Female Novel
Chapter 194
Chapter 194
After a brief restructuring, Fatty Huang took over the Guo Family enterprises at Hanover City. In lessthan a week, they were reopened for business. Fatty Huang wanted a quick boom for his enterprises,so he made an effort to invite Hanover City’s rich and powerful through Big Brother Qian, for a grandopening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. After the lively ribbon-cutting ceremony, a banquet wasprepared for them to feast, drink and be merry. This banquet was attended by more than seventypercent of Hanover City’s elite. Most of the who’s who of the town were present, to pay their respects toFatty Huang, and of course many were there in deference to Hubert Qian. After all, Hubert Qian wasone of the two elders of Hanover City. At the outset of the banquet, Fatty Huang made a simple toast.Thereafter, the various guests prepared to make toasts of felicitations in return. They held up their wineglasses and walked over with smiles plastered on their faces. After toasting to Fatty Huang by downingtheir wine and clinking their glasses, they proceeded to his side, where Hubert Qian and Fade Chenwere sitting The invited guests walked respectfully towards the both of them, taking the initiative tointroduce themselves and also giving them toasts in veneration, expressing their deepestcongratulations to them. By this time, everyone was aware of the relationship between Big BrotherQian and his guest of honor, Mr Chen. Therefore, they did not hesitate to give their compliments in thehopes of gaining favor with them. As the guests were toasting and making their rounds, there was asmall interruption. As Chesca Tan and her father came by to make their toast, Chesca Tan suddenlyknelt down and groveled before Fade Chen, apologizing fervently and begging him for forgiveness. Inactual fact, Fade Chen had already forgotten about Chessca Tan.
However, her actions reinforced Fade Chen’s feeling of revulsion towards her. He felt that she was waytoo pretentious. Therefore, Fade Chen did not accept the drink when she toasted him, but directlymade a gesture with his hand for her to leave. Seeing this, Chesca Tan and her father instantly turnedpale, and left the banquet crestfallen. Although this was only a minor slight on his part, Mr Chen’sattitude was seen as an indicator of Hubert Qian’s inclinations. Many people of power and status would
be hesitant to collaborate with the Tan family in future. After this episode, the toasting of the guestscontinued, round after round. Although Fatty Huang was considered good at holding his liquor, hebecame rather drunk and his face was flushed bright red. In the end, he required assistance to becarried home for a rest. Hubert Qian and Fade Chen were still sober as a judge, able to hold their liquorwithout problem. In particular, Fade Chen, after downing many glasses of wine, still did not turn red, nordid his heartbeat quicken at all. He remained completely unaffected. Observing this, Hubert Qian’ssense of shock was amplified, and his admiration for the abilities of Lunatic Chen increased. Finally,after the toasting ceremony was over, Hubert Qian stood up and raised his glass. He said in a clearvoice, "I would like to thank all of you for coming today. You are all here to witness somethingextraordinary." Everyone felt a sense of curiosity and could not understand Hubert Qian’s words. Then,they saw Hubert Qian with his raised glass, turning around to face Fade Chen. He proceeded to bow ina deferential manner. Finally, he clasped the glass with both hands and said, ", Hubert Qian, would liketo propose a toast in honor of Mr Chen." With those words, Hubert Qian downed the wine in his raisedcup in one big chug. Witnessing this, the crowd was stunned and looked on with an expression ofincredulity. Although they had heard that Hubert Qian treated Fade Chen like a venerable guest ofhonor and had the utmost respect for him, they were not expecting him to be so respectful towardsFade Chen. They did not anticipate such a personal toast to Fade Chen from him in the presence ofthe rich and powerful of Hanover City. This gesture seemed comparable to an explicit announcement tothe crowd of the fact that Hubert Qian saw himself as subordinate to Fade Chen. This was Hubert Qianputting Fade Chen on a pedestal. Instantly, speculation about the truth behind Fade Chen’s identity,which had died down for a while, resurfaced. The crowd started to buzz and chatter amongstthemselves. Some of the guests were shrewd, and quickly came to their senses on how they shouldreact to this. They imitated the gesture, raising their wine glasses and bowing respectfully at FadeChen. The rest of the guests began to take the cue and follow in gesture. Another round of toastingbegan in that time, and Fade Chen did not restrain himself but drank up all the wine. He still seemedwell, calm and unaffected, without any change to his demeanor. Just as the round of toasting wascoming to an end, a middle-aged man, who was around his forties or fifties, suddenly emerged from the
crowd. The man was dressed in a smart looking suit and wearing shiny leather shoes. In his tow weretwo others, and he stepped forward with a smile on his face. Noticing this man, the guests had asurprised expression. They fixed their gazes on him. "Why is he here ?" "The Hu family actually sentsomeone as representative to the banquet. What do you think this means ?" "It’s alright to send arepresentative, but why arrive so late? Won’t the banquet be ending soon ?" "This is obviously andinsult towards Big Brother Qian!" Amidst the crowd’s discussion, Hubert Qian’s face fell. Seeing FadeChen beside him with a puzzled expression, Hubert Qian explained, "This man is the butler of ShawnHu. The Qian family and the Hu family have long been at odds with each other, and in recent years,there has hardly been any contact between us. But now, he has sent a representative to the banquet."Fade Chen nodded, understanding the situation. The history between the Qian Family and the HuFamily were similar to that of the Long Enterprise and the Wan Family in Bay City. There were all sortsof conflicts and grievances between both elders and the families. After all, they were both based in thesame territory, so it was inevitable. The fact was that for a very long time, there had been no contactbetween the two families.
However, now out of the blue, a representative had arrived. One had to seriously consider the motivesbehind this action. The butler walked up to Hubert Qian, made a cordial gesture of greeting and said,"Mr. Qian, it’s a pleasure to meet you. When Old Master was informed that a friend of Mr. Qian isopening a business and having a ribbon-cutting ceremony. he sent me to congratulate Mr. Qian.Unfortunately there was a traffic jam on the road, which caused me to be late. Many apologies, Mr.Qian." This excuse was so preposterous that one could not believe it. The Hu Family had a high statusin the city, therefore it was impossible for a traffic jam to be of any hindrance to them. It was obviousthat they had arrived late on purpose. Hubert Qian was of course aware of this fact. His face wassolemn and he said, "Since you were delayed, it would have not been necessary for you to be inattendance. I am in no need of extra gifts." At these words, the butler’s expression did not change. Hegestured his hand and let the two men behind him bring forward two gifts, one which was larger andthe other smaller in size. The butler still had a smile on his face as he said to Hubert Qian, "Old Masternovelbin
has given the command that I must ensure that the gifts are delivered and received." "Just leave thegifts and go!" Hubert Qian knew that they had deliberately arrived late in order to insult him. In suchcases as these, Hubert Qian would not be so gracious, therefore he asked them to leave immediately.However, the butler did not move. Instead, he looked at Fade Chen, who was beside Hubert Qian, andcontinued with a smile, "This time, Old Master heard that Mr. Qian is graced by the presence of anhonored guest, Mr. Chen, therefore he prepared two gifts." He pointed to the two gifts behind him, onewhich was bigger and the other smaller. He proceeded to speak with a simper, "Originally, according tothe master’s instructions, the bigger gift belongs to Mr. Qian, and the smaller gift to Mr. Chen." thismoment, Chen, please assist me in this matter." The butler made a polite gesture in obeisance,
continuing to smile ingratiatingly at Hubert Qian and Fade Chen. "But I just observed Mr. Qian giving atoast to Mr. Chen. At am not sure who should I present the bigger gift to, and for who the smaller giftshould be given to. Mr. Qian and Mr. I can’t tell who is of higher or lower status. I The crowd hadbecome completely silent, and everyone was gazing at Hubert Qian and Fade Chen..