Chà Chà Novel

“Hello. If it’s convenient, could you include a serving of peach ice with dinner every day?”

How much could one serving of peach ice cost? Of course that was no problem.

“Certainly, Mr. Ji”

The delivery address was in a prestigious residential neighborhood near Imperial University.

It was an enclave for the children of the nobility, where a single square meter cost hundreds of thousands of star credits.

No one connected the customer with Ji Shileng. Only when he renewed the service for a second year did the manager discover that Mr. Ji was Ji Shileng.

Later, even after Ji Shileng moved into the villa, he continued ordering meals out of habit.

The manager had known him before he was famous, watched him become a public figure, and then seen the entire internet turn against him.

Returning from his memories, the manager gave a bitter smile. “Now the scenery remains, but the people have changed, and everything is over”

The surroundings were the same, but the people and their circumstances had changed. Everything had come to an end.

“Before I can speak, my tears begin to fall” Ji Shileng naturally supplied the next line. “There’s really nothing worth crying over, though”

He had no interest in pouring out his feelings, nor did he want to shed any more tears.

“Honestly, I thought Shang Jianli knew you’d been ordering delivery from our restaurant for years”

“No. I put on a very convincing act” Ji Shileng smiled at the memory. “He probably thought I was an excellent cook”

Who would have guessed? Every bit of it had been an act.

Cooking meals?

He would never learn to do that in this lifetime.

“He’s a shareholder in Laienster, yet he couldn’t tell the food at home tasted exactly like the restaurant’s. I find that quite remarkable” Ji Shileng took a bottle of red wine from the refrigerator.

“He found out later”

Ji Shileng raised an eyebrow and took a small sip.

Accepting a wineglass, the manager slowly explained, “The news about what happened to you caused quite a stir”

“I didn’t believe it at the time. You were the admiral’s spouse. How could something have happened to you so easily?”

His voice remained steady. Only he knew the emotions beneath it.

“I kept sending you messages, but I couldn’t reach you. I was very worried”

Over the years he had known Ji Shileng, he had come to understand that the young man was nothing like the person portrayed in those reports.

He could not bear to lose a friend like that.

“So one day, I brought your usual meals to your door, just as I always had”

“I never expected Admiral Shang to be the one who answered”

It had arguably been the most nerve-racking day of the manager’s life—even more stressful than his university entrance exams.

Carrying an insulated food container bearing Laienster Restaurant’s name, he tugged at the hem of his suit jacket, took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.

He rang several times, but no one appeared.

Just as he was about to give up and leave, the villa’s door opened. Shang Jianli emerged in casual clothes, his face deathly pale.

His eyes were dark enough to frighten anyone.

The manager was so startled that he could not speak. His mouth opened and closed several times.

“Can I help you?” Shang Jianli’s voice was low, with a gravelly roughness.

“Ah…” The manager snapped out of his daze and instinctively hid the food container behind his back. “No, nothing. Sorry to bother you. I have the wrong address”

He did not have the courage to ask Shang Jianli where Ji Shileng was.

The newspapers were full of reports about the death of the “admiral’s spouse,” yet the admiral himself had expressed no reaction.

The manager felt that Shang Jianli did not love Ji Shileng.

He had thought so before, too. He had simply never said it.

Still, even if he did not love him, at least he provided him with plenty of money.

“Stay where you are”

The manager stopped immediately, even his breathing slowing involuntarily.

“Come inside with me”

Shang Jianli “invited” him to sit at a small table in the back garden, leaving no room for refusal.

As perceptive as Shang Jianli was, he had worked out a great deal during this time away from his duties.

“He’s been ordering his meals from Laienster all along, hasn’t he?”

“Yes” The manager bowed his head so low that he was practically staring into the table. He did not dare meet Shang Jianli’s eyes.

The pressure Shang Jianli exerted was overwhelming, especially now, with that faint air of madness about him.

“When did it start?”

“When he was at university…”

For what felt like the hundredth time, Shang Jianli hated his excellent memory.

Why had he not asked a few more questions in the restaurant owner’s office back then?

He did not know where Ji Shileng’s money had come from during his university years.

“Which account did he use to transfer the payments?”

The manager scratched his head. Who remembered which account a customer sent money from?

But he did not dare say that. Instead, he obediently took out his communicator, opened his banking app, and showed Shang Jianli the transaction history.

“Mm. Thank you” Shang Jianli returned the device. “Would you be able to send me all the transaction records from the past few years?”

The manager had no room to refuse.

And so Shang Jianli questioned him at length, leaving no detail unexamined, however small.

“Thank you. Shall I see you out?”

At those words of thanks, the manager barely dared to breathe. “It’s the least I can do. There’s no need to see me out yourself, Admiral”

He had thought that would be the end of it. But the next day, Shang Jianli came to the restaurant and asked the owner for him by name.

Wiping away sweat, the manager followed at Shang Jianli’s side, nodding deferentially.

“You said peach ice was his favorite?”

“I believe he likes it. He asked for a serving with every meal” The manager did not dare hesitate over his answer.

“Then he likes it”

Shang Jianli told him to fetch the chef who specialized in making peach ice and have the chef teach him how to prepare it.

At this point, Ji Shileng could not help asking, “Has he lost his mind?”

“No idea” The manager shrugged. Who could say?

“There’s something seriously wrong with him,” Ji Shileng remarked.

The manager fell silent for a moment, then took a card from the inside pocket of his suit jacket and slid it across to Ji Shileng.

Ji Shileng’s gaze settled on it. “What’s this supposed to mean?”

“Admiral Shang asked me to return the money to you today”

“What money? The meals, the delivery charges, and the million-credit fee for setting up the service?”

“Yes”

“…” Ji Shileng was silent for a long moment before pushing the card back. “No need. I’m hardly short of that little bit of money”

“Please accept it, Mr. Ji” The manager continued, “The reason I came today was to make sure you accepted this card”

“What an idiot. Why didn’t he give it to me himself?” Ji Shileng swirled his wine without looking at the card on the table.

“He said that if he told you all this himself, for one thing, you wouldn’t let him finish”

The manager added, “And for another, you’d probably throw the bank card straight at him and tell him to take his money, get lost, and stop bothering you”

“At least he knows where he stands”

“Yes. That’s why Admiral Shang entrusted the task to me”

“I’ll take it” Ji Shileng had no interest in making things difficult for the manager. He was only an employee; there was no reason to put him in an awkward position.

The moment Ji Shileng agreed, the manager visibly relaxed.

But his relief was short-lived. Ji Shileng pressed a finger against the bank card and slid it back across the table.

His voice was indifferent. “I’m giving this card to you. Pass it on to Shang Jianli for me. And tell him the money in it is a tip from me”