Su Mingjie feigned a look of sorrow. “It’s a shame my second brother couldn’t come. He’s still angry with me. Father was so upset that he publicly announced the severing of ties with him today…”
“Why did it have to come to this? On such a joyous occasion, I truly wish our whole family could be together.”
That person immediately flattered him. “Mingjie, you’re far too kind. That adopted brother of yours overstepped his bounds and competed with you for affection, yet you still want to mend things. If it were me, I’d never let him back into the Su family.”
“That adopted son is just jealous of you. You’re a treasure held protectively in the hands of your parents, your brother, your fiancé, and your fans. You’ve been pampered since childhood, a hothouse flower of wealth and privilege…”
Just then, a chorus of “Caw caw” echoed from above.
Avian shadows loomed overhead.
“What’s going on? Did ducks learn to fly?”
“What kind of birds are these?”
“Ahhh!”
Foul, stinking droppings rained down from the sky, landing squarely on Su Mingjie!
The other guests scattered in terror, trying to evade the attack of the strange birds. They cursed their two legs for not moving fast enough, feeling certain disaster was imminent.
But in the end… they all escaped unscathed.
It wasn’t because their dodging skills were exceptional. Rather, the birds targeted only Su Mingjie, dropping their loads solely on him. Wherever he ran, the flock followed.
“Security! Get these birds out of here!” Su Mingjie shrieked in terror.
Both the hotel security and the Su family’s bodyguards looked troubled. After all, they were mere mortals—they couldn’t fly.
Fortunately, birds have fast digestive systems and don’t store much. The onslaught came quickly and ended quickly.
But by then, Su Mingjie’s hair and black suit were covered in filthy bird droppings, reeking to high heaven.
“Waaaah…” Su Mingjie had earlier been pretending to be upset that Su Zhisheng hadn’t come to the engagement banquet, when in truth he’d been secretly thrilled.
But now, he was genuinely miserable. Genuinely in tears.
The outfit for today’s engagement banquet had been custom-ordered six months in advance. The chef was a specially invited Michelin-starred team. The venue decorations were the work of a renowned designer—the expensive flowers alone had cost over a million yuan…
He should have been the object of nationwide envy, basking in the luxury of his engagement banquet. But now, even if the news were suppressed, he would still become the laughingstock of high society.
Rare, genuine tears slipped from the corners of Su Mingjie’s eyes.
His fiancé wanted to comfort him but was repelled by the stench and couldn’t bear to get too close.
“There’s a bathroom in the hotel. Go clean up quickly.”
Su Jingye, who had been so proud moments ago, now felt utterly humiliated and wanted nothing more than to leave immediately. But as the host—and with his future son-in-law needing to stay with his son—he had no choice but to swallow his pride and continue entertaining the guests.
His stepmother, Hu Xiuchun, covered her mouth, her eyes wide in exaggerated shock.
In reality, she was afraid that if she didn’t clamp her mouth shut, she would betray her gleeful, gloating smile.
Even though she benefited from Su Mingjie’s engagement, their relationship was so poor that she couldn’t help but secretly rejoice.
Su Mingjie hurried away, leaving the other Su family members to continue hosting the guests. The guests refrained from saying anything untoward in front of the hosts, but the moment they opened their phones, they eagerly began gossiping.
Ordinary guests were relatively restrained. Though they secretly found it funny, they still felt some sympathy for Su Mingjie.
But some guests who didn’t get along with Su Mingjie were far less restrained in their private group chats.
[I’m dying of laughter! That guy had just finished calling Su Mingjie a hothouse flower when those birds came along with fertilizer to nourish the bloom.]
[Hahaha, with that much fertilizer, that delicate flower Su Mingjie was moved to tears!]
[Speaking of which, today’s incident was really bizarre. Why would those birds act like they were possessed, targeting just one person with their droppings?]
[Possessed? I think it’s revenge. Crows remember faces and retaliate specifically. These birds are probably the same. That little fake Su Mingjie has offended plenty of people, and now he’s even offended the birds. Humans might tolerate him for his fiancé’s sake, but the birds won’t.]
[It’s a shame that adopted son of the Su family didn’t come. He has no idea what a show he missed.]
Little did they know that this entire aerial spectacle had been orchestrated by Su Zhisheng.
Su Mingjie went off to shower and change, desperate to fix the situation as quickly as possible. But his hair was full of styling gel, making it difficult to wash out.
He couldn’t very well cut his short hair into a mangled mess, so he had no choice but to endure the stench and keep washing.
After finally getting himself sorted and returning to the scene, Su Mingjie noticed police activity on the lower floors of a nearby building.
Su Mingjie frowned. “A minor incident like a bird attack—no need to bother the police. They’re already busy enough.”
Having the police called to his engagement banquet just sounded like bad luck.
Who had called them? Were they trying to embarrass him even more?!
Su Jingye frowned. “No, those officers aren’t here about the bird attack.”
Though the police dealt with all sorts of trivial matters in their daily work, they weren’t nearly that idle.
“Something seems to have happened at the hotel. The police are investigating.”
Su Mingjie’s face turned green with rage. “The Zhangs’ son is in prison, the hotel has strange birds, and now the police are here… It’s their bad luck that’s contaminated me. I’m never holding an event at this hotel again!”
His fiancé patted him—now overwhelmingly perfumed—and comforted him, “Okay, whatever you say.”
There was a cleaning cart on the lawn, and the cleaning lady was still working hard to clean up the mess. After all, Su Mingjie had run around in panic, spreading the droppings over a fairly large area.
“After you’re done cleaning, spray some perfume…” Su Mingjie frowned. “Why is this taking so long? Just one cleaning lady—are we going to be at this forever?”
“The police needed us for something earlier, so they went to help. I’m cleaning here, and they’ll be back soon.”
Sure enough, the cleaning ladies soon pushed the cart to the edge of the lawn.
Except, this time, the officers followed right behind them onto the grass.
Though cutting across the lawn was a shortcut, and the police were perfectly justified in doing so, Su Mingjie felt deeply uncomfortable seeing them walk through his engagement banquet carrying the air of a crime scene.
Wait… was that… Su Zhisheng?
Su Mingjie’s expression nearly cracked.
You’ve got to be kidding!
He had just been putting on his “caring little brother” act. How could Su Zhisheng be so spineless as to come back to this family that didn’t want him?
“Mingjie, your second brother is here. Now you can be happy.”
Happy, my foot!
At least Su Zhisheng hadn’t been around earlier to see him fleeing in panic from the bird droppings. If he had, Su Mingjie would have been absolutely furious!
“Second brother…” Su Mingjie forced a strained smile and reluctantly walked over.
Since he had been pretending to be magnanimous, he now had to keep up the act of welcoming his brother back with open arms.
Even though he wasn’t wearing his custom-made suit now, the luxury brand outfit he had on was still quite respectable. The only problem was that the ground hadn’t been fully cleaned yet—it was still a mess, and the smell was terrible…
Ugh. Couldn’t Su Zhisheng just find something else to do and not come to his engagement banquet? Su Mingjie didn’t want to let him have a single bite of the expensive food and drinks at the main reception.
“Caw caw…”
The familiar bird call echoed across the sky, instantly throwing Su Mingjie and the other guests into a panic. They scrambled for umbrellas.
There were only two birds in the air this time, but the trauma from before made everyone highly agitated.
At least this time, they were prepared.
From under his umbrella, Su Mingjie watched Su Zhisheng approach with malicious anticipation, hoping he too would be targeted by the birds.
“Caw caw…” The night heron gossiped with its newly arrived bird friend. “Right here. There’s a body in this hotel’s cleaning cart.”
While the birds above chattered on, Su Jingye, who had been standing under an umbrella, snapped back to reality. He immediately called for his bodyguards and strode toward Su Zhisheng.
Su Zhisheng was a special police consultant, not an officer, so he didn’t have a uniform.
Even though there were police officers behind him, Su Jingye didn’t think Su Zhisheng had any actual cooperation with the authorities.
As the president of an entertainment company, his public statements were written by his PR department. There was a time gap between his phone fight with Su Zhisheng and the announcement he posted, giving Su Zhisheng an opportunity to slip through the cracks.
Besides, the hotel was booked out today—all the guests were from wealthy families connected to the couple. Many of them had seen Su Zhisheng’s face not long ago at the adoption banquet. It was entirely possible that someone had run into Su Zhisheng at the hotel entrance and simply brought him in.
The moment Su Jingye saw his rebellious son’s face, his anger shot through the roof.
The veins on his forehead bulged as he bellowed, “You don’t belong here! Security—throw him out!”
Su Zhisheng stopped in his tracks, a defiant smirk curling at the corner of his lips.
He raised his hand and flashed his badge as a special police consultant.
“You have the right to remain silent. But everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law!”
Su Jingye’s brain practically short-circuited. He stood rooted to the spot, stunned.
How had this rebellious son gotten involved with the police?!
While Su Zhisheng and Su Jingye faced off, several police officers stepped past them and walked toward the cleaning cart.
“This is the last cleaning cart.”
“If it’s not here, it might have already been moved.”
Moved where? Su Mingjie was utterly confused. He turned to look.
The cleaning lady hadn’t yet been called in for questioning. She had no idea what the police were talking about.
She had been watching the head of the Su family get dressed down, hoping to catch some juicy gossip about the wealthy.
Instead… she heard the police say they wanted to search the cleaning cart—not investigate the Su family.
One small hotel, and two separate incidents at once!
The cleaning lady grew flustered and couldn’t help wondering what was hidden inside the cleaning cart.
“It’s not like someone stole something from a guest, is it? I just grabbed this cart from the supply closet today at random—this has nothing to do with me!”
As she spoke, she opened the lowest compartment of the cleaning cart.
A folded, lifeless body lay there in plain view.
“AAAAHHHH!”