Chapter 507 — A Little Practice

Wei Zhao had always been a man who nursed his grudges. If he had not been on assignment, whether Kang Jinglong could still be standing here talking would have been another matter entirely.

Kang Jinglong's expression changed, and his face turned somewhat ugly at once. Wang Xinyan, however, arched her lovely brows and stole a glance at Wei Zhao, a faint smile playing at the corners of her lips—whether in praise or in amusement, it was hard to say.

Wei Zhao had always found the relationship between Wang Xinyan and Kang Jinglong puzzling. He had assumed they were close, but now it seemed otherwise. Deliberately or not, Wang Xinyan kept mocking Xiao Wangba and Kang Jinglong alike, which left Wei Zhao rather perplexed.

"Ahem!" Wu Chengtian coughed once. He had gone to great lengths to bring Wei Zhao here today, intending to use the occasion to reveal his relationship with Feng Xiaoxiao to Bie Jingyi, and he was certainly not about to let Kang Jinglong ruin it.

Kang Jinglong drew a deep breath. He knew he could not make a scene at Wu Chengtian's dinner party, so he could only sit back down in gloom, thoroughly displeased by Wei Zhao's refusal to spare his face.

"Ha, today is meant to be a happy occasion—don't let unpleasantness spoil the mood!" Wu Chengtian smoothed things over. "Brother Wei Zhao, you and Feng Xiaoxiao truly are a match made in heaven!"

Before Wei Zhao could speak, Feng Xiaoxiao said happily, "You think so too?"

"Indeed I do, Sister Xiaoxiao. When did the two of you get together?" Wu Chengtian asked without betraying any emotion.

"A few days now, I think!" Feng Xiaoxiao said after a moment's reckoning.

"I see..." Wu Chengtian said in sudden understanding. Could it be that Wei Zhao had only gotten together with Feng Xiaoxiao after parting ways with Bie Jingyi? If so, that saved him a great deal of trouble. Still, to be on the safe side, he resolved to leak the relationship between Wei Zhao and Feng Xiaoxiao to Sun Jingyan.

Wei Zhao had said little all along, quietly observing every move Feng Xiaoxiao and Wu Chengtian made. Feng Xiaoxiao's attitude puzzled him. By any reasonable account, she was not the sort to behave this way, nor to flatter and curry favor with Wu Chengtian. From Wei Zhao's past experience, Feng Xiaoxiao was a deeply vindictive person—otherwise she could not have come after him time and again.

And she had just made an enemy of Wu Chengtian at the auction house—how could she turn around and act as though nothing had happened? Judging by the way she was ordering, she probably meant to fleece Wu Chengtian in some roundabout fashion.

Wu Chengtian's attitude puzzled Wei Zhao as well. As for his apologizing to Wei Zhao, that he would never believe. Unless Wu Chengtian had water where his brains should be, there was no way he would take the initiative to invite Wei Zhao to dinner and apologize.

When something is out of the ordinary, there is sure to be something strange behind it. Though Wei Zhao had not yet figured out Wu Chengtian's true intent, since he had come, he might as well sit back and watch how things unfolded.

It had to be said that the service at the top-floor restaurant was quite excellent. Not long after they ordered, the waiters brought the dishes to the table one after another. Besides the specialty dishes Feng Xiaoxiao had ordered earlier, abalone, lobster, and crab were all set out as well.

"Wow, I've never in my life eaten such a lavish feast!" Feng Xiaoxiao exclaimed like a country bumpkin.

"Ha, then eat up!" Wu Chengtian's vanity was thoroughly satisfied. He thought to himself that Wei Zhao was far beneath him, and wondered how Sun Jingyan could possibly have taken a fancy to Wei Zhao. Looking at Feng Xiaoxiao like this, Wei Zhao had probably never even treated her to a proper meal. Yes, that was it—he must simply not know how to put on a show. He had originally assumed that Sun Jingyan, born into a wealthy family, must lack for nothing and have seen everything, but now it seemed that might not be so. As long as he kept putting on a show in front of Bie Jingyi from now on, he need not fear that she would not like him.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony!" Feng Xiaoxiao pulled the abalone in front of herself and started eating with her fork, paying no attention to anyone else. After two bites, she exclaimed in admiration, "This abalone is really delicious! It's the first time I've ever had abalone this big!"

"That's nothing!" Wu Chengtian waved a hand and said smugly, "This abalone is just what we eat casually at home. At New Year and festivals, the abalone we have is much bigger than this. This is only a single-head abalone; what my family eats is half-head abalone!"

"Huh? There's half-head abalone too? Brother Chengtian, you're really something—you've eaten everything!" Feng Xiaoxiao said in admiration. "In that case, why don't you give me your portion too? You can always eat it again, but this is the first time in my whole life!"

"Sure, no problem!" Wu Chengtian's heart gave a lurch, and he silently cursed his own loose tongue. Eat it himself, my foot—single-head abalone was already the very best; having a small piece at New Year was lucky enough, so how could anyone eat it every day? But the words were already out of his mouth; how could he take them back? Gritting his teeth, Wu Chengtian could only give his portion of abalone to Feng Xiaoxiao. In his heart, though, he consoled himself: what a show he was putting on now—call it practice for putting on a show. In the future, he would be able to put on a show with ease in front of Sun Jingyan!

"Really? That's wonderful! Oh, these two aren't very much either—I'm a little reluctant to eat them!" Though Feng Xiaoxiao said so, her fork was not idle, shoveling the delicacies into her mouth without pause.

Feng Xiaoxiao had come with the sole intention of fleecing Wu Chengtian—who had told him and his grandfather to treat her that way at the auction house? If not him, then who? Besides, Feng Xiaoxiao truly had never eaten anything so fancy. If she did not eat her fill now, who knew whether she would ever get the chance before she died! So Feng Xiaoxiao paid no mind to appearances at all—she would eat her fill first and worry about the rest later!

"This shabby stuff means nothing to the likes of us scions of great houses!" Wu Chengtian continued to practice putting on a show. He found that his skill at it was improving by the day—he could tell tall tales without even blinking! His heart was racing with excitement, yet his face remained perfectly calm. "Wang Ning, don't you agree?"

"Indeed! Seafood like this is common fare in the eyes of scions of great houses like us! Far too plain. When we eat, we generally have things like red swamp crayfish..." The Xiao family was a whole tier below the Wu family—how could they possibly eat such fancy things often? Even when the old master of the Xiao family was alive, he might not have tasted it more than a few times! But to play along with Wu Chengtian, Xiao Wangba naturally let his tongue run wild as well.

"Oh? What's a crested ibis? Are there any here? I want to try it too!" Feng Xiaoxiao asked in surprise.

"This..." Xiao Wangba was momentarily stunned. He had only been speaking offhandedly. There were scarcely any crested ibises left in the whole world; he had never even seen one, let alone eaten one! Now Feng Xiaoxiao wanted to eat crested ibis too. Where was he supposed to get one? Even if he could get one, wouldn't he be shot for it? That was a protected species!