Gathering of Guests
"Your Majesty, the banquet has already begun."
Chancellor Han glanced at the ti, slowly walked behind Ying Fu, who was sitting and taking a short rest, and spoke softly, "Fu Kun and Zheng Zhiqing have already taken their seats. They are just waiting for us..."
Ying Fu slowly opened his eyes, a touch of exhaustion flashing through them.
Chancellor Han caught this minute change,
"Your Majesty, has that era encountered trouble again?"
"...A slight unforeseen event occurred." Ying Fu seemingly didn't plan on revealing more to Chancellor Han, only slowly standing up. "Our plan needs to be hurried along."
Ying Fu put on the glasses Chancellor Han handed over, once again restraining the imperial aura on his body. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he seed like a young university student with an extraordinary bearing.
Chancellor Han also tidied up his attire and pushed the door out. Ying Fu calmly followed behind.
"I... I am attending a banquet in this era for the first ti. Is there anything I need to pay attention to?" Ying Fu suddenly asked.
Chancellor Han thought carefully. "The banquet this ti is relatively less formal. It seems to be small hot pots, a Wushan specialty. Everyone has a seat. The banquets hosted by Bureau 749 have always been very ticulous. They will place naplates on each seat in advance. When the ti cos, we just need to sit according to the naplate.
"Besides that, the seats will most likely be arranged according to seniority and Rank... Your Maj... Your current identity is my student, so you should be arranged by my side."
"It ought to be so," Ying Fu nodded slightly.
"I rember you told that among the White Hands of Bureau 749, you are the one with the oldest qualifications... So, our seats will be at the very front?"
"This..."
Chancellor Han's expression was sowhat awkward. "If it were in the past, that would indeed be the case... But this ti is a bit different."
"What is different about it?"
"I heard that this ti, a Mister with even older qualifications has returned from overseas."
Chancellor Han paused for a mont. "Before you found , I had already retired from Bureau 749 for many years, so I have never t that Mister... However, I heard that even Sun Zhongliang received his kindness when he was a child. His history is even more ancient than Bureau 749."
"Oh? There is such a figure?" Ying Fu seed very interested.
"Yes, he is also on that list. I'll point him out to you once we arrive at the scene in a bit."
As they spoke, the two had already gone downstairs and walked to the entrance of the banquet venue. Four or five Bureau 749 staff mbers dressed in suits and leather shoes were at the door registering the guests.
When these people saw Chancellor Han walking toward them, they imdiately spoke respectfully:
"Mr. Han, you have arrived."
"En." Chancellor Han nodded slightly. His temperant was already different from when he was in front of Ying Fu. His entire person emanated a faint sense of pressure. He glanced into the venue. "Has it started already?"
"Most of the guests have arrived, but we have to wait for you and another Mister to arrive before we start."
"What about the seats?"
"They have all been arranged for you."
A staff mber glanced at Ying Fu behind Chancellor Han and lowered their head to start checking the list. "This is the student accompanying you? His na is... Li Fu?"
"Correct, that's ," Ying Fu answered indifferently.
"Mr. Han truly has students all over the world." The staff mber didn't dare to be negligent and imdiately made a gesture of invitation. "Let take you two to your seats. Please follow ."
Under the staff mber's guidance, the two walked straight into the venue.
Calling it a venue, it looked more like Bureau 749 had directly chartered the restaurant next door and used an entire floor as the banquet area. Although the decoration was a bit old, it was spacious enough.
In the center of the venue was a sizable square Stage. Surrounding it in circles were many independent small tables. The guests sat cross-legged on the ground. The hot pots on the small tables were bubbling and emitting hot steam. Combined with the unique folk and regional style of the decorations, it looked very much like a song and dance banquet of an ethnic minority.
This was the first ti Ying Fu had seen this kind of banquet format. His eyes behind the lenses continuously observed the surroundings. At the sa ti, Chancellor Han lowered his voice and said:
"Every year, Bureau 749's conference is publicly declared as the Intangible Cultural Heritage Conference. Therefore, the banquet layout also focuses more on cultural characteristics. The format is different every year."
Ying Fu nodded slightly.
As soon as Chancellor Han and Ying Fu entered, they attracted the gazes of many people. The vast majority of them focused their attention on Chancellor Han, their eyes full of awe and curiosity... To them, Chancellor Han was their senior, their teacher, and furthermore, the legend of the Path of the Scholar God who made a huge na for himself in his early years.
"Grandmother, who is that old man?" Yao Qing asked in a low voice while drinking the cola on the table.
"He is Han Shuzhi, the pinnacle of the Path of the Scholar God in this era... He is also Grandmother's old rival." Xiao Chunping looked at Chancellor Han, who was slowly walking over. As if recalling the past, she laughed self-deprecatingly,
"In our early years, when the two of us were still young, we had quite a lot of friction over the ideologies of the Path of the Scholar God and the Path of the Arts... Later, when we grew older and couldn't fight anymore, we both retired."
"Oh~ So he's Grandmother's mortal enemy!"
Yao Qing imdiately sided with Xiao Chunping and spoke in a strange, mocking tone,
"I was just saying I didn't find that old man pleasing to the eye... And that guy behind him, one look and you can tell he's a pretender!"
Xiao Chunping laughed out loud. Her wrinkle-filled palm dotingly rubbed Yao Qing's head. "As expected of Grandmother's good grandson."
Just as the two were speaking, Chancellor Han and Ying Fu had already passed by their table. The forr's peripheral vision caught sight of Xiao Chunping, and he let out a light sound of surprise.
"Teacher Xiao, long ti no see."
Xiao Chunping stood up from behind the table and shook hands with Chancellor Han's extended hand. "Aiya, it's been so many years since we last t, we've both grown old... Just now, at a glance, I almost didn't recognize you."
"Haha, Teacher Xiao is joking. I normally still pay great attention to maintaining myself. When my students see , they all say I look young... But Teacher Xiao, it seems that after retiring, life's pressures are still quite big?" Chancellor Han's face was full of smiles.
"A person has to admit when they're old. Dyeing one's white hair black doesn't count as maintenance," Xiao Chunping also laughed.
The corners of Chancellor Han's mouth stiffened, and he very naturally brought up another topic:
"Is this your grandson?"
"Yeah, my good grandson Yao Qing." Xiao Chunping smiled while rubbing Yao Qing's head. "At such a young age, he's already embarked on the Path of the Arts just like . I just said I'd bring him to the Wushan Conference to see the world... I feel that casting a wide net and taking in many students but not being responsible for them is not as good as carefully cultivating a single good seedling. Teacher Han, wouldn't you say so?"
The smile at the corners of Chancellor Han's mouth gradually disappeared, but he still waved his hand uncaringly. "Teacher Xiao, the children are all still young. How they will develop in the future... is truly hard to say."
Ying Fu's gaze landed on the young Yao Qing, his expression sowhat subtle.
The Azure Spirit Dao Chief of the Nine Monarchs era, the first Demigod of the Red Dust Domain, the Floating Life Painting Chief Yao Qing; he naturally still recognized him...
It was just that Ying Fu didn't understand. He clearly hadn't t the young Yao Qing face-to-face, so why was Yao Qing constantly staring at him with ill intent?
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