Chapter 216: Chapter 212: A Distant Smile_1
"Hey, what's gotten into you all of a sudden?"
Fang Ren saw Bai Qi's silent demeanor and asked.
Smack—
Suddenly, Bai Qi tossed her cap off the top of her head and stepped forward to speak to a staff member: "We must go in now for something important."
"I told you, if there's a problem it can wait until later..." The staff member turned back with some impatience, but his words stopped short in his throat as soon as he saw her face: "Princess!?"
"Can we go in?" Bai Qi's voice was filled with indifference.
She had never spoken to others with such an attitude outside, as her upbringing had taught her to always be kind and gentle to others, but her current mood didn't allow her to care about those niceties.
"Yes! Of course! Please go ahead!" The staff member immediately made a yielding gesture.
Seeing this, Bai Qi didn't say another word and headed straight for the interior of the venue. Fang Ren, frowning, followed behind her and said, "Hey, are you alright?"
Bai Qi still didn't say a word and walked on, head lowered.
Fang Ren sighed in frustration and followed her into the venue, but upon seeing a meeting in progress, he caught up to Bai Qi within a few steps and said, "Don't disrupt their meeting as soon as you get there."
"I don't lack that much manners," Bai Qi replied coolly.
The vast hall, though bustling with staff arranging medicinal materials and equipment, appeared extremely spacious, even with a meeting of several hundred people at its center, because it was just that large.
From where Fang Ren stood, looking up at the audience seats made them seem as small as ants. Just the thought of students gathering from all over the world that evening sent a thrilling sensation through him.
Fang Ren and Bai Qi found a spot not too far from the meeting to sit down, where they could just catch the sound of the meeting.
"Furthermore, we should make some changes to the rewards for the first-place winner this time, especially since this competition's first prize is indeed a bit... ahem."
The two had just sat down when they heard a middle-aged man on stage awkwardly trail off in the middle of his topic.
The first prize of this competition was supposed to be taken as a closed-door disciple by the second elder of the Fang Family, but unexpectedly, along came Fang Ren, whose talent so exceeded the second elder's expectations that he didn't have the capability to accept him.
This topic was a bit of an unintentional slap in the face for the second elder of the Fang Family, Fang Ye, who was present at the meeting.
And since Fang Ye himself was at the scene, it wouldn't be appropriate to speak too bluntly about it.
As the man's words died down, another middle-aged man in a black suit sitting beside him laughed and said, "This is indeed a bit awkward to talk about. Initially, I wanted to take advantage of this competition to take on a beloved pupil, but who would have thought the champion would be my never-before-met nephew, whose alchemy ability is beyond my ability to teach.
Though as an uncle I might feel a bit reluctant, I must express joy as part of the Fang Family that we have produced such an alchemy genius."
The first middle-aged man who spoke chuckled in response to these words: "The second elder is indeed magnanimous, but congratulations to the Fang Family for producing such a great talent, a fortune for the Fang Family and a blessing for the world!"
"On this note, we need to contact the Central Area as soon as possible to finalize the new prize and ensure it can be awarded to the champion before the finals are over."
...
Fang Ren listened to the few exchanges between the men and was surprised that just after sitting down he'd already heard matters concerning himself, and even managed to draw out his special "caring" uncle.
Looking at the middle-aged man in the black suit on the stage, Fang Ren couldn't help but slightly raise the corners of his mouth. He never expected that his encounter with this uncle would be under the circumstance of him singing Fang Ren's praises.
"As a member of the Fang Family, I'm overjoyed to have an alchemy genius among us," he says, while holding a knife to people's throats behind their backs — what disgusting pretense.
Fortunately, the internal strife within the Fang Family was known only to a very few in Tianjiang; otherwise, if Fang Ye were to say this in public, people wouldn't know how to respond.
Fang Ren gave Fang Ye a look and then quickly moved his gaze away; this uncle appeared amiable, but his heart was filled with malice.
Mu Huanqing, sitting on the stage, had a consistently icy expression on her face, which usually remained expressionless. But today, she truly harbored animosity towards the Second Master of the Fang Family; this man had once almost succeeded in killing Fang Ren.
The scene from that time was still vivid before her eyes. If Lin Bozhong hadn't intervened, with her devoid of any cultivation level, she would have been powerless to save Fang Ren from the knife's edge.
If she weren't a public figure, if she weren't Xuan Nv representing humanity's united front against the Void, she would not hesitate to cripple Fang Ye and bring him before Fang Ren.
The meeting continued, and Mu Huanqing felt bored; she really wanted to leave, but she had to give an important speech here. In her boredom, she suddenly noticed a gaze from not too far away fixated on her.
She turned her head, and as she did, the cold look on her face instantly transformed into a daze.
The father of her child had actually come.
At this time, not far away, Fang Ren, upon receiving Mu Huanqing's gaze, couldn't help but smile involuntarily. Bai Qi, who was at his side, also noticed that Mu Huanqing had spotted them and subconsciously waved at her, then glanced at Fang Ren again.
With that look, she saw more than just the smile on Fang Ren's face; she saw everything - past events, emotions, misunderstandings... all of it was confirmed at this moment.
He really did like Sister Hui Qing. All those things he said in the past were misinterpreted by her own imagination.
Bai Qi immediately turned her head to look at Sister Hui Qing on the stage, noticing that she too was smiling broadly at them. As expected, Sister Hui Qing must have missed her, her smile blossoming at her arrival.
However, in the eyes of the two lovers, there was only each other at that moment.
Seeing the mother of his child smile, Fang Ren's smile grew even wider, and he thought to himself, "My wife is truly an immortal."
But as Bai Qi saw Fang Ren's smile intensify, a sudden sense of unpleasantness washed over her heart, mixed with dejection and a twinge of jealousy.
Without saying another word, Bai Qi nudged Fang Ren with her elbow and frowned softly, "Look at you drooling! She's not even smiling at you; she doesn't even know you!"
"What?"
Fang Ren was startled. Was his smile really that lecherous?
"What do you mean 'what'?" Bai Qi grew even more irritated as she looked at him, her voice inadvertently rising: "Do you need me to take a photo with my phone to show you how much you were drooling just now?"
Hearing her suddenly raise her voice, Fang Ren looked at the group of people in the meeting and started to panic.
Just before entering, this girl had declared how well-mannered she was, hadn't she?
"Who's causing a commotion here?"
In an instant, hundreds of Cultivators in the ongoing meeting collectively turned their heads to look at Bai Qi, who was losing her temper at Fang Ren. Stay updated with NovelFire _emp _yr.