…
Over the next two days, Shi Yao was busy with studying for the end-of-semester examinations. As the date of the examination crept closer, the time she spent on games reduced correspondingly too.
As a result of that, Lin Jiage, who had never known the word ‘revising’, ended up spending several hours less on games each day too. So, he ended up having quite a bit of free time on hand.
In the blink of an eye, it was already Tuesday, the day of Grandpa Lin’s birthday.
The birthday banquet was set to start at five-thirty, and the location was Beijing’s China World Hotel.
That afternoon, Shi Yao had lessons all the way till four-thirty. As time was tight, she didn’t have time to get a make-up artist to work on her. So, after she returned to her room, she had a quick bath before changing into her formal attire. With the help of He Tiantian and Leng Nuan, she managed to do up a light make-up before leaving the room in a hurry.
The driver Grandpa Lin had sent over was already waiting downstairs for her.
Seeing Shi Yao walk out of the dormitory building, the driver quickly got down and opened the car door for her.
It was fortunate that it was a Tuesday, so the road condition wasn’t too horrendous. Even though they had only begun setting off at 4:45PM, it was only 5:15PM when they arrived at Beijing’s China World Hotel.
After the car came to a stop, the driver got down to open the door for her once more. Shi Yao thanked him promptly before she lowered her head, got down the car, and began making her way into the hotel.
There was a sign placed outside that pointed out the direction to the banquet hall for Grandpa Lin’s birthday banquet.
Following the signs, Shi Yao was able to find her way to her destination with relative ease.
After she got out of the lift, she immediately saw Grandpa Lin welcoming the other guests at the entrance of the banquet hall. He had a walking stick in hand, and Auntie Sun was standing right next to him. From time to time, Grandpa Lin would greet the incoming guests with a bright smile on his face and shake their hands.
Shi Yao intentionally slowed her footsteps and waited for the crowd to disperse before she finally walked up to the latter and said, “Grandpa Lin, happy birthday!”
“Yaoyao, you’re here?” The smile on Grandpa Lin’s face clearly became even more amiable upon seeing Shi Yao. “Auntie Sun, bring Yaoyao to her seat!”
“Ah, there’s no need for that!” Shi Yao quickly shook her head. “Grandpa Lin, you should have Auntie Sun accompany you by your side. I can find my way around by myself. Besides, I think I just spotted Sis Jiayi!”
Grandpa Lin traced Shi Yao’s gaze and saw Lin Jiayi too. She was currently in the midst of chatting with a guest, whose company was partnering with their company for a project.
Despite so, Grandpa Lin was still concerned that Shi Yao might feel uncomfortable disrupting Lin Jiayi from her conversation and, as a result of that, end up sitting alone. So, he called out to his granddaughter, “Little Yi!”
Hearing the voice, Lin Jiayi shot a glance at the entrance, and her eyes lit up. She quickly excused herself from the person she was speaking to before walking over hurriedly with her high heels.
She started off by calling out “Yaoyao!” before she turned to Grandpa Lin and asked, “What’s wrong, grandpa?”
“Yaoyao is here. Accompany her around. Don’t get too caught up with entertaining the other guests that you end up neglecting her,” Grandpa Lin said.
“Got it, grandpa. Don’t worry about it! I’ll be taking Darling Yaoyao away with me then!” As Lin Jiayi spoke, she wrapped her hand around Shi Yao’s arm.
Barely after Shi Yao was dragged into the banquet hall together with Lin Jiayi, she suddenly heard a familiar voice calling out “Uncle Lin” behind. She subconsciously turned her head around to take a look.
Wow, it sure is a coincidence…
Just a moment after she arrived at the banquet hall, those from the Liang Family arrived too.
Liang Huiling walked right up to Grandpa Lin with a warm smile on her face and started chatting with him. Liang Jiusi was looking around the room, seemingly trying to find someone. And as for Liang Mumu… her eyes were directed straight toward Shi Yao.
Perhaps it was because Liang Mumu had heard the conversation between Grandpa Lin and her earlier, Liang Mumu’s lips were pursed tightly together.
Chapter 381: Longevity Peach Cake (1)
Shi Yao and Liang Mumu exchanged looks for a brief moment. Liang Mumu didn’t say a word at all, and Shi Yao remained silent too. A moment later, Shi Yao retracted her gaze and followed Lin Jiayi into the banquet hall.
The birthday of Grandpa Lin was an important annual affair to the Lin Family.
Grandpa Lin was fond of Chinese style decorations, and the banquet hall was decorated in accordance with his tastes. The crystal lights that were originally inside the banquet hall were all taken down and replaced with wooden ceiling lights, and the plastic tables were swapped with rustic wooden ones.
There were quite a few guests who had already arrived at the venue, and every single one of them was dressed up exquisitely.
Shortly after Shi Yao and Lin Jiayi entered the banquet hall, Liang Huiling came in with Liang Mumu and Liang Jiusi as well.
Even though Shi Yao was Lin Jiage’s fiancée, her background paled far in comparison to Liang Mumu’s.
Liang Mumu had been attending all sorts of banquets with Liang Huiling ever since she was young, so she was acquainted with many people within this circle. She knew the names of most of the guests present within the hall, and she was able to hold light conversations with them too.
However, the same couldn’t be said about Shi Yao. Other than being close to the Lin Family, she hardly knew anyone in the banquet hall at all.
Having known Liang Mumu for quite some time now, Shi Yao was well aware that Liang Mumu was extremely skilled at socializing, but she seemed exceptionally into it today.
With a wine cup in hand, she walked into social groups with a dignified smile and carried herself with poise. She seemed able to maintain an elegant demeanor no matter where she was, and these traits of hers swiftly placed her in the limelight within the room.
Even the distant relatives of the Lin Family sitting around Shi Yao had begun talking about Liang Mumu, and their mouths were filled with compliments for her.
While the banquet hall was considerably large, it was still only that big. It was inevitable that Liang Mumu would get close to Shi Yao from time to time.
During times like this, Liang Mumu’s voice would seem to raise her voice a little, allowing Shi Yao to hear her words loud and clear.
There was no way Shi Yao couldn’t have known that Liang Mumu’s actions were deliberate. The latter was doing this to show off and highlight the distance between them.
But in Shi Yao’s view, Liang Mumu was simply making a big fuss out of nothing.
No matter how much better Liang Mumu was at socializing than her, she didn’t feel the slightest envy toward her. This was because the Liang Mumu’s limelight was overshadowed by that meter high Longevity Peach Cake placed not too far away from her.
Buttercream, shredded coconut stuffing, chocolate, and all sorts of fruits… How enticing is that…
Just as Shi Yao turned her eyes toward the cake for the nth time, the noisy banquet hall suddenly fell a little silent.
But that being said, Shi Yao wasn’t in the right state of mind to be really paying attention to her surroundings. Her attention was for too glued to that Longevity Peach Cake to notice what was going on.
She hated how time seemed to crawl at a snail’s pace…
Why hadn’t the birthday banquet begun yet? When are they going to start distributing the cake at this rate…
The reason why there was a moment of silence in the banquet hall was due to Lin Jiage’s arrival.
He had never liked wearing tuxedos, but in view that it was his grandfather’s birthday, and that there were many business partners present in the banquet hall, as the only successor to the Lin Family’s company, he had no choice but to put on something appropriate for the occasion.
He was wearing a British style tuxedo, which had a simple yet graceful design. It gave him the appearance of an aristocracy. Paired with his exquisite facial features, he looked just like an artwork carefully sculpted by the hands of God.
The banquet hall remained silent for a good ten seconds before hushed whisperings sounded around.
“Is that Old Master Lin’s grandson? He looks amazing!”