Chapter 44: Charcoal Grilled Beef Ribs

Translated by Kollumceti of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

They had already arrived by the time Lin ShuYi woke up again.

The car had stopped and Shen Fu was bending over to unfasten his seat belt. Since they were too close together, Lin ShuYi’s lips directly brushed across Shen Fu’s cheek when he turned his head.

A cool and soft sensation was felt as his lips brushed past. Lin ShuYi hesitated for a moment, then he saw Shen Fu raise his head. Jet-black eyes, akin to the black jade that was once awarded to him by the Emperor of Da Yan, seemed to contain a deep light that sucked people in. His heartbeat seemed to have suddenly quickened. Lin ShuYi’s face reddened after sensing this and he felt a little awkward, “Are you done?”

Shen Fu naturally knew that this was only an accident, but Lin ShuYi’s slightly reddish ears still made him lean on Lin ShuYi’s body in a jovial manner that conveyed his reluctance to get up. It was so rare to see a shy Lin ShuYi that would blush with a slight touch. Lin ShuYi was so innocent that it was really a pleasant surprise.

Shen Fu deliberately lightened his tone and whispered in Lin ShuYi’s ear, “We’re here. My friend is here too. Would you like to see him?”

Lin ShuYi felt so uncomfortable all over that he unwittingly nodded his head in agreement no matter what Shen Fu said.

Shen Fu laughed and wanted to add on when there was a knock from the window. Once he turned around, he saw Chen Fang in the lead, followed by a group of wealthy and pampered sons who came to meet him. They had obviously seen the scene inside through the window. The eyes of each and every one of them were shining as incessant hoots came from their mouths.

Shen Fu frowned. If he had known that they would be such an eyesore, he would not have said that he had just arrived at the gate when he had answered the call.

Shen Fu slowly rolled down the window.

Chen Fang put his hands in his pockets as he looked Lin ShuYi up and down, before teasing. “Excuse me sir, could you move to another venue? Almost all the dishes are served.”

Lin ShuYi stared with wide eyes at this group, where even though everyone all had different styles, it was obvious that they were all handsome and wealthy second generations. He did not know why they came over and what relationship they had with Shen Fu.

Shen Fu ignored Chen Fang and softly introduced him to Lin ShuYi, “This is Chen Fang, a good buddy of mine who grew up together with me. The rest are part of H City’s Young Master’s Association. You can ignore them, they’re just part of the background.”

The spectators who were labeled as part of the background were unwilling, “Shen-ge, you are really uncool. We specially gathered here to pick you up, ey.”

At this time, Lin ShuYi was somewhat aware that these were probably all friends of Shen Fu. Just like how the nobles and royal descendants of Da Yan gathered in small groups, this was the gathering of the rich second generations of H City.

Although he did not know why Shen Fu introduced them to him, it was obvious that one should not forget their manners no matter what. Therefore, Lin ShuYi opened the car door and extended his hand towards Chen Fang in a manner that was neither obsequious nor supercilious. Though his voice was still a little hoarse from sleep, it was still exceptionally calm and pleasant to hear, “Nice to meet you, I am Lin ShuYi.”

Chen Fang was apparently stunned by Lin ShuYi’s move. Though he expected that Lin ShuYi would be rather formal, he did not expect that Lin ShuYi would not display the slightest hint of stage fright. After a while, Chen Fang smiled and reached out to shake Lin ShuYi’s hand, “Nice to meet you too.”

It was clearly the modern times now, but their actions were as if they were in the Renaissance period.

Shen Fu lazily got out of the car from the other door. He pulled Lin ShuYi’s hand out of Chen Fang’s grasp and then wrapped his arm around Lin ShuYi’s shoulders, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to eat delicious food. It’s his treat.” Then he looked at Chen Fang who was still smiling. “What are you smiling foolishly for? Go lead the way.”

The wealthy pampered sons really had been selectively ignored by Shen Fu, mainly because he did not think that Lin ShuYi would attach so much importance to shaking hands with Chen Fang. Shen Fu felt that nothing good would come from this at the thought that Lin ShuYi would shake hands with the rest of the people one by one.

The place where they got out from their cars was an underground parking lot. A group of about a dozen people entered the elevator in a grandiose manner.

Lin ShuYi had just woken up and was still a little muddled and did not feel that it was inappropriate for Shen Fu to wrap his arm around his shoulder in front of people like this. After all, Shen Fu constantly used to do this intimate action that did not have the least bit of propriety. He had scolded Shen Fu many times, but he did not change his behavior, so Lin ShuYi just could not be bothered anymore.

However, in the eyes of others, this was an evident sign of possessive desire. Even Chen Fang had never seen Shen Fu treat anyone with such care, not to mention the group of young masters.

Shen Fu’s temperament was willful from birth and he had never showed a strong possessiveness for anything although he had never gotten along well with anyone anyone before. Today’s Shen Fu was the first time that Chen Fang had seen something new.

Chen Fang could not help but direct his gaze towards Lin ShuYi to see where this person differed from others. Based off his appearance, he was quite young and was a couple of years younger than the people here. Whether it was his body shape or face, either was impeccable. But to be honest, there was no lack of handsome guys in their circle and using a sentence that someone said, ‘anyone who wanted to see ‘Mr. Perfect’ should just look into the mirror’. Thus, although the emergence of Lin ShuYi made Chen Fang particularly curious, Chen Fang really felt that Shen Fu was serious.

Chen Fang wanted to laugh again once he thought of this. The last time Shen Fu called him was a few months ago. He said that Old Master Shen gave him a thrashing because he liked men and did not want to quietly stay at home to inherit the family business. In the end, Old Master Shen never expected that this thrashing would actually beat Shen Fu away. The Shen family looked everywhere for him, but nothing turned up. After a few months, he came out on his own without giving any warning and even brought someone back. Tsk, tsk, Chen Fang could probably imagine what kind chaos the Shen family would be in. As for Old Master Shen’s fierce temper, everyone had to respectfully give way to him to some degree. It was only Shen Fu who was able to make him so angry that he would be spouting smoke through his seven orifices.

The elevator went straight up to the fifth floor, revealing the dazzling hall inside when the elevator door opened.

Chen Fang led the way. He passed through the hall and went straight to the last private room. All the waiters nodded in greeting to him along the way, which showed that he was obviously a frequent visitor here.

Shen Fu did not think that the place where Chen Fang had made a reservation was here. At this time, he lowered his head to observe Lin ShuYi, for fear that he was uncomfortable here.

In fact, Lin ShuYi did not feel the slightest bit uncomfortable. He just felt that this situation was like a sudden return to the year when he became a high official in the Ministry of Appointments. He did not know the proper social communications that an official should have at that time. The invitations sent to the official’s residence piled up on the tables everyday. He could not tell what to reject and what to accept, so he just accepted all the invitations, and then ran around all the restaurants every day. That was the most extravagant and luxurious days during his years as an official.

Though the place he was currently at was totally different from the place he had visited, they were also somewhat similar to each other. Lin ShuYi absent-mindedly felt that there was a sense of familiarity.

“What are you thinking about?” Seeing that he was lost in thought with his eyes narrowed, Shen Fu could not help interrupting.

“Nothing.” Lin ShuYi slightly lifted his head to look at him and when he saw Shen Fu, he suddenly remembered that he was already much too far away from those days in his past. Lin ShuYi shrank backwards towards Shen Fu and derived a little sense of reality from this action. Otherwise, he would sometimes feel like what had happened here was like a dream.

Shen Fu only felt that Lin ShuYi seemed to lean towards him and was delighted, yet it was not too obviously displayed on his face. He just lowered his head and whispered in Lin ShuYi’s ear, “It’s all right. We’ll leave after our meal.” He had presumed that Lin ShuYi was uncomfortable here.

Chen Fang went ahead and brought the crowd into the room. A huge crystal chandelier hung in the middle of the room, while the table below was full of all kinds of dishes.

The most eye-catching thing was the lobster displayed on a huge plate in the middle.

The lobster sitting on a layer of cold ice seemed as if it was totally intact, when in actual fact, the sparkling and translucent lobster meat had already been separated out. The meat was arranged in a small pile beside the shell on the leaves of some unknown plant. Next to it was a few bundles of gorgeous carved vegetable flowers and a crystal clear dish containing light brown sashimi soy sauce.

As for the small dishes on the side – there were scallops, raw oysters, and grilled beef ribs (牛肋鹅肝).

In any case, the bill for this table would not be cheap.

Chen Fang pulled up a chair, then he raised his chin at Shen Fu, “Sit down, didn’t you want to eat lobster sashimi the last time? This time it’s for for you and… him, and we got a big one too.” He looked at Lin ShuYi, yet did not know how to address him. After all, Shen Fu said that they could not speak frankly in front of Lin ShuYi. Chen Fang was amused at the thought that Shen Fu had not even managed to court Lin ShuYi even until now.

It was only then did Lin ShuYi realize that the lobster sashimi he had eaten last time had come from this person.

Shen Fu pulled up a chair for Lin ShuYi. Then he sat next to him, and gave Chen Fang a rare compliment, “Young Master Chen really showed great style today.”

t/n: In this case, the ‘style’ is the skill shown in spending money.

Chen Fang rolled his eyes and felt that Shen Fu’s remark was not anything complimentary.

Then the rest sat down one by one. A waiter walked over with a bottle of red wine and was about to open it, but Chen Fang stopped him, “You can put it down, we’ll do it ourselves.”

Then he opened the wine and poured it into a sparkling glass made of crystal. The first glass was handed to Lin ShuYi. “Drink a little to warm up.”

Then the bottle was passed around the table. Everyone looked a little awkward as this happened.

Shen Fu glanced at the bottle and tacitly accepted it when he saw that the alcoholic content wasn’t too high. After all, he had never seen Lin ShuYi drink and did not know how well he could hold his alcohol. Then he silently placed food on Lin ShuYi’s plate. He knew that Lin ShuYi’s eyes must be as bright as a golden retriever that had seen a bone and he was really itching to rub his head.

The lobster sashimi was sparkling and translucent. Dipped in some soy sauce, there was first a hint of spiciness in the mouth followed by the unique fragrance and texture of the sashimi itself. It was really very good. Lin ShuYi tasted it and squinted his eyes in happiness. It seemed to be a little more delicious than what he had eaten last time.

There was a lot of seafood on the table and there was also a popularized yet delicious dish like charcoal grilled beef ribs.

The people next to him had already started to drink, but Shen Fu was solely preoccupied in serving Lin ShuYi food.

At last, some people got dissatisfied and started to kick up a fuss, “Shen-ge, you can’t do this. We specially came here to hold a welcoming dinner for you, yet you’re giving us the cold-shoulder like this?”

Everyone took the opportunity to raise a ruckus.

When Lin ShuYi lifted his head and looked at everyone, he and found that they were all looking at him with a strange glint in their eyes.

Shen Fu had already picked up his glass. Then called Lin ShuYi softly, “Do you want to get to know them?”

Lin ShuYi stood up and raised his glass as he shot a resentful look at Shen Fu. Wasn’t it because he had been interrupted by Shen Fu just now?

Who would have known that Shen Fu would lean towards his ear again and whisper, “Just offer a toast, there’s no need to shake hands.”

Lin ShuYi did not really understand though he nodded his head.

Then the two raised their glasses together, “Thank you all for hosting a dinner for me.”

Then Shen Fu took a sip and Lin ShuYi drained the entire cup in one mouthful.

Shen Fu: …

Everyone: …

Chen Fang was also dumbstruck.

Though it was said that the alcoholic content was not high, this was dependent on the drinker finishing a glass sip by sip. If the glass was finished in one go… Chen Fang was even a little worried on Shen Fu’s behalf.

Then Lin ShuYi put down his glass and looked at everyone, “Aren’t you all going to drink?”

Only then did everyone react, “Sister-in-… Lin-ge is really too imposing. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have pretended for so long in front of him. It made me so miserable.”

Everyone all thought that he was a kindred spirit upon witnessing Lin ShuYi’s bold and unrestrained drinking style. Their solemn and presentable image that they presented in front of him disappeared immediately, and their sitting posture became more casual. Shen Fu also laughed, “I say, you guys all changed sex today ah? After looking all decent for half the day, it turned out that it was all pretend?”

Everyone fell silent, what did they plan this for? Wasn’t it all for the sake of giving their future ‘sister-in-law’ a good impression?

The atmosphere finally warmed up at this time. They all came up to Lin ShuYi to introduce themselves. Then to watch the fun, they came over to offer a toast to Lin ShuYi on all big and small matters.

Lin ShuYi grew up in Da Yan and was deeply poisoned by the ‘I empty my glass first to show my respect to you’ mindset. He had drank a lot even with Shen Fu’s attempts to stop him. Finally, Shen Fu became angry and disciplined all these people, who were here to watch the fun, until they were in a pitiful state.

It was only when they had eaten and drunk to their heart’s content and sent off most of the people that Shen Fu looked back at Lin ShuYi.

A pair of jet-black eyes and a clear and limpid gaze. Where did he even look the slightest bit like he was half drunk?

Shen Fu rubbed his dizzy head while feeling like he had been taken in. This was really a case of a sage presenting as an ordinary person.

Lin ShuYi still licked his lips like he had not drank enough, “Do you still have more of that fruit juice? It’s really sweet.”

Shen Fu: …