Xia Yu wanted to turn back and leave. She tried to take out her phone and call Zhang Hanyu but decided to give up. Now that she"s here, it was better to go and look.
She was counting the steps as she climbed up. She turned a corner, and the scenery in front of her suddenly changed. She saw a vast bamboo forest. There was a cobblestone path in the middle of the bamboo forest. At the entrance, she finally saw a sign.
She continued to walk deeper. There were guiding lights on the ground and a dark path. On both sides of the road, there were dense bamboo forests.
It had just rained, and the ground was slightly wet. Xia Yu couldn"t help but take a deep breath and smell the night dew and moss in the air. It was a good place.
At the end of the path, there was an array of ancient j.a.panese cabins surrounding a s.p.a.cious court with only a single tree planted. Under the tree, there were tables and chairs made of stone and tree stumps, and on the table, there was a small lamp. The rest of the court was completely empty, which made the orange light in the back of the log cabin exceptionally bright.
Xia Yu really did not expect that in this bamboo forest that was halfway up the mountain there would be such a great place. Just as she was about to go in, she saw a woman in a kimono walking out.
"Excuse me, are you Miss Xia?" with a standard 180-degree bow, she spoke with the awful p.r.o.nunciation of Chinese.
A j.a.panese restaurant?
"Yes, may I ask who you are?" Xia Yu replied very fluently in j.a.panese.
"I"m the owner of the restaurant, Qian Jiazi. Mr. Zhang has booked a private room here. He hasn"t arrived yet, so he asked me to bring you in first." The owner switched back to j.a.panese and secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Her Chinese was not good. She was afraid that she would have trouble communicating with Xia Yu.
"Thank you!" She followed Qian Jiazi to the restaurant, where she changed the clogs and slippers provided by the entrance. Inside, she found that the dining room was not big, with tatami everywhere, and it was clean and tidy with a touch of elegance.
Xia Yu followed Qian Jiazi to the end of the corridor and into a private room to the south.
"Miss Xia, please wait here for a moment. Mr. Zhang will be here shortly." Qian Jiazi then left the room.
Xia Yu went in. The place inside was not very big, it was only about seven to eight square meters, surrounded by a set of raised tatamis, with a low table in the middle. While one side was the sliding door, the other was French windows.
She found a place to sit down on her knees. She looked outside the window. It was already dark, but she could still make out the bamboo forest outside. She could even hear the spring water.
Very soon, someone came in with some tea. They were also wearing the kimono, but they looked like waiters.
When the waiter left, Xia Yu flipped through the menu and frowned.
Is this a trap? Every single dish cost a few hundred, and j.a.panese food is notorious for small portions. It is probably going to cost a few thousand Yuan, isn"t it?
Just as Xia Yu was conflicted over the price of the dishes, the door was pushed open, and Shen Yan walked in.
The waiter seemed to recognize him, and immediately straightened up and bowed to him. He nodded in return.
The waiter went out, and the door closed very quickly. Shen Yan sat down on his knees facing Xia Yu. Suddenly there was an extra person in the s.p.a.ce that was already not very s.p.a.cious before, and the door was closed. Xia Yu couldn"t help but feel a sense of oppression.
"Why are you here?" Xia Yu looked at Shen Yan with a slightly shocked expression.
"What, can"t I come?" Shen Yan squinted his beautiful foxy eyes slightly: "Or did you make an appointment with someone I can"t meet?"
Shen Yan"s words gave Xia Yu the feeling that she was secretly having a love affair, and he had coincidentally caught them red-handed.
Suddenly, Xia Yu regretted inviting Zhang Hanyu to eat, as she found it challenging to stay in the private room and Shen Yan came in uninvited.
She calmly pinched her fingers, "I don"t know what you"re talking about."
"Your dress is gorgeous!"
"A new dress. This is the first time I"ve seen you wear it."
"Not bad, it seems like you value tonight"s date a lot!"
As he spoke till the end, Xia Yu could only frown, as if he had somehow brought Xia Yu into a strange circle, a circle controlled by him.
Xia Yu could not help but think that this man was quite a powerful figure. He was good at preempting others and had always taken the lead in the shortest possible time, which was why Shen Mo was so afraid of him. However, he was not willing to admit it and to show that he was stronger than him, he had taken many detours.
Even the fact that Zhang Hanyu invited her today, it would probably be a part of Shen Mo"s plan to deal with Shen Yan.
Xia Yu didn"t want to get into their power game, but the reality was that she had to choose which side to stand on. This feeling made Xia Yu uncomfortable, she took a sip of her tea, and without the pretense of politeness, she pushed the menu towards him and went straight to the main topic.
"Let"s order. My treat."
"Your treat?"
"Right, I"ll treat it. Consider it as me thank you."
If she didn"t treat, who would?
Shen Yan smiled, "Alright, which one shall we start?"
"What?"
"You don"t understand?" He was still smiling as he rubbed his forehead with his fingers: "You smashed my car and got threatened by my brother. Chen Wenxuan bullied you, you got into trouble with Bao Na, and it seems that I was the one who helped you out. Which matter are you going to thank me for with today"s meal?"
This d.a.m.nable man couldn"t have calculated it that clearly, right?
Well, she admitted that he had helped her several times and had even saved her life, but she had no intention of returning it with food.
Xia Yu laughed as she held her teacup.
"Yes, you"ve helped me many times, but I remember that I"ve taken the blame for you a few times. I was taken as a mistress by your woman!"
"..." Shen Yan was startled, why did she mention it?
"No, what do you mean?"
Xia Yu frowned: "Nothing much, I just wanted to say that your son is still in the hospital."
"..." Now it was Shen Yan"s turn to be speechless!
"You"re not going to settle the score like that, are you?" Shen Yan laughed bitterly.
"You"re not going to settle the score like that either, right?" She retorted quickly.
As if he had hit the nail on the head, Shen Yan sighed helplessly.
What a boring woman. He could not continue the conversation, which made him a little upset. He raised his head to look at the expression of the woman opposite him, who was still looking out of the window, calm and indifferent as if no matter what he did, it would not affect her in the slightest.
However, Shen Yan realized that she seemed to have put on some light makeup today, and this discovery made his mood worse. For some reason, he didn"t know why.
"Mr. Zhang said that he will send me an invitation after work. It"s almost time for dinner, and I can"t let him go back with an empty stomach, right?" Xia Yu could not allow this misunderstanding to continue. With his temper, it was hard to say what would happen to Zhang Hanyu when he came.
He was targeting Xia Yu as expected. Xia Yu took the initiative to confess to Shen Yan, causing his mood to improve a lot. He did not reprimand her, "The technology company that Zhang Hanyu is working at was founded by my elder brother."
"What?"
"That was the first company that my elder brother established, and it was extremely significant for him. He had always taken care of it by himself, and handing it over to Zhang Hanyu now could be said to be an affirmation of his ability and loyalty." Shen Yan laughed and said.
No wonder Shen Mo didn"t intercede for him. He had other arrangements; Xia Yu nodded in silence.
Next, the two of them sat opposite each other, sipping tea.
Zhang Hanyu pushed open the door and was startled to see Shen Yan.
But he quickly calmed down, and after greeting Shen Yan, he sat down on the side.
"Let"s eat!" Shen Yan took the menu.
Xia Yu looked up at Shen Yan: "Aren"t you going to order first?"
"No need." He pressed the service bell beside his hand, but Xia Yu was too lazy to ask.
After a while, someone came in with a gla.s.s of wine.
"Would you like some?" Zhang Hanyu asked Xia Yu.
"She"s still wounded." Shen Yan decided for her.
Zhang Hanyu did not force it, so he poured some into his cup and poured for Shen Yan.
"According to the customs of the j.a.panese, we should drink some wine first. Young Master Yan, please!"
The two men raised their gla.s.ses.
Xia Yu did not make a sound. The room was very quiet, and they could hear the bamboo leaves being blown by the wind outside the window.
Afterward, the waiters brought in their dishes one after another. Every container was delicate and exquisite. They filled them up with a small pile or a small amount of food, making people feel unbearable to pick up the food.
"The dish in front of you should be called the Imperial Bowl. The soup takes three to four days to stew and then steam for three hours with Hokkaido"s fluorescent squid. Then, the peas will be added with tofu and water in the broth, which is what we usually call the soup. Finally, grilled fish and mashed winter bamboo shoots are added. But restaurants change the dish according to seasons. So, the Imperial Bowl may be different every time you come.
"And the one on your right is called a steamer in the j.a.panese cuisine. It is made of Osaka Domyoji power with cherry bran. And It is wrapped inside a mackerel, and finally sprinkled with j.a.panese millet. So, it tastes soft, but it doesn"t stick to your teeth."
This man sure knows how to enjoy himself. Xia Yu tasted a few mouthfuls, and it was excellent.
Zhang Hanyu, who was seated opposite him, drank a mouthful of wine alone with a cold glint in his eyes.
He believed that Xia Yu would not call Shen Yan over, but it was not a coincidence that Shen Yan came here.
It seemed like Shen Yan was already monitoring him. Zhang Hanyu knew that he couldn"t talk much with Xia Yu today, so he decided to let go of this matter and enjoy a meal.
This swing is good at nothing but was the pickiest with beauties and delicacies. What he personally recommended wouldn"t be wrong.
"Young Master Yan knows a lot about j.a.panese cuisine!"
"No, I used to have a friend who loved j.a.panese food. Her biggest dream was to open a j.a.panese restaurant, hide it in the mountains, build a few houses, and be a chef. I came to understand j.a.panese cuisine after listening to a lot of her words."
"That"s a good idea. Did she open it?" Xia Yu was initially worried that this meal would end in a quarrel. Now that the two men were chatting about food, it didn"t seem too bad.
Shen Yan lowered his head and laughed coldly, "She did."
"That"s good." Xia Yu also laughed along, but very lightly, "Having a dream, and then being able to realize it, should be a very blissful thing."
"Is that so?"
"Of course."
"What about you? Do you have any dreams?" Shen Yan suddenly changed the topic to Xia Yu.
Xia Yu frowned and swept her hair with her hand. "I used to want to be a journalist in the past, but my father said it"d be better to acquire some skills and wanted me to be a chef. and I ended up being a secretary."
Zhang Hanyu laughed, in the past when Xia Yu was his secretary, she had also mentioned the strange thought of her father. At that time, Xia Yu was still angry, and her tone was somewhat aggressive.
"Become a chef? What an extraordinary idea your father had! He must have nurtured you in this way." Xia Yu"s cooking skills made her worthy of being called a chef.
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