Chapter 855 - Invitation to the Banquet
At this moment, if Qiao Nan revealed even a tinge of scorn and blame at Qiao Dongliang, he would only feel more nervous.
Zhai Yaohui did not lie to him. This young lady certainly exuded the charisma of a well-bred individual. If they were to nurture her properly, she would not be weak.
She was a good seedling!
The first impression of Old Master Zhai on Qiao Dongliang and Qiao Nan was not bad. “The two children have known each other for a long time. That said, your family’s daughter is actually very young. It’s my family’s grandson who is thick-skinned and shameless. Nevertheless, since the children have already decided, Comrade Xiao Qiao, what’s your view regarding the matter regarding the two of them?”
Old Master Zhai did not give any face to his grandson when he derided him. Anyway, he was telling the truth.
The other party was just a young lady at a nominal age of twenty years old. His own family’s grandson was already of a nominal age of twenty-six years old. According to the time, when his grandson had his eyes on the young lady, she was only a teenager who was less than her twenties.
Zhai Sheng had given his promise to Old Master Zhai previously. Hence, Old Master Zhai knew that Zhai Sheng would not do anything to Qiao Nan even if he liked her. Otherwise, when Old Master Zhai heard such a matter, instead of feeling happy, his first reaction would be to catch hold of Zhai Sheng and give him a beating.
It was too shameless!
“This… I will obey the orders of Old Chief Zhai,” Qiao Dongliang said forthrightly without thinking. As long as the Zhai family made the proper arrangements, he did not have any opinion. Everything was good.
Old Master Zhai turned his glance toward Qiao Nan. “Daughter, do you have any opinion on this?”
“I’ll listen to Brother Zhai.” As she felt her hand being grabbed tightly by Zhai Sheng, Qiao Nan could only respond with this in an abiding manner.
In fact, even if Zhai Sheng did not remind her, Qiao Nan was prepared to say this. Zhai Sheng had been anxious for nothing.
It was just an engagement. She would not delay it.
Old Master Zhai stared at his grandson from the corners of his eyes. Do not think that he was long-sighted and could not see his grandson’s cheap trick under the table. He even threatened other family’s young daughter. He was bullying the young as he was older. He was too shameless.
Facing the look of blame from Old Master Zhai, Zhai Sheng not only did not slant his eyes but also looked so righteous and full of justice. It was as if he was not the one who squeezed Qiao Nan’s hands earlier.
As for the glance of Old Master Zhai, Zhai Sheng simply ignored it.
At this juncture, he would put everything, including his grandfather, aside temporarily. His daughter-in-law was the most important.
“When school reopens, Nan Nan will have to study at the college in the capital. Why don’t we let them get engaged in early August next month?” Miao Jing, who had accepted this matter, considered the practical issues well. They had to find a suitable date that matched Qiao Nan’s schooling schedule.
“That’s fine.” Zhai Yaohui made the final call on this. “We can fix it on 1 August. It’s the Army Day[1]. It’s a good day.”
“…But it’s the end of July now…” Qiao Nan could not help but interrupt with one sentence.
In other words, if she really wanted to be engaged with Brother Zhai, there was only less than a week of preparation time left.
“If we arrange a simple event, it can actually be done in time. It’s basically engagement and it doesn’t need to be so complicated. 1 August. This date is good. It’s excellent and meaningful. We’ll fix it on that day then.” Qiao Dongliang, who was emotionally affected when he saw the old chief, did not have any stand at all. He agreed to whatever the Zhai family proposed.
“Not bad. If we wish to make it a major event, we can wait until their formal wedding.” Old Master Zhai also agreed on the date fixed by his son. “1 August then. Miao Miao, work harder and quickly make arrangements for this. Of course, if you can’t handle this alone, you can get Zhai Hua to come back from the army. I heard that she is not carrying out any mission now. She’s just training some new recruits in the army. There are many people who can do this in the army. We can ask her to come back and help with Zhai Sheng’s matter first.”
She was willing to spend so much time on outsiders. However, she hid herself so far away when her brother was getting engaged. Where was the logic in this?
“Fine.” Miao Jing agreed swiftly. After waiting for so many years, she had finally toughed it out and was going to have a daughter-in-law. Most unexpectedly, after going in circles, her son actually liked Qiao Nan. Qiao Nan became her daughter-in-law instead of goddaughter. Not bad. This outcome was more wonderful.
Hence, with one phone call from Miao Jing, Zhai Hua, who had just returned to the army for a few days, abidingly returned to the Zhai’s residence in the quad.
No matter how simple an engagement event was, they had to set up a banquet and invite some people to witness the event.
The Qiao family did not have any relatives. Initially, the Qiao family could still invite some of the neighbors in the quad.
However, after Qiao Nan encountered the matter on the day of her college entrance examination, whereby one of the neighbors took someone else’s money and tried to stop Qiao Nan from entering the examination hall, and he even wanted to force Qiao Nan to go to the hospital…
If they really had to invite people, Qiao Dongliang had to consider very carefully which families to extend the invitation to.
At the very least, they would definitely not invite the one that he had just mentioned. He lived very close to the small courtyard of the Qiao family and previously, they greeted each other whenever they met and they were on very good terms.
Despite being on good terms, at critical times, the neighbor took other people’s money and harmed Qiao Nan. Why would they want to invite this kind of neighbor?
Anyway, the Zhai family had already made themselves clear that they would not accept red packets for the engagement event.
Hence, the other party would be coming to have free meals and drinks. At the same time, they could widen their horizons and see some prominent figures.
Where could they find such a good deal in the world?
In the end, Qiao Dongliang invited a few families of those neighbors who were truly close to them.
It could be said that besides the family that harmed Qiao Nan, he invited all those neighbors whom he was on very good terms with in the past twenty years. After all, they had watched Qiao Nan grew up. Everyone should celebrate the joy together in such a good occasion.
As such, the guest list from the Qiao family had been finalized most quickly.
As for the situation at the Zhai family’s side, Qiao Dongliang could not and did not have the ability to intervene. Qiao Dongliang would only enquire if the Zhai family had finalized the list.
When those few neighbors of Qiao Dongliang received the news, they were extremely surprised. “Nan Nan is getting engaged at such a young age?”
“Of course, the engagement has to be early. After all, the old chief’s son is not young anymore. Nan Nan has been very sensible since she was a child. She is good-looking and also good in her studies. I know that she will definitely be a blessed child when she grows up. See, she’s going to be engaged with the old chief’s son this time. When Nan Nan graduates from college, she can immediately get married.”
“Haha, the reason why we’re staying here is mostly because of the opportunities left for us by our elders. As such, wouldn’t we have the chance to see the old chief too?”
It was not just the old chief. The Zhai family was organizing an engagement banquet. Either no one or only the prominent figures would attend it.
At the thought that poor ordinary citizens like themselves could also see the prominent figures, those who were invited by Qiao Dongliang felt extremely proud and honored.
Only that one family, who was not invited and also felt guilty-conscious, twisted their lips unhappily and said, “What’s there to be happy about? They are not getting married. It’s just an engagement banquet. It’s not as if we have never been to one before.”
[1] Army Day: The anniversary of the founding of the people’s liberation army