Chapter 80

Today is Sunday.

Therefore, when Jin Xiantai and Annie were staying on the lawn of the nursing home until noon, Yang Weiwei, Omar, and Vincent came to visit him together.

Jin Xiantai did not hide from Yang Weiwei the fact that he had left the public hospital, and he also notified Omar on Twitter, so the three of them knew he was here.

As a person who was saved during the shooting incident, it was understandable for Yang Weiwei to come and visit Jin Xiantai.

However, every time she saw Jin Xiantai, her face would turn red, and she would act shyly, which was somewhat surprising.

As a woman, Annie noticed a bit of an ominous sign, but because Jin Xiantai was by her side, she couldn't say anything, so she could only suppress the slight annoyance in her heart.

Omar and Vincent came to visit Jin Xiantai because he had joined the fraternity.

While this reason was reasonable, why did these two guys always come right before mealtime?

This couldn't help but make Jin Xiantai suspect their true intentions.

Indeed, it just so happened that it was lunchtime today. Annie had just had the nurse bring over a table and set out the prepared lunch when Omar, Vincent, and Yang Weiwei appeared.

Yang Weiwei was fine, but Omar and Vincent, these two guys, immediately looked like hungry wolves with shining eyes and rushed to the table, naturally finding seats and sitting down.

Jin Xiantai really wanted to jump up, grab their collars, and loudly question whether they were here to visit him or to freeload.

"Um, sorry, are you about to have lunch? Oh, we appeared at an inconvenient time, but it's okay, you go ahead and eat. Vincent and I can wait until you're done."

Omar said this while sneakily glancing at Jin Xiantai's reaction, but his words were clearly fake, and he deserved a bad review.

The chubby Vincent sat quietly on the side, leaving everything to Omar.

Yang Weiwei, watching Omar's silly performance, covered her mouth and laughed quietly.

Jin Xiantai rolled his eyes, clearly seeing through Omar's pretense.

"Better to arrive at the right time than early. Come on, let's eat together. There's plenty of food, and I can't finish it all by myself."

Although he saw through Omar's intentions, Jin Xiantai didn't plan to expose him. Instead, he warmly invited Omar, Vincent, and Yang Weiwei to join in the feast.

"Sorry to bother you," Yang Weiwei said politely.

"Oh, I won't be so formal. Let me see what good things we have today. Oh, I've recently fallen in love with Chinese cuisine, all thanks to you, William. Every time I come, I get to eat so much delicious food."

Omar continued in his typical chatty style, while Vincent, unlike Omar, just stared intently at the table, scanning for food that suited his taste, ready to dig in as soon as the meal started.

Compared to the chatty Omar, Vincent was clearly a man of action.

The private nurse brought out the prepared dishes one by one. There weren't many dishes, but they were all Chinese-style.

For Jin Xiantai and Yang Weiwei, these dishes weren't particularly surprising.

But when Omar and Vincent saw them, they were not so calm.

For example, Vincent had developed a taste for stir-fried pig intestines with pickled vegetables at Jin Xiantai's place, and he found it unforgettable.

Omar, on the other hand, was fond of the braised pig's feet he had tasted at Jin Xiantai's, which made him drool in his dreams.

While Chinese dishes might seem strange to Westerners, the taste was genuinely delicious.

So, Omar and Vincent, who had found their taste, kept coming over to freeload, and they enjoyed it immensely.

Although Yang Weiwei also came frequently, her purpose was clearly different from Omar and Vincent. Besides genuinely caring for Jin Xiantai, she had other feelings... cough, cough...

However, today's lunch was bound to disappoint Omar and Vincent.

Considering Jin Xiantai's injuries, Annie had learned about Chinese dietary restrictions and had the dishes prepared to be light and healthy.

Dishes like stir-fried celery with lily bulbs, garlic oil greens, and boiled baby bok choy were served, and the greasy and heavy dishes were rarely prepared.

At first, she didn't know these things, so she would prepare a lot of meat dishes. But after learning Chinese cooking and dietary knowledge, she no longer made such mistakes.

So, Omar and Vincent were destined to be disappointed today.

But such dishes were favored by Yang Weiwei.

Girls generally prefer light and healthy vegetarian dishes, and Annie herself also liked them.

"How come it's all vegetarian today? What a pity."

Omar looked around, his face showing disappointment, and he sat down dejectedly, sighing.

Vincent nodded in agreement, indicating that he was also a meat lover.

In the end, Annie had to order two Italian roasts from the restaurant to solve the problem, so Omar and Vincent wouldn't go hungry.

Jin Xiantai, as usual, drank a large bowl of ginseng chicken soup that Annie had stewed herself before the meal.

During this period, Annie had been stewing ginseng chicken soup for Jin Xiantai every day. Thanks to her generous purchase of ginseng, Jin Xiantai's complexion had indeed improved significantly.

Seeing Jin Xiantai recover well, Annie was even more determined to continue making the ginseng chicken soup for him.

At the same time, she started learning more advanced Chinese cooking techniques from the Chinese master chef she had hired, though she hadn't mastered them yet, so she couldn't show off in front of Jin Xiantai, which was a bit disappointing for her.

Jin Xiantai started eating, and Yang Weiwei, Omar, and Vincent followed suit.

While eating lunch, the three of them chatted with Jin Xiantai about things happening at the college.

Annie took care of little Coco, constantly serving her food, picking up vegetables, and wiping her mouth, being very meticulous and patient.

Little Coco was no longer a secret to Yang Weiwei, Omar, Vincent, or the students of St. Monica High School.

Various gossip magazines had already exposed Jin Xiantai's personal information through the media.

So, everyone in the college knew that Coco was Jin Xiantai's daughter.

Regarding Jin Xiantai being an unmarried father, people had all sorts of opinions, but no one criticized him for it.

For example, when Omar and Vincent learned that Jin Xiantai was an unmarried father, they were quite envious, saying they were still virgins, while Jin Xiantai was already a father.

They even wanted to find Jin Xiantai and learn how to attract girls from him.

As for Yang Weiwei and the girls in the college, they mostly felt sorry for Jin Xiantai and Coco, and they would cry at night over the love stories fabricated by the gossip magazines.

For some reason, the stories in the gossip magazines, from Jin Xiantai's perspective, were completely ridiculous and even more melodramatic than Qionghua's works.

However, they were good at attracting female readers and increasing sales.

In short, Jin Xiantai was portrayed as an extremely unfortunate young man in these stories.

Enduring humiliation, ridicule, and raising a daughter... it was almost like a winter scene of selling matches with a child.

---

"The college plans to award you an honorary certificate, and the governor's office has also sent an invitation to the college, hoping the college can notify you to attend a charity gala in a week, where the governor will present you with a state-level honor."

Since Jin Xiantai couldn't go to school, he learned about college matters through Dave or conversations with visitors like Yang Weiwei, Omar, and Vincent.

It wasn't surprising that the college wanted to award him an honorary certificate, as he was a hero for his bravery, which was a face-saving matter for the college.

So, Jin Xiantai remained calm when Yang Weiwei mentioned this.

But when he heard that the governor was also going to give him an award and invite him to a charity gala, he couldn't stay calm.

In Jin Xiantai's mind, the governor was a big shot, comparable to a provincial governor in China.

Of course, Jin Xiantai temporarily overlooked the fact that the power of a governor in the U.S. was vastly different from that of a provincial governor in China.

But as an ordinary person in his previous life, and even now, his mindset hadn't changed, so it was normal to have such thoughts.

"William, this is a good thing. You're now a celebrity at our college, a dream lover for many girls, and a role model for boyfriends..."

Omar, with his mouth full of oil, chimed in, but he started talking about irrelevant things, almost derailing the conversation.

Fortunately, he quickly regained his composure and brought the topic back: "The news says Governor George is running for the presidential nomination next year, and you're a famous figure in California and even the U.S., so it's understandable that he wants to get closer to you."

Although they were high school students, in the American social system, students like Omar were somewhat interested in politics, which was different from their peers in China.

Vincent, who had been silent, now spoke up: "Yes, Governor George probably has this in mind. Since you're Chinese-American and have gained significant influence among the Chinese community due to the shooting, if he handles it well, he can gain potential support from many Chinese-American voters, which would be very beneficial for him."

It was surprising to see that the chubby Vincent, who was first seen playing with something, could offer such insightful comments.

This showed that in the U.S., people's interest in politics was not just a casual statement.

Yang Weiwei, as an international student, wasn't familiar with these matters, so she didn't participate in the conversation. Instead, she sat quietly, eating her food in small bites, and listened to the boys' discussion.

Annie's lips curled slightly when the boys mentioned the governor's invitation to the charity gala.

Clearly, Annie was aware of this.

The reason was simple: Annie had already communicated with George and facilitated this arrangement.

She planned to let Jin Xiantai meet George and get a better understanding of him.

At the same time, Annie hoped to use this opportunity to give Jin Xiantai a taste of the American political atmosphere.

Regardless, in Annie's mind, she hoped Jin Xiantai would become a person of status, wealth, and power in the future.

Even if he was content with a simple life, Annie would push him forward in secret.

No one understood Annie's true intentions, but she was not trying to harm Jin Xiantai; she was thinking of him, though she overlooked his personal attitude.

This was a small flaw.

"Charity gala? To be honest, I'm not very interested, but I can't refuse the governor's office's invitation, as it would offend people. So, I'll have to attend."

Jin Xiantai wasn't very interested because he had never thought about interacting with people like the governor.

But since the other side had this plan, he couldn't refuse.

With his ordinary person's mindset, Jin Xiantai decided to attend to avoid offending anyone.

Given his current health, attending a charity gala should be fine.

"Annie, tell Mr. Dave to contact the college and confirm if this is true."

Jin Xiantai put down his spoon and instructed Annie.

Annie, who was serving Coco, replied, "Mr. Dave delivered the invitation this morning, but I haven't had the chance to tell you yet."

Oh, the invitation arrived so quickly.

Jin Xiantai was surprised; he hadn't expected to receive the invitation so soon.

"By the way, the software you let us try, many people in the college are using it. They all say it's great, convenient, and user-friendly."

Yang Weiwei interjected, mentioning the instant messaging software QQ that Jin Xiantai had developed during his stay at the nursing home, shifting the conversation from the governor's invitation to QQ.

Omar looked at Jin Xiantai excitedly, "Yang is right. Most people in the college have downloaded and tried your software. They find it very convenient for online communication. You're really smart, how does your brain work?"

The black guy's face was full of admiration, and he wasn't faking it.

"Oh, that's great. I was worried that people wouldn't like it after trying it. Now that you say this, I don't have to worry anymore."

Hearing Omar and Yang Weiwei's feedback about the trial of QQ, Jin Xiantai finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, he began to consider whether to immediately start a full-scale promotion of QQ, set up an IT network company, purchase servers, and implement the plan in one go.

...

Page break for ads

Page break for ads end