CH 11.3

Halfway through the meal, Luo Qi realized that Jiang Sixun’s intention for inviting her to dinner was to let her and Li Rui get acquainted with each other in private.

Jiang Yueru said before that she planned to let Luo Qi go to Yuanwei Medical, and Yuanwei Medical was under Li Rui.

While eating, Jiang Sixun received a call.

“I saw your car.” On the other end of the phone, Jiang Shenghe was looking at a familiar sports car.

Jiang Sixun was still driving Qin Moling’s sports car tonight—the car and its license plate was so flamboyant that it was hard to ignore. The few restaurants they frequented were all run by friends in the same circle, so it was not surprising to come across each other.

“You also invited someone to have dinner here?” Jiang Sixun replied.

“I have an appointment with Qin Moling but he still has something to attend to.” Jiang Shenghe knew all of Jiang Sixun’s friends in the country, and so he just planned to join them for dinner. “Which private room are you in? I’ll head over.”

Jiang Sixun glanced at Luo Qi calmly and replied, “It’s in the hall, next to the window on the south side, you can see it when you come in.”

He paused for two seconds deliberately and said, “Sister Li and Luo Qi are both here.”

Sure enough, after he finished speaking, the phone suddenly fell silent.

After a while, Jiang Shenghe said, “Understood.”

Jiang Sixun put down his phone, “You two, Chief Jiang is coming to eat with us.”

The big boss came to join them halfway, and so Li Rui grumbled, “Let people have a good meal ah.”

Jiang Sixun echoed, “He deliberately doesn’t want us to have a good meal.”

Luo Qi thought to herself, so it’s not just her. Li Rui also felt pressured when she’s with the boss, and she also didn’t want to have dinner with the boss in her private time.

Sensing someone approaching, Luo Qi raised her head and her gaze collided with the other person’s eyes. Jiang Shenghe met her gaze without any avoidance.

She couldn’t stand the boss’ cold look; she slightly lowered her gaze, and hurriedly stood up, “Chief Jiang.”

Li Rui was eating lamb chops. Although she didn’t need to stand up to greet the boss, she couldn’t continue eating when the boss arrived.

She was ten years older than Jiang Shenghe, and while she could talk and laugh with Jiang Sixun, with Jiang Shenghe, she couldn’t make jokes freely and her brain somehow always reminded her to have a sense of proportion.

While cursing in her heart, she put down the half-eaten lamb chops and greeted him politely.

Jiang Sixun looked at Luo Qi, “We’re not at the company, what are you doing standing up?”

Jiang Shenghe gestured for Luo Qi to sit down and sat down opposite her.

There was a flower cake on the table, less than a third had been eaten.

Luo Qi’s birthday has not come yet—today was only the 19th, and her birthday was the 22nd—but there were two blown out candles numbered ‘2’ and ‘8’ on the corner of the table. This year Luo Qi was turning 28 years old: it should be that this cake was to celebrate her birthday in advance.

Knowing that it was her birthday, but still pretending not to know anything, “Whose birthday is it?”

“Luo Qi.”

“Our Xiao Luo.”

“Mine.”

The three spoke in unison.

Jiang Sixun asked nonchalantly, “Want a piece?”

Jiang Shenghe didn’t comment but passed his plate over.

It was the first time he would have Luo Qi’s birthday cake.

Jiang Sixun cut a large piece of cake, filling the whole plate, “The food is almost gone, eaten by us—you should eat more cake to fill your stomach.”

Jiang Shenghe: “…”

It was impossible for Luo Qi to let the boss eat their leftovers, so she asked the waiter to add two new dishes.

Jiang Sixun poured him wine, “What can Qin Moling be doing in the meantime? Is he on a blind date again?”

“No, the company has something to do. He doesn’t need to go on blind dates for the meantime.”

“How come?”

“A while ago, he was stood up by a blind date. The family is feeling bad for him and isn’t urging him to go for the time being.”

“…” Jiang Sixun gloated, “It was him who stood up others in the past, and now finally comes sweet retribution. He deserves it.” He was particularly interested. “Who dared to release his pigeons1, do you know her?”

“I don’t not know her.” Jiang Sheng said softly, “She’s our primary school head teacher’s daughter.”

They were chatting about Qin Moling; Luo Qi and Li Rui didn’t interrupt. Luo Qi knew Qin Moling: he’s the boss’ childhood friend, and she heard that they were elementary school classmates.

After eating, Luo Qi put down her chopsticks and picked up her wine glass to hide her discomfort caused by the pressure of the boss’ presence.

She lowered her eyes, and as she sipped her wine, her gaze fell on the table. From the corner of her eye, she could still see Jiang Shenghe’s sleeves and the black cufflinks reflecting cold light.

Jiang Shenghe ate a few bites of the cake, held up a wine glass to Luo Qi—held much lower than Luo Qi’s—and lightly touched her wine glass with his. He looked at her and said, “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you, Chief Jiang.”

There was not much wine left in Luo Qi’s glass, so she drank it in one gulp.

Jiang Shenghe drank his full glass of wine in one go.

Jiang Sixun reached out his hand to pour him more wine, but Jiang Sheng blocked it with his hand, “No more.” Tonight was Luo Qi’s birthday dinner, and he had no plans to drink with anyone else.

After eating, the waiter brought an after-dinner fruit; they chatted while eating, mostly it was Jiang Sixun talking.

Jiang Shenghe occasionally echoed a few words; he went outside once with a cigarette during the period.

When dinner was over, Jiang Sixun went to pay the bill.

The front desk informed him that there was no need to settle: Jiang Shenghe has already signed for the bill.

Seventh Year of My Secret Love For You by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

FOOTNOTE:

1放鸽子 fàng gēzi or release pigeons. When someone releases your pigeons, it means you got stood up. I see this all the time in c-novels in the context of blind dates hahaha ↩︎

Why do they keep talking about this guy Qin Moling? Because his novel is running parallel to this one—the girl who stood him up is his FL. Jiang Shenghe’s courtship of Luo Qi will intersect with Qin Moling wooing his ‘arranged marriage’ wife. Incidentally, Jiang Sixun also has his own novel—but I haven’t read it yet (〃´∀｀)