The last time they met that year, they parted unhappily. Chen Xizhu turned his back to her and staggered away. It was obviously she and Shi Yi who broke up, but it was Chen Xizhu who cried with tears all over her face. Fu Shitian watched her leave without blinking, her heart aching and numb. She thought that after so many years, they might not see each other again in this life, and she only hoped that this silly girl would not be affected by her, and could be as brave and lucky as before, and get what she wanted.
She didn't dare to think that they would meet again one day, and she didn't even dream that Chen Xizhu would start the conversation with her in such a friendly manner. It was as if the years of absence from each other had never existed. She was still the part-time student who sorted books in front of the library shelves in her teens, Chen Xizhu, and the childish ghost who liked to cover her eyes from behind when he came to see her, and lowered his voice to tease her, "Wow, I found you, guess who I am."
She suppressed her sore throat, her eyes softened, and she scolded Chen Xizhu: "You are so strong, there will be a mark." It was the same normal reaction as before.
Chen Xizhu stared at her, tears gradually filling her eyes, but the corners of her lips couldn't help but rise higher and higher. She lowered her head, sniffed, and reached out her hand to "slap" twice without any courtesy: "You will learn your lesson only if you leave marks."
Fu Shitian cooperated and retracted her hand, pretending to be pitiful and cried softly: "It hurts..." She raised her eyes, smiled and called Yin Fanlu: "Sister Lu, don't you take care of her?"
Yin Fanlu laughed, raised her hand and slapped her slightly red hand: "I want to hit you too."
Fu Shitian laughed, feeling the warmth of the body pressing on the back of his hand, his heart trembling slightly.
"Are you visiting Haicheng by chance?" She greeted them as if they were old friends who hadn't seen each other for many years.
Chen Xizhu shook his head: "I came here specially to see you."
Fu Shitian was slightly puzzled, so Chen Xizhu confessed, "Shi Yi told us you were here."
Fu Shitian's eyelashes trembled, but he wasn't surprised. He seemed to smile, but it seemed he wasn't. He changed the subject and said, "Don't stand there. Let's go upstairs and talk."
Chen Xizhu and Yin Fanlu naturally had no objection.
Fu Shitian then instructed the waiter who had been standing not far from them, "Xiaoxiao, ask Brother Lin to prepare a table of spring flowers and autumn moon and send it to Yunshuijian."
Brother Lin is their head chef, usually only responsible for some important dishes. This is the only time Fu Shitian asked Brother Lin to cook the whole banquet, except for the time when Mr. Shi from Boiling Point Media came. Xiao Xiao was surprised.
She said yes and was about to turn around and leave, but Chen Xizhu stopped her and said, "Your boss is very rich, don't listen to her. There are only three of us, and we can't finish all the food at one table."
Fu Shitian said softly: "It's okay, we'll eat slowly."
"You can't finish it even if you eat it slowly, don't waste it."
Yin Fanlu agreed: "If you agree to clean up the unfinished food yourself, that's fine."
Fu Shitian couldn't persuade them, so he changed his words and said, "Then the first half of the meal, plus a tray of shrimp dumplings and a tray of fresh shrimp cakes."
Chen Xizhu's eyes shone, and she stopped trying to stop him. This guy still remembered that she loved these snacks the most.
The waiter nodded in surprise and left.
After more than a year of opening, she has always known that the boss is pretty and kind, and is a very easy-going person. However, she is definitely not as gentle and gullible as customers think. In fact, everyone has always felt that she is a person with a sense of distance. She is not deliberately putting on airs, but just has an aura that sometimes makes people feel that her peace is almost indifferent and calm. So everyone respects and likes her from the bottom of their hearts, but they dare not really get too close to her, or be too presumptuous or rude in front of her.
However, can the boss be so gentle and bright? !
The young chef in the open kitchen who witnessed the whole process was equally surprised. His heart was beating fast, and he wanted to immediately marvel at this new discovery with his brothers in the kitchen. Fu Shitian didn't care about his thoughts, and only reminded him before turning around and leaving: "The crabs are almost dry."
The young chef came to his senses and immediately hurriedly turned down the fire.
Chen Xizhu laughed out loud, walked beside Fu Shitian, followed her up the stairs, and teased her: "I didn't expect that one day our Fu Tiantian would be able to be a boss in a proper manner. This aura is good."
Fu Shitian was slightly stunned, and his face still vaguely showed the embarrassment he had when he was teased before, but he became much more calm and generous: "You are making fun of me, I can hear it."
She turned her head to show concern for them: "Where did you come from?"
Chen Xizhu said: "I came from Beicheng and arrived last night."
Fu Shitian looked at Yin Fanlu and asked, "Sister Lu too?"
Yin Fanlu nodded: "We live together now. A few years ago, Xizhu's father was not in good health and had an operation in Beicheng. Xizhu was studying for a doctorate at the time, and it was difficult for her to adjust her vacation and go back to take care of him during the operation. After thinking about it, we still felt worried about the elderly at home, so we came back. After returning to China, Xizhu was hired as a teacher at the Law School, so we settled in Beicheng."
As they were talking, they arrived at Yunshui Room, a private room that combines a restaurant and a reception room. Fu Shitian asked them to sit down, took a cup of tea, and prepared to boil water and make tea himself.
Chen Xizhu stopped him: "No need, let's not do these nonsense. I can't sleep at night if I drink tea."
Fu Shitian smiled slightly and did not exchange pleasantries with them: "Then I'll ask them to bring in some ice bayberry juice to cool you down? The dishes should be served soon."
Chen Xizhu said, "No, just drink some water. I'm starving, and if I drink something cold I'll probably collapse right away."
"You're talking nonsense again." Yin Fanlu exposed her shortcomings: "You don't know how exaggerated she is. She wanted to come to your restaurant for lunch at noon. She didn't even eat breakfast. She insisted that she wanted to free up some space in her stomach."
Chen Xizhu immediately covered Yin Fanlu's mouth in embarrassment and anger.
Fu Shitian looked at them laughing and there was a flash of envy in his eyes.
She smiled gently and said, "Okay, then I'll make sure you eat more later." While speaking, she calmly pressed the button on the table to urge the order.
Chen Xizhu joked, "That depends on how you guys taste." Then, she continued the topic they were talking about on the stairs and asked, "Have you been in Haicheng these past few years?"
Fu Shitian paused for a moment while pouring water for them, then replied as if nothing had happened: "No, I came here later."
"So, where did you go after graduation?" Chen Xizhu asked. Her tone was casual, as if she was just chatting, but Fu Shitian could easily see through her seriousness and concern.
Over the years, Chen Xizhu's simplicity and sincerity had not changed at all. Fu Shitian's heart softened. They didn't hate her for deleting all their contact information after graduation, but they still cared about her and came all the way to see her. She didn't want to perfunctorily lie to them.
"After graduation, I returned to Ningcheng first. Later, my sister had to come to Haicheng for some things, so our whole family moved here."
"No wonder." Chen Xizhu said: "I went to your house before I went abroad, but no one opened the door. Your neighbor said that no one has lived in your house for a long time."
Fu Shitian was obviously surprised.
Chen Xizhu said, "I asked Lulu to find the address your class monitor asked for. You suddenly stopped answering anyone's calls, didn't reply to anyone's messages, and didn't even come back to attend the graduation ceremony. How could I not be worried?"
Fu Shitian felt guilty and apologized in a hoarse voice: "I'm sorry..."
Back then, she left with the thought that she would never have a tomorrow. She wanted to give Shi Yi's life back to him. She was afraid that anyone who knew about her would bother Shi Yi because of her, and that anyone who knew about her would be worried about her and become troubled. So she cut off all contact with everyone and disappeared from everyone's world.
Chen Xizhu sighed and threw the unlocked phone to her: "I'm sorry it's useless. I'll give you a chance to make amends."
Fu Shitian looked at her hesitantly, Chen Xizhu raised her chin with an arrogant attitude. Fu Shitian pursed her lips, revealing a faint dimple, lowered her eyes and picked up the phone, one by one created a new contact, and entered her own number.
Under the warm golden light, she saved her number, raised her head and curved her eyebrows at her, her eyes rippling. Chen Xizhu seemed to see the gentle and soft girl again.
Her heart softened suddenly, and even her voice softened unconsciously: "Then why did you want to open a restaurant?"
Fu Shitian said carefully: "I didn't open a restaurant at first. Later, something happened. My mother thought I worked too hard, so she funded me to open this restaurant. I only invested a small part of the money. The actual controlling shareholder of this restaurant is my mother."
"Your mother?" Chen Xizhu was stunned, and Yin Fanlu was also surprised. Although they didn't know Fu Shitian's family background clearly, they knew that it was not a wealthy family.
Fu Shitian lowered her eyelashes: "Yeah." She responded, her tone was neither intimate nor distant, and said: "My biological mother."
"When I was very young, she entrusted me to my grandmother because of some things. After I came to Haicheng, she came to find me. We got to know each other."
She said it lightly, but Chen Xizhu and Yin Fanlu were stunned. This was the first time Fu Shitian talked to them about his family situation, but the family situation was beyond their expectations, and they didn't know how to respond for a while.
Fortunately, the door of the box opened at the right time and the first dish came up.
Fu Shitian stood up and called them: "Come, let's eat and talk."
Chen Xizhu and Yin Fanlu stood up and secretly digested the huge amount of information in her words.
"Come, try whether the taste is authentic." Fu Shitian served them the dishes.
Chen Xizhu and Yin Fanlu didn't hold back, they carefully tasted and commented on the dishes one by one. They had been away from Southern Province for a long time, and when they tasted such authentic Southern Province flavors, they couldn't help but salivate and praise.
The three of them ate, reminisced, talked and laughed, and before they knew it, half the meal was gone.
During the dinner, Chen Xizhu noticed that Fu Shitian's eyes kept falling on her and Yin Fanlu's rings, which were obviously a pair, so she took the initiative to tell him, "Lulu and I registered our marriage in the United States two years ago. We didn't have a wedding banquet, but when we returned to China later, we invited close friends to have a meal together."
That year, she and Yin Fanlu had a lot of arguments over family, finances, and lack of security, and they were almost on the verge of breaking up. Unexpectedly, Yin Fanlu proposed to her, and gave her everything she wanted in the simplest and most direct way. So she was like a fool, regardless of everything, and married him without a wedding dress or a wedding ceremony.
"I thought about telling you. But... when I went to your house to look for you, someone else had moved into your house."
Fu Shitian smiled with genuine joy: "It really is. I just guessed if it was a wedding ring, but I wasn't sure. I'm sorry I couldn't send my blessing the first time."
Chen Xizhu and Yin Fanlu looked at each other and said with relief: "It doesn't matter. We know that no matter where you are, your blessings will always be there."
Fu Shitian's eyes were covered with a layer of mist. He smiled and looked at their clasped fingers, murmuring: "That's great..."
She blinked, lowered her voice, and murmured again: "Really, that's great..."
Not sure if it was an illusion, but for a moment, Chen Xizhu felt that she was looking at something through them, feeling lonely. She felt sad, staring at the plain ring on her ring finger, and asked, "What about you? Are you married?"
Fu Shitian looked up at her, his eyes were misty and he seemed to have a thousand words to say, but in the end he just smiled faintly and said, "No."
The author has something to say: Cover your face, I thought I had reached the turning point.
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