It's still the Hilton, the nearest home ground for the Xia family's parties.
Yang Yajing and her group arrived at the venue's lounge early to prepare. Since it was an engagement banquet, the emcee was currently going over the program with them.
This seasoned emcee, who has hosted many engagement banquets for wealthy families, was somewhat puzzled by the Xia family's simplified approach to the ceremony.
Generally, wealthy families have to coordinate auspicious sayings and go through all sorts of complicated procedures for their engagement banquets, just to increase the newlyweds' exposure, right?
Moreover, Xia Yajing is the daughter of the Xia family who was just found. Shouldn't the ceremony be more grand?
When the Xia family is looking for a son-in-law, shouldn't they emphasize the man's strength and achievements?
Why did he gloss over all of this? Could it be that the Xia family is dissatisfied with the man?
But the atmosphere in the lounge doesn't seem like that at all. The two elders of the Xia family seem to really like this son-in-law, and the newlyweds are inseparable. I just can't figure it out.
He was an expert at reading people and assessing the situation, so why couldn't he figure out what was going on?
Since he couldn't understand the script and couldn't improvise, and was afraid of offending the big shots, the emcee had no choice but to obediently follow the script.
Whether they can come or not is one thing, but as a matter of etiquette, many of the Jinxia Group's business partners were invited to this engagement banquet, and other members of the Xia family also had to be invited.
So Secretary Huang became a "doorman," standing in front of the registration table to greet the guests and then having staff lead them to their seats.
The people at the two main tables are still in the lounge, so it seems those who wanted to be the first to congratulate and flatter them will miss their chance.
Despite their curiosity, they could only chat and make friends with each other, waiting for the procedures to be completed before they could go on stage.
After most of the guests had arrived, Secretary Huang went to the lounge and led the relatives and friends at the two main tables, excluding the newlyweds, to their seats.
Once everyone was seated, the lights in the hall dimmed, the spotlights on the stage came on, the emcee gave a few auspicious opening remarks, and then announced the arrival of the newlyweds.
The background music is Debussy's Clair de Lune, not traditional wedding music. People without a good appreciation for classical music would not even know this piece.
While music played, the emcee introduced the newlyweds, but their "resumes" were incredibly simple.
Yang Yajing's side had some background and strength introduction, but when it came to Zhou Pengfei, there was only one sentence: "rising star in the art world, illustrator."
Just like the emcee at the beginning, many people in the audience are now beginning to wonder if the Xia family is not so fond of this future son-in-law.
It's just an engagement, not a wedding. There are still many variables before the wedding! My mind is already racing, and I'm starting to get restless!
The thing is, any family with a son who isn't married would want to be related to the Xia family through marriage, right? Since the Xia family might not be satisfied with this unknown future son-in-law, shouldn't they try to promote their son?
The ceremony was over quickly, and Yang Yajing and Zhou Pengfei returned to the main table. The emcee told everyone to "open their appetites and enjoy the delicious food," and even boasted about the dishes.
"Chairman Xia wisely instructed everyone to fill their stomachs first, so that they won't drink on an empty stomach and hurt their digestive system when the newlyweds come to toast later!" The emcee jokingly pointed out the next segment.
Typically, such engagement banquets are Xia family's home turf, and both sets of parents accompany the newlyweds to toast and introduce them.
However, Yang Yajing deliberately skipped this step. After toasting the main table, she directly changed her cup of tea and went to her friend's table with Zhou Pengfei.
While her friends joked around, they didn't drink much alcohol. Yang Yajing substituted tea for wine, and they only took a small sip, being very casual.
When they reached the next table, it was a gathering of Xia's relatives. Seeing that neither Xia Changlong nor his wife were accompanying the two men as they toasted, they felt that this newly adopted daughter wasn't very close to them.
Xia Caixia's son got into trouble because of Yang Yajing, so she can't come to this event. She had suffered at Yang Yajing's hands at the board meeting before, and didn't want to come in the first place.
But her husband's family won't allow it! If the Xia family members don't attend the engagement banquet, wouldn't that be indirectly telling Xia Changlong that they don't want to be part of the Xia family? How can that be allowed?
As for Xia Tengyun, he was quite pleased to see Yang Yajing. Because of her actions, she got Xia Junhu imprisoned, and also her third sister's son, who also shares the surname Xia, thus reducing a lot of competition!
Moreover, he had a daughter. I reckon if he let his daughter get along well with Yang Yajing, he'd be sure to get some benefits in the future.
But Xia Tengyun's wife is Wang Xiufen! Just think about the good daughter raised by her cousin Wang Xiuzhen, and you'll know what kind of temperament this youngest daughter of the Xia family has.
Xia Qilian, the youngest daughter of the Xia family, is a white-bone demon with rhinestone armor and eyes on the top of her head.
Right now, Xia Tengyun is asking her to toast her sister, saying that "Xia Yajing" is now a major shareholder of Jinxia, and when she graduates from university and needs to do an internship, following her will definitely be the right thing to do.
But Xia Qilian's forced appearance really made Xia Tengyun look like a clown.
Picking up her wine glass, Xia Qilian said dismissively, seemingly reluctant, "Congratulations to the new sister! And the new brother-in-law... is quite handsome."
"What do you mean 'still watchable'?!" Xia Tengyun immediately tried to salvage the situation. "He's a great artist! Very talented!"
"What artist? Never even heard of him!" Xia Qilian pouted. "Even if the women of the Xia family can't find someone truly their equal, they should at least find someone famous, right? Even an actor or a singer would be better than a poor painter!"
"Oh dear! What are you saying!" Xia Tengyun, afraid of offending Yang Yajing and her causing trouble for him at the shareholders' meeting, quickly explained, "My dear niece, don't be angry! My Qilian just loves chasing stars, she doesn't understand art, she has no taste! No taste at all!"
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