Chapter 23: The College Celebration Banquet

Chapter 23: The College Celebration Banquet

Upon hearing Xu Qingran's words, Xu Qingran's father's face turned red with anger.

Ignoring the crowd of relatives, friends, and outsiders, he pointed at Xu Qingran and shouted, "You little brat, are you doing this on purpose?!"

Almost everyone present knew that Xu Qingran's attractive stepmother had recently fallen from the upstairs at home. Although she was rushed to the hospital, she ultimately lost the baby.

And what caused her to fall was a small model of Voltman.

No one knew how the toy got there, but everyone speculated that it must have fallen out unnoticed when they were moving the box of toys they bought for the baby upstairs, leading to such a tragedy.

The model's broken arm is still missing.

The Xu family was already grieving the loss of the child, and now Xu Qingran had brought it up at such a time, giving a gift his stepmother least wanted to see, whether intentional or not.

After learning the truth, Xu Qingran innocently said, "You can't blame me for this."

"When I left home, everything was fine. You never reach out to me, no matter the issue, and no one ever mentioned this to me. How could I have known?"

He looked regretful, then stared into his stepmother's eyes and said, "Auntie, I remember reminding you a long time ago to do good deeds for the baby in your belly. Otherwise, your past misdeeds would come back to haunt you."

The stepmother met Xu Qingran's gaze and was frightened and guilty under the dark stare of his deep brown eyes. She subconsciously recalled her actions many years ago, but Xu Qingran was still young back then, and even earlier, he hadn't even been born yet. There was no way he could know about those old stories!

Xu Qingran's father couldn't tolerate his sarcastic remarks and angrily scolded, "You brat, what nonsense are you spouting?! On such a happy occasion, you just have to ruin it, don't you?"

"Dad," Xu Qingran shifted his target, his tone of respect as cold as a stranger's, "I'm your child too. Why are you only holding a college celebration banquet for Qingan?"

"Not throwing one for me is one thing, but you didn't even invite me."

"What? With a new wife and stepson, the child from your first wife is worthless now?"

Xu Qingran was smiling, but his gaze sent shivers down everyone's spine.

He curled his lips in a sarcastic tone, "If I didn't know better, I'd think Xu Qingan is your real son."

The guests attending the banquet whispered among themselves, their gazes on Xu Qingran filled with surprise. Hearing these words from him, upon reflection, they did make some sense.

Even if Xu Qingran was rebellious, he was still his own flesh and blood. Moreover, Xu Qingran's father had spent years marketing his deep love for his first wife. If that were true, he should have loved the child from that marriage as well.

But now, it was clear that his relationship with Xu Qingran was extremely strained. Over the years, the difference in how he treated Xu Qingran and Xu Qingan, when recalled in detail, would reveal some discrepancies, leading people to suspect something unusual.

Upon hearing this, Lu Cheng turned to Xu Qingan next to him and asked, "Didn't you tell me that your brother refused your invitation?"

Xu Qingan looked flustered, biting his lower lip and lowering his head, saying, "My parents were afraid my brother would make a scene like last time, so... blame me. I didn't insist on persuading them to change their minds."

Xu Qingran's father, having his thoughts exposed, almost couldn't maintain his composure and could only suppress his anger to change the subject, "You were rejected by the school, so what promotion are you talking about?!"

Xu Qingran chuckled, "Why not? The school has already registered my information."

The military academy kept things so secret that no rumors leaked.

Xu Qingran's father assumed he had given up and applied to some no-name university, and said irritably, "Qingan is going to the medical school of Grandis University, how can that be the same?!"

When he went to the military academy with Shen Tingyu that day, the academy had reminded him not to disclose the admission before the school started.

So he didn't reveal the news, only saying, "Qingan's promotion is indeed worth celebrating."

"So, to congratulate my stepbrother on his successful promotion, I've gone out of my way to prepare a special gift for him."

As soon as the words were spoken, a notification came through on his phone.

Xu Qingran raised an eyebrow: "What a coincidence, just as I brought it up, it arrived."

Upon hearing the word "surprise," the Xu family felt a sinking feeling in their hearts, a strong sense of foreboding. Sure enough, when Xu Qingran led a group of people with gifts and flowers into the banquet hall, the Xu family and Xu Qingan himself turned pale.

Batch after batch of funeral-white bouquets were carried out of the elevator, quickly filling the open space outside the hall. A group of professional performers dressed in bright red festive robes, carrying various gongs and drums, marched in, grinning broadly, banging the gongs loudly.

On the day of the engagement party.

Xu Qingan had sent funeral wreaths in his name, and today Xu Qingran had ordered a truckload of white flowers, with a black-and-white photo of Xu Qingan placed in the middle of the flower pile, surpassing the previous scene.

He remarked: "I think the color of white lotus suits you very well."

Xu Qingan had hired people to mourn at his engagement party in his name, so today he hired professional performers.

He requested a joyful atmosphere, with a cheerful tune titled "Failing the Imperial Examination."

He also hired a calligrapher to personally write a couplet for Xu Qingan as a gift. The gift bearers, dressed in exquisite Tang suits, each holding a scroll, approached Xu Qingran, their expressions perfectly composed.

Then they turned the scrolls towards Xu Qingan and dramatically unfurled them in unison.

The first line,

——How can one practice medicine with a heart of benevolence if one's conduct is improper.

The second line,

——How can one treat the world without virtue and courtesy.

The horizontal scroll,

——May you have a failed graduation and unfulfilled dreams.

The entire hall abruptly fell silent.

The Xu family relatives were also stunned.

Only the performers and drummers kept up the noise, as if it were New Year.

The central figure of the day, Xu Qingan, was so angry that his eyes turned red, his fists clenched, and his breathing became increasingly rapid.

Xu Qingran looked at him and smiled mockingly.

Didn’t he love to accuse me of causing a scene? Today, I’ll show this stepbrother what a real scene looks like.

"Last time you said I sent a suicide note to Lu Cheng, pretended to hang myself, and caused a scene at your engagement party, right?"

As he spoke, Xu Qingran approached one of the people he had hired, took the brand-new iron rod he was holding with both hands. He looked down at it, patted it to confirm its sturdiness, then slowly dragged it to Xu Qingan.

When he raised his eyes to meet Xu Qingan's gaze again, there was no trace of a smile in his eyes: "You like to direct and act, to cause a scene? Want to experience it? Today I'll let you experience it to the fullest."

Without warning, he suddenly swung the rod at Xu Qingan's abdomen. The heavy collision sound sent shivers down everyone’s spines.

The guests, shocked, covered their mouths, not expecting him to actually strike. Some frightened guests instinctively wanted to flee the scene, but were frozen in place by the sound of Xu Qingran smashing the table.

The table covered with pink and white silk cloth instantly splintered into fragments.

The sound of shattering tableware halted the guests’ panic and flight.

Xu Qingran leaned casually on the rod, propping himself up with his hand, lazily letting half his weight rest on it. "No one leaves until I say so."

His cold tone carried a reckless, almost unhinged disregard for everyone's safety, as if he’d strap bombs to himself and take the whole building down with him if anyone tried to leave.

In any case, everyone obediently stayed put—even though they should be well aware that, in their memory, the other party was just an F-level psychic, weak and powerless.

Lu Cheng rushed to support Xu Qingan, who was clutching his waist, coughing violently, and grimacing in pain. Then he glared at the weapon-wielding figure, radiating arrogance and aloofness: "Xu Qingran!"

"I knew you were stubborn, but I never thought you’d turn into this monster! Qingan’s still your brother, no matter what! How could you actually hurt him?!"

Xu Qingran sneered: "True, I’m late to the party."

"I should’ve broken your legs the moment I found out you two were sneaking around on my birthday."

His cold voice landed with force.

The crowd, initially concerned, slowly shifted to morbid curiosity.

Lu Cheng didn’t expect Xu Qingran to bring this matter up in front of so many people. Despite his usual composure, a flush of shame and anger crept across his face. Especially with so many juniors, seniors, and familiar teachers present, he felt his face burning with heat.

Before he could respond, Xu Qingran looked at Xu Qingan again, not missing the flash of hatred in his eyes.

He smiled: "You sent me those bed photos of you and Lu Cheng on your engagement day, used my absence to have me dragged off to South District 13, sent letters to Lu Cheng in my name, and orchestrated this whole spectacle, all for today’s drama, wasn’t it?"

"How about it? The show I put on today outclasses your little schemes, don’t you think?"

Lu Cheng was stunned, his brows furrowed tightly: "What are you talking about?"

Xu Qingran's eyes shifted slightly, looking at him sideways: "Do you really think you’re such a big deal, Lu Cheng?"

"You’re just a used-up mess. Why would I waste tears or theatrics on your engagement day?"

"For the Silver Dragon Battalion’s top colonel, your judgment’s pathetic." He silently raised the corner of his mouth, staring straight into Lu Cheng's eyes, hitting his sore spot, "You don’t hold a candle to Shen Tingyu of the Golden Wing Battalion."

Sure enough, as soon as these words fell, Lu Cheng's lips turned pale.

But what hurt him the most was the look in Xu Qingran's eyes, filled with disgust and unfamiliarity, quietly piercing his heart. Only now did he realize the rift between him and Xu Qingran was too deep to mend.

Xu Qingran: "Let me make this clear: I had nothing to do with the engagement party mess."

"But from now on, I’ll crash every single one of your parties, Xu Qingan."

With that, he looked at Xu Qingan, who had straightened up, pinched his chin, and forced him to meet his gaze: "If you’re going to slander me, I might as well live up to it, right?"

The grip was so tight it felt like he wanted to crush his jaw.

Despite his hatred, Xu Qingan couldn’t help but tremble under Xu Qingran’s piercing, abyss-like gaze. Before he could struggle, he was thrown aside again.

This time, Lu Cheng didn’t rush to his aid, instead asking in a low voice: "...Qingan, what exactly is going on?"

Xu Qingan's nails dug deeply into his flesh, then quickly released, his expression weak and innocent: "I don’t know, I didn’t do what he said..."

Hearing this, Xu Qingran took out a stack of printed photos from his pocket and threw them into the air like scattering banknotes, falling like heavenly flowers. Those nearby could clearly see the photos of Xu Qingan and Lu Cheng tangled up in bed.

They weren’t even wearing a single piece of clothing.

The last photo held by Xu Qingran even captured the time on the bedside table, showing the date of that night.

It was indeed Xu Qingran's birthday earlier this year!

"Oh? So, was there a third person in the room while you were... you know, acting as your photographer? Otherwise, where did these photos come from?"

Xu Qingan's pupils contracted.

The photos he had anonymously sent to Xu Qingran were set to self-destruct after being viewed. How did he manage to print them out?!

The system indicated it could handle this question.

Cracking any non-intelligent system was a trivial matter for it!

"Liar," Xu Qingran spat, his eyes flashing with irritation as he raised his fist again.

But Lu Cheng stepped in, blocking him.

In his eyes, there was an inexplicable pain: "...Don't hit anymore. If someone dies, you'll end up back in the Tower of Evil."

It sounded more like he was worried about Xu Qingran.

Xu Qingran sneered, brushing off the concern. "Not just him. Piss me off, and I'll take you down too."

Lu Cheng pursed his lips: "You can't beat me."

Even as he spoke, the shock lingered in his chest.

When he blocked the attack for Xu Qingan, he felt the spiritual resonance emanating from Xu Qingran through the weapon. From his years of training and sparring, he knew that kind of power only came from someone with a spiritual pool between B and A level.

...But this was Xu Qingran.

He knew better than anyone how fragile Xu Qingran was, which was why he always kept an eye on him.

Lu Cheng blinked, momentarily stunned.

Suddenly, it hit him: in just a few months, Xu Qingran—the one who always needed protection and trailed after him—had quietly grown up. The admiration and love in those beautiful eyes were gone, replaced by nothing but cold hatred.

"Do I look like I care if I can beat you?" Xu Qingran suddenly smirked.

For a moment, it was like they were back in the old days.

But the next words sent a chill down his spine: "I don’t care if I die, as long as I take a piece of you with me."

In his past life, Xu Qingran had faced all kinds of ruthless opponents.

Whether it was one-on-one or a brawl, whether the opponent was weaker or stronger, 'retreat' wasn’t in his vocabulary.

He’d either walk through blood to victory or fight until his last breath.

Amid the tense standoff, the stepmother—who’d hit Xu Qingran with a spiritual shock the moment he walked in—suddenly rushed over.

She stepped in front of Xu Qingan, tears streaming down her face. "Stop this! Stop fighting!"

"This isn’t Qingran’s fault—it’s mine, all mine!"

The stepmother, who looked decades younger than her forty years, wept pitifully, her eyes begging for sympathy from the crowd.

She clutched her chest, her face a mask of sorrow. "I’m the one who brought An’an into the Xu family, tearing this household apart. Qingran had just lost his mother back then, and I shouldn’t have rushed in at his father’s request."

"Don’t blame him—he’s lost everything, and it’s not his fault. It’s mine!" As she spoke, she dropped to her knees, trembling, drawing gasps from the crowd. Some of the older onlookers shot Xu Qingran disapproving looks.

Seeing this, Xu Qingran's father hurried over to bend down and help his concubine up: "Oh, Ailian, how can you say that! It's also my fault. I didn't take Qingran's feelings into account and forced you to enter the Xu family early to help take care of this child!"

The couple's act was clearly an attempt to salvage their own and the Xu family's image and divert attention.

Xu Qingran looked down at the nearly kneeling pair, showing no trace of guilt or panic, but instead bearing it with righteous composure, his gaze as cold as a god looking down upon sinners.

After a moment, he chuckled and said, "Auntie, are you sure this is what you need to apologize to me for?"

"Not for sleeping with my father while my mother was pregnant with me, and years later, openly entering the Xu family with my half-sibling? Or for finding someone to drug my mother while she was pregnant, causing my spiritual pool to be damaged from birth and her health to deteriorate until she lost her job and eventually her life?"

"Or perhaps, for taking advantage of my father going out with you to have someone break into our home and kill my mother?"

The stepmother suddenly raised her head, the momentary fear on her face betraying her true feelings.

Xu Qingran smiled slightly, looking down as if at insignificant ants: "Let me think, there are many things you should apologize for, but none of them are what you just mentioned."

At this moment, even Xu Qingran's father showed a flicker of guilt, and the other Xu family members present were visibly shocked.

Whether they were surprised by the father's misdeeds or worried about the Xu family's reputation was unclear.

Lu Cheng was equally astonished, glancing at Xu Qingan, who was staring in shock at Xu Qingran and his parents, but not showing much surprise.

As if he had known the truth long ago.

Lu Cheng stared at the unspeakable photos at his feet, relieved that his parents were too busy with work to attend today's event, but also feeling confused. He suddenly began to doubt his feelings, the decision to part with Xu Qingran, and whether his fiancée Xu Qingan was truly as perfect as he thought.

On the other side, the stepmother's voice trembled slightly: "Qing... Qingran, Auntie knows you're angry about me and Qingan entering your world, but you can't wrong us like this..."

"Shall we conduct a DNA test right here?" Xu Qingran sneered, as a girl carrying a toolbox, who had arrived with the hired staff, silently stepped forward.

It was the nurse named Lin Xiao whom Xu Qingran had met at Silver Dragon United Hospital.

Lin Xiao, under the weight of countless gazes, bravely said, "The tools are all here, and we can get the results right away."

She was socially anxious, regretting that she was on duty in Xu Qingran's consultation room that day, and even more regretting that she was the one who handed him the gloves, making him remember her. So when he made the request, he specifically asked for her to come.

The only upside was probably being able to witness the live drama.

Only then did Xu Qingran's father and stepmother realize that Xu Qingran had come fully prepared.

He was determined to thoroughly ruin the event today, eliminating any possibility of them manipulating or making excuses.

Xu Qingran asked them with a smile, "So? Dare you?"

Xu Qingran's father and stepmother remained silent.

The silence at this moment was more like an admission, startling the onlookers into gasping again.

He added, "And there's evidence of you drugging my mother and inciting someone to kill her."

"Auntie, sending you to court is a matter of minutes."

Hearing this, his white lotus stepmother fainted.

Perhaps unable to bear the pressure, or perhaps trying to escape.

The guests who had come joyfully to the promotion banquet were now completely engrossed in the drama.

What a massive family scandal!

The branch relatives of the Xu family were so furious that their faces turned as black as the bottom of a pot. They wished they could teach Xu Qingran's father and his wife a lesson right then and there, and also resented Xu Qingran for being so merciless, exposing all these scandals in front of so many outsiders.

Xu Qingran had already achieved his goal and certainly wouldn't care about their thoughts.

He then reminded his father again: "By the way, Dad, in a little over two years, I will reach the age specified in my mother's will. To make the property division easier at that time, I suggest you start organizing it now."

"I think I should be able to live well until I reach the age to inherit the estate, right?" He deliberately emphasized the word 'well' to leave an impression on others.

From now on, the Xu family would have to keep a close eye on him. If anything happened to him, all sorts of conspiracy theories and blame would land on their heads.

After finishing this series of actions, Xu Qingran casually threw away the stick in his hand and calmly said to everyone, "Alright, my blessings end here. I won't be joining the upcoming dining session. Sitting at the same table with these people makes me sick."

With that, he turned and left the banquet hall.

The commotion behind him grew louder. The elderly head of the Xu family, with his graying hair, was so furious that his heart ached. Everyone clamored to check on his condition. The guests, meanwhile, were at a loss, discussing the drama and wondering if the evening banquet should continue.

Xu Qingran walked out of the hotel building, where the crescent moon hung high in the sky. In the front yard, many hotel guests were milling about. In the lit Western-style retro pavilion, several elegant noblewomen were chatting and laughing away, a stark contrast to the atmosphere in the rooftop banquet hall.

He walked straight to his aircraft, got in, but didn't start it right away. Instead, he sat in the driver's seat, deep in thought.

The scene seemed to mirror the day he first arrived.

Finally, he had brought all these messy matters into the open.

Xu Qingran thought to himself.

After so many days of preparation, the Xu family's expressions tonight had successfully pleased him.

It was also their fault for caring too much about appearances, inviting as many guests as possible. Now it was indeed good; more people were aware of tonight's farce.

After all, the Xu family was a somewhat well-known wealthy family in Silver Dragon, with their construction group having many collaborations with the Silver Dragon authorities. He believed those old-timers who had seen much would have ways to suppress the public opinion in time.

But he never intended to crush them with such a small move tonight. His main goal was to disgust his father, stepmother, and his stepbrother Xu Qingan. Even if they could escape this time, he would plant seeds of doubt in the public and in the heart of Lu Cheng, whom he cared about.

Once panicked, they would start to show more flaws.

The more flaws they showed, the easier it would be for him to return the favor.

Xu Qingran rested in the car for a while.

Until the door started to open, and a crowd of well-dressed people came out, lamenting not having eaten and filled with resentment, he started the aircraft and disappeared into a corner of the night sky.

Returning from the Fairy Star System to Shen Tingyu's home required crossing several star systems and passing through many checkpoints.

It took Xu Qingran about two days to finally return to the territory of the Sirius Star System. Passing through a checkpoint on a certain planet, he was about to find a place to rest and eat when suddenly a gunshot-like attack came from below.

It accurately hit the engine of his aircraft, shooting it down like a bird.

Fortunately, to save mental energy, he wasn't flying too high. Plus, the automatic protection provided by the cabin ensured that although the car was damaged upon landing, he wasn't seriously injured.

The landing site was a relatively remote area outside the city, with few houses around and many undeveloped forests and lands.

The car crashed on a small hill in the area.

He had just stepped out of the car with a dark expression when a cold blade suddenly pressed against his neck. Through the moonlight, he could clearly see the spiritual energy flowing on the blade from the corner of his eye.

The familiar killing intent and bloody smell seemed to bring him back to that afternoon some time ago.

Xu Qingran paused, and a slightly clear voice came from behind.

Laughing mockingly, it asked, "That day, you noticed, didn't you?"

"The smell of blood left on me."