Chapter 2, The Gift
6:20 PM.
At the Osteria Chiara restaurant, the doorman, who was responsible for greeting guests, casually glanced at his watch.
My watch always seems to become especially noticeable as the end of the workday approaches.
Before long, one of the doormen noticed a silver Bentley slowly cutting through the sunset and heading toward the restaurant's parking lot. A moment later, the car stopped, and the driver, dressed in a suit, bent down and opened the back door.
He looks like a distinguished guest.
The doormen exchanged glances and simultaneously forced polite smiles. One went to greet them attentively, while the other pushed open the restaurant door.
"Hello, welcome to Osteria Chiara."
As the doorman hurried to the car, he saw the person inside bending down as they got out.
She was a woman with a cold demeanor, wearing a long gray-blue trench coat, and constantly looking down at her phone. Her long hair, which was draped in front of her, made it impossible to see her face.
Once she straightened up and stood still, the doorman's lips stiffened slightly, his previously drooping eyelids suddenly lifted, and his downward gaze naturally shifted to looking straight ahead.
So tall...
He glanced at her shoes instinctively; they were low-heeled ankle boots.
The restaurant strictly requires its doormen to be over 1.8 meters tall, as it's rare to see female guests with such a tall stature.
A sense of unfamiliarity made him take a small step back uncomfortably, but his good professionalism compelled him to smile and ask, "Hello, do you have an appointment?"
Luo Xincheng gave a barely audible "hmm," and only after the driver handed a beautifully packaged gift box to the doorman did she turn to look at him and give him Jiang Weiyue's private room number.
Generally, this eye shape gives the impression of deep affection when looking at dogs. However, the person in front of us looks down at people with a downward gaze, which easily gives people a condescending and arrogant feeling, making it difficult for them to get close.
She seemed to dislike smiling; when she was silent, her lips were tightly pursed, revealing a touch of unruly stubbornness, and her overall demeanor exuded an extremely cold and sharp aura.
He looks like the kind of person who's not to be messed with.
The doorman, who had been working in the industry for many years, had already formed a mental impression of this customer, but his smile grew even brighter.
"Okay, please go this way, watch out for the steps~"
Luo Xincheng followed behind, her eyes twitching as she looked at the barrage of messages Jiang Wei sent on WeChat, such as "Have you arrived yet?", "Everyone's here except you", and "The last one to arrive has to punish themselves with three drinks".
Luo Xincheng: [Xu Peiyi, return the phone to Jiang Wei.]
Jiang Wei: [!!!]
Luo Xincheng: [I knew it was you.]
Jiang Wei: [Hehehe~]
Jiang Wei: [But we're only missing you now, how much longer until you arrive?]
Luo Xincheng stepped into the elevator: [Five minutes.]
After replying to the message, she rubbed her temples. Why was she in such a hurry? Just how many people were waiting for her?
She remembered that Jiang Wei wasn't much more popular than her; it couldn't be that he'd gone crazy from studying for his master's degree these past few years and was making friends everywhere...
"Miss, we've arrived at the private room."
The waiter's reminder brought Luo Xincheng back to her senses instantly. "Okay, thank you."
Seeing the other person raise their hand as if to knock, she waved her hand, took the gift box back from the waiter, and then pushed the door open and went inside.
Da, da, da.
The crisp sound of heels striking the floor echoed in the spacious and brightly lit private room, and there was not a single other noise.
The unexpected silence made Luo Xincheng pause slightly, and she began to wonder if she had entered the wrong private room.
It wasn't until she saw Jiang Wei and Xu Peiyi lounging affectionately on the sofa that her wavering heart finally settled down.
"Why is it so quiet? I thought I went to the wrong place," she couldn't help but complain.
However, the two people on the sofa did not react at all, not even glancing at her. Their bright eyes were fixed on their phones, their expressions both serious and subtly revealing a hint of excitement, which made Luo Xincheng feel a little strange.
"What are you looking at... Didn't you say everyone was here except me?"
She looked around, trying to find the fourth person in the large private room. "So where is he?"
For a moment, she even considered lifting the curtain to see if there were a few people standing behind it, suppressing their laughter and ready to jump out and scare her. But if she did that, Jiang Wei and Xu Peiyi would definitely laugh at her, so she suppressed her curiosity.
"It's just you left."
Jiang Wei finally raised his head, pointed at the three people present, and said with a matter-of-fact expression, "Look, they're all here."
Luo Xincheng: "..."
When you're speechless to a certain extent, you can't help but want to laugh. She twitched the corner of her mouth and said, "Really? Jiang Wei, have your popularity really gotten this bad? I remember you could get ten people to your birthday party two years ago, right?"
Jiang Wei shrugged dismissively, “It’s better to have quality friends than quantity, and everyone’s pretty busy, so I’m too embarrassed to ask you out… You two are much better, you’re both unemployed and have so much free time, you just ask out and you come out.”
Luo Xincheng: "..."
Xu Peiyi: "..."
"I'm recovering from my injury, that's why I'm free, okay?" Luo Xincheng limped down next to them and handed the gift box to Jiang Wei. "Happy birthday, this is your gift."
"Thanks!" Jiang Wei took the gift box and put it aside, clearly not intending to open it right away. She glanced at Luo Xincheng's leg and asked, "Your leg injury hasn't healed yet? It's been almost three months since you started, hasn't it?"
Luo Xincheng gave a listless "hmm" and said, "Walking is fine normally, but I can't run or jump... Tsk, I haven't been active in a long time, I feel like my bones are rusty."
"...You're already this badly injured, you should just behave yourself."
After a long silence, Xu Peiyi finally spoke, but although she was speaking to Luo Xincheng, her eyes remained fixed on her phone, as if afraid of missing any important information.
Luo Xincheng was annoyed and peeked at her phone. "What's on this phone? It's so pretty! You've been staring at your phone ever since I came in, and you haven't even glanced at me!"
Xu Peiyi, knowing she was in the wrong, gave a dry laugh. "I saw someone in the group say that Fu San was in a car accident, so I was curious about the details."
Luo Xincheng now has a bit of PTSD from the word 'car accident'. "Car accident? How badly are you injured? Is it more serious than mine? And Fu San... who is he? Do I know him?"
Seeing her confused expression, Xu Peiyi tapped her forehead. "Right, you haven't been back to China for the past two years, so you probably don't know him."
Luo Xincheng explained, "I went back to China, but not back to Yanjing."
Two years ago, her maternal grandfather was in poor health and had been bedridden for many days. Her mother was afraid that he would not be able to overcome this difficulty, so every holiday, she would take Luo Xincheng to her grandfather's bedside to show her filial piety.
“They say grandparents love their grandchildren more, maybe one day he’ll see how filial you are and be touched, and then he’ll give you something in a good mood.” That’s exactly what her mother said. “I’ve had my eye on a winery he owns for a long time. While he’s not thinking clearly lately, you should mention it to him a few more times.”
"..."
What could Luo Xincheng say about this? He could only follow his mother to Jinhai City every holiday, and then compete with his cousins to show their filial piety to their grandfather. As a result, his grandfather's health improved, and not long ago he was moved from the hospital to a sanatorium deep in the mountains.
Xu Peiyi frowned, as if she didn't know where to begin, "The former head of the Fu family...did you know that something happened to him two years ago?"
"I know." Luo Xincheng picked up an orange from the fruit plate on the table and tossed it around. "He died in a plane crash, my mom told me before."
Luo Xincheng's family had some business dealings with the Wanzhe Group founded by the Fu family in the early years. When the family talked about business matters at the dinner table, they would occasionally mention the Fu family.
In addition, Fu Chengming, the head of the Fu family at the time, was known for his womanizing ways. He would often appear on Weibo's trending topics with new lovers and was a regular feature in entertainment gossip magazines. So when Luo Xincheng heard her mother mention him, she couldn't help but have some impression of him.
“Yes.” Xu Peiyi nodded and continued, “Then his ex-wife left him a son, right? He’s only two or three years older than us, and like his mother, he has congenital heart disease. He gets breathless after walking just a few steps, and he rarely appears in public…”
At this point, she paused slightly, her expression becoming subtle and complex.
Luo Xincheng vaguely sensed something and tentatively asked, "And then? He went back to the hospital?"
Xu Peiyi pursed her lips and said in a deep voice, "He's dead."
With a "thud," the orange, tossed high into the air, landed in Luo Xincheng's palm. This time, she held the orange loosely, without tossing it high again.
"Really?! My mom never told me this!" Luo Xincheng exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Although she had only met the sickly young master of the Fu family a few times, she still felt a pang of sadness upon hearing that someone her age had died young.
“Really?” Jiang Wei took over the conversation, turned to the side and took the orange from Luo Xincheng’s hand, and started peeling it. “It is said that she was too saddened to hear the news of her father’s death, and the intense emotions caused her to have a heart attack. In the end, she could not be saved.”
"How chaotic must his family be?" Luo Xincheng didn't even dare to imagine. "The person in charge just passed away, and the heir followed right after..."
Jiang Wei nodded, "So after Old Master Fu came out of retirement and stabilized the situation, the first thing he did was to find all of his son's illegitimate children who had been living away, and to select a new heir from among them."
Xu Peiyi cooperated by spreading her five fingers, "So far, we have found five."
"Five?" Luo Xincheng couldn't help but laugh. "So many?"
Jiang Wei gave her a mischievous look. "Is five a lot? Your own father has five children born in wedlock."
Luo Xincheng immediately became serious, "Let's continue talking about the Fu family!"
Then, with a sense of entitlement, he snatched back the orange that Jiang Weicai had peeled, broke off a segment, and stuffed it into his mouth.
...
The grass is incredibly sour.
She swallowed hard, then casually shoved the orange back into Jiang Wei's hand.
The latter glanced at her casually, and when she immediately turned her head away to avoid eye contact, he silently twitched the corner of his mouth.
"And then there's not much else to say, it's just a few illegitimate children fighting over the family fortune." Jiang Wei broke off a segment of orange and held it in his hand, but didn't eat it. He then handed the orange to Xu Peiyi.
"...Wait, a motorcycle?"
Luo Xincheng suddenly remembered something, "Was it today? Could it be the car accident that happened near Xintian Square?"
Jiang Wei looked at her in surprise, "You saw it?"
She nodded hesitantly, "I guess so. It was on the way to the restaurant, but I arrived quite late, and he was already lying on the ground when I saw him."
Xu Peiyi clicked her tongue in amazement, "What a coincidence! How was it? Was he badly hit?"
Luo Xincheng pinched her chin, recalling for a moment, "It's alright, not as bad as me. At least I'm conscious and can still look at my phone."
"...Although I sympathize with you, it just sounds so funny coming from you."
Xu Peiyi laughed carefree for a while, then perhaps feeling a bit thirsty, she casually broke off half of an orange and stuffed it into her mouth, completely unaware that the other two people's bright eyes were fixed on her at that moment.
"Hah!"
She gagged violently, grabbed a glass of water, and gulped it down while roaring:
"Are you dogs?!"
"Pah! What lousy oranges, so sour! Is it reasonable to serve such cheap fruit in such an expensive private room?!"
After much anticipation, Luo Xincheng and Jiang Wei burst into laughter and hugged each other tightly, their faces showing no remorse but only smug satisfaction.
"Especially you! Jiang Wei!" Xu Peiyi glared fiercely at Jiang Wei, focusing her anger on her, "You didn't eat anything at all!"
This person is very cunning; she sensed something was wrong early on and was just waiting for Xu Peiyi to fall into her trap.
Realizing what was happening, Xu Peiyi was furious. She immediately grabbed Jiang Wei's chin and shoved the last few segments of orange into her mouth. Luo Xincheng, who loved to kick someone when they were down, quickly grabbed Jiang Wei's shoulders to prevent her from escaping.
Jiang Wei reluctantly ate the orange that Xu Peiyi forced on her. The sourness made her shudder, and her face scrunched up. Unfortunately, she was unable to move and couldn't resist at all.
Hello, does anyone here remember that today is her birthday?
What about the special treatment she deserves as the birthday girl?!
She struggled to let out a final roar:
"Two poisonous women!"
A note from the author:
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