Chapter 293 So There Is Something Going on Between Them
The adorable little look that was Mengmeng gave caused the corners of Zi Yan’s lips to tug upwards.
“Er, well, I just thought you might feel more comfortable sunbathing in a swimsuit. You can apply the sunscreen yourself, too. Well, of course, I’ll be happy to help if you need a hand. Er…” Some time amidst during his rambling, Zhang Han had completely forgotten the point he was trying to make. So he stared right into Zi Yan’s eyes and spoke from his heart instead. “You know what? The truth is, I do wish to see you in a swimsuit. Because I’m sure you’ll look sexy in it and drive me completely nuts.”
Swish !
Crimson creeped onto Zi Yan’s cheeks.
Even if rationality prevailed— albeit only slightly— during the day, it was still no match for the sheer bluntness in Zhang Han’s words.
“You, you keep dreaming!” Zi Yan shot back shyly.
She felt as though her heart rate had gone through the roof in an instant.
“You idiot,” she thought. “You’ve finally shown your true colors, haven’t you?”
Then again, not even Zi Yan herself realized that in the face of Zhang Han’s ‘risquerisqué’ remark, she did not even try to reject his advances. In fact, she was secretly a bit… happy?
“Mmhm, PaPa, you keep dreaming,.” Mengmeng repeated her words.
“Hahaha…” Zhang Han laughed heartily and shifted Mengmeng from his right arm to his left. After that, he reached out with his right hand and held Zi Yan’s left palm.
Zi Yan was still feeling the after-effects of her earlier shyness; her arm twitched lightly at the abrupt contact. She did not pull back her hand but allowed it to be held instead.
Actually, hand holding had long since become a routine for the both of them.
The group kept walking towards the beach area. Zhao Feng picked up his pacewent ahead and rented a few beach lounge chairs. Meanwhile, Zhang Li and her group went to get some cold drinks.
After that, they got settled in a less occupied crowded spotarea. That was when Zhao Feng’s phone rang.
After he wrapped up the call, Zhao Feng walked back to Zhang Han’s side and said, “tThat was Chairman Liu. His flight is scheduled to depart later. He wants to visit you before he leaves, master. He’s already at the front door of our restaurant. Should I go back and entertain him, or should we invite him to join us here?”
“Go back and entertain him,” Zhang Han answered casually as he gave the restaurant’s keys to Zhao Feng.
“Understood.”
Zhao Feng nodded and strode away from the beach.
Back at the carpark, Zhang HanZhao Feng walked up to Xu Yong’s car first.
“Xu Yong, Ah Hu, you guys head to the beach. Stay on the left side where you’ll be hidden. Don’t disturb the boss and the others,” Zhao Feng ordered.
“MmOk. Then, what will you be doing, Brother Feng?” aAsked Ah Hu.
“I have to head back to the restaurant to deal with something.”
After that, Zhao Feng walked back to his own car and drove off.
When Zhao Feng arrived at the restaurant’s facade, he was stunned at what he saw.
Other than Liu Qingfeng’s Rolls-Royce Phantom, another vehicle was present; it was a small delivery truck.
Did he come here to make a delivery?
Feeling a bit puzzled, Zhao Feng parked his car. Just then, he saw that Liu Qingfeng, littleXiao Ling and Tian San had already stepped out of their car.
“Chairman Liu,” Zhao Feng greeted with a smile.
“Where’s Mr. Zhang?” Liu Qingfeng asked. His tone sounded a little puzzled.
“Today is the boss’ wife’s birthday. The boss wants to stay with her the whole time, so he didn’t return,” Zhao Feng explained.
“Huh? Mrs. Zhang’s birthday?” Liu Qingfeng froze for a moment, and then he frowned. “Tsk, littleXiao Feng! Why didn’t you tell me earlier that it’s Mrs. Zhang’s birthday today? I would’ve at least prepared some gifts if I had known!”
“Exactly!” Tian San sent Zhao Feng a glare. Then, Tian San’s lips broke into a grin. “You know you’re so obsessed with formality these days that you actually seem a little stand-offish. You’re now so unlike the time when you and I had our fist fight. You had so much fire back then. Now you’re even keeping something like this from me!”
Ever since finding out about Zhao Feng’s association with someone as esteemed as Zhang Han, Tian San started to see Zhao Feng in a whole new light; Tian San had even cracked a joke or two despite his usual seriousness and austerity.
“Hey, it’s not that I wanted to keep it from you on purpose.” Zhao Feng let out a bitter chuckle. “The boss didn’t want me to tell anyone. He told me to keep it a secret so that he could surprise the missus.”
“Hahaha.” Liu Qingfeng laughed heartily. “I truly envy Mr. Zhang. Well, then I guess my timing is spot on, since I’ve brought over these gifts. I suppose they are merely passable as a birthday gift, but it’s the thought that counts, right?”
“Might I ask what you have brought, Chairman Liu?” Zhao Feng asked curiously.
“Alcohol!” With his hand, Liu Qingfeng signalledsignaled the guy in the delivery truck to begin unloading the truck’s contents. At the same time, he turned to Zhao Feng and said, “I heard that your restaurant is lacking this particular brand of alcohol, am I right? That’s why I brought some over from my own treasured liquor cabinet. Your restaurant doesn’t have a cellar, so I’ve hired someone to design a wine storage cabinet made of pure wood. It has a thermostat to keep the temperature constant.”
“Chairman Liu, you’ve really put a lot of thought into this, haven’t you?” Zhao Feng said, sounding a little touched.
Zhao Feng found someone like Liu Qingfeng rather likeable. Liu Qingfeng was the type of person who was frank and straightforward. He always spoke his mind and was far from being the scheming, calculating type who were prone to concealing their true thoughts.
“I merely gave the suggestion, that’s all. The specifics and planning were all handled by Xiao little Ling. Otherwise, I would’ve forgotten about the wine storage cabinet altogether,” Liu Qingfeng said with a smile.
“Oh?” Zhao Feng glanced at Xiao little Ling. “You have such a thoughtful and beautiful subordinate, Chairman Liu. You must have had your burdens considerably eased indeed.”
“You flatter me, Mr. Zhao.” Xiao Little Ling gave him a sweet smile, revealing two small dimples on her cheeks. “We didn’t bring a lot of alcohol this time, but they are all obtained from Chairman Liu’s personal treasured liquor. Like what Chairman Liu said just now, we would bring a whole batch of high quality alcohol the next time we visit Hong Kong.”
Zhao Feng smiled and shook his head slightly. “You’ve really shown us a lot of courtesy, Chairman Liu,” Zhao Feng said.
“Eh? Courtesy? Well, this isn’t courtesy. It’s a token of friendship,” Liu Qingfeng said with a wave of his hand. “What do you say we take this conversation indoors?”
“Mm,” Zhao Feng said and led the way towards the restaurant’s front door. After unlocking the door and entering the restaurant, Zhao Feng surveyed the space for a moment. In the end, he told the workers to set up the cabinet against the wall beside the kitchen.
The wine cabinet came in rich mahogany and looked every bit like a piece of deluxe furniture. Bottles of alcohol were then removed from a specially designed box. The workers wore white gloves throughout the entire removal process; they had taken out each and every bottle with painstaking care before placing them inside the cabinet.
From the looks on the workers’ faces, the liquor was definitely not the cheap kind. Otherwise, they would not have shown that much care while handling the bottles.
Also, the fact that they were owned by someone of Liu Qingfeng’s status pretty much said everything about their price.
Liu Qingfeng gave the interior of the restaurant a few glances. “Hey, Zhao Feng,” Liu Qingfeng said. “Mr. Zhang’s cooking tastes pretty great. So, I’m wondering if his culinary skills are…” Liu Qingfeng trailed off at the end.
“Coming to a climax,” Zhao Feng said, completing Liu Qingfeng’s sentence.
Then, Zhao Feng went on, “Chairman Liu, today, my boss had merely shown up at the competition perfunctorilyunthinkingly. I can tell that he had treated the whole thing casuallywithout any concern. The usual dishes that he makes are unsurpassable.”
“Even better than Wang Long and those guys?” Liu Qingfeng said in mild surprise.
“Well, that…” Zhao Feng hesitated briefly before shaking his head. “I really can’t tell in terms of culinary skills. Because my boss always seems so casual when he cooks. His movements are smooth like water. I don’t even understand half the things he does, actually. But the ingredients he uses are…,” Zhao Feng suddenly raised his index finger and punctuated each of his next words with a brief pause:, “the world’s one and only.”
“Oh?” Liu Qingfeng’s eyes lit up. After a brief pause, he said, “tThen can you prepare two membership cards for me? Each card only applies to one person, right?”
“That’s the rule, but right now, I don’t think you’re considered an outsider, Chairman Liu…”
“Eh? But the rules must apply even to non-outsiders,” Liu Qingfeng said. “How about this. Prepare four membership cards for me. Me, my daughter, littleXiao Ling, and Tian San will each have one.”
“Alright, then,” Zhao Feng said, smiling and shaking his head. He walked to the restaurant’s counter and took out Zhang Han’s bank card as well as four membership cards.
Liu Qingfeng took the membership cards and ordered Xiao little Ling to make the wire transfer.
“The membership cards are pretty well designed, aren’t they?” Liu Qingfeng commented as he handed the cards to Xiao little Ling. By the time Xiao little Ling had put the cards away, the workers had already finished loading up the alcohol into the cabinet. There were more than 30 bottles. If they were not up for sale, they could probably last for quite a while. Then again, not many people could afford them even if they were up for sale.
“Alright, then. I have a flight to catch. I have to spend some quality time with my daughter once I get back, probably for a few days. Xiaolittle Feng, send my regards to Mr. Zhang. Tell him I’ll drop by personally the next time I’m in town,” Liu Qingfeng said.
Zhao Feng nodded and said, “nNo problem.”
After that, Zhao Feng walked Liu Qingfeng and his companions to their car. Once they left, he went back inside the restaurant and sat down at his usual spot. It was almost 11 o’clock now. The master and the others would probably come back around 12 o’clock for lunch.
So, in his free time, Zhao Feng pulled out his phone and tapped the Wechat icon.
“Mengqi, what time are you arriving today? Right now I’m alone at the restaurant. Do you want to come over and talk?”
…
In the meantime, everyone inside Sun Ming’s home was still asleep except for Sun Dongheng.
Sun Dongheng had woken up around half past 10. When he was up, he had knocked on the doors of the two other bedrooms and called the cleaners to clean up the mess in the living room.
They had been out last night for supper and had returned with a bunch of junk food and beer. After that, they had lounged on the living room couch, munching on snacks and drinking beer while they chatted. They had gone to bed at three in the morning.
Usually, Sun Dongheng would not be up until noon. But the first live broadcast would start today, so he woke up earlier.
By 11 o’clock, everyone was up and about.
That was when Sun Dongheng saw Lu Yin aiming pointing her phone at the living room. “littleXiao Yin, what on earth are you doing?” hHe asked curiously.
“Shush,” Lu Yin said, putting a finger to her lips. “Let me record a video first.”
Lu Yin moved her phone in a sweeping motion to capture the whole living room in her video. While doing that, she said in a sweet voice, “cCheck it out, guys. This is our Brother Dong’s home in New Moon Bay, Hong Kong. We can even see the view of the bay from the window. It’s very pretty. It’s 11 o’clock now. After this, Brother Dong himself will go live. So, do tune in if you’re interested, okay?”
After that, she lowered her hand and started working on adding music to the video. When she was done, she uploaded the video.
“Were you recording a video to be uploaded onto Kuaiyinshi?” aAsked Sun Dongheng.
“Yep. It’s getting increasingly popular these days. Right now, my fan base has reached 300,000. Brother Dong, you should go live later. Like it or not, I have to help you do a bit of publicity,” Lu Yin said with a smile.
Sun Dongheng chuckled. “Oh, sure.”
“Xiao Little Yin, why don’t you go live first to attract more audience. Then, after that Brother Dong can take over when he goes live. What do you think?” aAsked Stone.
“Sure thing. Then let me go live right now. I’ll head back to the bedroom.” Lu Yin thought for a moment before she took out a stand and secured her phone to it. Then, she went back to her room and lay down on her bed where she began her live session.
Around five minutes since after she went live, the number of viewers rose up to 200,000.
When the viewers saw Lu Yin lying on top of a bed, they all asked in the comment section, “wWhere is this?”
Lu Yin gave her answer in a lazy tone. “I’m at Brother Dong’s house and I just woake up. I still feel like sleeping.”
That one statement had roused the viewers’ emotions, as indicated in video’s comment section.
“F*ck! Even went as far as sleeping on the guy’s bed? Oh, man. I’m telling you, you’re done for Little Snow Flake!”
“Do I have your permission to start cussing?”
“Argh! My little goddess! How could you climb into another man’s bed!”
“…”
The whole screen was bombarded with a barrage of crying emoticons.
Seeing the viewers’ theatrics, Lu Yin could not help but laugh. “Alright, alright, please don’t take things the wrong way, okay? I slept alone in the bedroom.”
Another comment popped up. “Yeah, right. As if we’d believe that!”
“I’ll show you once I go back outside.” Lu Yin picked up her phone and walked out of the bedroom. While walking, she added, “tThe room I slept in was Brother Dong’s room.”
“Pfft…”
“So there is something going on between them!”
