When a Blade of Grass Wants to Become Immortal

Chapter 185: Chapter 181: Wimp x Innocent Little Overlord 20

The engagement party.

Crystal chandeliers on the ceiling refracted light into a halo that resembled the Milky Way.

Ji Xiaosong lowered her head to adjust the camellia pin on Jiang Yao’s chest. Her fingers brushed against the dark red velvet as she chuckled. ”Chairman Ji brought President Wang into the banquet hall. The staff will invite them to the side parlor to enjoy some cigars.”

Jiang Yao took the back of her hand and kissed it gently. ”It’s fine. They can’t stir up any trouble.”

Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of shattering porcelain came from the southeast corner of the banquet hall.

Ji Fu was bent over, picking up a dropped porcelain dish of caviar, the back of his suit stained with champagne.

He flashed a wide, fawning smile at a passing shipping magnate, but the man paid him no mind, walking straight toward Old Sir Jiang, who was admiring an antique screen.

”Xiaosong.”

Ji Fu, holding half a glass of leftover wine, squeezed his way to the main table. He deliberately raised his voice, which sounded particularly jarring over the string quartet. ”Dad specifically bought a set of jade head ornaments at an auction for your dowry.”

Ji Xiaosong touched the Jiang Family’s ancestral ice-type jade hairpin in her hair. A perfectly polite smile touched her lips as she said, ”You always remember such useless things.”

She took the gift box and immediately handed it to an attendant, her ivory-white gloves leaving a faint impression on the silver-gilt ribbon.

Shen Fengming stirred her English black tea with an enamel spoon, the porcelain cup clinking softly against the saucer.

”Mr. Ji certainly has put on some weight since three years ago.”

Her gaze flickered over his loose bow tie. The vibrant green bracelet on her wrist made the beauty mark by the corner of her eye seem exceptionally cold and alluring. ”I hear Ms. Li lost two commercial properties at the casino last month?”

Ji Fu’s throat bobbed as he swallowed his profound embarrassment. He turned and smiled at a jewelry tycoon who was making small talk nearby. ”Chairman Qian, you still remember, don’t you? At Xiaosong’s one-month-old celebration, you even held her...”

”Uncle Qian.”

Ji Xiaosong quickly raised her glass, the ice wine tracing an amber arc through the air. ”Last time you mentioned wanting to hear a Pipa version of ’Jade Song.’ I’ve recorded a new demo, and I’ll have it sent to your home tomorrow.”

Chairman Qian immediately raised his glass and turned to her, his jade ring making a crisp sound as it clinked against the glass. ”Mrs. Jiang, you’re too kind. I heard you have a Zisha teapot by Mr. Gu Yizhou in your collection. I wonder if I might be so fortunate as to see it?”

Ji Fu stood with his glass raised, his hand frozen mid-air, like a marionette with its strings paused.

He suddenly saw Li Liping’s mink shawl flash past the doorway and started to chase after her, only to be blocked by a server carrying a tray of French foie gras tarts.

”I hear President Ji has been looking for shipping quotas recently?”

Jiang Yao casually twisted his wedding ring, the sapphire on its surface glinting with a dark light. He said coolly, ”The South Africa routes are under strict inspection these days. If you’re smuggling redwood, you’d better be careful of the customs’ X-ray machines.”

Hearing Jiang Yao’s words, Ji Fu’s face flushed red then paled, and the hand holding his wine glass began to tremble slightly.

He opened his mouth, but his throat was too dry to make a sound. He finally managed to force a smile that was uglier than a grimace. ”Young Master Jiang, you must be joking. How could I possibly be involved in something like smuggling? It’s just normal business. I’m only looking for shipping quotas to expand my operations a bit.”

His frantic eyes darted around, searching the faces of those nearby for any sign of hope, for anything to ease the tension. But everyone else continued their conversations as if nothing was happening, ignoring his predicament.

Ji Fu felt as if he’d been stripped naked in public. Deeply uncomfortable, he could only scratch his head awkwardly and let out a dry laugh. ”Young Master Jiang, please don’t misunderstand. I’m a timid man. I would never dare do anything illegal.”

Just then, he noticed several security guards casting wary glances in his direction, as if they would restrain him immediately if he made another unusual move.

Fine beads of sweat broke out on Ji Fu’s forehead, and his back was already soaked, his shirt clinging to his champagne-stained suit jacket.

’I’ve become a complete joke at this engagement party,’ he realized. ’Sticking around will only lead to more humiliation.’

But Ji Fu was unwilling to just leave in disgrace. He still wanted to salvage some of his dignity, so he brazenly said, ”Young Master Jiang, no matter what, I am still Xiaosong’s father. On an occasion like today...”

Before he could finish, Jiang Yao cut him off with an icy glare. He raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone carrying an unquestionable authority. ”Mr. Ji, today is my and Xiaosong’s engagement party. I must ask you not to cause any unpleasantness here.”

Ji Fu gritted his teeth, his face twitching. He knew he had no room left to maneuver.

He shot a venomous glare at Ji Xiaosong, who was leaning sweetly against Jiang Yao, and silently swore to himself that he would settle this score later.

The crystal chandeliers suddenly dimmed, and a three-tiered cake slowly rose into the spotlight.

Amid the applause, Ji Xiaosong took Jiang Yao’s arm, the train of her gown sweeping over Ji Fu’s dirtied leather shoes.

As she tilted her head and smiled, the cameras in the media section all turned toward the new couple, who were now cutting the cake.

”President Wang!”

Ji Fu suddenly strode quickly toward a figure’s back, downed his half-glass of leftover wine in one gulp, and slammed the glass down on a table. With flustered steps, he walked miserably toward the banquet hall’s exit, ignored by everyone.

No one cared whether President Wang was actually there.

Jiang Yao had made thorough preparations. Even with Ji Fu’s presence, nothing could disrupt the event.

Watching Ji Fu leave from a distance, Shen Fengming finally let out a sigh of relief.

The engagement party concluded perfectly. The very next day, Ji Xiaosong and Jiang Yao went to register their marriage.

The wedding itself would be in another year. After all, preparing for the wedding of the century was no simple matter.

For their wedding, the Jiang Family had specially purchased an island abroad, and Jiang Yao personally went to oversee its construction.

As the morning sun shone down, the three-dimensional plan for Jade Island slowly unfolded.

Jiang Yao held a fountain pen, its nib paused on a red-marked coral reef conservation area. ”The sonar system must avoid the humpback whale migration routes,” he said. ”Arrange for three scientific research vessels to monitor the surrounding waters on the day of the wedding.”

Ji Xiaosong, wrapped in a cashmere shawl and nestled on the sofa, swiped her finger across a tablet, reviewing geothermal data.

Jiang Yao continued, speaking to an engineer, ”The foundation for the Glazed Flower House needs to be dug twenty-seven meters deep. I want to plant thirty-nine varieties of epiphyllum, and their blooming times must be controlled by a lighting system from Country D, precise to the second.”

Outside the window, the roar of a construction helicopter could be heard. Twenty nautical miles away, a 300-ton jack-up rig was installing submarine cables.

The chief architect of the Jiang Group wiped sweat from his brow and explained, ”The titanium alloy moisture-proof system has passed a 72-hour hurricane test, but as for the island-wide glazed dome you requested...”

”Seventeen containers of seven-colored glaze, fired from the volcanic ash of BL Island, will arrive at the port next month.”

Jiang Yao drew a new yacht berth on the digital map. ”Remember to carve the reef cluster on the east coast into the shape of a musical staff. My wife wants to hold an underwater concert at high tide.”

The project director swallowed hard and asked, ”Then what about the infrared rays for the security system...?”

”Change them to phosphorescent particle beams.”

Ji Xiaosong suddenly looked up, the jade hairpin in her hair gleaming coldly in the dawn light. ”We’re releasing one hundred thousand fluorescent jellyfish on the wedding night. The electronic barrier can’t harm them.”

As the morning meeting concluded, six transport planes carrying rare orchids flew through the rose-gold sunrise.

Jiang Yao suddenly stopped the rotating holographic projector. ”Replicate the star chart from the night we first met on the dome of the Observatory, using the coordinates 7°21’ North latitude.”

The butler entered with a satellite phone just as the tide was washing over the newly laid smart sand beach.

A crystal chandelier flickered, indicating an encrypted channel. The butler said, ”Young Master, we’ve just intercepted four paparazzi boats disguised as fishing vessels. Two of them were flying the flag of Sky Rainbow Entertainment.”

”Send them to President Wang as a birthday gift.”

Jiang Yao loosened his tie, watching the boats locked by lasers on the monitor screen. ”And remember to triple the price of the coral villa that Chairman Li reserved last week. His son-in-law’s financial news channel exposed our yacht club yesterday.”

As the first rays of sunlight pierced the sea mist, Ji Xiaosong was tuning the pipe organ in the island’s central concert hall.

In a control center two hundred nautical miles away, thirty monitor screens lit up simultaneously, displaying:

schools of tuna leaping in the ecological farming zone, nanobots assembling the wedding arch, and bottles of 1945 Château Pétrus automatically turning themselves in the underground wine cellar.

The engineers at the tidal power station had no idea that the wave dissipation devices they were installing concealed the world’s most advanced desalination system.

Nor did the celebrities invited for a trial stay realize that the smart toilets in each villa could analyze guests’ metabolic data in real time, which would become the strategic basis for the Jiang Group’s entry into the wellness industry.

In the evening, as dusk fell, the third movement of the ”Moonlight Sonata” suddenly echoed across the entire island.

The workers tuning the fountain matrix saw one hundred twenty thousand nano-mirrors form the bride’s profile in the sky above the cliffs. Bioluminescent algae danced on the crests of the waves in time with the melody, and the seven hundred royal poinciana trees they had planted by hand were silently releasing sleep-aiding negative oxygen ions.

This wedding was destined to capture the world’s attention.