ABOES 104: Birthday Banquet

[Chi Ling: What do you mean by “our family”? Who’s family with you? @Duan Yu side-eye smile.jpg]

The group chat went quiet for about a full minute before Duan Yu finally responded.

[Duan Yu: Ahem, well, it’s only a matter of time, right? Old Chi, you’re too uptight!]

Chi Ling snorted from the sofa and typed.

[Chi Ling: Hah. As long as it’s not a fact today, then it’s not a fact at all!]

Everyone else: …

Tan Yao exited that chat and went into another one, a private group with just “Yu Qiu, Grandma Chi, Chi Yunxing, and Duan Zhiyan,” where she sent a message.

[Tan Yao: Let’s just ignore those two. Let them argue by themselves. Actually, to make it even more dramatic, we can just leave the group.]

Grandma Chi immediately replied with a single period

[Grandma Chi: .]

[Yu Qiu: Got it.]

Chi Yunxing glanced at Duan Zhiyan, and Duan Zhiyan sent him a private message.

[Duan Zhiyan: I’m not leaving. You leave.]

Chi Yunxing nodded and followed the others out of the chat.

So in a matter of seconds, the group—everyone except Chi Xiwen—started showing system messages.

[Grandma Chi has left the group.]
[Tan Yao has left the group.]
[Yu Qiu has left the group.]
[Chi Yunxing has left the group.]

Chi Ling: “…”

Duan Yu: “…”

Chi Ling immediately lost interest in arguing and lowered his phone, glancing hesitantly at Tan Yao.

Tan Yao didn’t even look at him. Instead, she turned toward Chi Yunxing, who was sitting with Duan Zhiyan. “Yunxing, the formalwear I ordered for you is already in your room. Go try it on when you have time. If you don’t like it, I can have another set sent over later.”

Chi Yunxing was caught off guard. “You got me a suit?”

Grandma Chi chuckled. “What, did you think it was just a casual little gathering?”

Chi Yunxing frowned slightly. “Isn’t it?”

Tan Yao laughed, and even Chi Xiwen—who had been busy texting—looked up and patiently explained, “Of course not. This party was long overdue, but we delayed it because so much was going on before. It’s really for you.”

Back when Chi Yunxing had just come home, Tan Yao and Chi Ling already wanted to throw a party to introduce him to everyone. But at the time, Grandma Chi was still recovering from illness, and Yunxing was busy filming his new drama. So they decided to wait—wait until Grandma was well, until Yunxing had settled in, until everything was calm and stable—then they’d properly and formally introduce him to their circle.

As it happened, the Lantern Festival right after the New Year was also Chi Xiwen’s birthday. The timing was perfect. When Tan Yao suggested it, the whole family agreed.

Sure, technically it was Chi Xiwen’s 27th birthday, but that didn’t really matter.

Chi Yunxing was stunned after hearing all this from Chi Xiwen.

Even when he went upstairs with Duan Zhiyan to try on his suit, he still hadn’t fully processed it.

“I…” Before Chi Yunxing could speak, Duan Zhiyan already knew what he wanted to say.

“You’re wondering why the party is so over-the-top?” Duan Zhiyan handed him the jacket.

Chi Yunxing nodded as he took the clothes.

And not just that—wasn’t tomorrow supposed to be Chi Xiwen’s birthday?

Why did it sound just now like he was the real star of the event?

Duan Zhiyan helped him undress and put on the suit without explaining much. “Don’t overthink it. You’ll understand tomorrow.”

Chi Yunxing sighed. He supposed he had no choice.

…

The next day’s party turned out to be far more grand and extravagant than Chi Yunxing had imagined.

The hotel wasn’t far from their house, and Chi Yunxing woke up early because he got a call from the event manager—the gift he ordered for Chi Xiwen had arrived!

The call woke up Duan Zhiyan too. He opened his eyes and asked, “What’s going on?”

Chi Yunxing flipped out of bed as he pulled on his clothes. “The gift I ordered for my brother is here!”

Duan Zhiyan also sat up. “Is it downstairs?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll go with you.” Duan Zhiyan grabbed a jacket and followed him down.

The butler was already waiting in the living room, as if he knew they’d be coming. He walked over to them. “Young Master, the gift is just outside the door.”

Chi Yunxing’s eyes lit up. “Where’s my brother?”

The butler replied, “Young Master Xiwen is still asleep.”

Duan Zhiyan said, “I’ll go wake him.”

Chi Yunxing smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’ll go check on the gift first!”

Duan Zhiyan headed back upstairs.

Chi Yunxing eagerly pushed open the door to see the gift he had picked out for Chi Xiwen.

Chi Xiwen loved cars—especially flashy, luxurious sports cars but because of his public position, he usually drove more low-key vehicles to work. That didn’t stop him from loving his collection of supercars.

Once Chi Yunxing learned about this passion, he quickly decided what to get him.

Getting the car hadn’t been easy—it took a lot of effort.

In the end, he managed to order it successfully.

He circled the flashy Ferrari twice, completely satisfied.

Chi Xiwen was basically dragged out of bed by Duan Zhiyan.

It was the middle of winter, and early morning at that. Chi Xiwen had stayed up late the night before, so he looked like death warmed over.

Grumbling as he followed Duan Zhiyan downstairs, he muttered, “Heh, I better see something worth waking up for. If this is just some—”

Before he could finish, his eyes caught sight of a bright pink figure in the courtyard. He stopped in his tracks.

“Am… am I seeing this right?” His voice trembled.

Chi Yunxing heard him and called out from outside, “Ge! Come out and see!”

Chi Xiwen felt his blood start to boil in the best way. He ran out excitedly, yelling at the top of his lungs, “Oh my god!!!!! My baby!!!!”

He circled the car twice, beaming as he looked at Chi Yunxing. “Yunxing, you got this for me?!”

Chi Yunxing, seeing how thrilled he was, grinned from ear to ear. “Yeah! You like it?”

“I love it!” Chi Xiwen rushed over and hugged him tight. “You really are my favorite, Yunxing! You get me!”

Chi Yunxing was squished a little painfully, but he didn’t push Chi Xiwen away. Instead, he waved happily at Duan Zhiyan.

Duan Zhiyan leaned lazily against the doorframe, a helpless smile on his face. His eyes flicked down to Chi Xiwen’s arm around Yunxing and a flash of displeasure passed through them.

Forget it. It was Chi Xiwen’s birthday. He could let it go this time.

Chi Xiwen clearly loved the gift. After hugging Yunxing for a while, he declared he wanted to take him for a ride.

Chi Yunxing didn’t mind, though the car only had two seats. He glanced at Duan Zhiyan.

Duan Zhiyan smiled. “Go ahead. I’ll freshen up. Just don’t stay out too long, it’s cold this morning.”

Chi Xiwen was in too good a mood to argue for once. “Don’t worry. Just one quick ride.”

Duan Zhiyan nodded, watching as they drove slowly out of the courtyard.

Only when the pink car vanished down the road did he turn and head back upstairs.

When he came back down fully dressed, he found Grandma Chi and Tan Yao already awake.

“Did Xiwen take Yunxing for a spin?” Tan Yao asked.

Duan Zhiyan smiled and nodded. “Yeah. He loved the gift Yunxing gave him.”

“He’s almost thirty and still such a child,” Grandma Chi said with a shake of her head. “He made such a fuss yesterday about finding a girlfriend, but it’s all talk, I bet.”

The three of them laughed.

Tan Yao went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Since the banquet was in the evening, the family would still eat breakfast and lunch at home.

It was Chi Xiwen’s birthday, after all. Tan Yao still had to make his traditional longevity noodles.

Chi Xiwen and Chi Yunxing were out for nearly half an hour before they returned. Chi Xiwen was still glowing.

He couldn’t stop talking about how happy he was and even at the breakfast table, he was still gushing.

Grandma Chi laughed and turned to the others. “Let’s all just bear with him today—it’s his birthday. Let him enjoy himself.”

Tan Yao sighed, then turned to Chi Yunxing. “You know, your dad and I have bought him cars before. Never seen him this happy. Clearly, he’s playing favorites.”

Chi Yunxing burst out laughing.

Normally, Chi Xiwen would argue back, but today he was genuinely thrilled and didn’t object. In fact, he announced on the spot that he was taking the new car to the banquet tonight.

It was his call about what car to drive, and no one was going to interfere—except Chi Yunxing spoke up, “Then I’ll take a different car tonight.”

Chi Xiwen’s smile dimmed slightly. “Why? Don’t you want to share the spotlight with me tonight, Yunxing?”

Chi Yunxing cleared his throat. He really didn’t want to but since it was Chi Xiwen’s birthday, he still smiled and said, “I’m still an actor, you know. If someone sees me in that flashy car, it might not look great.”

“So what?” Chi Xiwen frowned. “Our PR team is literally paid to deal with that kind of thing!”

Chi Yunxing just shook his head. “It’s fine, really.”

The rest of the family chuckled, tactfully pretending to believe Chi Yunxing’s little white lie.

…

The evening banquet was set for 7 PM. As the host family, the Chi family naturally arrived early.

When they arrived, Chi Yunxing was surprised to see that most of the guests were already there.

He looked at Duan Zhiyan, who explained, “The Chi family hasn’t thrown a banquet in years. Plus, more and more people are trying to partner with the Chi family lately. For a lot of them, this is a huge opportunity.”

Chi Yunxing nodded in understanding. He knew his family was a major player in China’s economy, but he wasn’t well-versed in business matters.

Tan Yao and Chi Ling also knew socializing wasn’t Chi Yunxing’s strong suit, so they just had him and Chi Xiwen make a brief appearance, then let Duan Zhiyan take him off to relax.

So Chi Yunxing followed Duan Zhiyan, happily snacking his way from one end of the banquet to the other.

Naturally, many people noticed him, but with Duan Zhiyan by his side the whole time, no one dared to approach. Yunxing was quite at ease.

Just as he started thinking this banquet didn’t have much to do with him after all, Tan Yao and Chi Ling suddenly came over and led him toward a press conference.

Before going in, they handed him two documents to sign.

Chi Yunxing glanced down and saw the title in bold:

“Share Transfer Agreement.”