These 2 bonus chapters should’ve posted yesterday, but I’m sick so it’s late. However, still, thanks for the sponsor, T. and Luxe911! I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
Ko-fi donation goals for the next bonus chapter (1/2)
On the next day, it was finally the day of the Fu family’s dinner party.
In the afternoon, Shen Xingsui had already put on his suit. It was the evening suit that his father bought for him. It had a darker color, which concealed a little bit of his childishness and made him look a little more mature and stable. Standing under the light, he looked dignified and handsome.
The Shen family members gathered downstairs.
Shen Xingsui found that Xu Enzhen was also very beautiful today. She was wearing a dark blue long dress, her hair was coiled up and pinned with a single crystal hairpin. It was simple and beautiful, and the most eye-catching thing was the necklace on her neck. The water-blue gemstone necklace looked even more radiant and dazzling when coupled with her dress.
Shen Xingchen came over and complimented her, “Mom, you are so beautiful today.”
Xu Enzhen glared at him without any heat, “You’re speaking nonsense again.”
“No, I agree with Erge. You’re really beautiful.” Shen Xingsui was also awed. “You’re prettier than many celebrities I have seen.”
Xu Enzhen was blown away by her sons’ excessive praise, and her face was a little red. Although she usually did not like to dress up, which woman didn’t like to be praised for her appearance?
Shen Yong came down from the stairs and saw his wife’s radiant look, he also showed a smile, “Madam is so beautiful.”
Xu Enzhen blushed as she denied, “Flatterer.”
Shen Xingchen, a clever little ghost, also noticed something, “Dad, you didn’t switch your watch today?”
Because Shen Yong actually loved to collect watches, he had countless expensive watches. Everyday, he changed which watch he wore. This watch was the one Shen Xingsui gifted to him yesterday, and he hasn’t switched it today.
Unexpectedly, Shen Yong looked down on his watch and said, “Well, this watch is very good, I will wear this from now on.”
“I understand Father’s sentiment.” Shen Minglang commented, as he also wore his gold-rimmed glasses – the one Shen Xingsui gave to him. Just like his father, he loved to mix-and-match his glasses with his attire, but unlike his father, he usually prioritized its price above all else.
Shen Xingchen shook his head again: “Tsk tsk.”
Shen Minglang gave him a sharp glare, “You have sores on your tongue?”
It seemed that Shen Xingchen was in a sassy mood today. He talked back, “Maybe I’ve been angry recently. Dage, how much did you give me this year? Give me a few more red envelopes, and give me a limited edition sports car, I should be fine.”
Shen Minglang scoffed, “Go outside and cool yourself with the cold wind. That should cool your temper down.”
Shen Xingchen: (`皿´＃) (`皿´＃) !!
Just as usual, it degenerated into a childish verbal fight.
The Fu family’s manor located on the hillside was brightly lit with myriad lamps, while on the driveways were many luxurious cars from various brands. Even in winter, there were still flowers blooming in the garden. The paths were very elegant, revealing an antique charm. It looked like a place with a strong cultural atmosphere. While it wasn’t outright ostentatious, the scent of opulence was still quite prevalent.
Standing at the gate, the host was welcoming the guests.
President Fu was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties. He was tall, with thick eyebrows and stern eyes. He looked serious and dignified. Li Na next to him was wearing a red dress, flamboyant and glamorous. This was the first time Shen Xingsui saw Fu Jinxiao’s father, and he really looked like how his reputation painted him.
Shen Xingchen said from the side, “Oh, Fu-ge looks so handsome today!”
Shen Xingsui followed Shen Xingchen’s line of gaze, and saw Fu Jinxiao standing next to President Fu from a distance, and he had to admit that Shen Xingchen was right.
Wearing a dark blue tuxedo, with a tall figure, elegant temperament, and a polite but unfamiliar smile on his handsome face, Fu Jinxiao truly belonged in the limelight. He has no need to do anything to be the center of everyone’s attention.
As if aware of his gaze, the actor turned his head and looked over to Shen Xingsui’s direction.
Shen Xingsui looked away in a panic.
His brother didn’t seem to be aware of his panic, and instead say, “Come on, let’s go over and say hello.”
When they passed by, there were some children brought by guests beside Fu Jinxiao, and they seemed to be clamoring for something:
“I wanna eat chocolate.”
“Gege, give me candy, please.”
“I want milk flavor.”
It turned out that there was a small fruit basket behind the door, which should be convenient for the guests to pick the refreshment as they liked. There were expensive candies and fruits inside, which naturally attracted children who passed by.
Fu Jinxiao picked a few candies to give them out for the children. Seeing Shen Xingsui approaching, he straightened up and looked at him.
Shen Xingsui came over and said in a soft voice, “Happy New Year, Fu-ge.”
The actor looked at the youth, who was half a head shorter than him. Standing in the crowd, looking lonely despite surrounded by the guests. Unexpectedly, he replied with a slight smile, “Happy New Year.”
Shen Xingsui suddenly didn’t know what to say.
But it’s been a long time since he saw the actor, so he didn’t want this moment to pass by too fast. He wanted to… stay for a little longer.
Fu Jinxiao said in a low voice at this time, “Open your hand.”
Shen Xingsui didn’t know why, but he opened his hand obediently. Then, a piece of fruit candy was put on his palms.
He looked at Actor Fu with a little surprise, “Teacher Fu, isn’t this what the children eat?” “
“No,” Fu Jinxiao answered with a casual gesture, “I can give it to whoever I want.”
“…”
It’s funny that the first time he got candy like this was when he was already an adult. This shouldn’t bring that much happiness to him, and yet, he felt a flash of confusing joy.
Shen Xingsui closed his hands and said softly, “Then I’ll take it.”
As a reply, Fu Jinxiao raised his eyebrows, while his genuine smile turned into a teasing smirk, “Well, what should you say to me, then? Just like the children? Hm?” The actor then pointed at the gaggle of noisy children not far away.
Then, seeing Shen Xingsui caught off-guard with a slight fluster, the taller man stepped closer, and he bent down, putting his face directly next to Shen Xingsui’s ear. “Like… ‘thank you, gege’?”
Shen Xingsui’s eyes widened for a moment, and the actor’s hot breaths was close to his ears, and his cheeks suddenly heated up!
It was Fu Jinxiao’s dark eyes that side-eyed the youth with some hidden meaning. He purposefully ignored Shen Xingsui’s embarrassment, and continued to whispered directly to his ear, “Be more polite, Comrade Xiao Shen.”
“!!!”
Under this hot gaze, Shen Xingsui’s earlobes slowly turned red. He lowered his head and said softly, “Thank you…”
Fu Jinxiao didn’t hear what he wanted to hear, and was quite dissatisfied.
Shen Minglang, who has a pair of sharp eyes, noticed Shen Xingsui’s weird demeanor. He strode over and shouted, “Suisui.”
Shen Xingsui was called by his brother, he hurriedly regained his senses, and then quickly answered him. Shen Minglang walked over next to him, pulled the youth closer, putting a safe distance between him and the actor. He glared at Fu Jinxiao, who was still has taht fox-like smile plastered on his smug face. Shen Minglang said, “We should go in.”
Shen Xingsui stumbled over his positive response.
Shen Minglang glanced at the still-smug friend, trying his best to tone down his brotherly instinct from punching Fu Jinxiao squarely in the face. “You’ve already given Suisui candy. There’s other guests to greet, so go along. Don’t bring your bad influence to my good kid.”
Fu Jinxiao still had that smile of his, which only pissed off Shen Minglang further, “Ah, I remembered your previous words to me, something along of me should… ‘eat them up’, so to speak.”
Shen Minglang pulled at his younger brother closer, “Really? I don’t remember such vulgar words coming from my mouth.”
“…”
Sometimes it’s not a good thing to be known too well by bad friends.
Fu Jinxiao gave up. He didn’t want to be despised by his future brother-in-law, after all.
After entering the main venue, Shen Xingsui was still thinking about Fu Jinxiao. He looked at his brother, worried that he might have made him unhappy, so he asked softly, “Dage, do you and Teacher Fu… have a good relationship?”
Shen Minglang returned to his senses and replied, “Don’t think too much, we have a very good relationship. You can say we grew up wearing the same pair of pants.”
Shen Xingsui smiled and said, “That’s good, I almost thought you were fighting just now. Or, sell, you don’t really like my association with Teacher Fu.”
Shen Minglang looked at his younger brother’s rejoicing appearance, and vaguely understood something.
“It’s not that I don’t like your association with Jinxiao. He is a very good person. Since you called him your teacher, I know that he could bring a lot of benefit to you,” Shen Minglang continued, “He’s also a great friend. Very reliable.”
Shen Xingsui was confused by this answer, “Then what are you worried about?”
Shen Minglang didn’t know how to explain. He was worried that old fox Fu Jinxiao would eat his cute younger brother clean. He definitely has the means to do that, after all. And on top of that, Shen Xingsui was very innocent and simple.
The thing was, if Fu Jinxiao was sincere and treated Shen Xingsui well, then there would be no problem. But if Fu Jinxiao was actually a scum beneath his gentleman temperament, he knew that Shen Xingsui couldn’t do anything to fight that. If anything, he would probably be sold off and help count the money1idiom; helping the person that hurts you for their benefit for him.
He was very worried that Shen Xingsui would not be able to handle such a powerful man.
Shen Minglang wanted to say a lot, but he swallowed it after seeing his brother’s face, and instead said, “It’s nothing, let’s go in first.”
When he walked to the main hall, there were even more people here.
There was a lot of food and drink here, and everything was buffet-style. After arriving inside, Shen Xingsui couldn’t help looking for something to eat with Shen Xingchen, and went to play by himself.
Shen Minglang didn’t bother them too much, and let them enjoy themselves at their own pace.
There were quite a lot of people at the dinner party, and old acquaintances of the Shen family would come to chat. All of them felt that the Shen family seemed a little weird today. For example, Shen Minglang’s old friend finally couldn’t help asking, “Minglang, your glasses are uhm… it isn’t as expensive as it usually is? What happened?”
Shen Minglang’s eyes lit up, and his eyebrows raised slightly, “How should I say it?”
“Hm… I just think this should be like this.”
Shen Minglang smiled meaningfully and said, “For your information, this is a gift from my brother. His name is Shen Xingsui.”
The old friend suddenly realized, “No wonder! Shen Xingsui is your youngest brother, right? I saw him on TV. He is the kid who is very good at playing the piano. Oh, he is really outstanding!”
Everyone knew that it’s very hard to flatter Shen Minglang. Unless they come up with something of great value, then they might be able to win Mr. Shen’s favor. But this time, it was just a casual compliment, and yet, Shen Minglang replied with the most radiant smile this old friend of his had ever seen.
It’s obvious that he was very proud, but he insisted on (trying) being humble, “Suisui is still young, and he still has quite a lot of things to learn. But I believe that he’s one of the best within his age group. And he will only improve from there.”
Friend: “…”
‘Why do I always feel that you still want me to praise him more?’
Shen Minglang pushed his glasses again, as if wishing the whole world would know that it was a gift from his younger brother, “By the way, how do you know that my glasses are more expensive?”
“Because you didn’t wear your tens of millions of glasses last time, and you pushed this pair of glasses several times,” The old friend complained, “Even if I don’t care, it was too distracting not to comment on it.”
Shen Minglang: “…”
And beyond that, more people also found the same thing with Shen Yong and Xu Enzhen.
The bosses and business tycoons who came to say hello found that Shen Yong was wearing a very ordinary watch, but he was very flamboyant about it and tried to flaunt it (with his own subtle way). It’s as if he was asking for people to comment on it.
Everyone speculated, and it quickly spiraled into conspiracy theory territory.
“What’s going on, the financial crisis is coming?”
“Is the Shen family going bankrupt?”
“No no no. I think I cracked this. Mr. Shen is such a successful businessman, and yet he used such a low-key watch. I think this must be a new strategy – you know, looking low-key, being humble?”
“Ah… I can’t guess what Boss Shen is thinking. Must be some serious 4D chess.”
“I think it’s safe to follow him? I’ll put away my watch when I get home and buy a cheap one! Boss Shen will not let me down!”
Shen Xingsui was completely unaware that his gifts have unintentional, far-reaching consequences. Many famous ladies and business magnates began to change their appearance after returning home from this dinner party.
He was eating with Shen Xingchen in the back, when he heard a group of socialites chatting not far away:
“It’s only once a year that I finally meet Fu-ge.”
“Oh my god, he’s even more handsome than on TV.”
“Is he married, does he have a partner?”
“No, no, there is no public partner. I read an interview before. Mr. Fu said that if he has a partner, he will not have an underground relationship, and he will definitely make it public.”
“Then we still have a chance!”
Shen Xingsui listened as they talked, and he subconsciously slowed down his eating speed.
Shen Xingchen also listened with gusto, and complained while eating the cake, “Not to mention, Fu-ge is really a man among men. A person of his status dares to disclose it directly. He is an absolute warrior.”
Shen Xingsui absentmindedly nodded.
When he thought of what Fu Jinxiao would say about his relationship in the future, he knew that he should bless him, but he couldn’t help feeling weird.
He was really a selfish person.
Obviously Teacher Fu treated him very well, but he was unwilling to bless his relationship.
Meanwhile, the socialite young ladies was still keen on this topic:
“There will be a dance today.”
“He is the eldest son and he will definitely dance.”
“Who will his first dance partner be?”
“I wish I was so lucky.”
“Though, there’s still a chance he won’t dance. He didn’t dance the first dance a few years ago…”
Shen Xingsui was a little dazed, and suddenly an attendant came from behind and said, “Hi, are you Mr. Shen?”
Shen Xingsui turned around and said, ” Yes I am, what’s the matter?”
“Can you come with me?” The attendant bowed respectfully, “Someone is looking for you.”
1idiom; helping the person that hurts you for their benefit