, but in the end, his eldest brother hauled him over to Elder Sheng.
Next came the part where elders expressed their care for the younger generation. Had they called him over to demonstrate the magnanimity of a great family?
Xie Zhuzhou could not help feeling a little disappointed. Even more than Ji Wangchen hating him, he disliked being used...
His gaze dark, Xie Zhuzhou quietly listened as Elder Sheng offered him a few words of concern, then sat to one side and listened to the old men chat.
But during this, after Master Elder An and Master Elder Ling saw him appear, their gazes seemed to disdain his background, or perhaps something else.
Elder Sheng did not deliberately neglect him, but those two old men, who looked very petty, steered the conversation, always seemingly inadvertently bringing it around to young people these days.
They were willful, rude, resistant to discipline, and had little ability yet liked offending people everywhere. It sounded very much like a veiled jab at someone present.
Several rounds of tea were served. Xie Zhuzhou naturally knew they were talking about him, but to give his eldest brother face, he did not flip the table on the spot. He let their words go in one ear and out the other. Their slow voices felt like they were reading some boring book, making him drowsy.
Xie Zhuzhou lowered his head, so sleepy that his eyelids kept drooping.
In the end, he lay over the table and fell asleep.
Ji Wangchen: ...
Elder Sheng: ...
Elder An: ...
Elder Ling: ...
He was sleeping so soundly. Ji Wangchen sighed softly, had someone bring a thin blanket, and draped it over him.
After Xie Zhuzhou was covered with the blanket, his fair cheeks grew rosy. His brows relaxed, and his lips were moist, red, and glossy from the lip balm he had applied.
"Grandfather, keep your voice down."
Elder Sheng looked at his eldest grandson, who had never behaved like a decent human being even as a child. To think the day would come when he cared for someone. "You're certainly tolerant."
"He's still a child."
A softness rarely seen appeared on Ji Wangchen's handsome face, as though looking after this younger brother was only natural.
With so many people present, Ji Wangchen gave Elder Sheng plenty of face. He was his grandfather, after all, and there was no reason to ruin the occasion. Of course, in the future, he would never again bring Xie Zhuzhou to a gathering like this, where he had to suppress his nature.
He wondered whether Xie Zhuzhou would be angry with him.
They were merely a few old foxes who did not act their age, seventy or eighty years old and halfway into their graves. Just because Ji Wangchen could not be bothered to settle accounts with them now did not mean he would not do so tomorrow.
Elder Sheng had no idea what Ji Wangchen, whose brother complex was just beginning to show, was thinking. He sighed inwardly, unsure how to remind him that there was no such thing as brotherly affection in these aristocratic families.
Even Ji Wangyun and Ji Wangyan, his two full younger brothers, were no pushovers, let alone a younger brother raised outside the family.
A few days earlier, when he learned that Ji Wuqiu had an illegitimate son, Elder Sheng had not slept well either. He feared Xie Zhuzhou's appearance would affect his grandsons' standing. If Xie Zhuzhou was ruthless and vicious, no matter how clever Ji Wangchen was, he might not be able to guard against him.
If he tampered with things just a little, how many lives would Ji Wangchen have to spare?
So "trust" was something that could not be given to anyone, not even one's own brothers.
But seeing him today, Elder Sheng felt he had overthought it.
Xie Zhuzhou was just a sulky-faced child, with a clear gaze and no scheming in his eyes. His looks, though, closely resembled his former son-in-law's. He was quite well-behaved in front of his older brother, even insisting on sitting right next to him.
Even when Elder An and Elder Ling made snide remarks and mocked him both openly and indirectly, he paid them no mind. His face remained expressionless, as though that expression had been welded on.
Did he really care so little?
After Ji Wangchen spoke, Elder An and Elder Ling still wore stern expressions.
"I hear Little Xie studies sculpture at University A. I wonder how his painting skills are?"
Ji Wangchen frowned, clearly very displeased that someone was waking a soundly sleeping person. Elder Sheng was also a little displeased. Why should he get to sleep? Sleeping here was simply showing utter disregard for them!