Chapter 15: Task one
Mom Yue frowned and waved her hand impatiently. Yue Linlan did a little curtsy and then walked off with Bai Lianhua. Mom Yue didn't watch where they were going but turned when she heard: "Oh..isn't this Yue Xiuying? How are you doing these days? Balabalabala..." With Mom Yue engaged in conversation, Yue Linlan and Bai Lianhua made a beeline for the desserts. The desserts were near where Mei Qinghua and her posse were chatting and laughing. They went really close to the group but were facing the table of desserts which meant people could only see their backs. Mei Qinghua also didn't see Bai Lianhua coming in so she didn't know that she'd changed clothes. So when she saw a girl in a purple qipao exactly like the one she sent Bai Lianhua, she automatically thought that was Bai Lianhua busy stuffing her face.
Bai Lianhua was stuffing her face in fact but she was the one in the black dress. Yue Linlan was shocked that she could eat so much. "Did you recently survive a famine? Why are eating so much so quickly?"
Bai Lianhua mentioned her extreme dieting plans and Yue Linlan rolled her eyes. Over at Mei Qinghua's, people were giving her congratulations already.
"Qingqing, is it really true that Si Lu is your boyfriend?" One girl dressed in yellow asked.
Mei Qinghua smiled and everyone looked at her enviously. She neither affirmed nor denied anything. Yue Linlan questioned Bai Lianhua again: "See? She didn't say yes. If it was me and l had such an outstanding boyfriend, l would be shouting his name on rooftops!"
"Not everyone is like you ok! Besides, if you look at what she is wearing, do you recognise anything?"
Bai Lianhua was making random guesses but Yue Linlan looked a bit shocked. "What did you see?" she asked while scanning Mei Qinghua's body for an heirloom or something important. She was still envious of those glass heels.
"Lianhua, actually, those heels are the one's l was told were given to the future wife of the Si family. It's an heirloom that was passed down by ancestors as far back as the Li Dynasty."
Speechless, Bai Lianhua asked again: "Could it be that you saw wrong?" But in her mind, she realised the reason why the system gave such a high price for these shoes. Yue Linlan didn't see it wrong at all! Also, another thing that Bai Lianhua noticed was that Yue Linlan actually called her Lianhua and not Bai Lianhua. 'Are we bonding?'
"That bitch-"
Bai Lianhua pinched Yue Linlan's arm fiercely. "Remember, we're not at school but a ball where people are watching. Since your reputation matters so much, you should be less vocal. I have found that with you, the less you talk, the smarter you look."
The lights dimmed and the heir to the Si family, Si Lu appeared at the top of the stairs with his parents. His parents gave a welcoming speech and then announced his engagement to Yue Linlan. Everyone was looking at her enviously. Then they also gave Si Lu a chance to speak. Si Lu thanked his parents, teachers, even down to the gardener and Bai Lianhua couldn't resist yawning. Yue Linlan gave her a fierce look and she shrugged - what could she say? The speech was too long and not necessary.
Finally, after like 20 minutes which to Bai Lianhua felt like two hours, the ball began in earnest. Si Lu walked down the stairs and asked Yue Linlan out to dance. She shyly accepted and the two danced in the middle of the room.
Bai Lianhua watched them dance and appreciated the beauty of it all. They truly looked like a match made in heaven.
Their outfits even matched slightly and Bai Lianhua suddenly felt sad for Yue Linlan. 'Even this dance is forced...'
After a while, some people also found dance partners and the dance floor became packed with people dancing the waltz.
Bai Lianhua was still eating desserts on the side while minding her own business. Then, a man came to ask for a dance. She looked at him up and down - he was barely handsome but he gave people a nice feeling.
"What did you say your name was again?"
"My name is Hu Pingheng. I'd like to dance with you, miss..."
"Ahh- Hu Lianhua! I'm sorry, but l have never learnt how to dance. I would love to but l don't want to step on your feet. It won't be fun." Bai Lianhua blushed in embarrassment because she didn't think anyone would ask her to dance.
"You're also surnamed, Hu? Are we related?"
Bai Lianhua hadn't thought of this. You must know that in China, people often had the same surname and it wasn't uncommon to meet someone who had the same surname as you.
"We might be? My mother's name is Hu Baozhi."
Hu Pingheng was very surprised and disappointed to meet a relative here. "That's my aunt's name. So we're cousins..." He was visibly saddened because he thought he'd met a girl who he was interested in for the first time and suddenly, she became his cousin.
Bai Lianhua was giving the heavens a kowtow in her mind for the explosion in luck - her mission was going splendidly. "Technically, we aren't because l was adopted. It's nice to meet you here! How come I've never heard of relatives before?"
Hu Pingheng sighed: "This is a long story - do you want the long version or the short one?"
Bai Lianhua wanted the short one because she didn't want to be too distracted in case anything happened.
Before Hu Pingheng could say anything, Si Lu hit his wine glass with a knife to get everyone's attention. "Thank you all once again for attending this banquet. We prepared a little slide show to commemorate this event. Thanks also to those who sent in pictures and videos of themselves getting ready to attend - these pictures will now show up on the projector screen."
Everyone turned to watch the screen. The first couple of pictures were really funny. Bai Lianhua didn't know which family it was but the father and the mother were in a rush to get ready - you could see the father's shirt was inside out and the mother seemed to be scolding him. Her hair was also in rollers and she wore a big $2 dollar shirt from a downtown shop. The baby in the background had also spilt nail vanish on the floor and seemed to be wanting to have a taste.
People were laughing and Bai Lianhua was no exception.
The next picture was actually sent in by Mom Hu for her and it was taken when she had just finished shopping with Mei Qinghua. She looked very haggard and had dark circles under her eyes. She was lying on the seats of the car looking dead. There was a caption saying "she shopped till she dropped".
Bai Lianhua was pretty embarrassed but everyone was laughing.
But the other pictures and videos made people unable to laugh.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone