6. Engagement Banquet (Part Two)
Distinguished guests, dear friends—
Good evening! "
"First of all, please allow me, on behalf of my entire family, to express our sincerest gratitude and warmest welcome to everyone who has taken time out of your busy schedules to attend my daughter's engagement banquet..."
As Mr. Jian's resounding speech faded, enthusiastic applause erupted in the banquet hall.
The light from the crystal chandelier and the champagne tower complemented each other, illuminating the entire hall in a dreamlike way.
Guests gathered in twos and threes, clinking glasses and exchanging pleasantries, the scents of expensive perfumes and gourmet food mingling in the air.
Chu Xiao, however, only felt utterly exhausted.
After accompanying Jane's father through a series of social events, this obese body was already overwhelmed.
Chu Xiao was tired of those fake smiles, polite greetings, and the glaring reflection of jewelry.
She hated these kinds of occasions even before she transmigrated, but she didn't expect that she still couldn't get rid of them after transmigrating.
Is this her fate?
I'm mentally exhausted.
"Miss, would you like some snacks prepared for you?" Assistant Li appeared at the right moment.
Chu Xiao shook his head, his gaze sweeping over the noisy banquet hall.
As the second young lady of the Jian family, she was neither the main character tonight nor did she know many people here.
Now that they've already shown up and fulfilled their basic social obligations, when else would they leave if not now?
"I'm going to the lounge," she said softly, lifting her wide skirt as she walked toward the side hall.
Indeed, as the second young lady of the Jian family, this luxurious private estate, used exclusively for banquets, naturally retains the original owner's exclusive space.
Although the manor is usually vacant and only maintained periodically by designated personnel, each family member has an elaborately designed private lounge—a special way for the Jian family to demonstrate their status.
As for why Chu Xiao knew this, it was because every detail of this manor had been meticulously described in her writing.
Although she wrote this novel seven or eight years ago, she still vaguely remembered that in the original plot, at tonight's engagement banquet, the female lead, Jian Bing, would have an important scene with the second male lead near their private lounge...
Passing through a hidden door in the side hall, Chu Xiao discreetly left along the kitchen corridor and took the private elevator to the third floor.
The moment I pushed open the carved wooden door, the familiar scent of lavender wafted out.
In this roughly 50-square-meter lounge, everything from the curtains to the bedding perfectly replicates Chu Xiao's preferences.
Because when she first started writing, she was describing and sketching based on the layout of her own room.
The familiar surroundings made Chu Xiao feel as if he had returned to the real world.
A pleased smile involuntarily appeared on Chu Xiao's lips, but her gaze inadvertently fell upon the gold clock on the wall, which was studded with pink diamonds.
"..."
Oh no, we're getting excited too soon.
"Phew—" With the help of Assistant Li, Chu Xiao took off the tight dress and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm all done here, you can go home now." She waved her hand, letting Assistant Li leave.
The diamond and gold clock was very eye-catching; Chu Xiao would be dazzled every time he looked up.
After being flashed again, Chu Xiao noticed the time on the clock—8:10.
According to the original plot, this should be the moment when the second song of the ball ends and the female lead, Jian Bing, goes back to the dressing room alone to change her clothes.
Thinking of the descriptions in the book, Chu Xiao suddenly became interested.
She took a pair of binoculars from the drawer, leaned over the window, and carefully lifted a corner of the curtain to peer at the building across the street.
Several main buildings in the manor are built along the lake, and Jian Bing's private lounge is located on the third floor of the building on the opposite shore of the lake, directly opposite Chu Xiao's location.
However, the lake in the manor is quite large, covering thirty acres, and is shaded by trees that are over ten meters tall, forming a natural visual barrier.
Even after repeatedly adjusting the angle with professional birdwatching goggles, Chu Xiao's field of vision was still limited to large areas of greenery and blurry building outlines.
"Forget it... I don't necessarily have to watch this spectacle." Chu Xiao reluctantly put down the binoculars, giving up his plan to spy.
...
The exciting scene that Chu Xiao missed unexpectedly fell into Yu Chun's eyes.
Since waking up a month ago and being inexplicably bound to a "pancake comeback system," Yu Chun's life has been plunged into misery.
Without hesitation, the Pancake Counterattack System threw out a mission: annex the Pancake Group, or be annihilated!
"What a joke!" Yu Chun initially scoffed.
What the hell did they release?
He wasn't mistaken, was he? Was he being asked to acquire that pancake company with a market value of hundreds of billions?
That's an industry giant!
How absurd is this task? It's no different from making him the richest man in China.
"It's impossible, absolutely impossible." Yu Chun pretended not to see it and decided to play dead and give up.
The system didn't buy it at all and taught Yu Chun a lesson.
After the electric shock, Yu Chun was in excruciating pain and curled up on the ground, her delicate features contorted in agony.
Having narrowly escaped death, Yu Chun finally learned her lesson.
He clearly realized that the system was a ruthless and evil system; if it said that a mission would be eliminated if it failed, it really would. The system was fully capable of doing so.
In order to save his own life, Yu Chun had no choice but to adopt a proper attitude.
But the reality is harsh—even with his serious efforts, the mission progress remains stuck at a glaring "0%".
The system was very dissatisfied and threatened several more times, but Yu Chun was also helpless.
It should be noted that he doesn't even have complete control over his own multi-billion dollar hot pot group; he's currently just a wealthy idler in name only.
Asking him to swallow up a pancake company worth hundreds of billions is just wishful thinking, isn't it?
Of course, Yu Chun only dared to mutter these words to himself; on the surface, he acted actively and cooperatively.
These days, Yu Chun has collected all the publicly available information about the Jianbing Group, thoroughly investigated the management, and even memorized the resume of the heir, Miss Jian.
Unfortunately, he never found any valuable breakthrough.
Yu Chun's attendance at Miss Jian's engagement banquet was ostensibly to offer congratulations, but in reality, she was also hoping to find a breakthrough—though it was mostly just a show for the system.
From the moment she arrived at the engagement party, Yu Chun's gaze kept subtly following Jian Bing's figure.
He didn't even need to search for her; Jian Bing's dazzling red stood out in the crowd, which saved Yu Chun a lot of trouble.
Yu Chun looked left and right, then casually strolled to the second-floor terrace with a champagne glass in hand, finding herself an excellent vantage point.
From the small terrace on the second floor, he could clearly see Jian Bing, arm in arm with Leng Ao, moving among the guests with a flawless smile.
He watched Jian Bing feed Leng Ao a small pancake, watched the two of them dance gracefully to the opening dance, and watched them start dancing a second dance to the music...
"Ha—" Yu Chun couldn't help but yawn quietly.
"Buzz—" The system immediately issued a warning, and a slight electric current made him shudder, instantly waking him up.
"I'm observing carefully! I'm definitely not slacking off!" Afraid that the system might give her a nudge from time to time, Yu Chun quickly defended herself in her mind.
"Okay, continue." The system maintained its aloof, mechanical voice in Yu Chun's mind.
"Damn it!" Yu Chun cursed the system's ancestors in his mind, but continued his "surveillance" mission with a blank expression.
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