Chapter 4: Provocation

Strictly speaking, this person and I have no intersection. The only thing that made me remember him was a fleeting glance a few hours ago.

At that time, I had just woken up from a coma and was going to see Tao Bai with Lushan. In the glaring sunlight, I noticed a person staring at me, but I couldn’t see clearly and the person was already gone, so I thought I had seen it wrong.

Now, noticing this person again here, with my formidable memory, the two figures suddenly intermingled, and I was sure my judgment was correct.

He avoided my gaze, and my expression didn’t change. I pretended to be joking with Chengxin, while secretly sizing him up.

He was a young man, about the same age as me, medium height, a fair and gentle face, but with a somewhat arrogant expression and a somewhat gloomy gaze.

I am not a physiognomist, and I can tell a lot about a person at first glance. Even if I am not a physiognomist, I dare not easily judge a person without considering various specific circumstances.

However, the impression of a person at first glance is always of great reference value. I felt that this person was not a person of great character, and that he was so arrogant that he should also be quite favored by his master.

Thinking this way, I and Chengxin had already taken our seats, and Chengqing and the others had arrived one after another. There was a large round table with 20 people sitting around it, and almost everyone of high status was sitting next to our group.

After all, we had inexplicably gained a reputation for this incident and became the “protagonists” of this banquet. Even if we wanted to keep a low profile, we couldn’t.

I didn’t understand why that young man kept staring at me, and he looked quite unfriendly. But as the banquet began and I had a few cups of rice wine in me, I stopped thinking about it.

The country cuisine was fresh, and the rice wine had a long-lasting effect. By the middle of the banquet, I was already very happy! I ate a lot of food and drank almost everything that came my way. I was like a starving ghost for two days, and even though Brother Chengxin reminded me several times that the senior brother of the mountain-lettered clan should pay attention to his image, I just ignored him.

If the banquet had continued like this, it would have been a pleasant experience, but things are not always as expected.

Halfway through the banquet, the food had been served once, and I was starting to feel full and sleepy. I was just about to leave when trouble struck.

“The old Li family has always had a great reputation, but it was never obvious. Now that it has reached the generation of the descendants, it is estimated that they have changed their minds and want to glorify the family name. The reputation is even greater! I just don’t know if people like me, a junior, have the honor to drink with Chen Chengyi, the eldest disciple of the old Li family’s Shan generation.” A voice suddenly appeared next to me.

At that time, I was concentrating on chewing a large piece of pork in my bowl. When I suddenly heard this voice, the meat almost got stuck in my throat.

I was sitting down, the person who came was standing up, and the tone of voice was a bit condescending. Although the words were respectful, in fact, a fool could tell that it was actually prickly. Coupled with the obviously arrogant tone of voice, it made people very uncomfortable.

The reason why I almost choked on the meat was because I subconsciously wanted to hit him, but my reason stopped me. This kind of conflict led to the result.

The young man’s words made the atmosphere at the table a bit awkward for a while. After all, besides our group, everyone at the table was an old man or woman, a person who was like a human essence. How could they not be able to tell the young man’s provocation?

But the young man was actually being polite, and there was nothing wrong with what he said. Plus, everyone here was from a martial arts school that had some connection to Hucun, and maybe he was a disciple of a major school. It would be bad to scold him, so the awkwardness turned into silence.

“Ji Qing, everyone at this table is an elder. You’ve had a few drinks, so why are you running around this table like a little kid?” In the midst of the silence, an old man suddenly spoke up. His face was flushed, and I think this is the face of Guan Yu in the Three Kingdoms, which is described as having a face like a jujube.

To be honest, I have some impression of this old man. All the elders at the table were quite warm and welcoming to me, but he was the only one who was neither warm nor cold to me. Although it was not so bad that he was rude, it still made people feel a sense of estrangement.

Of course, this is just an impression, not a reflection of my true feelings. I don’t think that everyone in the world should like me and be enthusiastic about me. It’s normal that I don’t like the first person I see. This kind of trivial matter is not worth paying attention to.

But now that he suddenly spoke, it was obvious that he and the owner of the voice had a connection, so this matter was quite interesting.

I quickly finished the ribs, grabbed a piece of paper, wiped my hands and mouth, and already saw in the corner of my eye that this young man was the one who had been staring at me all day. Since his master had spoken, I didn’t want to say anything about it.

“Uncle, I haven’t been drinking, I’m not messing around. This is the first drink of the day, and I wanted to toast the most popular young person in our circle, which is only right.” Facing the old man, Ji Qing’s voice finally had a hint of respect, but it seemed that he was stuck with me.

The old man didn’t say anything after hearing this reasonable explanation, and everyone was even more reluctant to speak. They all looked at me, probably wondering how I would handle this situation. Was I angry and making sarcastic remarks? Or was I just pretending nothing had happened?

I didn’t change my expression, and I reached out and took the wine bowl, but I felt uncomfortable. What a show-off! The first person! These adjectives were put on me, and no matter how I heard it, I felt that this person was actually being sarcastic.

But it doesn’t matter. I’m not interested in why he’s being sarcastic to me, unless he’s directly provoking me.

Not only me, even Chengxin, who never gives in to verbal abuse, frowned slightly and then continued to pick up the food. Xiao, the young master, who was always hot-tempered, was struggling with a fish in a very unpresentable way, and he cursed, “A cooked fish has many spines, and it can stab people. It is also a fish, and it is also a cooked fish.”

The young man glanced at Xiao Chengqian, and a flash of dissatisfaction passed through his eyes. Then his attention fell on me. I stood up brashly, holding a wine glass in both hands, and simply said, “Then I’m honored that you think so highly of me. I’ll drink to you first.”

After saying that, I didn’t care what he thought, and forced the glass to touch his glass, drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, then raised the glass to indicate, and sat down.

This was the most respectful way to handle the situation. When I sat down, I could see a hint of appreciation in Zheng’s eyes. After all, I had given the host face, and he didn’t explode on the spot.

Come to think of it, which young person isn’t hot-tempered? Even if they fight on the spot, what can others say?

“Hey, I’m talking to you. You’ve already drunk the toast and the wine. Why are you still standing here? Go back and sit down and eat. Do you think the host’s food is bad?” After I finished drinking, Ji Qing didn’t leave, but stood next to me blankly. I was too lazy to respond, lest I cause more trouble if I answered, but Xiao Daxia couldn’t help it.

In fact, he has already given me a lot of face by holding back until now.

Ji Qing looked at Xiao Chengqian and said directly, “Who are you? I don’t know you. What right do you have to make me leave?”

“You don’t have to know me, and it doesn’t matter if you leave or not, but you’re blocking my view of the food and affecting my mood, so I’m letting you leave, okay?” As Xiao Chengqian spoke, he threw down his chopsticks, stood up, and put his hands in his pockets. That was the arrogance of a real young master.

That kind of temperament coupled with these words actually made people feel that it was only natural for him to say them, even though in fact he was quite deserving of a beating.

At this point, the old man, whose face had turned red, looked very unpleasant. After all, his own disciple had been insulted like this, and it was embarrassing for the elders to be on the receiving end. He could only cough twice and look at Master Zheng.

Master Zheng’s face was also rather ugly. After all, he was the host, so he had to stand up and say, “Sit down, it’s time to eat and drink. It’s a great day today, and it’s ugly to quarrel! If you don’t give me face, just forget it.”

Xiao Chengqian also seemed to have vented his anger, and sat down. However, Ji Qing suddenly stepped forward at this time and said loudly, “Actually, I wanted to discuss everything with Chen Chengyi. Since his friend has already torn his face, I don’t need to be polite. Chen Chengyi, do you dare or not?”

Why are you looking for me to discuss things? I was chewing on a piece of pork, and this time the meat almost got stuck in my throat.