The Golden Cane and the Wild Rose - Chapter 28.2

Chapter 28.2

What was there to watch?

She tossed and turned in bed for a long time last night, trying to figure it out.

Was Jiang Musheng not tired of her yet and wanted her back to be with him again?

Or could he not find a more suitable girlfriend to appease Cecilia?

Either way, it couldn’t possibly be that Jiang Musheng had truly developed feelings for her and was reluctant to let her go?

She couldn’t figure it out.

During her lunch break, Yun Ran found an opportunity to go outside and ask Ah Biao.

When Ah Biao saw her walking toward him, he huffed a breath through his nose and walked toward her too, but he bypassed her and went into the shop.

Yun Ran had no choice but to go back inside. Gu Hongfei saw them enter one after the other and felt a little strange.

“One half-goose set meal,” Ah Biao said, sitting down at a table under a military green ceiling fan.

Yun Ran turned to go to the kitchen to help prepare the meal, but heard Ah Biao say in a sarcastic tone, “Miss Yun, don’t bother. I wouldn’t dare have you bring me a plate.”

“Let this gentleman do it,” Ah Biao said, glancing sideways at Gu Hongfei.

Gu Hongfei looked at Ah Biao. He recognized the man. He had been standing outside the shop for days, but hadn’t done anything bad, so it probably wasn’t a big deal.

“I’ll go,” Gu Hongfei said. “Ah Ran, you take a break. Call me if you need anything, I can hear you.”

Yun Ran nodded, and Gu Hongfei went to the kitchen to prepare the roast goose.

“Miss Yun, don’t leave. Didn’t you want to talk to me just now?”

“No, I was going out to do something else,” Yunran avoided the question.

“Then why didn’t you do it?”

“It wasn’t urgent. I saw you come in and, as an employee, I thought I’d come in to help first.”

Ah Biao “Tch’ed” and stopped talking to her.

Leaning his face on his hand, he muttered to himself in dissatisfaction.

“So uncooperative!”

Yun Ran knew he was talking about her, but she didn’t care. She turned and went to the break room.

About three minutes later, Gu Hongfei came out of the kitchen, carrying a large plate of the roast goose set meal to Ah Biao.

“Please enjoy,” Gu Hongfei said with a smile.

Ah Biao gave him a look of disdain and lowered his head to eat his roast goose.

The taste was actually pretty good. No wonder the restaurant had been so busy during the days he was watching.

He decided that whenever he didn’t know what to eat, he would come here. It was delicious and also convenient for protecting Miss Yun.

Gu Hongfei saw that he was eating with gusto, confirming that he was just there for the food and not to cause trouble. He then left to find Ah Ran.

He found Ah Ran in the break room.

“Ah Ran, what are you thinking about?” Gu Hongfei asked, walking up to her.

Yun Ran was sitting in a chair, lost in thought. She was forced to pull herself out of her reverie and look at Gu Hongfei, avoiding the question. “Are you coming to rest too, senior?”

Gu Hongfei wasn’t sidetracked by her words and continued to press her.

“Ah Ran, were you going to go talk to Ah Biao just now?”

How did her senior know?

Yun Ran’s heart sank.

She had decided to stay by his side now, and the only thing she was afraid of was that his feelings and devotion for her would change.

Gu Hongfei said, “Ah Ran, I hope you can talk to me about things. We can solve them together. Don’t keep everything bottled up. It makes me feel useless.”

So that’s what he was thinking. Yun Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

Maybe she could trust Gu Hongfei a little more.

Under Gu Hongfei’s hopeful gaze, Yun Ran finally spoke. “I just wanted to go out and get some fresh air.”

“Oh, I see.” Gu Hongfei smiled, the tense muscles in his face relaxing.

God knows how scared he was, scared that Yun Ran would leave him and go back to Jiang Musheng.

Thankfully, she wasn’t.

The next few days were calm. The only difference was that Ah Biao came into the shop more frequently, but each time he would just eat his meal, sit for a bit, then go back outside to stand guard.

Yun Ran gave up the idea of asking Ah Biao anything. Whatever Jiang Musheng’s reason was for having Ah Biao watch her, it didn’t matter.

She was relieved as long as she was sure Jiang Musheng wouldn’t hurt her.

Over the past few days, Jiang Musheng had been busy with important matters.

A close relative had returned from abroad.

His cousin, Jiang Jiaming, was exiled ten years ago for doing some very extreme things while competing for the family succession. He was voted out by the family elders.

To put it nicely, he was sent abroad for further studies.

This cousin held a deep resentment toward him, the one who eventually inherited the core family fortune and became the new head of the Jiang family. Now that he was back, Jiang Musheng had to be extremely cautious of what he might do for revenge.

As the current head of the family, he had to host a welcome banquet for his cousin’s return.

The banquet was held at the Jiang family ancestral home. Besides inviting some close relatives, the family of the Hong Kong Governor was also invited.

With the Governor in attendance, he figured Jiang Jiaming wouldn’t dare to cause trouble.

The days leading up to the banquet, Jiang Musheng was on high alert.

He kept Jiang Xueyu at home, and when Jiang Jiaming came to visit, he didn’t let Jiang Xueyu see the cousin who was likely planning something malicious.

After Jiang Jiaming entered the villa, he didn’t do anything out of line besides saying a few unpleasant things, questioning the devious methods Jiang Musheng had used to seize power.

Tonight, the banquet was held as scheduled at the Jiang family ancestral home.

To ensure safety, all guests had to be searched by the police before entering the Jiang family grounds.

This was something Jiang Musheng had specially asked the Governor for, and the Governor was more than happy to cooperate. He even told him, “Jiang Musheng, I’m so glad I can help you.”

Jiang Musheng had no personal feelings for the British; only business interests. He responded to the Governor with a polite smile.

Cecilia also came. She was dressed especially grandly tonight, in a Chinese style.

She wore a rose-red qipao with high slits, her usually flowing hair was styled in an updo to match the qipao, and she wore a dazzling pearl hair ornament.

“Jiang Musheng, do I look beautiful tonight?” Cecilia was afraid he couldn’t see clearly and twirled around in front of him.

Jiang Musheng nodded. “Very beautiful.”

Cecilia folded her hands in front of her waist, her heart pounding. She asked teasingly, “Then are you tempted?”

She was testing him with a joke.

Jiang Musheng just smiled and didn’t answer.

He didn’t want to hurt Cecilia’s feelings, but he also didn’t want to betray his own heart.

Cecilia shot him a look of annoyance. “Jiang Musheng, I was just asking. You can’t take a joke at all.”

Jiang Musheng said, “Cecilia, you have to forgive me. I’m just a boring person.”

Cecilia suddenly got flustered. “I don’t think you’re boring at all! Besides, maybe I happen to like boring people.”

Jiang Musheng said earnestly, “Cecilia, maybe you should broaden your horizons. There will be many promising young men here tonight. You should pay more attention to them.”

“You know my heart only belongs to you!”

Jiang Musheng had a headache. He realized he was truly terrible at stringing along women he didn’t like.

From a distance, Zheng Hangyi had been quietly watching Jiang Musheng deal with Cecilia for a long time. He couldn’t stand it anymore and walked over.

How did Jiang Musheng, who was so bad at dealing with women, manage to win Cecilia’s heart?

Zheng Hangyi thought as he walked.

He was always at events where Jiang Musheng was. Logically, shouldn’t the Governor’s daughter have been attracted to him first?

Zheng Hangyi was always confident when it came to women.

He was holding a glass of champagne and walked over gracefully to rescue Musheng.

“Cecilia,” he greeted her first, then turned to Musheng and asked, “Jiang Musheng, has the guest of honor not arrived yet?”

Jiang Musheng turned and looked around. Indeed, he couldn’t see Jiang Jiaming.

“Is he not coming?” Zheng Hangyi asked.

“There’s no reason for him not to,” Jiang Musheng said.

“There is,” Zheng Hangyi said, shaking the wine in his glass. “He can snub you by not coming. What a great opportunity. He’s probably been waiting for this for ten years.”

“If that’s all he’s thought about in the ten years he was abroad, then I have nothing to worry about when it comes to him.”

“Of course. He can’t have completely changed while he was away,” Zheng Hangyi said.

“Just to be safe, I’ll go check.” Jiang Musheng walked away. Jiang Jiaming was the guest of honor tonight, and as the host, he had to make sure.

Cecilia tried to follow him, but Zheng Hangyi blocked her with his arm.

“Cecilia, let Musheng go and do his thing. Let’s have a drink.”

“Wine is nothing special,” Cecilia said. She still wanted to be with Jiang Musheng.

Zheng Hangyi said, “The wine isn’t special, but we can talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Cecilia was still unyielding.

As Musheng’s back was about to disappear, Cecilia turned her gaze to Zheng Hangyi’s face.

“Do you have anything to say about Musheng, Mr. Zheng?”

“I’m a little curious, Cecilia,” Zheng Hangyi said.

“Curious about what?”

“Curious about what you like about Musheng.”

Cecilia’s face turned red.

Zheng Hangyi said, “Jiang Musheng and I have been friends for so many years. This is the first time I’ve realized his charm is so great that it can make the Governor’s daughter so infatuated.”

Cecilia said, “Jiang Musheng naturally has his good qualities, which is why I like him.”

“What are those qualities, specifically?” Zheng Hangyi pressed.

Cecilia said, “It’s only fair if I get to ask you a question first, Mr. Zheng.”

“What do you want to ask?” Zheng Hangyi was very generous. He didn’t mind answering a few questions for a pretty girl.

Cecilia said, “You and Musheng have been friends for so many years. You must know him very well, right?”

Zheng Hangyi took a sip of wine and smiled.

I thought you’d ask me some personal questions.

“Jiang Musheng is your friend, so isn’t it related to you?”

“That’s amazing, Cecilia. Your Chinese is getting better and better. You’re more than qualified to be Mrs. Jiang.”

“Really?”

Cecilia was completely charmed by Zheng Hangyi. “What did you want to ask me just now, Mr. Zheng?”

Zheng Hangyi smiled and repeated his question.

“I just asked why you like Jiang Musheng so much.”

Cecilia said, “Because Jiang Musheng… is handsome… and… gentle.”

“I think I have those qualities too,” Zheng Hangyi said, not hesitating to praise himself.

“But your gentleness and handsomeness are not the same as Musheng’s,” Cecilia said.

“Are there different types?”

“Of course!”

“Mr. Zheng, I would be very grateful if you could tell me a few things about Musheng’s preferences.”

“Jiang Musheng’s preferences, let me think, let me think carefully.”

Zheng Hangyi was concentrating hard, and Cecilia was staring at him intently.

“Bang!”

Suddenly, a gunshot from outside shattered the peace.

Cecilia jumped in surprise, and Zheng Hangyi couldn’t think anymore.

“Cecilia, I’ll think about it next time. I have to go out and see if Jiang Musheng is okay.”

“Jiang Musheng, okay?”

Cecilia didn’t know about the danger tonight. When she heard what Zheng Hangyi said, she became nervous too.

“I’ll go with you,” Cecilia said.

They both ran out into the courtyard.

In the open-air courtyard, many guests had been socializing, drinking and chatting. But all of that was broken by the gunshot.

The guests scattered in a panicked frenzy, while some froze in place, not speaking or moving. They had no weapons, but the police brought by the Governor had already started to maintain order.

When Zheng Hangyi and Cecilia ran out, Jiang Musheng was lying on the grassy ground illuminated by the moonlight.

“Musheng, are you okay?”

Zheng Hangyi and Cecilia rushed over.

When they helped Jiang Musheng up, they both felt blood on their hands.

The next day, the shooting at the Jiang family’s ancestral home was in the newspapers.

Yun Ran didn’t have the habit of reading the paper. She only found out when she was serving a customer and heard them talking.

Several tables of customers were discussing it.

“Hey, did you see today’s newspaper? Someone dared to use a gun at Jiang Musheng’s place!”

“Didn’t that exiled one come back? It must have been him.”

“He was exiled for ten years. He must have grown to hate Jiang Musheng, so he shot him as soon as he came back.”

A gunshot? Someone shot Jiang Musheng?

What happened, exactly?

Was Jiang Musheng hurt?

Did someone bring a gun to his house to kill him?

Yun Ran spent the entire morning thinking about this. She wanted to find a newspaper to read, but the shop was too busy to leave.

She could only glance frequently through the glass window toward the outside.

Ah Biao, who was always standing outside the shop, wasn’t there today.

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