Because Fu Chen and Song Fengwan were here, Xu Yuanfei had a reason to leave.
“You didn’t drive. I’ll send you.” Jing Hanchuan was about to take his car key and walk out.
“I called a taxi. It should be here soon. There are guests at home. Don’t send me.” Xu Yuanfei had specially dressed up today and was even wearing high heels, so it wasn’t convenient to drive.
“I’ll send you to the door.” Jing Hanchuan didn’t insist.
After waiting at the door for about three minutes, a blue and white taxi slowly stopped. Xu Yuanfei opened the car door and quickly got in. She lowered the car window and said goodbye to Jing Hanchuan. “I’m leaving. Go in quickly.”
“Send me a message when you get home.”
“Okay.”
…
When Xu Yuanfei left, she even took a few crabs back. She kept feeling a little embarrassed.
“Miss, are you going to Lingnan?” the driver asked again. It wasn’t cheap to make a round trip from the south to the north of the capital.
“Yes.”
“Is that person your boyfriend?” the driver asked very carefully.
Actually, after dark, very few people came to Chuanbei. He had seen the message Xu Yuanfei had sent on the platform. The price she had offered was very high, so he wanted to earn some more money before his shift ended.
“Huh?” Xu Yuanfei was stunned.
“He’s still watching at the door.”
Chuanbei’s road was flat and straight. Xu Yuanfei turned her head and saw Jing Hanchuan standing at the door. At this moment, he was already a black shadow enveloped by the door lights.
“Your boyfriend is from the Jing family…” The driver wanted to ask something, but he didn’t dare to ask too much. “Your boyfriend is really good.”
It was not until the taxi drove far away and the pale yellow lights gradually disappeared from sight that Jing Hanchuan sent her a message: [I’ve memorized the license plate. If there’s any problem, contact me anytime.]
After all, there were many single women who got into accidents on the road at night.
Xu Yuanfei rubbed her phone, her heart indescribably warm.
***
When she returned home, his father and brother were still awake.
They were chatting in the living room about what Xu Yao had encountered at work.
Xu Yao had just graduated and didn’t enter his family’s company. Instead, he was training outside. No one knew that he was the young master of the Xu family, so they naturally treated him as an ordinary employee. There were too many cases of old employees oppressing rookies in the workplace. When he returned home, he inevitably complained to his father.
“Big Sis, where did you come back from? You even brought crabs!” Xu Yao’s eyes lit up when he saw the crabs. “These crabs are really fat.”
“A regular customer gave them to me.”
“Can I eat them?” Xu Yao was really a little hungry.
“Okay, I’ll go get things ready.” Xu Yuanfei got up and walked to the kitchen. “Where’s Mom?”
“Her friend’s child is getting married, so she’s attending the wedding banquet.” Xu Yao shrugged. “She should be back soon.”
“Dad didn’t go with her?”
“That kid is a little afraid of Dad. He was frightened when he was young.”
“When was he frightened?” Xu Yuanfei obviously didn’t remember.
“It was when that bastard from the Jing family smashed your head when you were young. His family brought fruits to visit you, and Dad fooled him with his arm tattoo, scaring him to tears.”
Xu Yuanfei suddenly understood. That seemed to have happened.
Actually, her father didn’t have any tattoos at all. At the time, in order to bluff others when he brought people to the Jing residence to demand an explanation, he had specially used a sticker to make an azure dragon and a white tiger tattoo. He had even made a big knife scar on his back, looking very scary.
Jing Hanchuan must have been scared out of his wits back then.
Her father was quite impressive when he scared people.
Xu Yuanfei made the dipping sauce according to the craftsmanship she had learned from Jing Hanchuan. The father and son started eating crabs at the dining table.
“Your customer treats you well. Crabs aren’t cheap in this season. They’re all female crabs, and they’re very fat,” Xu Yao said while peeling a crab.
“He’s a regular.” Xu Yuanfei coughed twice. “He was the one who gave me the dipping sauce recipe. Does it taste okay?”
“It’s more than okay. It’s very good. I heard that that bastard from the Jing family also raises crabs at home. They’re definitely not as delicious as these.
“His crabs must be like him, thin and without much meat.
“He might as well open a farm at home and be a fish pond owner.”
…
Xu Yao bore grudges. Even now, when he thought of Jing Hanchuan’s punch, he still brooded.
Xu Yuanfei rubbed her nose. You’re eating someone else’s food, yet you still have the cheek to criticize him? Do you have any shame?
Master Xu silently took out two crabs and covered them on a plate.
“Hey, Dad, why are you hiding them?” Xu Yao was anxious. Crabs weren’t something that could fill his stomach to begin with, and he had just gotten a taste for them. How could his father take them?
“I’m saving them for your mother!”
Xu Yao was speechless.
“You just said that the brat from the Jing family doesn’t have a job? He’s raising fish at home?” Master Xu raised his eyebrows.
“That’s right. The Jing family has mines, so they don’t have to worry about food.”
“That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t work. People still have to do something,” Master Xu said.
Xu Yuanfei was listening at the side. What should I do about Jing Hanchuan not having a job? She bit her cheek. “But the Jing family has a lot of investments and makes a lot of money every year. It’s not like they aren’t doing anything.”
Master Xu tilted his head and looked at her. “Are you speaking up for the Jing family?”
“No, I’m just saying.” Xu Yuanfei was a little timid after being stared at by her father.
She lowered her head and continued texting Jing Hanchuan, saying that she had arrived home safely and that her family liked the crabs he had given her.
Jing Hanchuan narrowed his eyes. Her family likes crabs?
When spring comes next year, should I change a fish pond to raising crabs?
“By the way, Big Sis, are you familiar with Song Fengwan?” Xu Yao lowered his head and chewed on a crab. There was a pile of shells in front of him. Compared to Jing Hanchuan’s elegance, it was really a little crude.
“You want to know her? She has a boyfriend.” Xu Yuanfei looked up at her brother.
“No, who doesn’t know about her relationship with Third Master? I just want to ask if you can ask her for a few tickets for the design exhibition. They were sold out a few months ago. Now, the scalped tickets are too expensive. This is her uncle-master’s design exhibition, so she definitely has some tickets.”
“You only go to comic conventions to see beautiful young ladies. When did you become interested in design exhibitions?”
“Can’t I take a photo to show off?” Xu Yao snorted coldly. It was just that the event was too popular now, so he wanted to join in the fun.
The scalped tickets were already tens of thousands of yuan. If there were free ones, it would naturally be better.
“But I heard that the Qiao family and the Jing family seem to be related.”
Xu Yuanfei was lowering her head and asking Song Fengwan if she had extra tickets. When she heard him say this, her fingers paused. “What did you say?”
“At the plagiarized design exhibition before, someone said they saw Jing Hanchuan there. I accidentally heard it from someone at the family gathering.
“It seems a little shameful. Anyway, the news is very confidential. It seems like not many people know.
“The relationship is quite complicated. Look at the names Old Master Qiao gave his disciples. You can tell that it’s all related to the Jing family. All the names have chuan, bei, or jing. I heard it’s because of Old Master Qiao…”
“Xu Yao!” Master Xu suddenly shouted and stopped him. “Who did you hear that from?”
Xu Yao was frightened by his father’s expression. “I don’t remember. I just heard some gossip.”
“Don’t spread rumors! Don’t talk behind people’s backs, especially about elders.”
“I understand.” Xu Yao stopped awkwardly.
They would usually tease the Jing family together. Why was he suddenly angry?
Xu Yuanfei looked at her father’s expression and knew in her heart that the two families were most likely related. But seeing how Song Fengwan and Jing Hanchuan interacted, they didn’t seem to be old acquaintances. Perhaps it was from their grandfathers’ generation. She didn’t take this matter to heart.
***
Song Fengwan originally had tickets, but she basically gave them to teachers, roommates, and familiar classmates.
When Xu Yuanfei asked, she didn’t have any left. But she knew that Qiao Xiyan definitely had extra. He had also arrived in the capital last night and had arranged to have lunch with her, so she planned to ask him for two tickets.
It was already time for the appointment. Song Fengwan had been waiting at a restaurant near the school for a long time, but she didn’t see Qiao Xiyan and Tang Jingci. She couldn’t help calling him.
“Cousin, why aren’t you here yet?”
“I have something to deal with. If you’re hungry, eat first.” Qiao Xiyan’s tone was as cold as usual, without a trace of emotion.
“It’s alright. I’ll wait for you.” Song Fengwan was bored and lowered her head to play with her phone.
Recently, she had been paying the most attention to the news about her second uncle-master’s design exhibition. If there was any relevant information, her phone would immediately notify her.
The latest news was that Joe’s daughter’s car had been splashed with paint, and it was suspected of being retaliation.
There were photos on the news. This wasn’t Tang Jingci’s car. Duan Linbai had lent it to her. The black front body, including the windshield, was covered in red paint.
With this matter as the start, all the old matters of the Qiao family were dug up. The people who splashed the paint didn’t expect that the situation would develop in an uncontrollable direction until even the Jing family was involved.