Banquet Attendees

Lei Mingxing elegantly sat down on the seat of her choosing, not paying any attention to the stiffening smile on Suan Bi's face. She only pretended to smooth out the nonexistent creases on her dress.

Following Lei Mingxing's actions, the entire banquet consisting of only 8 people fell silent, with the exception of the pipa player in their center who was still softly plucking the notes of a gentle tune, but even she was glancing over to Suan Bi from time to time, unsure whether it would be better for her to stop or keep going.

Unfortunately, she didn't receive an answer to her question and could only continue accompanying the silence.

But this wasn't the only gaze directed at Suan Bi, his son also wasn't the least bit pleased with Lei Mingxing's defiance and gave his father an accusing and at the same time demanding look, which was firmly ignored by Suan Bi.

Instead, after he finished consoling his slightly hurt pride for a bit, Suan Bi put on a warm smile once more.

Although, the look in his eyes had definitely turned several degrees colder.

Still, he opened his mouth to begin the formal introduction of everyone sitting at the table.

"Now that we are all here, I believe it would be appropriate to introduce you to each other before officially starting this banquet," Suan Bi's gaze wandered over all his guests, before he continued with a smile, "As probably all of you know, I'm Suan Bi owner of Bending Rock Forge and Somber Spirit Pharmacy, as well as several other forges and pharmacies in Dark Spirit Town."

Having finished introducing himself, Suan Bi pointed to Suan Bian sitting to his right.

"And this is my son, Suan Bian, Chief Alchemist of Somber Spirit Pharmacy."

Suan Bian nodded with satisfaction at his father's words and gazed intently at Lei Mingxing, as if to make sure that she wouldn't forget this quality of his.

Once more, Lei Mingxing didn't even bat an eye at his advances.

But the introductions weren't over yet, Suan Bi set his sight on Shao Tianyu sitting next to Lei Mingxing.

"Here we have a gentleman from a foreign nation that came to visit Dark Spirit Town due to 'commercial' purposes, Shao Yutian."

Lei Mingxing couldn't help looking at her neighbor with a mixture of bafflement and shock.

Did he really use the alias Shao Yutian to travel?

How could the Crown Prince of a foreign nation be so careless! Didn't he know that a prince being caught trespassing onto another territory could be ruled as a declaration of war?!

...

On the other hand...

Huoli State probably wasn't too worried about waging war with Qingshui Kingdom, more appropriately referred to as the Vase Nation by the other forces on Ren Continent.

There was probably not a single country or even slightly bigger sect that Qingshui Kingdom would have been able to fend off on its own if they chose to invade, let alone Huoli State.

So, how was this weak as a chicken Qingshui Kingdom able to survive all these years?

Simple, by relying on the natural defenses of having three areas of the Chaotic Expanse surrounding it, as well as having only one other nation bordering it.

And their neighbor was none other than Huoli State, also known as one of the most powerful forces besides Zhou Empire and its allied principalities.

This meant that no one dared attack Qingshui Kingdom for fear of accidentally offending Huoli State, especially since Huoli State and Qingshui Kingdom could be considered allies in a way.

Huoli State protected Qingshui Kingdom, while the latter gave the other exclusive trading rights to their specialities.

Sounded fair, right?

But this arrangement only served to weaken Qingshui Kingdom further, causing it to rely on Huoli State even more while the latter became even wealthier and stronger.

This went on several until the point where Qingshui's King, Lei Mingxing's father, scrambled to forge some new alliances to strengthen his position and prevent the demise of his Kingdom.

After all, even he realized now that Qingshui Kingdom was just a pig Huoli State had fattened up over the years, to gobble up when it was the most convenient.

Unfortunately, his belated efforts would be in vain.

Huoli State would take over Qingshui Kingdom in a matter of days, with their 'allies' not lifting so much as a finger to help them, and cement itself as a force equal to the Zhou Empire, shaking the balance of Ren Continent and kicking off countless conflicts.

This was a matter of the future however.

And Lei Mingxing didn't care the slightest about political intrigues and plots, she only planned on exerting her very own, personal revenge, regardless of which side her targets belonged to.

But back to Shao Tianyu.

After considering the current situation of Huoli State and Qingshui Kingdom, even if Shao Tianyu had directly told the King that he had illegally trespassed, the other would have had no choice but to smile while pleading Shao Tianyu to please not do it again.

So, Shao Tianyu even using this amateurish disguise was much more courteous than he needed to be.

Lei Mingxing looked away, brushing off her thoughts of falling nations and

following Suan Bi's next order of introductions which was the two dark-clad individuals opposite her.

"These are my guests of honor for tonight, the two 'mercenaries' who saved my son's life, Da Hong and Mo Lifang."

The men opposite Lei Mingxing nodded in accordance with their names being called, remaining quiet and with their faces concealed.

Leaving the other guests to wonder what their true identities were, since there was no way they were actually 'just mercenaries'.

But not for long, because Suan Bi was already calling out the next guest.

"And this gentleman over there is my associate, Huo Dong and his son, Chang Liuyun."

Unexpectedly, Suan Bi skipped Lei Mingxing, opting to introduce Huo Dong first, who was smiling his most pleasant business smile while Chang Liuyun sat next to him with his head lowered and hair covering his face.

Lei Mingxing glanced at Suan Bi for a moment, a satisfied expression had appeared on the other's face, a mocking light in his eyes.

No doubt, he had done this just to spite her and Chang Liuyun and show them who had the upper hand.

Unfortunately, this display of authority had no effect on Lei Mingxing, who was much too used to these games.

It only proved to her that Suan Bi and Suan Bian really were father and son, their pettiness was exactly the same.

Convinced that he had firmly established his superior position in Lei Mingxing's mind, Suan Bi finally introduced her with a casual tone.

"And this girl is the apprentice of a rival forge who is the soon-to-be concubine of my son, Lei Mingxing."

Small theater:

*Everyone sitting around the table*

Suan Bi: Can you feel it? Even nobles don't dare argue with me!

Shao Tianyu: What prince, I'm just a simple merchant!

Da Hong and Mo Lifang: Your average mercenaries.

Lei Mingxing: Soon-to-be concubine and not at all princess on the run.

Chang Liuyun: On the run with not-at-all-princess after escaping Suan Bi's associate.

Huo Dong: Associate, who definitely isn't a human trafficker.