Chapter 210: Prepared a Gift for Her in Advance
In the end, Lian Li still had lunch with Jin Shi Yue.
He held her hand, walking from the living room to the dining room.
The dining table was filled with exquisite dishes, emitting an enticing aroma.
Jin Shi Yue released Lian Li’s hand, gentlemanly pulled out a chair for her, and gestured for her to sit.
Lian Li felt his gentlemanly demeanor was only genuine at times like these.
During the meal, Jin Shi Yue kept serving Lian Li food. Lian Li looked down at the full bowl of food and said helplessly, “Can you stop serving me food? I can serve myself. You’re serving too much.”
Jin Shi Yue: “You don’t like it?”
“I don’t like it,” Lian Li said directly. “It’s fine if you occasionally serve one or two things, but if you serve too much, people who don’t know would think I don’t have hands and can’t serve myself.”
This behavior wasn’t like treating a child, but more like taking care of a disabled person who couldn’t take care of themselves.
Jin Shi Yue’s lips curved upwards: “Alright, then you serve me food.”
Having to serve each other food during a meal, the Eldest Young Master had more quirks than usual.
Lian Li perfunctorily served him a piece of beef and a bamboo shoot. “There, serve yourself the rest.”
At this moment, her mobile phone suddenly rang. Lian Li glanced at the caller ID and said to Jin Shi Yue:
“It’s my Junior Sister calling.”
Lian Li and Jin Shi Yue’s meals were characterized by casual freedom; the rule of not speaking while eating could be broken depending on the situation.
She answered the phone, and Xue Shufan’s voice on the other end was somewhat muffled and unclear: “Lili!”
“It sounds a bit noisy where you are,” Lian Li said, leaning back against the chair and looking out the single-pane glass window at the garden trees. The gardener had meticulously maintained the garden, making it neat and beautiful, a pleasure to behold.
“Oh, I just got off the plane,” Xue Shufan replied.
“Off the plane? Where are you going?” Lian Li asked with concern. “Are you going to the tropical rainforest with the scientific research team?”
“The scientific research is in September, it’s not time yet,” Xue Shufan said, holding her mobile phone to her ear with one hand while pulling her suitcase with the other. “I’m coming to Shanghai for something, and I thought I’d visit you. I’ve booked your time for tonight and tomorrow in advance, so tell the Second Young Master not to compete with me.”
Lian Li was stunned, then smiled: “Where are you staying? I’ll come find you later.”
“InterContinental Hotel,” Xue Shufan said. “It’s too noisy around here to hear clearly. I’ll send you the location on WeChat. I’ll hang up now.”
“Okay.”
Lian Li knew Xue Shufan well. Xue Shufan saying she was coming to Shanghai for something was a lie, and visiting her was also a lie.
There was only one reason Xue Shufan was coming to Shanghai: she was worried about her Junior Sister.
She pushed aside other matters and specifically flew to Shanghai to care for her sad and distressed Junior Sister.
Just as Lian Li stayed by Xue Shufan’s side when Grandma Xue passed away, Xue Shufan wanted Lian Li to understand that even without family affection, there was still friendship.
The call ended.
A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of Lian Li’s eyes and brows, and in a good mood, she served Jin Shi Yue another crispy shrimp.
Having not fully digested the meal she had outside, Lian Li wasn’t very hungry and didn’t eat much. She put down her chopsticks, carefully wiped her lips with a napkin, and looked up at Jin Shi Yue.
“Junior Sister Shufan is here. I’ll be with her tonight and tomorrow.”
Jin Shi Yue leaned back lazily against the chair, his well-defined fingers tapping the tabletop. Upon hearing this, he nodded slightly:
“Tao Su will be your driver.”
Tao Su was from Shanghai and was more familiar with the city than they were. Lian Li didn’t refuse and nodded in agreement: “Okay.”
Jin Shi Yue’s work was busier than she had imagined. At first, Lian Li thought Jin Shi Yue just held a position in the group for show, or had his subordinates handle things while he waited for dividends.
After all, Jin Yan Ting was so busy, and Jin Shi Yue at that time seemed so leisurely, with nothing to do but bother her.
At that time, Lian Li kept telling herself: she didn’t like Jin Shi Yue at all.
But she forgot the famous ‘pink elephant’ effect in psychology:
Close your eyes and absolutely do not imagine a pink elephant.
The more you try to forget, the more you can’t; the more you try to resist, the more you can’t resist.
At three in the afternoon, Lian Li took a car to the suite at the InterContinental Hotel to discuss this matter with Xue Shufan.
Xue Shufan had a “I knew it” expression: “I told you you liked him, but you wouldn’t admit it.”
Lian Li curled up in the corner of the sofa, propping her chin with one hand, and mused, “It’s not exactly liking, at most it’s attraction.”
“Attraction is the prelude to liking. You said before when you were playing music that the prelude is also part of the score,” Xue Shufan said, her chestnut-colored, slightly curly long hair tied into a high ponytail, which swung as she turned her head.
“Huh?” Lian Li said, “Feelings and music are different.”
“No difference.”
Xue Shufan suddenly leaned closer, examining the earrings on both of Lian Li’s ears, then straightened her gaze to look at the jade pendant necklace on her neck.
“The Second Young Master gave them to you?”
“Yes, don’t they look good?” Lian Li lightly tapped the earring on her left ear with her index finger. The small and exquisite cherries earring swayed slightly, a vibrant and dazzling red.
“More than good-looking,” Xue Shufan couldn’t help but clap her hands. “As expected of Jin Second Young Master, he either doesn’t make a move, or when he does, it’s all limited editions.”
Lian Li knew that the gifts Jin Shi Yue gave were definitely not cheap, but seeing Xue Shufan’s reaction, it seemed to be more than just valuable.
Lian Li precisely caught a certain word and asked, “Limited editions?”
“The jade pendant on your neck is a Buddhist sacred object from the Qing Dynasty, a red agate prayer bead, there’s only this one,” Xue Shufan said. “The earrings are blood jade bracelets that were bought at a sky-high price by a mysterious buyer at a Sotheby’s auction two years ago.”
Lian Li reminded her: “Earrings, right?”
“No, no, no,” Xue Shufan said, shaking one finger left and right. “It’s the bracelet. It’s likely the Second Young Master specifically asked someone to make the bracelet into earrings.”
Lian Li raised her hand to touch the light earrings on her earlobes. The touch of the smooth jade was cool. She smiled and said, “Two years ago, Jin Shi Yue and I weren’t close.”
How could he have prepared a birthday gift for her in advance?
Xue Shufan suddenly realized: “That’s true.”
“How is your mother?” Xue Shufan smoothly changed the topic. “I don’t know about Ji Tan’s situation, but I heard about Zhong Tan when I was a child. The adults said that Zhong Tan was inherently rebellious and fiercely brave, with a strong personality. She refused all the arranged marriages the Zhong Family had for her. The Zhong Family couldn’t control her, so they took her abroad and confined her.”
“The old fogeys in the Xue Family used Zhong Tan’s example since we were young to warn us that not following the family’s arrangements would ultimately lead to being beneath others, living in darkness.”
Lian Li recalled Ji Tan, whom she had met at the temple. The latter’s peerless beauty was tinged with a brokenness that did not belong to her.
Ji Tan had suffered greatly, her body and mind already shattered.
How was she doing?
“I don’t know,” Lian Li tilted her head back, resting it on the sofa back, her eyes looking up at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling. “I try my best to view her actions from an outsider’s perspective, but I still can’t make a rational judgment.”
“I haven’t encountered a situation like yours,” Xue Shufan said while drinking her coffee. “But a girl I knew before, her husband’s actions were similar to Ji Tan’s. Because he was afraid of losing her and didn’t want to face it, he hurt that girl.”
Lian Li asked: “Did she eventually forgive him?”
