Chapter 7: Moon Goddess (1/2)

Li Shiqing sniffed and shrugged noncommittally, then went to greet each young master. In this circle before, except for Lin Tian and that other youth, she had been the most dazzling.

A saying circulated in the capital’s high society: “The rivalry of kings and marquises pales before a beauty’s smile.”

In this rumor, the kings and marquises referred to Lin Tian and another top young master, while the beauty’s smile referred to Li Shiqing.

As for who was the king and who was the marquis, there was still no conclusion.

Shiqing – when the Li family’s patriarch named Li Shiqing, she lived up to these characters. From a young age, Li Shiqing showed incredible talent and brilliant mind, mastering arts, chess, literature, and painting!

With her personality that could be gentle as water or playfully clever, plus her city-toppling beauty, she was beloved by the older generation. Almost every family wanted Li Shiqing as their daughter-in-law.

Because of this, among the capital’s young masters of Lin Tian’s generation, anyone with a decent background was desperate to win Li Shiqing’s smile!

However, few were qualified to even stand before Li Shiqing!

Among them, Lin Tian and that other equally famous young master stood out most!

But that incident from years ago put an end to this high society rumor.

Time passed, and the invited guests gradually arrived.

Qin Ruofei didn’t call a driver; she took a taxi alone.

“Sister Feifei, you’ve grown even more beautiful in these five years! Hmph! Lin Tian really lucked out!” Seeing Qin Ruofei, Li Shiqing immediately went over, greeting her intimately.

This attitude slightly startled Qin Ruofei, but she smiled back: “Don’t tease me, Sister Shiqing. Everyone knows you’re the capital’s number one beauty.”

“Oh my! That’s just nonsense spread by these playboys! Besides, no matter how beautiful, I couldn’t become the Lin family’s daughter-in-law. Ah! Sister Feifei, you’re the one we all envy now, treasure it well!” Li Shiqing sighed, her face full of worry.

These words instantly changed the atmosphere in the room.

Qin Ruofei’s expression became awkward.

It wasn’t a secret that she had been dating another guy before getting engaged to Lin Tian, and no matter how loving she acted with Lin Tian in public, she couldn’t fool anyone in this room!

Because these people had various channels to know the real situation!

Li Shiqing saying this publicly only served to embarrass her!

On the sofa, Lin Tian was also confused. What was Li Shiqing up to?

Was she planning such a big move right after returning?

“Don’t worry, Sister Shiqing, I will.” Qin Ruofei said awkwardly, then walked to Lin Tian’s side and sat in the space already cleared for her.

“I’ll sleep at your place tonight.” As soon as she sat down, Qin Ruofei wrapped her arms around Lin Tian’s arm, practically leaning half her body against him, making a shocking statement.

Lin Tian stiffened. He knew these weren’t Qin Ruofei’s true feelings, but he felt a murderous gaze – he didn’t need to look to know who it was from.

Xu Ziqi leaned close to Li Shiqing, whispering indignantly: “She’s challenging you!”

Li Shiqing smiled gracefully, giving her a reassuring look, then invited the twenty-plus young masters to eat freely.

The welcome party was just a pretext – Li Shiqing wanted to use this chance to make her stance clear: now that she was back, she wouldn’t let go of Lin Tian!

But Qin Ruofei’s status put her in an unbeatable position, which was what Xu Ziqi worried about.

Like now, Qin Ruofei could cuddle up to Lin Tian and publicly make suggestive comments about sleeping over, but Li Shiqing couldn’t.

Had Qin Ruofei not sensed Li Shiqing’s hostility?

The answer was no.

Though she didn’t like Lin Tian, face was important not just for men, but for women too!

She had successfully countered this first move – now to see what else Li Shiqing had planned.

Everyone clearly understood this clash between the two women, but no one exposed it, not wanting to draw fire to themselves.

Though the Earth-grade room wasn’t as good as Heaven-grade, it was still the highest grade Maple Forest Club normally opened, with all food and drinks prepared by international five-star chefs. But for these young masters and ladies used to delicacies, the taste was just ordinary.

Eating wasn’t the point – using this chance to maintain relationships was key.

However, shortly after the party began, the door was pushed open.

“Shiqing, I heard you’re back but you didn’t tell me? Ziqi, you too – throwing a welcome party for Shiqing without inviting me? If I hadn’t seen you enter from next door, I wouldn’t have known you were here!”

Three young men entered, led by one wearing a suit with trendy middle-parted hair, holding a glass of wine.

Li Shiqing turned to look at Xu Ziqi.

The latter stuck out her tongue, knowing she couldn’t hide anything from her brilliant friend, and didn’t try to explain.

Because initially Li Shiqing had refused to have a welcome party, only reluctantly agreeing after Xu Ziqi’s persuasion, but she had specifically instructed not to invite this leading youth.

For one simple reason – this youth was one of the kings and marquises!

The Zhao family’s Zhao Fuchen!

In the capital, at the center of power, there was never a shortage of red princelings with strong backgrounds.

And the Zhao family was among the best of them.