Kalidor was stunned . He wanted to continue introducing his friends, but Jessie brought up a new topic to stop him right away . It was quite obvious that none of them cared about Garen and Ai Fei’s names . They could tell that they were not in the same league as the others just by looking at the way they dressed .
Weimar walked up to the stage in the center of the hall and announced the beginning of the feast . He told everybody to enjoy the banquet . All the youngsters raised their glasses of wine or juice and laughed . After some emotional speeches, Weimar got down from the stage and returned to Kalidor’s side . The band took his place .
"By the way, Wei Sijia just left Kinstria . Her flight passed Huaishan City, so she decided to take a rest here . I invited her today; she’ll drive over later . I guess she must be on the way now . Let’s finish eating and then go get her . " Weimar drank some of the Blood Wine in the glass .
"So soon?" Kalidor frowned . "I have friends here…"
"What does it matter? I’ll go explain to your friends and let them go home by themselves . It has been too long since our last gathering . It is such a rare opportunity this time . "
"How about we take them with us? They are all my friends, and we can introduce them to the others," Kalidor hesitantly said .
Weimar showed an indifferent smile on his face .
"Kalidor, I hope that tonight it will be just a night of old friends . I don’t think it is a good idea to bring others involved . " He saw Kalidor hesitating, so he continued, "I thought you liked Wei Sijia the most? Now that she finally got a chance to come, you don’t even want to welcome her in person? We only have four cars and we don’t have seats for them if you don’t come . "
"Come on, don’t screw it up . If you feel that it’s too difficult to talk to your friends, I will do it . "
Kalidor was quiet . He suddenly regretted that he had invited Garen and Ai Fei to the party . He didn’t know that his Brother Weimar, whom he had always been respecting, would become so unreasonable… Suddenly, the great image about Brother Weimar in his heart started to become dim . But no matter what, they were still friends who grew up together .
"I urh… Let’s see what happens next," he answered in a low and hesitant voice .
Weimar frowned as the smile on his face gradually disappeared . He tapped on Kalidor’s shoulder and said, "Just think about it . "
Garen and Ai Fei had been hanging around the food table and eating since they got in the hall .
They knew nobody except Kalidor in the party . Aside from them, there were also other new arrivals . They were about seventeen and eighteen years old, and always got a warm welcome from their friends in the party .
They were the only two who didn’t know anyone else . They just watched as people talked and laughed in their own small groups, causing them to feel out of place .
"Let’s just eat since we can’t feel at ease . Kalidor’s surrounded right now anyway . We can’t let him leave all of his friends to just accompany us, can we?" Garen talked to Ai Fei in a low voice, then picked a plate and walked away to get more food .
Ai Fei truly felt uncomfortable just standing there . She listlessly walked to the food table and learned to pick up a plate like the others did . Cautiously, she used a spoon to drink the soup in her bowl .
Except Ai Fei and Garen, everybody was either rich or powerful . All those people in this shiny and luxurious banquet hall were so dazzling .
Compared to them, the two-hundred-dollar dress and the one hundred dollar boots on her were very conspicuous and out of place . She had seen most of the food on the table before at the supermarket . They were very expensive, and any dish cost much more than all the clothes on her .
Hah…
A laugh sounded beside her .
"Dear sister, that soup is not for drinking . It is for rinsing the mouth . " A young girl couldn’t help laughing .
A blush appeared on Ai Fei’s face as she almost choked . She put down the plate and took a napkin to wipe her mouth .
"I… I recognized it wrong…" Even her neck turned red; she kept her head low and didn’t dare to look up at the girl .
"That is such an obvious pot of soup… You do know what a rinsing soup is, don’t you?" That girl laughed again . Another young girl walked over and whispered to her, and then they both laughed while covering their mouths .
Ai Fei just stood there with her head low, her face and neck red, feeling as if she was burning up . She didn’t know whether she should leave or stay, wishing she could just bury herself into the ground .
"What does it matter? Is the rinsing soup so poisonous we can’t even drink it?" Garen walked over and spoke with a frown .
He was also wearing hundred-dollar clothes, but he didn’t feel restrained at all . In his eyes, those young guys and girls were all some little chickens he could easily defeat . After murdering someone, he now had a different attitude towards ordinary people . Especially when he thought of the fact that the price of a life in this world was so low, he settled down a bit . To him, the only thing that mattered was strength .
"It’s just some rinsing soup . I like it too . What’s so funny?" Garen filled a bowl and drank the entire thing in one big gulp . The rinsing soup tasted a bit sweet with a minty flavor, and was not that bad for a drink .
"It’s fine, it’s fine…" When the girl saw that Garen was so at ease about it, she felt that it would be embarrassing for her to continue making a big deal . She looked at Garen and Ai Fei with a strange expression before saying, "Please go on…" The two young girls slowly walked away . They couldn’t help laughing again as they walked further away .
Garen frowned . Once he saw the girls were gone, he looked at Ai Fei .
"Alright, ignore what other people think . Do whatever you want to . "
Ai Fei nodded in silence .
"Should we go to Kalidor and tell him we feel like leaving? It’s a decent place, but the people in it are not," Garen casually spoke as he shrugged his shoulders .
He looked at Ai Fei, and the latter, still red faced, meekly nodded . She was so embarrassed that she didn’t even look up . Speechless, Garen turned around and walked to Kalidor .
Kalidor was talking to a girl with a pair of bright eyes . They were just idly chatting . Most of the time, the girl would be the one to bring up a topic, and Kalidor would just perfunctorily answer her . When he saw Garen walking over, he knew that he was finally about to be saved .
"I may need a word with my friend over there . I think he needs to talk to me . Excuse me . " He finally had an excuse to get away, so he said so and walked to Garen .
"Hugh…"
Kalidor took a long breath out as he approached Garen .
"See? That beautiful girl with long dark golden hair is the one I am engaged to . What do you think?"
"Not bad . Isn’t she good?" Garen confusedly said .
"She is too good… I feel useless when compared to her…" Kalidor looked frustrated .
"Alright, I am just here to say that Ai Fei and I are going to head out . You should just spend more time with your friends . "
"I was thinking about introducing you to…" Kalidor didn’t finish . He turned silent for a moment, and then said, "Well then… I will see you off . "
"No need, we are good . I’ll walk Ai Fei back first . Anyway, I go for a run every night, and I’m used to it . But in reality, you shouldn’t have invited Ai Fei and me tonight, right?" Garen said as his voice turned less and less audible .
Kalidor’s expression gradually turned dull .
"I am fine, but you know Ai Fei’s family; they’re even worse off than mine . She was recruited as a special excellence student and being here definitely made her nervous . Just now, she even drank the rinsing soup . She’s a girl you know… . "
"It’s my fault," Kalidor spoke in a low voice . "I thought it was just a few people talking freely . I thought it would be simple, but I didn’t expect it to be so big…"
"You shouldn’t blame yourself, you’re just too kind . Alright, we are off . Enjoy your time . " Garen patted his shoulder and ended the conversation . Kalidor opened his mouth as if about to say something, but couldn’t manage in the end . He could only watch as Garen returned to Ai Fei’s side before leaving with her through the back door in the small hall . Asides from Kalidor, no one else paid them any attention .
Garen and Ai Fei left the hotel; they walked along the roads of suburbs, beside them were cars running past .
After that humiliation, Ai Fei looked like another person . Along the way, she didn’t utter a single word .
"It is fine . Don’t think too much about others’ views . After today, they will never show up in our sights again, and we will eventually forget each other . " Garen was comforting her . "And don’t blame Kalidor . He is just a fool . He didn’t think about such a situation . "
"I don’t blame him . " Ai Fei tidied her ponytail . "It was my fault for being ignorant . Why should I blame others?"
"Don’t think too much about it . " Garen tapped on her shoulder . "You are still who you are, same as who you were . Don’t let such a tiny thing affect your happiness . " The truth was, he had accidentally discovered Ai Fei’s secret when he was hanging around in the city earlier .
The stubborn girl had a mother who was seriously sick at home, and her younger sister and brother were depending on her too . Her father left home because of his gambling debt . She had to gradually pay it on her own . Luckily, she won the scholarship every year as a special gifted student in the Shengying Nobles Academy . She could use that money on her family, and she also worked after school to make more . All the money she earned was only barely enough to pay the tuition fees of her brother and sister and the medical fees of her mother .
The girl had been working so hard . For other students, it might be boring to study in school, but for her, it was a god-given time of relaxation .
"Alright, don’t be depressed…" Garen was just about to talk when he caught a familiar outline of a figure in his peripheral vision, making him quickly avert his eyes . "Come on . I need to go home after I send you back . "
"Don’t worry, I can go home by myself . You don’t have to come with me . " Ai Fei shook her head . Subconsciously, she looked at Garen with suspicion in her eyes . "You can go, I’m fine . "
Garen knew that she didn’t want people to know the real situation of her family . He had things to do now anyway, so he nodded . "Ok then . You take care of yourself and just go straight home . Don’t hang around outside too long . It may not be safe . "
Ai Fei quietly nodded . She took a left turn at the corner of the road .
Garen stood behind her watching her off . When he saw her disappear in that corner, he tidied his collar and walked to a dark alley on the street . After a while, he disappeared into the shadows .
Comments