Chapter 30 Old Photos
As the days grew colder, Luo Xincheng's work gradually got back on track.
Last month, in order to seize the Christmas market, the entire company was busy during the new product development period. There were endless meetings, countless PPTs, and countless process forms to complete, and we also had to deal with various emergencies from time to time.
Luo Xincheng worked overtime for two weeks, and she was so exhausted that she had no energy left.
Fortunately, after the new products were launched, her work schedule wasn't so packed, allowing her more time to relax. When she didn't feel like doing documents, she would slowly assemble the company's newly launched Christmas series of building blocks while clearing her mind.
After Ms. Luo Anjiu returned to China, Luo Xincheng accompanied her to several toy exhibitions and model culture festivals, supposedly to conduct market research. However, Luo Xincheng was so busy watching the excitement and buying things that she returned home with bags full of bags and still felt a little unsatisfied.
Christmas is just around the corner.
That day, it actually snowed in Yanjing.
At first she didn't notice, but Jiang Wei caught a snowflake and handed it to her.
"Look, it's snowing."
She was drinking her newly bought apple cinnamon coffee, her eyes fixed on the brightly lit Christmas tree at the mall entrance, when she heard this and looked over.
But by then, the snowflakes in Jiang Wei's hand had already melted.
So she could only look up at the sky, squinting for a while. Before she could see any snowflakes, she could already feel their temperature.
A few drops of moisture seeped into her skin, causing her to involuntarily shrink her neck.
"That's true."
The snow was just too light, like grains of salt, and easily overlooked if you didn't look closely.
Jiang Wei took off his glasses and wiped them with a tissue. "What do you think about me buying a Christmas tree for Jiang Xu as a housewarming gift?"
Although he had been clamoring to move out for two months, Jiang Xu only actually moved into his new home two days ago due to various reasons. Then he invited a few close friends to host a housewarming party for him on Christmas Day.
Luo Xincheng shook his head. "I don't recommend you do that."
Jiang Wei pointed to the large Christmas tree at the entrance of the mall and explained, "I want to buy small ornaments, not the big ones. After all, it's Christmas, and it would be nice to add some festive atmosphere to Jiang Xu's home."
Luo Xincheng continued to shake her head, then opened the gift bag she had been carrying all the way and gestured, "I don't recommend you do that, because what I'm going to give you are Christmas tree ornaments and gingerbread house blocks."
Jiang Wei: "..."
She leaned closer, looking at the finished product images on the packaging of the building blocks and ornaments, and pondered, "Why do they look so familiar..."
Luo Xincheng: "These are all new products from our company's Christmas series."
Jiang Wei: "..."
Okay, okay, so you're really trying to fleece your own company like this.
Finally, Jiang Wei bought an antique coin bracelet at a department store counter as a housewarming gift. "Anyway, he's very vain, so buying something like this won't go wrong."
Luo Xincheng hesitated and asked, "Are you sure he didn't buy the same one himself?"
Jiang Wei: "..."
Jiang Wei: "Who cares? I can just wear it myself. Let's go."
As darkness fell, the snow outside began to fall more heavily.
Snowflakes fluttered down on the colorful streets, cheerful Christmas carols played in the mall, their sound carrying far and wide, and the lights on the Christmas tree at the entrance twinkled. As Luo Xincheng walked out, she felt as if she had stepped into a crystal ball from the mall.
The two arrived at Jiang Xu's new home in less than ten minutes on foot.
They rang the doorbell, waited patiently for a while, and went inside when the door was opened by the person inside.
Bang bang bang!
The fireworks suddenly went off, and glittering ribbons rained down on their faces.
"Merry Chrismas!"
Xu Peiyi cheered, holding up the fireworks. She was dressed in red, and her face was flushed, as if she had drunk some wine.
Luo Xincheng and Jiang Wei patted their ears simultaneously, with the latter complaining, "It sounds like firecrackers."
Xu Peiyi chuckled and conscientiously went to get a broom and dustpan, sweeping the colorful ribbons at the doorway clean.
Jiang Xu came out of the kitchen at this moment, and although it was winter, he was covered in sweat.
"What should I do? The braised pork I cooked seems to have turned a bit black..."
Wang Jiayan walked behind him, munching on a tomato, and said gloatingly, "I told you you didn't need to bother, just wait for the restaurant to bring the food."
Jiang Xu straightened his sleeves, looking annoyed. "I was just trying to treat you all well, so I specially made one of my signature dishes for you to try."
Luo Xincheng blurted out before she even thought, "It's all burnt black, how can it be a signature dish?"
Jiang Xu was speechless for a moment.
Jiang Wei rubbed his stomach, realizing he was indeed a bit hungry. "When will the restaurant bring the food up?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than the doorbell rang again.
Speak of the devil and he appears.
Jiang Wei opened the door, and the restaurant deliveryman came in, greeted them, and then methodically placed several dishes on the table.
After finishing his tomato, Wang Jiayan wiped his hands and asked, "Hey bro, do you know if you can still eat braised pork that's turned black?"
The waiter paused for a moment, "Did the caramelize the sugar too much or reduce the sauce too much? If it's burnt, it's inedible; if it's not burnt, it might taste bitter."
Jiang Xu covered his face as if he couldn't bear to look, "The sauce was reduced too much... but it wasn't burnt."
He had no idea how to caramelize sugar, so he simply skipped that step.
After listening, the group all expressed their opinions:
"As long as it's not burnt, it's still edible."
"Bring it out for us to try. We've already made it, so let's not waste it."
"It's like risking my life to accompany a gentleman."
"..."
Jiang Xu's expression gradually became complicated. They were quite considerate in their words, but why did he feel so frustrated?
After the waiter left, he brought out the failed braised pork.
Luo Xincheng mischievously rearranged the dishes, leaving the most central spot empty, just waiting for Jiang Xu to place his dishes there.
Jiang Xu, upon witnessing this scene: ...
Since things have come to this, let's eat first.
Luo Xincheng didn't have much of an appetite at noon, so she just ate a few bites in the company cafeteria. She only drank a cup of coffee in the afternoon, and by now, her stomach was rumbling loudly.
She ate a few mouthfuls of rice to fill her stomach, and then enthusiastically joined her friends' chat. As they chatted, the topic turned to Xu Peiyi's blind date.
How many blind dates have you met? How did they go?
Xu Peiyi said it wasn't good. "I'm already planning to start working at my dad's company next week. Tsk, I'd rather go to work than marry one of those people."
It's clear that she's been very dissatisfied with all the blind dates she's met recently.
But when the topic of blind dates came up, Luo Xincheng immediately remembered the time they betrayed her.
She immediately began to complain indignantly, "On my grandfather's birthday, that man came to see me, and you all ran away right away? I was hoping you could help me find some excuse to send him away!"
Xu Peiyi laughed, enjoying the spectacle, "You finally have some suitors, wouldn't it be nice to help you fend them off?"
Jiang Xu said lazily, "We can't just interfere in other people's affairs. What if we help you out this time, and then you two get together again? Wouldn't we look like clowns?"
Luo Xincheng immediately flew into a rage: "Who are you trying to humiliate? How could I possibly look down on someone like that?!"
Jiang Wei silently moved the bowl away. "Calm down, don't spit out your food."
Luo Xincheng covered her mouth and glared at her, annoyed. "No way!"
Wang Jiayan had a difficult situation to explain: "I really want to help you, but that guy is a marriage partner that your older cousin has found for you, so I can't get involved."
He has been afraid of his older cousin since he was a child, and he usually avoids him.
Luo Xincheng sighed with a heavy expression, "You have disappointed me greatly."
"What are you saying?" Jiang Xu took a sip of water and said coolly, "When I was entangled with unwanted suitors, didn't you just stand by and laugh, ignoring all my attempts to signal to you?"
Luo Xincheng: "..."
Luo Xincheng: "I'm sorry, but your expression of collapse was really funny."
Jiang Xu gave a deathly smile: "Sorry, but your expression of collapse is also quite funny."
Luo Xincheng lowered her head and focused on eating.
But these mischievous friends clearly had no intention of letting her off the hook.
While eating, Wang Jiayan muttered, "Although my older cousin's intentions weren't very good, at least he'll introduce you to men with good prospects. It's good for you to meet more people, otherwise, with your narrow social circle, you might end up alone."
Jiang Wei replied with a half-smile, "Her social circle is narrow, but yours is wide. Don't you have anyone suitable to introduce to her?"
Wang Jiayan suddenly choked on his food.
After taking a few sips of water, he hesitated before saying, "It's true that I have many friends, but their sexual preferences are all very normal... none of them are masochists, sorry."
"Pfft."
Xu Peiyi almost choked on her food with laughter and quickly covered her mouth.
Luo Xincheng kicked his leg under the table, yelling, "Are you tired of living? Pay up!"
Upon hearing the resounding words "pay back the money," Wang Jiayan clasped his hands together in a prayerful gesture, "I'll use all my connections to find you a clean M, and then we won't pay you back, okay?"
Luo Xincheng: "...Are you sick? What kind of man is worth 100,000 dollars?"
Wang Jiayan sighed and said, "There's nothing we can do. Your reputation for being fierce has spread too far. No brave warrior in the entire Yanjing dares to chase you."
Who said there isn't?
Luo Xincheng secretly rolled her eyes, "You just don't know it."
Speaking of her suitors, Xu Peiyi suddenly remembered something and exclaimed excitedly, "Oh right! I remember when you were a sophomore, there was a handsome blue-eyed guy pursuing you, wasn't there? When I went to Chicago to visit you, I happened to run into you two on a date!"
Luo Xincheng: "?"
She racked her brains for a while: "Who was it?"
"That handsome Italian guy! He's supposed to be your junior in the same major, brown hair, blue eyes, and he has really cute freckles!" Xu Peiyi became inexplicably excited. "He's so handsome! How did things go between you two?"
After hearing such detailed explanation, Luo Xincheng finally remembered.
"Hehe, handsome, right?" She forced a bitter smile. "I was only fifteen years old back then."
Everyone: "...?"
Xu Peiyi really didn't know about this.
She suddenly became flustered, twisting her fingers, "Underage...that's not right..."
"No, not at all." Luo Xincheng waved her hand and explained, "The day you came to Chicago to see me, I had only known him for a short time. We happened to go out for coffee together that day, and I found out he was only fifteen years old when we were chatting. Then I received your message."
She shrugged with a hint of helplessness. "I didn't plan to bring him with me when I went to see you, but he said he knew the area well and could help us carry our things, so I brought him along. After you left, I basically lost contact with him."
Xu Peiyi nodded in sudden realization, "That's true, if you'd dated someone that handsome, you couldn't possibly not post it online."
Jiang Xu muttered thoughtfully, "He was fifteen when he was a sophomore... so he should be an adult now, right? Why don't you go back and try to find him?"
Wang Jiayan gave him an approving look, "Great minds think alike."
Luo Xincheng really wanted to smash the cup next to them at them. "Are you two crazy?"
Jiang Wei became curious about the blue-eyed handsome guy Xu Peiyi had mentioned. "You both think he's handsome? He really is. Do you have a picture?"
Luo Xincheng: "No."
Xu Peiyi: Yes.
Luo Xincheng: "...?"
She looked at Xu Peiyi in disbelief, "When did you take this picture?"
Xu Peiyi opened her phone's cloud photo album and started looking for photos based on the time. "I asked you guys before we took the photos, don't you remember? I even took several photos of us together."
"……Yeah?"
It happened several years ago, and Luo Xincheng had long forgotten about it.
"Let me see... I found it!"
She handed her phone to Jiang Wei as if to show off, and he took it and his eyes widened immediately. "He is indeed handsome... but you can also tell that he is underage, fifteen years old, in the prime of his youth."
She scrolled down the photos and laughed, "Luo Xincheng looks so funny in your photos, what kind of expression is that?"
Luo Xincheng instantly became alert, "Xu Peiyi, you took an unflattering photo of me?!"
She hurriedly went to Jiang Wei's side, glanced at the photo, and thankfully, it was just that the wind was too strong at the time and her hair had gotten all over her face.
But apart from that, the photo looks pretty good overall.
The backdrop was the vast expanse of azure Lake Michigan, its surface shimmering with golden light. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind swept through, tossing her hair into a mess, with a few strands hitting her face. She closed her eyes in embarrassment, while the blue-eyed Italian junior schoolmate beside her smiled and tidied her hair.
I must say, it actually has quite a great atmosphere.
Luo Xincheng sighed, reaching out to the screen to admire her youthful appearance back then, with her face full of collagen.
The photo was continuously zoomed in, and the originally unclear details were also magnified.
In the photo, a young Asian face stands out among the pedestrians behind the Italian student.
He had short, neat black hair, wore black-rimmed glasses, and dressed in a very common black hoodie and jeans.
His all-black attire made his skin appear cold and pale.
The moment Xu Peiyi pressed the shutter, he was holding a cup of coffee, tilting his head to look in their direction, his expression indistinct.
It is Fu Zhiheng.
How did he end up in this photo?
I made braised pork ribs with radish today! I braised it for over two hours until the radish was incredibly soft and tender—it tasted even better than the ribs! I deliberately left a lot of broth when reducing the sauce; it's especially delicious with rice. [kissing emoji]
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