茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

At the wedding banquet, not only university classmates and Zhang Qian, who had known Xiang Kun beforehand, were discussing him, but also many guests who had met him for the first time in the last two days, especially those who were older.

This active, well-spoken, memory-superior bald groomsman who could remember almost everyone’s names had indeed left a deep impression on them.

Now Xiang Kun was consistently by the groom’s side, and everyone who caught sight of that distinctive bald head could not help but praise him.

While being praised is a good thing, given Xiang Kun’s current circumstances, he didn’t exactly want to leave a strong impression on too many people. Fortunately, most people’s interaction with him barely lasted beyond a few sentences during the wedding banquet, so any impression they had of him should fade quickly thereafter.

Just as the bride and groom were giving their speeches on stage, a voice outside the banquet hall caught his attention.

“…you just walk over there holding the cup pretending you’re going to toast him, then splash its contents on his face. As soon as you’re done, run. You’re a woman, they won’t be able to react at first, they won’t give you trouble,”

“Just aim for the man in the photo. If you can’t recognise him, just splash it on the groom,”

“Go on, once you’re done with this job, we’re even,”

“Don’t worry, my word is my bond.”

This was a man’s voice, and the one he was instructing was a woman.

Since the only wedding taking place at the hotel right now was this one, there was no doubt that the “groom” referred to Chang Bin.

Xiang Kun’s eyebrows furrowed as he started giving more attention to the door. Soon, he saw a panicky young woman holding a stem glass walk into the banquet hall.

The light yellow liquid in the glass looked like beer or white wine, but Xiang Kun was certain that it was urine.

What grudge could it be? A urine-throwing incident on one’s wedding day?

Xiang Kun’s anger surged as he headed towards the entrance of the wedding venue, facing the woman with the stem glass.

The young woman quickly noticed Xiang Kun advancing towards her. As their eyes met, she slowed down, her expression momentarily stupefied.

When Xiang Kun was about five or six meters away from her, she turned around to retreat, her steps quickening till she was out of the banquet hall.

Xiang Kun, expressionless and unhurried, followed her, stepping out of the banquet hall and casually closing the doors as he left.

Soon after, he spotted the young woman’s retreating figure in the hotel’s corridor leading to the washrooms. She held the stem glass and swiftly walked up to a man who was leaning against a wall, looking at his phone. The moment he lifted his head and saw her, she splashed the urine from the glass all over him.

Xiang Kun knew that the man was the one whose voice he had heard earlier.

After hearing what the man had said, Xiang Kun had quickly considered multiple ways to handle the situation, ultimately deciding that he wouldn’t let the incident occur within the banquet hall, and he wouldn’t let the instigator escape.

If he followed his gut feeling, Xiang Kun thought he might beat the man up in the restroom and question why he was behaving this way.

However, rationally speaking, he should follow the law and avoid causing a big disturbance during Chang Bin and Wang Han’s wedding.

So Xiang Kun tried out a “combined technique” he had recently developed. As he watched the young woman carrying a glass and walking into the banquet hall, he first used a mild “mental deterrence” to attract her attention and then immediately induced “co-manifestation” by catching her eye.

Xiang Kun was indeed angry but he was still in control of his emotions, lest he enter an “Emotional Assimilation” state and influence the people around him. Focuses on a single person with “mental deterrence” wasn’t a problem, and he could quickly set up the “co-manifestation” image by being in this agitated state.

In fact, he used “mental deterrence” to “threaten” the young woman and then used “co-manifestation” to provide her with specific instructions on what to do.

He admired Guo Tianxiang’s ability to directly hypnotize others with his voice. This skill was extremely helpful in modern society, but sadly, he had not been able to develop it yet. He wasn’t sure which of his existing abilities it was incompatible or conflicted with. His abilities relating to consciousness and mentation had significantly improved, and his control over them had greatly enhanced. So, he wanted to try out this ‘compelling version’ of “Hypnosis” by utilizing “mental deterrence” with “co-manifestation” to see the results.”

Watching the young woman splash urine all over the man in the corridor outside the banquet hall, Xiang Kun knew that his experiment had worked.

“What the fuck! You… are you nuts?? I’m going to kill you…”

The man, after a second of shock, flew into a frenzy, slapping the young woman to the ground, and proceeded to kick and punch her.

Xiang Kun hastily stepped forward and robustly warned, “Stop hitting her!” Then kicked him in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Of course, Xiang Kun held back ninety-five percent of his power; otherwise, he might have killed him instantly.

When the young woman was being beaten, her screams attracted a lot of attention, including that of the hotel security guards.

Seeing the two security guards hurrying over, Xiang Kun pointed at the man he had knocked down, who was still groggy from the shock and said, “Brother Chen, Xiao Wang, I came out just now to find this man beating this lady. You guys get a hold of him quickly, call the police.”

Having visited the hotel several times yesterday to check on various details of the wedding venue’s decoration, he had familiarized himself with some of the security guards and bribed them with a pack of cigarettes each to keep an eye on things during the wedding. So, when he spoke up on this matter, the security guards inclined to believe him and quickly restrained the man from getting up and charging at Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun then turned his gaze to the young woman, who was lying on the ground and appeared quite pitiful.

The woman reacted to his stare as if startled and immediately shrieked, “It’s not my fault, he forced me! If I didn’t do it, he would post my pictures and videos online, I was forced to do it!”

After hearing her words, the expressions of the onlookers and the two security guards changed. Initially, they might have thought it was a lovers’ squabble, but now it seemed like the matter was more serious!

“Damn it! You fucking bitch, you dare to talk nonsense, I’ll rip your mouth apart!”

On hearing this, the man seemed startled and desperately lunged towards the young woman but was held back by the two security guards.

Both the security guards found it strange – why was there a smell of urine on this man?

The man forcibly pushed past two security guards, attempting to run out of the hotel. However, he was tripped by Xiang Kun as he passed by, then restrained by the arriving security.

At this time, a few people from the wedding venue also followed out.

After the banquet hall doors were closed, the sound insulation was actually quite good, and the disturbance outside wasn’t enough to alarm the people inside.

However, a few people had been keeping a close eye on Xiang Kun’s movements. When they saw Xiang Kun following a female guest out, they thought it was strange and also followed out to see. Included in this group were Tang Baona and Zhang Qian.

“What’s going on?” Tang Baona leaned in towards Xiang Kun, asking in a low voice.

“I’m not quite sure myself. I saw a lady I didn’t recognize and wanted to go over and ask her if she was late. If so, I would help her find a seat. But when she saw me, she turned and walked away immediately. When I followed her out, I saw the guy hitting her. Plus, she mentioned something about being filmed or snapped and that it would be posted online, which seemed off to me. So, I had the hotel call the police,” Xiang Kun simply explained.

Before long, Chang Bin, who had found some free time, also slipped out of the banquet hall to see where his best man had gone.

“Zhang Youzhu? What’s he doing here?” Chang Bin exclaimed in surprise as soon as he saw the restrained man.

“Do you know him?” asked Xiang Kun. Actually, from the information he had heard earlier, he guessed this man must have some personal grudge with Chang Bin.

“Yes, he used to work for me. We fired him for some things he did and reported him to the police. I think he was in jail for a couple of months,” said Chang Bin, frowning, “I have no idea why he’s here. I certainly didn’t invite him.”

“Guess he wanted to cause some trouble but his own dirty linen got aired first,” Xiang Kun casually remarked, choosing not to mention their intention of disrupting the banquet by throwing urine.

Seeing Chang Bin come out, the man who had been yelling about “illegal restriction on his freedom” and “suing them” finally quieted down.

Soon, the police arrived. Xiang Kun had Chang Bin return to the banquet hall, while he stayed behind to explain the situation to the police. After all, he could be considered as a “primary witness”, having seen the process of the man assaulting the young woman and even having kicked the man.

Judging from Xiang Kun’s estimation, if they only tried to charge the man for planning to throw urine at Chang Bin’s wedding, the crime might not be considered very serious. Besides, the incident didn’t really happen. Instead, the cup of urine ended up being spilled onto himself.

But the man’s method of coercing the young woman could lead to serious charges.

The man dared to get back at Chang Bin while carrying such heavy baggage himself.

After the police arrived, they simply asked the young woman a few questions and learned the ins and outs of the situation.

The man, named Zhang Youzhu, used some despicable means to hold the young woman’s weaknesses over her, forced her into a relationship, secretly filmed videos and took pictures of her, further extorting money and goods from her. Today, he even forced her to throw a cup of urine at Chang Bin during his wedding.

After Zhang Youzhu and the young woman were taken away by the police, an officer came over to ask Xiang Kun, “Miss Li said you threatened her to pour the cup of…liquid over the conspirator’s head, or else you would kill her?”

Xiang Kun widened his eyes, innocent written all over his face, “Not at all! I saw that she looked unfamiliar, I hadn’t seen her at all today, so I wanted to go over and check. If she was late, I would help her find a seat. As the best man of the wedding, I helped the groom greet most of the guests as I have quite a good memory. If I had seen her, I wouldn’t have forgotten. But as soon as I approached her, without uttering a word, she turned around and left. It struck me as odd, so I followed her out, only to see that man hitting her, and I immediately went to stop it. From beginning to end, until your arrival, I didn’t say a word to her! You can check the surveillance videos for this, it should be recorded.”

The officer nodded, took down Xiang Kun’s phone number, and told him that they might need his assistance with the investigation at the station once the wedding was over. It was clear that the officer also found the young woman’s claims questionable, as it was impossible for Xiang Kun to know in advance what she was going to do, let alone knowing about the existence of the instigator.

Of course, Xiang Kun agreed. He wasn’t worried about any possible investigations as he truly hadn’t uttered a single word to the young woman from start to finish.

In the banquet hall, through the combination of ‘mental deterrence’ and ‘co-manifestation’, Xiang Kun made the young woman comply with the instructions ‘co-manifestation’ offered under the influence of ‘mental deterrence’.

The projection he created didn’t threaten to kill her or anything of that sort, but due to the oppressive nature of ‘mental deterrence’, she came up with this idea.

The surveillance footage from the banquet hall would show that he hadn’t spoken to the young woman. Therefore, no one would believe her claims, except for herself.

After the police left, Zhang Qian, who had been standing nearby, said: “If need be, you can contact our company’s legal department. You are now our partner, and these resources can be used by you. I’ll give you my assistant’s number later.” Chang Bin had to return to his wedding, and Tang Baona, as a bridesmaid, had to go back to the bride, while Zhang Qian, as a guest, had stayed outside without returning to the banquet.

“That won’t be necessary, I trust the police’s judgement,” Xiang Kun said, then asked, “Aren’t you going to eat? What brings you out here to watch the excitement?”

“Aren’t I just worried about our partner getting into trouble?”

“Enough about the partner. Director Lin must have told you, right? That project is almost finished. I anticipate that once we return from the Spring Festival, we can launch the trial run if the final test version presents no problems. Don’t forget to pay me my final payment then!”

“You can rest assured about the final payment,” said Zhang Qian, “But what are your plans for the future? I have a few ideas; would you like to continue our partnership?”

Xiang Kun joked, “Are you just trying to take advantage of my efficient, high-quality, and low-cost work?”

Zhang Qian replied, “It seems that you know your strengths well. Don’t worry, I’ll give you shares this time. How about becoming a real partner?”

“If there’s a project I’d like to work on and the quote and time frame are appropriate, I’ll consider taking it. As for becoming a partner, I’ll pass,” said Xiang Kun, shaking his head.

Zhang Qian didn’t try to persuade him further, nor did she mention what her specific ideas were. She switched the topic, “I heard from Yang Zhuo that you and your friends have opened a restaurant in a small town and invited him and his girlfriend to visit during the winter break.”

“Yeah,” Xiang Kun replied while turning to head back to the wedding banquet. He said to Zhang Qian, “Why, do you want to go too? Yang Zhuo and his girlfriend are going to help me with some videos, so I’ll be covering their round-trip plane tickets and accommodations. If you want to go, you’ll have to pay your own expenses!”

“Look at how stingy you are…” Zhang Qian rolled her eyes, “The money you made from that project should have been enough to cover the cost of opening the restaurant, right?”

“Come on, for that project, the money and time I saved for you far outweigh the fee you paid! Besides, I haven’t even received the final payment yet!”

After that, the wedding proceeded smoothly without any more disruptions.

For Xiang Kun, discovering Zhang Youzhu’s ulterior motives and preventing a potential farce at the wedding banquet was worth the effort he had put in over the past two days. Chang Bin’s wedding proceeded without being affected.

On January 17th, after completing another Blood-drinking Period, Xiang Kun embarked on his journey home.

However, this time he didn’t travel alone. Accompanying him were not only Yang Zhuo and his girlfriend Xiao Min, who he had originally planned to invite, but also a large group of people such as Tang Baona, Yang Zhen Er, Tang Baoting, Zi Cheng, Yang Jie, and Zhang Qian.