162: Chapter 161 Was I wrong?

The abrupt gunshot that rang out and quickly vanished did not cause much of a stir. The public security environment within Huaxia is very stable; many citizens have only heard generic gunshots on television and cannot distinguish between gunshots and firecrackers in reality.

Cao Xiao turned his back to the guests and blinked a few times at the slightly stunned host, Guo Yutao, on stage. Seeing Guo Yutao looking at him, he silently mouthed the word "firecracker." Those who can work as hosts have decent adaptability; as a nationally renowned host, Guo Yutao's reaction was naturally faster. He quickly returned to his previous smiling state and, in a joking tone, dismissed the gunshot as a festive firecracker. Whether the guests below believed it or not was irrelevant; at least Guo Yutao's remark had dispelled the doubts of the vast majority of guests.

Originally, the ceremony did not include the process of presenting betrothal gifts and return gifts. It was unclear what the He family was considering, but they requested this process be added. Cao Xiao had no objections. He estimated that it was likely because Father He and Mother He had prepared quite generous return gifts. The two families had not communicated regarding the betrothal and return gifts and did not know what the other side had prepared. The He family did not care about what kind of betrothal gifts Cao Xiao could produce, and Cao Xiao did not covet how generous the He family's return gifts might be; neither side treated their marriage as a transaction of interests.

Once the atmosphere at the scene recovered, the two hosts continued to preside over the ceremony according to the schedule. "Now, Mr. Cao Xiao will present the betrothal gifts to the bride's side!"

As soon as the host finished speaking, Mi Fan and eight other graceful, slender girls each carried a tray covered with red silk and walked slowly onto the stage in a line, facing the audience. On the red silk of the tray carried by Mi Fan, who was walking in front, lay an exquisite card. Ning Feitong took the card, glanced at it, and then said, "Please, etiquette ladies, reveal the first betrothal gift from the groom's side for everyone!"

The girls understood. In unison, they held the trays with one hand and untied the red silk covering the trays with the other. On each tray lay a neat stack of banknotes. A brand-new one-hundred-dollar us dollar bill weighs 1.15 grams. Ten thousand us dollars weighs 115 grams, one million us dollars weighs 11.5 kilograms, and 9.99 million us dollars weighs 115 kilograms. Two or three young people would find it very difficult to carry, so it had to be shared among the nine girls.

"The first betrothal gift: a cash gift of 9.99 million us dollars."

"Wow!"

"Clap, clap, clap!"

9.99 million us dollars is equivalent to over 65 million huaxia currency. Not all the guests who came today were billionaires with net worths in the hundreds of millions. Among the 4,600+ people present, many were worth over 100 million, but those who could readily produce nearly 100 million in cash were few—perhaps fewer than thirty. After all, not everyone is a company owner. Most people are engaged in various professions; they might earn much higher wages than ordinary people, but those with an annual salary of over one million would be impressive if they numbered even a hundred. So, for most people, this nearly ten million us dollars in cash was very shocking. There were many media reporters present today, and even in broad daylight, Cao Xiao was forced to shield his eyes from the camera flashes that suddenly lit up one after another.

After the girls handed over the trays to the etiquette ladies arranged by the He family, they walked off the stage. The ladies took them and placed them neatly on a row of long tables in front of the stage.

At the same time, Ren Keke, Ren Huanhuan, and An Ni also walked onto the stage carrying trays. Guo Yutao took the card, and at a single glance, he was stunned. With an expression of disbelief, he rubbed his eyes, held the card closer, and after examining it repeatedly for a full half-minute, he looked up at Cao Xiao with an inquiring gaze. Seeing Cao Xiao give an almost imperceptible nod in response, he suddenly wore an expression of incredulity. Then, he took a deep breath, put a smile back on his face, gestured for Ren Keke and the others to unveil the red silk, and then impatiently picked up the microphone and loudly announced with excitement, "The second betrothal gift from the groom's side: two 500-year-old Changbai Mountain Wild Mountain Ginseng, a pair of top-grade wild purple lingzhi, and a pair of 10-kilogram top-grade white ambergris dragon and phoenix ornaments!"

"Five-hundred-year-old ginseng?!"

"Two 100-year-old ginseng?!"

"10 kilograms of top-grade ambergris?"

"ambergris can be carved into ornaments?"

"Are there still 100-year-old ginseng in Changbai Mountain?"

"This is simply like boiling a crane to cook a meal!"

"What a huge mushroom cap!"

"Isn't ambergris sperm whale poop? That's a huge lump!"

"What a waste of heaven's treasures!"

"This Cao Xiao is truly unfilial!"

"This is just too shameless!"

"A full 10 kilograms! You couldn't find this much even if you searched the whole province!"

As soon as Guo Yutao finished speaking, the crowd below erupted, filled with comments of doubt, disbelief, exclamation, and accusation. Cao Xiao even heard some people directly cursing him, leaving him dumbfounded. Not only the audience, but even Father He and Mother He on stage were shocked. 500-year-old Wild Mountain Ginseng is no ordinary object; you can't even buy a single rootlet with money. Although they knew Cao Xiao had found some ginseng, they didn't expect him to bring out two 500-year-old ones in public. Looking at the fervent gazes below, they couldn't help but regret adding the betrothal gift segment to the ceremony. As for the ambergris, while they were shocked, they didn't place as much importance on it, just felt speechless at Cao Xiao's approach—it was already carved into ornaments; would they have to cut off a claw or a wing when they needed to use it?

"Please, everyone, stay calm! Next is the third betrothal gift!" Seeing the guests making such a ruckus, and with Liu Chang and the other twelve etiquette ladies already walking gracefully onto the stage with their trays, Guo Yutao spoke to maintain order. Supported by dozens of high-power speakers within a hundred meters, everyone's voices combined couldn't rival his shout. The scene immediately returned to calm, though the guests were still whispering to one another.

"The third betrothal gift: a set of Myanmar old-pit glass species imperial green jade earrings, ear drops, necklace, bracelet, ring, and brooch; a set of Hetian flowing seed material mutton-fat white jade jewelry; a set of full-blood great red robe chicken blood stone jewelry; a set of ruby jewelry; a set of sapphire jewelry; a set of top-grade sky-blue blue amber jewelry; a set of top-grade natural emerald jewelry; a set of yellow, green, blue, pink, orange, red, and purple natural seven-colored diamond jewelry; and a frozen-ground Tianhuang stone dragon and phoenix dancing themed ornament. Congratulations, Ms. He Yueyou, you won't need to buy any more jewelry for the rest of your life!"

"Wow~"

"Can the world's four top gemstone jewelry sets all be collected into one set?"

"The top-grade jade is also all collected!"

"I'm already blind!"

"Did he drill a hole in that giant rock at the entrance? Where did he get so much full-blood great red robe?"

"Even seal stones were turned into jewelry, there's no one else like him!"

"Although the rubies and sapphires aren't the top-grade star-level ones, dozens of large gemstones of at least five carats each is just too unbelievable!"

"Good thing I didn't bring my wife, otherwise I'd have suffered a massive loss again!"

"Ah! Rainbow diamonds! And they're all large grains, that purple one is at least five carats! A rare treasure!"

"Honey, tomorrow is our wedding anniversary..."

"Oh my god! That bastard must have more gemstones, let's go raid him later! Uh! Seems I can't afford this kind of stuff anyway! Forget it."

"You brat, such a large piece of top-grade Tianhuang stone was actually made into an ornament, how many seals could have been cut from that! Jerk!"

"So pure blue amber is actually this beautiful! I'll go buy one later!"

"Awoo! This overwhelming aura of wealth is making my heart flutter! What? Does it matter if I'm a man or a woman? In the face of immense wealth, anyone can be genderless! Brother! If you can't hold it in, just go get it cut!"

"Who exactly is this Cao Xiao, to be able to bring out so many extremely rare things! It couldn't have been prepared for him by the He family, right? No, even if the He family had money, they couldn't get so many top-grade items!"

The impact caused by the jewelry was far greater than that of the top-grade medicinal herbs just now, because gemstones are also a symbol of wealth, and the concept of value they provide is more intuitive. No one dislikes gemstones, especially top-grade gemstone jewelry where even one piece appearing would normally attract great attention.

Cao Xiao watched as the acquaintances sitting not far from the stage all cast ill-intentioned gazes at him. Even Old Chen was glaring at him with a stern face. The look in Liu Chang's eyes on stage was full of resentment, and his mother-in-law-to-be, Huang Chunxiang, was staring at him with glowing eyes. He immediately felt the overwhelming malice from this world, his body couldn't help but tremble slightly, and he dared not look around anymore, gazing straight ahead and pretending to be dazed, all while hoping that the hosts would hurry up and finish the betrothal gift process.

Guo Yutao and Ning Feitong also felt somewhat helpless looking at Cao Xiao. This master didn't communicate with them beforehand or show them the betrothal gift list, which would have allowed them to be mentally prepared, think of countermeasures before starting, or handle the betrothal gift process in a different way to cope with such an out-of-control situation. Now, they were stuck. Most of the people below were either wealthy or noble, and they couldn't suddenly interrupt people's discussions. Moreover, this was an engagement ceremony; the host's lines and the timing of each segment were set and couldn't be changed at will. After many years, the two of them once again felt the sense of failure of being unable to control the atmosphere at the scene.

"Ahem! Please, everyone, be quiet. Next is the fourth betrothal gift: a set of phoenix coronet and ceremonial robes, and a set of diamond wedding dress." It should have been Ning Feitong's turn to speak, but at this moment, Guo Yutao consciously stepped up. There were no extra descriptive words in his speech, and when he reached the end, he deliberately sped up his speaking pace and lowered his voice a lot; if you didn't listen carefully, you might not even understand what he was saying! There was no help for it. Originally, when he saw the list, he had secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but when he saw the two dresses with his own eyes, he felt a bit desperate, so he simply gave up and let things happen.

"Extravagant and lustful! Extremely shameless! Insane!"

"Spendthrift! Why be so cruel to us!"

"Grandstanding! Willful and reckless! Shameless! Scum!"

"Where is the justice of heaven? Why hasn't a divine thunderbolt struck this monster dead eight hundred times yet!"

"Cao Xiao, hand over the phoenix coronet and robes, they belong to our museum!"

"That is the treasure of our Huanghe Museum, no one fight me for it!"

"My granddaughter is getting married next year, that diamond wedding dress is mine!"

"Ah! Cao Xiao, I am at odds with you!"

"Alien, get back to space!"

"Everyone~ shut~ up! Everyone return to your seats immediately!" Seeing the dozen or so security personnel in front of the stage unable to stop the swarming guests, Cao Xiao felt instantly panicked. Hundreds of people gathering and pushing in one direction could easily lead to a stampede or bloodshed. If something really happened, the engagement ceremony couldn't continue, but the incident happened too suddenly, and he couldn't think of a way to stop it quickly. Just as he was at a loss, he saw host Guo Yutao gripping the microphone with both hands, roaring at the top of his lungs. The amplified sound erupted from the speakers like a deafening cataclysm. The guests couldn't help but stop all their movements and talking, covering their ears tightly with their hands. In an instant, the scene fell silent, and the atmosphere became eerie.

"Ah~ my ears!"

"Guo Yutao! You bastard!"

"Guo Yutao, you just wait~"

Guo Yutao's sudden outburst not only quelled the chaos at the scene and successfully diverted the guests' attention, but it also drew a huge wave of hatred, raising his character level by several notches. Being able to make so many prominent people firmly remember him, as a celebrity, he successfully gained a large number of high-quality fans, and his popularity was bound to skyrocket. No matter what others thought, watching Guo Yutao's mournful, tearless face, Cao Xiao believed that Guo Yutao was going to make it big. Because not only did the guests remember him, but by helping Cao Xiao resolve the crisis, he would also gain Cao Xiao's attention from now on.

The guests returned to their seats while grumbling. This crisis was considered over, but Cao Xiao knew in his heart that the subsequent impact caused by this engagement ceremony would bring him endless trouble. Not to mention others, even his own parents, relatives, his future in-laws, and teachers would definitely not let him off, and he would inevitably be held accountable afterward. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a bit miserable, and at the same time, he felt that the world was full of malice. He thought to himself: Isn't it just bringing out some good things! It's just that everyone else's ability to accept things is too poor. Am I wrong?