Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
The airport in Tongcheng wasn’t big. Naturally, the restaurants in the dining area couldn’t compare to those in international airports. Lu Huaiyan brought Jiang Se to a noodle shop.
This girl really liked soupy foods.
“Li Rui and Zhou Qing came to this place before, said it tasted good.” Lu Huaiyan scanned the code and handed her the phone. “Pick whatever you like.”
On the screen was the noodle shop’s menu. Jiang Se took the phone and chose a sour bamboo shoot noodle soup and a plate of plums soaked in aged vinegar. When she exited the menu, she happened to see a message from Zhou Qing: [Chairman Lu, the flight two hours later only has economy class left. If you’re okay with that, I’ll confirm with the airline.]
Zhou Qing was one of Lu Huaiyan’s assistants. Jiang Se handed the phone back to him, saying: “The assistant accompanying you this time is Assistant Zhou? Your first-class seat is gone.”
Among the ten-plus assistants around him, Zhou Qing was the most rigid and rule-abiding. If Li Rui were here, he’d definitely spend ten or twenty times the price to find a kind soul willing to give up a first-class seat. He wouldn’t even bother asking whether Lu Huaiyan was willing to sit economy.
Lu Huaiyan didn’t seem to care much about where he sat. He responded with a faint “mm”: “He and Assistant Xu are going with me.”
He lifted his hand and poured her a cup of tea. “The projects in Tongcheng are all being handled by Li Rui. I’m leaving him here. If you need any documents for the qipao shop, just ask him directly to issue them for you.”
Jiang Se took off her gloves, rubbing the warm teacup as she asked: “How did you know I needed to handle the qipao shop?”
“Guessed.” Lu Huaiyan said. “How are you planning to deal with that shop?”
He always guessed her thoughts with uncanny accuracy.
Jiang Se lifted her eyes and looked at him: “Naturally, according to procedure. I’ll prepare to sign the demolition agreement in the next couple of days. From then on, there will no longer be No. 38 Jinxiu Alley.”
Lu Huaiyan had never cared about Zhang Yue or the qipao shop, but because it involved her, he paid it a bit of attention. Hearing this, he nodded: “Alright, I’ll have Li Rui prepare the documents for you.”
The noodles were served. Lu Huaiyan opened the chopsticks for her, and when the hot and sour smell reached his nose, he couldn’t help but laugh: “What kind of strange smell is this?”
“……”
Jiang Se accepted the chopsticks and stirred the noodles, lifting her eyes at him: “Sour bamboo shoots. You’ve never had it?”
That glance she gave him held a faint ripple, carrying a bit of blame and a bit of teasing.
Lu Huaiyan stared straight into her eyes, and only when she finally lowered them did he speak unhurriedly: “That day you deliberately ordered such a sour drink for me, wasn’t it because you knew I don’t like sour things?”
The implication being: he really had never eaten sour bamboo shoots.
Hearing him bring up that plum alcohol again, Jiang Se simply couldn’t be bothered to answer, holding her chopsticks to slowly finish half a bowl of noodles.
She had already passed the hungriest point. Half a bowl was her limit.
When she put down the chopsticks, her thoughts drifted. Back at Donglaishun, every bowl of noodles she didn’t finish, he was the one who ate the rest.
Jiang Se lifted her teacup and took a sip, her gaze drifting toward him.
Seeing her eat for so long, he naturally didn’t miss that look. Narrowing his eyes slightly, he said: “What were you thinking just now while looking at me?”
Jiang Se said: “Nothing.”
Lu Huaiyan let out a soft laugh: “Were you thinking, should I let Lu Huaiyan finish this half bowl of noodles for me? Otherwise someone in this airport might say I’m wasting food, and that I don’t deserve such a pretty face.”
Jiang Se: “……”
She pushed the bowl forward lightly and said in a flat tone: “Then go ahead and eat it.”
Lu Huaiyan really did take it. Without even changing chopsticks, he started finishing the noodles she left.
He always ate elegantly. Even in this noisy little fly-infested shop, he could eat with the refinement of brewing spring tea.
Jiang Se drank her tea slowly, occasionally glancing at him. When he finished, she asked: “Are sour bamboo shoots good?”
Lu Huaiyan picked up the tea beside him and took a few slow sips. When he put the cup down, he suppressed the urge to pinch her chin, and said with a half-smile: “You’re asking even though you know. It’s not good. But at least the miss’ reputation is saved.”
“……”
—
After leaving the noodle shop, Lu Huaiyan directly brought Jiang Se to the VIP lounge.
With his flight changed, his time suddenly became abundant, and naturally he wasn’t going to let her leave so early.
The two assistants he brought this time both knew who Jiang Se was.
Their boss, who usually acted with strict discipline, suddenly changed his flight right before boarding as if his brain had short-circuited, then disappeared for an hour and came back with a woman, no matter how well trained they were, neither could hide the hint of stunned surprise in their expressions.
Their gazes toward Jiang Se carried an additional layer of meaning.
Lu Huaiyan didn’t bother minding their lack of professionalism. With a single order—“Go brew two cups of black tea”—he drove them out and closed the door.
The tea was brought quickly. The VIP room in this lounge had a glass door, half frosted, half transparent. When Zhou Qing stepped out, he seemed to catch a glimpse of Little Chairman Lu pulling a candy from his pocket, tearing it open, and dropping it into Miss Jiang Se’s black tea.
Little Chairman Lu carrying candy on him…
Carrying candy specifically for someone else…
The perpetually stern Zhou Qing couldn’t hold his expression for a moment, showing a trace of disbelief.
The candy dissolving in the black tea was peach-flavoured, given to them by the noodle shop owner as they left.
Jiang Se had been puzzled earlier why he actually took a candy. Turns out, it was for her.
She lifted her hand and tasted a sip of the hot tea, the sweetness hadn’t come out yet.
“Do you remember when Old Master Fu first brought Fu Yun back, and the story he told the public about that messy account?” Jiang Se gently shook the cup, her gaze fixed on the orange candy swaying inside. “Did your grandfather ever mention his thoughts on that messy account?”
Lu Huaiyan was tossing the candy wrapper. Hearing this, he looked back at her: “Why are you suddenly curious about that?”
Jiang Se lifted her eyes from the tea without changing expression: “Didn’t the Fu family previously intend to continue their marriage alliance with the Cen family? My parents were worried about my junior’s marriage, so they asked me about Fu Yun.”
“There was indeed such a thing. But Cen Yu didn’t agree, so the matter ended there. Now, Fu Yun is more likely to be engaged to the Zhu family. As for that messy account you mentioned—” Lu Huaiyan took a sip of his black tea and said calmly, “My grandfather never believed it. He has never liked Old Master Fu. He’s said many times that the old man is shameless. His parrot, whenever it hears Old Master Fu’s name, will immediately follow up with ‘shameless.’”
This was the first time Jiang Se had heard this: “I’ve never heard your grandfather scold Old Master Fu before.”
Lu Huaiyan smiled lightly: “Grandfather didn’t want to ruin his image in your heart. How could he scold people in front of you? Next time you go to the old residence, remember to find his parrot and play with it. It can spill quite a few interesting stories.”
At this point, he suddenly seemed to think of something. He looked at her, speaking casually: “There was a time he really hoped you’d become his granddaughter-in-law. When you got engaged to Fu Yun, he scolded Old Master Fu for two whole days.”
At that, Jiang Se clearly froze for a moment.
Old Master Lu did indeed like her quite a bit, but after her coming-of-age ceremony, she had rarely visited the old residence, though the old man still thought of her often.
Lu Huaiyan’s gaze never left her face. The two stared at each other for a moment, something seeming to stir in the air. Jiang Se lowered her eyes first, her voice calm: “What did he scold him for?”
Lu Huaiyan lowered his gaze as well, hiding the emotion in his eyes, still speaking in a casual tone: “He scolded him for being insidious. Back then, when he arranged for Fu Yun to be engaged to you, Cen Minghong and Ji Yunyi didn’t think highly of Fu Yun and didn’t agree. They wanted Old Master Fu to choose another Fu family child. So Old Master Fu used the fact that you’d been kidnapped before as leverage, and that’s how they nodded their approval.”
Using her kidnapping as leverage?
Jiang Se suddenly lifted her eyes: “The Fu family knew I had been kidnapped?”
Lu Huaiyan nodded: “I also only heard about this from Grandfather not long ago. Grandfather guessed that back then the Cen family also went to the Fu family for help, it’s just that the ones who found you first were Uncle Mo and me.”
The relationship between the Cen family and the Fu family was closer than with the Lu family, so it made sense they’d think of asking the Fu family for help.
That day, Fu Laoan didn’t arrange for Fu Yun and Fu Jun to come out and look for her?
If the person who had found her that day wasn’t Lu Huaiyan…
Jiang Se slowly finished drinking the black tea in her cup.
The sweetness in the tea had already come out, and by the end there was still half a candy not dissolved. Jiang Se caught that half piece of sugar with the last sip of tea.
Looking up and seeing Lu Huaiyan still watching her, she then heard him ask, with a half-smile: “Do you have anything else you want to ask about the Fu family or Fu Yun?”
The man was leaning against a leather sofa, the smiling brows and eyes carrying a bit of lazy, casual teasing.
Jiang Se shook her head, stepped forward, and kissed the corner of his lips.
Her lips, having just drunk black tea, were hot and soft, her breath warm and damp.
Lu Huaiyan’s Adam’s apple moved, he clasped her waist so she wouldn’t retreat, and asked her in an even tone: “You’re not afraid of being caught on the surveillance right now?”
There was surveillance inside the VIP room, on the ceiling in the corner, blatantly aimed at them.
Jiang Se said she wasn’t afraid.
Lu Huaiyan lowered his gaze and looked at her for a moment, then lifted his feet slightly, holding her waist as he moved a few steps, very skillfully blocking her in the blind spot between the surveillance and the glass door.
He lowered his head, pried open her teeth, and very forcefully took away the candy from her mouth.
Outside the VIP room stood his assistant, and the broadcast announcements came in one after another through the door.
Lu Huaiyan had originally only wanted a brief taste, just to touch her a little, but she really was clingy, and enticing, so the kiss ended up becoming wet and smacking, sticky and messy, and almost hard to stop.
The man straightened up, used his fingertip to wipe away the moisture at her lips, his gaze sinking into the hazy wateriness in her eyes, and asked hoarsely: “Why do I feel like you’re a little excited today.”
Jiang Se gently took two breaths. Once the dazed look in her eyes dispersed, her hand slid off his shoulder and went to smooth the slight wrinkles on his shirt. Her tone returned to its usual calm: “You should board.”
–
It was just past eleven when she returned to the apartment, and Guo Qian’s Lantern Festival party had just ended.
Miss Guo had played Sherlock Holmes all night, and when she called, her voice was unusually excited.
“Sese, she really had Bode’s graduation photo from back then in her phone, I sent it to you on WeChat.” Guo Qian asked curiously, “But what do you want these photos for?”
“To verify some guesses,” Jiang Se lightly skimmed past the subject, saying, “When you mentioned Fu Yun to her, was she scared?”
“Not scared, but definitely a little strange, like she really didn’t want to bring up Fu Jun and Fu Yun.” Guo Qian shrugged, “I’m so protective of delicate flowers, of course I didn’t keep asking. Looking at her like that, even if I asked, she probably wouldn’t say anything.”
Jiang Se gave an “mm”: “If she doesn’t want to talk, then don’t force her.”
After hanging up, Jiang Se opened the photos Guo Qian sent.
It was a grade group photo. Bode’s graduation photos included individual portraits, class photos, and grade photos. That girl was a music student, in a different class from Fu Jun and Fu Yun, so the only group photo she could possibly have was this grade-level one.
The photo from more than ten years ago was pixelated and dimly lit; no one’s facial features were very clear. It was just that…
Jiang Se stared at the blurred face, and was completely certain that the youth standing beneath the silk tree that day should have been Fu Yun.
