RMM -Chapter 186 Farce at the Apology Banquet

White Xiong stood at the center of the hall. When he turned his head, he spotted Xi Yuechen in a corner. Frowning slightly, he beckoned him over.

“Why are you standing over there? Stay close to me.”

White Xiong’s meaning was obvious—he intended to take Xi Yuechen around to meet people. This was an unmistakable show of favor. It was clear that he was extremely satisfied with Xi Yuechen’s performance earlier and was now personally introducing him to others.

With White Xiong leading him around like this, who would still dare to look down on Xi Yuechen?

If Xi Yuechen truly were just Cheng Yue, then his future would indeed be bright beyond measure.

Following White Xiong through the brightly lit hall, Xi Yuechen’s polished social skills—graceful advances and measured retreats—earned him plenty of admiration. White Xiong took it all in, and his fondness for Xi Yuechen grew even stronger.

Before the main event began, the hall was filled with nothing but tedious small talk over drinks. Xi Yuechen had no choice but to keep a polite smile plastered on his face as he dealt with everyone, patiently waiting for the real start of the apology banquet.

When it was almost eight o’clock, White Xiong smiled at Xi Yuechen beside him and said, “Cheng Yue, the show is about to begin.”

Xi Yuechen’s heart stirred. He knew the apology banquet was finally starting.

“After tonight, the Zhao family will surely be utterly defeated,” Xi Yuechen said, his words carrying a double meaning.

White Xiong didn’t catch the deeper implication. He assumed Xi Yuechen was simply referring to the Zhao family losing face after the banquet, and the smile on his face grew even broader.

“The Zhao family has been outdated for a long time. I never thought that one day our Yan Sect would reach this point.”

White Xiong sighed with emotion. Back then, he had only stepped onto this path so he could live a better life and not be looked down upon.

Xi Yuechen nodded along, his gaze settling on Liu Qi, who had just stepped onto the central stage of the hall.

As the person chiefly responsible for tonight’s event, Liu Qi had conveniently taken on the role of spokesperson as well. Standing on the stage now, he spoke eloquently, delivering a long string of polite formalities—nothing more than thanking everyone for attending despite their busy schedules and expressing Yan Sect’s deep gratitude.

“All right, I won’t take up too much of everyone’s time. I believe everyone is well aware of the true purpose of tonight’s banquet, so let’s get straight to the point and not waste your valuable time.”

After finishing his empty pleasantries, Liu Qi finally shifted the topic to the night’s main event.

“As everyone knows, something rather unpleasant happened a few days ago. This incident caused tremendous losses to our Yan Sect. Our boss was badly shaken, and what pains us most is that we lost several brothers because of it. In our line of work, the most important thing is loyalty and brotherhood. So many brothers died without even knowing why—those of us lucky enough to still be alive must give them an explanation, no matter what.”

Liu Qi spoke with impeccable righteousness, his expression timely heavy and grief-stricken, as if he were truly heartbroken over those who had died.

The people below the stage nodded in agreement one after another, shaking their heads and sighing. The sight made Boss Zhao’s face flush red as he struggled desperately to suppress the anger surging within him.

What was the meaning of these words? Saying such hypocritical nonsense right in front of the Zhao family—wasn’t this deliberate humiliation? Thinking back to what had happened at the entrance earlier, Boss Zhao narrowed his eyes in fury.

Yan Sect had gone too far!

White Xiong naturally didn’t miss Boss Zhao’s reactions. He had been watching this side closely all along.

“That old bastard really can’t take a setback. Just this little blow and he’s already red in the face—no breadth of mind at all. No wonder the Zhao family has been going downhill,” White Xiong sneered, shaking his head in mockery.

“When even more blows come one after another, I imagine Boss Zhao’s expression will be even more spectacular,” Xi Yuechen added coldly.

White Xiong curled his lips into a smile and nodded in agreement.

Onstage, Liu Qi continued speaking and had now reached the part about the apology banquet itself.

“A single unintentional action by the Zhao family caused our Yan Sect such huge losses. Originally, we intended to seek justice using the same methods. However, all the bosses here persuaded us otherwise, saying that one should show mercy whenever possible. We’re just a bunch of rough men—we don’t understand many grand principles—but we couldn’t very well disregard everyone’s face. After all, we’ll still need to work together in the future. Since everyone made this request, how could our humble Yan Sect refuse? So we swallowed this loss and treated it as giving everyone some face. But the matter cannot simply end here—otherwise, some people might misunderstand and think that Yan Sect is a soft persimmon that anyone can bully.”

Liu Qi smiled faintly as he swept his gaze across the hall and continued, “We won’t pursue it further, but the perpetrator still needs to pay some price, as an explanation to our fallen brothers. Thanks to everyone here, Yan Sect finally obtained this apology banquet and some compensation. We’re not greedy people—we know when to stop. As long as tonight’s banquet passes smoothly, Yan Sect and the Zhao family will still be good brothers. We also hope that the Zhao family will understand our concessions.”

Though Liu Qi’s face still wore a smile, his words were sharp and aggressive. He not only mocked the Zhao family thoroughly but also subtly ridiculed others for meddling, painting Yan Sect as the ultimate victim.

Everyone below the stage knew perfectly well that Yan Sect was clearly reaping benefits while pretending to be aggrieved. But since their own actions did indeed border on interference, they felt a bit guilty and couldn’t bring themselves to turn cold. After all, this apology banquet had only come about because of their involvement. So they all put on dry smiles and brushed it off, while inwardly lamenting how shameless Yan Sect truly was—who didn’t know they had taken advantage of the situation and seized enormous benefits from the Zhao family?

Boss Zhao, meanwhile, felt a lump of anger stuck in his chest, unable to go up or down, nearly suffocating him.

Too much! This was far too much!

Yan Sect had forcibly seized the top-quality goods he had obtained with great difficulty, and now they were spouting such inverted accusations. Who, exactly, was the real victim here?!

Losing that shipment wasn’t just the loss of a single business deal for the Zhao family—it meant losing their top position on the D Province underworld.

Who was going to settle that score for him?!

Watching Boss Zhao’s face turn crimson with suppressed rage, White Xiong laughed with great delight. “That kid Liu Qi did pretty well tonight. Look at how furious he’s made the Zhao bastard. When we get back, I’ll have to reward him properly.”

Liu Qi’s passionate performance onstage was indeed effective—at the very least, he had driven Boss Zhao to the brink of fury.

As if that weren’t enough, Liu Qi ended by smiling at Boss Zhao below the stage.

The moment Boss Zhao was singled out, a sense of foreboding surged in his heart. Sure enough, Liu Qi spoke cheerfully.

“I won’t embarrass myself like some clown any longer. Since this is an apology banquet specially arranged by the Zhao family, then naturally they should have a role to play as well. I can’t steal their spotlight, can I? So next, let us invite Boss Zhao to come up onstage and give a speech.”

A chorus of agreement immediately rose from the audience. Boss Zhao’s face darkened completely. At this moment, he deeply regretted his momentary lapse of judgment in coming to this apology banquet. Yan Sect was clearly using this opportunity to humiliate the Zhao family!

Not only did they humiliate him—they now wanted him, the head of the Zhao family, to go onstage and humiliate himself!

Seeing Boss Zhao on the verge of exploding, the people beside him hurriedly tugged at his sleeve, reminding him to endure it no matter what.

That reminder truly forced Boss Zhao to calm down. No—this was not the time to tear things apart. The Zhao family was no longer what it once was. These people were all fair-weather allies who had long since stopped taking the Zhao family seriously. His reason for coming tonight was simply to curry favor with them.

Taking several deep breaths, he finally suppressed the anger in his heart. He forced a stiff smile onto his face and stepped toward the stage.

Just wait. One day, the Zhao family will rise again. Today’s humiliation will be repaid one by one!

Ignoring the thick malice in Boss Zhao’s eyes, Liu Qi chuckled lightly. “Thank you, Boss Zhao, for honoring us and giving Yan Sect such great face.”

How could Boss Zhao fail to understand that the “face” Liu Qi mentioned had nothing to do with him stepping onto the stage, but referred instead to this apology banquet—and the shipment of goods he had gone through countless hardships to obtain.

At this point, no matter how great the humiliation, he had to endure it. Let alone a vague, double-edged remark like that. Boss Zhao replied with a stiff, insincere smile, “Our Zhao family was careless. We will certainly learn our lesson in the future.”

Liu Qi neither confirmed nor denied it. He handed the microphone to Boss Zhao and stepped down from the stage, not bothering to consider what “lesson” Boss Zhao truly meant.

Anyone could talk big—yesterday’s glory was already gone.

Returning to White Xiong, who looked thoroughly pleased, Liu Qi grinned shamelessly. “Big Brother, how was my performance? I brought honor to Yan Sect, didn’t I?”

“Mm, not bad. We’ll reward merit when we get back!” White Xiong laughed heartily.

Liu Qi beamed with pride, chuckling as he moved behind White Xiong. He nudged Xi Yuechen with his elbow, clearly showing off.

Xi Yuechen tilted his head slightly and smiled, raising his thumb in approval.

Onstage, Boss Zhao finally managed to adjust his expression before beginning to speak.

“A real man dares to act and dares to take responsibility. The Zhao family still has this much backbone. We unintentionally offended Yan Sect before, and now, no matter what price we must pay, we are willing to accept it. As long as Yan Sect names it, even if we face great difficulty, we will comply. That is precisely why tonight has come about. I trust everyone here understands this clearly. I didn’t come here tonight merely to attend the apology banquet—more importantly, I came to personally present the compensation that Yan Sect specifically demanded. Yan Sect truly has impressive methods, being so thoroughly informed about the items our Zhao family had just received. I can’t help but admire that.”

Boss Zhao’s gloomy gaze swept toward White Xiong, hatred flashing in his eyes like countless blades. He sneered coldly. “Since Yan Sect wants face, then our Zhao family will give it cleanly and decisively. I, as the head of the family, will personally apologize and present the compensation. That should surely satisfy Mr. White. I invited everyone here today simply to serve as witnesses. After tonight, all past grievances between the Zhao family and Yan Sect will be wiped clean. I hope that in the future, we can coexist amicably.”

White Xiong felt no fear under Boss Zhao’s stare. He calmly smiled back, raised his glass in a gesture of bottoms up, and drained it in one go.

Watching White Xiong’s provocative action, Boss Zhao’s left hand hanging at his side clenched tightly. Veins bulged as it trembled slightly.

Xi Yuechen, meanwhile, watched this farce in silence, his expression cold and indifferent.