Chapter 26

Translator: Larbre Studio  Editor: Larbre Studio

Walking to the second floor of Dellin Restaurant, Ling Chen discovered that Su Lin had already reserved a table. Although Su Lin had mentioned that she reserved a place for him, the table was adjacent to that of Su Lin and Qin Yang, only separated by a metre.

Ling Chen was confused. If you two want to whisper sweet nothings, that’s fine with me. But why did you have to put me so close to you? do you want to make me a third wheel?!

This western restaurant had a classy atmosphere, with luxurious decor and a European theme as the main inspiration. In the middle of the restaurant, there was a white grand piano set up. A blond man, elegantly clad in a swallowtail tuxedo, softly caressed the keys of the piano, and his fingers danced across the piano, as though they were performing a waltz, filling the restaurant with a soothing melody.

Not long after he was seated, a female waitress swiftly walked up to his table and politely handed him the menu.

“Sir, what would you like to order?”

Ling Chen scanned the menu and lifted his head. “Is there egg fried rice here, with a large serving?”

The waitress was taken aback by the unexpected question, before patiently explaining, “Sir, I’m sorry to say that our establishment is a Western restaurant and do not serve such cuisine here.”

“Lin Lin, where in the world did you find a driver like him? He came all the way here to have egg fried rice. If others overheard him, they would think of him as some countryside bumpkin entering the city! Waitress, arrange for him to sit at another table, lest he continues to embarrass me.”

Qin Yang’s face was full of displeasure and ridicule, looking as though having Ling Chen next to him was an affront to his dignity.

“This gentleman, my apologies, but our establishment has been fully booked.”

“Qin Yang, he’s originally a brute anyways, why squabble with him over such trivial matters?”

Listening to Su Lin’s explanation, Qin Yang did not pursue the matter any further and proceeded to order a few items on the menu.

Looking at the items on the menu, Ling Chen did not have the appetite for anything. In the past, when he was abroad, he had eaten Western cuisine every day and was long surfeited. Furthermore, the portions size of western meals was incredibly small. He was a practical person, only caring about whether his meal could satiate his hunger.

To him, egg fried rice was simply a god-send from heaven; not only was it economical but filling as well. With one bowl of it in his stomach, it could give him the energy to last for the rest of the day.

“Then I would like two portions of steak. ”

“Sir, do you want to pair it with any kind of wine? ”

“Give me a bottle of Portuguese dry red.”

“Understood sir, we will serve it immediately.”

As the waitress walked away, Su Lin gave Ling Chen a curious stare. This scoundrel actually knows to pair steak with red wine! God knows where he learnt his etiquette from!

A short while later, a succulent slab of steak and a bottle of red wine was delivered to his table.

Watching as Ling Chen wolfed down the steak as though he had been starved for days, Qin Yang sneered and turned his head away. Trash is still trash after all, who could even eat steak like that? Proper etiquette and elegance are the cornerstone of Western dining. It’s a demonstration of one’s refinement, and this fellow is exceptionally far off. He could not understand for the life of him, why Su Lin would bring someone like Ling Chen there.

“Qin Yang, this month that you spent overseas must have been tough on you.”

Su Lin seemed to have forgotten about Ling Chen’s existence and crooned over Qin Yang.

“Mm, it was indeed quite exhausting. But my purpose there was to hone myself, so there’s no point if there are no setbacks.”

“Nowadays, people as driven as you are an increasingly rare breed. Unlike some people, who have no ambition in life, refusing to work hard in their youth and can only end up as a bodyguard.

The more Ling Chen listened in on their conversation, the more dissatisfied he felt. The someone that she was referring to seemed to be him. Although Su Lin was talking about him, the other party did not explicitly say his name. He was not interested in picking a bone and pretended that he did not hear her, continuing to chomp down on his steak ravenously.

Seeing as how Ling Chen did not interject into their conversation, Su Lin was dispirited. Initially, she wanted to take the chance to take him down a notch. Still, he seemed impervious to her provocations, so she was helpless to do anything else and could only steer the conversation to another topic.

“Qin Yang, what was your training for the overseas military exercise? ”

“The programme structure varied. Other than the compulsory foundational training every day, there was wilderness training as well. We were even forced to eat snake meat and bugs! When we first started, I vomited my guts out and had severe indigestion. Luckily, I adapted fast and amongst those with me during the wilderness training, I was the only one who managed to last till the end.”

“I always knew you were the best!” Su Lin gave Ling Chen the eye, her gaze seemed to taunt, ‘See, my boyfriend is the best! ”

Ling Chen shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the provocation in her gaze.

“Lin Lin, the scenery on the island was stunning, especially the sunset there! You’d definitely love it there. Every evening, I would watch the sunset and think about our future. When we get married, I will definitely build a villa there. Watching the sunset with you and growing old together, that’s my dream.”

Qin Yang spoke animatedly, and Su Lin was entranced by the captivating picture that he painted of their future together. A look of indescribable bliss spread across her face.

Ling Chen sipped his red wine and Shook his head secretly. Another woman muddled by the entrapment of love.

Reality would often fall short of their imagination: this was the cruelty of life they would experience sooner or later. But then again, when thinking of their family backgrounds, they did indeed possess the qualifications to make their dreams a reality.

“Lin Lin, I found a shell when undergoing diving training there, and there was a lovely pearl inside. Although it isn’t worth much, it’s something that I personally fished up from the ocean floor. I’m planning to craft it into an ornament for you, symbolizing our untainted and pure relationship. I hope you will like it.”

Su Lin smiled sweetly, “I will be happy, as long as you’re the one giving me the present.”

Ling Chen felt a little nauseous by the sickeningly sweet conversation between the two. It’s only a meal, is there a need to profess their undying love for each other? They should at least spare a thought for the bachelor sitting beside them!

“Miss Su, I’m done with dinner. I’ll be returning to the car first.”

“Go ahead, remember to foot your bill.”

“Bill?”

Ling Chen froze, before pointing towards his nose. “Miss Su, are you joking with me right now? You’re asking me to foot the bill?”

“Is there a problem? You ate the food, so naturally, you should foot your own bill. Don’t tell me you actually expected me to pay for you? I only said that I reserved a seat for you, but I never agreed to pay.”

“Miss Su, right now I’m working for you, so arranging for me to have dinner is naturally your responsibility. How can you ask me to foot the bill?”

Ling Chen tried to reason with the wench.

“You’re not an employee under me, just someone that I borrowed temporarily. If you want to claim the money for eating here, then be my guest. Just go look for Wanqing, it’s none of my business.”

At this time, anyone could tell that Su Lin was deliberately making things difficult for Ling Chen.

Although he did not know how Ling Chen had offended Su Lin, Qin Yang naturally did not pass on the opportunity to show off to her. He took the initiative to beckon the waiter over and pointed to Ling Chen. “This gentleman here wants to settle his bill.”

“Sir, your total bill amounts to three thousand eight hundred dollars. Are you paying by card or cash?”

“Three thousand eight hundred?!”

Ling Chen’s eyes bulged out with shock. Initially, he had assumed that Su Lin was treating him to a meal and had paid no heed to the price. Who knew that this meal was so outrageously expensive. He only had a few hundred dollars in his pockets and was absolutely incapable of footing his bill.

“Sir, two portions of beef steak is a thousand eight hundred dollars, while the bottle of wine costs two thousand dollars, adding up to a total of three thousand eight hundred dollars. Sir, we’re definitely not overcharging you.”

Ling Chen was at a loss for words. If it were three hundred eighty dollars, he might still be able to fork out the money. But three thousand eight hundred dollars… Even if you stripped him naked and searched him, you would not be able to find such a large sum of money on him.

This bitch is too ruthless, using this shameless tactic against him!