“`
“Fourth Young Master!!”
As soon as this address was made, gazes immediately converged from around, unmistakably identifying a person of stature who could make the Song Family servants call him ‘young master’.
Even some noble ladies, after glancing over Song Chi, had their eyes shining enigmatically, not knowing what they were thinking, while a portion of them began to whisper to one another.
“Which young master from the Song family is this, looking quite handsome?”
“Seems like he is the son of ‘Third Master’ Song Chao, I remember he is called Song Chi, moved to Jiangyuan City a few years back.”
“Considering the surging blood and energy within his body, his Guidance Technique level seems not to be low. The descendant of this Wrathful Lion predecessor does seem noteworthy, each and every one of these young practitioners is impressive, just don’t know what the quality of his Seed of Torch is like.”
“Then you may be disappointed, for this time attending the Wrathful Lion family’s birthday feast, I specifically did my homework, as far as I know, this youngest of the Song Family’s younger generation, the Torch Seed he awakened is only colorless; should he not encounter a great fortune in the future, I’m afraid his achievements will be limited.”
“Colorless, then forget about it…”
“Giggle, if you’re thinking of marrying into the Song Family, you might consider flirting with the youngest of the Song Shan household, the third son of the Song family head, Song You. He is even younger than Song Chi by half a year, and it is said that his awakened Blue Torch Seed crowned him as the best graduate of Jiangyuan City this year.”
…
Regarding these barely audible private conversations, Song Chi, whose Guidance Technique had reached lv7, could hear a bit, but he paid them no mind.
Gossip, isn’t it something everyone has a bit of? Moreover, these people were all guests in the household, and strictly speaking, he was but a junior; as long as it wasn’t too excessive, he naturally did not bother to give it any thought.
“Grandpa, where are Grandma and my parents? Where are they?”
“The great ancestor and the lady are currently receiving a Third Rank from Jiangyuan City, the Third Master and the Madam have gone out to shop for all kinds of birthday banquet goods.”
Hearing this, Song Chi only could then say:
“Then who is in charge of the household at the moment? Aren’t my sister, eldest brother, and second brother here either?”
“The lady of the house is currently in the hall entertaining the guests who have arrived early; the eldest young master, the second young master, and the eighth Miss are all in the projection room!”
Song Chi thought for a moment and felt that before going to find Song Ting and the others, he should first go and pay his respects to his eldest aunt; that would be the polite thing to do.
…
The Wrathful Lion family’s main hall for receiving guests.
Zhao Hongxue was smiling warmly, chatting leisurely with a group of guests who had arrived early. It wasn’t that those in the hall held higher status; rather, it was because each person had a different personality and purpose. Some were more eager to use this opportunity to expand their network, while others couldn’t stay still and preferred to wander and look around.
At this moment, Song Chi walked leisurely into the hall for receiving guests.
A faint smile on his face, he walked up to Zhao Hongxue and bowed respectfully:
“Great Aunt!”
Zhao Hongxue’s smile grew even brighter.
“It’s Little Chi, I heard you just returned from a deployment in the Alien Star Domain yesterday, good to have you back.”
As she spoke, her gaze swept around the hall before she continued:
“These are all your uncles and great-uncles, you haven’t yet greeted them.”
Upon hearing this, Song Chi quickly turned and bowed toward the various figures in the hall.
“My junior, Song Chi, has seen all the elders, and I thank you all for coming from afar to attend my grandmother’s birthday banquet.”
His words were just right, drawing nods and smiles from the guests in the lounge, a look of satisfaction appearing in their eyes.
After the brief formalities, Zhao Hongxue did not keep Song Chi for long, considering that the lounge was full of his uncles’ generation, and even if Song Chi was mature from a young age, she feared he might feel uncomfortable, so she soon let him leave.
Leaving the hall, Song Chi was pensive.
“`
The other guests in the living room just now might not have had a strict hierarchical division, but one person’s status was clearly higher than the others.
That was a woman dressed in a palace-style long dress, with a plump figure. The other guests all sat in lower seats of the living room, with only her seated next to Zhao Hongxue, who was the host. Moreover, based on the casual chatting and laughing demeanor between the two that he had seen upon entering the hall, he could tell that her relationship with his grandaunt must be quite good.
Of course, the most, most crucial thing was the aura emanating from her.
Although the woman was deliberately concealing it, perhaps due to her lack of mastery over her own strength, he faintly sensed a pressure coming from her when he got close to his grandaunt.
Or rather, a threat that he had never felt from his own father, nor from Second Rank Torch Ship Captains like Shen Wenjie. The only similar experience was a few months ago during the Torch Awakening, when he felt the pressure emanating from the school principal Zhu Yaokui.
Obviously, if his perception wasn’t wrong, this woman in palace attire was indeed a Third Rank Torch Captain.
It was after arriving at this conclusion that Song Chi became curious about her identity.
As for her external factors, no kidding, she was indeed stunningly beautiful, plus that unspoken and indescribable grace and luxury in her posture, she basically met all men’s fantasies about the opposite sex. But as a man who had lived two lifetimes, would Song Chi be the kind of man who thought with his lower half?
Mature woman, young wife, royal sister???
Heh, that would only slow down the speed of his sword draw.
…
In the underground projection room, dozens of young men and women, not too old in age, sat quietly all over the room. Among these people were direct descendants of the Song Family, as well as young guests from other families.
At the moment, everyone’s gaze was locked onto the images on the projection screen in front of them. They were not just pretending, each one was focused and absorbed.
The footage being shown was not some melodramatic online romance drama, but the incredibly real scenes of Starry Sea Warship combat.
This was not anything else, but the recordings trimmed from the warships’ recorders by several Torch Captains of the Song Family, documenting each of the Song Family Torch Captains’ true encounters in the Alien Star Domain.
Watching these real exploration footages for these young Torch Captains in the room, whose awakening had not been long and their Starry Sea exploration experience was still shallow,
could not only enrich their knowledge but also help them understand more about the characteristics of the Starry Sea Alien Race civilization and their strange and unseen attack tactics. This would make them more wary and prepared in their future Star Domain explorations, increasing their survival rate.
Moreover, the Torch Warships shown in the footage were basically Second Rank Level, and occasionally there was a segment of exploration footage from the old man Song Mingsong, so the host civilizations appearing in the footage were naturally extraordinary.
With strong firepower to begin with and endlessly emerging other weird attack tactics, the footage was watched with a thrilling sensation, making the group in the projection room feel as if they were on the scene.
And this was the best way to increase the experience for these young Torch Captains.
In summary, watching these special footages could bring great benefits to the Torch Captains. In ordinary families or powers, such opportunities were not plenty, as not every force had as many Second Rank Torch Captains as the Song Family.
The four brothers of the Song Family, Song Shan, Song Hai, Song Chao, Song Yang, were all bona fide Second Rank Torch Captains, and so were the Old Madam Song, the First Madam, and the Second Madam, with the old master even being a well-known Third Rank Torch Captain of the White Tower Floating Land.
Therefore, the number of real-time exploration footages cut for the younger generation by the Song Family was unmatched by most other forces.
Without meaning to disturb anyone, Song Chi entered quietly through the back door of the projection room and, after finding where Song Ting was, he walked over to her.
It was not until he sat down next to Song Ting that she finally noticed his arrival, belatedly.
“Brother!”
“Shh!”
He signaled for Song Ting to keep her voice down, not to disturb the others in the room. At this time, another girl sitting next to Song Ting also softly called out.
“Fourth Brother!”
Song Chi nodded.
“Sixth Sister.”
The girl’s name was Song Shishi, the eldest daughter of his Fourth Uncle Song Yang. She was twenty-seven this year, ranked sixth among the Song Family’s generation. She currently lived with Song Yang and his wife in Baihe City and attended the First Torch Academy there.
ps: Dear readers, Happy New Year, may you be prosperous.