Chapter 37 Airline Mileage
Zong Chi was about to say something else, but He Dongli wiped her mouth and washed her face. She decided to ask for the bill right then and there. "Let me pay first, otherwise my 60% share of the bill will be ignored. How long are you going to talk? I'm hungry, and I can't stand being nagged after working all day."
Zong Chi was amused by her. This was what he liked most about her. She had the same courage as their old Zong, who would eat first even if the sky fell.
So, he followed the host's lead and said, "Eat!"
*
Two French set meals were placed on the table. Even though they were served warm, the guests were still late. Zong Chi was about to call for them to be heated up, but He Dongli stopped him. She was indeed hungry, and it was okay to eat quickly.
Perhaps the best thing about in-room dining is that there's no need to be so formal, no need to stick to appetizers or main courses. He Dongli immediately sampled all the dishes and meats that needed to be kept under temperature control. Zong Chi offered her his portion of fillet, but she declined. Her obsessive-compulsive nature disliked disrupting the set menu's portion control; she'd only chew more than she could chew. She also wanted to save room for dessert, thank you.
Zongchi ordered two desserts: a French toast with ice cream and a lemon tart. When he opened the champagne for her, she asked him, "Which one is mine?"
He could tell she was genuinely hungry; she hadn't been this anxious and irritated at the Japanese restaurant the other day. "They're all yours," he said, placing the champagne next to her.
When they were about halfway through their meal, the housekeeper brought over the fried whitebait that Mr. Zong had ordered.
So, a fusion meal was served on the table. Zong Chi had champagne on his left, sweet osmanthus wine on his right. He drank from both sides like water.
He Dongli reminded him, "Even if the alcohol content is low, you'll still get drunk if you mix it with other drinks."
"Well, now that I'm on top, will you stay?"
When He Dongli choked, she said nothing more. She was about 70% full, and while eating dessert, Zong Chi asked her if she wanted coffee. She nodded, and he went to make it for her.
He Dongli got off the table and called Yu Xiaohan again, saying that she had just gone to see the patient because of something. Yu Xiaohan hummed and told Xixi to go and do her own thing. She just asked about it after seeing it. He Dongli felt guilty and thought her mother's words were strange. After a while, Yu Xiaohan asked Xixi again, "Is there really nothing going on between Zou Yan and that female star? Xixi, Zou Yan is actually a good person..."
"Mom, Zou Yan broke up with her, but he still likes her very much. I mean, even though they broke up, she wouldn't like someone else..."
Yu Xiaohan sighed, "When it comes to this matter, you are just like this."
In the early years, Yu Xiaohan still had a very traditional attitude. It's not that she didn't hope that Xixi would get married with the man she liked, but reality was a slap in the face. Yu Xiaohan had been watching from the sidelines for the past few years, and most of the women around her were suffering from the hardships of marriage. She had developed a different kind of hardness. Compared with other parents who urged marriage and children, "If you really can't find someone like Zou Yan who is always harmonious, speaks politely, and doesn't change his tone based on his mood, then it doesn't matter if you don't marry. Just work hard, and I'll leave some money for you when the time comes. It's the same, Xixi."
Yu Xiaohan's words were just short of mentioning someone's academic name, and He Dongli felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured down on her. She used to think it didn't matter whether her mother knew or not, but with age and experience, she felt like a weary bird returning to the bush. After countless busy battles and cleaning up the battlefield, the favorite phrase from her colleagues and seniors was, "It's time to go home." He Dongli gradually realized that she wasn't as carefree as she'd imagined. She was deeply attached to this most primitive and conformist social structure, and she valued her parents' acceptance.
Xu Maosen seemed to be trying to persuade her, but Yu Xiaohan got angry at him, blaming him for being ignorant and only eyeing the wealthy family. Little did he know that these wealthy families had their own thresholds, which could trip people up. Some people had forgotten how they had worked so hard to cross that threshold.
He Dongli knew who his mother was talking about, but he pretended to have work to do and hung up the phone.
She was trying to convince her mother, "Well, maybe I never thought about crossing that threshold. He should go back to Singapore, find someone of equal status there, marry them, have children, and maybe then she could completely forget him."
When Yu Xiaohan harshly criticized her daughter that year, He Dongli feebly admitted to her mother, "Mom, I've known him for eleven years, and we've been together for seven. I know he's a jerk, but he's always there when I'm sad. I'll never find someone else who would fly over ten hours just to see me. All the air miles he's accumulated for me over the years are enough to buy someone else a place to stay. He'll never reach my heart." "Mom, I know he's not right for me, but I also know he truly loves me."
He Dongli hung up the phone and turned to go back to the restaurant. Zong Chi was standing there for who knows how long, holding a cup of coffee. Her heart suddenly seemed to wrinkle. For a moment, she would rather Zong Chi make some principled mistakes, get involved in things he shouldn't, flirt with several women and be fickle, then come and provoke her, be exposed by her, and then abandon her like a worn-out shoe. He Dongli, who do you think you are? I'm back only to return all the tricks you played on me. I can find a boatload of women like you with a nose and two eyes.
This way, she could move on from him without any attachment, including the guilt she felt for not showing up when he came back to see her three years ago.
He Dongli knew that Zong Chi had not mentioned this matter until now, and with his personality, he must be bothered by it. She had complained to him when they had quarreled before, that how high you are is based on how much gold is piled up around you, and your dignity is more valuable than that of ordinary people. That's why he was so arrogant and would not bow his head easily. He bowed his head, but did not get the return he expected. Two years later, he came back again, but he was reluctant to mention this matter. He Dongli knew that he was very bothered, just like when he realized on the corridor bridge that year that He Dongli did not care about him and even looked down on him, and he immediately decided to leave.
"What did your mother say?" Zong Chi brought the black coffee over and handed it to her. "It's a little weak, so you can only drink a few sips with dessert. If it's too strong, I'm afraid you won't be able to sleep."
He Dongli heard Jiang Xingyuan tell a black humor story. One night, a wife was so fed up that she decided to divorce her evil husband. However, the husband had a car accident that day and lost his memory. It wasn't the kind of memory that was reset with a single click. He lost his memory the day before he was going to buy her a Harry Winston sapphire necklace... "I was just randomly matching people up. I thought that since Zou Yan was no longer in a relationship with the famous star, maybe there was a possibility for me."
"Absolutely not." Zong Chi took a sip of her coffee from her hand. "You don't like this kind of man who would accompany you on a blind date."
Well, it's true, she's vulgar. She's obviously more interested in the guy who's trying so hard to catch her in the blind date corner. He Dongli brought the coffee to her lips and took a sip. Zong Chi asked her how it was.
She nodded vaguely.
"I mean the coffee I drank."
She ignored his bad taste and returned to the table to eat dessert.
Someone followed her back to the restaurant, "I wanted to help Zou Yan, and you even reported my conditions."
He Dongli was puzzled and frowned, asking her suspiciously, "Did you really feed the dog this meal?"
Only then did Zong Chi show his lordly attitude, as he hadn't asked the woman to pay for her meal, and said, "I want your money. I'll use your hard-earned money to pay your rent." Then, with his wicked character, he said, "I'm asking you if you agree to this."
"Tell me about it."
Zong Chi pointed at the coffee in her hand and said, "If you think I brewed it well, I'll buy you a new coffee machine. Return Zou Yan's to him."
He Dongli immediately put down the cup in his hand and said, "Give it back to him, Zong Chi, do you think this is reasonable?"
Zong Chi immediately burst into laughter. Seeing He Dongli being so serious, he couldn't help but feel satisfied with his bad taste. "Then I don't like going to your place and drinking coffee brewed by a coffee machine given to you by another man."
"You don't have to go!"
"Hey, you're going to destroy the bridge after crossing it!"
"It was you who wanted to dismantle the coffee machine for no apparent reason." He Dongli felt troubled just thinking about it. "I just got used to it being there and I've just gotten used to it. It's just a coffee machine. How does it affect you? If you don't like it, you can just not drink from it. It's just a favor I did for Zou Yan, and he paid me back. Right," He Dongli seemed to have suddenly thought of a perfect way to talk, and tried hard to convince Zong Chi, "It's a favor I earned by using my good name. It's just an object placed at home. If I ask Zou Yan for anything in the future, I'll have to buy it back for him."
Zong Chi listened, casually pushing his finished plate aside, and resting his chin on his hand, pretending to listen carefully to the report. He said to her seriously, "He Dongli, you seem to be explaining it to me so seriously, but why do I feel so uncomfortable? I feel like I'm going to go crazy."
He Dongli suddenly agreed with his mother's words. He was a little beast. He was stubborn and didn't listen. If she didn't explain to him, it meant she didn't love him or value him. If she did, he would just do the same thing again. "What do you want?"
"Replace that coffee machine. He was aggressively provoking me right to my face that night."
"No, he's just here to give you a gift. Once everything is settled, I'll let him go. He has no time to provoke you."
Zong Chi was about to say something else when he heard her words, "Oh, you let him go."
"Um."
"Why? Why are you chasing them away?" The ancestor who had taken advantage of the situation said quietly.
"Because he is no match for you." He Dongli did as he wished.
"What?"
“Every aspect.”
The man holding his chin in his hand finally couldn't help laughing. After laughing, he even blamed the flatterer, "You really risked everything to keep that coffee machine, He Dongli.
He Dongli took a bite of the lemon tart, the sweet and sour flavor filling his mouth. He hummed and laughed at the idiot in front of him. He felt that she was coaxing him for others. How dare she call others idiots all day long? Zou Yan was not smart either. His "please" was more effective than "I love you" a thousand times. As expected, straight men are all clumsy.
As the two of them were chatting across from each other, the phone in Zongchi's study rang. He went to answer it, saying to her as he went, "I brought you a gift. Take a look at it later."
He Dongli finished her meal and came out of the restaurant. She added hot water to the last sip of black coffee in her cup, diluting it to the point where it had no concentration at all, but it was better than drinking plain water. She sat on a long sofa in the living room and looked at the night view downstairs. Although she had a guess that it must be the ones in the luxury brand bag on the sofa opposite, he was not there, so she had no interest in looking.
He talked on the phone for a long time. After looking at her watch, He Dongli finally went to knock on the study door. She wanted to remind him that it was too late and she had to go back because she had to attend the weekend clinic early tomorrow morning.
Zong Chi didn't wait for her to say anything. Seeing her at the door, he turned to the other side and said nothing. He also mentioned Lin Jiaoyu. Zong Chi said that when Jiaoyu came back, he would treat them.
After hanging up the phone, Zong Chi came out and grabbed He Dongli's hand and walked towards the living room. He pulled her back to sit on the sofa before telling her, "Dou Yunong. He got my contact information from Lin Jiaoyu. Anyway, I got involved in Dou's family affairs regarding Zou Yan's matter. Lin Jiaoyu acted as a guarantor, so we can say that we got to know each other through fighting."
"What's his family business?" He Dongli was half curious and half felt it was strange.
Zong Chi glanced at her, then thought of something and said with a hint of reservation, "Never mind him, it's a shameful thing anyway. Feng Qianxu has her own shortcomings, and she used them to threaten Dou, which is why this happened."
He Dongli knew Zong Chi too well. His words, his so-called dishonorable behavior, were already quite shameful. She had heard a lot about this at their dinner parties. He Dongli was extremely cautious when it came to matters of principle, and he worried about them more than his parents did. For example, if he learned of someone's corrupt private life, or even solicited shady spending, He Dongli would come back and tell Zong Chi seriously, "I don't like you hanging out with him. If Lin Jiaoyu and you are destined to be long-term friends, then Lin Jiaoyu should stop hanging out with him."
Zong Chi laughed at her and called her a kid, so He Dongli admitted it. He admitted that she was a petty kid. Anyway, if you get close to that person, don't touch me. Zong Chi laughed and went back to tell Lin Jiaoyu about it. Lin Jiaoyu said that Ah Li's trick was much more ruthless than the old Zong family's rules written into the trust for their descendants. Zong Chi and his grandchildren all received the trust inheritance allocated by his grandfather, which included strict provisions. If it came to pornography, gambling, and drugs, the relevant dividends would be permanently and evenly transferred to the other beneficiaries next year. Ah Li did this, which was equivalent to a double insurance. It would be difficult for our Young Master Zong to not have a good family background. After all, if he learns bad things once, he will lose all his money and his wife will run away. Who would dare! After Lin Jiaoyu finished his talk, Zong Chi hummed and said that for the sake of my family harmony and financial stability, you should stop playing with him, so as not to bring trouble to me. Ah Li also didn't want you to play with him.
Lin Jiaoyu was so mean and said that she was not my wife, so why should I listen to her? You let her answer the phone, and I will ask her if she wants to control me too.
At the moment, Zong Chi seemed unwilling to say more, and He Dongli knew it well so he didn't ask.
He asked her with a smile, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's late, I should..."
"I haven't even seen the gifts yet." Zong Chi pointed to a few bags on the sofa across from him and stood up to pick up two. Honestly, He Dongli wasn't particularly excited about the gifts she'd received. She watched with a cold eye, but she was a little wary of the Hermès bag he hadn't brought.
Before he even opened the bag, Zong Chi said to her, "I'm going to Hong Kong to meet an agent. I told you..." He then thought better of it, thinking that a surprise should only be counted when the shock and joy are present. "Well, these two are just souvenirs from my business trip."
The first one was a colorful bag. Zong Chi took out a heavy square box from it and handed it to her, asking her to open it and take a look.
He Dongli was stunned for a moment, then opened it and found a box full of chocolates. It was the same brand Lin Jiaoyu had bought her last week. Lin Jiaoyu had given her the original packaging that day, but Zongchi's box was not. The box was custom made, and the chocolates' sealing label was also custom made. It wasn't the original brand logo, but her initials!
"Lin Jiaoyu is such a stingy person. I only gave you nine pills, and you still want to take them to the department to share. What's the point of sharing? Your head nurse and your director can each take a bite and share." There are a hundred pills in this box, and he wants her to take it back and share them first.
He Dongli knew the unit price of this brand, and that buying a hundred pills alone wouldn't force the brand to change the packaging. She looked up and asked him, "How many pills did you buy in total?"
"Eat until you become insulin resistant and can't eat anymore."
"Zongchi, I don't want it anymore."
Someone then smiled and held her down, "Alright, I won't say anything more. Anyway, it's fine until you get tired of this brand. That should be fine, right?"
He Dongli fell silent, then said seriously, "Thank you."
Zong Chi hummed, then helped her take the box away. He then looked at the second one, not forgetting to emphasize, "The other day, when I ate the one Lin Jiaoyu gave you, I found pistachios inside. This guy is really a thief who still has evil intentions. He still remembers that you like to eat pistachios. Let him remember it, anyway, he wouldn't dare to really do anything to you. I just want to turn his things into a joke."
He Dongli was so angry that he laughed, "Hey, are you good friends with him or not? It's really rude of you to say that about your good friend behind his back, you know that!"
"How can I treat a man who is obsessed with other people's wives?"
After the words fell, they looked at each other in confusion, the silence so intense that you could hear a pin drop. He Dongli blushed slightly, but said nothing. Zong Chi stood beside her and asked her if she wanted to see the second copy.
He Dongli reached out and took the bag from his hand, wishing it would be over quickly.
The second bag was from Xiangjia. He had bought her bags, jewelry, and watches before, but never any beauty or fragrance products. The bag contained almost the entire Xiangjia body lotion series. He Dongli was not happy to receive a gift, but was full of exclamation marks. She asked him, "Why did you buy so many?"
"I forgot which bottle you liked to use."
He Dongli was speechless. This was a very typical answer. He would just guess for the multiple-choice questions he didn't know how to answer, relying on the principle that there would always be one correct answer.
"What if I tell you that none of these have the model I use?"
"I don't believe it. Let me smell them one by one." As he said that, he was about to do it. He said that the one she was wearing was too fragrant, so fragrant that he could never forget it, and it had crawled into his bones.
A bag of body lotion rolled onto the carpet. He Dongli's face felt hot because of the bullying. The hand she pushed on his shoulder was grabbed by him and put around his neck.
He bit her lips gently, then dragged her onto his lap.
Zong Chi held He Dongli sideways, forcing her to come toward him for a kiss. In the past, he loved holding her like this, almost to the point of obsession. One hand caressed her waist, the other felt her trembling or wetness, and then, the person on her would instinctively shrink, desperately clinging to his neck.
Everyone was laughing. Zong Chi threatened her, "If you strangle me and my hands get frozen in there, you won't be able to explain yourself. The police will charge you with necrophilia."
He Dongli was so angry that she hit him on the mouth. She was helpless and embarrassed, so she would ask him, "Are you like this in front of your parents? Are you like this in front of your relatives on the other side of the clan?"
He pulled out his fingers to trace her mouth, and said in a tone that was both evil and genuine: No, I only do this with you.
Finally, He Dongli, who was kissed until her head was dizzy and the air was thin, suddenly reached out to his face, separating the two of them. Then she turned her head, reached out to one of the bottles of body lotion, and told him the answer. "It's this one."
Zong Chi smiled and was about to press the back of her head, but He Dongli quickly covered his mouth. She wanted to say, "Let's take a break. I still want to eat and talk tomorrow..."
Suddenly, there were several noises similar to knocking on the door. He Dongli wanted to remind Zong Chi to listen, but within a few seconds, the mechanical sound of an access card entering was heard from the entrance hall.
The panicked person quickly got up from Zong Chi. She got down in a hurry, and with her buttocks lifted and her hands pushed, she pushed wherever she went. Zong Chi, who was still sitting there, was almost killed by her.
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