18 The Gathering 2 (1/2)
Chapter 18: The Gathering 2
Kalidor was stunned. He wanted to continue introducing his friends, but Jessie brought up a new topic to stop him right away. It was quite obvious that none of them cared about Garen and Ai Fei’s names. They could tell that they were not in the same league as the others just by looking at the way they dressed.
Weimar walked up to the stage in the center of the hall and announced the beginning of the feast. He told everybody to enjoy the banquet. All the youngsters raised their glasses of wine or juice and laughed. After some emotional speeches, Weimar got down from the stage and returned to Kalidor’s side. The band took his place.
”By the way, Wei Sijia just left Kinstria. Her flight passed Huaishan City, so she decided to take a rest here. I invited her today; she’ll drive over later. I guess she must be on the way now. Let’s finish eating and then go get her.” Weimar drank some of the Blood Wine in the glass.
”So soon?” Kalidor frowned. ”I have friends here…”
”What does it matter? I’ll go explain to your friends and let them go home by themselves. It has been too long since our last gathering. It is such a rare opportunity this time.”
”How about we take them with us? They are all my friends, and we can introduce them to the others,” Kalidor hesitantly said.
Weimar showed an indifferent smile on his face.
”Kalidor, I hope that tonight it will be just a night of old friends. I don’t think it is a good idea to bring others involved.” He saw Kalidor hesitating, so he continued, ”I thought you liked Wei Sijia the most? Now that she finally got a chance to come, you don’t even want to welcome her in person? We only have four cars and we don’t have seats for them if you don’t come.”
”Come on, don’t screw it up. If you feel that it’s too difficult to talk to your friends, I will do it.”
Kalidor was quiet. He suddenly regretted that he had invited Garen and Ai Fei to the party. He didn’t know that his Brother Weimar, whom he had always been respecting, would become so unreasonable… Suddenly, the great image about Brother Weimar in his heart started to become dim. But no matter what, they were still friends who grew up together.
”I urh… Let’s see what happens next,” he answered in a low and hesitant voice.
Weimar frowned as the smile on his face gradually disappeared. He tapped on Kalidor’s shoulder and said, ”Just think about it.”
Garen and Ai Fei had been hanging around the food table and eating since they got in the hall.
They knew nobody except Kalidor in the party. Aside from them, there were also other new arrivals. They were about seventeen and eighteen years old, and always got a warm welcome from their friends in the party.
They were the only two who didn’t know anyone else. They just watched as people talked and laughed in their own small groups, causing them to feel out of place.
”Let’s just eat since we can’t feel at ease. Kalidor’s surrounded right now anyway. We can’t let him leave all of his friends to just accompany us, can we?” Garen talked to Ai Fei in a low voice, then picked a plate and walked away to get more food.
Ai Fei truly felt uncomfortable just standing there. She listlessly walked to the food table and learned to pick up a plate like the others did. Cautiously, she used a spoon to drink the soup in her bowl.
Except Ai Fei and Garen, everybody was either rich or powerful. All those people in this shiny and luxurious banquet hall were so dazzling.
Compared to them, the two-hundred-dollar dress and the one hundred dollar boots on her were very conspicuous and out of place. She had seen most of the food on the table before at the supermarket. They were very expensive, and any dish cost much more than all the clothes on her.
Hah…
A laugh sounded beside her.
”Dear sister, that soup is not for drinking. It is for rinsing the mouth.” A young girl couldn’t help laughing.
A blush appeared on Ai Fei’s face as she almost choked. She put down the plate and took a napkin to wipe her mouth.
”I… I recognized it wrong…” Even her neck turned red; she kept her head low and didn’t dare to look up at the girl.
”That is such an obvious pot of soup… You do know what a rinsing soup is, don’t you?” That girl laughed again. Another young girl walked over and whispered to her, and then they both laughed while covering their mouths.
Ai Fei just stood there with her head low, her face and neck red, feeling as if she was burning up. She didn’t know whether she should leave or stay, wishing she could just bury herself into the ground.
”What does it matter? Is the rinsing soup so poisonous we can’t even drink it?” Garen walked over and spoke with a frown.
He was also wearing hundred-dollar clothes, but he didn’t feel restrained at all. In his eyes, those young guys and girls were all some little chickens he could easily defeat. After murdering someone, he now had a different attitude towards ordinary people. Especially when he thought of the fact that the price of a life in this world was so low, he settled down a bit. To him, the only thing that mattered was strength.
”It’s just some rinsing soup. I like it too. What’s so funny?” Garen filled a bowl and drank the entire thing in one big gulp. The rinsing soup tasted a bit sweet with a minty flavor, and was not that bad for a drink.
”It’s fine, it’s fine…” When the girl saw that Garen was so at ease about it, she felt that it would be embarrassing for her to continue making a big deal. She looked at Garen and Ai Fei with a strange expression before saying, ”Please go on…” The two young girls slowly walked away. They couldn’t help laughing again as they walked further away.