Chapter 091: Wherever She Went, She Was the Center of Attention

The one accusing Lin Yu was a young man who looked about twenty, dressed in a formal black tailcoat and carrying himself with the air of a gentleman.

“Come on, don’t mind him. Let’s keep going,” Lin Yu said to the little girl, glancing at the young man from the corner of his eye.

He felt that it was already close to ten. Holding a birthday banquet this late was a little too much. A child being hungry was hardly unreasonable.

“So sweet. I love it.” After licking the cream from her hand once more, the girl kissed Lin Yu’s cheek with a sugary smile.

On the other side, the ignored young man flew into a rage and pointed at Lin Yu, cursing, “Are you sick, or are you here on purpose to make trouble? No upbringing at all!”

At his shout, nearly every gaze in the hall turned their way.

“Are you the one with the mental problem? What business is it of yours?” Lin Yu sneered at the meddlesome young man.

He felt that letting a child go hungry all night was hardly the act of someone well-bred. As for those self-righteous busybodies who fancied themselves moral guardians, they were the most detestable of all.

“You uncultured bastard! If your father and mother won’t discipline you, does that mean no one else is allowed to teach you a lesson?” the young man rattled on.

“Are you the United Nations police? You sure like sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.” Hearing the words father and mother, a surge of fury rose in Lin Yu’s chest, but he felt that striking someone at a banquet would be inappropriate and would make him look like the troublemaker.

Just then, seeing that matters were about to head in a bad direction, a girl stepped in at the right moment and pulled the suddenly appeared young man away.

Even as he was being dragged off, the young man still provoked him. “My name is Pan Yuhao. I’m a junior at Bing University. If you’ve got a problem, come find me at Bing University.”

Lin Yu kept smiling, smiling brightly. He did not take Pan Yuhao seriously at all, nor did he care about the pointing and whispering of the others in the hall. He simply thought the girl sneaking bites was especially adorable.

Because the hotel staff had noticed Lin Yu’s confrontation with Zhang Yang, they did not dare stop his unorthodox behavior.

And so, the little girl ate to her heart’s content. Before long, her face was smeared all over with cream.

Yang Zhilin, standing not far away, also thought the girl was adorable, and she was just about to step forward when a murderous look held her back.

The owner of that gaze was none other than Yang Zhilin’s mother, Xia Ling. In her eyes, Lin Yu only looked more and more unworthy, utterly incapable of standing in polite society.

Meanwhile, Jiang Lele and Hu Shui, watching from a distance, found Lin Yu increasingly lovable.

“I am absolutely going to take him down!” While the others were still debating whether to make a move, Jiang Lele blurted it out first.

“You’re acting up again,” said a girl in plaid, shaking her head in exasperation.

“Exactly, exactly! This young lady is about to become a spirit,” Jiang Lele declared, her eyes fixed on Lin Yu.

“The moment a fox turns human, it loses its demonic aura. And without that aura, there goes the charm. I think you’d better save your energy,” said Hu Shui, the plainest-looking among them, teasing her with a smile.

While they chatted and laughed, and the little girl ate to her delight, the main characters of the evening, the Hu family, finally made their much-awaited entrance.

Hu Bin, already tall, handsome, and carrying a touch of refined elegance, wore a clean white shirt and dark blue suspenders today, with a gold watch gleaming on his wrist. He looked every inch the young scion of a wealthy family.

His appearance drew the eyes of most of the girls in the hall.

Seeing this, Wang Yue’e, dressed in white fur, let a faint smile touch her lips, clearly quite pleased with herself.

After appearing, Hu Bin did not go directly to the temporary stage. Instead, he walked with graceful steps to the Yang family of three.

After greeting Yang Xiong and Xia Ling, he turned his burning gaze to the orchid-like Yang Zhilin and praised her, saying, “Zhilin, you’re stunning today. You outshine every woman here.”

“I think my mother is more charming than I am,” Yang Zhilin replied lightly after the compliment.

“Oh, that was my mistake,” Hu Bin said at once, quick to catch the implication that there was another mature beauty present.

“It’s nothing. I’m already past my prime,” Xia Ling said coldly.

That single sentence made cold sweat bead and run down Hu Bin’s forehead. For reasons he could not explain, he felt an instinctive dread of Madam Yang.

“That girl over there, who is she? She’s pretty,” one of the girls beside Jiang Lele asked, having noticed Hu Bin’s reaction.

“You don’t even know her? She’s the only school beauty at First High in Bing City, Yang Zhilin,” Jiang Lele replied with a hint of superiority, as if knowing Yang Zhilin were something to be proud of.

“She really does have a great presence. I just wonder what her family background is like,” Hu Shui added, her tone faintly sour.

“Her father is deputy mayor, and her mother is chairwoman of a listed company. What do you think her background is like?” Jiang Lele said with a smile.

Buddhism says all beings are equal. Are they really equal? Jiang Lele’s brief remark shattered the fragile sense of superiority the girls had been harboring.

The girls around Jiang Lele could not help but sigh inwardly. Before the bright moon that was Yang Zhilin, they themselves were nothing but fireflies in the night.

“How about her studies?” Hu Shui, who had the best grades among them and could even win a scholarship at Bing University, asked unwillingly.

“In the fiercely competitive First High of Bing City, she has never once come in second,” Jiang Lele said playfully, leaving Hu Shui’s face instantly pale.

A girl who had always thought that although her looks might not be one in a thousand, her family background, grades, and temperament were all outstanding suddenly felt a sharp, inexplicable pain in her chest.

“A girl like that should not even exist in this world!” After standing frozen for a long moment, Hu Shui forced the words out through clenched teeth.

“Exactly. She’s devastating our tender little hearts,” Jiang Lele sighed helplessly. But a few seconds later, her eyes lit up again.

For she saw that after greeting Yang Zhilin, Hu Bin actually walked straight toward Lin Yu, who was still accompanying the little girl eating cake.

“Ha, you’re here,” Hu Bin said with a smile as he reached Lin Yu.

“Yes, I’m here. Happy birthday. I came in a hurry and didn’t bring a gift; I’ll make up for it another day,” Lin Yu said, taking out a tissue and wiping the little girl’s cream-covered face.

“Just coming is enough. There’s no need to talk about gifts between us. There are too many people here, so I’ll go attend to things first.” Hu Bin spoke politely, then returned to his mother Wang Yue’e’s side.

“Brother, I can’t eat anymore!” Not long after Hu Bin left, the little girl patted her belly to show she was full.

“All right, then go find your mother,” Lin Yu said, wiping her face clean and pointing toward where her mother was standing.

“Then I’m going now,” the girl said, clapping her hands and shuffling away step by step, reluctant to leave.

After she took her mother’s hand, she looked back at Lin Yu and called sweetly, “Brother, my name is Qi Xin. When I grow up, I’m going to marry you.”

Lin Yu laughed and waved back at her. That long-lost childish innocence made him feel wonderfully lighthearted, and the smile at the corners of his mouth deepened.

A few minutes later, the elegant music in the hall abruptly shifted into a stirring dance tune.

At that moment, Yan Xiang, the host specially invited from Bing City Radio Station by the Hu family, slowly stepped onto the stage, took the microphone, and said, “Thank you all for coming to Hu Bin’s eighteenth birthday ceremony. The celebration is about to begin officially. First, please welcome the mother of tonight’s guest of honor, Madam Wang Yue’e, to come up and speak. Let’s applaud her.”

Amid sparse applause, Wang Yue’e walked gracefully onto the stage. After taking the microphone from Yan Xiang’s hands, the stirring music switched once more to a more subdued piano piece.

So when Wang Yue’e read the lines from the note in her hand, it had a certain recited, almost prose-like feel.

As she spoke, Wang Yue’e suddenly said at the very end, “A few days ago, I asked Hu Bin what birthday gift he wanted. He said that tonight, he hoped to hear a girl personally play him a piano piece, ‘Doraemon.’”