Volume 13
Chapter 19: The First Appearance
Chu Xiaodong was playing Go with his father, Chu Mingzhi. In truth, Chu Xiaodong didn’t know how to play Go. In his youth, his energy was mostly spent on eating, drinking, and having fun. It was only after he focused on his career that he began to learn Go. In Old Master Chu’s words, this son was a stinking chess basket. Chu Xiaodong held a black stone, hesitating. His big dragon had been killed, and he was on the verge of a crushing defeat. He looked at the old master’s calm and composed expression, raised an eyebrow, and messed up the board. “Hey, Yibao is about to get out of school. I’m going to pick her up!”
“You rascal, using this trick again. I’ll put it on your tab. You’ve lost again.” Old Master Chu ceremoniously wrote a tally mark in his notebook. Chu Xiaodong glanced at it and saw that the page was already full of tallies.
“My mind was in turmoil, so my chess was in turmoil,” Chu Xiaodong sighed.
“It’s been quite peaceful lately. Is there anything bothering you?” Old Master Chu let out a sigh. “Oh, I know. The fall of the Yan family, it was Lu Li, right? Are you worried again about my granddaughter and that boy named Lu Li?”
Chu Xiaodong’s brows were furrowed. Even Old Master Chu was so familiar with the name Lu Li. One could imagine what kind of wind Chu Jingyi had been blowing in the old master’s ear.
“I think that boy is quite good,” Old Master Chu said, clearing the board. “He’s good to my granddaughter, willing to work hard, has courage, and is also sentimental and righteous. If you ask me, our old Chu family should just borrow his seed. There’s no need for him to marry into the family. This young man is proud and arrogant; he definitely wouldn’t be willing to marry in. Think about when you were young, weren’t you of the same mold as that Lu Li?”
Chu Xiaodong quickly defended himself. “Old Master, please don’t lump me and Lu Li together. I’m not worried about his character, but his private life. Lu Li is entangled with many girls. I’m afraid Yibao will get on his boat and be wronged for the rest of her life. Do you still remember? Just last time, Yibao was hiding in her room, crying her heart out. Do you still remember? I estimate it was that boy Lu Li who caused it.”
Seeing that Old Master Chu didn’t speak, Chu Xiaodong poured out the words that had been pent up in his heart for a long time. “Old Master, you know our Jingyi’s temperament. Once she gets to know someone, she’s unconditionally good to them. We’re both men. We know some things in our hearts. The more easily something is obtained, the less it will be cherished. If Lu Li had taken good care of Yibao back then, not let her cry, to be honest, I would have just turned a blind eye.”
“So you’re going to test him?”
“Test him? How is it a test? I sincerely hope he and Yibao break off contact now! But Yibao isn’t willing. She’s being bullied and is still counting money for him, secretly calling him every day, thinking I don’t know!” The more he spoke, the angrier he got. Chu Xiaodong’s years of self-cultivation couldn’t suppress the fire in his heart. “If I were twenty years younger, I would really give that boy Lu Li a punch. Yibao too! That time, her throat was hoarse from crying, and she was still speaking up for him. If this girl were half as smart as Zhu Xi, how much worry would I be saved!”
Old Master Chu chuckled but didn’t offer an opinion. He knew that his son was now officially a member of the central seven-person group and was under a lot of pressure. Only in front of him could he show his side as an ordinary person. Once he left this tea room, he would probably have to smile warmly again and deal with all problems with indifference.
The old master blew on his tea. “Xiaodong, if you were half as cold-blooded as Yan Rujun, you wouldn’t be so worried now.”
Chu Xiaodong took a deep breath. “Now that Lu Li has hooked up with Zhu Xi, I guess it won’t be long before he comes knocking on our door.”
“Will you agree?”
“…” Chu Xiaodong fell silent.
Just as the father and son were sitting in silence, footsteps came from outside the tea room. “Grandpa, Grandpa, Ji Xixing is so disgusting!”
Chu Xiaodong subconsciously switched to a smiling face and saw his precious daughter push open the door. The moment Chu Jingyi saw her father, the smile on her face faded quite a bit. “…Dad.”
Old Master Chu smoothed things over. “Yibao, sit, sit. Try this new tea your grandpa has. Who is Ji Xixing? Is he the young master of the Ji family? What did he do?”
Chu Jingyi sat down a little demurely at the chess table. Ever since her father had driven her mother away, Chu Jingyi had been a little afraid of her old dad, and they had become much more distant. It wasn’t that she didn’t have some resentment toward Chu Xiaodong in her heart. One, she resented him for forcing Lu Li, and two, she resented him for forcing her mother away.
“Yes. Ji Xixing came to our school today. He had people pave a ‘520’ with roses under my dormitory building and even hired a singer to perform. It made me so embarrassed I didn’t dare to go back to my dorm, so I had to come home.” Chu Jingyi took a small sip of the tea. The first steep of tea was too bitter; she usually didn’t drink the first steep. “He’s so disgusting. I’ve told him so many times not to pester me, but he keeps bribing my roommates, so my roommates are always saying good things about him every day.”
“Yo, quite sincere.” Old Master Chu exchanged a look with his son. “What, you don’t like him?”
Chu Jingyi grunted in agreement. “He’s too greasy. It feels like he has ulterior motives in everything he does. It’s not comfortable at all.”
Chu Xiaodong felt his daughter was scolding him. He felt it was time to mend their father-daughter relationship. “I’ll give Ji Wenchang a call later and tell him to manage his nephew.”
“Dad.”
“…Mm?”
“When are you going to ask Mom to come back?” Chu Jingyi’s voice was low. “I miss her.”
It wasn’t that Chu Xiaodong didn’t want to bring his wife back. It was just that before he had investigated what business dealings his wife’s side had with the Yan family, he didn’t dare to entrust his back to anyone but himself. Last time, it was thanks to Lu Li’s reminder that they had discovered the death warrior hidden in the flight crew. He still felt a lingering fear when he thought back to it now. If Lu Li hadn’t reminded them that time, what would have happened to their family?
“Still investigating.” Chu Xiaodong subconsciously used his usual perfunctory words. He saw the disappointed look in Yibao’s eyes and lightly bit his tongue. “Dad promises you, as soon as I find out there’s no problem on your mom’s side, I will immediately go to their door to apologize and carry your mom back, okay?”
The gloom in Chu Jingyi’s eyes deepened. She said nothing. Perhaps these past few days, she had already gotten used to disappointment. They say that the sign of a person maturing is getting used to disappointment, is discovering that most things in this world are hard to get one’s way. Chu Jingyi had also learned to be silent, no longer cheerfully saying “okay” or “yes.” She felt that she would continue to be silent in the future.
Chu Xiaodong was tormented by guilt until his head was dizzy. He stood up to turn on the TV. “Yibao, let’s watch some TV. Tomorrow I’ll go to the school with you and see what Ji Xixing is up to.” But after turning on the TV, the channel was still on the news channel. Chu Xiaodong’s eyes flickered, and he quickly changed the channel.
Chu Jingyi reacted quickly. “Wait a minute, Dad. Can you switch back to the previous channel?”
Chu Xiaodong could only switch back to the news channel. On the TV, a female host in a suit was standing outside a magnificent building. “I am currently at the Capital City headquarters of the Shenzhou Energy Group. There are still thirty minutes until the press conference. Next, I will be bringing you a live broadcast of this press conference.” A clamor of voices came from the screen, and the female host quickly called out to the cameraman, “Hurry and follow. That’s the car!”
The camera spun, and a black car stopped in front of the Shenzhou Energy Group building. Four or five bodyguards in black suits surrounded the back door, escorting a man in a formal suit wearing sunglasses. Although he was wearing sunglasses, his tender skin was enough to show that this person’s age was not too great.
Chu Jingyi stared blankly. “He looks like Lu Li.”
