Page Sixty-Three: Entering the Palace
I glanced at the time and tossed aside a large handful of UNO cards.
“Half past four. It’s time to stop playing and get ready to leave.”
“U, U, UNO!”
Xiǎo Lěi, who rarely had a chance to win, pointed angrily at my nose. “Chairman, you’re just bad at playing and trying to cheat!”
Líng Shàojié also threw down a card, stretching lazily. “UNO~ I should probably go contact my friends now. I need to borrow their press passes to get in.”
“UNO! Don’t rush off the car once we enter. Check the situation first. If we bump straight into Lín Yùhuáng, it will be troublesome…”
Before Lǐn Huā could finish her sentence, Sister Shān threw her card back.
“Don’t shout ‘Uno’ randomly. Your card doesn’t match the color and number.”
Ah, they were cheating.
Líng Shàojié left alone to find her journalist friend, while Yuǎnyuè drove us through the grand white stone archway leading to the palace.
“There are… eight people, right?”
After the staff preliminarily checked our invitations, we followed the still-green hedges in winter and drove toward the parking lot beside the main hall. The automated multi-story garage was already filled with luxury cars… well, any car I couldn’t recognize must be a luxury car.
“What kind of big shots are coming here?”
Yuǎnyuè parked the car and joked, “Celebrities, politicians, wealthy merchants. Just know that if you mess up this coming-of-age ceremony, Lín Yùhuáng might have to buy your hands and feet.”
Yuǎnyuè’s business car slowly ascended to the second floor of the garage. Everyone gathered as we walked toward the white palace. There was a temporary corridor from the parking lot to the main entrance, though it lacked heating. It provided some shelter from the wind and rain, which was considerate for guests wearing formal attire, even if fur coats didn’t keep them warm.
—”They’ll check the invitations again at the main entrance. There might be someone from the Lin family welcoming guests… No, it will be more complicated than that.”—
Although puzzled, I soon understood what Cherry Sauce meant by “complicated.”
The tall man standing at the entrance was undoubtedly Lín Yùhuáng, whom we had met before. If he personally checked the invitations, it would make things difficult for Líng Shàojié later.
We needed to find a way to distract him.
“Why is the head of the family standing like a security guard at the entrance?”
Xiǎo Lěi noticed Lín Yùhuáng too, but Lǐn Huā silenced her with a hand over her mouth.
“Hush! Pay attention to where you speak! Today is Lín Zǐyè’s coming-of-age ceremony. As his father, Lín Yùhuáng greeting important guests at the entrance is perfectly normal, right? But look at the woman standing next to him. I bet she’s the stepmother.”
Lín Xīmí, the wife Lín Yùhuáng remarried after Lín Xīmí’s death, was supposed to be a young and beautiful wife, but she turned out to be an ordinary woman. Though dressed lavishly, her demeanor was simple, blending easily into a crowd.
—It seems they truly love each other.
—”Where is Lín Zǐyè?”—
Cherry Sauce asked.
—”If it’s Lín Zǐyè’s coming-of-age ceremony, shouldn’t he be at the entrance greeting guests? There’s no sign of him in the entire main hall.”—
This was indeed unusual, perhaps he was preparing for something else.
Blocking the entrance would draw attention. We didn’t stop, following Yuǎnyuè’s family to prepare for entry, but didn’t interact much. After all, if anything serious happened, we couldn’t drag them into it.
But Yuǎnyuè certainly had presence, being the CEO of a major corporation.
Other guests entered the hall, and Lín Yùhuáng watched from the side. However, when Yuǎnyuè entered, the tall middle-aged man approached her and shook her hand warmly, even holding onto her hand tightly… This was quite excessive, and the speculation that he might be responsible for two pregnancies seemed true.
—”Tsk, looks like an old lecher.”—
Then, Sister Léiluó protested and separated them.
This made Lín Yùhuáng feel awkward as he rubbed his hand, which had been slapped by the little girl.
“Haha, thank you, miss. Is this your youngest daughter?”
“Hehe, isn’t it obvious?”
In response to Lín Yùhuáng’s question, Yuǎnyuè smiled politely, picked up Léiluó, kissed her cheek, and introduced, “The same goes for them. They are all my daughters.”
Facing three beautiful girls of similar age but different styles, Lín Yùhuáng was quite surprised.
He praised, “Not only you, but your daughters are also extraordinary. If my son wasn’t engaged, I’d introduce them to each other.”
Yuǎnyuè nodded to the ordinary-looking woman beside her and replied, “Mr. Lin, there’s no need to worry. Even if they are engaged, they can still meet. Friends between children don’t necessarily mean anything serious. Ordinary friendship is fine too, right?”
“That boy, even if he wants to, may not have the chance… Did Mr. Lin come today?”
To this, Yuǎnyuè vaguely responded, “Oh, he’s busy with work.”
“That’s such a pity.”
Actually, he had come.
Yuǎnyuò put Léiluó back on the ground and held Sister Shān’s hand, heading inside the palace.
“Miss?”
A staff member in a suit and white gloves interrupted my thoughts with a question.
“Miss, do you have your invitation?”
“Oh, yes.”
Lǐn Huā took out three black envelopes from her handbag and handed them to me, who then passed them to the staff.
“Huángfǔ…”
The staff paused momentarily, but quickly returned the invitations and said, “Three ladies, please proceed. You can sit anywhere except designated seats. Although there are more seats than the invitations suggest, please stay seated until the event starts.”
Not just the staff, even other guests looked at us in various ways… Indeed, it’s strange for Huángfǔ family members to appear at the Lin family’s coming-of-age ceremony?
—”Don’t take it too seriously, maybe they just think you’re pretty.”—
“Three ladies, wait a moment.”
Lín Yùhuáng, who had just greeted Yuǎnyuò, called out to us… Tsk, the Huángfǔ family’s “presence” isn’t any less impressive than Yuǎnyuò’s.
Lǐn Huā responded.
“Oh, Chairman Lin, is there something you need?”
“No need to be so formal. You can call me Uncle Lin at your age. If I’m not mistaken, you are children of the Huángfǔ family, right?”
“Yes, I got the invitation through my mother and brought friends along.”
Though Lǐn Huā answered, Lín Yùhuáng kept staring at me, making me uneasy.
Does this old lecher have any interest in me?
“Oh, is that so…”
Lín Yùhuáng frowned slightly, as if he had more questions.
But he glanced at his wife and finally said, “No need to be拘
