DASFAM_CH 17

Dong—Dong—Dong—

The antique pendulum clock at the center of the banquet hall let out a deep, resonant chime, signaling that the evening's dinner had officially begun.

Everyone was long accustomed to such high-end occasions. Drawing on past experience, they each went about finding the chairs bearing their own name placards and took their seats.

Bai Xu's gaze drifted back down from the upper floor, and he stood where he was, unhurriedly scanning the dining tables and chairs on both his left and right—yet he could not find a single name placard bearing 'Shang'.

As luck—or rather ill luck—would have it, Song Qiancheng was seated at the long dining table to the right. Seeing that Bai Xu had been searching for his seat for quite some time without success, he let out a snicker and gave a meaningful look to the young master beside him:

Mess with him?

The other immediately understood the look and smiled along, "Watch me."

With that, he turned to the side and called out to Bai Xu in a helpful tone, "Bai Xu, can't find your seat? Take my advice, just ask a waiter to add an extra chair at the end of the table. One more person at our table won't be any trouble."

The words were loud enough that quite a few people turned to look.

"……"

Bai Xu sifted through his memory for these few 'familiar' faces. Meeting their ill-intentioned gazes, he had not yet had a chance to react when a voice suddenly came from beside him, "Mr. Bai."

Bai Xu turned his eyes and found it was the head assistant responsible for overseeing the entire banquet.

In front of everyone, the head assistant remained respectful and deferential toward Bai Xu, "Chairman Chun did not know beforehand that you would be willing to come on behalf of Shang, so the oversight in reception was on our part. We sincerely apologize."

The head assistant gestured politely, "Your seat is at the front row of the main table."

The moment those words left his mouth, the expressions of those around them shifted—eyes filled with shock, surprise, and also disdain and doubt.

The head assistant paid no mind to the reactions of those around them and once again raised a hand in invitation, "Please follow me."

"……"

Seeing this special treatment, Bai Xu understood perfectly well in his heart—

Sun Miaochun was giving Shang the standing it deserved, and he was simply the one who happened to be 'elevated' along with it.

Bai Xu knew that in banquets among the powerful, flattering the high and treading on the low was unavoidable. Now that he had been handed this ladder to climb, he accepted it with an easy conscience.

He turned the black ring on his finger, then cast a meaningful sidelong glance at Song Qiancheng and the others.

Watching Bai Xu take his seat at the front row of the main table, led there by the chief assistant, the guests present could not help but exchange glances, murmuring to the people beside them.

"How did Bai Xu end up representing Shang? Are he and the Third Young Master of Shang really that kind of... relationship?"

"Could there be any doubt? It's been a done deal for a long time."

"I think the Shang family probably finds the whole 'marriage alliance for good fortune' business rather shameful—that's why they haven't made it widely known. Who even knows whether Shang Yanxiao will ever wake up?"

"This Young Master Bai seems to be riding his luck for now. Who knows what the future holds for him."

"The Bai family is small and unremarkable. Bai Xu just wears the title of young master as a veneer. If it weren't for Shang Yanxiao's accident, there'd be no shortage of families lining up to form a marriage alliance in all of the capital. How could it ever have been his turn?"

The discussion around him buzzed without end, and glances were cast his way from time to time, yet Bai Xu, sitting at the very center of all this talk, seemed to hear none of it—composed and unhurried in his seat.

"……"

Song Qiancheng stared at Bai Xu's back, thinking of the faint contempt in the other's eyes just moments ago, and could not help but curse under his breath, "F*ck, what's he putting on airs for."

Just a fake young master with a borrowed title—since when had any banquet where this person showed up not been treated as a laughingstock by them? And now he was simply basking in the Shang family's reflected glory, yet actually carrying himself as though he'd become some great figure?

Song Qiancheng thought back to the embarrassments Bai Xu had caused in the past, and only then did the imbalance in his chest ease a little, "Where's that waiter? Don't let him get cold feet and ruin things."

"Relax, didn't we just give him another round of 'thorough instructions' just now? He does as he's told and he gets a tip. He doesn't, and he can wait to lose his job. It's a two-choice question, couldn't be simpler."

The companion beside him lowered his voice, equally nonchalant, "We just sit back and enjoy the show."

Song Qiancheng's mood settled a fraction, "Mm."

Bai Xu was, at his core, a pushover—a spineless good-for-nothing. The harder he played it up now, the more entertaining it would be when his true colors showed later.

Just as that thought crossed his mind, the chief assistant stepped to the center front of the banquet hall, "Esteemed guests, before the banquet begins, Chairman Chun has asked me to convey her apologies on her behalf—"

"Due to a sudden onset of physical discomfort, she will need a brief rest before joining you. Please go ahead and enjoy your dinner in the meantime."

"……"

Bai Xu shifted his gaze toward the second floor, a faint sense of doubt rising in his heart.

He was quite certain that the person who had met his eyes across the distance just moments ago was Sun Miaochun—the way she had looked down on everything from above carried none of the air of someone struck by sudden illness.

What's more, the way the original novel had described Sun Miaochun as 'neither enemy nor friend' and 'neither good nor evil'—the more he thought about it, the more this banquet felt like a carefully arranged test.

"Mr. Bai?"

The head assistant stepped closer, "What are you looking at?"

Bai Xu turned the question around, "Nothing. Is Chairman Chun all right?"

The head assistant answered without so much as a flicker of expression, "I'm told it's just her old palpitation flaring up. She'll be fine after a short rest."

"Is that so? Then she'd better rest well."

Bai Xu didn't quite believe that explanation, but his gaze had already shifted to the empty seat directly across from him, and he asked offhandedly, "Who is that seat across from me for? Why is it empty?"

For someone to be placed at that position, whoever it was must come from a family background on par with the Shang family.

"Oh, that's being kept for the young master of the Zhang family. He should have already arrived, why isn't he here right now?" The head assistant looked around, taking the opportunity to excuse himself, "Mr. Bai, please enjoy your meal. I'll have someone go and look for Young Master Zhang."

Hearing the name the chief assistant had mentioned, Bai Xu's eyes flickered faintly, "Mm."

...

The dinner proceeded in an orderly fashion, while waiters dressed in matching uniforms moved among the guests, continuously offering attentive service—pouring wine, delivering dishes, and the like.

Before long, one of the waiters made his way to Bai Xu's side.

He bent down and took away the glass of red wine Bai Xu had yet to finish, then offered a fresh one from his tray, "Good evening, Mr. Bai. Allow me to replace that for you."

Swapping out a guest's wine at the right moment to keep it at its finest—this was perfectly ordinary practice at high-end banquets.

Bai Xu looked up without any change in expression, that sense of control buried deep in his bones flickering faintly to the surface.

"……"

The waiter met his gaze and faltered for just a moment, his motion as he set down the glass unconsciously becoming a little too abrupt.

Bai Xu caught it sharply, "Wait."

The waiter's throat bobbed, "Ah?"

Bai Xu now felt something was clearly off. Right in front of the waiter, he picked up the glass and brought it close to his nose. The wrist that emerged from his sleeve swayed with an easy, graceful arc, the wine inside the glass catching and shimmering with the light.

It was, by any measure, a pleasing sight—yet to the waiter watching, it was the prelude to exposure.

Bai Xu's eyes cooled slightly, and he took an exceedingly small sip—

Just as he had suspected. Beneath the mellow, fruity sourness of the wine was a faint bitter note that did not belong there. Very faint.

In his former life in the real world, Bai Xu had not come from a bad background. He had attended many private dinners, and after setting out on his own ventures, had likewise frequented banquets of a more commercial nature. He was no stranger to fine wines.

He drank, and he knew how to taste.

Having sensed that something was wrong, Bai Xu pressed deliberately, "Who put you up to this?"

His voice was low, careful not to startle, yet somehow suffused with an inexplicable pressure.

The waiter was in a panic inside, though he kept his expression steady and lied, "What?"

"Still playing dumb?" Bai Xu's tone dropped a shade further. The waiter's reaction made it plain—there was something to hide. The wine had clearly been tampered with, something slipped in.

Bai Xu let out a cold laugh, "If you won't say, then all of this falls on you."

An ordinary waiter working for a wage would never take the risk of doing something like this—something that could cost him his job—without being threatened or bribed by someone else.

The waiter had not expected Bai Xu to have caught on to this extent, and inwardly he groaned.

There had indeed been a certain 'mood-enhancing' substance slipped into the wine—a small dose, but enough to leave someone in an embarrassing state in front of others once it took effect.

He had not wanted any part in such a senseless, malicious scheme in the first place, which was why, the moment Song Qiancheng gave the order, he had gone straight to the head assistant to report it. What he had not anticipated was the reply he received:

Do as you're told. If anything comes of it, someone will handle it.

Now, facing Bai Xu's pressing questions, the waiter instinctively glanced toward the instigator at the long table on the right, not daring to make a sound.

Bai Xu followed his line of sight, and almost instantly locked onto his target.

So Song Qiancheng and his crowd of oblivious rich boys had once again made 'him' their plaything.

What a pity—this time, they had gotten completely the wrong person. Even without the Shang family's backing to lean on, Bai Xu had always been the type to repay every grudge.

Bai Xu poured a small amount of the wine into an empty glass to keep as a sample, then rose swiftly to his feet.

The heavy chair legs let out a scrape against the carpet—not loud, yet it still drew the attention of those at the same table.

Someone saw him rise with his glass in hand and could not help but ask, "Young Master Bai? What's the matter?"

The question, once spoken, drew even more eyes their way.

Bai Xu did not answer. He walked straight toward the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes and called him out by name, "Young Master Song."

Song Qiancheng turned to the side, took one look at the waiter standing rooted to the spot, and knew that something had gone wrong with the wine business.

But he felt not a shred of guilt—he didn't even bother to stand and face him, "What's all this? I thought Young Master Bai had flown up onto a high branch and become too grand to notice anyone below."

"How could that be?"

Bai Xu's smile on the surface was soft and easy, yet deep within his pupils lay a sealed coldness, "It's rare that Young Master Song thinks so highly of me, even going to the trouble of having someone deliver such a generous gift on an occasion like this. I thought the least I could do was return the favor."

"……"

Song Qiancheng flicked a quick glance at his glass, momentarily at a loss for words, "Return the favor? I'd say skip it—"

—Splash!

Bai Xu, without the slightest regard for the occasion, flung the wine with full force.

The wine in the glass emptied entirely across Song Qiancheng's face, swiftly soaking through his suit jacket and dress shirt. A wave of sharp gasps rippled through those around them, and many of the guests hadn't yet processed what had happened.

What was going on?

Out of nowhere—why had Bai Xu suddenly thrown wine at someone?

Song Qiancheng stared, eyes wide with disbelief, while the friends clustered around him were equally stunned.

"Bai Xu! Have you lost your mind?"

"F*ck—!"

Song Qiancheng haphazardly wiped his face with a wet cloth and was just about to explode in fury when Bai Xu struck first—he whipped the wine glass around and brought it crashing down on Song Qiancheng's head.

Clang!

Dazed, but not hurt.

The force was calibrated just right—enough to shatter the glass, which fell away in pieces, leaving only a short stub of the stem in Bai Xu's palm. The jagged broken glass at the tip glinted with a sharp, cold light.

In the next instant, Bai Xu pressed it swiftly and precisely against Song Qiancheng's throat and warned in a low voice, "Make another sound. I dare you."

"……"

"……"

The sudden turn of events alarmed a great many guests, and Song Qiancheng along with his crowd of friends was left thoroughly frightened and dumbstruck—

Wait—

Since when had Bai Xu changed like this?

How did he dare lay hands on someone in full view of everyone? Had he gone mad?

Song Qiancheng's father shot to his feet in agitation, "Bai Xu! I'm warning you! Deliberately injuring someone like this is against the law! Even with the Shang—the Shang family backing you, the Song family will pursue this to the very end!"

"Against the law?"

Bai Xu turned a cold, sidelong gaze on him, "When your son was slipping something into my drink, why didn't you stand up and say that was against the law?"

"I'm simply returning a favor. Yet Mr. Song is the one getting worked up with all this righteous indignation?"

"……"

Mr. Song froze, having had no idea whatsoever that any of this had taken place.

By this point, Song Qiancheng had entirely lost track of the pain on his forehead, even his breathing had seized up along with it.

It was the friend beside him who recovered first, and he looked Bai Xu dead in the eye and lied through his teeth,"Do you- do you have any proof? This banquet is Chairman Chun's occasion. We may be thoughtless sometimes, but we wouldn't pull a stunt like this here!"

"Exactly!"

Song Qiancheng scraped together a scrap of nerve, "Bai- Bai Xu, don't think just because you have the Shang family behind you that you can throw your weight around and do whatever you please! You'd be answering with your life, do you actually dare?"

Bai Xu pressed the jagged stem another half-inch closer, "Care to bet on whether I do?"

Song Qiancheng felt the terrifyingly calm madness radiating off Bai Xu. His rigid back was drenched in cold sweat, and his breathing grew unsteady.

Bet?

How could he possibly bet on something like this?

All of a sudden, a loud voice rang out from the entrance of the hall, "Whether Bai Xu dares or not, I can't say— but the proof you're asking for? I happen to have that right here!"

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