Qin Zhi Ai exited the Gu Family Mansion carrying a lunchbox. Qin Zhi Ai smiled as brilliantly as she possibly could as she bid Old Master Gu farewell before starting the engine and calmly driving towards the direction of the Gu Corporation.
After pa.s.sing two traffic lights, even though Qin Zhi Ai knew perfectly well that she couldn't see Old Master Gu anymore, she still tilted her head slightly, and took a look behind through the rear-view mirror, confirming she was a long distance from the Gu Family residence already. She then made a turn at the next intersection, choosing to turn into a road heading in the opposite direction to Gu Yu Sheng’s company.
When she was at the Gu Family Mansion, she never even once considered delivering food to Gu Yu Sheng’s company. The things she said, her actions and responses were all nothing more than a performance for Old Master Gu.
The thought of delivering food to Gu Yu Sheng never crossed her mind.
Or it may be more correct to say, it wasn’t even the matter of it crossing her mind, she absolutely didn’t even dare to entertain that thought.
In the past, the social gap between them was too wide. She had no way of climbing up to his world, and could only watch from afar, outside his world.
Now, even under the ident.i.ty of a daughter of a rich family with a social and economic status that matched his, she was still unable to approach him.
What they existed between them would roughly be that sort of, ‘Deep Feelings, Shallow Fate’[1], told in old tales. One difference was, while the ‘shallow fate’ described the two of them, the one with "deep feelings" was only her.
Qin Zhi Ai suppressed the simmering faint ache in her heart, and stopped the car on a street with nearly no pedestrians. After that, she grabbed the lunchbox sitting on the front pa.s.senger seat, opened it, and started eating inside the car by herself.
Mother Zhang had prepared enough food for two people. She couldn’t finish it all. However, Qin Zhi Ai desperately forced herself to eat more and didn’t stop until the box was mostly emptied.
She leaned on the driver's seat, lifted a hand and rubbed her sore bloated belly. She then found and put on a pair of sungla.s.ses, and with the lunchbox and two bottles of mineral water in her hands, she got out of the car. She first dumped the leftover food into a street rubbish bin and then rinsed the lunchbox clean with the mineral water. Next, she pulled out a napkin, and then wiped the lunchbox dry before going back into the car.
After she closed the car door, Qin Zhi Ai pulled out and looked at her cell phone. Seeing that it had only been an hour since she left the Gu Mansion, she immediately reclined the driver's seat until it was flat, set up a clock-alarm, closed her eyes and started to take a midday nap.
The car was parked on the road. There was noise everywhere around. She couldn’t fall sleep at all. After indulging in flights of fancy with her eyes closed for who knows how long, the alarm sounded.
This meant that it had already been over two and a half hours since she left the Gu Residence…… That would be sufficient time for her and Gu Yu Sheng to finish a meal and make a round trip from the company to the mansion.
She can now bring the clean lunch box back to the mansion to report…… Qin Zhi Ai adjusted her seat, and started the car.
♦♦♦♦♦
After she turned right at the intersection in front, inside a car sitting on the opposite side of the road her car had been parked just moments before, a voice respectfully said, “Mr Gu?”
[1]情深缘浅Direct Translation: Feelings/Love Deep, Fate Shallow. It's a saying that means that even though two people love each other very much, they are not fated to be, circ.u.mstances continue to force them apart and in the end they can't be together.
Old Master Gu’s words made Qin Zhi Ai feel as if she had been violently shocked by a taser stun gun. Her entire body trembled uncontrollably inside and without even thinking she blurted out, “It’s nearly one, he's probably eaten lunch already.”
“He wouldn't have. I know Yu Sheng’s habits at the company. He never goes to have lunch until after one. If you rush there now, you’ll make it there with time to spare.” After Old Master Gu smilingly a.s.sured Qin Zhi Ai that he had everything well-thought out, he turned his head towards the kitchen, and decided for her. “Little Zhang, after you’re done, pack the food into a lunchbox. Xiao Kou is going to the company.”
“Grandpa……” Qin Zhi Ai still wanted to say something to make Old Master Gu give up on his idea of getting her to deliver food. However, right after she called his name, Old Master looked at her, puzzled, and said with trace of surprise, “Hm? In the past, whether you had a reason or not, you always liked to run here to specially get Little Zhang to prepare food so you could take it to the company to find Yu Sheng. What’s wrong today?”
Qin Zhi Ai’s heart pounded and she hastily forced back the words that were on the edge of her lips. Oh, so Liang Dou Kou would often do this sort of thing in the past. No wonder Old Master Gu suddenly suggested that she deliver food to Gu Yu Sheng……
Qin Zhi Ai was afraid she would expose loopholes so she quickly smiled sweetly at Old Master Gu and altered her words, “Nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to ask you to tell Mother Zhang to pack some of her pickled vegetables[1], Yu Sheng loves those.”
Hearing Qin Zhi Ai words, Old Master Gu’s expression instantly relaxed. He reminded Mother Zhang to pack some pickled vegetables, pointed at the phone next to the TV, and ordered a servant, “Go phone your Young Master and tell him that the Young Madam will be there in a while to deliver him food……”
“Yes sir,” the servant replied and headed towards the phone.
Even though she had agreed, it didn't mean that she had actually been planning to go to deliver food to Gu Yu Sheng…… Qin Zhi Ai’s racing heart, which was caused by Old Master Gu’s previous question, and still hadn’t fully settled down yet, was suddenly ruthlessly hauled to the summit once again. She unconsciously blurted out, “Wait!”
Both Old Master Gu and the servant turned around and looked at Qin Zhi Ai in slight bewilderment.
It was only then that Qin Zhi Ai realised that she had been overly fl.u.s.tered. Her brain blanked out for a second before she came up with a way out, “I want to tell Yu Sheng myself.”
Qin Zhi Ai then dug out her phone, found Gu Yu Sheng’s number, and started drafting out a text.
Old Master Gu thought that Qin Zhi Ai wanted to use this as a chance to chat with Gu Yu Sheng and immediately made a shooing motion at the servant to express that ringing was no longer necessary.
As Qin Zhi Ai secretly broke out into cold sweat, she pretended to press twice to send, and then even though she hadn’t truly sent out the text, she put away her phone.
[1] 酱菜jiàngcài: Vegetables pickled in soya paste. Nowadays, people may also use soy sauce, prawn sauce, etc. It is often confused with咸菜xiáncài (salted pickled vegetables)
"Huh?" responded the housekeeper in confusion. Before the housekeeper had even opened her mouth to ask what number meant, Qi Zhi Ai spoke up again and added, “You just need to ring him and tell him that number.”
Then, without waiting for the housekeeper’s reply, she turned around to leave the dining room and returned upstairs.
As Qin Zhi Ai was injured, she was unable to partic.i.p.ate in the announcement[1], and had no other choice but to stay at home to rest.
For the first two days, Qin Zhi Ai was in so much pain she couldn’t have a good night’s rest. It wasn't until the third and fourth days, when the less severe abrasions started to scab over, that the pain gradually started to wane.
On the seventh day, Qin Zhi Ai went to the hospital for a re-examination. The injury on her calf had fused very well, leaving behind a twisted, ugly scar after the st.i.tches were removed.
Seven days before, the day of Old Master Gu’s birthday, Qin Zhi Ai hadn't been able to properly celebrate his birthday with him because of Jian Qian Qian.
When Liang Dou Kou left Beijing, she repeated over and over again that she must be sure to curry Old Master Gu’s favour. Hence, after she exited the hospital, she drove to the Gu Main Residence.
Qin Zhi Ai hadn't given prior notice that she was coming. When she arrived, it was still just midday. However, Old Master Gu had already eaten lunch.
Old Master Gu was extremely happy to see her. He sat down with her to chat and ordered the housekeeper to go to the kitchen to prepare her favourite dishes.
Despite being her ‘favourite dishes’, all of the dishes were in reality ones that Liang Dou Kou liked.
When the dishes were about halfway done, Old Master Gu realised only Qin Zhi Ai had come, and impulsively asked, “Why did you decide to come today? Does Yu Sheng know that you’re here?”
“He’s at the company. He doesn’t know I’m here.” After Qin Zhi Ai finished speaking, she discovered that she could literally lie without batting an eyelash.
These past few days, she hadn’t even seen even a glimpse of Gu Yu Sheng, how could she possibly know his schedule?
Not only had these days of playing the role of Liang Dou Kou bettered her acting skills, it had even indirectly turned her into a top-cla.s.s liar.
Inwardly mocking herself, Qin Zhi Ai drooped her eyes slightly, made her expression appear even more composed, and said, “I was feeling bored at home, and remembered that that on the day of Grandpa’s birthday, I left early because I was feeling unwell, so I came over to visit you.”
“Xiao Kou, you really are the most considerate of Grandpa, much more thoughtful than that Yu Sheng.” After Old Master Gu heard the latter half of her sentence, he was so happy he couldn’t close his mouth. Then, he appeared to have suddenly thought of something, and yelled towards the kitchen, “Mother Zhang[2], make two more dishes, dishes that Yu Sheng likes.”
After Mother Zhang replied, Old Master Gu turned his head to face Qin Zhi Ai, “Just in time. I know you’ll be bored eating alone so later I’ll get Mother Zhang to pack up the food, and then you can take it to the company and eat it together with Yu Sheng.”
Deliver food to Gu Yu Sheng?
The thing p.i.s.sed Gu Yu Sheng off the most was her pestering him for no reason. If Grandpa made her bring a lunchbox to the company to find him to eat lunch, wouldn’t that be equivalent to personally delivering herself straight to his door to be terrorized?
[1] Probably some drama/movie announcement or promotion. The raws only says announcement (通告) If someone still remembers what acting job she was doing in the past chapters, it will be really helpful.
[2]张妈Zhang-Ma: The housekeeper. Zhang is her surname, Ma means Mother. Just a way they call her, does not mean that she is actually someone's mother. Old Master Gu also calls her Xiao Zhang (Little Zhang), an informal way of calling her and may imply that he is older than her. He is calling the housekeeper Mother Zhang right now because he is talking in front of a younger generation, and that is how the younger generation will address her.
