Chapter 4645 — The West Island Banquet
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
As Vice Island Lord of West Island, Yan Xinlan was naturally a staunch champion of women's rights. The whole business of a man taking multiple wives and concubines she considered contemptible in itself—and here it seemed to entangle Ning Xuefei, the future heir of West Island. How could that be allowed?
Still, displeased as she might be, this was a banquet to welcome the North Island envoy and to proclaim the enduring friendship between West and North. Whatever her feelings, Yan Xinlan would never make things difficult for Wei Zhao on such an occasion; she had at least that much magnanimity.
Wei Zhao and the others exchanged glances, then nodded and took their seats. The delicacies spread across the table set every one of them salivating; at sea there had been no lack of food, but it had been monotonous and bland beyond bearing. What lay before them now were authentic West Island dishes, and Wei Zhao could not help swallowing hard again and again.
"Eat up, everyone—there's no one here but our own people, so stop holding back!" Ning Xuefei said with a laugh.
At that, Wei Zhao and the others exchanged a glance and wasted no time falling to. Theirs was the head table; apart from Yan Xinlan, Ning Xuefei, and Han Jingyi on the West Island side, only Wei Zhao and Shangguan Lan'er from North Island were of sufficient standing to sit there. The rest were unqualified.
To be sure, figures of the stature and strength of Gongyang Jun and Lan Tieshan would have had no trouble joining the table, but in a public setting like this they would never show themselves, much less take seats at the head table with all eyes upon it.
Among the five at the table, Yan Xinlan, though the loftily placed Vice Island Lord of West Island whose rank stood far above the rest, might under ordinary circumstances have found it hard to keep the atmosphere harmonious. But she was a remarkably clever woman, uniquely gifted at setting people at ease; a few warm words and pleasantries, a handful of harmless little jests, and the mood naturally grew genial.
Especially since everyone at the table save Yan Xinlan herself were close friends already—at such a time there was no need to stand on ceremony. The one thing that made Yan Xinlan's brows draw together was how very attentive and familiar Ning Xuefei was being toward Wei Zhao. That the Princess of West Island should openly serve him food with her own hands—what would people think if word of it got out?
This sight merely furrowed Yan Xinlan's brow, but when Xu Lingchong and Kang Jingming, seated far off in a corner, caught sight of it, their whole faces twitched. Damn it all—this was the very task the higher-ups had just handed down!
They had been racking their brains over how to sow discord between Wei Zhao and the West Island leadership, and then in the blink of an eye they saw Ning Xuefei herself serving Wei Zhao food. Where did that leave them?
Ning Xuefei might not be strong, but she was the future helm of West Island. If she were allowed to grow this close to Wei Zhao, it might come to pass that the whole of West Island answered to his word—and then Xu Lingchong and Kang Jingming would be cursed to hell and back by their superiors!
"Zhaoming, how do we deal with this?" Xu Lingchong muttered, frowning, as he nudged Kang Jingming. He knew there was some personal connection between Ning Xuefei and Wei Zhao—after all, when she had visited North Island before, Wei Zhao had accompanied her the whole way. At the time he had assumed it was because of Shangguan Lan'er, but now it looked as though that was not the case at all.
Kang Jingming nodded without betraying a thing, his eyes darting back and forth between Wei Zhao and Ning Xuefei, now and then flicking toward Yan Xinlan, his mind churning out one wicked scheme after another. After a moment he suddenly slapped his forehead and, greatly excited, leaned close to Xu Lingchong's ear and whispered a few words.