The next afternoon, Hua Xiaomai indeed hosted a banquet for Elder Xue by the fishpond in Daoxiang Garden. She cooked several dishes herself and didn't forget to let Wang Zhanrui show off his skills by making two dishes with tea leaves, which left the old gentleman almost too preoccupied to speak until he had tasted all the delicious food on the table, only then did he find the time to heap praise upon them.
It was only then that Hua Xiaomai understood what Wang Zhanrui meant when he said, "There will come a time when you really need my help."
To attend the Eight Treasures Conference, relying solely on Hua Xiaomai was certainly not enough; she definitely needed a good helper, and Wang Zhanrui was undoubtedly the best choice—could it be that he had already known from Song Jingxi that Daoxiang Garden was also participating in this year's conference? If that was the case, why did he still play coy and refuse to tell? That's not very brotherly!
