Sweet Gardenia - Chapter 13.2

Five minutes later, Lu Zhi fetched another slice of cake from the display and placed it in front of him as compensation for the “groundhog.”

Leaning back in his chair, Fu Yanshang raised an eyebrow slightly. “I don’t really like this kind of stuff.”

“You don’t like it?”

She was taken aback but then considerately unwrapped the utensils. “Well then, I’ll reluctantly help you finish it.”

“…”

The “groundhog” had dug three holes, and by the time the main course was served, she was already feeling a bit too full. Propping her head up, she watched as many guests went to toast the grandfather. After all, this was the Fu family of Su City. Having spent nearly a month with Fu Yanshang, she had almost forgotten that fact.

When it was her turn to offer a toast, Fu Cheng was already a bit tipsy but still steady on his feet. He looked at her with a satisfied smile and said mysteriously, “Xiao Zhi, I’ve prepared another gift for you and Yanshang. He’ll tell you about it when you get back.”

…

For some reason, she had a feeling this wasn’t going to be good.

After leaving the table, she sneaked into the kitchen to pack some crayfish, deliberately using a cake box to disguise it. As expected, her foresight proved necessary. Just as she was circling back through the side hall, she ran into Lu Ying and Zhuang Yun chatting nearby.

“Mom.”

It had been so long since Zhuang Yun last called her that she felt a little unaccustomed to it.

Lu Zhi’s gaze wavered for a moment before she remembered to play the host: “Are you full? Is there anything you particularly liked? I can ask the chef to prepare some for you to take home.”

Zhuang Yun shook her head, remembering that Lu Zhi disliked the smell of smoke, and put out her cigarette before sighing, “You’re really starting to look like the lady of the house now.”

Lu Zhi thought to herself, Obviously, I’m just pretending.

Their relationship as mother and daughter had always been close yet distant. It had been like this since she was a child.  She never showed her true self to her mother, for no other reason than that Zhuang Yun knew she disliked the smell of smoke, so she never smoked in front of her. And Lu Zhi knew her mother disliked disobedience, so she always made a habit of nodding in her presence.

From the time she could remember, she had instinctively wanted to be close to her mother but also feared that closeness. Over time, this became a physical memory that spanned her teenage years and even adulthood, melting into her bones, something difficult to change.

Zhuang Yun reached out and ruffled her hair: “How have you been lately? Are you adjusting well? If there’s anything you’re not used to, let us know.”

She nodded.

“At home, don’t be too willful. Do what you should, and avoid what you shouldn’t.”

The home she had gradually grown accustomed to had, in Zhuang Yun’s words, already become Moon Bay, no longer the house she had dragged her sister back to when she was sixteen. It seemed everyone else had adapted faster than she had.  Lu Zhi wondered when she would finally adjust.

Zhuang Yun added, “Of course, our home will always be your home too. If you’re unhappy, just come back.”

Finally hearing the words she wanted to hear, she nodded again.

I wonder if the crayfish have gone cold by now? What is Grandpa discussing with Fu Yanshang?

Out in the open area, Uncle Zong had already parked the car, and Jing Chi smoothly pulled open the door: “Can I hitch a ride? I sent my family’s driver to pick up my wife from work.”

Fu Yanshang scoffed, teasing him, “Wife-obsessed.”

“…”

“Fine. I hope you never end up like this, or I’ll print out the words ‘wife-obsessed’ and plaster them all over your office.”

Fu Yanshang took about three seconds to calculate: “Then you’d probably spend half your monthly allowance.”

Jing Chi: “Alright! We get it, your office is huge! No need to show off!”

Why would anyone keep a bed in their office? Jing Chi thought. Is his midday nap more precious than anyone else’s? Can’t he just make do with a recliner?

“You know, a truly qualified businessman wouldn’t waste time on a midday nap,” Jing Chi said, glancing outside again. “Where’s your wife? Why hasn’t she come yet?”

Turning to look, he saw Lu Zhi standing obediently under the eaves. The leaves of the trees by the pond caught the falling raindrops as she stood before her family, serene and nodding repeatedly.

Jing Chi remarked, “Your wife is much more docile than mine. She doesn’t seem spoiled at all. My wife would hit me if I were even slightly rough with her.”

Ignoring the fact that Jing Chi was subtly bragging about his active sex life, Fu Yanshang said calmly, “You just haven’t seen her when she’s being spoiled.”

Jing Chi clicked his tongue: “Isn’t it great? Does she nod at everything you say? My wife shakes her head at everything I say and complains about everything I do.”

“Even if I were reluctant, didn’t I still marry you?”

Jing Chi chuckled twice: “Now that’s something I like to hear.”

Fu Yanshang tilted his chin upward: “Did you see that box? Do you know what she’s up to?”

Jing Chi paused: “What?”

“Deceiving openly while complying in secret.”

Inside that decoy box was clearly the extra-spicy crayfish her family had specifically warned her to eat less of, yet she not only packed it but made three servings.

“Nodding along means nothing,” Fu Yanshang said. “Haven’t you seen the little fox my family used to raise?”

“…She won’t listen anyway.”

–

Ten minutes later, Lu Zhi got into the car. After a while, she noticed the scent of the car’s air freshener slowly changing.

She sniffed: “What’s that smell?”

Fu Yanshang: “The extra-spicy crayfish you specifically asked the chef to make extra numbing.”

“…”

She grew wary: “How did you know?”

“The kitchen staff asked if I wanted to prepare some alcohol for you,” he paused, glancing sideways, “I said no, jellyfish can’t handle that.”

She pursed her lips and, in the end, out of her own enthusiasm, had Jing Chi take one portion away.

“See how much he dotes on his wife? He can’t go three sentences without mentioning her,” Lu Zhi blurted out without thinking. “You should learn from that.”

“Then how would you like me to dote on you?”

His eyelids lifted slightly, his gaze devoid of emotion, yet Lu Zhi’s pupils trembled as if shaken by an earthquake. Uncle Zong in the front seat silently put on his earphones. She rubbed her brow, feeling like there was something off about him.

But hadn’t she been the one to ask the question? So the conversation stalled right there. Tracing the logic back, it seemed no one was really at fault.

The car passed over a speed bump and stopped at the entrance of Zhenyue Bay.

“Try not to say such ambiguous things in the future,” Lu Zhi opened the car door, speaking with conviction. “Just say what you mean directly. Leaving so much unsaid makes it easy for others to misinterpret.”

After a pause, she distanced herself: “Take Uncle Zong, for example. See? Uncle Zong misunderstood, didn’t he?”

Uncle Zong turned around: ?

Fu Yanshang said lazily: “What direction did your imagination take?”

“I didn’t imagine anything,” she said in clumsy Chinese. “I’m just learning the Chinese language. Chinese culture is vast and profound,” she waved her hand, “I don’t understand.”

“…”

Somehow, the day passed without accomplishing much, and it was already evening. Only after taking a shower and lying in bed did she remember she had a mission.

A daunting mission: how to convince a CEO to let her leech off him, transferring his money into her own pockets. That was the question.

She wasn’t good at expressing her needs directly, so she decided to approach it indirectly: “What did Grandpa say to you today? What’s the surprise?”

He had finished his shower earlier and was leaning against the edge of the bed in black pajamas, typing on his laptop. He recalled: “Are you free next week? He wants to take us hiking.”

…

“Hiking?” Lu Zhi remembered being dragged on a three-hour hike when she was ten and never wanting to travel with her family again. She shuddered. “…Can we not go? Do we have to wake up early?”

“What’s ‘early’ to you?” he said. “We’d leave around seven.”

She collapsed onto the bed, completely overwhelmed by the dread of hiking: “No, I don’t want to wake up early. Do you like hiking? Why don’t you just tell him we went, and we can stay home and sleep in?”

“He’s coming with us.”

Lu Zhi jolted upright with a start. “What do you mean? Do we have to stay somewhere else?”

It finally dawned on her.  He was asking if she was free next week, not which specific day.

Lu Zhi asked, “How many days… would we be gone?”

“Three to five days?” He tilted his head. “It’s not finalized yet, but we will definitely need to stay overnight.”

…

The room fell into a silence that lasted a full ten minutes.

Lu Zhi thought of the waterbed, handcuffs, ceiling mirror, and other unsettling details, her heart still trembling with lingering fear. “Will Grandpa… book that kind of room for us again?”