CH 89

Chapter 89: Apology

The atmosphere of dinner wasn’t as bad as Chen Ke had imagined. The Xi family’s dining table wasn’t a long luxurious table, but a very beautiful round table. Although the style was slightly out of place with the dining room, it definitely felt much more cozy than a long and wide luxurious table.

There weren’t many dishes on the table, eight dishes and one soup, but they all tasted delicious. As a result, despite being affected by Master Xi’s wires[1], Chen Ke was still unable to resist eating two large bowls of food.

Of course, during the meal, the two people sitting across from him occasionally picked up some food from each other’s dishes, but he pretended to ignore it and carried his silence to the end.

Half an hour after the meal, the two watched TV in the living room with their digestive tea. Xi Qing went to the study to deal with documents, leaving enough space for the two to talk.

“Mr. Xi …… treats you quite well.” He was originally a little worried about the unequal status of the two, but after his observation, except for the gender issue, he really couldn’t pick out the slightest problem.

After spending more than a year beside Gongxi Qiao, Chen Ke had some idea of what kind of personality he had. At least, he was definitely not as harmless as rumored outside. To be honest, with Gongxi Qiao’s personality, the average person really wouldn’t be able to handle him.

All of Flower Country knew what kind of identity Xi Qing had. Such a person who was destined to be high up in the world was no different from an ordinary man in front of Gongxi Qiao. He was even more attentive and considerate than the average person. If this wasn’t love, then he didn’t even know what love was.

“If he wasn’t good, how could I be with him?” Gongxi Qiao smiled as he held his cup of tea. “Don’t you think so?”

Chen Ke was stunned. He didn’t expect Gongxi Qiao to just talk about the two of them being in love. He coughed dryly. “Are you two serious?”

“If we’re not serious, is it still possible for us to be playing around?” Gongxi Qiao raised his eyebrows and saw the embarrassment on Chen Ke’s face. “Are you worried about the impact after things are exposed?”

Chen Ke nodded, without saying anything.

“Don’t worry. He and I don’t have the intention to spread the word around, and I have no intention of going public with the relationship at this time,” Gongxi Qiao said in a relaxed tone as he put down his teacup. “Let nature take its course, we understand the situation.”

Chen Ke breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that since Gongxi Qiao had said so, he really understood the situation, so he said, “That’s good.”

The two talked for a while. Chen Ke saw that it was getting late, so he got up and said goodbye. At night, when lovers want to rest with each other, it would be insensitive for him to stay as a third wheel.

In the following days, Chen Ke first obtained the global endorsement for the car. Gongxi Qiao spent a few days shooting the ad and was about to go home when he received a call from Xi Qing.

“Tonight?” Gongxi Qiao frowned, what kind of dinner meeting would make Xi Qing give him a special call?

He understood Xi Qing’s personality. He wouldn’t do anything without a reason, so he agreed right away. “Okay, I’ll come over later.”

In the VIP room of Bai Wei Xuan, the boss of Ringstar had long heard that Xi Qing liked to dine at this place, so after learning that Xi Qing was willing to grace him with his presence for dinner, he deliberately paid a high price and booked a table. He arrived early with his middleman and Gu Nan to wait. 

The person who helped him make the connection was Xue Chong’s little uncle[2]. The old boss of Ringstar begged in front of him several times, and he had no choice but to agree. Luckily Xi Qing was willing to take this trip for the sake of Xue Chong, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to do anything about it.

“Old Huang ah, the success or failure of this matter today depends on yourselves,” Little Uncle Xue said with a serious expression. “You should have heard about Master Xi’s personality. Agreeing to this dinner today is already a great honor for me, so I can’t do anything about the things that follow.”

“I am already grateful to Brother Xue for doing me such a big favor. How can I ask you to open your mouth for such a trivial matter?” Mr. Huang of Ringstar said with a smile, “If not for you, how could I have the honor to meet Master Xi?”

Seeing that the other person had listened to his words and had the sense not to push further, Little Uncle Xue nodded in satisfaction and said, “That’s fine. Later on, you guys pay attention to proportion.”

After saying this, he also deliberately glanced at Gu Nan who was sitting beside Mr. Huang. He also had questions in his heart. How did this artist provoke Xi Qing so much? He had a lot of nerve.

The group waited for nearly half an hour before Xi Qing finally showed up with his assistant. After exchanging pleasantries, everyone took their seats and Mr. Huang said with a smile, “Since Master Xi has arrived, why don’t we serve the food now?”

“Wait,” Xi Qing said. “I have a friend who hasn’t come yet. Mr. Huang, do you mind if I bring an extra person?”

“It’s an honor for Master Xi’s friend to come,” Mr. Huang said with a smile. “It’s lively with more people.” Although he was curious about which great god dared to make Master Xi wait, he didn’t dare to ask.

What made him uneasy was that ever since Xi Qing entered the door, he didn’t look at Gu Nan from the beginning to the end, as if he didn’t exist at all. This made him unable to tell what Xi Qing was thinking.

About ten minutes later, Mr. Huang heard the sound of the door opening behind him. Turning around to look, he saw the waiter leading a young man in, and this young man looked very familiar.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone.” Gongxi Qiao walked to the empty seat beside Xi Qing and sat down. He smiled at the people here and said, “There was some traffic on the road, so I made you wait.”

“It’s okay, I just arrived too.” Xi Qing handed him a cup of tea, “Have a drink to moisten your throat.”

Gongxi Qiao took it, and after greeting the people, he lowered his head and took a sip. When he found that the tea wasn’t to his taste, he put the cup down.

“Welcome, Qiao Shao, we’ve all just arrived.” Mr. Huang had already recognized who the person was, but seeing his intimate demeanor with Xi Qing, he knew that the two had a good relationship. Even if there was irritation in his heart, it had dissipated by now. He gave his secretary a sideways glance and told him to go and arrange for the food and wine to be served.

When people mingled in this circle, the most important thing was to have a brain and discerning eyes. Seeing that Xi Qing had invited Gongxi Qiao here, Mr. Huang guessed in his heart that the reason why Gu Nan was blocked by Xi Qing had something to do with Gongxi Qiao.

Gu Nan didn’t expect Xi Qing to invite Gongxi Qiao to come here. He actually didn’t want his peers in the circle to see this kind of scene of humbling himself. Therefore, at the moment when Gongxi Qiao appeared, he felt very embarrassed. However, thinking of his own star career, he put up with his anger.

“I heard that Qiao Shao won the chief global endorsement of the X brand car. I would like to congratulate you here first.” Gu Nan gave a friendly smile towards Gongxi Qiao. “The performance of that car is good. Your endorsement of the brand is very beneficial to your international development.”

“Thank you.” Gongxi Qiao politely returned a smile. “It was my agent who helped get it.”

It turned out that Xi Qing had asked him to come to the dinner party in person to give him a show, and he, the person in question, had to come and join the fun. Seeing Gu Nan’s modest appearance, he couldn’t help but sigh in his heart, it was no wonder that he was only thirty years old and was able to reach such a status. The average person couldn’t be so flexible and accommodating.

The food and wine was soon served. Gongxi Qiao didn’t like to drink, so the wine in front of him was replaced with freshly squeezed juice by the waiter. At this time, no one said he wasn’t respectful, but cautiously and solemnly flattered him.

Mr. Huang felt regretful. If he had known that Gongxi Qiao had a good relationship with Master Xi, he would have spent a lot of effort to sign Gongxi Qiao at the beginning. How could he let Senhe pick up this big bargain?

It was a pity that a thousand dollars could not buy foresight. How could he have expected that a second generation rich tycoon would be good buddies with a first class prestigious family head?

The culture of the wine table was to boast about each other in a few words, and only when the meal was almost complete would they get to the main topic. Therefore, when Mr. Huang mentioned Gu Nan, Gongxi Qiao was not surprised.

When Mr. Huang opened his mouth, Gongxi Qiao was drinking the soup that Xi Qing personally ladled for him. The soup was a little hot, so he had to blow it and have a drink, and then listened with interest to the exchange of words between Mr. Huang and Special Assistant Gou.

“Gu Nan is young and ignorant. He accidentally offended you. I’ll let him be punished with three cups of wine.” Mr. Huang turned his head and glared at Gu Nan, who had the good sense to fill up the wine and did not hesitate to drink three big cups of it.

Three glasses of white wine went down and Gu Nan’s face was a little white. He put down the wine glass and said with a guilty face, “Master Xi, I was ignorant, please forgive me.”

Xi Qing didn’t lift his eyelids. After picking up duck tongue with sauce and putting it into Gongxi Qiao’s bowl, he said, “I heard that Mr. Gu is a good actor?”

“I don’t think so. It’s just that my friends in the media brag about it.” Because of drinking too much wine, Gu Nan’s neck was a little red, but he didn’t dare to sit down.

“I think your acting skills are quite good.” Xi Qing put down his chopsticks and spoke without any delay, “Your work team also has clever tongues.”

Upon hearing this, Mr. Huang’s heart thumped: could it be that Gu Nan’s work team had accidentally offended Master Xi when they were doing publicity?

No ah, Gu Nan’s work team was very professional, it was impossible to make such a mistake.

Mr. Huang didn’t figure it out, but Gu Nan had already guessed what was going on. When he understood the cause and effect, his face became even more ugly. He immediately poured himself a large glass of wine and said towards Gongxi Qiao, “Qiao Shao, I did something foolish some days ago and I have offended you. Please forgive me.” After saying that, without waiting for Gongxi Qiao’s reaction, he drank the wine down with a loud gulp.

With his status in the entertainment industry, to apologize to someone in such a humble manner was really bending his backbone.

Gongxi Qiao paused with duck tongue in his chopsticks and looked up to see Gu Nan continuing to drink another glass of wine, and stopped his third glass of apology wine. “You don’t have to be so polite, I understand how things work in the circle.”

Gu Nan smiled miserably when he heard those words. He did have the idea of stepping on Gongxi Qiao for hype, but how could he have guessed that Xi Qing would stand up for Gongxi Qiao for such a trivial matter? So he deserved this outcome. Turning his head, he saw that Xi Qing still had no expression on his face. He gritted his teeth and forced the third glass of wine down his throat. “Qiao Shao doesn’t blame me, but I’m sorry in my heart. I definitely won’t make this mistake again, so please give me a chance to reform.”

Gongxi Qiao looked sideways at Xi Qing. Xi Qing just gave him back a very shallow smile, indicating that he was the one who would make the decision on this matter.

“Brother Nan doesn’t have to be like this.” Gongxi Qiao raised his glass with juice. “I believe you won’t have this kind of accident again in the future, so I’ll toast you back with a glass of fruit juice instead of wine.”

To be honest, he didn’t have much ill feeling towards Gu Nan. With Xi Qing’s statement, there definitely wouldn’t be anyone using him as a stepping stone in the future, so he didn’t intend to drive him to extinction. “I hope we have the opportunity to work together in the future.”

Seeing that Gongxi Qiao made this statement, Gu Nan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

His intuition told him that as long as Gongxi Qiao was willing to clear this matter, then Master Xi might not pursue it any further.

T/N

1. Master Xi’s wires: the word for “wires” is the same word as the wires that actors use in martial arts scenes, but I’m not sure what it means by Master Xi’s wires – 导致陈科即使顶着席爷的威亚

2. Little uncle: your father’s youngest brothe