Chapter 6 Part1 (1/2)
Oh, goodness, this chapter is just so sweet, in a subtle way. Thoughtfully ordering dishes she likes. Exchanging looks that only they understand. Half an hour on the phone. ❤
Chapter 6.1 — Development Period While Staying in Shanghai (1)
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Twenty minutes later, Jia He arrived at a place near Xujiahui[1].
This was a prime area, and all the outdoor parking spots were long taken. She therefore could only roll down her window and ask the doorman which communities nearby had places that allowed people to park. The handsome boy took a glimpse at her license plate, then all of a sudden, with a rather furtive manner, cast a couple extra glances at her and inquired whether her name was Jia He.
Puzzled, Jia He nodded in response.
That person at once said, ”Miss Jia He, come out of the vehicle, please. I will help you look for a spot.”
Only after, when she had stepped into that private room and Qing had explained with a smile that this place was relatively safer, did she learn that Yi Wenze owned shares in this luxury club.
She had previously been here two or three times. Those were several years ago, when she was still a financial columnist, and the opportunities had only come about because she had come here to interview several real estate tyc.o.o.ns. She recalled how the people who wrote the food column had salivated countless times over this restaurant but had been powerless because, from a members.h.i.+p perspective, this place had no need at all for them to do any articles on it for public relations and promotional purposes. As a result, that group whose taste buds had always been blessed could only envy Jia He, someone who worked on the finance side.
”Screenwriter,” Qing said, holding up the menu, ”if there's anything you want to eat, don't feel shy. Treat it like it's your own home.”
Because she knew that Jia He was from Beijing, on the final word, she had purposely turned her tone up to add the “r” sound of erhuayin[2]to the end of it. So crazily adorable.
Unfortunately for Qing, though, immediately after making this statement, her fated affinity with this dinner was cut off. Despite their being extremely careful, some reporters had still found out that Yi Wenze had come to Shanghai. The good thing was, this was his own turf, but to prevent any disturbance to the customers here, Qing still had the tough work of performing a little act of ”luring the tigers away from the mountain[3].”
It had been one month since Jia He had last seen him. Now, facing him again, she returned once more to the state of mind she had had when she first met him, nervous and only drinking her tea.
As before, he was dressed simply, a light-gray b.u.t.ton-up s.h.i.+rt paired with silver cufflinks and a black watch that, beneath the lights, reflected a haloed glow off of it—no matter how you looked, everything was just right.
He handed the menu to her. ”What would you like to eat?”
She thought for a moment. ”You're the boss here. Any recommendations?”
He smiled. ”I actually haven't been here even a few times and might be even less familiar with it than you are.”
Seeing that Jia He was drinking quickly, he helped her refill her tea.
Cradling the tea cup between her hands, Jia He sighed with a smile, ”Back then, I only got a chance to come in here for a look because I happened to have the opportunity of interviewing a few real estate developers.” She counted the times up carefully. ”Just three times or so, and those times were always 'interview first,' so I didn't even know what I actually ate.”
She could still remember, during her first time here, that real estate developer, wearing a solemn, dignified air, had said that just the interior decorating of this place alone had cost several hundred million [RMB]. The subtext of that: this place was very upscale and posh. At the time, she had merely retorted in her mind, ”Gaudy!” Later, when she had seen and experienced more, she understood that just the words ”by members.h.i.+p only” alone required this type of intense capital as the basis. In those few years as a financial columnist, she had always been following wealthy people to the many places they went, and so she truly was now immune to all delectable foods. However, once she thought about the fact that this was a restaurant that her idol had invested in, she felt that she had truly committed a terrible sin back then by not having a proper taste of the food here.
He took a drink of ice water. ”In the future, when you come, you can just use my name. If you don't feel comfortable about that, you can call Qing and have her reserve the table for you.”
Jia He shook her head. ”I don't need to do any sort of business entertaining or stuff like that, so it won't be necessary.”
He did not say any more and only motioned to her to continue looking at the menu.
The pendant light above the table hung very low, and enclosed in a deep-red paper lampshade, the light it emitted was incredibly soft.
Casually, she looked through the menu, starting with crab meat and bamboo shoots, moving to foie gras poached in sake, and continuing onwards. With each, she needed to consider whether the dish would make her look unsightly when she ate it, and at the same time she also needed to take into account what Yi Wenze's tastes were. Hence, when she reached the very end of the menu, she still had not suggested a single dish. In the end, she could only turn back to the first page and continue on with this ”homework.” The entire time, Yi Wenze was quietly leaning back in his chair, a cigarette arbitrarily pinched between two fingers, but left unlit.
”What's wrong?” She examined that cigarette but was unable to find anything unusual.
He smiled. ”Nothing. This is a non-smoking area.”
Jia He found these words rather strange. This place was structured into individual private rooms. Why would there even be the idea of having non-smoking areas? However, since he had said so, it would not be right for her to keep pressing about it, so she could only bow her head and continue poring over the menu.
Observing Jia He's indecision, he asked, ”There's nothing that you want to eat?”
She was disheartened. ”It's actually because there are so many things that I'm going dizzy just looking at them. Everything I see, I want to eat.”
Ordering food is an art, especially when you are with your idol of more than ten years and there are just too many things that you need to take into consideration, so it actually becomes a burden.
Eventually, he was the one who selected a few specialty dishes, all of them ones suited to Jia He's tastes. In between, he had even specifically inquired with her whether she was very fond of eating roast duck. Not knowing whether she should cry or laugh at the question, Jia He explained the misconception, saying that while roast duck was a specialty of Beijing[4], this did not mean that every Beijinger loved eating it. For herself, since she spent a lot of time inland, she preferred seafood a bit more.
She had not expected that, to their dinner menu that had already been set, a dish of shrimp dewdrops on rose blossoms was immediately added.
Deep crimson roses cupped exquisite, little, pale-pink shrimp. She carefully picked up a shrimp with her chopsticks and bit into it. The fragrant taste of roses permeated everywhere through her mouth.
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When they were just about finished eating, Yi Wenze took a phone call.
Jia He listened to him say a few sentences. It seemed the person on the other end of the call was a friend who was presently heading over here. At once, she set down her chopsticks. However, right when she was about to say that she would not hold him up from seeing his friend, the door was already being pushed open with a whoosh. The person who strode in was still holding his mobile phone in his left hand, and offhandedly he took a seat beside Yi Wenze. ”I've been waiting for you for half an hour already.” He finished saying this, then turned to Jia He and gave a nod. ”h.e.l.lo, I'm Ze's friend, Wu Zhilun.”
For a moment, as Jia He looked into this sunny, handsome face and listened to him introduce himself, she wanted to laugh.
Just in the lineup of movies released for the Valentine's Day period alone, there were two in which this person was the lead actor. This person who, when simply walking down the street, would get mobbed and surrounded to the point that it would be difficult to even take a single step was now, in a serious tone, giving this self-introduction. She really wondered if this was because of his personality or he was actually joking around with her.
Finally, unable to restrain herself, she let out a laugh. ”h.e.l.lo, I'm Jia He.”
With an ”oh,” Wu Zhilun asked, ”Jia he wan s.h.i.+ xing[5] [A harmonious family prospers in all things]?”
Jia He felt a headache coming on, and she began explaining in detail how her name should be written. Alas, due to the language difference between them, even after she and Wu Zhilun had discussed these two simple characters for two minutes, he still seemed only to half-understand. In the end, even Jia He herself felt too awkward to keep explaining and decided simply to give up. ”Just treat it like it's the jia he in 'a harmonious family prospers in all things.'”
Yi Wenze had been watching with a smile as the two of them tried to communicate, and only when Jia He had thrown in her towel did he leisurely explain to Wu Zhilun, ”She's a Beijinger. She doesn't really understand Cantonese and cannot speak it either.”
Wu Zhilun flicked him a look, seeming to blame him for not taking the initiative to introduce the two of them himself and thus making things awkward for Wu Zhilun.
Jia He hastily explained that she could understand seventy to eighty percent and it was no big deal. She did not expect that this would attract a teasing question from him. ”Oh, seventy to eighty percent, eh? So when you guys interact, is it in Mandarin or Cantonese?”
It was a very simple sentence, but his tone made it seem extremely suggestive of other things.
Jia He answered, ”Mandarin,” and then lowered her head and began to slowly suck at her slush drink through her straw, trying hard to make herself turn into air. Before long, someone opened a bottle of wine and brought it in. As she stared at that bottle in the server's hand, she suddenly remembered that Yi Wenze was still in his recovery period and it would not be good for him to consume alcohol. However, it was not fitting for her to say anything in front of Wu Zhilun either. As a result, she could only secretly steal a glance at the person opposite her. To her surprise, her gaze intersected with his.
He pulled his eyes back, saying to Wu Zhilun, ”I can't drink alcohol for the time being.”
”That's a pity. I specially brought it here with me.” Wu Zhilun obviously had not noticed that he had completely become just a piece of the background, and swirling his wine gla.s.s, he remarked offhandedly, ”I was just saying earlier, the viewers.h.i.+p and reception for this television drama of yours are probably going to be pretty good. Congratulations, you very well might be completely getting out of the market of television dramas.”
Jia He could understand the words within his words. Television serials are very exhausting to film, the pay is not high, and any fame from it is limited to within the country. Consequently, most actors or actresses will only do them when their popularity is declining or when they are first starting out and want their face to become familiar to the general populace. But even though she understood that statement to be this, she still could not help getting a slight internal injury from it…
Yi Wenze did not really seem to care. ”Being in television dramas is quite good, too.”
Wu Zhilun laughed. ”Oh, whatever, you. This time it was an old friend's production company; otherwise I would have advised you to not touch television dramas.”
The two seemed to have a very good relations.h.i.+p, talking and laughing the whole time. Simply listening to them felt to Jia He like she was watching a modern-setting television drama; there was eye candy, and it was interesting and amusing.
When it was nearly ten o'clock, Yi Wenze glanced at his watch. ”Do you live far from here?”
Jia He worked it out in her mind. ”Not bad. There's about a one-hour drive and then I'll be home.”
Listening to them up to this point, Wu Zhilun at last understood that Yi Wenze was letting Jia He leave first. Immediately, he expressed his displeasure at that. ”It's seldom that I'm here. We can't just go to your house and watch DVDs again, right?” He looked at Jia He. ”Let's go to Ze's house together. He's a workaholic. You and me plus the two a.s.sistants will be just enough to form a mahjong table.”