Chapter 43

It was 8:55 PM.

Sun Yuzhen, dressed in a black business suit, carried a brown leather briefcase and a lunch bag containing two Seven Fragrances pork chop set meals. She hurriedly arrived at the Water Through Stone Cafe, looking a bit winded.

As soon as she entered the cafe, she was slightly stunned by Hao Yuan's deep, gender-neutral jazz voice.

What a unique singing style this female boss has!

Sun Yuzhen enjoyed appreciating different types of music.

Unlike Lin Zaishan, who listened to music professionally, Sun Yuzhen didn't criticize others' flaws. To her, music was categorized into a few types: good, very good! Average, bad, very bad!

Hao Yuan's gender-neutral voice fell into the "good" category for Sun Yuzhen. She thought this tough female boss, who didn't have the best personality, had a rather unique singing style.

Adjusting her quiet black-rimmed glasses, she stood at the door for a moment, listening intently to Hao Yuan's performance, which was reaching its climax.

Waiter Li Nan came over.

"Miss, hello. Are you here alone?"

"I'm here to meet a friend. I came here before with an old man with white hair. He's sitting over there, right? I'm looking for him."

Only after Sun Yuzhen said this did Li Nan recognize her.

The last time Sun Yuzhen came, she wasn't wearing glasses.

This time, with glasses on, her clear and charming eyes, which were like pure oxygen, lost a lot of their appeal.

Her eye shape didn't suit this type of glasses.

"You're looking for Uncle Lin. He and his friend are over there."

Li Nan pointed to the corner where Lin Zaishan was sitting.

"Thank you."

Sun Yuzhen left Li Nan and quickly walked towards Lin Zaishan.

From a distance, she saw Lin Zaishan sitting opposite Lu Chen.

Lin Zaishan was very thin, casually wearing a plain black T-shirt, which made him look even thinner.

He was very quiet, almost motionless, like a tree.

On the other hand, Lu Chen, who was already quite fat, wore a white horizontal-striped polo shirt that made him look even fatter. At first glance, he looked like a sitting polar bear.

His large, fat body formed a stark contrast with Lin Zaishan.

Drunk and talkative, his face flushed, Lu Chen spoke animatedly, using his fat hands to gesture, looking very excited, like a child.

Although he was fat, Lu Chen wasn't unattractive—big eyes, a high nose, and when he opened his eyes, he looked very spirited. When he smiled, he had a lovable, innocent look.

Sun Yuzhen walked quickly towards them, unable to hear what Lu Chen was saying, but his chubby, cute appearance made her want to laugh.

"Ah!"

As she passed a booth with one man and three women, one of the young women suddenly stood up and turned to leave, bumping into Sun Yuzhen's shoulder.

Sun Yuzhen was walking fast and looking at Lin Zaishan, so she didn't notice the woman standing up. The two collided hard, both feeling pain and letting out a low groan.

Sun Yuzhen rubbed her shoulder and apologized to the woman, "I'm sorry."

"You should watch where you're going! ... Ouch."

The young woman in a pink tank top sucked in a breath, rubbing her shoulder, and complained to Sun Yuzhen.

"I'm sorry."

Not wanting to cause a conflict, Sun Yuzhen apologized again in a gentle tone, then walked past her with a bitter smile towards Lin Zaishan.

Lin Zaishan saw what happened. When the young woman scolded Sun Yuzhen, Lin Zaishan frowned, feeling annoyed.

However, such a trivial matter wasn't worth fussing over, so he let it go.

"Uncle, I brought you some food!"

As soon as she saw Lin Zaishan, Sun Yuzhen's bitter smile turned into a sweet one. She lifted the lunch bag and came to Lin Zaishan, hoping to get some credit.

"Sit down quickly."

Lin Zaishan became very happy at the sight of food. He took the lunch bag, moved his bottom to make room, and left a space for Sun Yuzhen on the booth.

The two of them sat on one side, while Lu Chen sat alone on the other, taking up about the same amount of space.

Holding her bag, Sun Yuzhen sat down politely, nodded to Lu Chen, and greeted him softly, "Hello."

"Hello."

Lu Chen smiled and replied, while sizing up Sun Yuzhen's pure and beautiful appearance. He thought to himself, "What a super beautiful girl, just waiting to be discovered!"

Sun Yuzhen also greeted Lu Chen politely.

Judging by his attire and demeanor tonight, Lu Chen didn't look like a multimillionaire at all, but rather a rough, unkempt man.

Fat people tend to get hot easily, and since he had been drinking tonight, Lu Chen had already unbuttoned the top two buttons of his polo shirt, leaving the collar wide open, looking very casual.

At the beginning of the year, the CEO of Seven Fragrances, Lu Chen, had a stylish pompadour.

But with the hot weather in the summer, he sweated a lot, and his hair always got sticky, so he cut it short, leaving a neat buzz cut. This made his already round head look even rounder, like a big ball.

Tonight, at a business dinner, he was wearing a 300,000 RMB watch on his right fat wrist, which he used to show off in business circles.

But in front of Lin Zaishan, Lu Chen didn't dare to put on airs or show off, for fear that Lin Zaishan would look down on him.

Twenty years ago, Lin Zaishan was already a multimillionaire who had seen and done everything.

Back then, 20 million RMB was equivalent to 200 million RMB now. What scenes hadn't Lin Zaishan seen? He had no right to show off in front of Lin Zaishan.

On the way to Water Through Stone, Lu Chen took off his watch. To be more approachable to his senior, he put on a cheap golden sandalwood bracelet that he used to wear when he was always around Lin Zaishan.

This attire and aura made Lu Chen seem very approachable.

Sun Yuzhen thought Lu Chen was just an ordinary person.

She actually preferred dealing with ordinary people.

She was an ordinary girl, even with a bit of inferiority complex, always feeling that she couldn't match up to rich people and felt more at ease with ordinary people.

"Brother Shan, is this beautiful lady your 'neighbor'?" Lu Chen grinned and winked at Lin Zaishan.

"She's a neighbor and a friend."

"Which kind of friend? A girlfriend?"

Sun Yuzhen looked very pure and kind. Sitting next to Lin Zaishan, Lu Chen found them more and more compatible and decided to tease Lin Zaishan with matchmaking intentions.

"No, I'm just a regular friend with Uncle Lin." Sun Yuzhen felt quite shy and quickly shook her head to explain, to avoid any misunderstanding. She then corrected herself, "We are very good friends."

Lin Zaishan smiled and nodded in agreement. His attention was entirely on the food. His body still needed nourishment, and as soon as he saw food, he forgot everything else, even forgetting to introduce Sun Yuzhen and Lu Chen to each other.

Seeing that Lin Zaishan was about to start eating without introducing them, Lu Chen said helplessly, "Did you not eat dinner? Are you that hungry? At least introduce us, what's this beautiful lady's name?"

"I'll eat first and then introduce you properly later." With the food tempting him, Lin Zaishan was almost drooling and had no time to introduce them.

Knowing that Lin Zaishan couldn't resist food, Sun Yuzhen introduced herself considerately, "My name is Sun Yuzhen. You can call me Yuzhen or Zhenzi. Uncle Shan and others call me Zhenzi."

"My name is Lu Chen, I'm Brother Shan's childhood friend and his best, best, best friend."

Influenced by the alcohol, Lu Chen was in a very good mood and introduced himself with exaggerated enthusiasm, extending his fat hand to shake hands with Sun Yuzhen politely.

"Hello, Brother Chen." When shaking hands, Sun Yuzhen greeted Lu Chen again.

Lu Chen had always loved joking with girls since he was young. Now, though more mature, he still showed some of his old habits when drunk.

He joked with Sun Yuzhen, "You call him Uncle and me Brother? You're making me a generation younger for no reason!"

"You look much younger than Uncle Shan. You can't be much older than me. I can't call you Uncle."

"Haha, I like that."

While they were talking, Lin Zaishan had already eaten half of one box of rice, finishing all the pork chops. After eating, he asked Sun Yuzhen contentedly, "Have you had dinner?"

"I've eaten. These two boxes are for you."

"Great!"

Lin Zaishan almost wanted to hug Sun Yuzhen. She was so considerate!

Hearing this, Lu Chen reached for the other box of food. Watching Lin Zaishan eat voraciously, he was also hungry and said with a smile, "Perfect, I didn't eat much tonight, just drank. I'll have some too."

"Smack!"

Lin Zaishan hit Lu Chen's fat hand with his chopsticks and pulled the other box of food to his chest, "This is what Zhenzi brought for me. Don't touch it. You need to lose weight, don't eat."

"Brother, I'm this age, almost have a family and kids. Why should I lose weight? Give me one box, you can't eat two."

"Who said I can't? I can eat eight boxes!"

Without arguing with Lu Chen, Lin Zaishan ate like he was pouring rice into his stomach, quickly finishing half a box of food and vegetables.

Lu Chen's jaw almost dropped to the table!

Previously, he thought he was a big eater, eating like a storm, swallowing like a river, very domineering!

But seeing Lin Zaishan eat like a freak, Lu Chen was impressed! Does this brother not even chew before swallowing? Isn't he afraid of choking?

Sun Yuzhen was already used to Lin Zaishan's voracious eating style and wasn't surprised.

At the next table, the girl whose shoulder was bumped returned.

Seeing Lin Zaishan, the white-haired old man, eating a box of rice in the elegant coffee shop, she huffed and shrugged, whispering to her companions.

The other man and two women also looked over at Lin Zaishan, all laughing in disdain.

The man, about 30 years old with a short braid, even said, "What a hick," to mock Lin Zaishan.

Fortunately, Hao Yuan's singing on stage was loud enough to cover the mocking words.

If these words had reached Lin Zaishan's table, Lin Zaishan himself wouldn't have cared, but the drunk Lu Chen would have definitely stood up and given the other party a good beating!

"Eat slowly, I won't fight you for it! The pork rice from our home needs to be savored. You're swallowing without chewing, this... this is just wasting food!"

Seeing Lin Zaishan finish one box and immediately start on the other, Lu Chen was scared and very concerned.

"Who said I'm not chewing? I chew fast, you just can't see it."

With his mouth full like two big buns, his cheeks bulging, Lin Zaishan chewed hard and explained to Lu Chen in a muffled voice.

"Don't talk anymore, I'm afraid of you! Just eat properly."

Lu Chen bowed to Lin Zaishan.

Sun Yuzhen couldn't help but giggle on the side.

After quickly finishing two boxes of food, Lin Zaishan felt very comfortable.

He licked the last grain of rice from the corner of his mouth, swallowed, wiped his mouth, and praised, "The food from Seven Fragrances is the best. I ate half a box of instant noodles tonight, but these two boxes of food are much more satisfying."

Sun Yuzhen's heart ached a bit and asked, "You ate instant noodles tonight?"

Lu Chen asked, "Half a box?"

"I was working on a song and didn't want to move, so I ate instant noodles."

"You didn't want to move, call me! I could have sent someone to bring you food! Why eat instant noodles?"

"It's fine, I'm used to it."

"This is a bad habit." Sun Yuzhen frowned, clearly worried about Lin Zaishan. In fact, she often ate instant noodles too, but not half a box at once like Lin Zaishan.

"Zhenzi, do you know why I like the food from Seven Fragrances so much?" Lin Zaishan was about to introduce Lu Chen's identity to Sun Yuzhen.

Lu Chen interrupted, "Because it's made by our family, hehe."

Sun Yuzhen was stunned, "Huh?"

"He's the owner of Seven Fragrances. I grew up eating their food."

"Ah?"

Sun Yuzhen was dumbfounded, her expression like when Lu Chen saw Lin Zaishan eating.

Sun Yuzhen found it hard to imagine that the seemingly ordinary, fat man in front of her was the owner of the Seven Fragrances chain restaurants!

This was too exaggerated!

Seeing Sun Yuzhen's stunned look, Lu Chen felt a sense of pride, but being the owner of Seven Fragrances wasn't his proudest identity. He told Sun Yuzhen his proudest identity, "I've known Brother Shan for over thirty years. When Brother Shan formed the Super Band, I was one of the original members. I went on all the national tours with him. I was the drummer. I don't know if you've seen any of our concert videos. Back then, I wasn't this fat, I always wore a black T-shirt with a skull on the front and had a big bald head, very noticeable behind the drum set!"

All night, they had been talking about the past. Whenever they talked about the past, Lu Chen got excited, especially when telling strangers about his and Lin Zaishan's glorious history, which made him feel honored again.

Just as Lu Chen was excitedly telling Sun Yuzhen about his and Lin Zaishan's past glory, Hao Yuan on stage finally snapped!

She had been booed by the one man and three women at the next table, and she couldn't take it anymore!

"Buzz—!"

She threw the microphone, creating a very sharp electromagnetic echo.

Fuming, she stopped the band and strode over to the table where the one man and three women were sitting.

"Smack!"

She slapped her hand on the table and confronted them, "What are you doing! Are you here to cause trouble!"

The commotion drew everyone's attention.

Lu Chen, who was no longer focused on telling Sun Yuzhen about their past glory, turned his fat head to watch the commotion.

Feeling a bright light in his peripheral vision, he glanced at the beautiful boss, Lu Shishi, who was holding a blue cat.

Any man would sneak a peek at Lu Shishi.

The lights in the cafe had been dim before, but after Hao Yuan's outburst, the lighting technician turned on all the lights, making the cafe much brighter.

Under the bright lights, the flawless, elegant beauty, Lu Shishi, stood out even more. She walked to Hao Yuan's side and joined in the confrontation.

The one man and three women seemed to be there to cause trouble.

Despite Hao Yuan's aggressive approach, they didn't get angry but instead looked satisfied.

The bright lights made the man with the short braid at the back of his head look even more handsome.

He pulled out a folded promotional poster from his trendy jeans pocket, slowly unfolded it, placed it on the table, and pointed at it with a smile, "We're not here to cause trouble, we're here to enjoy your music. Your cafe has been posting the Jazz Night posters on the bulletin board outside our L'amour bar. We tore them down once, but they were posted again the next day. With such enthusiastic invitations, of course, we had to come and listen."