After the birthday party, Song Shi'an and his entourage arrived at the banquet hall that had been booked in advance.
Father Song. Mother Song. Song greeted guests at the door, while Song Shi'an was surrounded by waves of birthday wishes.
After finally squeezing out of the crowd to catch my breath, I caught a glimpse of Jiang Ye and Chi Xun standing at the door, looking around.
He quickly squeezed through the crowd. "You're here?" He then looked around. " Old Pei isn't here?"
Chi Xun handed him the gift. " Old Pei has been away on a business trip abroad for several days, discussing a very important project. He really didn't have time to come."
"Alright, then next time." Song Shi'an took the gift and put it aside.
Jiang Ye patted him on the shoulder. "The performance on stage just now was absolutely amazing!"
A little embarrassed by the compliment, Song Shi'an scratched his head and said, "Please have a seat."
He suddenly remembered something and leaned close to Chi Xun's ear, whispering, "Your idol is over there, hurry up and get his autograph and a photo!"
Chi Xun's eyes lit up instantly, and before Song Shi'an could react, the figure in front of him had vanished.
Turning my head again, I saw that Chi Xun had already squeezed next to Xu Che and started taking pictures.
Jiang Ye watched Chi Xun's retreating figure and twitched his lips. "Pathetic..."
There was another commotion at the entrance.
Shen Lingshu led Shen Xingluo in. Shen Xingluo, dressed in a little suit and tie, followed her sister with a serious demeanor. Despite her young age, she exuded the aura of a domineering CEO on an inspection tour.
As they reached the banquet hall entrance, he let go of his sister's hand. Shen Lingshu glanced down at him and said, "There will be a lot of people today, so don't wander off later."
Shen Xingluo nodded seriously, clutching the gift box tightly in her hands.
Standing at the door, Shen Lingshu immediately spotted Song Shi'an, who was the center of attention. No matter where she was, he was always the first person she noticed.
Shen Xingluo went straight to Song Shi'an. Song Shi'an was a little shocked when he saw him and squatted down. " Little Xing! What brings you here!"
"Happy birthday, big brother!" Shen Xingluo handed him the gift. "My sister and I came together!"
Song Shi'an followed his gaze and saw Shen Lingshu walking towards him in a formal dress and high heels, a perfectly timed smile on her face, "Happy birthday."
Song Shi'an was still in shock. Good heavens, Little Xing's sister is Shen Lingshu? He'd never heard of her having a younger brother!
He stood up and tried to compose himself. " President Shen kind."
Father Song. and Mother Song. Song walked over hand in hand. " Shi'an, who is this?"
Song Shi'an introduced, "Mom and Dad, this is our company boss!"
Mother Song immediately put on a smiling face, "I often hear my son talk about you, saying that the company treats its employees very well, and the boss is also a very nice person!"
Shen Lingshu smiled and said, "Really? Does he often mention me?"
Father Song chimed in, "Of course! I've said it countless times!"
Song Shi'an felt like the sky had fallen. When had he ever said such things? He might complain about it a couple of times in front of his parents, but where did this "frequently mentioning" come from?
He stood to the side, his face stiff from smiling, while the two others chatted enthusiastically with Shen Lingshu.
Shen Lingshu's arrival made everyone much more restrained; with their immediate superior sitting next to them, no one dared to act recklessly.
Once everyone was seated, Father Song. and Mother Song raised their glasses and said with smiles, "Thank you all for attending Shi'an's birthday party. Let's skip the formalities and get started."
As the event drew to a close, many people drank too much and were sent home, leaving the banquet hall nearly half empty. The remaining people gathered around, waiting for the final cake-cutting ceremony.
Liu Bin pushed the cake over. "Brother, this is your twentieth birthday, you'd better think of a good wish, it'll definitely come true."
Just as a group of people were about to turn off the lights, the banquet hall doors were suddenly pushed open.
Pei Zhiyan stood at the door, holding a suit jacket, his forehead still damp with sweat. He said breathlessly, "Sorry I'm late."
Song Shi'an was a little surprised. "Weren't you on a business trip abroad? Why are you back?"
"It ended early." Pei Zhiyan walked over and stood next to him. "I saw there was still plenty of time, so I rushed back."
Song Shi'an patted his arm. "Good bro, it's time to cut the cake, have a couple more slices later."
The lights dimmed, and the light from twenty candles danced in the darkness, illuminating the smiling faces around them.
Song Shi'an closed his eyes and made a wish, hoping that everything before him was not just a dream. He felt that these things were too illusory, which made him feel a little anxious.
When he opened his eyes, he saw everyone's eyes were on his face, smiling and expectant. He blew out the candles.
Cheers and applause erupted simultaneously.
My birthday was just a few days ago, and the dreaded exam week began.
Professor Wang stood on the podium, picked up his thermos, took a sip of tea, and glanced at the class. "I don't need to say anything more about those who failed last semester, right? The only one who got a perfect score was Song, who hardly ever attended class. Aren't you ashamed? I tried my best to help, but I couldn't save many!"
The whole class burst into laughter, and those who failed wished they could bury their heads in their desks.
Song Shi'an was awakened from a good sleep by laughter. He looked up in confusion. What did Old Man Wang just say? Why is everyone laughing?
After taking exams for several days in a row, Song Shi'an felt like he had lost two ounces of weight when he handed in the last paper.
I threw myself onto the bed as soon as I got back to the villa—my happy summer vacation is almost here! So awesome!
I got up, ready to treat myself to a big meal to celebrate, when suddenly the system's voice came from my head.
[Congratulations, host! The mission reward has been issued and is expected to arrive in your account tomorrow!]
Song Shi'an's hand, which was reaching for the refrigerator, stopped, and his heart skipped a beat. "Are you leaving?"
[The funds will arrive tomorrow, and this system should leave then. Is the host reluctant to part with this system?]
Song Shi'an opened the refrigerator door and said nonchalantly, "You're overthinking it. The sooner you leave, the better."
He made a simple dinner, sat down at the table, took a bite, chewed twice, frowned, took another bite, then sighed and put down his chopsticks.
This tastes different from before; it's not as good as it used to be.
He immediately activated the system: "Fine, you're leaving now, but you've taken all my skills back!"
Even Dou E might not have suffered as much injustice as this system...
"Then why doesn't my cooking taste as good as it used to?"
One person argued with the system all night, from cooking skills to acting skills to language proficiency, until the system's processor was almost smoking from all the noise.
The next morning, when Mother Song 'Father Song opened the villa door and saw Song Shi'an lying on the sofa, they were nearly scared to death.
Mother Song quickly stepped forward and shook him. "Son! What's wrong with you!"
Song Shi'an felt dizzy from being shaken and quickly opened his eyes. "It's okay, Mom, why are you here?"
I looked up and saw the two of them dressed so formally. "Where are you two going?"
Mother Song smiled and said, "Go and get ready first. We're going to your maternal grandmother's house today."
A bunch of question marks flashed through Song Shi'an's mind. Grandma? He hadn't heard from her even once in over a year, but he still obediently went to wash up and change his clothes.
Once he was in the car, he asked, "Mom, why have I never heard you mention Grandma before?"
Mother Song gripped her handbag tightly, her eyes dimming slightly. "Your maternal grandmother doesn't like crowds. This is her 70th birthday, let's go back and visit her."
Seeing that Mother Song's expression was a bit off, Song Shi'an didn't ask any more questions and took out his phone to scroll through for a while.
I watched two funny videos and didn't laugh at all. The third video was a marketing account's commentary. The more I looked at the screen, the more familiar it seemed. Suddenly, I sat up straight. Oh my god! Isn't that his food stall?!
The comments section was even more lively.
"What! Say that again! Who is this?!"
"My goodness, are you saying this is Song Shi'an went viral globally a while ago? Is it authentic?"
"[Image] Please see the detailed comparison photos, as well as the comparison photos from variety shows, and you'll see that it's definitely the same person..."
"Holy crap! Is it still open? Even if I ate something bad at this price, I'd still rave about it!"
"What are you thinking? Apparently, it hasn't been driven for months..."
"[Image] I just saw a Weibo Weibo from a girl who's had it several times and even posted about it each time. I'm so envious! I wish I were in Capital!"
When Song Shi'an saw this, he opened the group chat in WeChat that was set to "Do Not Disturb," and lo and behold! There was a red notification dot on the message; he didn't even dare to open it.
Seeing his strange expression, Mother Song asked, "Son, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing, it's nothing." Song Shi'an shook his head, but his curiosity still led him to open the group chat. Messages kept popping up one after another, and he couldn't keep up with them all.
Ji Shuyao's message popped up at the top. "Throw away that piece of junk of yours!"
Song Shi'an clicked on the reply, "Where is it broken? I spent several hundred yuan on it..."
The reply came instantly, "It's you again. President Shen asked me to inform you to go to her office tomorrow. Be prepared, and good luck."
Song Shi'an slumped back in his chair with a thud. "That's it," he thought, "I'm definitely going to be questioned tomorrow."
He closed his eyes, unwilling to face reality, and having not slept all night, he fell asleep in no time.
Upon arrival, Mother Song gently patted his shoulder. "Son, we've arrived. Be sweet to your grandmother when you see her later."
Song Shi'an rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Okay, Mom."
Squinting, I opened the car door and got out. As soon as I opened my eyes, an endless Chinese-style garden mansion came into view, with gray walls, black tiles, and upturned eaves.
The two stone lions at the entrance are taller than a person, and the plaque above reads " Fu Residence " in large characters.
Song Shi'an froze on the spot, his mind blank, then slowly turned to look at his Mother Song: "Mom... whose house is this... whose home is this...?"
Mother Song came over and took his hand. "Your maternal grandmother's house is also my house."
Song Shi'an suddenly burst out laughing, his voice carrying a hint of impending collapse. "Hahaha, I must not have slept well last night. I'm hallucinating now, even auditory hallucinations. I need to go to the hospital to get checked out." With that, he turned to walk back.