The party went on, and almost everyone had a great time.
The only ones who were not that happy were the second young master and young Miss of the Mei family.
The girl was not happy because once again she was overshadowed, and not by only one person, but by a whole group of ladies, with Natalie at the top.
This alone was bad enough, but more than that, there was a group of beastkin ladies who were also getting a lot of attention, and worst of them all, an actual elf showed up, which was unheard of.
Next to her sat her brother, who had a hard time accepting all that had changed during his house arrest.
He barely recognized Natalie and was now cursing his luck, seeing how beautiful she was and that her cultivation was higher than his own.
What was even worse, she was with the man who stopped him that day.
However, his isolation forced him to think about his actions, and he has learned his lesson. So unlike his sister, he was not jealous but regretful, since if instead of bullying her, he'd offered help to the girl, she might have been sitting beside him right now.
Unfortunately, it was too late for that; he wasted his chance, showing off before his friends, and he would not get a second one.
Despite these two not having such a great time, the other guests had a lot of fun.
Once the performances ended, and this time no one had the bright idea to invite Paul to perform, remembering what had happened last time.
It was now time for Natalie's birthday gifts.
First in line was Irine, with a small box containing a simple ring.
-Your grandmother gave it to me on my eighteenth birthday, to be passed down to the next female in line once she reached adulthood.
The woman explained, putting the ring on her daughter's finger.
Then it was Xiao Han's and Liu Lili's turn.
Their present was a set of fans, since they knew she liked them not only as weapons but also as accessories.
Next were Luo Feng and Cai Xiao,
Their gift was a beautifully crafted set of chess.
After them, it was Paul's turn, and he gave her a delicate green jade flute.
-I'll teach you how to play it later.
He smiled, seeing her surprise.
She asked him many times to teach her, and he always refused.
Now she knew why.
-Also, Fei Fei has left a present for you, asking me to deliver it on your birthday.
Paul added, taking out a box from his storage space.
Inside was a beautiful red dress.
-This is a Dream spider silk dress. Fei Fei won it at an auction and left it as your birthday present.
He said with a smile, but behind his eyes was sadness and pain.
-It's beautiful.
She whispered, trying very hard not to cry.
Natalie appreciated the gift, but she would prefer it if Fei Fei were here.
Then she received many more gifts, from everyone, ranging from jewelry, through books, jewels, weapons, all the way to some precious potions and pills.
The last person to come up with a gift was Elaina.
-My people don't have the custom to give gifts to one another, so I hope this is appropriate.
Seh said gifting her a wooden hairpin in the shape of a tree, which looked beautiful and delicate.
-Thank you so much.
Natalie smiled at the elf, appreciating her gift.
Especially since, as Elaina said, there was no such custom in their society.
After the gifts, there was another event, which was blowing out candles on a big cake that Jing Su baked herself for the occasion.
Paul explained to everyone the significance of the cake and the candles, adding that it was a custom from Earth.
At this point, everyone already knew that another word's humans were sent to the mortal realm, so they were not that surprised by it.
After this was all done, the banquet continued with guests mixing and talking about everything and anything.
Liu Lili and Cai Xiao took Natalie and Irine with them to introduce them to other ladies, which was apparently their favorite part of the evening.
This was also a great chance for Irine since she got a lot of requests from the ladies to make some underwear for them.
It was one thing when she tried to sell them on the street, and another when Liu Lili and Cai Xiao advertised for her.
The other ladies were also swarmed, not only by females but also by many young men who wanted to try their luck or at least become acquainted with the beauties.
Elaina was the only one who was not approached by any men since they didn't want to leave a bad impression on the elf, but some ladies soon gathered their courage and approached her.
However, she was not a social person, and it was already great that she even attended this event, so their conversations were polite but short, yet no one was offended since they knew little about elves, and as far as they could tell, this was their usual behaviour.
For most people, it was already lucky to even talk with an elf, since it was not often that they appeared in the human society, and even then, they were mostly sold as slaves, so talking with a free elf was a novelty.
Paul was also surrounded by many people, and not all of them were young ladies, since many young men also wanted to get acquainted with him, mainly because of his position, and the fact that by now many people heard that he was a healer, and it was always a good idea to befriend a healer, especially before he or she became famous.
The only time there was anything that disturbed anyone was when the second young master of the Mei Family approached Natalie.
However, he didn't come to stirrup trouble.
-I wish to apologize for my previous behavior, and hope that you can forgive me.
The young man said, bowing slightly.
Natalie nodded, surprised at this turn of events, after which the young man left, seeing that she felt uncomfortable in his presence.
This apology, however, left many people with a better impression of him, since it was not often that a young master of any family would apologize for anything if he was not forced to do so.
Other than that, Nia and Lia also met their former mistress, but there was no drama there as the young woman was happy to see them and even more so when she discovered that they were now free and happy.
The three of them spent a lot of time catching up, carefully avoiding the topic of her husband.
All in all, the banquet was a great success, and it lasted well into the night, before the guests started to leave.