Chapter 246

"Banquet hall."

As soon as Laiboli finished speaking, he saw her run out hurriedly. He didn't care that he was the noble Sun of Aosilan, following behind her to carry her dress, afraid she would twist her ankle, calling for her to walk slower.

A faint doubt flashed in Zongfang's eyes, and he followed as well.

Qiao Suisui arrived at the banquet hall. Servants bowed respectfully when they saw her from afar, the golden doors were pulled open by servants, and the noise rushed toward her instantly.

There was the laughter of guests, the chasing and playing of children. The large banquet hall accommodated about five or six hundred people, all dressed formally. At this moment, seeing Qiao Suisui standing at the door, they all cast their gazes over, and in the next second, they all bowed to her in court etiquette.

The man standing in the center was tall, wearing a black formal suit, holding a wine glass in his hand. Only then did he turn around slowly upon noticing the reaction of the crowd, his blonde hair meticulous, his nose high and lips thin, extremely handsome.

Qiao Suisui saw him, and her eyes instantly turned red.

"Luka..."

Luka saw this, his brows furrowed slightly, and he immediately put down his wine glass and walked over with large strides.

"What's wrong?"

He held her slender wrist and pulled her into his arms, looking down at her, seeing her eyes were both red, and then turned to Laiboli: "What did you say to her again?"

Laiboli sighed, "I swear I went to coax her." He then said humbly to Qiao Suisui: "Baby, I was really wrong, I shouldn't have spoken like that, will you forgive me?"

Qiao Suisui didn't know at all what he had said, only wanting to confirm the current situation as soon as possible.

If Luka, Laiboli, and Zongfang were all still here, then... "What about Ka'er?"

As soon as she finished asking, she saw the expressions of the three men become somewhat subtle.

"What's wrong?" Qiao Suisui's heart jumped.

Luka raised his hand to smooth the stray hair by her ear and said: "He should still be struggling with Summer."

Qiao Suisui repeated blankly: "Summer?"

Zongfang explained for her: "Summer insists on joining the army with her brothers. Right now, this father and daughter are probably arguing incessantly."

After speaking, he looked calmly at Qiao Suisui's thoughtful expression, his mind turning a few times, and then said: "Anubis said he was held up by something and will be here soon."

Sure enough, Qiao Suisui's expression was one of relief.

Zongfang's eyes flickered, he pulled her hand, and whispered in her ear: "Qiaoqiao, today is the third anniversary of our pairing ceremony, did you prepare a gift?"

Qiao Suisui's figure stalled, and she blinked.

No wonder she saw him holding a gift box in his hand just now... What should she do? Saying she didn't prepare one or forgot would be a bit hard to justify.

She frowned in distress and said: "I should have prepared one... but I forgot where I put it..."

A flash of light crossed Zongfang's eyes, followed by a smile.

"It's okay, let's start the banquet first."

Laiboli had already gone to entertain the guests. Today, not only had the noble families of the Aosilan Empire come, but also envoys from various member states; it wouldn't do to neglect them in any way. Luka had just been called away by a servant and didn't know where he went; at this moment, only Zongfang was by her side.

Zongfang was wearing a white suit today, his silver long hair had been cut short at some point, and he had become capable and mature. He propped up his left arm, signaling Qiao Suisui to take his arm, and then handed her a glass of champagne. When handing it to her, he instructed in her ear: "If someone comes to toast, just take a sip." Qiao Suisui had originally felt she didn't know how to deal with the unknown situation, but didn't expect Zongfang to be by her side the whole time, reminding her in time who the person coming to toast was and what to say to deal with it. After a few rounds of greetings, there were no mistakes at all.

Only then did she roughly understand that this banquet was hosted by Laiboli, originally intended to celebrate their pairing anniversary, but it was a double happiness; Taier and Hawisi had all passed their military capability assessments and only needed to serve in the army for four years, after which they could enter the military department or the intelligence bureau, or go to the Federation if they wanted. In short, their future was bright, and Luka's position could be considered to have successors. So people had been coming over constantly to congratulate her, praise her, and say she knew how to teach.

Qiao Suisui thought to herself, I haven't really disciplined them much. This time, the ones joining the army were Hawisi and the three lion cubs and Taier and the three deer cubs; she hadn't heard that Zongfang's children were going.

Thinking of this, Qiao Suisui looked up and asked him: "What about Qiaoxia and the others?"

Zongfang was startled and asked: "Who is Qiaoxia?"

Qiao Suisui took a deep breath, only feeling her throat blocked.

Was she still going to lose them? Just as she was feeling sentimental, she heard a commotion not far away. Five tall and thin youths led the way, each with an extraordinary appearance and temperament. Then four little females entered, cute as jade and snow; although they hadn't fully grown, one could already see their extraordinary nature from their exquisite features and contours.

Zongfang looked over, then touched Qiao Suisui's back, saying: "Father must have sent them over early. I didn't let the eleven little ones come; they wouldn't find such a banquet interesting anyway."

As soon as the words fell, the youths in suits and dresses walked straight over, stood properly, and performed the Federal etiquette to Qiao Suisui and Zongfang.

"Father, Mother."

Zongfang nodded and asked the youth standing in the middle: "Where is Grandfather?"

The youth was composed, every gesture that of a noble son. "Grandfather went back, and he also asked me to send his regards to Uncle Laiboli."

Qiao Suisui looked at the youth's features—wasn't that the grown-up Qiaoxia she had seen before? Then why did Zongfang seem completely unaware of this child? She was puzzled to herself, not noticing the youth's gaze drifting toward her intentionally or unintentionally. After hesitating for a few seconds, the youth licked his lips and said to Qiao Suisui: "Mom, I passed the year-end test of the Interstellar Strategic Academy a few days ago." Then he waited expectantly for something.

Qiao Suisui gave a somewhat unfamiliar compliment after hearing this, feeling it wasn't enough, then walked up and touched his head.

"Well done."

The youth suppressed his smile, his ears red, his eyes full of excitement.

A baby-faced youth in the back was extremely envious; Qiao Suisui recognized him, that was Qiaobai.

She walked over, gently pinched Qiaobai's fleshy face, and said: "You did well too."

Qiaobai widened his big eyes, blinking, and blurted out: "But I clearly didn't do well on the test..."

Qiao Suisui smiled and said: "But you look cute, do you think being cute is that easy to achieve?"

The youth scratched his head with a silly laugh.

The other children were also eager to try, surrounding Qiao Suisui, all talking about their performance at school, asking for praise.

Zongfang coughed lightly, and the children instantly quieted down, not daring to speak casually, and stood properly again.

Qiao Suisui glanced at him, somewhat inexplicably: "Why are you so serious?"

She had never seen this side of him before.

Zongfang looked at her helplessly, pulled her waist to bring her to his side, bit her ear lightly, and said: "Didn't you say it yourself, you play the good cop, I play the bad cop."

(End of chapter)