19. The night before the ethnic group

  The next day, when the warm sunshine slowly fell on the ground, the atmosphere of the Du family suddenly became a few degrees more intense.

  Of course, amidst this fervor, there is also a hint of anxiety and eeriness. The reason is simple: this annual grand event will determine the fate of many people for the next year, or even their entire lives.

  This day is of utmost importance to the Du family! Regardless of whether they are elders or juniors, no one dares to take it lightly.

  The venue for the clan meeting was the square in front of the main hall of the Du family. At this moment, a huge arena had been set up on the square, and the front of the arena was the VIP seat. At this moment, many people were already seated on the VIP seats.

  Apart from the high-ranking members of the Du family, there were many others on the VIP seat who were chatting with each other. These people all had some status in the city and had some connections with the Du family, even if they were from the same three major forces as Lian and Gong Sun families, even if they were secretly plotting against each other, everyone was extremely polite on the surface, so the people of Lian and Gong Sun families also had a smile on their faces on the VIP seat.

  No matter what kind of thoughts people have, they are all very concerned about Du's annual grand gathering.

  A family that wants to maintain its prosperity, the most important thing is the successor. If a family has no successors, then no matter how strong it is now, it will slowly decline in the future. On the contrary, if a family continuously injects new blood, even if the current power of the family is ordinary, it will also continue to grow stronger.

  Therefore, almost everyone will pay extremely close attention to such a grand occasion.

  He and Xiao Ai stood at the outer edge of the square, Du Fei squinted his eyes towards the direction of the VIP seat, and he didn't know what kind of feeling was in his heart.

  He had attended similar gatherings before, but it was his first time in such a remote location, and he couldn't help but feel a little out of place.

  "Even Lian Zhen has arrived!" Du Fei suddenly sneered and said calmly after scanning the scene for a moment.

  Upon hearing this, Xiao Ai's gaze also swept past and landed on Lian Zhen, who was sitting in the VIP seat with a smile on his face. She gritted her teeth and said: "This guy is really shameless, daring to show up at the Du family!"

  "This is normal," after taking a deep breath, Du Fei's mood calmed down again, and he said lightly, "That's how Lian Zhen usually speaks, as the first person of this generation of the Lian family. If nothing unexpected happens, the next head of the household will definitely be him. Why is it strange that he appeared?"

  "Hmph!" Xia Ai snorted, clearly still somewhat indignant about what had happened that day.

  Du Fei didn't say much more, his gaze continued to sweep across the VIP seats, and after a moment, his attention was focused on a woman in red.

  The woman was about twenty years old, with a lovely face and a fiery figure. At this moment, she was wearing a bright red short skirt that exposed her long, white legs. It's unknown how many eyes from the VIP seats nearby fell on those legs with a hint of disrespect, but when their owner's gaze swept over them lightly, those people hastily looked away.

  And sitting beside this woman was none other than Du Jia's number one young master, Du Han.

  The woman seemed extremely interested in Du Han. She had a smiling face, but Du Han seemed to have only a passing interest and responded sporadically.

  "Who is this woman?" Du Fei finally spoke up after a moment.

  Xiao Ai's gaze also swept past, with a hint of displeasure: "This woman is Gong Sun Hong from the Gong Sun family. It's said that she's also an extremely talented person. It's said that she has some interest in Du Han young master, and the two families seem to have some engagement prospects, but it's not clear yet."

  "The Gong Sun family, Gong Sun Hong." Du Fei nodded slightly.

  "What? Young master, you're interested in her? I heard that this woman actually likes younger men. If young master is interested, then make a good impression today and there might still be a chance to win her over!" Little Ai said with a cold tone.

  Du Fei was choked with a sentence and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh: "Do you think I'm interested in this kind of thing now? There are still too many things I want to do... too many..."

  Upon hearing this, Xiaoi's face suddenly darkened, as if she wanted to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

  It was Du Fei who reached out and rubbed her head, laughing: "Alright, let's go on stage too. I think there are still many people waiting to see our joke today... We can't let them down!"

  Having said that, Du Fei pulled Xiao Ai and walked slowly towards the VIP seat.

  In the Du family, inner disciples can also sit in the VIP seat. As for Little Ai, due to her relationship with Elder Du Zhenshan, her identity is quite special at this moment, and no one will say anything if she wants to go up to the VIP seat.

  In the middle of the VIP seat, there were a few young people chatting in low voices, but amidst the laughter, one of them suddenly had a slightly gloomy face and his smile was instantly retracted.

  The remaining people also followed his gaze and looked over, immediately, each of them showed a few smiles that were neither clear nor unclear.

  "Isn't this Du Fei's younger brother? It's been a long time since we last met!" The person standing in front was indeed Du Qing, who slightly waved his hand and took a few casual steps forward, but ended up blocking Du Fei's path.

  Du Fei's footsteps paused slightly, and the expression on his face was extremely calm: "So it's Young Master Du Qing... The title of younger cousin is too much for me to accept! I'll just borrow it!"

  After saying that, Du Fei made a gesture of a good dog not blocking the way.

  "Heh," Du Qing's expression didn't change, "This position in the back, I'm afraid you can't get it, young master!"

  Du Fei smiled and said: "Is there something wrong?"

  Seeing Du Fei's expression, Du Qing seemed to have deliberately thought for a moment before coldly laughing and saying: "This position in the back is only qualified for the younger generation of the Du family... You'd better not go over there and lose face!"

  "What? Has Young Master Du Qing gone mad? If I'm not mistaken, didn't the master say that I am an inner disciple?" Du Fei said with a still expression.

  "Even if it is now, it may not be later!" Du Qing smiled and said with a strange expression.

  Du Fei chuckled lightly and shook his head, but didn't say anything else. He simply pulled Xiao Ai along and brushed past them, then casually found a spot to sit down.

  "You can still be arrogant for a moment! After the clan comparison, even if it's that old ghost, no one can save you!" Enraged by Du Fei's attitude, the muscles on his face twitched slightly, but Du Qing endured and didn't take action, only coldly laughing in his heart.

  "He was so polite before, but now he's become really annoying."

  Xiao Ai sat down beside Du Fei, saying in a slightly dissatisfied tone.

  "Whose fault is this?" Du Fei glanced at Xiao Ai and smiled.

  Upon hearing this, Xiaoyi's face changed slightly, and she said in a low voice: "It's my fault..."

  "Alright, alright!" Du Fei smiled and said, "Even if you weren't here, my days wouldn't be any better, don't think too much about it."

  As the two were talking, there was a slight commotion in the direction of the main hall. Someone quickly retreated and then a group of people walked briskly towards the VIP seat.

  At the forefront of the crowd was Du Jian's family head, Du Zhentian. Closely following him were the First Elder Du Zhenshan, Second Elder Du Zhenxuan and Third Elder Du Zhenfeng. As for the several middle-aged men who followed closely behind, Du Fei didn't recognize even half of them.

  However, after a moment, Du Fei was slightly stunned. The Du Qian he saw at the Xiū Wǔ Gé that day was also in the crowd. Although she didn't hold a scroll like before, her face was still extremely calm, as if this grand occasion of the Du family had no effect on her at all.

  Under Du Zhentian's lead, the appearance of these high-ranking members of the Du family calmed down the originally chaotic scene at the VIP seats.

  Du Zhentian casually waved to the guests in all directions and sat down in the central position of the seat, and the other three elders also took their seats one after another.

  "Are you Du Fei, Lao Si's son?"

  It seemed that he had noticed Du Fei's gaze, a middle-aged man who was following behind Du Zhen Tian hesitated for a moment before walking over with a smile.

  Seeing this middle-aged man taking the initiative to greet him, Du Feifei quickly stood up and hesitated for a moment before saying with some uncertainty: "Uncle!?"

  "Haha, good kid, we've only met once, I didn't think you'd still remember me." The middle-aged man smiled and said with a hint of gratification.

  Upon hearing this, Du Fei suddenly remembered. This person was called Du Xuanfeng, and he seemed to be a cousin of his father's. Although their blood ties were thin, his father had always treated him like an elder brother.

  That is to say, this one can barely be considered his own uncle. Previously in that small town, this one had also come once, although due to being young at the time, Du Fei wasn't very clear about what happened back then, however he did remember that this uncle was quite kind to him.

  "It's been so many days since you came to the Du family, but you haven't even paid a visit. You don't know etiquette anymore." After taking a deep breath, Du Fei calmly said.

  "Heh heh, the clan comparison is about to begin, you're busy cultivating, I understand. Du Xuanfeng patted Du Fei's shoulder and then his gaze fell on Xiaoi, with a hint of strangeness, "This one is indeed the famous Little Ai girl who has been quite renowned in our Du family these days? Heh heh, truly, hearing about her is not as good as seeing her!"

  "Have you seen... have you ever seen..." Xia Ai hesitated.

  "Hehe, it's alright, you can just call me Uncle like Fei'er does. We've met before when we were younger, hehe......" As he spoke, Du Xuanfeng beckoned with his hand behind him and said calmly, "Qian'er, come meet your Brother Du Fei."

  The girl sitting on the chair with a calm face, who had spoken out when she saw him, hesitated for a moment before walking over slowly and said lightly: "I've met Brother Du Fei."

  When he saw the girl, Du Fei's face twitched slightly, and after a moment, he suddenly remembered something. No wonder the name Du Qian was so familiar to him!