BXBX NOVEL Chapter 238 - 229: President Qian's Trap
“Who is this cook? They’re hilarious.” Lily Tang finished off the fish in just a few bites.
“Maybe they’re not showing their true skills. Do you want to try this?” Xiao Qian pointed to the tomato scrambled eggs, but Lily Tang shook her head, putting down her chopsticks.
Although she had only a few bites, it profoundly shocked Tang Daye.
This was the most she had eaten in half a year, and with such peculiar food!
“I never tire of these dishes, especially the tomato scrambled eggs. When I was a child, if my father won a card game, he’d make it for me to eat. He subsequently did countless terrible things and divorced my mom. I considered him dead, but I could never rid myself of my fondness for this dish. It’s not exactly delicious, but I crave it, as if I could relive those old feelings.-Nostalgia.”
She hadn’t cured Lily Tang. She just used the “nostalgia” card to get Lily to eat a few bites.
For Lily, the chive dumplings and fried fish were nostalgic, a story of their own.
“Nostalgia?” Lily asked incredulously.
Xiao Qian nodded, and poured her a cup of tea. This tea was quite special– hawthorn malt infusion, brewed with raw hawthorn and roasted malt, it could help increase gastric protease in people with anorexia who have long stopped eating.
Lily just had those few bites. For the average person, it wouldn’t even count as half a meal, but given her physique, it was considered overeating. If she didn’t drink some of this type of beverage, she could easily become uncomfortable.
Tang Daye watched his daughter’s condition closely, fearing she would be like before – eating and then vomiting.
Not only was Lily Tong particularly picky about her food and frequently starved herself, she would often vomit after eating. They consulted both Chinese and Western doctors, but nothing worked.
As he anxiously awaited for his daughter to get up and go to the bathroom, however, he only saw Xiao Qian and Lily Tang engrossed in playing with the Nine Linked Rings.
Xiao Qian distracted her, and although her stomach was still a bit uncomfortable, she no longer felt nauseous.
Seeing his daughter so happy today, Tang Daye let his guard down and started chatting with Yu Mingli. The conversation eventually turned to business matters.
Hearing the two tycoons over there start discussing business, Xiao Qian immediately looked up at Lily Tang’s expression.
Just as she suspected, the girl who was chuckling just moments ago had a shadow pass over her face as they started talking about these matters.
Xiao Qian abruptly placed the Nine Linked Rings on the table, and smiled in protest at her Eldest Brother.
“Eldest Brother, stop talking about such boring stuff. I’m here to make friends today. Both of you are too vulgar, don’t talk about money, there’s more to life than it, isn’t family more important?”
Yu Mingli was a very smart man. As soon as Xiao Qian said this, he immediately understood and grinned, calling over a waiter.
“Take away the wine and bring us the best tea.” He turned to Director Tang, “Brother Tang, let’s not talk business tonight. Let the two youngsters befriend each other. Instead of getting drunk, let’s drink tea.”
This move was very much to Tang Daye’s liking. It seemed that Yu Mingli really wasn’t here for the money—even if he was, he did it so well that it wasn’t discernible.
Lily Tang relaxed her brows that were tightly knotted just a moment ago, revealing a faint smile to Xiao Qian. From a glance at her eyes, Xiao Qian understood that the girl was now delighted.
“Come on, do it like this, fingers like this…” Xiao Qian started explaining earnestly.
“Your master is so talented to teach an apprentice like you,” Lily Tang praised.
Heat rushed to Xiao Qian’s face as her mind drifted back to the time in her past life when Yu Minglang would “punish” her if she was slow, in a rather…adult way.
Indeed, he was more conservative in his past life, but deep down, he was still cheeky, only expressing it subtly.
“You have a weird expression…” Lily Tang asked curiously. She was a keen observer as she seldom interacted with outsiders due to her introverted nature, but subtle changes in other’s expressions were always noted.
“I was just thinking of my master.”
“What kind of person is he, can I meet him?”
“Sure, but he’s quite busy with work, so he doesn’t have much free time. When he’s free, we can all hang out together.”
“Promise me, you can’t lie to me. I don’t like those who beat about the bush.”
“Absolutely.”
As Yu Mingli was chatting with Director Tang, he was all ears, paying attention to how things were progressing on Xiao Qian’s side. When he heard this particular exchange, he could hardly keep his excitement in check — his future sister-in-law was really competent.
“Shuixian, do you know why I make such a strange face when I think of him?” Xiao Qian saw that the timing was right, and started guiding the conversation in the right direction.
“Hmm? Why?” Lily Tang asked, trying to solve the Nine Linked Rings as instructed by Xiao Qian.
“Because he’s different now than he was a few years ago. When he was younger, he was a real rascal, his thought process was completely different from everyone else’s, he was always scheming to play pranks on me. Of course, he thought he was being especially good to me when he was joking around, that was just his way of expressing his feelings. But ten years later, he matured, spoke to me less, and we barely spent any time together. At one point, I particularly despised his grown-up version.”
Lily’s hand paused, she murmured, “It would be so nice if people never grew up. After growing up, he feels like a completely different person, as if the nice him never existed.”
Xiao Qian nodded, “I thought the same thing before. I felt that the mature him didn’t love me enough.”
Lily Tang nodded, that’s exactly how she felt, such resonance!
But what Lily Tang was thinking of was her father, while Xiao Qian thought of her lover.
“I don’t think like that anymore,” Xiao Qian said seriously.
Both of them had been speaking softly, so the two adults didn’t catch the conversation clearly until Lily Tang suddenly raised her voice.
“Why?”
There was a barely noticeable urgency in her voice.
She wanted to know Xiao Qian’s answer very much.
But Xiao Qian was a master in the art of suspense, very much like storytelling artists. Right at the critical moment, the story would be left on a cliffhanger, asking the audience to join again for the next part.
“I’m kind of tired today, maybe I’m catching a cold and not feeling too well. How about this, I’ll give you my phone number, you can think about this problem yourself, and when you’ve figured it out, call me and we can continue to discuss about the Nine Linked Rings. Eldest Brother, I’m not feeling too well, is it ok if I leave first?”
“Director Tang, you see my younger sibling…sorry about that,” Yu Mingli immediately got up with great tact.
Director Tang gave Yu Mingli a handshake, talked a bit more, and that was the end of the event.
As they were exiting, Lily Tang walked ahead. Xiao Qian gave Yu Mingli a signal, and he immediately left first. Lily Tang got into the car first, and as Tang Daye was about to follow, Xiao Qian called out to him.
“Director Tang, there’s something I’m feeling hesitant about saying.”
“Miss Chen, no need to be polite, feel free to say it,” Tang Daye was on guard. He hadn’t brought up any business matters all night. Could it be Xiao Qian planned to confront him on it here?
“Money is good, but family is priceless. Try to spend more time with Shuixian. Accompanying family can alleviate the symptoms of her anorexia nervosa, making subsequent treatment easier..”