Chapter 87: The art of green tea

"I’ve seen you before, Xiao Feng. I always thought you were one of those goody-two-shoes. Imagine my surprise! It turned out that the quietest ones are indeed the most dangerous when angry. You really managed to turn the capital upside down. That’s quite a feat. Even I cannot accomplish as much as you did." Her words were sarcastic and scathing, clearly provoking the boy into reacting.

Wei Ranmiao’s brows tightened again, and she opened her mouth to retort, but realized that there were too many people watching, so she only shook her head and gave a warning. "Mrs. Jiang, don’t take it too far. There are things you should and should not say."

Mrs. Jiang simply tilted her head without fear. "Did I say anything worth hiding? I only spoke of things everyone already knows."

Wei Ranmiao was about to speak again when Lin Feng tugged at her sleeve. She looked at the boy, who smiled gently at her and shook his head.

Lin Feng then looked at the triumphant Mrs. Jiang and bowed his head slightly. "This junior has indeed caused a lot of trouble for my elders."

However, although his expression was respectful and gentle, inwardly he felt nothing.

Lin Feng owed many people an apology in behalf of the original owner, but this woman was not one of them. However, it was clear that Mrs. Jiang was the type who would not let go once she had bitten into a bone and would even bite harder when others tried to take it away, so it was pointless to argue any further, as it would only provoke her more.

It was better to just let this pass.

Mrs. Jiang blatantly scrutinized the boy’s face, hoping to see a hint of shame and anger on it.

But Lin Feng maintained a gentle and respectful expression, like an obedient junior meeting his elders, making those who witnessed the scene feel that Mrs. Jiang was simply causing trouble unilaterally by taking advantage of her status as an elder.

Mrs. Jiang suddenly felt bored.

Although she wanted to see the people she disliked get into trouble, she did not really enjoy those annoying looks from people who thought of themselves as superior, as if they were looking at an inferior being whenever they glanced at her. It had always annoyed her.

However, just as Mrs. Jiang was about to turn and leave, her eyes caught something in the corner of her eye behind Lin Feng and Wei Ranmiao.

Mrs. Jiang froze, then suddenly, a broad smile bloomed on her face.

Wei Ranmiao was alert.

What trouble is she concocting this time?

Whenever this troublesome woman smiled like this, it meant that she was about to see people get into trouble, often trouble caused by Mrs. Jiang herself.

Sure enough, Mrs. Jiang raised her voice in a fake falsetto, saying something very similar to her earlier opening.

"Oh my, isn’t this the young man from the Tang family?"

Lin Feng froze, then slowly turned his head to look behind him.

Three people were standing not far away, looking at them with various expressions. The teenager in front was tall, with pitch-black hair, snow-white skin, and a cool, aloof aura.

Seeing a familiar face, Lin Feng blinked in surprise. "You’re... Tang Rui, aren’t you?"

It was the boy named Tang Rui who had played the erhu alongside him on the night of the festival.

Then, as if a floodgate had opened, several pieces of memory flowed into Lin Feng’s mind.

Back on the opening night of the Bohai Spring Festival, the schedule had been very tight, so despite the sense of familiarity he had felt upon seeing the young expert invited by the town management, Lin Feng had merely focused on practicing the musical piece on the guqin during the brief window of time available to him.

Now, after Mrs. Jiang mentioned the Tang family, all the associations and relationships finally became clear in Lin Feng’s mind.

The original Lin Feng had not interacted with the Tang family. He had only ever met Uncle Tang, who would occasionally accompany Bai Rouxi and Tang Hongyi when they visited the Bai family’s ancestral home.

Lin Feng only knew about Tang Rui because Tang Hongyi had once mentioned this cousin, who had won several music competitions in the country and was also considered one of the most favored children in the Tang family.

Lin Feng had never seen Tang Rui’s face before, and, coupled with his vague impression of him from the memories, he had not realized that this Tang Rui was the same Tang Rui from the Tang family, despite the faint sense of familiarity.

Lin Feng noticed the boy’s stiff expression, which clearly indicated that he had not expected to see him in this place.

Lin Feng then remembered the first time they had met in Bohai Town.

He sighed, finally connecting the dots.

So that inexplicable expression back then...

This boy, Tang Rui, must have been hostile toward him because of what had happened to his Fourth Uncle Tang. Considering that Lin Feng’s erhu videos had gone viral and that the boy had also been carrying an erhu back then, Tang Rui must have wanted to challenge him to teach him a lesson.

But because so many things had happened, Tang Rui had not gotten the chance to do so.

Lin Feng’s lashes drooped as he thought silently.

He did not feel aggrieved by this realization.

Instead, he wondered if this was heaven’s way of giving him a sign.

Lin Feng had been wanting to reach out to the Tang family but had not known how.

Now that Tang Rui was here...

Mrs. Jiang’s voice sounded again. "Tang boy, this troublemaker from the Lin family is finally here. I heard your Tang family has been looking for this boy to teach him a lesson. Oh, come to think of it, the trouble in the Lin family was even worse. Who knows if the Lin family has already broken off ties with him? He’s practically a member of the Bai family now, isn’t he?"

"Lin Feng is an important family member to both the Lin and Bai families. Please remember this before you say anything more." Wei Ranmiao suddenly interrupted. Her face was now devoid of expression, her eyes cold. "Now you’re causing trouble for the Tang family as well. Can your Jiang family really afford to offend all three families at the same time?"

"..." Mrs. Jiang finally closed her mouth, her lips pursing in annoyance as she glared at Wei Ranmiao.

She really hated this pretentious woman. Just because she had a good-looking husband and came from the Wei family, Wei Ranmiao had always acted all high and mighty. What a green-tea bitch!

But the Jiang family certainly would not want her to offend all three families at once. It was only because Mrs. Jiang had seen the pleased expression on this pretentious woman’s face earlier, which had annoyed her greatly, that she could not help throwing out a few barbed remarks.

Mrs. Jiang flipped her hair and turned toward the restroom area. "Whatever. I won’t involve myself in your troubles anymore."

Then she accidentally bumped into a waitress carrying a tray with a water pitcher and a few glasses.

"Ah!" The waitress hurriedly steadied the tray, barely saving the glasses and pitcher from falling off, but the water splashed onto Mrs. Jiang’s fur coat.

Mrs. Jiang, who had just been embarrassed, exploded at once. "Why are you so careless? Look at what you did! Do you want to lose your job?"

"I-I’m sorry!" The waitress’s face was pale.

"Sorry? Can you afford to replace my clothes?"

"I-I, I’m really sorry..." The waitress bowed her head repeatedly.

Noticing the commotion, a manager hurried over. "I’m sorry, Mrs. Jiang. This is our negligence. We’ll make sure to properly discipline her—"

"You still want to keep her? She made such a mess—"

Wei Ranmiao stepped forward with a frown. "Mrs. Jiang, I clearly saw that you were the one who bumped into the poor young lady. Why are you making things difficult for others?"

Lin Feng felt that they were partly at fault, so he sighed and went to comfort the terrified waitress.

The waitress, who was bowing her head low with tears in her eyes, felt someone gently pat her on the shoulder.

Looking up, she saw a boy smiling gently at her, holding out a pure-white handkerchief.

"It’s alright. We saw what happened. My aunt will take care of it," he whispered.

The tears in the waitress’s eyes finally spilled over.

Lin Feng silently patted her shoulder comfortingly, thinking to himself:

’Although this world is no longer feudal like ancient times, the difference between the powerful and the weak still exists after all.’

It was not apparent during his stay in the silent countryside, but in the bustling capital where snakes and dragons mingled, it was almost common.

Mrs. Jiang narrowed her eyes. "Why are you interfering with my business? Isn’t the Bai family being a bit too much?"

Wei Ranmiao sighed in distress. "It’s precisely because our Bai family has always believed that the Jiang family members are good people. There is friendship between our families, so I hope everyone won’t think that the Jiang family is the unreasonable type who likes to throw their weight around. I hope Mrs. Jiang can be the magnanimous one."

"....!" Mrs. Jiang’s face twisted. This green-tea bitch!

If no one interfered, Mrs. Jiang could easily teach the waitress a lesson without any consequences. But now that someone had said this so blatantly, how could she still do it?

Seeing the disapproving looks around her, Mrs. Jiang did not want to find out what would happen if the other elders in her family learned about this. She knew she would be scolded again if that happened!

Watching the flamboyant woman hurry away, Wei Ranmiao’s expression returned to normal.

She smiled and looked at the nearby tables, whose occupants had been watching because of the commotion, and apologized. "This little farce has disturbed everyone. As a token of my apology, I hope you’ll let me make amends by treating you all to tonight’s dinner."

The people around them were all from families with considerable influence and extensive information networks. They knew that Wei Ranmiao was not just a member of the Bai family but also a daughter of the Wei family, so they obligingly accepted her apology.

Some could not help adding, "Don’t worry. We all know what kind of person Mrs. Jiang is. She just likes this kind of chaos. Really, Mr. Jiang is too infatuated..."

Several people sighed and said a few kind words to Wei Ranmiao, and the little encounter with Mrs. Jiang was soon swept under the rug.

The waitress thanked them repeatedly before leaving with the manager.

The waitress had finally recognized the beautiful boy. It was Lin Feng, the erhu male god—no, the guqin male god!