C3 The Banquet

Lan Yirong entered the huge mansion of Yao family and was led toward the banquet hall. Once she entered the hall, she started searching for her parents and located his father talking to the current patriarch of Yao family and Feng family and beside them were their wives talking.

Lan Yirong made her way directly to them and first stop to greet her father and the others. Yao Rui saw her and smiled saying, “Isn’t this young lady Lan, she’s all grown up now. The last time I saw Xiao Yirong, she only reached my waist height.”

“Uncle Yao, I’m already 19, not so young. I’m already an adult.” Lan Yirong said with a little blush on her face. Everyone around laughed. “Yeah! Yeah! Our little Missy here is an adult. I heard you started your research center and laboratory. Good! Good! Young people should have ambitions and their own goals too.” Feng Xu Heng said with a kind look.

"Grandpa Feng, recently I have got some rare herbs on my hand. They are really good for health. I'll make some supplements and medications from them before sending them to you.

Feng Xu Heng smiled at her and petted her head. "Thank you, Xiao Yirong."

Lan Yirong has met Feng Xu Heng a few time during banquets and family meetings. He likes her a lot and let her call him grandpa. Though her being his granddaughter-in-law is also one of the reasons.

Gu Jingyi had a proud look on his face as he looked at his only daughter talking with other patriarchs. “Xiao Yirong, why don’t you meet your mother and great your aunts? They have been looking forward to meeting you, and your mum is already glaring at me to send her precious daughter to meet her friends.” He said as he looked at his wife, who was looking at him with a glare. Yirong looked at these two’s antics and rolled her eyes. She politely excused herself from the group and went towards her mother, who invited her with open arms and hugged her.

Lan Hua Ming, Lan Yirong's mother and current patriarch of the Lan family. Though she is the patriarch of the family, she doesn’t like to interact with other patriarchs during banquets and parties. Instead, she has made friends with their wives and loves to gossip. She is just like any other lady during these, but when it comes to business or her work field, she won’t be behind any other patriarchs or men. Lan Yirong has not only inherited her spirit and passion for research but also her friendly and bubbly personality, though she can be a little cold sometimes.

Lan Hua Ming dragged her daughter and introduced her to other ladies. Lan Yirong greeted everyone politely and smiled.

Madam Yao looked at her future daughter-in-law and couldn’t help but be satisfied. Her eyes turned the crescent moon shape as she smiled lovingly at Yirong. “Yirong is looking beautiful. How is work going? You’re not tiring yourself, are you?” Feng Xiulan asked.

“Thank You, Aunty. My work is going well and it’s not tiring. I recently made some breakthroughs in my projects and it’s going smoothly.” Yirong replied honestly and thanked her with a bow. “That’s great to hear. God bless you with more success.” Madam Yao interjected.

Feng Xuilan is the only daughter of the Feng family's current patriarch. As her mother died when she was only fifteen, her father never remarried. She married Yao Rui after they fell in love when they met in college and since both families were compatible, the marriage went smoothly.

Before Lan Yirong could say something else, she saw Gu family entering the banquet hall. Patriarch Gu and his wife entered first and behind them entered their two sons, Gu Hao and Gu Tong.

Gu Tong saw her and smiled at her waving his hand. Yirong waved back. Gu Family made their way toward them. Yirong greeted, “Hello, Uncle Gu, Aunt Feng. How are you doing?”

“We are doing well. You haven’t visited us for quite a while. Your aunt misses you a lot.” Gu An Bai said. “Yes, Xiao Yirong, ever since you moved out from Lan family house to do your own work, you haven’t visited me at all. Is work really busy? You’re still young, no need to work so hard.” Madam Gu said with concern. “Aunt, it’s not like that. My laboratory has just been started recently so there was some work but now it’s stable. I’ll try to visit you more in the future.” Lan Yirong said politely. “Okay, okay. As long as you know. Aunt had bought some things for you, when you visit, I’ll give them to you.” Feng Guiying said with a smile.

Feng Guiying is from the Feng family’s branch family. She likes Lan Yirong a lot. She wanted a daughter but she only has two sons and since Yirong is her niece she likes to spoil her to make for a daughter.

Patriarch Gu took his two sons to greet others after they finish greeting the madams. Once greeted all the elders the youngsters gathered in a group and started talking. Gu Tong took two wine glasses and gave one to Lan Yirong. “I’m really curious about this young master Gu. He is my brother’s best friend but I’ve never met him.” He said as he took one more glass and handed it to his brother.

“Cousin Gu knows Young Master Yao?” Lan Yirong asked. “Yes, I met him during my military training, and later we met to do some business too so we became friends.” Gu Hao said before he teasingly continued, “He’s not only handsome but also really good at martial arts and great at business. Though he’s really cold and unfeeling sometimes, but that’s only the surface, once you get to know him, you’ll realize that he’s not that bad and actually quite warm unless you’re his enemy. So be careful to not fall in love little lady Lan.”

“First of all, I’m not little, and second, I don’t just fall in love with anyone. Let’s just see if he is as good as you make him sound out to be.” Yirong said with a frown.

Patriarch Yao went to the middle of the hall, where the stairs leading to the first floor were, and cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention as he started speaking, “Everyone here knows the purpose of today’s banquet. My son, Yao Bai is having his 21st birthday today and he is also going to be crowned as the sole heir to Yao and Feng families officially from now onwards. Let me invite him down.” He finished as he glanced at one of the staff and everything started applauding.

A man’s silhouette appeared at the top of the stairs and stayed there for a few seconds before starting to make his way down.