Chapter 171 Everyone Likes to Stare at the Wrong Person
Not long after, it was lunchtime and the guests slowly gathered in the Xu family's banquet hall.
Originally, Shen Ning was a little curious. With so many people and the weather being so nice, why not hold the banquet in the garden? Then she learned from Xie Yunqing that Xu Zhong, the second master of the Xu family, had invited a famous magic troupe to perform magic at the banquet.
The magic show of the Daxuan Dynasty is quite famous. According to Chen Ning's understanding, this magic show is almost equivalent to the magic in the previous life. Compared with the singing, dancing and opera that she doesn't understand very well, she is quite interested in this magic show.
In the huge banquet hall, Lord Xu and Mrs. Xu sat at the top, their three sons sat with the male guests, and their two wives took care of the female guests. The male and female guests sat on both sides of the hall.
Xie Yunqing sat next to Xie Yunyan at the bottom of Concubine Xu's room, while Shen Nian and Shen Ning sat in the back row like the other girls in the boudoir. In front of them was a small table with a wide variety of food already laid out on it.
It was obvious that the main course of today's banquet was actually the magic show.
Not long after they sat down, Lord Xu and Madam Xu, accompanied by a group of people, entered the banquet hall and sat down. This was the first time Shen Ning met the famous Daxuan official Xu Ji.
Elder Xu looked thin and handsome, wearing a dark blue brocade robe, with his hair combed meticulously. He was holding Madam Xu's hand, with a gentle demeanor. If she met him outside, Shen Ning would definitely not think that this was an elder who was second only to the emperor.
Among the people who came in with Lord Xu and Madam Xu, Shen Ning saw Xiao Nanchen at a glance.
There were several other young men beside Xiao Nanchen, all of whom looked noble and should be princes. However, the one walking in front did not look very well, with some dark circles under his eyes, as if he had indulged in excessive sexual activities.
Shen Ning guessed that this should be the rumored dandy and absurd Crown Prince.
At this moment, she suddenly realized something, and her gaze moved and met Xiao Nanchen's.
Xiao Nanchen smiled at her quickly across the crowd, then turned his head to talk to the person next to him.
Not long after, the banquet began. After several people in high positions congratulated Old Madam Xu on her birthday on behalf of all the guests, the magic opera troupe entered the stage.
A skinny old man came in and said a lot of auspicious words to Mrs. Xu who was sitting at the top of the table to wish her a happy birthday. Then, the magic show officially began.
The old man reached behind him and came out with an umbrella. He opened the umbrella, which was covered with auspicious cloud patterns and looked very festive... As the umbrella in the old man's hand danced dazzlingly, suddenly, a vermilion table appeared under the umbrella.
No one knew how such a large table was hidden and how it reappeared, and there were immediately low cheers in the audience.
Then, the old man spun the umbrella in his hand around the table, and when he took it away, a cute little tiger appeared on the table... It was stumbling around and looked very adorable.
The young ladies exclaimed in amazement, and then they saw the old man pick up the little tiger and put it on the ground. The little tiger stood up and turned into a teenage girl with a round face and round eyes, and was very smart.
Suddenly, cheers rang out again in the arena...
Shen Ning was somewhat amazed. After all, she was not far away, but she could not see any flaws. She was indeed a talented person.
During the banquet, most people's attention was focused on the magic show, but some people took advantage of the time when everyone was concentrating on watching the magic show to secretly look at people whom they usually didn't dare to look at.
Xu Zhongsheng, the second master of the Xu family, looked brave and powerful. He raised his head and drank a large glass of wine. Then he put the glass down and looked at Concubine Xu, his sister, who was sitting at the opposite table.
Or rather, his adopted sister.
Concubine Xu seemed to have sensed something, glanced over here, then smiled at her second brother and looked away again.
Xu Zhong took another gulp of wine.
Beside him, Xu Zhiyi slowly withdrew his gaze...
He felt that his second brother would eventually get into big trouble.
The magic show was boring, so Xu Zhiyi picked up the dishes slowly and ate them, putting down his chopsticks after taking a small bite of each dish.
There's nothing delicious.
He suddenly remembered the grilled fish made by Chen Ning that he had eaten before... spicy, fresh and fragrant.
Looking up across, I saw Shen Ning looking at the fantasy picture with great interest.
I'm a heartless person...
It seems that he is not heartless and has a long memory. After he shot two arrows at him during the Pingning City Riot, he refused to come near him again.
But knowing how to be afraid is a good thing, it is better than not learning from your mistakes... but having a good memory can be annoying.
Is she going to hide from him forever?
Xu Zhiyi was a little annoyed. He slowly poured himself a glass of wine and drank it all in one gulp. Then he saw Shen Ning opposite him, who was watching him happily and eating with a clatter of food, and he felt annoyed for no reason.
Heartless!
Gritting his teeth and looking away, Xu Zhiyi inadvertently saw his arrogant and domineering niece across from him.
Xu Wanqing's eyes were almost glued to Prince Ding, and she was not afraid of being seen.
I guess there is no normal person in this family. They all like to stare at people they shouldn’t stare at!
At this time, the magic show on the stage has reached the stage of puppet performance.
The round-eyed girl was seen holding sticks with many silk threads wrapped around them, and it was impossible to tell how she controlled them. The half-human-height puppets on the ground were surprisingly flexible. Some of them did somersaults for fun, some were bowing and kowtowing, and some were clumsy and looked naive, making the guests laugh uncontrollably. The scene was filled with lively activity and laughter.
However, at this moment, Shen Ning was watching intently when she was shocked to see a blur in front of her eyes.
She didn't even have time to react before she saw those white, flexible yet stiff puppets on the ground suddenly transform into people in white clothes, flying towards Lord Xu at the top like a ghost.
It seemed that she hadn't reacted yet, and it seemed that her actions were faster than her thoughts. Shen Ning suddenly pulled Xie Yunqing in front of her back... Xie Yunqing screamed and fell to the ground, avoiding the white silk that was flying past Bai Sensen.
At the same time, someone shouted: "There's an assassin!"
It was at this moment that the people around reacted...the one performing the magic show turned out to be an assassin.
The puppet just now disappeared and turned into several ghostly assassins in white robes, who attacked upwards at lightning speed. Xu Zhong, the second master of the Xu family who was close to Lord Xu, raised his hand and smashed the table to block the assassins, while shouting a warning.
The guards outside rushed in quickly, but just after a few people came in, the doors of the banquet hall automatically slammed shut without any wind, and all the guests in the hall were trapped in the cage.
At this moment, the table of the magic troupe bounced open with a bang, and several figures rushed out. Along with the exclamations of the crowd, black unknown moths swarmed out of the box and pounced on people they saw.
The previous laughter and joy turned into exclamations and screams. Shen Ning pulled Xie Yunqing, and Xie Yunyan, who was next to him, retreated with the help of her personal maid and tried to hide behind a pillar.
Seeing a swarm of black moths flying towards them, Shen Ning pushed Xie Yunqing to Xie Yunyan behind the pillar, raised her hand to grab the tablecloth and threw it over her head at the moths, while resisting the moths and retreating.
At this moment, a loud shout suddenly came from the side: "Nian Nian."
Shen Chengxi immediately ran to the female guest's side to find his mother and sister. When he saw Shen Nian fall to the ground, he pushed the table and chairs in front of him away without caring whether he would hit anyone, and just rushed towards Shen Nian.
Shen Ning was swatting the oncoming moth when she was caught off guard by the table and chairs behind her and stumbled to the side.
At this moment, a white figure stabbed straight towards Shen Ning.
"Ningning!"
Xie Yunqing rushed over like a madman and lay directly on his daughter's back to protect Shen Ning, preparing to use his back to block the terrible assassin, but at this moment, with a puff, the assassin spat out a mouthful of blood and flew out.
After Xiao Nanchen sent the assassin flying with a sword, he raised his hand and pulled up Chen Ning, pushing her and Xie Yunqing to the pillar behind. The soft sword in his hand shook violently, and Chen Ning couldn't even see how he moved. A large group of moths in front of him were crushed and fell to the ground.
The assassins' target was obviously Lord Xu, and they were attacking the surrounding areas to create chaos.
Seeing Xu Zhong being dragged by three assassins, the remaining four attacked together towards the Xu Ge Lao and his wife who were protected by the frail eldest master of the Xu family, but at this moment, there was a clanging sound.
Xu Zhiyi, the third master of the Xu family, who was sitting nearby and inadvertently attracted attention, raised his hand and flicked the wine glass away. The white jade porcelain cup hit the tip of the sword with a clang, and actually broke the sword tip of the assassin in front.
Almost at the same time, Xiao Nanchen kicked the table in front of him, and several chopsticks on the table flew up. He slapped out with his palm... Three chopsticks whooshed like arrows and pierced into the backs of the remaining three assassins.
Xu Wanqing was hiding behind Concubine Xu with the Tenth Princess Xiao Bi. When she looked up, she saw Xiao Nanchen transforming chopsticks into arrows and slapping them through the air, instantly killing three assassins... Then she saw Crown Prince Xiao Nanyu hiding behind the guards, and her heart suddenly twisted into a ball.
Why would she not marry such a heroic man and insist on becoming that damn Crown Princess!
The assassination came suddenly and ended mysteriously...all people heard was a laughing voice.
"The Tianxin Sect presents a gift. Elder Xu has a long future ahead of him."
The voice made Shen Ning indifferent and she turned around quickly, and saw that the round-eyed girl who was performing the puppet show suddenly became taller and flew out lightly.
The person flew into the air, and the clothes he took off fluttered down... Then they turned into a rain of flowers in the air, flying all over the banquet hall.
Through the rain of crimson petals, Shen Ning saw the man in the white robe looking back at her with a smile in his eyes...
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