Chapter 246: Chapter 246: Birthday Banquet Face-Slapping (4) Chapter 246: Chapter 246: Birthday Banquet Face-Slapping (4) “You mean Song Ye? It’s normal for him to come back to visit his family since he’s originally from Beijing,” Jiang Cheng said.

“It’s a pity we missed the chance to greet him. He was already a level above you, and if he gets transferred back, I’m afraid he’ll be far beyond your reach,” Ding Yuehua regretted not seizing the opportunity just now.

Jiang Cheng, however, didn’t feel it was a pity, “There will always be opportunities in the future. Greeting him one more or one less time now won’t make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.”

“That’s true,” Ding Yuehua was in a hurry to get to the Fen Family’s place and really didn’t have much time for socializing.

The family of three soon arrived at the Fen Family’s home.

The birthday of Madam Fen was always celebrated at home, and they had held a few before.

The three of them headed to the Fen Family’s front door as if they were on familiar ground.

After they knocked, someone opened the door—it was the Fen Family’s butler, who recognized them.

Jiang Cheng hadn’t received an invitation to the birthday celebration, so he simply said, “We are here to wish Mr. Fen and Madam Fen a Happy New Year.”

The butler didn’t say much but enthusiastically welcomed them inside.

Once inside, Ding Yuehua realized there weren’t many people visiting the Fen Family today, just a few scattered guests sitting on the sofa.

There were familiar faces and some whose status she couldn’t quite place, with Madam Fen sitting on the sofa, chatting and laughing with them over New Year’s pleasantries.

But that’s all it was—pleasantries about the New Year.

Ding Yuehua stepped forward on her husband’s behalf to greet Madam Fen first, “Madam Fen, Happy New Year. We’ve come to extend our New Year’s greetings to you and your family.”

“Happy New Year, please have a seat.” Guests were always welcome, and Madam Fen was naturally hospitable, her smile impeccable and perfectly measured.

In fact, according to Jiang Cheng’s current status, he wasn’t really qualified to be a guest at the Fen Family’s.

But Ding Yuehua’s father had a successful career and had reached a high position, so there was indeed some merit.

Madam Fen also offered some courtesy to their family.

Ding Yuehua knew her father’s influence still had some weight.

However, Ding’s father was getting on in years and was approaching retirement age. As the saying goes, a county official is not as good as the current manager. That’s why Ding Yuehua was especially concerned about her husband’s career.

Ding Yuehua grew up in Beijing with her father clearing the way, so she knew a lot of people and could be said to be in her element.

Other guests greeted Ding Yuehua, “Is the young lady with you your daughter? She’s grown into such a beautiful young woman.”

“Xuexue, greet everyone,” Ding Yuehua instructed Ding Xuexue, pointing out each person, and Ding Xuexue politely greeted everyone.

Afterward, everyone sat down together.

They chatted about nothing more than New Year’s topics.

Ding Yuehua knew that today wasn’t Madam Fen’s actual birthday, which might be why they hadn’t gone all out, resulting in fewer people.

But compared to the previous two birthday parties she had attended, there were still far fewer people.

Many sons of noble families weren’t present either.

She found it odd, but it wasn’t her place to ask too many questions.

“Xuexue, go and mingle with the young people. If you stay by our side for a while, you’ll say it’s boring again,” Ding Yuehua sent Ding Xuexue off to socialize.

Ding Xuexue understood and rose to look for people her age.

However, after looking around, she couldn’t find any familiar faces.

She opened her WeChat group, where it was eerily quiet, with no one speaking.

“Qin He, Zizhou, where are you guys?” she @mentioned two people in the group.

Qin He and He Zizhou—no, everyone in the group was busy; no one was checking messages.

After waiting for several minutes, Ding Xuexue still didn’t see a reply.

That was strange. In previous years on the second day of the Lunar New Year, because of the New Year visits and Mrs. Fen’s birthday, the Fen Family’s home always gathered many people.

Not to mention Qin He and He Zizhou, even Fen Ye would be there.

But today, Ding Xuexue had been there so long and yet hadn’t seen a single person.

Feeling a bit curious, she picked up a glass of red wine and approached a familiar girl, calling out, “Sister Lu Xi.”

Lu Xi was a few years older than her, with beautiful long curly hair. Seeing her, she curled her lips into a smile, “Why do you have so much free time today?”

“I knew today was Mrs. Fen’s birthday and thought it’d be good to come over for New Year’s greetings, so I rushed over.”

“Well, find a seat and sit for a while.”

The two found a spot to sit down.

After chatting about clothes and accessories and other women’s topics for a bit, Ding Xuexue realized that Lu Xi wasn’t really interested in them.

That made sense, she remembered Lu Xi was a STEM student; beautiful though she was, her interest lay only in research, and she was now working at the National Academy of Sciences.

Ding Xuexue didn’t want to bother her with these things anymore, so she shifted the topic to research.

Lu Xi indeed showed much more interest and chatted happily with her for a few moments.

Ding Xuexue found an opportunity and finally asked, “Sister Lu Xi, how come I haven’t seen any of the young gentlemen from the Fen Family today?”

Only then did Lu Xi find it odd, got up to look around, “Indeed, I haven’t seen them.”

“Not even He Zizhou, Liang Tian, Han Dongliang. And Qin Hai and the others, they always come for New Year’s visits…” Ding Xuexue sounded somewhat disappointed.

Lu Xi didn’t know the reason either, but she wasn’t concerned with these things, remarking, “Whether they are here or not doesn’t matter, it’s more comfortable without the men around.”

Ding Xuexue didn’t think so, though she didn’t have the idea of finding a boyfriend yet, the names of those men were all prestigious, and naturally, it was better to make more connections.

Finally, her WeChat group vibrated with a message reply.

She quickly opened it, it was from He Zizhou, “Busy with something today, we’ll chat later.”

He had planned to say everyone was busy preparing for Jiang Zhe’s birthday, but remembering that Ding Xuexue wasn’t in that circle yet, and since Fen Ye hadn’t mentioned inviting Ding Xuexue, he decided not to take the initiative.

Ding Xuexue felt very disappointed. She was closest to Qin He, so she clicked on his profile picture and asked, “What exactly are you busy with?”

“Preparing for a birthday party,” Qin He replied vaguely, with Mr. Qin planning to prepare a mysterious birthday gift for Miss Jiang, he dared not reveal the secret and let outsiders know.

Ding Xuexue suddenly realized, speculating they were preparing for Mrs. Fen’s birthday.

No wonder none of them were present.

With this thought, she returned to her mother’s side.

“Why are you back again?” Ding Yuehua asked.

“I just asked Qin He. He said everyone is preparing birthday gifts.”

With that, Ding Yuehua also understood.

It seemed that Mrs. Fen hadn’t made a big fuss publicly, but Fen Ye was still seriously preparing.

She thought it made sense; in recent years, it’s been fashionable to keep festivities simple, especially for high-ranking individuals who don’t want to give others leverage over them.

No wonder Mrs. Fen’s previous birthdays were also held at home.

The higher the position, the more scrutiny they face; they must set a good example.

But still, such important figures wouldn’t truly have a simple birthday, there would certainly be meticulous arrangements and planning.

Ding Yuehua’s birthday gift, which had been ready but inconvenient to present, was waiting for the right moment.