I had a goal in mind while looking like I was aimlessly wandering around. A while back I did some research and even had a little return trip to that information agency about that girl that the bastard had with him last time.
Apparently it's the youngest daughter of my Darling's friend. It's no wonder why I didn't recognize her though. She has a bit too much freedom given by her father and more often than not chooses to avoid social events, but that doesn't mean she won't go to any of them.
Her father is a little too lenient on her for not much of a reason beside perhaps the simple fact that she is the youngest. She's a little mischievous at times and has gotten away with most if not all of it by simply using the affection of her father. Though, none of it has been truly damaging or any of the sort, mostly annoying and irritating.
I took this time to check around and see if she would come this time, but with her attendance rate being less than 10% of the invitations sent to her it would be a rarity if I saw a glimpse of her.
I took a final look around to see if I could spot a trace of her, but with zero result I looked around for my Darling. In but a single moment, I spotted him on a sofa with Jinzi resting on his lap. His hand gently rubbed her head as she hugged his arm.
I was just about to go up to them when the hall doors opened and a guard led in a couple green robed individuals. One would be one of those typical old masters people commonly think of. He had a hand on his back as the other stroked his long white beard.
The other was a woman who looked between 20-30 and carried a gourd tied around her waist. Her expressions seemed a little too relaxed as if she were at home and there was a soft smile on her lips.
In but a second I analyzed their cultivation and they were in the 7th and 6th realm respectively. Darling's friend came out from our crowd and walked up to the two ahead to greet them.
"These two masters, I wonder what they might be here at my humble little banquet for?"
In response the old man spoke for the two as the woman started looking around the party.
"Relax junior! We didn't mean any harm, we had simply passed by and heard of a little celebration going on here, do you have room to accompany another two guests?"
"Ah? Is that so? Well these two masters must have come from afar, enjoy your stay, but please don't cause any trouble."
"Don't worry we, The Harmonic Serpent Sect, won't cause any trouble. I, Qian Bao and my companion Yi Nuan are simply here to enjoy the festivities. On behalf of our intrusion please take this as compensation."
With a flash from his ring a bag of intermediate-grade spirit stones appeared. Darling's friend took a look before graciously accepting the bag. Then the celebration resumed and those two walked into the gathering, but as the old man kept walking forward the woman changed her direction and split off from him.
It wasn't weird at first, but then I noticed where she was heading, it was toward the sofa that darling had sat at, but before I could start heading over to cut her off someone started speaking to me.
"Excuse me Madame, I couldn't help but notice your presence just now."
I turned to see that old man from moments earlier.
"Yes?"
"You're a cultivator at the ninth no… t-the tenth realm of cultivation, is that right?!"
I hesitantly looked toward my Darling for a moment, before letting it go. It wasn't like he would cheat on me, in fact I even had to talk him into having another wife, that's just how faithful he is. Besides Jinzi is over there with him.
Just like that I decided I might as well continue the conversation with this old man, perhaps I could even use him to help me get her out of the picture.
"Yes, that's correct, is there anything you need?"
***
(MC POV)
As I finished my story I looked up at the noise to see a couple of people come in. What caught my eye was their robes though, especially the silver serpent pattern embroidered on their green robes. As long as they didn't cause trouble then I wouldn't stand out.
They should be from the Harmonic Serpent Sect, one of the more righteous sects in the region. If their sect was ranked 1 - 10 powerhouse scale I'd give them a solid seven in the region.
Of course if I had to say who ranked 1st in the region I'd say that would be us, but perhaps that's a little arrogant to say. Our strength lies in the elite of our sect, the inner disciples and up.
The strongest cultivators in every sect set their rank and the only reason why most sects don't recognize us is simply because I refuse to spar with them. So what if they don't recognize us? I feel that it would simply bring less drama towards us if we didn't and so far it has worked.
Everyone who's an outer disciple has a range which varies too much in cultivation, from those who have just begun to those in the 4th realm. Meanwhile everyone whose an inner sect disciple has at least the 4th realm and usually a stable foundation for it as well.
You're only truly respected in the sect as a full fledged member when you've become an inner disciple. Those in the outer garbs aren't disrespected, but simply treated as if they were still in training most of the time.
I looked at the two for a few moments before looking away and back onto Jinzi. She stared at me with a look as if she wanted to hear some more stories.
"Big Brother, can you tell me a bit more about avenging your younger brother?"
'Ah, she wants to hear about my revenge, though it does make for good stories. I wouldn't want her to be too violent in the future. Should I skip it? Nah, as long as she can only think of it as a story it should be fine.'
As I finally compromised within my mind I heard the taps of footsteps as they appeared to approach me. Before I looked up I saw her shadow was overcast on Jinzi's face.
When I inevitably looked up, the woman was wearing one of those serpent robes and had been staring at me for what seemed like quite some time.
"Hello there, handsome! What brings you here?" At that moment she sat down on a sofa which was just adjacent to ours.
"Well, this is my friend's banquet."
"Is that so? Fufu~ I wonder if this young man could accompany an aunty like me around the venue."
"Hey! What do you think you're doing!? You can't just come in here and take him from me like this! I was here first!"
Jinzi immediately sat up right and started pointing at the woman who sat down nearby.
"Oh? Don't worry little girl, I won't take your friend from you for too long. It'll be quick I promise."
"No! Leave us alone! We don't want to go with you, isn't that right Big Brother?"
"Well I don't mind, but my Sister here has to accompany us. I can't simply leave her alone, she would be a little too shy to even navigate through the party alone."
"Oh? Well, it's fine we don't have to leave if this little girl doesn't want to, this aunty is very accommodating. Do you mind if I sit with you two though? I'd feel a lot less lonely compared to sitting all alone over here."
Without thinking too much about it I scooted over, but Jinzie, who was in the middle of the sofa, blocked my movement.
"Oh sorry Jinzi, do you mind moving over a bit?"
"Yes."
"Huh?" It wasn't the answer I was expecting from her.
"Aunty, why don't you sit beside me over here?"
"I don't quite think you like this aunty, I'd much rather sit on the other side of this neutral and charming Brother of yours."
Jinzi looked at the woman with a pout for several seconds before she moved over to her new seat. From her look it seemed to me that she simply couldn't come up with a new reason to refuse her.
The moment I moved over one she took up the seat I once had, but mere moments ago. Her face mellowed out for a moment as she took my previous seat.
"Thank you handsome, you even warmed the seat just for me. Say, do you like to drink?" She pulled out a gourd bottle with the big black character, Wine, stroked onto it.
I put my hand up in front of my face in declination.
"I'm not too big on it and especially with someone I don't know quite well, but thank you for the offer."
"Come on~ This aunty just wants to have a drink with you!"
She popped off the cork to the bottle and whiffed the aroma before pointing the nuzzle toward me.
"I'm sorry, I have a wife and she gets jealous a little too easily sometimes."
"O-oh? Ah I'm sorry, I've been rude, but that doesn't stop us from becoming friends, right?"
"Well… I guess she has been more lax with women being around me. I don't see why not."
"That's great! Now that we're friends we can drink together, right? Here, I have something less alcoholic if you can't handle my wine!" Hearing my affirmation to her friendship offer she became ecstatic.
"No need, my tolerance isn't low. To cement our new friendship, we could drink that wine, give it here. I'll only drink some though, I wouldn't want to take all of it from you."
"There's no need to hold back, drink as much as you like!"
I took the wine gourd and took 3 swigs of the sweetly acidic liquid before passing it back.
"C-can I try some?" Jinzi poked her head out and looked toward the gourd with some curiosity and determination.
I looked at the woman and she nodded so I passed it to Jinzi instead.
"Is this your first time Jinzi?"
"U-um… yes."
She held the gourd with caution before tipping the nozzle into her mouth. She took a sip and her face scrunched up.
"Are you ok?"
"Y-yea, I'm fine, it just tastes weird, but I want to keep trying it."
She tilted her head with the gourd and started downing the wine. As it was her first time I didn't know if she would be a lightweight or not so I grabbed the bottle from her before she got too much, but she kept her grip on it and kept on drinking. After a small tussle I got the gourd, but it had already been emptied by two-thirds. From the size of the gourd it looked like it could hold maybe 750ml within.
I handed the bottle back as I kept looking at Jinzi, the effects would kick in soon especially since she drank so much so quickly so I only quietly stared at her.
"Jinzi? You've drunk too much."
"No, I-I fine… is ok, no?" Her cheeks had already started to blush and was starting to turn into a deeper red.
"You know on second thought this wasn't a good idea." I hugged Jinzi close as I thought about when it would kick in.
"I'm sorry, it's my fault I shouldn't have agreed to give it to a child."
"She's actually 21, not that it matters. Well what a way to meet huh? My name's Ip Jiang, what's yours?"
"My name is Ren Mei, nice to meet you Junior Ip!"
From in front two sets of footsteps started approaching us.