"Madam Huo, you are indeed blessed - to have raised such outstanding children" gushed yet another wealthy madam with a smile that was entirely too fake.
Huo Yichen didn't bother remembering her name. He was used to such annoyingly syrupy flattery.
"If my good-for-nothing son was half as outstanding as yours, he would've already been promoted" the woman fake-complained, nudging her son to speak up.
To Huo Yichen's disgust, the son merely lowered his head, clearly used to being paraded around in such a lowly fashion.
"No pride at all, how shameless" Huo Yichen thought with disgust, secretly looking down on men who rely on their woman to get ahead.
At the Ninestrings festival, it was nothing new. The Ninestrings festival was supposed to be the epitome of cultural and heritage celebration at the Capital. The matriarchs of big families were the patrons. While true artists attended to show off their skills, the matrons came to "socialize", build marriage alliances, and kiss-up to families higher than themselves for benefits.
As the Huo family was THE top family in the Capital his mother and sister were constantly inundated with nauseating speeches. This recent one seemed more insistent than most and was grating on Huo Yichen's already frayed nerves.
He had been at the Ninestrings festival for a mere 20 minutes and was second guessing his strategy.
Yesterday, soon after he was cleared by the doctors, he received three military reprimands.He now was facing demotion and was re-assigned to an obscure unit in the frontlines, where it would be hard for him to achieve any military merits.
To an ordinary solider it would've been an end to their career. But Huo Yichen had the entire Huo family's resources behind him and was not fazed. He knew it was a temporary measure - to appease the old farts higher up.
And his grandfather… Huo Yichen gritted his jaw.
It was also his grandfather's way of punishing him for losing so much face and embarrassing the Huo family. Once his grandfather "forgave" him, he would be reinstated.
But Huo Yichen's pride was hurt. He desperately sought answers and wanted to make a grand comeback face-slapping the higher-ups who so harshly insulted him. Upon carefully revisiting the whole mission he came to a definite conclusion: that girl at the control tower must have some answers!.
Strangely, it looked like she had never existed. There was no surveillance footage of her.
When he read Chi Yang's report again, he noticed that was the second detail Chi Yang had omitted - there was no mention of the beautiful school student at the control tower.
"Very good. Chi Yang, I will remember this debt" growled Huo Yichen, kicking himself for not suspecting his team sooner.
The whole of last night he had spent scouring admission forms and student roll numbers before finally identifying Lu Mian. According to information, she was the first daughter of a third tier Lu family from City C.
And, as luck would have it, the Lu family had been invited to the Ninestrings festival today.
So he had agreed to accompany his mother and try to meet her.
His mother, however, had other plans.
"Yichen, stop being distracted and find the Gu family girl" she muttered to him, hiding her displeasure behind an elegant champagne glass as she herded another low-class woman away.
These third-tier families were so crass…nothing like her perfect Yixuan or Yichen!
"Win her over, and the Gu family will have to side with you." she urged. "I have already made the arrangements. I have been planning since last year - she is quite interested in you".
Qin Yuerou was an old hand at the womanly power games in the Capital. She had to be - to compensate for her useless husband.
Otherwise her sister-in-law would've swallowed the Huo family whole and her children would've been left with nothing.
So right from the day she married into the family, she had been planning for herself - mainly against Huo Ruiyi.
It was her who had pulled various strings in the background to get her married to the mediocre Zhao family. The hope was that the son-in-law wouldn't be too outstanding and compete against her husband.
It was only partly successful. The Zhao family were so useless that they had now become parasites on the Huo families' wealth. Qin Yureou had to grit her teeth as her mother-in-law gave away countless treasures and favors just to help the Zhaos maintain their facade.
When her son Huo Yichen became such an excellent soldier, Qin Yureou was ecstatic. Finally, all her years of toil had paid off! It was the perfect counterattack against Huo Shen.
But, that plan has a minor setback now! When she heard of Huo Yichen's demotion through her informants, she knew it was up to her to work behind the scenes again.
Good thing I always have a back up she smirked internally.
Last year, she had bought off the Gu girls' friends - and had them instigating her to like her Huo Yichen.
While it was too early for her son to settle down, it never hurt to have more admirers. And, the Gu family, was one of the few families in the Capital that could go head to head with Huos.
So in subtle insignificant ways, she had orchestrated Gu Yanli's attention to notice Huo Yichen. Given how handsome and outstanding her son was, it didn't take a lot.
Finally, she'd instigated her friends to "accidently" on purpose blurt out Huo Yichen's mission at Qinghe Research Institute. And the stupid Gu girl had taken the bait!
She had glimpsed her wonderful Yichen from afar in his dashing soldier uniform and was now completely smitten with him. Today, it was time to tighten the net a bit more.
"Brother, she's next to the balcony, pretending not to see us" piped up Yixuan with controlled excitement.
Huo Yixuan fully trusted her mother. It was her mother who had helped her get the Tang family Matriarch's approval. After the failed first date with Young Master Tang, her mother had secured her another chance today at the NineStrings festival.
If her Big brother follows mother, they would be unshakeable in the capital.
Neither of them had accounted for Huo Yichen's pride. "I am not so incapable I need to rely on a woman" snarled Huo Yichen furiously. This scheme hit him a bit harder than usual, especially because he had just looked down on another "useless" man for relying on his mother's schemes.
"Mother, I appreciate what you've done for me, but I can manage this" and decisively walked away to look for the organizers.
If his trusted team Chi Yang was here, he would've advised Huo Yichen to start with the green room first.
But Huo Yichen was flying solo for this mission. And, he had his "face" to maintain. So he gradually made small talk and arrived at the greenroom as if by chance.
It had taken him almost an hour of careful probing before he finally found a lead.
"I need to speak with student Lu Mian. Now" he growled at the Stage Producer in the greenroom, flashing his badge impatiently.
He was half expecting another dead end. This year, participation in the festival was higher than usual and there were scores of students registered.
The renowned actress Nan Ji was choosing an apprentice and every eligible art student had eagerly signed up for a chance to be seen.
Even now, the greenroom was busy - with women making last minute adjustments to their costume right before they go on stage to perform.
"Young Master, this…" protested the Stage Producer weakly. He had a hundred things to co-ordinate so that the performance goes smoothly. Hunting for a young girl based on the whims of the elite was not his plan.
He couldn't outright offend this person either, for he seemed very well to do. If one thing the Stage Producer knew, it was that the Capital was full of nobles and elite. Every person you meet has some kind of pull - and it was generally good practice not to upset the bigshots.
This time however, luck seemed to be on Huo Yichen's side.
"Sir, are you by chance looking for my sister?" piped up a cautious voice from the side. It was a young girl with a rather sweet looking face. It could be even be considered "good looking".
However, for a seasoned Master like Huo Yichen who had countless beauties vying for his attention, her looks were barely passable.
"If they are related, her older sister clearly got the better genes" thought Huo Yichen, absently comparing this ordinary looking person with the extraordinary beauty in his mind.
"Forgive my boldness Young Master. My name is Lu Xinya. I am from City C and I have an older sister named Lu Mian" she continued in a rush. "I overheard your conversation just now and was wondering if my sister was the person you were looking for" she finished cocking her head to the side.
Huo Yichen had run into Lu Xinya - the illegitimate daughter of the Lu family.