Chà Chà Novel

Then, before Qin Si could say anything, the owner offered to arrange a table for him.

And so he had taken a little advantage of his status as someone’s idol and successfully secured a reservation.

“That actually works?” Ji Shileng paused for a few seconds, then told Qin Si, “One year when I came home for New Year, my disreputable friends and I had a pretty ugly clash with the owner over reservations”

At the mention of his “disreputable friends”, Qin Si understood. “It’s all right. Surely the owner wouldn’t hold a grudge forever”

“No, he holds grudges” Ji Shileng took a sip of barley tea and said casually, “He refunded all our memberships and put us on the permanent blacklist”

That was an unexpected development. “How did it come to that?” Qin Si asked.

“There were six of us with nine membership cards. We waited three days and didn’t get a single canceled reservation” Even recalling it left Ji Shileng speechless.

There had been nine cards because some of them had brought their partners’ cards as well.

If one or two cards hadn’t secured an opening, they could have accepted that.

But their group had nine.

Nine membership cards, and still not a single cancellation? That was a little hard to justify.

It made the whole membership scheme look like a con.

“If business really was so good that nobody canceled, we wouldn’t have said anything. But this happened more than once”

Ji Shileng’s voice remained calm. “We finally got fed up and asked around through our connections. Guess what? Someone had canceled. But the opening went to a family of three celebrating a birthday. They’d only waited one day”

Nine cards, three days of waiting for their group. One card, one day for the family.

Surely the former should have had a better chance, yet the latter had secured the table.

Naturally, the young heirs had been furious.

They already belonged to a privileged class. Following his membership procedure had been their way of showing him some respect.

Especially since the meal was supposed to be Ji Shileng’s welcome-home dinner.

He rarely came home, yet this restaurant had behaved so outrageously. Enraged, they had brought people over to smash up half the place.

Neither side had come out looking good.

Qin Si felt a little remorseful. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have booked this place”

He should have looked into it beforehand. Now he had stirred up unpleasant memories for Ji Shileng.

“It’s fine. A minor thing” Ji Shileng lifted his cup loosely in his left hand. Plain sterling silver bands on his index and ring fingers accentuated his slender, pale fingers. “Besides, we were only caught in the crossfire”

Qin Si touched his cup to Ji Shileng’s, the golden barley tea rippling. “Caught in the crossfire?”

“Someone in that group of friends stole the owner’s girlfriend” Ji Shileng was philosophical about it. “He lost his girlfriend, his restaurant got smashed up. After that, we could just leave each other alone”

What else could they do?

The man had lost his girlfriend. They could cut him some slack.

Qin Si chuckled softly. “That’s an unexpected turn”

“All I can say is that the world is one enormous amateur operation” Ji Shileng said lightly, “To be fair, he could’ve just overcharged us a few times. Why did he have to make it such a mess?”

Why pick a fight with money?

Money was what they had in abundance. He could have squeezed a little more out of them.

However many girlfriends left, the money wouldn’t run away.

A knock sounded, followed by a voice before its owner appeared. “Mr. Qin, hel—”

The owner cut his greeting short when he saw Ji Shileng.

“Hello” Qin Si stood to shake his hand. “Thank you for arranging this”

The owner quickly recovered and laughed awkwardly. “No trouble at all. I’ve admired you for a long time, Mr. Qin”

Still, he couldn’t stop glancing at Ji Shileng.

Noticing, Ji Shileng set down his tea and tipped his face up to greet him. “Hi, boss”

The owner narrowed his eyes slightly. Compared with the gloomy, lifeless young man of that year, he seemed reborn.

Public opinion of Ji Shileng was mixed, but the owner had actually met him during his time as the “admiral’s spouse”.

It had been bitterly cold that year. Young heirs had jumped out of Land Rovers with cigarettes between their lips, followed by a group of black-clad enforcers.

The crowd had blocked the Imperial Feast’s entrance, bristling with hostility.

Those outside didn’t dare come in. Those inside didn’t dare leave.

Ji Shileng had stood at the back in a pure white down jacket. Still warm from the car, he wore neither scarf nor gloves.

At the front, Su Ke had crooked a finger at a server as though summoning a puppy.

He patted the server’s frightened, bloodless face. “Go ask your boss if this is any way to run a business”

The owner had hurried out and spotted Ji Shileng immediately.

His exposed skin had been as white as paper. The gaze he turned on the owner was more piercingly cold than the subzero weather.

What followed needed little explanation. The young heirs smashed up most of the restaurant. Many diners fled midway through their meals, too frightened to stay.

Ji Shileng simply stood there in silence, watching it all unfold.

Once most of the damage was done, Su Ke called from inside with a smile, “Shileng, are you cold? Shall we light a fire? Almost everyone’s cleared out anyway”

“That’s enough” Ji Shileng took a pack of slim cigarettes from his jacket pocket, and someone beside him lit one.

“Huh? That’s enough?” Su Ke brushed wood splinters from his clothes. “We’re letting him off just like that?”

Holding the cigarette between his fingers, Ji Shileng slowly exhaled a cloud of white smoke.

Through the haze, the owner, forcibly pinned facedown against a table, couldn’t make out his expression. He only heard a hoarse murmur of assent.

Since Ji Shileng had spoken, Su Ke naturally deferred to his friend.

Flicking off the ash, Ji Shileng approached the table where the owner was being restrained and stubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray.

Then he took out a card and slapped it down before the owner’s eyes. “Two million star credits. Including compensation and everything else. Enough?”

How could the owner dare say no? One word of refusal, and those rabid dogs might truly break loose.

“Yes. That’s enough”

“Good” Ji Shileng slipped both hands into his pockets and walked outside. “Let’s go. We’ll eat somewhere else”

The figure in the owner’s memory overlapped with the young man before him. He lowered himself now. “If I’d known it was you, Young Master Ji, how could I have asked you to make a reservation? A phone call beforehand would have been enough”

Ji Shileng smiled, intrigued. “Are you being sarcastic?”

“I mean it” The owner bowed. “Without you, I don’t even know whether this little restaurant would still exist”

After the restaurant had been smashed up that year, he had tried every possible means of seeking redress, without success.

His business had also been squeezed out, and customers hadn’t dared come.

Later, Ji Shileng and Su Ke had paid him a visit and asked whether he could let the matter go.

His attempts to defend his rights had achieved nothing, but the repeated, ineffectual complaints had annoyed them.

The owner had finally faced reality: however unyielding he might be, he couldn’t withstand that kind of power.