On the day of the banquet.

Su Qingcheng was punctual. At the arranged meeting time, she had already arrived at the main hall of the Xiao clan residence. It wasn’t long before Xiao Dian and Xiao Hua also arrived. Su Qingcheng could not help but blush when she saw Xiao Hua dolled up and wearing incredibly nice clothing. She was dressed in a tight-fitting red cheongsam, with slits on one side of the lower portion to reveal her wonderful legs. Immediately, Su Qingcheng felt a little jealous of Fei Yan for being able to serve such a wonderful beauty. In her past life, Su Qingcheng only really got into relationships with other women and while she did have flings with men in the past, they were only experimental in nature and she rarely tussled with “bad boys.” Now that she was in the body of a teenager who also had hormones like men, she couldn’t help but reveal a flushed expression. This in turn embarrassed Xiao Hua a little bit, but Xiao Dian laughed happily.

“Haha. It is definitely a blessing for my little Hua to be so beautiful she can even make other ladies fall for her,” Xiao Dian immediately spat out a joke seemingly at Su Qingcheng’s expense, but how could he know that Su Qingcheng was already into girls in the first place?

“Hmm, hmm, well, Young Mistress Hua is indeed a fairy,” Su Qingcheng began to bullshit out compliments in order to vent her feelings. “I will do my best to protect her. I am rather sure those Li fellows will have their eyes on such a beautiful young lady!”

“Very good, very good. We’ll be relying on you.” Xiao Dian nodded in approval.

The three of them boarded a carriage that took them to the place where the banquet would be held. Truthfully speaking, the venue for the Li family banquet would be at a very reputable inn that could be compared to those luxurious five-star hotels back on Earth. The atmosphere was incredibly festive and when Xiao Dian, Xiao Hua and Su Qingcheng arrived, the young Su clan girl immediately felt rather inadequate. Compared to the ravishing Xiao Hua, Su Qingcheng did look a little bit inadequate, as Su Qingcheng was a few years younger than Xiao Hua, she only wore a red qipao which Su Ran had used before when she was much younger. It even barely fit her, giving to others the impression that Su Qingcheng was just a helper for Xiao Dian and Xiao Hua, who were considered guests of honor.

The sight of Xiao Hua for these Li family juniors was akin to the descent of a celestial goddess; this was how good Xiao Hua looked – and now, Su Qingcheng really understood how Fei Yan could fall in love with her. Out of respect and no longer due to obligation, Su Qingcheng’s desire to protect Xiao Hua from being sullied by these ravenous fellows’ eyes increased like a burning flame. “Damn, these guys are worse than I had initially imagined.” Su Qingcheng frowned in disapproval when she saw the groups of guys loitering around staring at her small group with hungry eyes. Su Qingcheng didn’t consider herself that good looking and she imagined that standing next to Xiao Hua, she wouldn’t receive much attention either but in the corner of her eye she spotted a group of Li family guys who looked even more unscrupulous than the others, looking at her with dead eyes.

“Eh…” Su Qingcheng immediately had a bad feeling about them but stuffed her negative thoughts away and instead protectively stood closer to Xiao Hua. Something seems off about this banquet, like we really shouldn’t be here, let alone Xiao Hua and Xiao Dian. Yao Meiyue offered some advice but it wasn’t like Su Qingcheng didn’t already know something was going off about it. Eventually the Grand Elder who could only be today’s birthday celebrant appeared; he descended down some grand stairs in the inn’s big foyer which pretty much everybody was waiting around in.

“Esteemed guests, my fellow clan brothers and sisters and juniors, I welcome you all to my banquet.” He said in a rather enthused voice.

Xiao Dian whispered something into Su Qingcheng’s ear. “That Grand Elder is Li Fengtian. I already told you he would be today’s birthday celebrant, but you better be respectful to him. He is in the mid rank of a Tianqi Sage. He has a good personality but he spoils his juniors too much, allowing them to run rampant without repercussions. Anyone who tries to stand up against the juniors end up provoking him a little bit…”

Su Qingcheng frowned. How could she do her job if she would end up offending the birthday guy? “I understand.” She answered Xiao Dian promptly and politely. Xiao Hua subconsciously held onto Su Qingcheng’s hand as if she were a bit scared.

“Not to worry, I will ensure your safety.”

Xiao Dian approached Li Fengtian of his own accord, leaving Su Qingcheng and Xiao Hua to their own devices. He looked like he was catching up with Li Fengtian and sure enough, the two of them looked like they were having a good time, laughing. Unfortunately leaving the two girls alone would undoubtedly make them a target of those Li boys, even if the two girls were very strong in their own right. Su Qingcheng frowned.

“Young Mistress Hua, do you mind if I be a bit forward with you, just for today? I feel like if I don’t make a move, they may take the chance to be rude towards you,” Su Qingcheng quietly asked Xiao Hua. “I’ll take the heat off you and place the attention towards myself. I don’t want anyone hurting or humiliating you. It’s only proper for Miss Fei Yan.”

Xiao Hua blushed darkly as she subconsciously nestled in closer to Su Qingcheng, allowing her to possessively wrap an arm around her shoulder. This bold move shocked the nearby Li boys. One of them glared at Su Qingcheng, as if trying to kill her with a look. If those looks could kill, Su Qingcheng probably would have died ten thousand deaths already.

“Look at this servant bitch, trying to pull in a swan like that,” the boy who was glaring at Su Qingcheng opened his ugly mouth. “Just because Lady Hua lets you touch her, doesn’t mean you should! An ugly frog trying to eat the swan meat, you should be ashamed of yourself!”

Su Qingcheng didn’t let these insults get to her – in her past life, she had suffered much worse than just verbal harassment due to her sexual orientation. This was really nothing, Su Qingcheng merely smiled. Xiao Hua blushed darkly, and she nestled herself even more into Su Qingcheng’s faux embrace, giving the impression that she actually liked Su Qingcheng. As to whether this move had any truth to it, Su Qingcheng didn’t really know, only the Mistress Xiao Hua did, but this was a good development for Su Qingcheng.

The foul-mouthed Li boy grunted with flames in his eyes as he saw Xiao Hua somehow move even closer to Su Qingcheng, causing him to explode in a bout of jealousy-filled rage. “You dare to seduce her? You must have some magic spell that allows these beauties to be attracted to you! Imagine if I, your father, Li Chen, have this spell! I can conquer all the beauties I want!” Li Chen growled. His behavior reminded Su Qingcheng of a past Xiao Tie, but she had a feeling that Xiao Tie was somehow more restrained than this guy. Her plain expression slowly warped into that of displeasure. She didn’t mind if she was insulted, but the way Li Chen spoke, implied that she was deliberately taking advantage of someone like Xiao Hua who was strong and capable and could make her own decisions.

Furthermore, Su Qingcheng didn’t even have any abilities to charm or seduce people with magic arts! That also struck a sore spot with her. She’d never gone cat-fishing before and nor did she intend to do so, ever. “Mister Li Chen,” Su Qingcheng sighed. “Please do yourself a favor and restrain yourself. Master Li Fengtian is celebrating his birthday today, and we’re all here to celebrate his venerated self. Don’t sully your Grand Elder’s name by behaving like a dog.”

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Li Chen’s expression became unsightly as he looked towards Li Fengtian, who was still busy conversing with Xiao Dian. It was as if they didn’t even care about the ruckus between Su Qingcheng and Li Chen. “Humph,” the boy grumbled, restraining himself finally. “I’ll give you face on account of that. You’ve at least got some glib tongue. What’s your name, servant trash?”

Xiao Hua couldn’t stand this verbal abuse anymore and glared angrily at Li Chen. She knew that Su Qingcheng was just playing around and trying to make sure nobody looked at her too lewdly, but who would have known that Li Chen and his gang were like this? “Stop insulting Miss Qingcheng,” Xiao Hua finally exploded out in a quiet but powerful anger. “She’s a good person and stronger than any of you brats. She’s not my servant, but she’s a close friend of mine! I personally invited her, so if you want to make trouble with her, you make trouble with me!”

Su Qingcheng was rather moved to hear Xiao Hua standing up for her, but shook her head and whispered to Xiao Hua that it was alright and that she didn’t really need to let herself get implicated by those barbarians. Li Chen on the other hand blinked when Xiao Hua introduced Su Qingcheng to them. Truth to be told, Li Chen was indeed one of the buddies of Xiao Tie who was tasked to look for Su Qingcheng and to give her a very hard time.

“So you’re Su Qingcheng, huh,” Li Chen cackled. “Good, very good. Then you better be careful. You should be glad that the fairy Xiao Hua seems to care about you, otherwise I would rip you apart.”

Su Qingcheng just sighed but otherwise was too lazy to dignify this kid with a proper response. She turned to Xiao Hua. “Young Mistress, shall we go ahead and take our seats at the dining hall?” Su Qingcheng asked her, as the latter nodded and agreed. They left the foyer together holding hands going to the dining hall under the myriad gazes of tons of jealous horny boys. Li Chen rounded up a few of his brothers.

“That’s the target of Mister Xiao Tie,” Li Chen whispered to his gang. “He said he would pay us handsomely if we roughed her up. He also said he didn’t care whether she died or not either, just as long as we could cripple her, it’s also fine.”

“Bro, but isn’t that Su Qingcheng supposedly really strong?”

“Man, you’re so dumb, she’s just a fifth rank User. How can she compare to us guys, we’re all Geomancers. She might be strong against one or two people of higher level, but can she fight against six of us at once?”

“…”

“I didn’t think so!”

Li Chen concluded his planning with his group. They would try to scheme a way to separate Su Qingcheng from Xiao Hua before making their move. If they could lead Su Qingcheng to an abandoned place, that would be ideal. Unfortunately, they were dealing with someone who had a lot of experience with this sort of scheming as she often authored this type of thing in the past. Being well-read and having experiences from her past life, she was on-guard towards this type of insidious scheme.

Xiao Hua was seated with Su Qingcheng at a designated table for Xiao Dian, who was not present due to still fraternizing with Li Fengtian. The Li juniors also started to file in, taking their seats at their designated tables. Su Qingcheng took very close note of where Li Chen was seated, and noticed that he had filed in while being accompanied by five other boys. They seemed to separate at some point, so three of them were at one table close to where she was seated and Li Chen plus two were seated nearer the exit.

“Young Mistress Hua, we should be careful. That Li Chen fellow seems much worse than the other boys,” Su Qingcheng quietly issued a warning to Xiao Hua, who nodded in agreement. “He deliberately picked a fight with me the moment I made a physical move on you. I hope you didn’t mind that, by the way.”

“It’s alright, we can be considered friends now. Knowing your experiences, you can be just as strong as Fei Yan, so I trust you.”

Su Qingcheng nodded and smiled silently in gratitude. Eventually, Li Fengtian entered the hall with Xiao Dian, who had an arm wrapped around his shoulder as if they were two bros chilling out and having fun. Xiao Hua’s expression became warm while Su Qingcheng just smiled. Those two old fellas sure know how to have a good time.

Xiao Dian soon took his seat with Su Qingcheng and Xiao Hua as Li Fengtian stood across all the tables of the hall. With a booming sound, he cleared his throat. “Friends, family, thank you all for attending this humble celebration of mine. Even though I continue to grow old, I do hope I can continue to contribute to the Li family with meritorious service. I’ve invited an old friend of mine in the hopes that I can search for someone worthy of a certain person’s hand in marriage.”

Gudong!

Ahh, shit, kid, are you going to stop this? Yao Meiyue was shocked. Xiao Dian and Xiao Hua were even more stunned. Su Qingcheng was, surprisingly, not surprised by this at all. Xiao Hua now knew why Su Qingcheng was so protective of her, even willing to make a move like that earlier to prevent others from getting close to her. “Sir, did you know about this when you were invited?” Su Qingcheng calmly asked Xiao Dian, who shook his head.

“Isn’t it weird that we’re the only ones who are not from the Li family?” Su Qingcheng shook her head. “Naturally, it’s because Master Li Fengtian invited us to have those Li brats compete for Young Mistress Hua’s hand in marriage.”

Xiao Dian’s smile turned into a frown as she looked at Xiao Hua, who looked rather unsightly. Xiao Dian knew that Xiao Hua didn’t like any of these guys, and he himself also knew that Xiao Hua would not be treated nicely if she were to get together with any of them.

As if confirming her suspicions, Li Fengtian explained that today’s main event would be a competition between the youths present. Then he eyed Su Qingcheng who was seated next to Xiao Hua, and soon a very lecherous smile crept up on his face. When Su Qingcheng saw it, she felt a strange chill. She frowned. Xiao Hua looked worried on the other hand, and held Su Qingcheng’s hand tightly. She didn’t want to be married to any of these guys. She wanted to save herself for Fei Yan.

“Bastards,” Su Qingcheng growled. Then she stared at Li Fengtian with a determined expression. “Listen up, Master Li Fengtian!” she yelled out, causing the entire hall to become silent in stupefaction.

“What is it, young lass?” Li Fengtian replied calmly, not even showing the slightest bit of anger.

“I want to make a bet!”

“Hohoh? What kind of bet do you want to make?”

“I want you to call off this marriage if nobody in this entire room can defeat me! Also, you can’t choose yourself to fight me.”

“Hehe… Really? You just want me to call it off like that?”

Li Chen blinked when she saw Su Qingcheng audaciously make a bet, but he smiled viciously as he realized this was the perfect opportunity to enact his plan ahead of schedule.

“Master Xiao Dian just told me he didn’t even know that you were inviting him here just to stage a competition for Mistress Xiao Hua’s hand in marriage? How do you know if they were willing to agree with an arranged marriage?”

Li Fengtian was normally an amicable guy, but Su Qingcheng’s behavior was audacious as she was only fifteen years old by this point; her birthday had silently passed by already. Unlike Li Fengtian, Su Qingcheng was never one for such grandiose celebrations, thus she had always urged the Su family never to hold any celebrations for her. She had grown old of those in her past life.

“Audacious!” Li Fengtian had finally shown signs of anger. “You dare to get in the way?”

Su Qingcheng’s courage flared out. She no longer cared whether she offended the Li family or not, they were all full of bastards. “I do,” Su Qingcheng stated gallantly. “I hereby stand by my words and force the bet. Do you dare to go against the words of a mere fifth rank User like me?”

Truth to be told, Li Fengtian only knew this girl was Su Qingcheng after Xiao Dian had caught him up on it. He didn’t want to mess with her either, but she was trying to get in the way of his ambition to power up the clan by marrying the two families together. Su Qingcheng knew that Xiao Hua wasn’t in love with any of these people and had her heart for Fei Yan, so she would much rather support that relationship over this artificial one. This angered Li Fengtian to an extreme.

Li Chen then stood up. “Grand Elder, take the bet! We will teach that stinking slave trash a lesson!”

Li Fengtian saw the confidence brimming in Li Chen’s eyes. Then he solemnly nodded.

“Fine! I’ll take your stupid bet! But you better be prepared, we aren’t a bunch of weaklings! I’d like to see how a shrimp like you can stand by this young lady!” Li Fengtian scoffed as he stomped off to his table, his mood thoroughly ruined. The stage which he had just left would serve as the battle platform. Su Qingcheng quietly and solemnly stood up, moving over to the center of the stage.

“Okay then. Li Chen, you trash, come up if you dare!” Su Qingcheng proclaimed bravely.