The Billionaire's Promise
Chapter 246: The Introduction

Looking around the banquet hall, Mu Bai thought that she succeeded. Her cousins and other female guests were looking at her with envy in their eyes.

Wait, were they mocking her?

"Look at her! Does she think she is attending a ballroom party?"

"Yeah. Maybe nobody told her that this is a baby’s first-month celebration."

"I think she just wanted to seek attention. Isn’t her cousin be introduced today?"

Mu Bai gritted her teeth. They did not speak softly at all as if she would fail to catch their words."

Mu Bai walked to where her mother and father were.

"Dad, Mom, my cousins are slandering me. They said that my dress is too ostentatious." She complained.

"And why did you dress like that? Indeed, you looked out of place." Mu Yishan admonished her.

Mu Bai looked aggrieved. What could she do? She was already dressed like that.

Her attention shifted to the couple who were walking regally toward the VIP table at the center. Her heart fluttered when her gaze fell on the man cradling a little baby walking proudly beside her supposed-to-be cousin.

What a handsome man. She thought the gods were unfair when they sculpted his symmetrical angular jawline and nose with its straight bridge and narrow nostrils. His eyes, from a few meters distance, looked even deeper and commanded attention.

Mu Bai subconsciously swallowed when her gaze lingered on his lips. What sexy lips that beckoned women to look and fantasize about kissing it.

Silence descended in the entire banquet hall as they watched the group of six, traverse the red carpet. The focus of their attention was the woman in a maxi dress in an opulent shade of baby pink. The luxurious soft-sheen jersey that glided effortlessly perfectly highlighted her bust but hid her slight post-pregnancy bulge. She looked gleaming and elegant even with short hair.

All the young women in attendance, regarded her with envy especially when the man beside her who looked even better than the famous model in the country pulled a chair for her with his left hand while holding the baby in his other hand. Even from afar, it looked obvious how gentle and loving his gaze was.

They scrutinized the woman who was flanked by the two Mu siblings. Then the crowd’s murmurings broke the silence.

"She doesn’t look like a Mu at all. She looked like a half-breed."

"Could she be faked? Did she bewitch the Mu family?"

"Maybe, Mr. Mu Heng will only acknowledge her as a god granddaughter?"

The murmurs stopped when the master of ceremonies called Patriarch Mu on the stage.

"Dad, I hate Grandpa. How could he cheat on Grandma?" Mu Bai grumbled. If his grandpa did not fool around, how could he have a granddaughter outside?

"Don’t slander your Grandpa. He is not that kind of person." Mu Yishan scolded her.

Mu Bai clenched her fist.

"Good afternoon relatives and friends. There are two reasons for such a happy occasion." Mu Heng’s deep and pleasant voice boomed over the microphone and he got everyone’s attention.

"First, I found my long-lost granddaughter." He beckoned to the woman at the VIP table.

Three tall and handsome men stood at the same time and extended their hands to her.

The crowd was speechless. Was she that special for the Mu siblings to scramble on their feet to escort her?

Erik glared at Mu Feng and Mu Chen. However, the brothers were shameless and did not budge under the pressure of Erik’s cold gaze.

The baby in Erik’s arms wriggled. Erik had no choice but to let the Mu sibling escort Aryana to the stage.

"Some of you have attended my wedding with my wife. I have been loyal to her and to our marriage and we fell in love afterward." Mu Heng continued.

"But before my wife and I got married, I fell in love with a young girl when I was exiled abroad. She became pregnant with my first daughter but before she could give birth or we could marry, my parents forced me back and you know the rest of the story."

"I feel that the heavens have punished me because I wronged her. I did not have a daughter and only have one granddaughter and so I looked for them to atone my sins." Patriarch Mu paused and glanced at the beautiful woman who was flanked by his two grandsons.

"The mother and daughter were already dead by the time I found them and my granddaughter went missing. But by a stroke of luck, I found my daughter in the very island that I bought in honor of the daughter I never saw."

"So I am proud to introduce to you the daughter of my eldest child, Mu Lan."

Aryana bowed to his grandfather and then to the crowd before she accepted the microphone from the emcee.

"It is nice to meet all of you. If it was not for Grandpa, I would have died and joined my Grandma, my father, and my mother in heaven. When my Dad died when I was still in high school, I thought that I was an orphan. But now, I don’t only have a Grandfather but I also have my two brothers Mu Feng and Mu Chen. I now have two Dads a uncle and a lot of cousins. Please take care of me in the future." Aryana bowed a second time before stepping back to stand beside the Mu brothers.

Mu Heng cleared his throat.

"The second joyous event is that today, we are celebrating the first month of my eldest great-granddaughter, An-An." Mu Heng’s voice was filled with pride when spoke his great-granddaughter’s name.

"What is so special about a granddaughter? Hmmp! It is much better if his first great-grandchild is a boy." A man with a wrinkled face and gray hair and the same age range as Mu Heng snorted.

"Don’t you get it? He has a lot of grandsons already. Why would he look forward to having some more? if it is me, I would also look forward to having a granddaughter."

The two were Mu Heng’s business partners and close friends.

Mu Heng who was still on stage signalled the technical team who were stationed at the side of the stage.

The back screen brightened and a presentation of Mu Lan’s accomplishments from a child until she became the CEO of CoChi appeared on the screen. He knew the hearts of his relatives. He did not want them to look down on Mu Lan hence he asked his assistant to prepare a presentation.

Mu Bai who was watching intently became gloomier and gloomier as the slide show progressed.

"If you are half as good as Mu Lan, your mother and I would feel so proud." Her dad’s words seemed like salt rubbing on a thousand wounds on her body. Her heart ached. She was not qualified to compete with Mu Lan.

"Don’t worry my daughter. That cousin of yours will go back to her country and will only visit your Grandpa once in a while. Your position as the Mu Princess would not be threatened." Mu Bai’s mother comforted her.

Mu Bai heaved a sigh of relief! No matter how outstanding Mu Lan is, what could she do if she was so far away?