Chapter 31 Chapter 31 Who is the host and who is the guest
On the day of the banquet.
Lu Ning, wearing a small dress, came down from upstairs, but she didn't see Qiao Wu. She walked around the house and couldn't help but ask the servant, "Where's Qiao Wu?"
"Butler Xiao Qiao has gone to the banquet hall."
Lu Ning: "Oh."
After a pause, he added, "Thank you."
The servants who answered the questions were immediately flattered, and the young lady said thank you to them for the first time!
Not only could they not speak before, they rarely even showed good expressions. But since housekeeper Xiao Qiao took over, the mental state of everyone in this family has become exceptionally good.
Lu Ning waited downstairs, but no one came down, so she had to walk out the door by herself.
Actually, she was a little nervous because it was her first time attending a party.
The Lu family had no concept of home, nor did they care about holidays or anniversaries. Even on New Year's Eve, they were all scattered somewhere in the country or abroad. It was usually not her turn to attend any business banquets.
So she wanted to find someone to go with her, but Qiao Wu was so busy today, so forget it.
You can go by yourself. I used to go by myself when school started.
Eat and drink until it’s time to leave.
The guests parked their cars in the guest parking lot and then walked to the banquet hall. There were people along the way, but she didn't know them, so she walked alone on the side of the road.
"Lu Ning?"
Lu Ning turned around when she heard the voice and found that it was the person who accompanied her to do homework in the library last time.
She stopped.
Guo Liyan took a few steps forward to catch up with her. "Why are you alone? Where are your family?"
"have no idea."
Guo Liyan thought for a moment and asked, "Do you want to go to the banquet hall? Let's go together?"
Lu Ning had heard Qiao Wu and Lu Yingchi reasoning at the dinner table before, so she was very objective and didn't dislike this person too much, so she nodded.
Guo Liyan breathed a sigh of relief and handed her the thing in his hand. "I couldn't give it to you last time because of an accident, so I bought a new one. This time it's a gift specially for you."
Lu Ning spoke quickly: "You came to see the monkeys and brought me gifts?"
Guo Liyan: "Ah?"
"……fine."
Brainwashed by Lu Yingchi.
Fortunately, Lu Jinzhi is not here.
However, this time Lu Ning did not refuse, but accepted the gift from the other party.
Seeing this, Guo Liyan felt relieved.
In fact, it was an accident that he could come to the Lu family to attend the banquet today. He didn't really plan to do anything.
He has been in the Guo family with his mother for a relatively short time, and Guo Yangzhou would never give the company's power to an illegitimate child like him. His only value is to appease Lu Yingchi or to please someone who can bring benefits to the Guo family.
If he had really gotten the opportunity last time, the person who came here to meet with these top people would not be him, but Guo Yangzhou.
He knew his own strengths and weaknesses, and his knowledge and experience were not enough to enter the top circle, so the more he spoke, the more mistakes he made. If there really was a suitable opportunity, then forget it. If not, he should just stay put and not cause any trouble in such occasions.
So he simply did what he could. This time he really wanted to make up for his mistake and give Lu Ning a pure gift.
The two walked into the banquet hall, and Guo Liyan was shocked by the scene before him.
The Lu family owns a hotel and usually hosts many cocktail parties of various sizes, but reporters are not allowed to enter Lu's private dinners, which are usually held only at the Lu residence.
Compared with the hotel, this place is even better. There are four floors in total. The lobby on the first floor and the tea room separated on the second floor are both activity areas. They are connected to the garden and swimming pool outside. The space is very large, so no matter how many guests there are, they will not feel crowded here.
The third and fourth floors are lounges prepared in advance for every guest, and every painting hanging on the wall is a famous work by a famous artist.
All the decorations are not too luxurious, but they reveal a restrained and elegant atmosphere in the details.
No wonder so many people are scrambling to get associated with the Lu family.
Guo Liyan was wearing a high-end suit, but now when he stood in the crowd, he still had a sense of inferiority as if he was pretending to be wearing ill-fitting clothes.
The banquet had not officially started yet, and Lu Jinzhi had not shown up.
He just wanted to find a place to curl up, so he asked Lu Ning, "Where are you going?"
Lu Ning had no interest in these social events, and no one knew her, so she hung the gift bag on her elbow, took two cakes, and walked towards the garden swing. As she walked, she lowered her head and took a bite with one hand: "No."
Guo Liyan had nowhere to go, so he followed her. Seeing her sit on the swing, he sat down on the chair behind her and asked softly, "I'll get it for you. You can eat first."
The gift had already been accepted, so there was no point in returning it. Lu Ning shook her head: "No need."
As they were talking, several people came out from the depths of the garden. One of them stopped when he saw Guo Liyan and raised his eyebrows: "Guo Liyan?"
Guo Liyan raised his head, and when he saw the visitor, his dull expression broke into a smile. He stood up and greeted, "Mr. Qin."
Someone nearby asked, "Who is this?"
Qin Tianrui smiled and said, "It's fun."
Guo Liyan's expression changed slightly.
"Given your family's situation, you shouldn't be here." Qin Tianrui walked up to him and said condescendingly, "Did you come here by yourself?"
"Um."
"I heard that you and Wang Ziming and the others came to the Lu residence some time ago. They were blacklisted by Lu Yingchi and sent to the police station. Recently, they were locked up by their families for education. But you..." Qin Tianrui sneered, "You are quite capable of coming out. It seems that you coaxed Lu Yingchi well that day, so you can come here today."
Guo Liyan maintained a smile on his face and said nothing.
He couldn't refute it. After all, he was just a dog released by the Guo family to wag its tail and beg for mercy from others.
Anyone who wanted to please others had the right to step on him, and he couldn't refute him, which was why he didn't like to stay in the hall.
Qin Tianrui has a good family background. His father had a personal relationship with Lu Jiang in his early years, and now his eldest brother has inherited the family business and has always had dealings with the Lu family.
It can be said that in the two years since Lu Jinzhi gave up everything in China to develop abroad, among his peers in China, only Qin Tianrui's elder brother Qin Lian stood at the top of the pyramid.
Seeing that Guo Liyan didn't say anything, Qin Tianrui, who had been feeling aggrieved for most of the day, finally felt relieved.
Those who could come to the Lu family's banquet were not easy to deal with. Except for Wang Ziming and those brainless idiots, no one dared to cause trouble in the Lu residence.
But Qin Tianrui didn't like the Lu family at all, and could even be said to hate them.
He felt that the Qin family's status was not low, and he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. How could he be worse than those two idiots Lu Yingchi and Lu Xuan?
And there's that Lu Jinzhi, who has been abroad for two years, but he acts like a great man. Whenever someone mentions his brother, they have to mention Lu Jinzhi.
Every time he comes up against this brother, he always has to step back.
So whatever the Lu brothers have, he also wants to have; if the Lu brothers don't have, he will try every possible way to get it. This has almost become a thorn in his heart.
Guo Liyan is a well-known "waiter" in the circle. Wherever there are people, he will be there, but whenever Lu Yingchi is present, Guo Liyan will only revolve around Lu Yingchi.
Today, Qin Tianrui was forced by his elder brother to come to Lu's house. He knew that he couldn't cause any trouble here, so he had been holding back his anger. It had only been a short while, but he had already found a place to smoke a lot of cigarettes.
Now, he can't take the initiative to provoke others, but some people will take the initiative to entertain him.
"How did you please Lu Yingchi?" Qin Tianrui asked, "Come and please me too. The next time my family holds a cocktail party, I'll give you an invitation."
The young men and women who were with Qin Tianrui often played together, and they all knew Qin Tianrui's dissatisfaction with the brothers of the Lu family. From Qin Tianrui's attitude, they also knew the status of the person in front of them.
Everyone laughed out loud and even said, "Come on, we often have dinner parties at home too."
Guo Liyan gently clenched his fists and then released them.
He had no right to refuse or offend others. Everyone present could easily defeat him and make the Guo family give up on him.
Qin Tianrui: "The cocktail party hasn't started yet. We're free anyway, why don't we have some fun together?"
Guo Liyan lowered his eyes: "Okay."
He turned to look at Lu Ning, but the other party was still concentrating on eating cake, as if he didn't hear the conversation here.
It’s better this way. She’s just a child and probably won’t understand. It wouldn’t be good if she got involved.
So he didn't take the initiative to say anything to Lu Ning, but followed Qin Tianrui and the others.
After he left, Lu Ning finished the cake in a few bites and followed him with the gift bag.
There were many guests today, and quite a few of them brought their children with them. No one had seen Lu Ning before, so no one took her seriously.
The first floor is a public space with more people, so Qin Tianrui and his friends went up to the second floor. There were fewer people drinking tea there, so they planned to find a seat with no one around.
I walked a little towards the edge and suddenly saw a person sitting there behind a screen.
Only half of the person's face could be seen through the screen. It was a young woman with very fair skin. Even the half of her face that was exposed was stunning.
Her figure was vaguely visible behind the screen. All that could be seen was that she was sitting very upright, and her movements of drinking tea exuded a casual elegance.
People are visual animals, so several people couldn't help but take a few more glances.
Only Guo Liyan's body suddenly became stiff.
How could he not recognize who that person was, the person he didn't even dare to look at.
But now...
Qin Tianrui had already withdrawn his gaze and sat down across a tea room from the man.
"Does anyone know him?" he asked.
The people traveling with him all shook their heads: "He looks unfamiliar, like he came here alone."
"He looks about the same age." Qin Tianrui was still stunned by the first glance. "Is there such a person in the circle?"
"If you're interested, find an opportunity to get to know each other." The person next to him laughed, "Who wouldn't give you, Young Master Qin, some face?"
Qin Tianrui raised his eyebrows. That’s indeed the case.
Guo Liyan, who was listening nearby, staggered and hit his knee on the table, his face turning pale with pain.
"If you can't sit down, then stand." Qin Tianrui raised his hand to block him and said sarcastically, "You don't even know where you should stand?"
Each teahouse had servants there to make tea for the guests, but Qin Tianrui asked the servant who came over to leave: "You are not needed here."
At this time, Lu Ning, carrying a gift, passed by their tea room. Just as she was about to sit down at the empty tea table, she saw the person in the corner.
“!!!”
So she is here, no wonder I couldn’t find her!
She ran forward a few steps, sat down in front of Qiao Wu, and placed her gift on the table.
Qiao Wu, who was reading the information, was distracted by the pink gift box. He looked up in surprise and asked, "Why are you here?"
Today's dinner was Lu Jinzhi's home party, and she didn't need to attend, so she found a seat in the corner and sat down. If there was anything that needed to be resolved on the spot, she could be there at the first time. The fixed seat also made it convenient for the servants to come to her.
"Open the gift." Lu Ning pointed at the box.
Qiao Wu asked, "Who sent it?"
"Guo Liyan."
Qiao Wu had some impression of this person. She nodded and was not too surprised by this matter. She just felt that this person was okay. He had achieved his goal. His main target for coming to the banquet today was Lu Jinzhi, but he still had not forgotten Lu Ning, even though he was rejected by Lu Ning that day.
Whatever his intention was, it was thoughtful of him to do so.
"He's behind." Lu Ning said again.
Only then did Qiao Wu see that there were several people sitting across the tea room from her.
But Lu Ning spoke out word by word, so there must be something wrong.
So she put aside what she was doing for the moment: "What's wrong?"
"I think they're weird." Lu Ning couldn't quite wrap her head around it. "They know each other. Those people asked Guo Liyan to please them like he did Lu Yingchi."
Lu Ning didn’t quite understand the twists and turns between adults, she just put herself in their shoes.
Guo Liyan's way of pleasing Lu Yingchi was to come to her house, play with her, and give her gifts.
These things were within Lu Ning's acceptable range, because Qiao Wu said that this was a means used by Guo Liyan to get something.
So when Guo Liyan agreed to let these people leave, she did not stop them.
She just felt uncomfortable with what these people were saying, so she followed them.
"But they are different from Lu Yingchi," she said.
At least Lu Yingchi wouldn't speak to people in that tone.
After hearing this, Qiao Wu knew what had happened. Those people were obviously here to cause trouble for Guo Liyan, which was of course different.
But in fact, she has a lot of things to deal with every day, and she is not Guanyin Bodhisattva who saves all living beings. She and Guo Liyan have never met before, and she will not spare any extra energy to care about anything unless it is related to her. As long as it does not involve her bottom line, she will not take the initiative to interfere in the fate of others.
Just like Liao Liao back then, if the other party hadn't mustered up the courage to get to know her, Qiao Wu wouldn't have reminded the other party unnecessarily.
If Zhong Hejing hadn't asked, Qiao Wu wouldn't have gotten involved in Zhong Min's affairs.
It is better to change your own destiny.
Last time, she had already spoken out to help Guo Liyan because he protected Lu Ning, so they were even.
"Do you want to control it?" Qiao Wu asked.
"So I wasn't wrong, right?" Lu Ning looked at the gift on the table.
"My gift," she said, "since he gave me what I wanted, can I give him something sweet in return?"
It seems that not only Lu Yingchi but also Lu Ning heard what was said at the dinner table that day.
Qiao Wu smiled and stood up: "Then go open the presents."
Lu Ning was puzzled.
But she still followed Qiao Wu with her things in her arms, and this time she sat down with Guo Liyan and the others only separated by a screen.
Qiao Wu said, "If you like it, take it apart and play with it."
Lu Ning lowered her head and opened her gift box. In addition to the doll, there were also many cute plush toys inside. She really liked them.
The servant in charge of the tea room came forward and saw that it was the young lady and the housekeeper Xiao Qiao who had changed seats, so he asked, "Shall I make you some tea?"
Lu Ning looked up at Qiao Wu, who just nodded slightly at her.
Although she didn't quite understand his motive, she knew that Qiao Wu was signaling her to just remain normal.
"I want some juice," Lu Ning said. "And bring me some more beautiful little cakes, thank you."
"OK."
The servant came downstairs.
Qin Tianrui heard the voice of a child behind him, looked back, and saw through the gap in the screen that there was only a little girl playing with a doll there, but he didn't pay much attention to it.
But when he moved his eyes again, he saw the woman from before.
The woman sat facing them, and this time the distance was closer, so she could even see the expression on the other person's face clearly.
She had a faint smile on her face, and as if she noticed his gaze, she raised her eyes slightly and looked over.
Qin Tianrui was stunned by those beautiful eyes.
Why are you sitting here?
He subconsciously wanted to speak, but realized that there was a screen between them and the other person had already looked away and was no longer looking at him.
At this moment, Qin Tianrui felt inexplicably relieved and urged Guo Liyan impatiently: "Why, you can't even make tea?"
At that moment, Guo Liyan recognized the voices of Lu Ning and Qiao Wu. He couldn't help but want to look to the side a few more times, but he finally held back.
Forget it, everyone has seen how embarrassed I was before.
Guo Liyan: "Sorry."
He knew where his position was, so he stood in the position of the previous servant and did every step of making tea thousands of times, and had already memorized it by heart.
Of course, the person who deliberately asked him to make tea didn't just want to drink the tea, but also wanted to see him make a fool of himself.
Qin Tianrui saw him pick up the boiling water and deliberately kicked the table. When he saw the water spill out as he wished, he said unhappily, "Is this how you try to please others? You can't even make a cup of tea properly."
Guo Liyan apologized and ignored the red back of his hand and continued.
But when he made the tea, these people were unwilling to drink it.
Qin Tianrui said, "I suddenly feel like drinking. Go downstairs and get some wine."
Several others also requested: "Please bring some fruit and some ice."
"I want a beautiful cake, too."
"What are you dawdling for?"
There were a few words being spoken over there, and Qiao Wu couldn't hear clearly. After all, no one would make a big fuss here.
She only saw the other person being scalded by the water. After confirming that something unpleasant had indeed happened there, she tapped Lu Ning's arm and said, "Go and invite your guests to come here for tea."
Lu Ning understood immediately and shouted to the person behind her, "Guo Liyan, do you want to eat cake with me?"
Guo Liyan, who had just stood up, suddenly stopped and looked towards the tea room next to him in surprise.
But that person still sat there sipping tea, as if what Lu Ning said had nothing to do with her.
When Qin Tianrui and the others heard the movement next door, which they had been paying attention to, the sound suddenly stopped and they all turned their heads to look over there.
Lu Ning poked her head out from behind the screen and said, "I asked the servants to bring a lot of cakes. I can't finish them all. Come and eat with us."
"I……"
Before Guo Liyan could say anything, Qin Tianrui interrupted him: "He is my guest now."
Although Qin Tianrui didn't know who the other party was, the other party suddenly changed his position, and a child appeared at this time, and his intention to rescue Guo Liyan was too obvious.
Qin Tianrui felt uncomfortable because this also meant that the other party saw everything he did just now clearly?
"There has to be a first come, first served order," Qin Tianrui said. "You want to invite him for tea, why not join us?"
Lu Ning didn't know how to respond, so she turned around and looked at Qiao Wu.
At this time, Qiao Wu finally raised her head, stood up and stretched out her hand towards Lu Ning.
Lu Ning took her hand and stood up.
Qiao Wu chuckled: "Didn't I tell you to be polite when inviting guests? How can you sit and talk to people?"
Qin Tianrui, who had been sitting but made Guo Liyan stand, looked ashen.
He stared at the slender figure next to him until the other person walked out around the screen.
The eyes of everyone present suddenly froze.
Compared to the hazy glimpse through the screen, facing the other person's face directly can bring more visual impact.
The woman was exceptionally tall and wore an off-white handmade three-piece suit. The jacket was not so regular and had a slightly wider design. She was not wearing a shirt underneath, but only a vest.
The earrings and necklace are diamond jewelry from the same series. The necklace hangs down in the blank space above the V-shaped vest, making her slender neck and collarbone look more restrained and mysterious.
Her smiling eyes were slightly lowered, and her light pupils held a captivating charm.
The voice asking the girl next to him was closer than before, more clearly audible, gentle yet nonchalant.
"What did you want to say just now?"
Lu Ning immediately said, "I'll invite Guo Liyan to have cake."
Qin Tianrui asked: "Who are you?"
He was asking Lu Ning, but his gaze was directed at Qiao Wu.
Qiao Wu looked at him and said slowly, "She is Mr. Lu's only granddaughter and the only niece of the Lu family's young masters."
Qin Tianrui looked at the little girl in shock.
The Lu family does have a granddaughter, but she has never had much presence. After all, the Lu family's brothers often show up, but no one has ever seen this granddaughter.
Qin Tianrui cursed in his heart.
He really does clash with the Lu family!
This made him even more reluctant to let the person go, so he stood up.
Inexplicably, he felt that the little girl had no courage in her words. Instead, she kept following the woman's instructions and spoke. So he asked again, "Then who are you?"
As far as he knew, the Lu family didn't have a daughter.
Qiao Wu: "The Lu family's housekeeper."
Butler?!
Everyone was stunned.
Qin Tianrui was so angry that he laughed at this absurdity.
What's even more ridiculous is that he was fooled by the aura of such a young butler.
But after all, this is the Lu family. No matter how dissatisfied he is, he has to consider his family's reputation, so he said: "In this case, let's have tea together."
"I dare not." Qiao Wu pressed his fingertips against Guo Liyan's elbow, lifted up Guo Liyan's burned hand, and said calmly, "Mr. Qin's way of treating guests is quite special."
How could Qin Tianrui not understand the pressure in these words?
"I think you're quite daring." His face fell. "Your Lu family's housekeeper is so rude and yet he comes to steal other people's guests?"
Qiao Wu laughed.
"Mr. Qin, I personally invited every guest here today," she asked gently, "So now that you've injured the Lu family's guest, do you intend to sit at the Lu family's tea table and clarify who's the host and who's the guest?"
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