Episode 45 Celebration Banquet
Pierre's painting exhibition officially opened today. This is his first exhibition in mainland China. There was a huge crowd of people in front of the western-style building, and it was quite a big event.
As the first and only agent of Tengchun in the mainland, Lin Ying personally participated in the lottery promotion activities. He went to make arrangements early in the morning, personally inspected the exhibits, and was busy until noon, and finally returned to the office.
The temperature in midsummer was approaching 40°C. Just walking around in the sun would make her sweat profusely. When she passed by the Cantonese restaurant next to her studio, the owner, Sister Chun, hurriedly greeted her.
"Has Miss Lin eaten yet?"
"Not yet, I just got some free time."
Lin Ying had been busy all day, and the weather was hot, so she had no appetite at mealtime. So when Sister Chun invited her to dinner as usual, she refused repeatedly:
"Sister Chun, I don't have much of an appetite. I'm sorry to bother you all the time..."
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. You helped us so much before. Here, take it. A small portion won't make you sick. Eat as much as you can."
Looking at the small portion of pork trotter rice which consisted of almost only lean meat, Lin Ying couldn't refuse it anymore and took it with a smile.
The air conditioning in the office made people feel refreshed. Lin Ying sat at the table and glanced through her work email. She noticed that the HR department at the headquarters had sent Xu Yiwei an offer of employment. At the same time, Wang Duo also approved her request to pay her two months' salary in advance and copied this email to her.
Obviously, Wang Duo trusted her too much in these matters.
She spread out the pork trotter rice and chewed it slowly. Just when she was about to find a video to watch while eating, Wang Duo's phone suddenly rang. She put down her chopsticks, sat up straight and answered the phone -
"Lin Ying, Pierre's flight will arrive in Shanghai this afternoon. You should book a table at a reputable restaurant so we can go together tonight to celebrate the successful launch."
Such a sudden and casual itinerary is quite consistent with Pierre's personality.
After finishing his official duties, Wang Duo added a personal request:
"Oh, my son Jiaze is in Shanghai for summer vacation. His nanny is on leave these days, and his swimming class ends a little early. I'd like you to pick him up so you can take him to dinner tonight. You can bring our daughter along, as the child won't make too much noise if she has company."
Jiaze is two years older than Xing. Apart from his father and the nanny, the adult he is most familiar with in Shanghai is Lin Ying.
Before their divorce, Wang Duo reached a consensus with his ex-wife to let their son come to Shanghai to live for two months every summer vacation, which was also a way to maintain the interaction between father and son. However, Wang Duo was always busy with work and had no time to spare. As his subordinate, Lin Ying had to help him take care of the child.
Among her many personal requests, this was the only thing she rarely refused - not for anything else, but just for the sake of Jiaze's feelings.
As soon as the phone hung up, Lin Ying was the first to open the social media software to search, intending to choose a restaurant first. However, the interface was filled with similar posed photos of internet celebrities and AI-flavored copywriting - nowadays, Internet marketing routines are endless. Tonight is Tengchun's host, and if he doesn't have a reference standard, it would be a disgrace to the company if he really stepped on a landmine.
Since the protagonist is Pierre, we must follow his taste, and the person who knows his taste and is the most suitable person to ask for help... seems to be only Jiang Shu.
She hesitated for two seconds, then opened the dialog box. She wanted to type out the explanation, but she thought it would take too much time, so she just made a voice call directly - for the first time in six years, she took the initiative to call Jiang Shu.
Jiang Shu replied almost immediately, "What's wrong, Aying?"
The occasional sounds of the mouse and keyboard were mixed in with the background noise. Guessing that Jiang Shu was probably busy with something, Lin Ying didn't waste any words and got straight to the point -
"I just want to ask for your advice. What are Pierre's taste habits like? Are there any dietary restrictions..."
"You're trying to decide which restaurant to book tonight, right?"
The other party answered her question without hesitation.
"How do you know?"
"I've already booked it. He contacted me before he took off and said he wanted me to go with him tonight to celebrate the success of his mainland debut."
"Are you going tonight too?"
"Well, Pierre is a man of his word. I'm used to it. I'll send you the address later. Just create a group and forward it to them. No need to explain anything else. Pierre and Shen Lan will understand."
Hearing this, Lin Ying couldn't help but laugh for a moment. She used to feel that Jiang Shu's various unreasonable arrangements were oppressive and even a little inhumane. But now that she has experienced a lot, she sometimes has to admit that such efficient and precise action is also a synonym for trustworthiness.
"Okay, thank you."
"What are you thanking me for? It was Pierre who was harassing me privately." He pretended to be dissatisfied, but then said, "How about this for now? I'm a little busy right now. I'll see Aying tonight."
After saying that, Jiang Shu hung up the phone without any hesitation.
His eyes returned to the various documents and data on the screen. There were those related to the Song family's radiating industries on the mainland, as well as Jiang Lin's current projects that urgently needed approval, as well as an overview of Wang Duo's own industries and the details of the investor's equity...
The dialog box with Lin Ying that had no follow-up showed his helplessness in wanting to say something but unable to.
He had a lot of things he wanted to confess to her and a lot of questions he wanted to ask her, but these things were too complicated and too detailed, and he needed a suitable opportunity.
Not now, not tonight.
At six o'clock in the evening, Lin Ying arrived at the restaurant holding Ruxing in one hand and Jiaze in the other.
This turned out to be a Cantonese restaurant. Pierre was quite creative – a Frenchman who grew up in Hong Kong actually wanted to eat Cantonese food when he came to Shanghai.
That’s fine too, Cantonese cuisine suits her taste, it’s not too spicy, the sauce is not too strong, the chicken tastes like chicken and the fish tastes like fish.
I thought I would be the first one to arrive, but when I opened the door, today's host and guests were already waiting in the private room.
When Ruxing saw Jiang Shu, she immediately broke free from her mother's hand and ran towards Jiang Shu excitedly:
"Uncle, long time no see!"
Jiang Shu immediately leaned over to greet the child, and then, with ease, he held Ruxing in his arms...
Seeing this, Pierre's eyes flashed with surprise, and then he immediately turned to Lin Ying. His foreign face instantly showed French enthusiasm, but his words were Chinese greetings -
"Long time no see, Lin Ying. Jiang Shu was just talking about you! It seems like he misses you more than I do!"
As he said this, he actually pretended to go up and give her a French kiss on the cheek, which startled Lin Ying so much that she froze in her tracks. Jiang Shu impatiently imitated Pierre's own tone and said,
"Oh la la, just check yourself a little bit."
Pierre finally stopped and gave up. However, he was just pretending and had no intention of getting close to her. He just shook hands lightly with Lin Ying out of politeness, and when she was not paying attention, he winked at Jiang Shu and teased him.
"Don't you jealous of me being a French?"
Jiang Shu was too lazy to pay attention to him, so he put Ruxing down and asked Lin Ying with a serious expression:
"How are you feeling lately? I heard you've been busy before and after the exhibition."
Lin Ying noticed immediately, "How do you know I'm not idle? Didn't Pierre just arrive in Shanghai?"
"That's what I just mentioned, Miss Lin."
Pierre's partner Shen Lan appeared at the door at the right time, and handed the box of Lafite in his hand to the waiter to be processed in the side room.
"This CARO blended Malbec has been stored for a long time. Wang Duo just contacted me and asked the butler to bring it over from the wine cellar. I didn't expect that after being away for such a short while, I would actually arrive just in time for Miss Lin."
“No wonder Mr. Wang told me not to bring any wine this afternoon. Sorry to bother Mr. Shen.”
"This wine is Pierre's favorite, so I'll give it to everyone to try."
Shen Lan's eyes moved to Jiang Shu, and his eyebrows curved: "Boss Jiang and Pierre are also familiar with each other, so I guess they can get used to drinking."
Jiang Shu nodded and smiled, but said, "I'm going to spoil the drinking part tonight. The doctor recently prescribed some sleeping pills and just told me not to drink alcohol."
After hearing this, Lin Ying realized that his expression was indeed not as vigorous as before. It seemed that he must have been under a lot of pressure recently.
After a few pleasantries, Lin Ying received a message from Wang Duo and took the initiative to lead everyone to the table to order food and explain -
"Mr. Wang is a little busy today and will be a little late. He is on his way now. Let's order first."
She took Jiaze's hand and guided him to sit in the corresponding seat... She had originally planned to let the two children sit next to each other, but Ruxing had other ideas: "I want to sit next to my mother and uncle."
In this way, she could only sit between Lin Ying and Jiang Shu, but according to the closeness of the relationships in tonight's game, Lin Ying should naturally be close to Wang Duo, and Jiang Shu should be close to Pierre.
But Pierre actually took the initiative to say, "No problem, then I will give Jiang Shu to you and Mommy."
In order to let the children avoid the serving area, Jiang Shu suggested adjusting the seats on both sides, pushing Lin Ying and Jiaze to sit up, while he himself sat at the bottom... Lin Ying felt panic in her heart, because this seat should have been hers tonight.
Jiang Shu, however, didn't take it seriously. After telling the waiter about a few special dishes, he handed the menu to Lin Ying without paying any attention to the protagonist, Pierre, and asked, "Ask the child what he wants to eat?"
Pierre was a foreigner and easygoing, so he didn't care about these formalities. Moreover, Jiang Shu had a close relationship with him. Faced with this move, Lin Ying did not shirk her responsibilities and tactfully asked Wang Duo's son first:
"Jia Ze, you take a look first? You and Ru Xing, please order one each?"
Although Jiaze is not very old, he has an extremely calm temperament and looks like a precocious adult - in this respect he is similar to his father.
He took the menu from Lin Ying, flipped through it slowly, and pointed at the page with his finger: "This one, my dad likes it."
This is a classic Shunde dish: stir-fried sea bass with osmanthus flowers.
Lin Ying reminded: "Okay, then order another dish you like."
Jiaze was stunned for two seconds, a little surprised, "Didn't you say each person orders one dish? I'm not picky about food."
Shen Lan suddenly sighed, "Wang Sheng's son really looks like him!"
Lin Ying's Cantonese level is average, but she understood this sentence.
"Ms. Lin really understands this child's temperament. No wonder she has earned Mr. Wang's trust."
She naturally understood the implication of the comment that followed. Lin Ying moved the menu in front of Ruxing and said frankly:
"Mr. Shen, you're joking. I'm a mother after all, so I have a good idea of what my child is thinking. Besides, Jiaze comes to Shanghai every summer vacation, so most of my colleagues are familiar with him."
Ruxing had no idea about the dishes, so she ordered spring rolls and shrimp dumplings based on the pictures.
Lin Ying knew that this child was always greedy, but she didn't blame him in this situation. She just winked at her.
"Since you ordered delicious food for Brother Jiaze, Mom won't hold you responsible for ordering an extra portion."
After confirming all the dishes, Wang Duo, the host for tonight, finally arrived.
"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting. I'm the last one to arrive today, even though I'm hosting you. I'll drink two glasses of wine as punishment."
He walked in slowly, holding a bottle of red wine, and apologized awkwardly, but this only caused Shen Lan to complain: "You just told me to bring wine, why did you take another bottle yourself and drink too much?"
He handed the wine to the waiter to take away and walked to the table, shaking hands and greeting Pierre and Jiang Shu one by one.
"I heard that Mr. Jiang is coming tonight too. With such an opportunity, it wouldn't be a big deal even if I got a few drinks."
After seeing the seating situation clearly, he showed doubts on his face and couldn't help but suggest - "Why let Mr. Jiang sit so far away? Jiaze, why don't you take your sister to the next table to eat..."
"No need, Mr. Wang."
Jiang Shu interrupted at the right moment, patting Ruxing on the head. "Ruxing is more attached to me and Lin Ying, so we shouldn't separate the child from his family, right? Besides, Pierre just dragged me here today to keep you company. It doesn't matter where I sit, so there's no need to worry about these empty formalities."
There was a smile on his lips, but his eyes were full of inquiry.
Wang Duo's lenses flickered in an orderly fashion under the reflection of the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
"Okay, shall we take our seats?"
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