Chapter 43

An hour and a half drive.

Lin Jiu walked from the downtown area into the suburbs and stood in front of a quiet mountain villa.

There is a bamboo grove around it, which makes the village look simple and elegant, and gives it an inexplicable feeling of being isolated from the world.

After a short pause, Chen Miao came to her from behind, took her hand and walked inside.

A male waiter stationed at the gate came forward respectfully and said, "Good evening, please follow me." Then he walked in front to lead the way for them.

You can’t tell from the outside, but when Lin Jiu walked in he realized it was really big.

Holding Chen Miao's hand, she walked slowly, looking at the rockery and the pond in the bright light, as if she was visiting a famous scenic spot.

After walking for a few minutes, we arrived at the spacious and bright lobby. Just as we were about to follow the waiter to the private room, a man came towards us.

The man was dressed very elegantly, as if he had come from a formal occasion. He had his hair combed back, but he looked very young.

Lin Jiu glanced at him from a distance. He had a smile on his face and looked like someone who was easy to get along with.

I thought we were not going to have any conversation, but he suddenly stopped not far away, leaned against a nearby pillar, crossed his arms and said to Chen Miao, "I heard Uncle Qi say you would come today, and I thought he was joking."

Lin Jiu followed Chen Miao and stopped, looking up at him, wondering how he would answer. But he just sneered and said to the man, "You're quite well-informed."

The man laughed at himself: "This is all I can do." As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Jiu found that he was looking at her in surprise. She did not avoid his gaze and looked straight at him.

He retracted his gaze, then smiled, looked at Chen Miao and said, "I heard Zheng Qingcheng say that you had a girlfriend. I thought he was lying to me, but I didn't expect it to be true."

Chen Miao: “…”

I couldn't help but curse in my heart: Zheng Qingcheng has such a big mouth.

At this point, he looked down at Lin Jiu and introduced her, "That man's name is Tang Jili, just call him by his first name from now on."

"Yeah." Lin Jiu nodded slightly.

From this perfunctory introduction, she realized that Chen Miao and Tang Jili were not very close, and they felt like fake brothers.

After Tang Jili approached, Chen Miao formally introduced her: "My girlfriend, Lin Jiu."

After a pause, he looked at Tang Jili meaningfully and said, "You only need to know this. You don't need to know too much about the rest. Don't do anything unnecessary."

Hearing this, a hint of surprise flashed in Tang Jili's eyes, but the smile on his face remained unchanged. "I understand. I will definitely not do such an impolite thing."

After receiving his promise, Chen Miao didn't want to waste time in this corridor. "Let's go. We'll talk next time."

"Okay." Tang Jili said.

Looking at their backs, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out a cigarette and lit it in his mouth.

He exhaled a puff of smoke, obscuring his vision.

The people in the corridor disappeared.

......

In the box.

Lin Jiu looked at the huge round table in front of him, then glanced at himself and Chen Miao beside him.

Logically, she and Chen Miao should sit face to face, so that the whole round table looks symmetrical. But the two of them sat close together, making the whole round table look top-heavy, which was a very awkward picture.

Placing his phone on the table, Lin Jiu asked Chen Miao, "Is it really necessary to come all the way here just to eat seafood? This place is too big."

Chen Miao took her hand, placing her small hand inside his large one, looking petite and adorable in contrast. A smile gradually filled his eyes, and he replied nonchalantly, "The seafood here is all flown in, using the freshest ingredients. The chef, I can't remember where he got it from, but he's quite skilled. Also... this place is very quiet, perfect for us to chat."

Lin Jiu: “…”

She didn't know where they had so much to talk about.

Neither of them is the talkative type, so what could they possibly talk about?

After a moment of silence, Lin Jiu watched his hands being repeatedly stroked and observed, and felt that his hands had become soft and had no strength at all.

And this soft and weak feeling is very comfortable, like a deep hand massage.

Looking at this scene, she unexpectedly felt a little ashamed. She couldn't stand it anymore and tried to pull her hand back, but he held it tightly.

There was nothing I could do but let him do whatever he wanted.

Within a few minutes, all the dishes were served.

There was a table full of delicious dishes, all of which were cooked food, without any sashimi or other such dishes, which Lin Jiu was very satisfied with.

She really doesn't like raw food and will not try it no matter how delicious it is.

It seems that Chen Miao also took this into consideration when ordering dishes, and most of them were things she could eat.

Lin Jiu's appetite suddenly increased exponentially. At the same time, she was a little worried that she would gain a lot of weight after eating this meal.

After letting out an imperceptible sigh, she comforted herself, thinking that it was just this one meal.

Lin Jiu glanced at someone who was still treating her hand as a toy and said, "Let's eat."

Chen Miao let go of her hand and said, "Okay."

The private room is very upscale and the decoration looks very classical, basically in Chinese style. The water pipes in the wash basin look brass, which is consistent with the decoration style.

After washing his hands, Lin Jiu picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece of shrimp. It tasted very good, spicy and fragrant.

Before she swallowed the meat, Chen Miao picked up a few more pieces with his chopsticks and put them in her bowl, "Eat more."

After swallowing the food in his mouth, Lin Jiu looked at Chen Miao seriously and said, "You should persuade me to eat less and help me control my weight."

Chen Miao glanced at her from head to toe, remained silent for a few seconds, and then asked, "Do you need to control your weight now?"

Lin Jiu: "I am very satisfied with my current weight, but I don't want to eat too much and exceed the limit, so when I eat too much, you have to stop me a little."

She's quite happy with her figure: it's got flesh where it should be, a curvy waist, and rounded arms and legs, but she doesn't look fat. She hasn't considered losing weight, but she doesn't want to gain weight either.

Chen Miao nodded thoughtfully, "Okay, I will supervise you." He put some more dishes into Lin Jiu's bowl.

"..." Looking down at the extra things in the bowl, Lin Jiu's mouth twitched slightly, but his hands honestly fed them into his mouth.

Halfway through the meal, Lin Jiu thought of the people he had met in the mall before and the people he had just met, and suddenly he had a lot of questions to ask.

With something on her mind, she lost her appetite.

The chopsticks that were originally intended to pick up the shrimp moved around the bowl clockwise a few times, and she secretly glanced at Chen Miao a few more times.

Perhaps because she hadn't eaten for so long, Chen Miao was the first to ask, "Is there something on your mind?"

After a few seconds of silence, Lin Jiu placed his chopsticks on the bowl, stared at Chen Miao for three seconds, and asked, "How many friends do you have in Jinhai City?"

"There are only two people I can name, and you've met them both. The one from the mall is called Zheng Qingcheng, and the one here today is Tang Jili. We three were quite familiar with each other in junior high school." Chen Miao turned the round table and placed a piece of fried shrimp in Lin Jiu's bowl with his chopsticks. "Let's talk while we eat."

"Okay." Lin Jiu picked up the chopsticks again and ate what he had just picked up.

After taking a few bites, she remembered something and asked again, "Last time...Didn't Zheng Qingcheng make an appointment with you to get together? Why do you and Tang Jili act like you haven't met before?"

"The time hasn't come yet, but we've booked it for the 25th. That day happens to be Zheng Qingcheng's birthday, so we made the appointment for that day," Chen Miao explained.

No wonder, it turns out we won’t get together for a few days.

However, this relationship seems really ordinary. We have to wait until that time to meet.

Lin Jiu chewed the food in his mouth slowly, thought for a while and said cautiously: "Are you not that close to them?"

"Yeah." Chen Miao admitted readily, "The reason I play with them is purely because they are the smarter ones among the rich second generation. I don't want to communicate with other people."

“…” Too arrogant.

"They and I were classmates in junior high school, but the time we played together was actually only in the third year of junior high school," said Chen Miao.

No wonder the relationship didn’t seem so good, it turns out they had only been together for such a short time.

Lin Jiu couldn't help but be curious: "Why? Didn't you guys communicate with each other when you were in the same class in the first and second grades?"

"I grew up with Chen Ze and always walked with him. Zheng Qingcheng and Tang Jili, probably because of the elders' advice, were very reserved in front of Chen Ze. When they met him, they just said hello and didn't dare to approach him. In my second year of junior high, Chen Ze went to Jinghe City because of my uncle's job change. That's when Zheng Qingcheng and Tang Jili started walking with me more often."

After hearing this, Lin Jiu had more and more questions in his mind, and he always felt that after asking one question, he had to ask another.

It feels like it's never-ending.

She took a bite of the food, chewed it hard, swallowed it, and then took a sip of the cold drink next to her.

She looked at Chen Miao strangely for a few times: "I originally thought that you and Chen Ze had a bad relationship. After all, you said you didn't want to lose to him."

Hearing this, Chen Miao picked up the water cup and shook it gently, looking at the rippling water surface. "This is a long story."

Lin Jiu put down his chopsticks, sat facing him, and looked like he was listening attentively.

Seeing her serious expression, Chen Miao smiled and said slowly, "I grew up with my parents in Jinhai. When I was four years old, my aunt was the first to be transferred to Jinhai and brought Chen Ze with her. Actually, our relationship wasn't very good at that time. Although we were related by blood, we lived far away and didn't contact each other often, so we could only be considered relatives."

Lin Jiu looked at him, waiting for what to say next.

"When I was five, my grandfather retired and moved from Jinghe City to Jinhai City. That year, Chen Ze and I celebrated the New Year together. During the New Year, my grandfather gave each of us a small dinosaur, but I fell in love with the one in Chen Ze's hand. We had a fight, but we were evenly matched and then someone pulled us apart. After that, our relationship gradually improved."

Lin Jiu didn't expect that Chen Miao was actually quite unreasonable when he was a child. He would fight with his cousin for a small toy. He was very different from his current appearance.

After hesitating for a moment, she couldn't help but ask, "Were you so arrogant when you were a kid? Did you even fight with your cousin?"

Chen Miao explained seriously, "The fight wasn't entirely my fault. I just wanted to switch with him, but he didn't want to. He said he would switch with me if I won. Although I'm young, I still have some sense."

After a two-second pause, he lazily leaned back in his chair, looked at her, and said, "Later, when I thought back on that scene, I guess Chen Ze just wanted to tease me at the time, but he didn't expect me to be serious. After I hit him, he probably wanted to vent some of his emotions, so he took advantage of the situation and started fighting with me."

Lin Jiu blinked, very curious about Chen Ze, "What kind of person is your cousin?"

Chen Miao: "My great uncle and aunt's marriage was one of convenience. Due to the nature of their work, the family atmosphere was quite serious. Chen Ze was an only child, so he had to follow the path arranged for him by my uncle from the moment he was born. Under this high pressure, he was much more stable than his peers since he was a child, and he has a good way of dealing with people."

Lin Jiu sighed and said, "Your cousin sounds easy to get along with."

Chen Miao reached out to cover her head and said with a complicated expression, "I guess so. He's pretty good to his family anyway."

Lin Jiu took his hand away and said, "Zheng Qingcheng and Tang Jili seem to be easy to get along with."

Chen Miao raised his eyebrows. "You don't have to worry too much about them. As for the people around me, it's enough for you to know Meng Qinyang and Chen Ze."

After saying that, he picked up his chopsticks and began to put food into her bowl. "That's all for now. Eat your fill first."

In less than a minute, Lin Jiu's bowl was filled with half a bowl of vegetables. She looked at Chen Miao helplessly, then ate it silently.

After listening for a long time, she was hungry...

It was already past nine o'clock after dinner. The two held hands and walked for a while on the road outside the villa before slowly returning to school.