When Xue Huan invited the employees, she said they could bring their families, so there were quite a few children present. However, perhaps because they had been warned by their parents not to make trouble before leaving, the children, both big and small, were quite well-behaved.
Grilled chicken wings, fried chicken fillets, ice cream, juice, cakes... delicacies that are usually hard to eat are now placed in front of them and they can take them at will. The children are like little mice that have fallen into a rice jar and don't want to leave.
Ye Mao, who came with Ye Diao and his wife, quickly integrated into the group of children.
When everyone had almost finished eating, Xue Huan went to the top and gave a brief speech. She first wished everyone a happy new year, then summarized the achievements of the past year, and finally looked forward to the future and gave everyone some encouragement.
Everyone applauded out of respect.
Then, Zhaoji's store manager Zhenniang and the foundation's vice president Chen Tian took turns to speak.
After completing these procedures, the exciting moment arrived. Xue Huan said to the servants, "Bring all the prizes up here!"
She had prepared the prizes in advance and placed them in a special room. The servants had to move them more than ten times before they were all moved.
The prizes were very rich, including a large box filled with copper coins, aged medicinal herbs such as ginseng and Polygonum multiflorum, wine brewed by Zuifenglou, down jackets, down quilts, and bamboo silk handbags from Jinluyi, snacks from Zhaoji... everything from food, clothing, housing, and transportation was included, dozens of items in total.
Looking at the large pile of prizes, everyone's eyes lit up several degrees.
Xue Huan said, "These are the prizes I've prepared for everyone. Everyone has one chance to draw a prize. But before you do, you have to perform a trick. Tell a story, tell a joke, do somersaults... It's all fine. Whatever you can do, just for fun. As the boss, I'll just throw in a few bricks to start things off. Let me show you a magic trick first."
There was warm applause and some people even screamed excitedly.
Xue Huan looked at Ye Mao and said, "Ah Mao, can you lend me your hat?"
"No problem." Although Ye Mao didn't know what she wanted his hat for, he took it off and handed it to her happily.
Xue Huan stood in the middle of the banquet hall, holding up the hat and showing it to everyone. "You can all see, there's nothing in this hat."
Immediately, she made a few dazzling fancy movements with the hat, then turned the hat brim upwards and put her index finger to her lips to signal everyone to be quiet.
Everyone held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.
Then they were stunned.
A snow-white dove flew out of the hat, circled around the crowd, and then landed on the hat, cooing twice.
"Pigeon!"
"Ah, how did you do that?"
“How amazing!”
Not to mention the children, even the adults were surprised.
Xue Huan smiled mysteriously, put the pigeon into the hat, and then turned the hat upside down. Nothing poured out, and it was empty inside.
"Where are the pigeons?"
"Why is he gone?"
Ye Mao still didn't believe it, so he ran over and took a look at the hat, then reached in and searched around, but found nothing.
However, when Xue Huan reached in, she took out a lollipop!
"Here, for you."
Ye Mao happily took the lollipop, unwrapped it under the envious gazes of the other children, and began to lick it with relish.
"Don't worry, everyone has it."
Xue Huan continued to dig, a puzzled expression on her face, as if to say, "Huh? Where's the candy? Why can't I find it?"
Just when the children were confused and worried, she actually took out a handful of lollipops from her hat, more than a dozen of them. Seeing this, the children all grinned.
"Come, come, come to me and share some candy."
The children swarmed over.
After distributing the candies, Xue Huan's magic show wasn't over yet. She walked up to Qin Shi with her hat in hand, gave her a manly salute, and said in a deliberately joking manner, "My beautiful lady, is there anything you would like to have? You can make a wish into the hat, and perhaps I can make it come true."
At the end, there is also a sparkling wink.
Qin was amused by her and smiled brightly. She pretended to think for a while and said, "I want a peony flower. I wonder if you can make one for me?"
The expression shows both anticipation and a desire to see a good show.
It's the coldest time of the year now. Where can I find peonies?
Everyone felt that Xue Huan's magic was similar to street acrobatic performances. Although seemingly confusing, it actually contained hidden secrets. It was just that they couldn't figure it out at the moment, so it seemed mysterious.
The pigeon that flew out of the hat before and the candy that was taken out later must have been hidden in advance and then displayed through the hat.
But pigeons and candies are easy to prepare, but peonies are not necessarily so.
Everyone looked at Xue Huan expectantly, wanting to see if she could really "produce" a peony flower on the spot.
Of course Xue Huan could, because she had a big garden in her space. Not only did it contain all the exotic flowers and plants in the world, but it also had peonies.
However, in order to make the performance more interesting, she did not directly take out the peony, but asked Qin: "Madam, can you lend me this hairpin?"
She pointed at a gold hairpin inlaid with gems on Qin's head.
"Of course." Qin took off the hairpin and handed it to her.
Xue Huan put the hairpin into the hat, and held one hand above the hat brim, moving as if performing a ritual for a while, then reached into the hat. When she took her hand out, she was holding a gorgeous red peony.
"Ah, it really appeared!" everyone exclaimed.
Xue Huan placed the peony hairpin on Qin's temples, then returned it to her and bowed to the crowd. "Okay, my performance is over. Where are your applause?"
The crowd, who were immersed in the wonderful performance, came to their senses and hurriedly gave a seal-like applause.
Xue Huan walked over to the lottery box, reached in, and pulled out a slip of paper. She opened it and saw the words, "One box of golden egg rolls."
"Oh, I wanted to win that bamboo handbag, but I won this instead." Xue Huan looked regretful.
It wasn't entirely a show, because the handbags given as prizes were specially designed by her for the raffle at this annual meeting. They had never been sold and she didn't plan to sell them, in order to ensure that these handbags were unique.
"I wonder who will be lucky enough to win those handbags." Xue Huan, who acted as the host, looked around the venue and saw the desire in the eyes of the women present.
"Okay, who's the next performer? You can draw the lottery after the performance. Why don't you seize the opportunity? If you hesitate any longer, the good prizes will be taken away by others." Xue Huan encouraged.
"I'll do it!" Ye Diao walked to the center of the field.
Xue Huan asked, "Our handsome Mr. Ye has made his debut. I just saw Madam Ye pinch him quietly and whisper something in your ear. I guess Madam Ye must have taken a fancy to the handbag, so she's forcing you to leave, right?"
Everyone laughed good-naturedly.
Ye Diao laughed, "That's right, the lady forced me into this. She said that if I didn't win the handbag, I wouldn't be allowed into the house tonight."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone laughed again.
Qin felt a little embarrassed by everyone's laughter. She glanced at Ye Diao with a warning in her eyes, urging him to perform quickly and stop talking nonsense.
Xue Huan took the opportunity to say, "Ah, it seems my sister-in-law can't wait any longer. Then, Brother Ye, start your performance right away."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
