“So how’s your training going? There are a few weeks left before your departure,” Tang Lingfei asked her granddaughter.
Lu Xinyi’s shoulders slightly shrugged as she started eating dinner with the rest of the Tang family.
“It’s not that bad. Headmistress Han is really strict as a coach. No wonder Han Yixin has a better understanding of pastries than the other students. Headmistress Han is very particular with the details and wouldn’t accept a small mistake on the process.”
Chewing the steak slowly, Lu Xinyi savored its flavor and enjoyed it thoroughly.
The texture of a perfectly-cooked steak in her mouth was nearly impossible to describe. The slight chew, the tenderness, the juiciness… it all combined into a mouthful unlike any other. Fat was flavor as they said; and a well-marbled steak Lu Xinyi had for dinner had plenty of it. That rich mouthfeel and strong flavor of the beef was a hard one to not love.
As she ate, she continued to pick up all that aroma, creating a multi-layered sensory experience.
“Auntie! This steak is delicious!” Lu Xinyi told Tang Shui’s wife.
The older woman cupped her cheek and smiled bashfully on her niece’s complement.
“I just followed the recipe you’ve given me, Xin’er. I know it’s incomparable with the other steaks you’ve tried before, but I’m glad you like it.”
“Nonsense, Auntie. I don’t ‘like’ it, I love it!” She corrected her aunt and continued devouring her steak.
“I see you started without me.” Shen Yi came back.
Lu Xinyi turned to smile at her husband, her lips brushing against his in spite of a sheer glossiness left from her steak.
Shen Yi slipped back to his seat and started eating.
“Sorry about that,” he told their elders, “It won’t happen again.”
“See to it that it wouldn’t,” Tang Lingzhi broke his silence and answered Shen Yi. Lu Xinyi being sad would also affect the mood of the family. She was one of their precious misses after all.
“Yes, Chairman Tang. I give you my word.” Shen Yi nodded.
Their conversation resumed with Lu Xinyi’s training and departure to Country A to compete for World Patisserie Challenge. Since Shen Yi’s schedule didn’t allow him to accompany his wife, Tang Shui and He Haotian would go with Lu Xinyi instead while the twins would stay temporarily with Tangs until the competition ended.
As the dinner ended, Shen Yi left with Tang Shui to the study to talk about business. The twins busied themselves playing with Lu Xinyi’s younger cousins, burning all those extra calories they’d eaten from the desserts earlier, while Lu Xinyi was left alone in the garden with her grandmother.
“Have you heard anything about the Suns?” Tang Lingfei asked her. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Lu Xinyi shrugged and watched her children play with her other cousins.
Sun Mingai was able to stabilize the shares of the Sun Corporation with Sun Feiyan’s help, but the company was still in a grave condition after Sun Ruying and Sun Qiyan’s death. With her plans still at work, she didn’t think the Sun family would bother her anytime soon.
“The old man is already bedridden. I haven’t visited him for a month now. He has been persistently calling me to see him.”
“He’ll probably throw a fit if he finds out you visited me instead.” The old woman chuckled.
“Not that I care about what he thinks.” Lu Xinyi scoffed.
As she sat next to Tang Lingfei, Lu Xinyi waited for her husband to finish his conversation with her uncle. It had been a long time since she had spent some time with her grandmother, and she was thoroughly enjoying the time she was spending with her now that she no longer had a busy schedule.
Casting a glance back at the twins, Lu Xinyi was pleased with how good her life turned out after a year… although she knew that she and Shen Yi have to work harder to protect the family they built together.
“Ah, it seems they are done,” Tang Lingfei commented with a smile as she looked at the door leading to the garden they were in.
Turning slightly on her seat, Lu Xinyi smiled as she saw Shen Yi pushing the door open, ushering Shen Zichen through the door before closing it behind him. The little boy was bouncing on his heels as he narrated how he ended up receiving new toys from their ‘Uncle Liang’.
Lu Xinyi’s smile grew as she noticed her husband, approving his son’s way of convincing Tang Liang before adjusting the little girl in his arms.
“Yuyan has quite taken with him, isn’t she?” Tang Lingfei asked with a grin as they watched the three slowly making their way towards them. “Do you still get some alone time with your husband?”
“Of course, I do. Yi always makes sure he wouldn’t forget each one of us, but Yuyan recently demands more attention from him since he’s away most of the time.”
Shen Yuyan was clinging to her father as if she was afraid that he’d leave again anytime soon. While the girl also adored her mommy deeply, she was getting depressed whenever Shen Yi wasn’t around. The fear of being abandoned again by their parents irked her.
Lu Xinyi could only smile as she took sight of her husband and their children. When she married Shen Yi the first time, she never thought that the cold but perverted man that he was would be able to become a gentle father to their future children even if they didn’t come from the two of them.
When Zichen saw his Mommy, he grinned as he ran towards her excitedly. Smiling at her son’s excitement, Lu Xinyi bent down to pick him up when he stood next to her.
“Ready to go home?” she asked.
Shen Yi’s family bid goodbye to the Tangs and promised to visit them again next time, with the twins extremely looking forward to it. They had playmates here that they lacked back at home.
