Chapter 166: Chapter 165: Birthday Banquet (4)

Li Xinyue waves her hand: "It is no trouble. Leave the decoration and layout to me. You only need to tell me the style you want."

Li Yuhan whispered to Li Yujian: "This is the fastest I have ever seen someone take over a banquet."

Li Yujian replied calmly: "At least she knows what she is doing."

Li Xinyue heard them and smiled: "Don’t worry about me. I have hosted more banquets in this mansion than I can count."

Li Yuhan didn’t expect her to respond and was a bit embarrassed: "Then we will trouble sister Xinyue."

Li Xinyue then asked Li Jain a few more questions about the date, number of guests, and whether it would be held in his courtyard, or the main hall. After receiving the general idea, she left in a hurry, looking much more excited than the host himself.

Li Xinyue smiled with satisfaction: "I will bring people over tomorrow morning."

Watching Xinyue’s excited back, Li Jain had a feeling that this matter had now become much bigger than he originally planned, but he was also looking forward to it.

The next day, Li Xinyue arrived at Li Jain’s yard with a group of people. It was the weekend and the children didn’t go to school today.

Several workers carried wooden frames, folded screens, bamboo poles, cloth rolls, lantern boxes, and several storage chests filled with decorative materials. The moment they entered the courtyard, the originally peaceful yard became busy.

Li Xinyue stood in the middle of the courtyard holding a design scroll. Her posture was confident, and her voice was clear as she directed the team.

"The main banquet area will be here. Do not block the path from the main hall. The Lanterns will hang from this line to that line. The flowers should not be too heavy in fragrance, or they will interfere with the food. The twins are boys, so do not make everything too delicate. Use bright colors, but keep the base elegant."

The workers answered one after another and began construction.

Li Jain stood beside her and watched the courtyard change little by little. He realized that inviting Li Xinyue to help had indeed been the correct decision.

She was much more efficient than him in this kind of matter. After some of the things were arranged, she called the workers over and unfolded a layout drawing and showed it to the leading worker: "Here is the main seating area. The central path should remain open. There will be a performance, so we need to build a small stage."

The worker nodded repeatedly: "Understood, Miss Xinyue."

While Li Xinyue was explaining the design to the team, she noticed Li Cheng and Li Zhang training in the yard.

Li Cheng was practicing archery with a serious face. His arrows flew one after another, each one landing close to the target. Li Zhang was wearing his hand gear and moving through strength exercises, his forehead was covered in sweat as he tried to keep his balance.

The two birthday boys were completely unaware that all of this was for them. Li Xinyue

then remembered that the birthday banquet was supposed to be a surprise, so calmly look away.

Unfortunately, just as she looked away, Li Zhang noticed her. He stopped training and looked at the workers moving things through the courtyard. Finally, he couldn’t help but to take a closer look.

"Sister Xinyue, what are you doing here?"

Li Xinyue’s expression froze for a moment, then she smiled naturally: "Can’t I come to visit my brother?"

Li Zhang nodded in understanding: "Ah, it’s about time you siblings catch up. But what are they doing?" He pointed at the workers.

"They are helping me arrange some things."

Li Zhang looked closely at the workers with suspicion written all over his face: "Arranging what things? And why do you need to arrange them here?"

Li Xinyue looked at Li Jain for help, but Li Jain looked away calmly, as if this had nothing to do with him.

Li Xinyue had no choice but to rely on herself. She couldn’t expose the fact that the banquet was for them. That would ruin the surprise. Her mind moved quickly: "I will be hosting a small gathering here in a few days."

Li Zhang looked at the half-built platform, the lantern poles, the decorative silk, and the workers measuring the courtyard: "This does not look small."

"She’s just being polite, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the actual event would be small." Li Cheng had also arrived at some point, and started looking around as well.

Li Xinyue felt a headache coming.

These two children were not easy to fool, especially Li Cheng. If she gave one wrong answer, the surprise might collapse on the spot. So she had no choice but to start weaving branches of lies.

"It is like this," Li Xinyue said calmly: "The seven families take turns hosting banquets every month, this month happens to be my turn. So I thought it would be better to host a casual gathering here because your father’s courtyard is spacious."

Li Zhang frowned: "Oh? What’s that for?"

Li Xinyue coughed lightly when she saw Li Zhang’s eyes on the performance platform: "There will be all kinds of guests. If there is no platform for entertainment, they will perform randomly in the courtyard and break things."

That lie was far-fetched but Li Zhang thought about it and actually found that it sounded possible.

Li Cheng shook his head. If the top seven families would be attending this gathering, how is it that they would be that reckless and embarrassed themselves?

Li Zhang scratched his head, still suspicious but no longer as determined to get to the bottom of it: "Fine. But if this gathering has good food, you have to leave some for us."

Li Xinyue smiled: "Of course."

Li Cheng looked at her one more time, as if he had already guessed something but decided not to expose it. Then he went back to his target and continued practicing.

Li Xinyue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, she looked to her side and found that Li Jain had sneaked away at some point. She sighed at the betrayer.

Li Zhang also went back to training, though he still glanced over from time to time with a thoughtful expression.

Seeing this, Li Xinyue quickly turned to the workers and lowered her voice: "Move faster. We only need to build the layouts today. Also do not say anything about birthdays in front of them. If anyone ruins the surprise, I will deduct your pay."

The workers immediately nodded.

Inside the house, Li Yuhan stood by the window watching the whole scene. He covered his mouth and laughed softly.

Li Yujian stood beside him and said calmly: "Don’t laugh at others misfortune."

Li Yuhan frowned: "Come on, you’re no fun."

Outside, Li Zhang was still muttering while training, clearly unconvinced by at least half of Li Xinyue’s explanation. He decided to ask her a few more questions later.

Li Jain returned just as he had left and said to Li Xinyue: "You handled that very well."

Li Xinyue lowered her voice: "Brother Li, your sons are not easy to deceive."

Li Jain nodded with a smile: "I know."

"Oh? Then why did you let me speak alone?" Li Xinyue looked at him suspiciously.

Li Jain said calmly: "Because I’m not good with secrets, thank you sister for your hard work. I will have to trouble you to make up more stories for the next few days.." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Li Xinyue was speechless for a moment, then sighed: "You and your family really make people tired."

Li Jain looked at the two boys training seriously in the yard and smiled softly: "But it is lively. I’m sure they would love your work. Look at Xiao Zhang, he can’t stop looking over."

Li Xinyue followed his gaze, and shook her head helplessly.

Just as they were talking, a servant came in with a well dressed man who claimed to be Li Jain’s guest. Li Jain realized he was the music teacher and invited him in.