Meng Huange gently straightened her sleeve, putting on the Western Suit Jacket that still fit her reasonably well.
She then looked herself over in the full-length mirror in front of her.
The School Uniform Shirt she wore inside was still a little wrinkled, but as long as the outer appearance was passable, it was good enough.
To think they used this method to reasonably separate her from Su Wanli’s side—truly, the one who sent her this gift had put a lot of thought into it…
Besides, if she guessed correctly, the person she was about to meet should be arriving soon.
As expected, before Meng Huange could take the initiative to leave the room, the Head Maid knocked gently on the door—
“Miss Huange, if you’ve finished changing, please come out now. I won’t be able to escort you any further along the way.”
Meng Huange replied softly from inside, adjusted her bow tie, and then pushed open the changing room door.
She nodded politely to the Head Maid, reapplying her subtle smile, and walked along the path the maid had described.
The Corridor of Bai Family was far more luxurious than that of the Sujia, but Meng Huange’s destination was an unremarkable pale wooden door.
When she pushed it open, she found a wooden bookshelf and a simple wooden desk inside.
Behind the desk sat an elderly man with graying hair.
He slowly turned around and nodded slightly at Meng Huange.
“Huange, long time no see.”
Meng Huange let out a gentle breath and bowed slightly to the old man.
“President Bai, it’s been a while.”
“Come now, why so formal? If you don’t like titles, just call me Bai Qingxian.”
He gave Meng Huange a kindly smile and gestured to the chair in front of him.
“Have a seat, Huange.”
“I knew that as long as you were willing to help, you’d be able to bring Su Wanli to tonight’s Evening Banquet.”
As expected, the Bai Family had arranged for her to face their strongest and most reliable ally from the start.
Su Wanli stood silently at the main entrance of the Council Hall, biting her thumb.
Originally, she’d wanted to wait here for Meng Huange to return, but standing alone for so long was pointless.
The Security Guard at the entrance had been glancing at her with polite smiles for a while now, and she could feel her expression stiffening.
Finally, after hesitating for two minutes, he couldn’t help but speak up—
“Um, Miss, you…”
“Me? What about me? How long I stand here has nothing to do with you, does it? Just shut your mouth.”
She spit out the rejection she’d been preparing a minute ago in a single breath, glaring fiercely at the Security Guard, then continued to fold her arms and stand in front of the Ballroom entrance.
…Though she said that, she really couldn’t linger at the entrance much longer. She was here to find someone, not to play statue.
She wondered if the Head Maid had gotten Meng Huange lost while leading her to change clothes? Hopefully not.
No, if she waited any longer, rumors might start circulating inside that Su Wanli was stalling because she didn’t want to meet Bai Hewei. She’d already been standing at the door for nearly ten minutes—people might start spreading nasty gossip.
Su Wanli scratched her temples in annoyance, then finally stepped forward and pushed open the grand doors of the Council Hall.
Before her was a huge semi-circular stage, where the Orchestra was playing some piece.
In front of the stage were dozens of long tables covered in white cloth, where men in suits and women in evening dresses were chatting quietly.
The air was filled with the faint scent of perfume and the gentle notes of music.
As for the person Su Wanli had come to see—the Bai Family’s only son, Bai Hewei—he was standing near the center stage, smiling and chatting with people around him.
“Yes, that’s right, it happened just like that…”
Noticing the sudden pause in the room’s atmosphere, Bai Hewei instinctively looked up, and along with everyone else, glanced toward the main entrance of the banquet.
There, a petite black-haired girl in a suit stood coldly with her arms folded, gazing down over the crowd.
Bai Hewei swallowed nervously, then pretended to act casual as he raised his wine glass toward Su Wanli.
“—Hey? Isn’t that my dear Miss Wanli? Long time no see!”
Being stared at by so many people at once, Su Wanli’s body instinctively stiffened, but she quickly recovered, and shot a cold glare in the direction of the voice.
“Don’t use that kind of tone with me, you disgusting worm.”
At such blunt words, Bai Hewei merely smiled and shook his head at the people around him.
“My apologies, everyone. Miss Wanli and I have a little misunderstanding. She’s just not too fond of me at the moment.”
“What misunderstanding?”
Su Wanli casually picked up a glass of wine from the Smoke Tower beside her, gently swirling it as she strode a couple steps toward the center of the Council Hall.
“If you stand in front of a crowd and claim that I, Su Wanli, am deeply in love with you as some sort of ‘misunderstanding,’ then if I punch you until your teeth are scattered and drag you by the ear to apologize to me, is that also just an ordinary misunderstanding?”
“Miss Wanli, are you referring to what I said at school a month ago?”
For some reason, even though she was here to make things difficult for him, this Bai fellow didn’t bother to avoid her at all—instead, he even took a couple steps toward her.
“None of that was a misunderstanding. My affection for you has always been genuine. I know you don’t have any feelings for me, so for now, I’m content to watch from afar. I hope you won’t mind.”
Tch, even the way he talked was so annoying. Even without any official business, it would be hard not to give this guy a punch.
Su Wanli frowned, letting out a small sigh.
If possible, Bai Hewei probably wanted to keep stalling, but she wondered what Meng Huange’s plan had been from the beginning.
If Meng Huange were here, she’d definitely come up with a more thorough strategy to get Bai Hewei to give her a formal apology, instead of just walking up and relying on brute force like she was doing now.
Besides, before all this began, Meng Huange had told her to wait until she returned.
She hoped Meng Huange wouldn’t end up hating her even more for breaking their little temporary Promise. After all, even if you put it nicely, wasn’t she sabotaging Meng Huange’s carefully arranged plan?
“Wait, does Young Master Bai really like Miss Wanli? Since when?”
As if afraid Su Wanli would actually hit him, some people in the crowd started whispering in low voices—
“Given Su Wanli’s personality, can she really match with Young Master Bai…?”
“…Well, given Su Wanli’s family background, it’s not her place to be the main wife anyway.”
Bai Hewei waved his hands to quiet the crowd, saying gently,
“Everyone, please don’t say that. My feelings for Miss Wanli aren’t about anything else, only about her as a person. Of course, there’s no question of who is worthy of whom. If anything, I’m the one not worthy of Miss Wanli.”
He walked straight to within two meters of Su Wanli, then bowed deeply to her in a graceful gesture.
“So, no matter what, Miss Wanli—”
“—welcome to the Bai Family’s Evening Banquet.”
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