Chapter 69
Shen Shiqian didn't take Basil's little trick to heart. He beckoned a waiter to wipe his hands clean with a hot towel, then turned to look at Feng Ran and took her hand: "Please don't leave me alone again, okay?"
Feng Ran stared thoughtfully in the direction Basil had left, until Shen Shiqian pulled him away, and he obediently followed him back to the center of the crowd.
People he knew kept coming up to greet him, and strangers were also eager to say hello. Feng Ran mustered his energy and politely chatted with everyone for a few minutes, but he felt tired as he dealt with them. He regretted making such a big fuss. After all, how you celebrate a birthday doesn't matter. No one really cares. It was all just a gimmick to facilitate socializing.
Of course, Feng Ran isn't particularly enthusiastic about the social circles she's built up right now. After all, the powerful figures in Kenpaen are basically just four categories: the military, the parliament, the royalists, and those who don't take sides. The truly powerful ones are the military and the parliament. Her stance has been made clear enough because of her relationship with Shen Shiqian. Even if the parliament is a mixed bag, stirring up trouble or undermining its members isn't something that can be done in a short time. After all, these two factions don't like each other on the surface.
So it's perfectly reasonable that she didn't accomplish anything today. With this reason, Feng Ran's apathy towards socializing intensified. Before the ball started, she went back to her room to rest, leaving the hosting and reception duties entirely to the manager and Shen Shiqian.
Feng Ran's room was piled high with gifts from the guests who were invited to the banquet today. It looked like a dazzling array of gifts. In fact, it was said that some families who were not invited also sent gifts.
This was a rather unusual situation for Feng Ran, as her birthdays were rarely celebrated in such a grand manner. Unless there were special social needs or a particularly memorable age, her family might not even throw a party, just a simple celebration. Feng Xiqiao didn't even have the patience to choose a gift; if she forgot to remind her assistant to prepare one, she would simply transfer some money to Feng Ran and be done with it. Feng Linye, on the other hand, preferred going out and having fun with her friends rather than celebrating her birthday properly at home. Her life had rarely been filled with excitement, so she wasn't used to it now.
There were also many gifts piled up on the king-size bed in the inner room of the presidential suite, but since it was king-size, there was no problem in moving the things to the side so that Feng Ran could lie down and rest.
Her carefully permed, curly bangs became a little messy and droopy from rubbing against the bed sheet. Feng Ran casually opened the gift boxes closest to her. They were mostly necklaces, bracelets, brooches, and other luxury items. They were elegant and tasteful, but there was nothing new about them. In fact, even though many people came to the banquet with the intention of trying to get to know her, they couldn't even figure out her preferences. It was really boring.
Despite feeling extremely tired and sleepy, Feng Ran couldn't fall asleep due to subtle anxiety and restlessness. Staring at the ceiling of the room, all sorts of wild ideas ran through Feng Ran's mind, including the thought of blowing up the hotel's banquet hall because of mild nerve pain.
She sighed, turned over in bed, and stared blankly at the wall covered with retro-patterned wallpaper.
"Xiao Tong".
A yellow light flashed on the terminal on his wrist: "Master, I'm here!"
"Let's summarize the feasible solutions for reducing the internal pressure of planet 4601 at this stage."
If given a choice, being a good person is definitely easier than being a bad person. Although Feng Ran still felt a little awkward, she attributed her conflict to a common human failing and decided that if she felt really unbalanced, she would ask Shen Shiqian for some benefits.
Okay~
On the cabinet against the wall is Xiao Jiu's wet and dry water tank. The mesh is a bit too tight for its soft body, so it doesn't usually like the mesh. Unless it wants to stick its head into the mesh to play in the water, it will stay pressed against the glass wall. It stares at Feng Ran without moving, and the bow on its head has long since fallen off.
Feng Ran raised his hand and forcibly grabbed it from a distance using his supernatural power. Xiao Jiu was completely bewildered and didn't react at all. The soft, bouncy, and cool touch of being squeezed in his hand was particularly stress-relieving. The cowardly little octopus didn't resist or struggle at all, even though its head was squeezed flat. It seemed that it had gotten used to it over the past few days.
Because of the drug modification, Xiao Jiu's current habits are completely different from those of the original alien creatures. However, it cannot live a normal life like a natural creature. It is forced to stand at the crossroads of evolution, struggling to move forward. Unfortunately, it has no brain and does not understand anything. It does not understand how miserable its current situation is. Every day, it just shakes its tentacles and touches this and that, as if it is full of curiosity about the world.
If only she could be as open-minded and optimistic as Xiao Jiu, Feng Ran thought to herself. But all of this seemed to be based on her stupidity and lack of brains. However, her brain was an important tool for Feng Ran's survival and her greatest value. Whether she would become happy if this quality were erased was another matter, but those who admired and followed her because of this quality would probably be disappointed.
Thinking about Shen Shiqian, Fran, and the others made her a little depressed. Her personality traits were barely acceptable, but the genetic selection of pheromones felt the most unreasonable. After all, if she wasn't an Enigma, or even just an ordinary Beta if she wasn't an Alpha, wouldn't she become even more inconspicuous and dispensable? After all, she didn't have many emotional interactions with people in her previous life.
The terminal lit up again. Feng Ran thought it was Xing Tong's plan that had been prepared, but when she opened it, she saw that it was a message from Shen Shiqian urging her to return to the banquet hall, saying that the ball was about to begin.
Feng Ran got up, put Xiao Jiu back in the tank, tied the bow back on it, and said seriously, "Let's consider today your birthday too."
Feng Ran returned to the banquet hall at just the right time. The symphony orchestra had just finished preparing, and the conductor was introducing the pieces to be played. The lights in the banquet hall gradually dimmed and focused on the central dance floor area.
As the music started, Feng Ran was momentarily bewildered by the surging crowd, but the next second someone grabbed his hand and led him towards the center of the dance floor.
After realizing what was happening, Feng Ran frowned slightly, his tone somewhat displeased: "I've been looking for you for ages, how come you're always disappearing like a ghost?"
Shen Shiqian slowly bent down and placed a kiss on the back of her hand with elegance and affection, seemingly in a good mood. "I've always been watching you from behind, my dear."
Feeling strange and inexplicable, coupled with the stares from those around her, Feng Ran felt a tingling sensation all over her body, as if goosebumps had risen. She pursed her lips and curtsied in return, lifting her skirt: "Your quirks are strange too."
They started with a waltz. Ballroom dancing has always been Feng Ran's forte. Before her injury, her relationship with Qin Xin was not nearly as strained as it became later. When they were little, Qin Xin said that Feng Ran had a beautiful figure, so she specially hired a teacher to teach her ballet. When she wasn't busy, she would come to watch Feng Ran practice and teach her some ballroom dances.
When attending such parties, Qin Xin always naturally attracts a lot of attention because her spinning posture is particularly beautiful. Her movements are flexible and light, and her skirt flutters and unfolds in time with the drumbeats, like a delicate rose slowly blooming. Coupled with her perfect expression management, even though she has been married and retired from the entertainment industry for many years, she is still the perfect goddess in people's hearts.
Qin Xin relished the admiration and affection others showed her. Perhaps it stemmed from her past professional habits, or perhaps she was simply vain. In any case, she always performed exceptionally well when given the opportunity to showcase herself. Feng Ran, on the other hand, was the opposite. She didn't want to be liked by so many people, believing that affection based solely on appearances was superficial. When she tried to put what she learned from Qin Xin into practice, she would only give it a smattering of her own abilities, knowing no one would notice. She wanted to leave the spotlight to Feng Linye; it didn't matter if she was a little mediocre.
Even so, she still has countless suitors who are infatuated with her, so she finds it hard to understand what liking someone really is. It's a mix of truth and falsehood, reality and illusion, like the moon that disappears with the slightest ripple in the water, too fragile to be trusted.
The dress features a hollowed-out strap design at the back. Shen Shiqian's hand supporting Feng Ran's waist felt like a warm source of heat against her back. The strength of his support made Feng Ran feel as if she could fly in his large hands. It seems that Shen Shiqian is also very good at ballroom dancing.
Feng Ran suddenly felt a surge of inspiration, and as she stepped closer to him, her eyebrows curved into a beautiful arc. The expression she had carefully designed and practiced before was still bright and radiant when she picked it up again: "What are you thinking when you look at me, darling?"
Shen Shiqian slowed down his pace, and under the lights, a blurry yet surging emotion gathered in his eyes. As the dance music neared its end, his movements slowed, and his Adam's apple bobbed down. "I wasn't thinking about anything. Just seeing you standing there made me so happy that my mind went completely blank."
The second piece was Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2. When the deep, resonant sound of the trombone began, Feng Ran had not yet reacted. He was still holding onto Shen Shiqian's shoulder, motionless, his eyes sharp as if he wanted to expose all the falsehoods and lies.
Then she smiled gently and started dancing again.
Lively and stunning, her allure was natural, and Shen Shiqian instinctively followed her dance steps, unable to think of anything else.
The birthday person is always the center of attention; it's an unspoken custom. But tonight, the main characters are undoubtedly two people. Anyone who sees those two beautiful figures dancing gracefully on the dance floor will find them a perfect match from a visual perspective.
As the song ended, the band needed some time to adjust before changing to a new piece. Feng Ran watched the reactions of those around him with great interest and thought that he could understand Qin Xin's feelings. Just as he was thinking this, he was lifted up and picked up by the person in front of him.
Before she could react, Shen Shiqian lifted her chin and kissed her.
Just as Feng Ran forcefully and domineeringly cut off all desires for Shen Shiqian, Shen Shiqian was naturally annoyed by the restless, eager admirers that emerged under Feng Ran's every smile and frown. Perhaps possessiveness has nothing to do with gender; it's just a dark side that everyone has.
Feng Ran was a little dazed from the kiss, her hands still instinctively wrapped around Shen Shiqian's neck. She angrily slapped the back of Shen Shiqian's neck with her wrist, and Shen Shiqian's legs went weak and he staggered before Feng Ran jumped out of his arms.
The people surrounding the center of the dance floor were mostly familiar faces of Feng Ran. Afu held onto Bai Chenxi's sleeve with one hand, staring intently at her and Shen Shiqian with a subtle smile. Even the calm and polite Li Er couldn't help but turn her head to look. Not to mention, for some reason, Basil was chatting with Fran again, quietly watching them from the stairs across the crowd.
With Shen Shiqian, such a formidable figure, there was no one foolish enough to bluntly ask about their relationship. After all, by this point in the banquet, they had already guessed quite a bit.
Feng Ran didn't like this high-profile way of showing love. Seeing the surprised and inquisitive looks from others inevitably reminded him of some unpleasant memories from his past life.
Her face was pale and she looked completely listless. She took Shen Shiqian's hand and tugged at it, saying, "Let's have a separate engagement banquet next time. I'm tired. Let's end it here for today."
Shen Shiqian: "Okay, go back and rest. Leave the rest to me."
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