Chapter 103: Marriage Banquet

Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong's marriage caused a sensation throughout the Imperial Capital.

Zhuang Hao was a well-known talent in the Imperial Capital, and when Qi Shaorong later came to the capital, he also became a famous figure in the city. Their marriage attracted the interest of countless nobles and important officials.

The Zhuang Family attached great importance to this marriage, and Feiyue Restaurant, the largest restaurant in the Imperial Capital, was selected as the location to hold the banquet.

In the lobby, many guests were holding wine cups while walking around.

"Why hasn't Qi Shaorong arrived yet, don't tell me he's going to stand Zhuang Hao up."

"It's possible! Previously at Luohua Pavilion, when Zhuang Hao announced that they were getting married, Qi Shaorong didn't seem too thrilled."

"If Qi Shaorong really stands Zhuang Hao up, then there'll be a good show to watch."

"It seems that the people from the Qi Family haven't arrived yet either."

"Qi Shaorong doesn't even consider himself a part of the Qi Family at all, if the Qi Family comes here they'll only end up embarrassing themselves."

"Bi Liuyun is here! Since Bi Liuyun is here, Qi Shaorong should be here too."

"That's right, Bi Liuyun is one of Qi Shaorong's close subordinates!"

"Bi-qinshi, you're finally here." Zhuang Qian greeted him.

Bi Liunyun looked at Zhuang Qian and said, "Yep! What's the matter with you, little fatty, your forehead is covered in sweat."

Zhuang Qian smiled dryly and said, "I'm hot!"

"It's so cold today, yet you're sweating this much, you must have a lot of internal heat [1]! Are you on drugs or something?" Bi Liuyun asked.

Zhuang Qian scratched his head and said, "Bi-qinshi, stop joking around, why did you only arrive just now!"

"It's not too late! Important people always arrive last, to better show off their status!" Bi Liuyun said.

Zhuang Qian wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead and said, "Does Fourth Young Master Qi also think this way!"

Bi Liuyun nodded and said, "Of course, Young Master is even more important than me."

Zhuang Qian, "…No wonder he's not here yet. Could it be that he's not planning on showing up at all?"

"This… It's possible!"

"Ah!" Zhuang Qian cried out in alarm.

Bi Liuyun smiled and said, "I'm just kidding."

Zhuang Qian: "…" All the wicked people around the Ghost Doctor seemed to like to joke around a lot! But this kind of joke wasn't funny at all, ok?

"We're here, we're here." Yi Fan and Qi Shaorong walked in.

According to the rules of marriage in this country, both of the people getting married have to ask an elder from their side to help place their hands together, signifying that they'll be together forever.

As the person escorting Qi Shaorong, Yi Fan grabbed Qi Shaorong's hand and passed his hand over to Zhuang Hao.

Zhuang Renquan managed a smile with difficulty and smiled at Yi Fan. The elder chosen from the Zhuang Family's side was Zhuang Renquan. Zhuang Renquan never would've thought that one day he and the abandoned son of the Yi Family would be standing on equal footing with each other.

Among the guests, Hu Feng was gloomily eating some refreshments, "What was your Young Master thinking! Choosing Yi Fan to escort him here, he totally could've chosen me!"

"A-Fan, he's… Really handsome! Naturally, someone good-looking should be responsible for this matter. The person chosen from the Zhuang Family's side is handsome, so the person from the Young Master's side can't be any worse either." Qi Heng said.

Hu Feng: "…" When he was young, he was also very handsome! Qi Heng, this jerk, was really looking down on him.

"A lot of people from the Yi Family are here!" Hu Feng said.

Qi Heng nodded and said, "Yep!"

Yi Fan's identity had just undergone another earth-shaking change, and Qi Heng noticed that many of the Yi Family members in the room were looking at Yi Fan strangely.

���Young Master Yi Fan, it's nice seeing you here!" Tang Tianying walked towards Yi Fan.

Yi Fan nodded at Tang Tianying and said, "Greetings, Fourth Prince."

"Young Master Yi Fan, can we go somewhere to talk alone." Tang Tianying asked.

"Of course."

Yi Fan was very well-known in the Yi Family now. Several of the followers from the Yi Family, upon seeing Yi Fan, seemed to feel a little tempted to go up to talk to him, but for fear of Yi Fan's tough personality, none of them stepped forward.

"Why does the Fourth Prince want to talk to Yi Fan!" Asked someone from the Yi Family.

"I don't know!"

"Qi Shaorong, that guy, what was he thinking, asking Yi Fan to escort him for the ceremony."

"Qi Shaorong always just does whatever he wants, him asking Yi Fan isn't that strange."

"Yi Fan, this guy, actually got himself involved in the Qi Family's drama, he's really not afraid of death."

"Is there something you need, Fourth Prince?" Yi Fan asked.

"Young Master Yi is really a giant among men!" Tang Tianying said.

Yi Fan smiled and said, "Yi Fan is nothing special, I'm not deserving of the Fourth Prince's praise."

Tang Tianying smiled and said, "Of course you're deserving of it. Some time ago, Qi Shaorong and I had a conversation about Allure Cosmetics, Fourth Young Master Qi is interested in working together with me, but he said that he's handed over the administrative responsibility for Allure Cosmetics to you."

Yi Fan nodded and said, "Yes, Shaorong's really busy, while I usually have a lot of time on my hands, so the Allure Cosmetics business was temporarily handed over to me."

Tang Tianying looked at Yi Fan and said, "Well then, Young Master Yi Fan, are you interested in cooperating with me?"

"Of course," Yi Fan said. A cooperation would benefit both sides, and their business's foundation was also too shallow, so having the support of the royal family naturally would be a good thing.

Tang Tianfeng looked in the direction of Yi Fan and Tang Tianying, and couldn't help clenching his fists, "Yi Fan and Fourth Brother seem to be having a great conversation!"

Tang Tianfeng's expression sunk. That year, in Mu Xuelan's fit of anger, she got married to Yi Fan. Tang Tianfeng didn't think that Yi Fan, this abandoned son, would be able to move her emotions anyway, and the opportunity could also be used to wear down Mu Xuelan's temper, so Tang Tianfeng just went with it. However, although Tang Tianfeng did agree to Mu Xuelan and Yi Fan's marriage, agreeing with it didn't mean that he felt completely indifferent towards it.

Tang Tianfeng never took Yi Fan seriously at all, and because of Mu Xuelan, Yi Fan and Tang Tianfeng had a very stiff relationship.

Tang Tianfeng never would've imagined that Yi Fan was actually such a powerful person, and that he also had such a deep bond with Qi Shaorong.

Chen Manwu sighed and said, "Your younger brother cares a lot about Allure Cosmetics, he probably took this opportunity to talk about cooperating with Yi Fan."

Tang Tianfeng took a deep breath. Before, he had spent so much effort investigating the behind-the-scenes boss of Allure Cosmetics, but he never expected that in the end, he had done all that work for nothing.

Zhuang Hao took Qi Shaorong's hand and said, "I'm very happy."

"Happy? Why?" Qi Shaorong asked.

"I'm happy that you came…"

"I'll gain a lot of advantages from the pre-marriage agreement, so why wouldn't I come?" Qi Shaorong said.

Zhuang Hao smiled and held Qi Shaorong's hand tightly, saying, "I was just afraid that you wouldn't be willing to take advantage of this."

"You think too highly of me [2]." Qi Shaorong said.

Zhuang Hao pulled Qi Shaorong's hand and said, "Your Master is here, let's go greet him together."

Qi Shaorong lowered his head and looked at Zhuang Hao holding his hand, then raised his head, looked at Zhuang Hao, and said, "Your palm is sweaty, you seem to be sweating a lot! Are you sick?"

"No." Zhuang Hao said.

Qi Shaorong flipped his hand over and grabbed Zhuang Hao's wrist, "Let me check your pulse for you."

Zhuang Hao tried to draw his hand back, but failed to avoid Qi Shaorong's hand.

Qi Shaorong blew into Zhuang Hao's ear and said, "Zhuang Hao, your pulse is jumping really fast!"

Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and suddenly pulled Qi Shaorong towards him, and kissed him.

The people present started clapping enthusiastically.

Qi Shaorong pushed Zhuang Hao away with a dark expression on his face and said, "What are you doing?"

"You provoked me first." Zhuang Hao said.

Qi Shaorong: "…"

Hearing the commotion, Tang Tianying looked towards Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong's direction, "The relationship between Young Masters Zhuang and Qi is really good, Young Master Yi Fan, don't you think so?"

Yi Fan nodded and said, "I suppose."

Chen Yuan looked at Zhuang Hao and Qi Shaorong and breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "At least they're finally together now! A-Qian, what do you think, can the matter of breaking off their engagement be left in the past now?"

Zhuang Qian glanced at Chen Yuan and said, "Left in the past, what do you mean left in the past? Because of you meddling in their affairs back then, don't you know how much my brother had to give up in order to have this chance again [3]!"

Chen Yuan scratched his head and said with a dry smile, "Well, the road to happiness is strewn with setbacks, regardless of everything else that's happened, at least they've gotten partway married?"

Zhuang Qian pouted and said, "It's nothing much."

Chen Yuan looked at Zhuang Qian and said, "You really have such little confidence in your brother? Don't tell me that even though they've already reached this point now, your brother still won't be able to hold onto Qi Shaorong?"

Zhuang Qian shrugged and said, "I don't know either."

Chen Yuan and Zhuang Qian standing by the side and talking, when there was suddenly a commotion.

"The Qi Family is here, it's the people from the Qi Family." Zhuang Qian said.

Chen Yuan and Zhuang Qian looked towards the entrance, "I didn't expect the people from the Qi's Family to come, I thought the Qi Family was afraid of losing face, so they didn't dare to come." Zhuang Qian said.

Chen Yuan said, "Qi Shaorong and Zhuang Hao's marriage is such a big deal, of course the Qi Family will attend…"

Qi Shaokang and a group of people entered together, "Fourth Brother, congratulations."

Qi Shaorong nodded at Qi Shaokang and said, "Thank you."

Qi Shaorong glanced with interest at Qi Shaoru, who was beside Qi Shaokang.

Noticing Qi Shaorong's ridiculing gaze, Qi Shaoru's heart surged with feelings of shame and anger.

"You can go ahead and eat whatever you want here, Shaorong and I will go and greet the other guests first." Zhuang Hao said.

Qi Shaoru looked at Zhuang Hao's back as he walked away and wanted to say something, but in the end she only stomped her feet indignantly.

"What does Zhuang Hao mean by this? Greeting the guests, do we not count as guests?"

Qi Shaokang looked at Qi Shaoru and said, "Enough, Shaoru, can't you just talk a little less."

Qi Shaoru lowered her head and unhappily gnashed her teeth together.

Li Feng looked in Tang Tianying and Yi Fan's direction, and his mood was dark.

"Brother Feng, Yi Fan has really gone and done it now."

Li Feng looked at Yi Fan, who was happily conversing with Tang Tianying, feeling sullen in his heart.

When the results of Yi Fan's magical aptitude check came out, the Yi Family was ashamed of it, and the Li Family also felt that they'd lost a lot of face. So when Yi Fan was given the cold shoulder from the Yi Family, no one from the Li Family stepped out to help Yi Fan either. But it's different now, and Yi Fan's current status has already long surpassed that of the Li Family [4].

"Yi Fan and Qi Shaorong's relationship isn't an ordinary one, their combined strength can't be looked down on!" Li Yuan said.

"I heard that Qi Shaorong handed over the administrative power for Allure Cosmetics to Yi Fan. Qi Shaorong that guy sure is generous!" Li Ai said,

"There's no reason for him not to be, now that he's with Zhuang Hao. It's not like Zhuang Hao will make Qi Shaorong any less rich?" Li Jing said enviously.

Li Yuan nodded and said, "Right! Zhuang Hao is an expert beast-tamer. Qi Shaorong can make huge profits from his cosmetics, but as a beast-tamer, Zhuang Hao's ability to make money isn't little either!"

Qi Shaorong was dragged around by Zhuang Hao everywhere to meet the guests, "What are you trying to do!"

Zhuang Hao looked at Qi Shaorong and said, "Bringing you around to meet more people will have some benefits."

Qi Shaorong rolled his eyes and thought to himself: Really? Then why did he feel like he was a monkey, being dragged around by Zhuang Hao and put on display.

Footnotes:

Internal heat: This has to do with Chinese medicine. Certain foods can be said to have a "cooling" effect, and some types of food contain too much "heat" (like fried food, spicy food, etc.) To have excessive internal heat can give you symptoms like constipation, conjunctivitis, or inflammation of the nasal and oral cavities.

You think too highly of me: "Of noble character and unquestionable integrity."

Give up: "Cede territory and pay indemnities."

Surpassed: Originally it said something like the Li Family is too far behind Yi Fan to be able to catch up (lit. so far behind that one can only see the dust of the rider ahead), meaning they're far inferior to Yi Fan's status and position and stuff.