Chapter 30
Wen Zhenni took her assistant to the South Country to record it.
It was almost evening when Ciheng finished his social engagements and withdrew from the dinner.
The people who invited him to play today were uncles and aunts who he had known for many years. After all, they were experienced business people and far more sophisticated and experienced than these young people.
During the banquet, people toasted each other and exchanged sharp words. Due to the consideration of her father, Ciheng was not obliged to join in the fun, but she had to drink a few glasses for the sake of her elders.
After the show was finally over and he got back to the car, he let out a long sigh, but his head felt as heavy as a block of lead, pulling him down.
Drinking too much alcohol is indeed harmful to your health, and you will feel dizzy especially after getting drunk.
Lin Nuo had the habit of carrying hangover medicine with him, so he counted out a few pills and fed them to him.
There was plenty of time to rest on the way to the Jinhuang Night Banquet. Ciheng raised his hand to unbutton his shirt, rubbed his temples and closed his eyes.
After slowly gathering his thoughts, he asked, "Who picked up my wife today?"
There was still a trace of anger between his brows, and when he asked about his wife, his tone softened a little.
Lin Nuo observed his expression in the rearview mirror and said with a smile, "My wife gave Xiao Su a day off, so she drove the car herself. She said it would be convenient for her to pick up my husband tonight."
"Okay, got it." Ciheng responded simply, the corners of his mouth curled up quietly, and the coldness between his brows seemed to be smoothed away.
The car drove onto the overpass and arrived at Jinhuang Night Banquet an hour later.
The doorman opened the back door and the concierge who had been waiting came over to greet us.
Before entering the private room, Ciheng straightened her sleeves slightly before stepping into the extravagant and decadent place of entertainment.
As soon as I entered the door, the voices carrying a familiar name hit me.
"Brother Heng, here."
Feng Zhen's loud roar instantly attracted the attention of the classmates.
For a moment, the private room was filled with compliments, and men and women dressed in fashionable clothes gathered around.
The youthful faces and mature figures in front of them overlap, and now they have become the top elites in their respective industries.
Not to mention him, the new leader of Taihua who is well-known to everyone, is the center of attention wherever he goes.
Everyone in the room, whether they knew him or not, all sided with him.
People who are not familiar with him would take every opportunity to greet him, and people who are familiar with him would take advantage of their relationship to say a few more words.
"Everyone is waiting for you to start the feast. Why are you so late? You must drink a penalty."
Relying on their schoolmate friendship, his old friends were not afraid to make fun of him and pushed him to the front of the table to make him drink a penalty.
Tzu Heng has good upbringing, so as long as it’s within the boundaries, it’s okay to laugh and joke.
He took the wine glass, but his eyes fell on his mentor who was silently watching him with a smile on his face. He bowed slightly and called out, "Teacher Wen."
Teacher Wen patted his shoulder heavily, his tone filled with the scolding of an elder, "It's really not easy to see our busy man."
The man, who was in his fifties and had some graying hair, looked energetic. "Teacher, I've heard about your great achievements. You're so young and yet you can stand on your own. You're a young man to be reckoned with. I'm also grateful for your help."
Seeing his favorite student achieve such success today, he could not hide the pride on his face.
In front of her teacher, Ciheng's aloofness and arrogance faded away completely, leaving only the respect etched in her bones. "Teacher, you are too kind. My achievements today are due to your good teaching."
"Listen, only Teacher Wen can make our Master Ci humble. What do you call this? This is the strength of a top student!"
"When we were in the same class in high school, the gap between us widened, and now after graduation, it's even bigger. We'll never be able to catch up to Brother Ci's achievements even in our next lifetime."
Everyone was talking and making fun of Ciheng, but Ciheng didn't mind them.
There was an empty seat next to Jiang Lin, so an old classmate who had a good relationship with him pushed him over and said, "Sit next to Goddess Jiang. You two were a famous golden pair in high school."
"I remember there were people rooting for you two academic duos back then."
I don't know who started the commotion, but other students followed suit.
"Yes, we even made a bet on whether you two would be together."
Jiang Lin, the person being mentioned, smiled and said, "It's an old calendar from many years ago. Why are you still bringing it up?"
At today's class reunion, she wore a beige long skirt and a low ponytail. Compared with her intellectual and neat appearance in the business world, her temperament was much gentler.
She glanced at the man beside her with a calm and graceful expression, "Besides, Ah Heng is already married. You are just making irresponsible remarks and causing misunderstandings."
"That's right, just kidding."
Feng Zhen glanced at Ci Heng and changed the subject, "Hurry up and eat. Today's dishes are all carefully selected by me, and the taste is guaranteed to be authentic."
Personalized dishes and exclusive wines are really a big deal.
Apart from Tzu-Heng, Feng Zhen is the only one who is extremely wealthy.
So when you eat this table of food, what you are actually eating is money.
Teacher Wen was so happy to see his students that he drank a few more glasses of wine. By the time he finished the meal, he was so dizzy that he could not walk.
Jiang Lin was considerate. She asked the waiter for a glass of honey water. After feeding Teacher Wen, she asked two male classmates to help him go to the lounge next door.
Teacher Wen waved his hands and shouted, "You all go play, don't worry about me."
He said he was happy, but he also shouted that he wanted to go back.
Feng Zhen called his own car and took the teacher home.
After dinner, singing and chatting were inevitable entertainment activities. Feng Zhen took the lead and domineeringly booked several private rooms. After everyone left the table, they took their families to sing, go to the massage room and game room to spend time.
Ciheng felt bored and noisy, so she hid in the rest area of the private room to find some peace and quiet.
Wherever he is, Feng Zhen will naturally be there too.
Those who wanted to get close to them did not leave and came up to them one after another, some offering them wine and some lighting cigarettes.
Although it disturbed the peace, Ciheng still gave face, accepted the cigarette, and symbolically drank some wine.
After work, the opportunities for classmates to see each other became fewer and fewer. With the teachers present at the dinner table, even the boldest boys would feel restrained and unable to let go. Now that the teachers were gone, they completely let go of their true nature.
Since we were here to make friends, the easiest way to get closer was to reminisce about the past, so those old memories were brought up.
"...I still remember that when I was the Chinese class representative, I always read Ciheng's essays as model essays and Feng Zhen's essays as negative examples."
Everyone present had a vivid memory of this incident, and some took the opportunity to mock Feng Zhen, the negative example, saying, "If we talk about interesting essays, Feng Zhen's is the most interesting."
Feng Zhen, having his weakness exposed, frowned and said, "I didn't say a word, yet you still slander me. I think you're not here to reminisce, but to seek revenge."
As soon as he said this, everyone started laughing.
Amidst the laughter, the relationship between them became a little warmer.
Ciheng didn't say a word. He put out his cigarette in the ashtray and sat quietly on the sofa the whole time, with an indifferent expression, as if all the excitement belonged to others and had nothing to do with him.
At this moment, someone suddenly changed the subject and directed the conversation to Jiang Lin sitting opposite.
"After so many years, I thought Jiang Lin and Ci Shao would really become a couple, but Ci Shao got married young, and our goddess is still single. What a pity."
This kind of leading talk shouldn't have been said much, but the stubborn male classmate next to me nodded in agreement, "I never thought President Ci would go the route of a business marriage."
Whenever Jiang Lin is mentioned, Ciheng cannot be avoided. These two influential figures are most likely to be put together.
He didn't notice the look Feng Zhen gave him at all, and even sighed to express his regret.
Amidst the complicated gazes in the room, Feng Zhen felt his scalp tingle. "Enough joking, Brother Heng already has a wife. Don't say such things anymore. If it causes unnecessary misunderstandings, it will just be a family war."
Going to great lengths to pair married people with rumored partners is dishonest and tactless.
When everyone realized this problem and looked at Ciheng's expression, the air became quiet for a moment.
Although Jiang Lin's smile was appropriate, her eyes couldn't deceive anyone. She raised her wine glass and lowered her eyes, hiding a flash of disappointment.
Seeing that the atmosphere was about to ruin the party that had been so hard to arrange, the most active girl in the class quickly jumped out to smooth things over.
"Our high school goddess, how many people pursued her openly or secretly? I don't know how many anonymous chocolates she accepted. But Jiang Lin didn't like them, so in the end, they all ended up in my stomach."
Someone tutted, "I was wondering why you were getting fatter and fatter."
"You are fat, your whole family is fat."
The teased female classmate stood up to hit him and accidentally knocked the phone that Jiang Lin had placed beside her legs.
The phone slipped onto the carpet and the screen lit up. A girl nearby picked it up and accidentally saw the background image of the lock screen.
"Hey, the photo of you and Tzu-Heng..." He was halfway through the sentence when his voice suddenly stopped.
After receiving the signal, the female classmate shut her mouth in embarrassment.
The others' eyes moved back and forth between the parties involved, with an inquiring look.
Jiang Lin felt quite embarrassed to have her thoughts exposed in front of so many people.
She brushed her hair and explained calmly, "That competition means a lot to me. It has always been an encouragement for my own progress, so I still use it now."
As for whether this was true or not, she knew it best. No one asked, but smiled knowingly.
Of course, Ciheng did not see Jiang Lin’s phone lock screen, nor was he interested in prying into other people’s privacy.
He just raised his eyes, glanced coldly at those who were joking, and his face darkened.
In the dim light, the already distant atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point.
Seeing this, the monitor, who was wearing thick glasses, suddenly clapped his hands and said, "Do you remember, back in our senior year, there was a little girl from junior high who came to deliver meals to Tzu Heng. She was so well-behaved and pretty. One time, the dean even caught her in a premature relationship and detained her in the Academic Affairs Office."
"I happened to be there that time. My junior sister's eyes were red. She explained that she was from the junior high school and had come with Aunt Zhuang to see Ciheng, not to give her a love letter. The teacher from the Academic Affairs Office said a few more words to her, and tears kept falling."
The monitor grew increasingly agitated as he spoke. "The old teacher in the Academic Affairs Office was terrified. She had to find a bunch of snacks and coax them out. I was worried about my junior, so I followed her out. And guess what? The little girl who had been crying in the Academic Affairs Office was now sitting on the stairs, chowing down on snacks."
After he finished speaking, everyone in the room laughed.
"You mean the girl who often comes to see Ciheng?"
"Yeah, that little girl."
Ciheng lowered his eyes and listened, and the corners of his mouth, which had been straight, actually curved up silently.
That is indeed the case.
It was a snowy afternoon. Wen Zhenni, wrapped in a red scarf, was sitting in the stairwell of the teaching building, eating snacks and scribbling on the foggy glass with her fingers.
When his classmates asked him who he was, he replied, "My sister."
The little girl frowned and retorted, "I don't have a brother, I only have a younger brother."
Maybe because she was beautiful, Jiang Lin was also deeply impressed.
I don’t know what its name was, but I remember that it had a pair of unforgettable eyes that blinked at people like a clear lake.
On that snowy day, the girl, jeered by her male classmates, ran out of the teaching building, but the slippery floor caused her to fall into a snowdrift. Her pants were soiled, her hands scraped, and Ciheng overturned a desk as she rushed out of the classroom.
It was the first time she saw the always calm top student rush out of the teaching building in a panic, holding the girl's hand and checking her injuries over and over again.
The girl didn't cry, she just blinked her beautiful eyes, smiled and said it didn't hurt.
Thinking back, those eyes seemed very familiar, very similar to the woman who had confronted her in the corridor that day.
Could it be... her?
Jiang Lin subconsciously looked at the man at the center of the discussion, and almost caught the almost indulgent smile in his eyes at a glance.
This subtle expression was fleeting, so fast that it made people think it was just a momentary illusion.
Perhaps only she, who was sitting opposite him, could see the changes that happened in an instant.
Jiang Lin's lips trembled, "...you said she was my uncle's sister."
Her mumbling was drowned out by the noisy laughter around her and no one heard it.
When everyone stopped laughing and focused their gossipy eyes on the person involved, waiting to see how he would respond, Ciheng slowly raised his eyes.
Those eyes had returned to their usual indifference, and even had a hint of annoyance at being disturbed.
His slender fingers tapped on the armrest of the sofa. The sound was not loud, but it made the private room quiet.
"Good memory."
Ciheng's voice was calm, and others couldn't tell whether she was happy or unhappy, but the invisible sense of oppression seemed innate. "But next time you mention my wife's embarrassing moments from her school days, remember to save her some face."
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The author has something to say: As I was writing, I started to doubt myself, wondering how I could cure my baldness. [Translated]
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