Chapter 35: Something Happened

Zhu Kailan's birthday banquet was held at the largest hotel in Jinghai City.

By the time Shen Mo and Liu Yue arrived, quite a few people had already shown up early.

Seeing the hotel manager personally greeting guests in the lobby, Shen Mo couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

【What a shame, didn't run into the doorman-looking-down-on-people scene from the novel.】

Liu Yue wanted to laugh.

In the gorgeous banquet hall, Shen Mo looked around left and right—not a single familiar face.

Liu Yue was there, but the moment she came in, she was dragged away by her bestie Zhao Yanyan.

With nothing to do, Shen Mo wandered around, gazing at the giant cake in the center and sighing—how much must that have cost?

Before long he ran into Liu Qingqing, who was chatting with Liu Xinhua's secretary Li Qingyue; both were wearing formal dresses.

The two weren't at swords' points the way others assumed—on the contrary, they were chatting quite nicely. Seeing Shen Mo, they greeted him warmly. Li Qingyue smiled and shared what she and Liu Qingqing had been discussing. It was simple: in her daughter's name, Li Qingyue had bought a small stake in Liu Qingqing's company and introduced her to quite a few resources.

After hearing this, Shen Mo smiled and congratulated Liu Qingqing, saying she'd flipped the script overnight in the entertainment circle, gone from serf to master, calling the shots now.

Ever since Liu Xinhua gave Liu Qingqing an entertainment company, Liu Qingqing had rushed to apologize to Liu Yue at top speed, begging forgiveness at the speed of light.

Liu Yue didn't pursue it—after all, it wasn't a big deal.

Liu Qingqing looked at Shen Mo's clean, clear eyes and envied Liu Yue immensely—how did such a good man end up in Liu Yue's mouth?

The three chatted for only a short while before Liu Qingqing was pulled away by some society lady she knew to discuss private business, and Li Qingyue also went off to chat with people she knew. In an instant, Shen Mo was single again.

Shen Mo didn't mind—he knew his limits, had nothing to say to those big shots, and didn't want to force his way in.

Bored out of his mind, Shen Mo went to the emergency exit behind the banquet hall, planning to light a cigarette there and cure his boredom.

But the moment he pushed the door open, he ran into a group of servers.

These servers weren't flustered at the sight of Shen Mo; they even handed him a leaf cigarette. This made Shen Mo curious, so he stayed and shot the breeze with them, listening to them brag.

The reason they weren't afraid of Shen Mo was that they were all temp workers—just there for the one day, doing jobs like delivering things.

Through chatting, Shen Mo learned that this bunch was actually the legendary "great gods" of the internet—they'd work one day and rest five. Their ID cards had been pawned, which was why they had leaf cigarettes.

This shocked Shen Mo, but also intrigued him, so he started chatting with them.

They had to admit, these guys really did know a lot—for instance, because they frequently went in and out of various hotels and factories as temps, they'd seen a lot of things others hadn't.

For example, there was a rich guy surnamed Sun at the banquet right now, who had a devoted-husband image online, but actually kept a long-term room at some hotel.

Shen Mo was instantly hooked and started chatting away with these "great gods."

Eating melon is fun—even secondhand, it still hits the spot.

For this, Shen Mo even went out to find the hotel manager and exchanged two thousand in cash from him.

With the money in hand, the "great gods" got even more excited, telling Shen Mo every bit of gossip they knew.

But the "great gods" also had morals—they told Shen Mo this stuff wasn't guaranteed true.

Shen Mo didn't care—as long as it was juicy, that was enough.

After all, you can't expect Liu Yue to tell him that the boss lady of Jiangong Group is a gambling addict who used to have a sugar daddy in her youth, that the young crown prince and princess of Tenglong Group each play their own game, and that the current heiress of Feixiang Group is fake—the real one is abroad.

Besides that, there's the fact that Zhao Yanyan, the heiress of the Zhao Family Group, is a lesbian—when she brings men to her usual hotel, those men don't stay long, the room is spotlessly clean, but when it's women, the room is a mess.

Shen Mo sucked in a cold breath—how thrilling.

But he also got nervous. Fearing Shen Mo wouldn't believe them, these "great gods" even cited their sources.

The Feixiang Group heiress thing—they'd been "great gods" alongside her. The Zhao Yanyan thing—they'd heard it from the aunties cleaning rooms when they did temp work at the hotel Zhao Yanyan usually booked.

That's why it might not be true.

Shen Mo was about to keep listening, but suddenly a huge crash came from the banquet hall, and he rushed out immediately.

What met Shen Mo's eyes was a scene of utter wreckage.

The giant cake was smashed all over the floor.

Zhu Kailan and Shen Yilong, faces ashen, were confronting a handsome young man. A girl who looked utterly adorable was clinging to the young man's pants, wailing and crying, shouting she wanted to go home.

Shen Jiayun rushed out from somewhere, grabbed the handsome young man and tried to leave, apologizing nonstop to Shen Yilong and Zhu Kailan.

Shen Mo only heard Shen Jiajia's ice-cold voice say: "Shen Jiafeng, Dad and Mom were very happy you came to the birthday banquet, but what do you mean by this now?"

Looking at a Shen Jiafeng completely different from the one in his memory, Shen Mo's eyes went wide.

*Slap. *

His shoulder was suddenly patted. Shen Mo turned around and saw Liu Yue and Zhao Yanyan.

He only heard Liu Yue whisper: "You absolutely cannot go over there."

Shen Mo nodded, his gaze returning to the scene, though his eyes couldn't help drifting to the mature beauty Zhao Yanyan beside her—especially her hand holding Liu Yue's, which was particularly glaring.

【Doesn't seem like a lesbian.】

【How do I persuade my wife to stay away from her?】

【Never thought the day would come when I'd have to guard against not just men, but women too.】

【What a headache.】

【It's all because my wife's too outstanding.】

Hearing these inner thoughts, Liu Yue's body trembled instantly—wait, what? My bestie likes me?

Isn't that terrifying?

So what should I do? Fight tooth and nail, or let my husband handle it?

It was finally Shen Jiayun's exasperated voice that pulled Liu Yue back.

She saw Shen Jiayun scoop up the little girl on the floor and hand her to a bewildered Liu Qingqing, asking her to hold the child for a moment. Then Shen Jiayun hoisted Shen Jiafeng onto her shoulder and started to leave, cursing as she went: "If I'd known you bastard came here to cause trouble, I wouldn't have come."

Shen Jiayun was wronged to the extreme.

"Shen Jiayun, if you really don't want me to tolerate you, then put that bastard down right now." Zhu Kailan said through gritted teeth.

Shen Jiayun flinched, put Shen Jiafeng down, and immediately stepped aside. This scene left everyone thoughtful.

Liu Yue said unhurriedly, "Shen Jiayun is still the same old mama's boy as always."

Zhao Yanyan said with a grin from the side, "I'd say this Shen Jiayun is quite interesting — sometimes he does incredibly stupid things, but toward his mom and dad he's awfully blindly loyal."

"This is the diversity of humanity." Liu Yue followed the remark by releasing Zhao Yanyan's hand and looping her arm through Shen Mo's.

She was afraid Shen Mo would charge forward in a moment, so she had to hold him back.

Shen Yilong took two deep breaths, knowing his face was thoroughly lost today, stepped forward directly, and said calmly, "Shen Jiafeng, from the moment you left home, we haven't had much of a relationship anymore. Tell me, what is the purpose of your coming here today?"

(End of chapter)