56. The Big Three Meet
Yu Chuanbei scanned the QR code to order the meal, and then recommended the dishes he had just ordered to Ling Ling. "Have you been here before?" Ling Ling asked. "Well, when I was doing an internship in quantitative private equity, the professor I followed at the time was a recluse and often brought me here to discuss strategies. I felt like it was like practicing. Later, he went abroad to reunite with his wife and children, and I also went to Everton. I was so busy that I didn't have time to eat, so I didn't come here very often. But this place is really nice, isn't it?" He played with her knuckles. Ling Ling nodded with satisfaction. "By the way, I have a gift for you." He took out two velvet boxes from the pocket of his windbreaker. Ling Ling was terrified. "Is this a ring?" "Yes," Yu Chuanbei said, unconcernedly opening both of them. "It's a pair of rings. We'll each get one and wear it on our pinkies. It's not a marriage, it's not an engagement, it's just a token of our love. It's a way to tell everyone that this person is taken, and no one should bother with them anymore. This applies to both you and me." He took out the men's ring and put it on his finger, then took out the women's ring and put it on her right pinky. "Isn't this expensive?" Ling Ling looked at the platinum band, which was set with a tiny diamond. She thought she'd seen this ring advertised in a fashion magazine. Yu Chuanbei continued to speak nonchalantly, "No, didn't you make three rules with me on the first day you agreed to date me? You're not allowed to give me expensive gifts. I just bought this at a random roadside store. It was so cheap that I couldn't help but ask the clerk, 'Will it fade after wearing it for a long time?'" Ling Ling burst out laughing at his amusement, but she couldn't help but take it off to play with the ring again, and saw the following words engraved on the inner ring of the ring: Ling&Noah0926 "Is your English name Noah?" Ling Ling asked him with a raised face. "Well, it can also be 0926." Ling Ling was so amused by him that she laughed and hit his arm, then put the ring back on herself. He pulled out a stack of sticky notes from the secret compartment on the dining table and wrote on it, "We will be together forever. Ling&Noah0926" He stood up, tiptoed, and stuck the sticky notes to the top layer of the message wall. Ling Ling watched him intently, feeling this man was both devoted and childish. He appeared calm and sophisticated in front of others, yet completely childish in front of her. She couldn't help but love him even more. *~*~*~*~*~*~ Under the blinding spotlight, a man, his mermaid line exposed, posed seductively before the snapping camera. "Pull your pants down a little further," Hao Shengnan said. "Any further and you'll be showing!" Ling Ling protested. Long Jia, however...
Yu Chuanbei scanned the code to order food, and then recommended the dishes he had just ordered to Ling Ling.
"Have you been here?" Ling Ling asked.
"Well, when I was an intern in quantitative private equity, the professor I followed at the time lived a reclusive life and often brought me here to discuss strategies. I felt like it was like spiritual practice. Later, he went abroad to reunite with his wife and children, and I also went to Everton. I was so busy that I didn't even have time to eat, so I didn't come here very often. But this place is really nice, isn't it?" He played with her knuckles.
Ling Ling nodded with satisfaction.
"By the way, I have a gift for you." He took out two velvet boxes from his windbreaker pocket.
Ling Ling was terrified: "Could this be a ring?"
"Yes." Yu Chuanbei opened both of them nonchalantly. "It's a pair of rings. Let's each wear one and wear it on our pinkies. It's not a marriage or an engagement, just a token of our love. We have to let everyone know that this guy is taken, so don't bother with him anymore. This applies to both of us."
He took out the men's version and put it on his hand, then took out the women's version and put it on her right little finger.
"Isn't this very expensive?" Ling Ling looked at the platinum ring with a tiny diamond, and seemed to have seen an advertisement for this ring in a fashion magazine.
Yu Chuanbei continued nonchalantly, "No, didn't you make three rules on the first day you agreed to date me? No expensive gifts for me. I just bought this at a random street vendor. It was so cheap I couldn't resist asking the clerk 'Will it fade after wearing it for a long time?'"
Ling Ling burst into laughter at his amusement, but she couldn't help but take it off and play with the ring. She saw the following words engraved on the inner ring: Ling&Noah0926
"Your English name is Noah?" Ling Ling raised her head and asked him.
"Well, it could also be 0926."
Ling Ling was so amused by him that she laughed and hit his arm, then put the ring on herself.
He pulled out a stack of sticky notes from the secret compartment on the dining table and wrote on it, "We will be together forever. Ling & Noah0926"
He stood up, tiptoed, and stuck the note on the top layer of the message wall.
Ling Ling watched him intently as he did these things, feeling that this man was both devoted and childish. He appeared calm and sophisticated in front of others, but was completely childish in front of her. She couldn't help but love him even more.
*~*~*~*~*~*~
Under the blinding spotlight, a man with his mermaid line exposed posed in front of the flashing camera.
"Pull your pants down a little more." said Hao Shengnan.
"If you pull it any further, my breasts will be exposed!" Ling Ling protested.
Long Jia was not shy at all, and pulled his jeans down a little more generously. He gave the camera a sexy smile with high spirits.
Ling Ling, who was holding a barrier to provide lighting on the outside, couldn't bear to watch at all. She stretched out her hands and retracted her head.
"Huh? That's not right!" Hao Shengnan suddenly stopped pressing the shutter button, ran to Ling Ling, grabbed her right hand unexpectedly, and pried out her little finger to look at it carefully.
"What's going on with you? A token of love? You're not going to tell me if I don't ask, right?" She interrogated Ling Ling.
Ling Ling hesitated and was unable to speak, but could not stand her questioning and had to say: "Yu Chuanbei and I are together."
"You two are finally together! How long has it been?" Hao Shengnan continued to ask.
Ling Ling looked up and counted the days and said, "It's been more than a month."
"What about him? Is he as brave as he looks?" Sheng Nan nudged her arm with his elbow with ill intent.
"Oh, there's nothing wrong with us. We are still following the normal dating process!" Ling Ling said embarrassedly. She still couldn't reach a consensus on values with Hao Shengnan.
"I...!" Hao Shengnan couldn't think of a rebuttal for a moment. She turned to Long Jia, who was changing clothes in front of them, and said, "Young Master Long, what are the general procedures for falling in love?"
"The duration of a relationship should be counted from the day you go to bed." Long Jia just heard their conversation and said this.
Ling Ling rolled her eyes at the two of them, threw the lighting board aside, and looked as if she was not going to work with them.
"Look, aren't you wasting resources? Is Yu Chuanbei really good enough? Is it the Chuanbei loquat paste? It's so soft." Hao Shengnan laughed at Ling Ling.
"You are not allowed to say that about him! Even if he is Sichuan Fritillary Loquat Paste, he is still the one who loves me, sticks to me and heals me every day." Ling Ling stopped her in a rigid tone, like a top student who was bullied by a fat boy at the school gate.
Hao Shengnan was too lazy to ask her about the boring details of her love life, and asked Long Jia, who had changed into normal clothes, to go to the laptop to choose a movie.
"Oh my god, Hao Shengnan, your photography skills are amazing! It would be a loss for me to give you this set of photos at the market price of a photo studio. You should charge according to the price of a professional photographer!" Long Jia looked at his finished photos and couldn't help but admire them.
Hao Shengnan said proudly, "Then I don't mind Boss Long raising the price. By the way, I can introduce you to some customers."
"But don't you really think it's stupid for an adult to take photos other than wedding photos?" Ling Ling said with a look of disgust.
"It's foolish for an adult to have fantasies about love other than sex." Hao Shengnan never missed any opportunity to ridicule her.
Long Jia's love for photography remained unwavering. "I know it's stupid for a grown man to take photos. But I like it. I'm willing to do stupid things. Especially, I enjoy doing stupid things with money. Money is for this!"
"Oh, yes, yes, I like rich and stupid customers, otherwise - how can I have customers." Hao Shengnan smiled at Long Jia attentively.
Ling Ling continued to roll her eyes at the two of them indiscriminately. She was afraid that if she kept doing this for a whole day, she wouldn't be able to roll her eyes back.
"Honestly, Hao Shengnan," Long Jia suddenly said seriously, "With your skills, why don't you go to that media company I recommended you last time? The salary is pretty high, isn't it better than that half-dead local bank you're working for now?"
As Shengnan worked on the diagram, he said disdainfully, "My small bank has all the necessary insurance policies and a fund. Even if I just slack off, I won't get laid off. I reckon it's got enough luck to last two generations. The company you recommended to me is a bunch of pretentious people. They can't even keep up their pretense for one generation."
After hearing her say this, Long Jia said thoughtfully, "Hmm, wise. Then I should quickly withdraw my investment money from them."
"Also, photography is my dream. I won't let my natural skills be dictated by those third-rate photo retouchers." Sheng Nan said this with sincerity in his eyes.
"Then you serve the dragon princes while pursuing photography as your dream. Isn't that very divided?" Ling Ling questioned her.
Shengnan argued confidently, "How can they be the same? These rich young men are very simple. Apart from feeling good about themselves, spending money without thinking, and loving to have sex, they never criticize others. Their bad habits are all my favorite!"
The three of them chatted idly along. Then Longjia invited them to a Michelin-starred restaurant in Guomao. For the past few years, they'd relied on Longjia to broaden their horizons, and he'd happily endure their ridicule. He often said it was just the lowbrow tastes of rich people like them: always being admired, but occasionally liking to be scolded. And they always made him feel completely comfortable being scolded.
After dinner, Long Jia drove them both home, first sending Hao Shengnan to the old alley in Xuanwu District, and then taking Ling Ling to his small attic.
"Just take me to the entrance of the community. I don't want people to see me riding in your car, as if I'm being kept by someone." Ling Ling instructed him to stop the car.
Long Jia said cheerfully, "You've been sitting here all night, and you're only just beginning to conduct a moral review."
"I just don't want the security guard who knows me at the door to think that I have been cheating on Yu Chuanbei. I'm afraid that the simple old man's values will collapse and endanger social stability." Ling Ling retorted to him.
"Then I'll park in the basement garage, and you go upstairs from B2. I'm tired of driving this car, and I'm thinking of changing it." Long Jia said.
Ling Ling knew that he also had a collection of two other luxury cars in the basement garage of this attic, but she only knew that one of them was the infamous Mercedes-Benz G-Class that dared to run over the Forbidden City.
They said goodbye and parted ways in the garage. Ling Ling went into her attic, changed into slippers, washed her hands, and just as she was about to pour herself a glass of cold water, she heard a knock on the door.
She thought it was Long Jia who was coming in to get something, so she opened the door without even looking through the peephole. But she didn't expect three burly men to come in, looking ferocious and menacing.
"Where's the one with the surname Long?" the big man with tattoos in the lead asked her.
Ling Ling was completely frightened and stepped back repeatedly. She reached over and grabbed the mobile phone that she had placed on the shoe rack when she entered the door, and secretly pressed the emergency contact button.
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