“What do you think, Qingqing?” Zhang Jingwei winked at her granddaughter.
Shen Lingqing’s jaws hardened. Why did she feel like her grandmother was planning something suspicious? She narrowed her eyes for a moment. Perhaps, this was her grandmother’s way to buy her some time, so she wouldn’t leave so soon?
“Fine. Whatever makes you happy, Mama. I will spend the rest of the day with you,” she conceded.
Although her grandmother and her father resembled each other a lot, their personalities were starkly different. The glint in her grandmother’s eyes reminded Shen Lingqing of her own mother, whenever Lu Xinyi was up to something.
“And you, Mr. Liu?” Chairman Zhang questioned Liu Jinfei with a mischievous smile.
“I’m fine with whatever Director Shen’s decision is.”
The old woman clapped her hands together.
“Then, that’s great! Why don’t you join us for lunch, then? Since you are still our patient, I want to see how your palate responds to certain dishes, though I bet Qingqing has already done it, right?”
Liu Jinfei nodded without a word. If Zhang Jingwei put it that way, then there’s no reason for him to decline her invitation. After all, she was also Shen Lingqing’s grandmother who had done a great favor for him to get medically checked today.
Qiao Lian smiled and told her boss that she would be leaving without them. She gave Chairman Zhang a suspicious smile, which made Shen Lingqing read into Qiao Lian’s eagerness to leave her in her grandmother and Liu Jinfei’s company.
As her personal assistant, shouldn’t Qiao Lian always be by her side? So why was this assistant leaving her boss with such an expression on her face?
Once she was gone, Zhang Jingwei made a phone call and asked her own assistant to clear her schedule for the day, insisting that she would spend her day with her precious granddaughter she hadn’t seen for years.
“Sorry about that.” She smiled at the two as they sat next to each other wordlessly. “Should we get going, then?”
Shen Lingqing nodded and rose to her seat, allowing her grandmother to cling to her arm as they stepped out of the room; with Liu Jinfei tailing behind them from a safe distance.
Liu Jinfei looked around and wasn’t surprised that some patients and visitors of the hospital stopped on their tracks to look at Shen Lingqing and her grandmother. Zhang Jingwei was already past her seventies, and her hair had turned silvery. However, she looked like a high-class woman with old money on her name.
Several doctors and nurses stopped midway and greeted the two, while other women who met his gaze blushed and scampered away in a hurry; leaving him more confused than he already was. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
When they reached the basement parking lot, Liu Jinfei’s jaws dropped when he found a limousine waiting for the three of them. A bodyguard even opened the door of the backseat for the two women. A moment later, he found himself seated inside nervously, while Zhang Jingwei bombarded her granddaughter with questions about her experience studying abroad.
“Hmm, I told your father that it would be good for you to experience living on your own in a foreign land. Haven’t your mother told you? Your father initially was against the idea of you sending abroad to study,” Zhang Jingwei said. “He might not be vocal about it, Qingqing, but he was really worried about you like Xinxin.”
“I see. So that’s why Dad changed his mind back then,” Shen Lingqing replied.
Indeed, her grandmother was right. Initially, her father wasn’t willing to let the eighteen-year-old Shen Lingqing study overseas. Shen Lingqing almost had an argument with him as she couldn’t waste the opportunity to study when she had passed the entrance examination of a well-known university with flying colors.
“See. I was right, then. You’ve come back safely to us, Qingqing.” Chairman Zhang patted Shen Lingqing’s hand. “It was worth it, wasn’t it? I mean, the freedom you experience.”
“En. I’ve learned a lot, Mama. Thank you for convincing Dad.”
“Anything for you, dear,” the old woman replied. She then looked at Liu Jinfei, who hadn’t uttered a word since they left the hospital. “What about you, Mr. Liu?”
Liu Jinfei snapped out of his thoughts and blinked confusedly. “Y-yes?”
“I asked if you were able to finish your studies. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I’ll understand.”
“No, Madam. I’ve only finished two years of my business management degree and wasn’t able to continue. After I left uni, I focused on working to save up enough money in hopes that I can enter Silver Leaf Academy instead.”
“But didn’t our Xinxin sponsor your study at Silver Leaf?”
“En. Madam Shen did a good deed by helping me enter the academy.”
Though, in truth, he initially wanted to become her apprentice and work with Tian Lingyu. He thought that he should be able to garner enough experience before entering Silver Leaf.
Zhang Jingwei nodded in understanding.
“Well, that’s Xinxin for you. Perhaps she’d seen a great potential in you, so she decided to sponsor your stay at the academy. After she graduated, the Shen family hadn’t sent any new students to sponsor.”
“That’s because Dad said that it’s pointless to waste money. The Shen family didn’t need to compete with the other families.” Shen Lingqing joined their conversation.
“Have you always wanted to become a chef, Mr. Liu?” The old woman continued to question the handsome man that was accompanying her and her granddaughter. She didn’t know why, but she could sense some mutual understanding between the two, although it was obvious that their personalities were so different from each other’s.
Her granddaughter had the calmness of the ocean but with a dangerous feat, while Liu Jinfei had the pacification on him that reminded Zhang Jingwei of the bamboo for his strength and resilience.
“En. I’ve always wanted to see people smile and be happy because of the dishes I made.”
