Chà Chà Novel

Qin Si was a little surprised. He had thought that, given Ji Shileng’s personality, he wouldn’t explain himself.

An explanation was a good sign.

It meant Ji Shileng had begun treating him as a “real” friend.

Qin Si agreed, “That counts as something urgent coming up. Your family had already made the commitment, after all”

“Exactly. Time went by too fast”, Ji Shileng murmured, leaning back in his seat. “I didn’t even realize today was the twenty-sixth. I woke up, and Mom hauled me off to get styled”

If he could do it over, he would pretend his leg was still out of commission.

“Time hasn’t been passing quickly for me”, Qin Si said leisurely, a smile at his lips. “I’ve been counting the days on my fingers, wishing the twenty-seventh would hurry up and arrive”

Ji Shileng glanced at him. “Well, you got to see me on the twenty-sixth too”

“Yes. One planned meeting, one free. An unexpected bonus”

Ji Shileng laughed, the gloom in his heart somehow dispersing.

As though remembering something, he asked, “Were you discussing business with a partner at Yongyi Court today? Wasn’t it a little rude to leave like that?”

He remembered someone in a sharp suit sitting opposite Qin Si.

The man had looked somewhat familiar, but Ji Shileng couldn’t place him.

“We discussed some business, but we were nearly finished. We went there for dinner afterward”

Besides, watching Ji Shileng eat with Guo Weishui across the room had left him too miserable to eat.

“That’s good”, Ji Shileng said, relaxing a little upon hearing that the business was concluded. “Still, you should observe the courtesies. It would be best to bring an apology gift next time”

Making enemies was the last thing anyone wanted in business. Qin Si was new here, making him especially vulnerable to the Federation’s unscrupulous crowd banding together to freeze him out.

Qin Si accepted the advice humbly. “All right”

He didn’t tell Ji Shileng that, in this particular deal, the other party had to seek his cooperation, rather than the other way around.

Instead, he asked tentatively, “Are there any Federation specialties that make suitable gifts?”

“I can’t think of any particularly special ones”, Ji Shileng replied, then added, “Cloisonné porcelain is too valuable. You don’t need to give an ordinary business partner something like that”

Truthfully, gift-giving fell outside Ji Shileng’s expertise.

Usually, other people gave him gifts, rather than him giving gifts to others.

And when he did need to give something, Ji Shiyun and the others prepared it. He never had to worry about it himself.

“Then, based on your family’s preferences, what would make a suitable gift?”

Entirely unaware that the conversation had veered off course, Ji Shileng seriously recalled the gifts his family had received lately.

Anything that made its way into his home might not necessarily be exceptional, but it certainly wouldn’t be poor quality.

The problem was that his family lacked nothing. Gifts were merely embellishments, so his parents rarely reacted in any particular way.

Unless it was something like a thousand-year-old pu’er tea cake from the old star-calendar era. But that was far too precious. Who ordinarily gave something that expensive?

“As far as preferences go, my dad likes thousand-year-old pu’er tea cakes, but they’re so valuable. Who normally gives those?” Unable to offer much useful advice, Ji Shileng finally said, “Most of the gifts my family receives are things like wine, tea, porcelain, and jade”

Having successfully drawn out the information, Qin Si’s eyes curved with satisfaction. “All right”

The landscaping followed the style of a Suzhou garden. Beyond the arched entrance, candle flames flickered inside amber paper lanterns, scattering warm light across the ground.

Although the beginning of autumn had passed, lush greenery surrounded them, the whole garden brimming with irrepressible springlike vitality.

Ji Shileng looked around and praised it. “The design’s quite striking. Did this place open recently?”

Had it existed earlier, there was no way he wouldn’t have known about it.

Qin Si walked beside him over the bluestone paving. “Yes. It’s only been open a few days”

The paintings and calligraphy in the private dining room were arranged around one principle: elegance.

Ji Shileng lifted the beaded curtain, took half a step inside, then immediately backed out. Qin Si looked at him in confusion.

He shrugged, the obsidian studs in his ears catching the eye. “My outfit doesn’t quite fit in today”

His flashy, streetwise cool-guy look clashed with the refined room and its ink-painting atmosphere however he considered it.

Qin Si’s gray suit suited the setting much better.

Qin Si held the curtain aside for him and smiled. “We’re only having dinner. There aren’t that many rules”

Ji Shileng said sincerely, “I should’ve turned left outside and gone into the third place down”

Qin Si searched his memory, wondering what the third establishment to the left was.

A glaring neon sign and multicolored light strips surfaced in his mind. He had a vague suspicion.

“Come to think of it, it really has been ages since I went to Shuise”, Ji Shileng said, pulling out a bamboo chair and making up his mind. “I’ll arrange a time with Su Ke”

Better to go out and have fun than stay home sleeping until he lost track of the days.

Qin Si: “…”

He smiled faintly. “Your ankle’s only just improved. We could give it a little more time to recover”

Ji Shileng swiftly marked several dishes, then used two fingers to slide the menu and pen toward Qin Si.

Taking off his sunglasses, he curved his lips carelessly, his long black lashes curling upward. “It’s fine. No one would dare jostle me”

“All right”

Qin Si took the menu, committing Ji Shileng’s choices to memory before selecting a few more dishes and calling over a server.

Ji Shileng hadn’t had much appetite, but the food suited his tastes surprisingly well.

When they had nearly finished, he asked earnestly, “Is your friend considering taking on a business partner?”

Qin Si filled two cups with honey pomelo tea. “Would you like to invest?”

“A little”, Ji Shileng said, making a small gesture. “But it doesn’t seem very realistic”

“Why do you say that?”

“The owner doesn’t seem short of money”, Ji Shileng replied, swirling his porcelain cup. “Just among the things I recognize, these cups cost forty thousand star credits a pair. The painting and calligraphy on the wall would start at five hundred thousand”

Qin Si clinked cups with him and said gently, “I’ll ask. No one minds having more money”

Forget letting him invest. Qin Si wouldn’t object to handing the entire restaurant over to Ji Shileng.

Truthfully, he hadn’t expected Lin Heyue to be quite so extravagant.

Though the budget he had provided for opening the restaurant had indeed been generous.

Well fed and content, Ji Shileng draped an arm over Qin Si’s shoulders and chattered away about something.

Qin Si readily leaned in to listen, watching his eyes shine like stars.

Two female friends approached from ahead. Qin Si put an arm around Ji Shileng and guided him aside to let them pass.

Unexpectedly, they stopped. Wen Qin lifted her sunglasses. “Xiaoshi?”

Ji Shileng froze. Meeting Wen Qin’s deadly stare, he slowly lowered the arm resting on Qin Si’s shoulders.

Qin Si also recognized the two women’s outfits and promptly withdrew his hand from Ji Shileng’s waist.

The two stood as properly as humanly possible.

“Mom. Hi~” Ji Shileng raised his right hand and waved.

“Xiaoshi, why are you here?” Mrs. Guo’s voice rose with surprise. She turned to Qin Si. “And this gentleman is?”

When Wen Qin’s deadly gaze shifted to Qin Si, it softened considerably.

Qin Si bowed slightly. “Hello, Mrs. Ji, Mrs. Guo. I’m Qin Si”