"Since everyone’s already fallen out anyway, let’s stop pretending everything’s fine. I’m going in, you guys do whatever you want!"

If Wang Shan had felt awkward at the beginning, that was only because he didn’t know what was going on. But now he’d been called out to his face, and he just couldn’t afford to get angry. He could only squeeze out a smile, but no matter how you looked at it, that smile was nothing but awkward.

Wang Shan’s wife was fuming at his side. This young man really had no sense at all. So what if he had a bit of filthy money? Why did he have to be so full of himself?

Old Mr. Li, however, nodded. He hadn’t expected this young man to actually have some background. Still, things had indeed been awkward just now. He followed the butler inside.

The most embarrassed of all were of course the security guards. The butler might not be able to do anything to the Wang couple, but if he wanted to fire a few security guards on the spot, that was more than easy enough and didn’t require anyone’s approval.

The first guard who refused Xu Ke, and the one whose baton had been knocked out of his hand by Xu Ke, was immediately taken away on the spot.

After Xu Ke went in, the butler settled him properly before going off to deal with other matters.

Once inside, Wang Shan hurriedly adjusted his expression, fixed his posture, and went off to try and chat up the big shots.

Old Mr. Li, on the other hand, headed straight upstairs with his assistant to look for Old Mr. Xiao, since the birthday banquet hadn’t officially started yet.

Right now there was a circle of young girls gathered around Xiao Keyi. After all, she was the Xiao Family’s one and only daughter, the center of attention, so plenty of people were more than happy to flatter her.

They all wished they could squeeze in a few more words with her, but the young lady didn’t seem very interested. Whatever others said, she just responded perfunctorily.

Xiao Keyi had noticed Xu Ke from the moment he stepped into the entrance. Ever since that first glance she’d found him attractive, so her eyes had never really relaxed from tracking him, right?

Even separated by so many people, he was still that dazzling. Xiao Keyi quickly lowered her gaze, stared at the red wine in front of her, and stayed silent for a long time. The girls gathered around her all started guessing among themselves.

Suddenly, one girl pointed to Xu Ke in the crowd. "Wow, have you guys seen that guy before? I’ve never seen him on TV, but he’s actually that handsome. Could he be some kind of celebrity? If he’s an up‑and‑coming star, we definitely need to sign him to our company. One look at that face and you just know he’s going to blow up."

With the girl pointing him out, everyone around turned to look. When Xiao Keyi raised her head—wasn’t that Xu Ke? She felt a little indignant in her heart. No matter where this guy went, he attracted bees and butterflies like this.

She was very displeased, but the fact that the man she liked was also acknowledged by others at least proved that her taste was excellent.

"What do I do, I’m already crushing just from seeing his side profile. How can someone be this good‑looking? And anyone who can get into Old Mr. Xiao’s birthday banquet must have some status, right? Which family’s young master is he?"

"And he’s so young too. Do you think he’s still single? If he is, you girls better not fight me for him. You’ve already got boyfriends. Let this single lady make a move."

At this point, they had zero interest in chatting with Xiao Keyi. Every one of them was staring at Xu Ke like he was the sweetest honey they’d ever seen.

Xiao Keyi slammed her bag down on the table and cleared her throat lightly, but to her surprise, those girls only had eyes for Xu Ke and went straight for him.

The maid behind her saw her suddenly losing her temper and panicked, quickly hurrying to her side.

"Miss, you can’t get angry today. It’s the old chairman’s birthday. If you lose your temper, the whole scene will be hard to salvage. Please bear with it for now. If you really can’t stand it, you must tell me."

Xiao Keyi shook her head and waved the maid off to help elsewhere, then sat there drinking sullenly by herself.

On top of that, Ren Liang had brought those three interns with him in the first place.

Once he saw Xu Ke, Ren Liang looked like he’d finally found someone to talk to and led the few of them straight over. Even if Xiao Keyi wanted to ignore it, she couldn’t anymore.

As soon as Jin Yina saw Xu Ke, her eyes lit right up.

"Xu Ke‑ge, a few days ago when I went to the company they said you’d gone back to your hometown, so I didn’t get to see you. My mom asked me to bring you some local specialties. Did you get them?"

Jin Yina was genuinely grateful to Xu Ke, so she sounded especially excited. But in Xiao Keyi’s eyes, that excitement was nothing but a crush.

Xiao Keyi kept watching Xu Ke’s expression, and to her annoyance, he actually answered with a gentle smile. "I didn’t really notice. I’ll ask about it when I’m back at the office. By the way, are you getting used to the internship there? Are you keeping up with your schoolwork?"

Jin Yina shook her head. "I’m not behind on my schoolwork at all. I really have to thank you and the young lady for giving me such a chance. I’m doing great at the company now—I even got praised by the president."

The more Xiao Keyi looked, the angrier she got. She deliberately walked past them in front, but didn’t manage to attract their attention at all. In the end she went straight up to the top floor, out of sight and out of mind.

Xu Ke was just about to head upstairs when he was suddenly blocked by a group of brightly dressed young women.

"Hey, handsome, do you have a girlfriend? If you don’t, how about considering me? I just turned twenty‑four and I’ve always been single."

"Hey, handsome, what do you do for a living? Can you tell us? Oh, and I’m a nurse. My family’s been in medicine for generations, we’re pretty famous in Changnan. Ask around and you’ll definitely hear of us."

"Handsome, can we add each other on social media? Then we can set up tea dates later. I know where the best tea is, and I can help you out too, so how about everyone adds WeChat?"

They were so enthusiastic they practically wanted to eat Xu Ke alive, but he only frowned.

Their cloying perfume was suffocating; he wasn’t interested at all.

Seeing Xu Ke frown made their hearts skip a beat, but it only made them even more infatuated. Who would’ve thought he’d be this attractive even when he was annoyed?

Right then, Ren Liang could clearly tell their president didn’t like these women, so he immediately called over the two big guys behind him.

"What are you two still standing there for? Can’t you see the president doesn’t like those women? Hurry up and pull them away."

With that, the three of them opened up a path for him. Xu Ke gave Ren Liang a grateful nod and walked straight toward the elevator.

The girls were furious. The handsome guy had been so close just a second ago, and now he’d vanished into thin air because of these three. They all looked at them resentfully.

"Who would’ve thought three dogs would show up halfway and ruin everything. I’m so pissed I could die. It’s so hard to find a guy this good‑looking, and he just disappeared like that. Totally killed my mood."