茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

With many years of experience in attending banquets, Xiang Kun had become adept at blending into the dining pace of others at his table without actually eating much. Even though there were more than ten people sharing the meal, he didn’t seem to eat a lot yet no one would notice.

Normally, as per his original planning and calculation, along with his deliberate guide and the stereotypes formed in the past, apart from the initial attention due to his change in appearance and hairstyle, everyone’s attention shouldn’t be on him during the rest of the wedding feast.

However, the unexpected appearance of Chu Xiuwen changed the situation. Especially Li Peiye, who was sitting next to him, started paying a great deal of attention to Xiang Kun.

“Xiang Kun, you used to enjoy programming in high school, right? Also, you’ve been in your previous company for many years? So, why did you suddenly stop doing it and switch to the culinary industry? This is quite a leap! Is there any specific reason?” Li Peiye asked curiously.

“My previous company went bankrupt, and one of my friends happened to open a restaurant in Tongshi Town. So, after some discussion, we decided to give it a shot,” Xiang Kun replied, trying to downplay his situation to quell Li Peiye’s curiosity and interest. Xiang Kun was well aware that Li Peiye was mainly curious due to Chu Xiuwen’s attitude towards him.

“It’s good to change industries! If you need anything, do let me know. We may not have a branch in Jianzhou but a lot of my acquaintances are there. However, since you know President Chu, I guess you wouldn’t have any problem in Tongshi Town.”

Xiang Kun replied with a shy smile, “Actually, most of the work is handled by my friend. I’m simply there to lend support.”

“Tell me the name and the location of your restaurant. I’ll surely visit with some of my friends when we visit Tongshi Town. You have to treat us then!” Li Peiye laughed.

“Of course,” Xiang Kun naturally nodded.

After a while, Li Peiye whispered again: “By the way, didn’t you have a crush on our classmate Shen Shuling? Look at the next table. Is that her?”

Xiang Kun couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly: “You’re mistaken… Zheng Shaokun from the class next to us pursued her.”

“Really?” Li Peiye was stunned.

Wei Zhuo also laughed: “Peiye, Shen Shuling is already married! And remember, since I couldn’t make it to her wedding, you were the one who passed my red envelope to her.”

“Oh, yes… Damn, am I showing early signs of Alzheimer’s?” Li Peiye patted his forehead and added, “Don’t worry. There are many single young female teachers in my wife’s school. I’ll have her introduce some to you!”

Xiang Kun promptly said, “That won’t be necessary…”

Just as he was about to make up an excuse to refuse blind dates, Xiao Jie interjected: “Peiye, stop meddling! Xiang Kun’s girlfriend is a true beauty!”

Wei Zhuo also agreed: “Yes, she is definitely a beauty. Regardless of which school she’s from, she could easily be the prettiest. Moreover, she’s very tall, only a bit shorter than Xiang Kun, and without high heels at that!”

Xiang Kun immediately realized they were talking about Old Xia, whom they had casually met at the supermarket, and quickly clarified: “She is not my girlfriend…”

Wei Zhuo, with a knowing look, said: “Even if you were just shopping together, it ultimately means the same. Anyway, best of luck!”

Li Peiye also laughed: “My apologies, I should have asked if you had a girlfriend. It’s this bald head of yours that made me feel you are still single… haha.”

Seeing that Wei Zhuo and his wife have successfully shifted the interest with ‘Xiang Kun’s gorgeous girlfriend’, Xiang Kun couldn’t help but feel helpless. Knowing that any rebuttal would be useless, he stayed polite and maintained his shy and introverted character.

When the wedding reception was halfway through, Xiang Kun prepared to leave, excusing himself with some chores to take care of, and said goodbye to his old classmates as well as Chu Xiuwen.

As he was about to leave, Li Peiye pulled him aside to whisper, “Do you have any plans for tonight? Our old classmates have gathered here, I plan to invite everyone to have a dinner and sing some songs.”

“I’m sorry but I have to go back to the city today where I used to work. I have some affairs to take care of there and my flight is for tonight. We’ll catch up next time.” Xiang Kun said honestly.

Watching Xiang Kun say goodbye to the groom and leave the wedding venue, Li Peiye noticed Chu Xiuwen, who was sitting a few tables away, was constantly watching Xiang Kun, which only puzzled him more.

Although he was not very close with Xiang Kun, they were classmates for many years. During festivals when Xiang Kun came back to Citong City, they had occasional meals together. Thus, Li Peiye believed he knew Xiang Kun well enough.

From today’s conversation, he found that despite the drastic changes in Xiang Kun’s appearance, his character was the same. When in large groups, he tended to keep quiet and stay in corners. He didn’t have much tact, didn’t seek attention, and was not fond of socializing.

It wasn’t logical for such a person to suddenly quit his technical job, something he had been doing for years, and start working in the food and beverage industry unless there were other reasons than just his company going bankrupt.

At first, he speculated that Chu Xiuwen’s respect towards Xiang Kun might be because of the high-profile friend that was with Xiang Kun during the meal. Then, he reconsidered thinking that even if Xiang Kun’s friend was high-profile, Chu Xiuwen would unlikely extend the respect meant for the friend to Xiang Kun, it didn’t make sense.

Unless Xiang Kun himself had an extraordinary status or had other capabilities.

They all knew Xiang Kun’s family circumstances very well, it didn’t make sense for Chu Xiuwen to show such respect.

However, the words from Wei Zhuo and his wife just now sparked a sudden revelation in his mind as he connected several pieces of information:

He had overheard his father and some elders discussing unusual movements from some bigwigs, suspecting that Tongshi Town would be heavily developed…

Xiang Kun suddenly quit his job and opened a restaurant in Tongshi Town…

Chu Xiuwen, the local tycoon of Tongshi Town, was very respectful towards Xiang, even a bit in awe…

Xiang Kun has a “hot girlfriend”…

Li Peiye’s preliminary conclusion, which couldn’t be confirmed yet but seemed to explain a lot of questions, was this:

Xiang Kun, the prospective son-in-law of some bigwig, opted not to work in a tier-one city, nor stayed in Citong City, but chose to open a restaurant in Tongshi Town. He must have received some guidance from the bigwig. Local moguls in Tongshi Town, like Chu Xiuwen, knew that Xiang Kun would likely “represent” the bigwig in their operations, so they were so welcoming.

If this were true, everything would make sense!

Li Peiye wondered, if the catering industry in Tongshi Town presented development opportunities, what kind of policies would be rolled out? Likely those promoting tourism, right?

Normally, he didn’t think much about the conversations his father and elders had about Tongshi Town. After all, things of that level were beyond his current capability and capital. But if Xiang Kun was indeed of that significant status, maybe he would get a chance?

Li Peiye pondered, made up his mind to visit Xiang Kun’s restaurant after it opened for better understanding.

Around seven in the evening, Xia Libing went out with her aunt after having dinner at her aunt’s house. They headed to the parking lot, preparing to pick up Xiang Kun—her aunt would give them a ride to the airport.

The fact that she had to take several days off from work at the hospital, where her aunt served as deputy director, meant that she could not easily deceive her aunt. She needed to find a good reason to get her approval.

Once in the car, her aunt couldn’t help but ask, “Xiao Bing, are you carrying a bunch of keys or something? Why am I hearing so many jingling sounds when you move?”

Xia Libing replied, “Oh,” and pulled out a handful of coins from her left coat pocket. “It’s money.”

Her aunt seemed puzzled: “It seems like there are sounds coming from your right side too?”

Xia Libing pulled out another handful of coins from her right pocket: “More money.”

Her aunt appeared even more puzzled: “What do you need so many coins for? Don’t young people nowadays mostly use mobile payments? Some don’t even carry paper money, yet here you are with all these coins?”

Xia Libing explained: “For fun.” Then she skillfully spun a coin rapidly across the back of her right hand.

“Isn’t it quite heavy to carry so many…” Her aunt’s attention then shifted to the clearly masculine backpack at Xia Libing’s feet. “Xiao Bing, where’s the bag I gave you? That one could hold quite a lot of stuff too. You don’t carry it very often, do you?”

“This one belongs to Xiang Kun; I’m giving it back to him. ‘Killing two birds with one stone’,” replied Xia Libing.

Strangely enough, her aunt asked, “But then what are you going to use to carry your stuff?”

Xia Libing took out a thick, square bag folded neatly in the side pocket of the backpack. It seemed as if it had been given away from some electronics city. She shared, “I can use this.”

Her aunt was speechless.

They reached the appointed bus stop and picked up Xiang Kun—who was carrying loads of stuff—and her aunt asked curiously, “Why are you carrying so much?”

After exchanging greetings with her aunt, Xiang Kun responded: “These are different specialties from Citong, meant for my friends.” After leaving the wedding banquet at noon, he had gone shopping. These specialties were meant for Tang Baona, Yang Zhen Er, and Chang Bin, among others. However, when he got home, he discovered that since he had already told his mother that he would be going back that evening, she had also prepared many specialties for him. Considering his strength and not being afraid of getting tired, Xiang Kun decided to take everything with him.

“Why did you suddenly decide to go back at this time of the year? Couldn’t you at least wait until the ninth day of Chinese New Year?” Her aunt asked, puzzled.

Xiang Kun responded with the excuse he had planned with Old Xia, “The main reason is that the project I’m working on ran into some issues. Coincidentally, Xiao Xia is particularly proficient in certain aspects. So, I asked her for help. I’m not sure if it will interfere with her work at the hospital though.”

“It won’t,” reassured her aunt, glancing at Xiang Kun in the backseat via the rearview mirror. “Is that why you two have been meeting so frequently in the past few days, to discuss the project you’re working on?”

“Yes, indeed. We owe it all to Xiao Xia for helping us resolve so many issues,” Xiang Kun answered “sincerely.”

“Oh? What is your project about exactly? Is it related to Xiao Bing’s profession?”

“It’s about the intersection of psychology and user psychology. The details would be hard to describe verbally. Once we finish the project and it goes online for internal testing, we’ll ask Director Song for guidance,” Xiang Kun narrated, half truthfully and half fictitiously.

Her aunt didn’t probe further and instead asked, “Xiao Xiang, you seem quite talented in cooking?”

“Well, you might say that I have a modest talent for cooking,” Xiang Kun replied modestly.

When her aunt went over to pick up Xia Libing at her rented house in the afternoon, she had specifically examined the kitchen and what was left in the fridge—almost everything had been used.

She knew that on New Year’s Eve Xiang Kun brought supper to Xia Libing at the hospital, and on New Year’s Day he had cooked a large table of dishes at her place. In the few days that followed, Xiang Kun seemed to have been popping by Xia Libing’s rented house, using the kitchen, and cooking often. Given what she knew about her niece, the food and ingredients in the fridge would have never gone that fast if it were only Xia Libing. Xia Libing would hardly cook for herself at home.

Moreover, her aunt had discreetly asked the security guard in the residential area and came to know that Xiang Kun usually did not leave until late at night. It wasn’t because she’d asked the guard to spy on him particularly, but rather that Xiang Kun was unmistakably recognizable due to his appearance and “haircut.”

Adding to this the incident before the New Year where Xiang Kun had taken down two felons for Xia Libing, her aunt couldn’t help but “rationally” speculate about their relationship.