Guo Jun leaned forward in his seat, his eyes brimming with curiosity and amusement and his gaze filled with the anticipation of drama. The others were also the same and didn't know what was happening. What engagement? What promise? Everyone had the same question in mind.
Wang Fang cursed himself and everyone else in his clan for forgetting about the arrangement, a promise made by the ancestors of both families.
Just as the Wang Clan had historic, old relations of the past with the Li family stemming from the friendship between the previous patriarchs and generations, they also had friendly historic relations with other families as well. The Wu family was one of those acquaintances.
In fact, three generations ago when the Wang Clan was coming to prominence, the patriarchs of the Wang and Wu Families were friends and they had even fought together on a battlefield.
The marriage promise was something that the Wang patriarch had alleged to do in the spur of the moment after gaining a major victory against the enemy with the assistance of the Wu family.
When he realized his mistake, it was too late. And words weighing in gold, he couldn't go back on his promise. Thus the promise of marriage was agreed upon by both families. The scroll was sealed with the words of promise and signatures of both patriarchs.
Since the incident was so long ago, apparently everyone in the Wang Clan had forgotten about it. But obviously, Wu Guanting hadn't forgotten at all.
"Lord Wu, this isn't a good time to discuss this, is it?" Wang Fang said in displeasure.
Smiling amicably, Wu Guanting said, "Why not? I think this is a perfect time. Tianze in chaos, the world disturbed, I hope to extend our friendly relations to the next level and tie our families with blood. This was also the will of our ancestors, am I wrong?"
Wang Fang was suddenly put in an awkward situation. On one hand, he didn't want to break neutrality by agreeing to the marriage alliance. But on the other hand, he couldn't outright deny the agreement made by the ancestor either. He truly was in a pickle.
At this moment, Lady Wang appeared and bowed politely. With a gentle yet adamant smile she said, "Lord Wu, Xue'er, and your son both are still young. Before tying their life together, it is imperative that we see that they are worthy of each other. You see, a mother's heart always worries."
Hearing this, Wu Guanting narrowed his eyes sharply as he blurted probingly, "Noble Lady Wang, do you not see my son as worthy?"
Lady Wang chuckled as she opened her fan and covered her mouth as she shrugged, looking at her daughter she said, "Not at all, a lion is bound to have a lion cub. I only worry about my silly Xue'er. Therefore, it is best that we wait and let the children grow. There is no hurry, is there?"
Hearing this, Wu Guanting smiled with admiration as he sighed inwardly and thought, 'I knew Wang Clan is a stubborn one. Fine, there's no need to rush. Sooner or later you will have to agree.'
Wu Guanting bowed slightly and drew back as he said, "You are right. But do remember that this was the wish of our ancestors." He then went back to his seat with a stoic expression and sat down.
Wang Fang and Lady Wang looked at each other, then their daughter, and sighed.
The people sitting in the distance couldn't hear the conversation and didn't know what was talked about. Everyone was curious if an announcement was going to be made but then Wu Guanting went back to his seat stoically and nothing followed, disappointing everyone.
"Dear guests, this time we have the pleasure to host Lady Li as our guest due to some circumstances. She also gave birth to a wonderful son. Let us continue the ceremony!" Wang Fang said loudly shifting the attention to Li Shuyi.
Li Shuyi was an active and attentive child who was quite responsive to the surroundings. He would cry less and observe more. His eyes seemed clear and glinting with intelligence, he also had a certain amount of strange charm about him that attracted attention.
The ceremony continued and Li Yan stepped forward, urging her son forward to pick an item. Although she had a smile on her face, the melancholy in her heart was evident. Here she was with her son among strangers on his first birthday, doing the grabbing ritual in a faraway land, far from home, without her family.
At the same time, seeing her son grow up was bliss in itself. She wanted to see him grow and become a great cultured young man. She wanted to raise him well.
The guests watched with curiosity and awe over the proceedings. Everyone knew the name 'Li Yan' as a woman of great fortitude and strength. Li Yan was quite famous in the upper society as she had an unwavering character and indomitable strength and skill. Even if that weren't the case, people would still pay attention to her as the name 'Li' was not any name.
Just as the Wu and Wang families were prominent in Southwest Tianze, the Li family was one of the most prominent in the East. The only difference was that the East was much more chaotic than the Southwest, constantly in the flames of conflict.
And so people naturally felt interested in the newborn son of the notorious Li couple even though not many people knew why he was born here in the Purple Lotus City rather than the Jinan County in the Li Province.
Suddenly, the hall stirred once again as Shijie moved on the table. He was crawling slowly and making his way to the items. Unlike Wang Xue who was muddled and wobbly, Li Shuyi's steps were firm and clear as if he knew exactly what he was doing.
The people gasped in surprise as his behavior clearly showed his intelligence. As Shijie had observed Wang Xue doing her grabbing ritual as well as the people's reactions, he seemed to have understood the assignment completely as he crawled his way to the bunch of items directly.
His head turned side to side as he looked at all the objects in front of him with curiosity and awe. His mouth opened agape, and suddenly a strange glint flashed through his eyes.
Shijie extended his hand to the wooden sword in front of him. Seeing this, the guests who were mostly warriors and warlords cheered seeing that the little guy was choosing to be a warrior.
But then, abruptly, Shijie extended his other arm as well and leaned forward and stretched both his arms outwards as if embracing the empty space.
Everyone was surprised to see this and didn't know what Shijie was doing. But then suddenly it became obvious what he was doing. And it totally dumbfounded everyone.
Shijie extended both his hands widely as he swooped in. With the same cunning glint in his eyes, he began hoarding all the items placed on the table to himself.
As if a greedy merchant swooping all the money laid on the table in his embrace, Shijie began hoarding everything and all thing on the table. The scriptures, the books, the quilt, the wooden sword, the flower, gemstones, gold coins, and just about everything.
Seeing this comical scene, the crowd went silent. Even more so than when Wang Xue had grabbed Shijie's hand. Then suddenly, a muffled laugh sounded which then burst out in the hall as Guo Jun lost himself in hysteria.
"Oh- ho ho ho! Hahaha! Look at that, the greedy little fellow wants everything under the heavens! Hahaha! Wouldn't expect anything less from Li Junwei's son!" Guo Jun said amidst his laughs.
Following him, everyone else also began laughing hysterically watching Shijie keeping all the valuable treasures to himself while Li Yan's brows twitched.
Looking at her son, she didn't know what to make of this. Her son had picked just about everything. Did that mean that he would be an all-rounder? The jack of all trades?
Even Lady Wang and Wang Fang couldn't help but chuckle. Gradually, the ruckus dawned down and the other ceremonies took place. The elders gave their blessings and the first birthday celebration proceeded with a banquet and a ball party.
In such festivities, the day soon came to an end with everyone leaving happily. The tales of what had happened throughout the day soon began spreading, including the sudden emergence of a marriage promise and the comical gimmicks of the two toddlers.