An Nuan returned to the grand hall.
By now, the hall was filled with light.
Apparently the dance had ended and the banquet had returned to normal mingling.
An Yanyuan was going around toasting with all the guests one by one with Li YaJu, the scene was extremely lively.
An Nuan looked left and right, then walked over to Xia Qiqi.
At this time, Xia Qiqi was affectionately holding Nie Ziming's arm, the two of them were chatting and laughing, looking very intimate.
"Nuannu, where did you go?" Xia Qiqi saw An Nuan come over and complained a little.
When the lights came on she didn't even know where An Nuan had run off to.
She had intended to sincerely compliment An Nuan for finally not being so low-key anymore.
She had always said that An Nuan's mother was very beautiful, and shouldn't have her beauty obscured by plainness, but An Nuan didn't listen, and neither did her mother.
Look at her now.
With just a little make-up, she had stunned the entire venue!
Who knew how many people were green with envy!
"I just went to the restroom." An Nuan lied.
"Oh." Xia Qiqi never doubted her, she just suddenly narrowed her eyes, "What happened to your ear?"
"What?" An Nuan exclaimed.
"This ear." Xia Qiqi pointed to An Nuan's left ear.
It just so happened to be the ear that Ye Jinghuai had touched with his mouth outside.
"Did someone tease you? It's so red, so you must be shy?!" Xia Qiqi asked.
At that moment, An Nuan really almost couldn't keep a straight face.
This woman Xia Qiqi really went too far with her words.
It was Nie Ziming who jokingly interrupted, "With your unique way of speaking, how could you never write a good essay back in school?"
Back then the teachers were also very surprised that Xia Qiqi had such an extensive vocabulary, yet her essays were a complete mess.
To be precise, all of her schoolwork was a complete mess.
"If I had written good essays, would I have been able to meet you?" Xia Qiqi argued forcibly.
Xia Qiqi and Nie Ziming had gotten together in high school.
At that time, the school had one-on-one tutoring classes, with the top students from grade 11 tutoring the failing students from grade 10.
Nie Ziming was the top grade 11 student, and Xia Qiqi was the failing grade 10 student.
It was actually one of the school's romantic stories.
Anyway, An Nuan was quite envious of Xia Qiqi at the time.
She sincerely felt that Xia Qiqi dared to love and hate, and as long as it was someone she liked, no matter what kind of status that person had, she would absolutely insist on being with them.
Xia Zheng Hai was actually very against it at first.
First, Xia Qiqi was still very young, having a relationship in grade 10 was puppy love.
Second, Nie Ziming's family circumstances were too poor.
He was an orphan, and was only able to attend their prestigious school tuition-free because of his good grades.
With Xia Qiqi's family background, even if her grades were abysmal to the point of ridiculous, Nie Ziming was still not a match for her.
But Xia Qiqi threatened to kill herself over it.
Xia Zheng Hai had always doted on Xia Qiqi since she was little, probably also feeling somewhat guilty over what happened with Xia Qiqi's mother, he rarely refused Xia Qiqi's demands, so he could only agree to let Xia Qiqi date Nie Ziming.
Fortunately, Nie Ziming himself was quite ambitious. After graduating from high school he tested into the best economics university in Beiwen, and after graduating last year he went directly to work at Xia Investment Bank, becoming Xia Zheng Hai's capable assistant.
This was how An Nuan unobtrusively observed Nie Ziming.
If she hadn't lived another life, she would not have known that Nie Ziming had approached Xia Qiqi from the very beginning with cruel intentions!
"Qiqi." An Nuan interrupted the couple's flirting.
Xia Qiqi turned her head to look at An Nuan.
"Come with me for a moment." An Nuan said.
"Oh." Xia Qiqi let go of Nie Ziming, "Will you be okay by yourself?"
Actually Xia Qiqi was not as carefree as she seemed on the surface. She cared a lot about Nie Ziming's feelings, knowing he felt inferior about his background, so at events like these she took special care of him.
"It's fine." Nie Ziming said, "I happened to see some people I know, I can go chat with them."
"Mm." Xia Qiqi smiled faintly.
An Nuan pulled Xia Qiqi's hand and left.
Xia Qiqi was a bit confused, "What's the matter, why are you in such a hurry?"
"I told you something, don't tell me you forgot!"
"10:30, I remember." Xia Qiqi said expressionlessly, "When have I ever forgotten something you told me to do?"
An Nuan couldn't help smiling, "So obedient, I'll reward you a little."
"Don't scare me." Xia Qiqi looked at her warily.
She just felt An Nuan was acting a bit strange.
An Nuan didn't give Xia Qiqi a chance to refuse either. She deliberately brought her past Gu Yan Sheng.
"Nuannu." Gu Yan Sheng called out to stop her.
An Nuan smiled faintly at the corner of her mouth.
She turned around, "Yansheng, today is my mother's birthday, I've been a bit busy and didn't even have a chance to greet you."
Xia Qiqi rolled her eyes to the side.
Since when did An Nuan become such a good actress!
She was clearly planning to call off the engagement in a month, yet was deliberately putting on an act of affection?!
Although she approved of Ye Jinghuai being very handsome, Gu Yan Sheng was not bad either!
Just what evil spirit had possessed An Nuan.
"Your mother's birthday banquet today was really wonderful, I never knew your mother was actually so beautiful." Gu Yan Sheng sincerely praised.
He looked completely sincere.
An Nuan secretly sneered to herself.
Gu Yan Sheng could still put on an act.
She saw that Ni Lan's expression today was barely holding it together.
She had probably come today intending to humiliate her mother, but unexpectedly her mother had completely crushed her without leaving a speck behind.
You could say, of all the noble ladies who came to the banquet today, those who had previously looked down on her mother, had all been slapped swollen.
"Right, you're not busy now right. Let me take you to meet my parents, Xuanxuan also came, she said she wants to personally apologize to you." Gu Yan Sheng saw An Nuan was not very enthusiastic towards him, and hurriedly took the initiative to bring it up.
An Nuan glanced over in that direction.
Right now the people from the four great families were all gathered together.
The corner of her mouth curled up faintly, "Okay."
An Nuan went over together with Gu Yan Sheng and Xia Qiqi.
Among the elders, the three youngsters were all very well-behaved, and did not interrupt their conversation.
They just heard An Yanyuan suddenly say, "That's right, Yaju, when you had not come down yet, your future mother-in-law said she had prepared a gift for you."
Li YaJu had a smiling expression as she faced Ni Lan.
Ni Lan reluctantly forced herself to smile.
The so-called prepared gift, was nothing more than to highlight her own graceful and proper demeanor, to make Li YaJu feel ashamed in front of her, and to provide a contrast for others between her and Li YaJu.
But now looking at Li YaJu's noble and beautiful appearance, she was already quite unhappy, where did she still have the heart to give gifts.
But she had already said the words, there was no taking them back.
She took out a simple looking bracelet from her exquisite handbag, the links looked rather crude, it did not look delicate at all, "I saw this when I was shopping, at first glance I felt it would suit you very well, try it on and see if you can wear it?"
As she spoke, she enthusiastically helped Li YaJu put it on her wrist.
To be honest.
It really did not look good at all.
Li YaJu still displayed her magnanimity, saying "It's beautiful, I really like it."
"I knew you would like it." Ni Lan hurriedly said.
Sneering to herself inside.
Determined that Li YaJu had no taste.
She didn't even know who had helped pick out the cheongsam Li YaJu was wearing today, it was so beautiful it was stunning.
She couldn't even tell which designer it was from.
When she went to pick out a cheongsam yesterday, she had looked through pieces from every top designer, but did not see this style anywhere.
Among so many cheongsams, it clearly stood out uniquely.
She had to ask clearly which designer it came from. She could absolutely not let Li YaJu get the upper hand over her next time.
