Once Fang Lin had presented his gift in greeting, both families retreated to their sides of the banquet hall as the Drifting Silk Pavilion sprang into action with servants emerging from all sides of the banquet hall to place richly aromatic dishes before each of the guests. At one end of the hall, several mortal musicians began to play gently flowing music while a group of dancers entered the center of the banquet hall to begin a performance that was elegant if somewhat subdued.
"Brother Fang truly is fortunate," Yu Jinqi praised, raising his cup in a toast to the young lord and host of the evening. "To be offered such a dazzling flower and all you need to do is stretch out your hand to pluck it. It's a truly enviable position to be in," he said.
While he said the words, in truth, he didn't envy Fang Lin much at all. The young lady looked stunning but it would be impossible to make any breakthroughs in his alchemy if he had such an enchanting distraction by his side. His uncle Yu Tao had already been very patient in tutoring him for so many years. If he turned aside from his alchemy now to pursue a woman, he couldn't imagine the way his uncle would react!
"Perhaps I should have Brother Wu survey the portraits of women sent to me," Liu Mingtao added. "I'll commission him to visit the most promising of them and paint them the way he painted young Su Yao. Then I'll know which ones are true beauties that I'd otherwise miss out on!"
"Brothers, they say that a man should share his good fortune," Fang Lin said, returning the toast of his friends. "But I'm afraid this kind of fortune I must keep to myself. You're welcome to Brother Wu though, but I wonder if it's truly wise to let such a man near the women you may be interested in," he added, gesturing across the hall to where Wu Ling sat as the only man other than Su Yao's father on that side of the banquet hall.
Sitting among so many of Su Yao's friends, Wu Ling certainly looked like a young lord accompanied by a harem full of beauties. The glances that a few of the young women were tossing in his direction suggested they wouldn't mind if such an appearance were to become reality either.
On the Su family side of the hall, Su Xiang leaned over to her cousin to speak softly. "So, now that you've met him up close, what do you think?"
"He's a bit overwhelming," Su Yao said with a blush. "I felt like I could barely speak when we were standing in the middle of the hall. Being close to him, I felt…. It's hard to describe. Small even though he's not that much taller than I am, and, and, and just a little bit, um," she hesitated to put her feelings in words, not wanting her cousin to misunderstand but really only having one word to describe how she'd felt next to the members of the Fang family. "I felt unworthy."
"That may be their bloodline at play," Wu Ling cautioned. "I don't know what kind of bloodline they have, but I felt Fang Lin releasing a bit of that aura when I was in the waiting room with him. His father has the same kind of aura, only stronger. Since you haven't awakened yet, it must have been a bit overwhelming."
"So it's just a bloodline ability?" Su Xiang asked. "If that's the case, they shouldn't be unleashing it against a person who might marry into their family," she said with a frown. Her own bloodline ability was relatively passive for things that were surface-level. Simple deception would be obvious but she'd have to expend energy if she wanted to see deeply under the surface. It would be rude to unleash that kind of ability casually or when first meeting someone. She imagined that the Fang family's ability was much the same, there might be a passive element to it but what Wu Ling and her cousin were describing sounded both active and inappropriate.
"Maybe it wasn't intentional," Su Yao said gently, her eyes still shining as she regarded Fang Lin. "Maybe he just wanted to impress me."
Wu Ling shook his head. If that was the case, it was almost worse than if it was intentional. A man who used his bloodline to overawe his potential spouse and inlaws could be called arrogant and perhaps underhanded. A man with such abilities who couldn't control them, however, was a different kind of danger to the people around him.
"Fellow Cultivators, ladies and gentlemen," Fang Muchen said, standing to offer a cup in toast to the assembled guests. "Today I offer a cup to young love," he said before drinking his cup of wine dry and waiting for the assembled guests to match his gesture. Once they had, he continued speaking.
"It's rare for us to meet with friends from the Lapis Lake Ward but today we've had a chance to glimpse the beauty that can be found in unexpected places," Fang Muchen said warmly. "I've heard that young Su Yao is a student of the Pure Virtue Musician's Hall and I couldn't help but wonder if the young lady would be willing to share her talents with us this evening while we dine?"
Su Jixin frowned slightly when he heard the comment. It wasn't unexpected and in fact, he'd intended to ensure that his Yao'er had a chance to demonstrate her talents tonight, but asking now, before the main dishes had even been served, hardly felt like an appropriate moment. His daughter should be, at most, an accompaniment to dessert if she were to perform while people were still eating at all.
If her talents were truly being respected, she wouldn't be called forward until the meal had concluded and people could give her undivided attention. Still, he didn't want to cause a scene when his daughter was trying so hard to make a good impression on the young lord she fancied. Reminding himself that this was her moment, Su Jixin nodded in his daughter's direction. "Yao'er, would you like to take center stage?"