When Charlie was near the three newcomers, he laughed then gave a salute, "Big Brother, welcome. I didn't expect brother to come to this one's small banquet, so I didn't bother sending an invite. But for Big Brother to actually come here, it's a great honor."
The Crown Prince looked at Charlie and faintly smiled, "I also heard that Younger Brother has held a banquet, so I decided to stop by. On the way, I met Terry and Jason, so I decided to take them with me as well. I hope I didn't trouble Third Brother for bringing additional guests."
Charlie smiled and said, "No problem, Brother visiting has given me quite an honor. So how can Big Brother possibly bring me trouble? Big Brother, Terry, Jason, come in, don't be polite."
Terry and Jason gave Charlie a small salute before heading towards the hall. The other people inside also gave a salute to the Crown Prince, naturally, Zhao Hai wasn't an exception.
But Zhao Hai was surprised when the Crown Prince headed towards him after their eyes met. The Crown Prince smiled faintly and said, "Mister Zhao Hai?"
Zhao Hai smiled and said, "I didn't think that the Crown Prince would know of my name. This is really surprising."
The Crown Prince laughed and said, "Mister is too modest. There isn't anyone in the continent who doesn't know how fierce mister is. May I ask Mister to pay a visit to my mansion?"
Zhao Hai smiled, "If I have time, then I will certainly come visit."
The Crown Prince smiled and said, "Then I'll be waiting for mister. By the way, I heard that mister has a lot of businesses in hand, is there a chance for the two of us to cooperate?"
Zhao Hai faintly smiled at the question, "I certainly have some businesses on hand, but for cooperation? This is something I cannot say. Currently, I'm in a partnership with the Third Highness. Moreover, we've already signed a long-term contract regarding our cooperation. If His Highness the Crown Prince wants to cooperate, then I'm afraid you will need to discuss it with the Third Highness."
The Crown Prince placed a small play on his words. The reason he asked Zhao Hai about the possibility of cooperation was to assess whether there was a chance for Zhao Hai to change sides.
But Zhao Hai's reply was very clear, he was now on Charlie's side, it was impossible for the other camps to recruit him at this point. The conversation between the two was clearly heard by the people present in the hall. All of them were smart people, it was impossible for them to not understand the exchange. When the Crown Prince heard Zhao Hai's response, his expression couldn't help but drop, but he still forced a smile and said, "That is regrettable." Then he turned around and left.
Ads by Pubfuture
As soon as he heard the Crown Prince's regretful voice, Charlie's face changed, it was now quite red. Naturally, Zhao Hai's answer gave him this much happiness.
Zhao Hai also knew that he had already lost the opportunity to get closer with the Crown Prince. However, he didn't find it regrettable. One couldn't always be half-hearted, or else they won't be getting good results.
At this time, Terry and Jason arrived at Zhao Hai's location. Terry then smiled to Zhao Hai, "Little Hai, I didn't expect you to come. If I knew, I would have arrived earlier."
When Zhao Hai heard how he was called, he couldn't help but stare. The age gap between the two of them aren't so large to merit such calling. Terry was obviously doing this to make their relationship closer.
However, Zhao Hai didn't relax because of this, he became even more vigilant instead. From what he heard from Megan, Terry was a sinister person. Moreover, he also knew that Terry was his love rival. For Terry to be warmer to him meant that he was already planning about how to deal with Zhao Hai.
Although he was thinking about this, he didn't show it on his face. Zhao Hai just smiled and said, "Big Brother Terry is too polite. Brother should know about my relationship with His Highness Third Prince. So how can I not attend such occasion?"
Terry wants to bring their relationship closer, while Zhao Hai attempted to back away politely. He also addresses Terry that way in order to throw the other party into confusion. Zhao Hai didn't lower his guard against Terry.
When Terry heard Zhao Hai, he looked delighted as he smiled and said, "I knew that you have a very good relationship with the Third Prince. But since God's Grace Day is approaching, I expected you to be helping inside Dark Soldier Fort, so I didn't think that you would come."
Zhao Hai replied with a smile, "Megan told me to come, so how could I not? Hehe, Megan is also quite close with the Ninth Princess."
Then Zhao Hai turned his head to Jason and said, "Is this Young Master Jason from the Crook Family? Zhao Hai gives his greetings. I've heard about the young master's name, I didn't think that I would be meeting you today."
Jason looked at Zhao Hai and smiled faintly, "I've also heard about mister Zhao Hai's name, but I cannot help but be disappointed by what I have seen today."
Zhao Hai stared, he didn't think that Jason would be this impolite. One must know that in a Noble gathering, one would do his/her best to stay modest. It doesn't matter if the two of you were life and death enemies, if you meet in a gathering such as this, you better show your full smile and act like how a noble should. But Jason was different, this was far from Zhao Hai's expectations.
Zhao Hai couldn't help but look at Terry. At this moment, Terry's face expressed a wronged expression. This made Zhao Hai curious, since Terry and Jason came together. Aren't they supposed to be in a group? Why did it seem like Terry wasn't expecting Jason to utter such words? Didn't they plan this encounter ahead of time?
Thoughts churned inside his brain, but Zhao Hai's face didn't show any of it. He just smiled at Jason and said, "I'm really apologetic for disappointing Young Master Jason."
Jason slyly looked at Zhao Hai's smiling face, he didn't seem to be fazed. This gave Jason an incentive to push things further. He commended Zhao Hai to keep his grace and honor after such words. While he looked impressed, Jason's mouth opened, "You're really unworthy of Miss Megan. Miss Megan is one of the Twin Flowers of the Imperial Capital. It seems quite a waste for her to be marrying a very ordinary looking person."
Ads by Pubfuture
After Terry heard this, he turned to Jason and said, "Jason, you should hold back on your words."
Zhao Hai actually laughed and said, "Young Master Jason is right. I also think that marrying Megan is such a loss. But alas, I actually wanted to be more attractive, but my father didn't make me handsome. This is such a disaster, hai."
Jason and Terry stared at Zhao Hai before they both laughed, Jason patted Zhao Hai's shoulder and said, "Brother, I must say, I like the way you speak. Hahaha. Good, you're someone worth befriending."
Seeing that Jason didn't seem to be faking, Zhao Hai couldn't help but laugh as well, "You really have low standards for making friends. Are you looking for a not so handsome guy? I must say, you've found the right one."
The three of them laughed. Jason grasped Zhao Hai's shoulder and said, "I didn't think that you would actually read my thoughts, you're quite good."
Zhao Hai smiled, "Even if I guessed it right, I think there's no reason for you to hold my shoulder this hard. I'm a mage, I might suffer injuries."
The conversation between the two made it seem like they were long time friends. It also seemed like Terry was pushed aside. It made Terry look a bit ridiculous. But he still smiled, but it was a stiff smile.
A person like Terry has always been heavily favored since he was a child. He was already quite used to being in the spotlight, no matter where he was. Even if he stood along with the Crown Prince, he didn't allow himself to be overshadowed. Because he was a successor to a millenium-old family, his status wasn't any lower than a Prince.
Zhao Hai and Jason chatting away made him feel like an outsider. He felt like the two of them had already forgotten about him, this made him feel unwell.
At this time, a servant passed to their side. On the tray that the servant was holding were two glasses of wine. Jason immediately took the two glasses and gave Zhao Hai one of them. Then he raised his glass to Zhao Hai and said, "I really thought that this would be a very boring party. But I didn't expect to meet an interesting person such as you. Come, come, let's drink, after this, we will become friends."
Zhao Hai didn't expect Jason to actually be so refreshing, whether his gesture was true or not, Zhao Hai still returned Jason's toast and said, "Right, let's drink this glass, from today on, we're both friends, cheers!"
Jason raised his glass and bumped it with Zhao Hai's, "Good, cheers!" Then without any courtesy, the both of them downed the wine in one go.
This scene was very visible to the other guests. When they saw the two, they couldn't help but stare. There were a lot present that knew about Jason. He wasn't very popular within the circles of nobility because of his frank attitude. He never gave anybody face, because of this, there weren't a lot of nobles who wanted to mingle with him.
But with Jason's status, average people wouldn't dare to not give him any face. Therefore, in common banquets and parties, the hosts would still deliver an invitation to the Crook Family. However, even if Jason came, there were only a few people who came to talk to him. People were afraid to be embarrassed by Jason's words.
Just as Jason was about to speak to Zhao Hai, the people nearby couldn't help but watch in anticipation. They wanted to see Zhao Hai's embarrassed expression. However, they didn't expect Zhao Hai to actually carry on with ridiculing himself. This move of embarrassing himself was out of their expectations.
Those who weren't nearby and didn't hear them speak still kept an eye out. This was because they also wanted to see how Jason manages to embarrass Zhao Hai. Even if they couldn't hear anything, they knew from Terry's expression that Jason didn't say anything nice.
However, what happened next made them confused. They didn't hear what Zhao Hai said to make the three people laugh and even make Jason look amused at Zhao Hai. This was too unexpected. They were very curious to the point that they were on the verge of approaching the two just to ask what Zhao Hai said. But unfortunately, there was no way for them to do so.