Silver Leaf Whale Chapter 38

People you don’t want to see

Chapter 38: People you don’t want to see

The branches in the alley are bare, holding a thin layer of snow, but the road is clean. Pedestrians have been coming and going for a day, and even the dust of the past has been taken away, leaving only a shallow layer of footprints under the dim street lights.

It was not yet the Lantern Festival, and the shops on the street had not fully resumed business, but some stalls insisted on setting up stalls in order to make more money during the holiday. Qi Zhixuan lingered in front of the red bean cake stall for a while, and the sweet smell wrapped in the cold wind penetrated his nose, catching the glutton in his body. He couldn’t escape even if he tried, so in the end he stopped in front of the stall and bought one.

While nibbling hot red bean cakes, he stood in front of the Beijing Sports Center and looked up. This was his first time here. The door was large and streamlined, and it looked quite modern. It turned out that Pang Whale usually trained in a place like this.

Chen Runsong and Jiang Xianfan invited them to dinner tonight. There were not many people in his shop. Qi Zhixuan finished what he was doing early and came to wait for Pang Jing.

The sports center had limited opening hours for ordinary citizens, and it was a bit troublesome to register visitors, so he simply stood at the door.

Not long after, Pang Jing came out. Only after he finished training did he see Qi Zhixuan’s message, saying he was waiting for him at the door. He was a little surprised and a little excited. He ran very fast when he came out.

He ran to the door, his round chestnut head facing away from him. Qi Zhixuan was particularly afraid of the cold. Today he was also wearing a long down jacket, white, which reached to his knees. He didn’t know what he was holding in his hands. Looking from behind, there was a trace of heat coming out of his shoulders, which seemed to give his round head a halo under the street lamp.

“Xiao Xuan.” Pang Jing called out, and Qi Zhixuan turned around, found the person with his eyes, and smiled at him.

“You’re done, here.” Qi Zhixuan walked over slowly, nibbling on his red bean cake, and handed one to Pang Whale.

Pang Jing glanced at it and felt a little complicated. Qi Zhixuan still ate this cake.

“What’s wrong with the hand?” After taking the thing, Qi Zhixuan suddenly found a big bruise on his hand.

“Um…it’s okay, I accidentally knocked it.” Qi Zhixuan didn’t take it seriously and continued to nibble on his cake. Today when he was stretching the canvas, he accidentally smashed it. Looking at Qing, it actually didn’t hurt.

It looked very painful. Pang Jing carefully rubbed his hand and said, “I’ll give you some medicine when I get home.”

“Okay.” Qi Zhixuan didn’t say much. He finished the cake just in time. Pang Jing took the garbage for him and turned around to throw it away.

When he turned around, he realized that there was a bicycle lying behind him. The rider was wearing a coat and tapping one foot on the ground. He was looking at them with a half-smile. It was Shao Ke.

Shao Ke raised his hand and moved a few fingers as a greeting. Pang Jing glanced at him and was too lazy to respond. He threw away the trash and walked forward with Qi Zhixuan in his arms without even a glance.

Shao Ke looked at the backs of the two of them, raised the corners of his lips slightly, and sneered slightly, with a trace of amusement flashing in his eyes.

“Is that your friend?” Qi Zhixuan saw someone greeting him, but Pang Jing ignored them.

“I don’t know him.” Pang Jing had a cold look on his face. He was currently following a freestyle training plan and saw Shao Ke very frequently. He was annoyed when he saw him and was unwilling to talk to him.

Judging from his awkward look, he was probably a teammate with whom he had a bad relationship.Qi Zhixuan couldn’t help but smile secretly. Pang Jing looked like a child having a tantrum and kept strangers away from him. It was so cute.

The two of them hailed a taxi on the side of the road and went straight to the agreed-upon private banquet restaurant, which opened in a courtyard and specialized in Southern Fujian cuisine.

This store is located in a courtyard, and the decoration retains the wooden structure of the courtyard, with blue bricks and red tiles, and red plum blossoms in the corners, giving it a unique charm.

Chen Runsong and the others arrived earlier and were waiting for someone in the private room with Lin Yan. Jiang Xianfan was leaning at the door of the hospital to take a work call, with his coat on his arm and a calm tone. Qi Zhixuan and Pang Jing nodded and greeted Jiang Xianfan, then opened the door and walked into the private room.

When they got inside, Chen Runsong asked them to sit down. The waiter poured water for them, and the four of them flipped through the menus.

“Boss Jiang is really hardworking.” Qi Zhixuan glanced at the menu twice and thought about waiting for others to finish their work and come in to discuss what to eat together.

“Who knows, I’ve been working overtime every day lately.” Chen Runsong shrugged, “Ignore him, let’s look at the food first and order whatever we want.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Xianfan opened the door and came in, apologizing in a low voice: “I’m really sorry, the company has something urgent to do and was delayed.”

Qi Zhixuan waved his hand, “It’s okay. We have friends to eat. We should be busy when we have to. It doesn’t matter.”

We were already familiar with each other, so we didn’t exchange any more pleasantries. We just said “Thank you to the matchmaker”. In fact, it was just a small gathering among friends. After ordering the food, we started chatting casually.Chen Runsong was full of curiosity about the lives of athletes and kept asking questions around Pang Jing. Qi Zhixuan, Lin Yan and Jiang Xianfan chatted about new things in the art world. One was engaged in creation, one was a student, and the other was investing. They had endless topics in common.

The dishes were served quickly. The southern Fujian cuisine is salty and delicious, and the sweet and sour dishes are refreshing and soothing, which suits Qi Zhixuan’s taste.Especially the lychee meat. The sweet and sour sauce coated the pieces of meat that were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It was sweet but not greasy, and had a delicious flavor. He couldn’t help but pick up a few more pieces.

“Xiao Xuan, try this ginger duck.” Chen Runsong put a piece of duck meat into his bowl. “I have made it myself before, but it always tasted bitter. This one does a good job.” When Chen Runsong ate something delicious, he sent it to Qi Zhixuan, and Pang Jing was not idle either. Both of them loved feeding him, and soon the bowl was full.

“Oops, there are too many, I can just pick them up myself.” Qi Zhixuan quickly covered the mouth of his bowl.

Chen Runsong laughed so hard, “Okay, okay, you can pinch it yourself.”

“But I’m not allowed to say a few words. I’ll invite everyone here today.” Chen Runsong suddenly became serious and cleared his throat.

“Ahem…I…”

“Knock knock knock…” As soon as Chen Runsong raised his head, there was a gentle knock on the private room door, interrupting his words.

The dishes had been served long ago, but for the convenience of talking, no one was left. When she heard the knock on the door, Lin Yan, who was closest to the door, thought it was a waiter coming in to refill the water, so she opened the door casually.

“Hello.” There was a man in a crisp suit standing at the door. He nodded politely to Lin Yan. His gold-rimmed glasses shone coldly under the warm yellow chandelier. His smile was just right, but it revealed a distant shrewdness.

His eyes quickly fell on Jiang Xianfan, and his smile deepened: “Mr. Jiang, good evening.”

“Why are you here?” Jiang Xianfan frowned and put down his chopsticks when he saw the person coming, a little impatient.

“Mr. Jiang, what a coincidence, I am also dining here tonight.The man held a bottle of dry red in both hands and said in a sincere tone, “I heard that you were entertaining friends in this private room. Thinking that meeting each other is fate, I specially brought a bottle of wine from a good vintage to share. I hope it won’t disturb you.””

He spoke impeccably and his posture was extremely low.Although Jiang Xianfan was bored, he didn’t feel like refuting someone’s face in public, so he had to stand up, take the wine, and say “Thank you” lightly.

“Then I won’t disturb Mr. Jiang and his friends from dining. I wish you all a good time.”

When Jiang Xianfan took the bottle of wine, the man smiled and said goodbye, as if he was really just here to deliver a bottle of wine.

But when his hand was on the door handle, he suddenly stopped.

He glanced sideways at Qi Zhixuan’s position.

Qi Zhixuan’s position was with his back to the door, and he didn’t know the appearance of the person coming. But as soon as the person opened his mouth, Qi Zhixuan’s pupils froze in shock, and until now, his hands were still holding a corner of the tablecloth tightly.

“Xiao Xuan?”The man hesitated for a few seconds and then spoke tentatively.

The hair on Qi Zhixuan’s back stood up, his hands trembled, and he gripped the table tighter.

“What’s wrong?”Pang Jing was the first to notice that something was wrong with him, so he came over and asked softly.

Qi Zhixuan said nothing, his head buried low, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably. It was him, it was him, it was Liang Yuansheng!

Liang Yuansheng let go of the door handle and walked slowly to Qi Zhixuan, with a look of surprise on his face, “It’s really you, Xiao Xuan, long time no see. I went back to China to look for you for a long time, but no one knew where you were. It turns out you were in Beijing and knew Mr. Jiang.””

Qi Zhixuan said nothing, still lowered his head, and subconsciously shrank his body towards Pang Whale.

Liang Yuansheng didn’t seem to notice his resistance and reached out to touch his shoulder: “Xiao Xuan, we haven’t seen each other for many years, you…”

Although Qi Zhixuan kept his head down, his whole body was very sensitive. As soon as Liang Yuansheng raised his hand and stretched it towards him, his body may have already moved half a step to the side before his brain could react.

Liang Yuansheng’s hand stopped in mid-air awkwardly.

Qi Zhixuan’s body was shaking more and more violently. When Pang Jing saw this, he immediately put his arm around his shoulders and raised his hand to slap Liang Yuansheng’s hand away. His eyes were as cold as ice and his tone was filled with anger: “I’m sorry, please leave.”

The warning in his tone was too obvious. Liang Yuansheng glanced at the two people clinging to each other, curled his lips, said nothing, just nodded slightly to Jiang Xianfan, turned and left the private room.

The door was closed, and an eerie silence fell in the private room. Qi Zhixuan was still buried in Pang Jing’s arms, and the trembling of his body did not ease at all. Everyone felt tense, but they didn’t know how to comfort him.

Chen Runsong stood up and touched Qi Zhixuan’s head to confirm that he had no fever, but he looked very bad. He worriedly said to Pang Jing, “I see that he doesn’t feel well. Should he go to the hospital or go home to rest first.””

“Do I need to go to the hospital?Pang Jing lowered his head and asked the person in his arms softly. Qi Zhixuan shook his head.

“I’ll take him home later.”Pang Jing gently held the person in his arms.

Jiang Xianfan said he wanted to send them off, but Pang Jing refused. It was obvious that he couldn’t eat the meal anymore. Pang Jing told them not to worry about him, and waited until Qi Zhixuan calmed down before taking them home.

Chen Runsong and Jiang Xianfan were left in the private room, and the atmosphere was dull.Lin Yan was thinking about going back to school, so she took a taxi first, while Jiang Xianfan drove Chen Runsong home.

“Jiang Xianfan, who is that person?”Chen Runsong couldn’t help but ask questions as soon as he got in the car, his tone was full of anger, a good meal was tasteless, and Qi Zhixuan looked very uncomfortable because of the trouble, he was really angry to death.

“Manager of an AI product company.”Jiang Xianfan held the steering wheel, his face not very good-looking, “I didn’t expect him to know Boss Qi.”

“Why is he looking for you?This man looks uneasy and kind-hearted.”Although he has nothing to do with that person, he has a shrewd energy like an old fox, and Qi Zhixuan obviously hates him. Chen Runsong is the best at protecting his shortcomings and has already blacklisted him in his heart.

“He asked me for something.”Jiang Xianfan was also very irritated when he said this. An AI project that Liang Yuansheng was working on was suspected of plagiarizing copyrighted works under the name of a leading art company, using AI for deep learning without authorization, and also producing and selling the products. Now the two parties are in a lawsuit.

But this Liang Yuansheng came back from Japan and privately approached Jiang Xianfan and wanted to purchase the copyrights of those works. He used various resources and tried hard to persuade him.

In fact, Leading Art has so many works, it is normal for copyright issues to arise. He usually refers it to legal affairs. But this Liang Yuansheng did not know where he gained the trust of his mother, and his mother also asked him to withdraw the lawsuit. This made him very sensitive and did not want to reconcile, so this person often appeared next to him like a ghost.

“What the hell? He must have fallen in love with you.”Chen Runsong was speechless after listening to Jiang Xianfan’s simple explanation. This man is too do-it-yourself. Besides, what’s the point of clinging to someone else’s boyfriend?

Jiang Xianfan was amused by Chen Runsong. Liang Yuansheng’s company was quite famous. He had reached this position just a few years after graduating from graduate school, and he had many projects on hand. In his opinion, at least he could only achieve it by dedicating himself to the workplace. And through some simple contacts during this period, he found that this person was a cold-blooded workplace puppet. It was hard to imagine who he would like.

“Why are you laughing?Chen Runsong folded his arms in frustration, “It’s not impossible, I just feel annoyed when I see him.””

“Definitely not, even if it is, I only like you.”Jiang Xianfan took advantage of waiting for the red light to pick up Chen Runsong and gave him a kiss.

Chen Runsong felt better after being coaxed, but when he thought of Qi Zhixuan, he felt a little worried, “Oh, I don’t know how Xiao Xuan is.”