In the office, Jiang Xun set the coffee down on the coffee table and made a greeting, getting ready to slip away.
Fu Yanli called out to stop him, "Have you eaten lunch?"
Jiang Xun nodded and then shook his head, saying he hadn't.
Fu Yanli got up from his office chair and walked over to the lounge area, "Stay and eat together."
He sat down in front of the sofa, where high-end packaged meal boxes sat on the coffee table, and Fu Yanli opened them unhurriedly.
Jiang Xun stood right by the side, offering a dry, polite refusal, "No need, I still have to go back to work."
Fu Yanli did not speak, concentrating on taking the food out and opening them one by one.
Braised beef brisket with potatoes, cola chicken wings, hawthorn pork ribs, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, and a tofu and fish soup.
Though they were all home-style dishes, they looked, smelled, and tasted complete, clearly made by a five-star hotel chef.
Jiang Xun took a deep breath. Very good, every single dish was something he liked to eat.
This was much better than the employee set boxes from the cafeteria.
Jiang Xun was a foodie, but he was also a picky eater, only eating things he liked; he would never touch dishes he disliked, and he could never even finish half of those boxed lunches every time.
Only then did Fu Yanli lift his gaze to look over, fixing his eyes on the person in front of him with an even voice, "I can't finish it alone. It's a waste."
Although the portions of each dish weren't large, one person truly couldn't finish them.
Jiang Xun said, "Waste is not a good thing, so let me help you take care of it."
Fu Yanli lowered his eyes to take out the chopsticks, dense black eyelashes blocking the emotions within, and then passed the chopsticks over, "Sit down and eat."
"Ah."
Jiang Xun sat down in the nearby spot, and Fu Yanli scooped a bowl of soup and handed it to him.
He took a taste. The flavor was extremely delicious, carrying a hint of light sweetness, and Jiang Xun sighed with satisfaction inwardly.
When this lunch was half eaten, Jiang Xun belatedly noticed a hint of something strange.
This should have been Fu Yanli's lunch for one person, so how come there were two sets of tableware?
Jiang Xun paused his meal, his peripheral vision quietly sweeping toward the man beside him.
Fu Yanli lowered his eyes slightly, eating his food unhurriedly, his movements composed and natural.
No matter what this person did, he never showed his hand; how could anyone read anything from that?
Jiang Xun quietly withdrew his gaze and continued eating.
He didn't make any noise while eating either, devoid of bad habits, instead exuding a trace of elegance and nobility that radiated straight from his bones.
In his past life, Jiang Xun was already the young master of a wealthy family, having cultivated this kind of table etiquette since childhood.
Yet applied to the original owner, who had lived at the very bottom of society since he was little, it simply couldn't be explained away; that noble air radiating from the bones must have been nurtured bit by bit, steeped in an affluent living environment from an early age.
Jiang Xun was not aware of this tiny, minute detail.
At this moment, he also failed to notice that a pair of eyes beside him were observing him, taking his every move in.
It was a gaze devoid of malice, carrying a hint of probing along with some other very subtle emotion that was indistinct and hard to name.
It was as though he were watching a small animal.
Of course, a likable small animal... and this small animal still seemed to be hiding a secret.
Seeming to sense something, Jiang Xun suddenly turned his gaze sideways, crashing squarely into Fu Yanli's eyes.
This person looked outstanding in every way, especially his eyes; those black pupils were like a whirlpool, seemingly capable of sucking a person's soul away.
Jiang Xun's heart skipped a beat, "W-What is it?"
Caught red-handed by the person in question, Fu Yanli's face didn't show the slightest trace of awkwardness. He switched to an open and aboveboard gaze, his sight shifting downward, "You have a grain of rice stuck to the corner of your mouth."
"Where?"
Jiang Xun was still somewhat dazed when Fu Yanli pulled out a tissue, then leaned in slightly to wipe the left corner of his mouth.
"There."
Clutching his chopsticks, Jiang Xun was completely frozen, almost forgetting to breathe. What kind of move was this?
Fu Yanli actually wiped his mouth for him personally?
If it were any other elder, Jiang Xun wouldn't have thought much of it, but swapped for Fu Yanli, he always had a strange feeling inside.
Was the big shot being a bit too close to him?
It defied common sense.
If Fu Yanli weren't a straight man married for three years, Jiang Xun would have suspected the other man was harboring some ambiguous intentions toward him.
Yet Fu Yanli was indeed straight, and Jiang Xun hadn't even gone down that train of thought.
He was more suspicious that the other party had noticed a different core had been swapped into this body of his and was testing him.
Upon deeper thought, though, that was impossible; this phenomenon of his simply couldn't be explained by science, and no matter how smart Fu Yanli was, he wouldn't guess in that direction.
In stark contrast to Jiang Xun's reaction, Fu Yanli didn't seem to feel there was anything amiss with his recent action, putting down the tissue and picking up his chopsticks to continue eating.
Jiang Xun pondered for a long time without figuring anything out.
It was just a small matter, and the big shot did not care, so why should he?
Just as Jiang Xun relaxed, footsteps suddenly sounded outside, and before anyone could be seen, a voice came over:
"Old Fu, are you free tomorrow? My mom wants to see you..."
This voice... Jiang Xun's hand paused in the middle of his action.
Turning his head to look, Ye Jing was stepping into the room in high heels. Seeing that Jiang Xun was also there, a flash of surprise crossed her eyes, and her words stopped abruptly, taking a sharp turn: "Xiaoxun is here too."
Ye Jing wore a smile on her face.
Jiang Xun immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks and stood up, explaining in a quick tone: "Maternal Aunt, I'm working part-time at a coffee shop nearby and just happened to come to the company to deliver coffee, so Maternal Uncle invited me to have lunch together."
He did not know why he was in such a hurry to explain, but explaining was the right thing to do anyway.
"Is that so? Then you should eat more and put on some meat, you're too thin."
Ye Jing swept her gaze over Jiang Xun and could not help feeling amazed. She sat down on the opposite sofa and joked:
"I haven't seen you for a while, Xiaoxun, how did you even change your color code? You're getting more and more handsome, little handsome boy. What whitening product did you use, send me a link?"
People who were together day and night might not have noticed the changes in Jiang Xun since it was a gradual process, but after not seeing each other for a while, the changes were quite obvious.
He used to be a dark-skinned, tacky little country bumpkin in his dress and style, so how could he still look like a fraction of the impression from before?
Jiang Xun smiled embarrassedly, speaking modestly: "Maternal Aunt, please don't tease me."
"You came to see Maternal Uncle, right?"
"Yeah." Only then did Ye Jing shift her gaze to Fu Yanli, smiling softly, "Darling, are you free tomorrow? Mom wants to see you."
Fu Yanli lowered his head and rubbed his temples, his expression unclear. "Mm, I'm free."
Jiang Xun had not paid attention to what Ye Jing said when she first walked in, as his ears were not very good and he could not hear very clearly.
Now he heard that endearment clearly.
He gave a soft click of his tongue in his heart. It was better not to be a third wheel; as a passerby fan, he had no heart to ship them right now.
So he quickly shoveled down a couple of mouthfuls of food, said his goodbyes, and immediately slipped away.
Looking in the direction Jiang Xun had left, Ye Jing shook her head with a light smile, her words directed at Fu Yanli: "Running away so fast, did you scare the kid?"
Fu Yanli had also finished eating. He tidied up the things on the coffee table and replied, "Maybe."
"Jiang Xun really is getting better looking. I wonder if there are any little classmates chasing him at school."
"It's just that Xingye has bad taste and still complains about him all day long."
Fu Yanli was noncommittal.
Recently at school, there really were people chasing Jiang Xun, and more than one.
The original host used to have a bad reputation, coupled with low self-esteem, gloominess, and tacky styling, making him an unwelcome presence at school.
The current Jiang Xun was not as dark, his skin had also improved, and his hairstyle and wardrobe had changed accordingly, revealing all his personal advantages.
Standing in a crowd, he was definitely an eye-catching presence.
Not to mention his personality and character, just that face alone could make people fall in love at first sight.
Coupled with the fact that his personality was also different from before-cheerful and humorous-all classmates who had spent time with Jiang Xun no longer held prejudices against him.
Jiang Xun's popularity at school had been steadily climbing, almost catching up to Chu Xingye, the school hunk.
If there was any flaw to speak of, it was that he was a little bit short.
In the blink of an eye, it was the afternoon off-work time, and Jiang Xun did not take Fu Yanli's car back.
He took Jiang Huaijin's car.
It was said that he just happened to be nearby and dropped by to pick him up for a meal.
Jiang Xun naturally did not believe it, nor did he pursue the bottom of it. It just so happened that he did not want to hitch a ride with Fu Yanli anymore anyway, so he obediently got into his cheap brother's car.
While buckling his seatbelt, he spoke sarcastically: "Brother, if Little Zixing knows you came to pick me up for dinner, won't he be angry?"
Jiang Huaijin wore a deadpan face: "Don't force me to slap your mouth."
Jiang Xun wore a deadpan face: "Oh."
After that, Jiang Xun did not speak again. With a pair of round eyes wide open, he stared blankly ahead at the traffic flow, his gaze unfocused.
As Jiang Huaijin drove, he swept several glances toward the side from the corner of his eye, and finally could not help speaking up: "What are you thinking about?"
You look like your soul was sucked out by someone.
Jiang Xun sighed softly: "The people."
Jiang Huaijin: "..."
Jiang Xun figured he would not go to the coffee shop for a part-time job anymore, and there was nothing going on with Lin Jian either.
Secondly, it was because this place was too close to Fu Yanli's company.
The third reason was that he was busy with part-time jobs and had no time to return to the Jiang Family to build presence, and the side quest still needed to be completed.
Jiang Huaijin happened to speak up at this moment. "Don't go do part-time jobs anymore. How much can you make in a day? Tell me how much you're short and I'll give it to you."
He had mentioned this matter before, though he didn't know what his younger brother was thinking, choosing to bus tables instead of living the life of a young master.
Jiang Xun turned his head to look, blinked at Jiang Huaijin, and though his tone was quite cheeky, his voice was very soft. "Brother, are you worried about me?"
Jiang Huaijin almost broke out in goosebumps and couldn't quite handle it.
"Alright, transfer the money to me right now."
Jiang Huaijin didn't say another word, transferring two hundred thousand to him as soon as he stopped at the traffic light.
"Tell me if it's not enough."
Jiang Xun happily accepted the payment, his eyes curving into smiles as he didn't forget to butter him up with a remark. "You're still the best to me, Brother."
He was indeed quite annoying when asking for dislike, but wanting to make people like him was no difficult task either.
Jiang Huaijin pressed his lips together, not letting the corners of his mouth turn up.
"What do you want to eat later?"
Jiang Xun pondered that the weather had gotten cold recently, making it the most suitable time for hotpot.
"Then let's have hotpot."