Chapter 511: Diamond Necklace (2/2)

“Mom, you sure are early…” He Yi nodded and gave her mom a smile.

I also walked up to her and greeted her smilingly, “Hello, auntie!”

“Oh? Who is this?” He Yi’s mom stared at me in surprise.

He Yi walked up to me and grabbed my arm. “Don’t you know him? He’s Lu Chen, my best assistant besides Mingyue.”

“Oh, so you’re Lu Chen…”

He Yi’s mom examined from head to toe literally before smiling at me. “Not bad, not bad. It’s not easy to find someone your age whom Yiyi will praise all day and night!”

He Yi looked around and asked, “So mom, where’s that sea turtle?”

“Sea turtle…” Auntie chided her slightly. “You’re 26 years old, and you still act like a kid. How can I not worry about you? That’s why I gotta find you a man who’ll watch over you and keep you responsible…”

He Yi hurriedly grabbed her mom’s arm and shook it back and forth. “Mooooom, what are you talking about? I am a responsible woman! I work hard, I love my family, I love my country…”

This was the first time ever I saw He Yi acting cutesy like this. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t stop myself from bursting into laughter.

He Yi immediately glared at me. “Don’t laugh!”

While I was controlling myself, auntie said, “That boy is called Richard, and he’s in the washroom. He’ll be coming out very soon. Speaking of which, don’t you have better clothes than this? You look like you haven’t gotten changed…”

He Yi replied, “This is a good outfit, mom. It’s over 17k RMB! It’s worth at least a month of that sea turtle’s salary…”

Auntie had nothing to say to that. She simply pulled He Yi to her seat and sat down.

It was a four-seated, rectangular table. Since He Yi and auntie were sitting on the opposite side, I had no choice but to sit together with Mr. Sea Turtle. Tsk, how annoying!

I took my seat and asked, “Auntie, have you made an order yet?”

“I don’t think so?”

“Let’s call the waiter then!”

“Mn, sure!”

I stood up, called over a waiter. I was going to order some food when a youngster clad in a western suit appeared from the direction of the washroom and called out, “Sorry, sorry, I should’ve returned sooner!”

Then, he saw He Yi and suddenly froze up like a statue. It took him a long while before he managed to spit the words, “Are… are you He Yi?”

While pouring her mom some tea, He Yi asked, “What’s wrong? Were you expecting someone else?”

“Haha, of course not! I… my name is Richard. I just came back from the US, and the air feels so much fresher after I came back! It’s always nice to come back to my home country!”

Then, Richard looked at me in surprise and asked, “And you are?”

I stood up and gave him a grin. “My name is Lu Chen. I’m He Yi’s friend.”

“Friend?”

Looking a bit puzzled, Richard sat next to me before forcing a tiny smile on his face. “You look very young, Lu Chen? Are you still studying or working?”

“Oh, I’m working already.”

“How much is your monthly salary?”

“About 3000, the tax-exempted kind…”

“Hahaha!”

Richard didn’t question me further, but his laugh betrayed his disdain completely. Well, it was to be expected. He was the type of person who felt superior to a “poor bastard” who earned tax-exempted money after all.

……

I asked, “So, Mr. Richard, you are a Chinaman, so why are you still calling yourself by an English name after you came back to your home country? You’re not going to tell me that your forename is Ri, and your surname is Chard, are you?”

“Hehe, well…” Richard replied a bit awkwardly, “I lived in the US for over five years, and I’ve gotten used to being called Richard. That’s why I didn’t change it after I came back.”

I smiled. “You haven’t forgotten how to use chopsticks, have you?”

“Of course.”

“Good. I don’t want to be the one to feed you, you see…”

It was needle versus pin warring against each other atop the Forbidden City. The clash between Richard and I had taken over the theme of the dinner completely.

“Lu Chen, how much money do you have left after you paid your rent with your income? It can’t possibly be much, can it?” Richard began his counterattack.

I nodded. “Yeah, it was a piss poor amount of income, to be honest. It’s not even enough to treat sister He Yi to a meal.”

“Does that mean you have to ride in a public transport everyday? It must be hard knowing how hot the weather is…”

“Thank you for your concern, but I drive an X12 to work, so I don’t have to worry about that. I must admit that I feel like robbing the gas station every time it needs refilling though. Oh right, you came back from overseas, right? How much do you earn per month?”

“It’s okay. I earned 40k USD per month, so that’s around 300k in RMB.”

I exclaimed in surprise. “Not bad! It’s almost as much as my daily income in Heavenblessed! It’s rare to come by a young, capable talent like you these days…”

Richard: “...”

……

Auntie finally had enough of our cold war and said, “Alright enough. Shall we order some food now?”

But Richard didn’t accept the out auntie gave him. Instead, he took out an exquisite-looking box from his bag and smiled. “I’ve prepared a small gift for sister He Yi since this is our first meeting. I hope you’ll accept it.”

He opened the box to reveal a dazzling diamond necklace. Not only was it a big diamond, he hadn’t torn away the price tag that was stuck to the box. It said: 127000 RMB.