Yan Beicheng squeezed her hand. "Don"t worry. You know Qi Chengzhi and Qi Chenglin, right?"
He saw Lin Chu nodding and continued, "Both of their wives are from normal families. Qi Chengzhi"s wife, Song Yu, could be considered as his childhood sweetheart. But her family went bankrupt and she lives just like the common people. Qi Chenglin"s wife, Ruan Danchen, comes from a family of intellectuals, but her family situation also turned better at a later time. Both of them are exactly like you, ordinary company employees. No one would say anything against them, and they don"t care for statuses. Besides, they are here too. You can chat with them later."
Lin Chu felt better after hearing this. However, she still has some reservations about the meeting, especially since she did not really know anybody there.
They heard laughter coming from within the room when they arrived at the door. Sheng Yue"s private room has a pretty thick door, and the soundproofing was not bad. If one could hear a sound coming from the inside, the laughter must have been really loud.
Yan Beicheng did not knock, they would not have heard it anyway. Moreover, Yan Beicheng and his friends had never treated each other as outsiders.
As the door opened, the laughter inside was subsided. Yan Beicheng gave a slight smile with his hands on Lin Chu"s shoulders. He let her in first. Lin Chu was so nervous. She could feel her head going numb, and her legs felt like they no longer belonged to her. She had no idea how she managed to walk in there.
Lin Yuwen spotted Yan Beicheng standing outside the door and was momentarily stunned. She frowned.
"What is it?" Cheng Ziming asked curiously when he noticed that Lin Yuwen had stopped walking.
Lin Yuwen did not answer him, but she pulled his hand and rushed up to Yan Beicheng before he went into the private room. She called out quickly, "Master Yan."
Yan Beicheng paused and turned around slowly. He saw Cheng Ziming and Lin Yuwen walking over. He raised one of his thick, dark eyebrows and nodded at Lin Yuwen. "Miss Lin."
After that, he looked at Cheng Ziming wordlessly, as if asking who he was.
Cheng Ziming was momentarily embarra.s.sed. Being a n.o.body in someone else"s eyes was a nauseous feeling, especially when they recognized your wife but not you.
Lin Yuwen said with a smile, "This is my fiancé, Cheng Ziming."
Yan Beicheng looked at him and nodded again. His expression did not reveal anything in particular, but Cheng Ziming felt that Yan Beicheng was laughing at him with his clear, dark eyes, calling him a man who lived off a woman.
Lin Yuwen felt that the back of the woman who went into the room before Yan Beicheng looked familiar. Too familiar. The name Lin Chu popped up in her head, even though she found it ridiculous.
She knew it could not be Lin Chu. How could Lin Chu be with Yan Beicheng? How could there be so close to the point he was holding her shoulders protectively? She could not get the familiar back out of her mind though. She had to see this person for herself, so she called out Yan Beicheng determinedly.
Now that she was standing in front of Yan Beicheng, her eyes tried to wander past Yan Beicheng to look into the room. However, all she could see were numerous shadows moving about. She could not see anything. The other private rooms opened and closed constantly. Laughter and the sound of loud drinking could be heard coming from within. There was also the sound of waiters serving up food and pus.h.i.+ng their carts of dirty plates mixed up in the rest of the noises. She could not tell if it was Lin Chu"s voice in the private room.
While she felt that this was a ridiculous thought that she could not believe, her heart did not feel good about it.
Yan Beicheng was much taller than Cheng Ziming, and he stood tall in front of her now. He had a slender frame but could still block everything from her sight. Lin Yuwen did not dare to look openly inside the room. She heard someone call out the name "Chengzhi" faintly and knew that it was a gathering of Yan Beicheng"s circle of friends. None of them were people she could afford to offend.
"Hoho, Master Yan is here to have dinner with friends?" Lin Yuwen tried to strike up a conversation in an attempt to find out more from Yan Beicheng himself.
Yan Beicheng did not bother hiding his cynical smile. His message was clear, Lin Yuwen was not qualified to find out about his personal matters.
Yan Beicheng drawled as Lin Yuwen turned pale, "I"m here to have dinner with my friends."
Lin Yuwen forced a smile and said hurriedly, "Oh yes, I"m about to be married to Cheng Ziming, so I"ve invited a few friends for dinner to pa.s.s them my wedding invitations."
After that, Lin Yuwen paused in her moment and clenched her teeth. She took out a pink invitation that looked like a congratulatory card. It had a very intricate design. A 3D church would pop up when you opened the card.
"Master Yan, do drop by as well if you are willing. It would be the greatest honor of the Lin family. The wedding is held at Sheng Yue." Lin Yuwen smiled as she pa.s.sed him the invitation with both hands.
Yan Beicheng lowered his eyes and took a quick look. He did not open it but nodded. "I"ll check my schedule and come if I can."
Lin Yuwen was greatly flattered. Yan Beicheng might not come, and he could be just being polite, but Lin Yuwen was happy enough that he was willing to be polite with her.
Yan Beicheng"s gaze turned distant. He looked like he wanted to send his guests away. Lin Yuwen could not stay any longer too, so she forced a smile again and said, "We won"t take up your time anymore, Master Yan."
Yan Beicheng nodded coldly and did not say anything. He closed the door in front of Lin Yuwen, which surprised her long enough to miss whatever was going on in the room.
Cheng Ziming had wanted to get on Yan Beicheng"s good side, but he felt disgusted when he saw Yan Beicheng ignore him and gave him a condescending look.
He pulled Lin Yuwen along and moved on. He asked in a whisper, "How did you get to know him? You"re even taking the initiative to talk to him. Why did you even bother? He was obviously looking down on us."
"It"s only natural that he looks down on us. I"m not feeling bad about it. An opportunity has opened up for us even if we can get a slight connection with him. I actually had no intention of calling out to him since he wouldn"t bother much with us, but there was a woman with him that I thought looked familiar from the back." said Lin Yuwen.
"That"s nothing strange about that. Yan Beicheng bringing some rich man"s daughter to meet his friends. It would be natural for you to find her familiar." Cheng Ziming did not think much about it.
"No, I thought it looked like… Like it was Lin Chu," Lin Yuwen bit her lip. She still thought it was ridiculous but said it out loud anyway.
Cheng Ziming laughed the moment she said the name. He held his head high as he laughed ferociously like he just heard a very funny joke.
"That"s impossible. You must be mistaken. Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng"s status are miles apart. You could give her a ladder and she still would not reach Yan Beicheng"s level. How could she be attending a get-together with Yan Beicheng"s friends? She does not have the opportunity to be in that kind of social circle. She can"t even get into our social circle. You"re overthinking this."
Cheng Ziming put his arm around Lin Yuwen"s waist. "You"re always concerned about Lin Chu"s situation. Always on full alert about it. That"s why you"re so suspicious about anything that has to do with her. I"d say you have a much too high opinion of her. She"s not worth all that attention you"re giving her. We are at a different level than she is, and the distance between us will just get further. Aren"t you placing her on a high pedestal by being so concerned over her?"
Lin Yuwen nodded. Cheng Ziming sounded right, even she had thought that it was ridiculous. It was not possible for Lin Chu to ever be with Yan Beicheng.
Nonetheless, she did not feel completely at ease over this. She needed to be sure, so she gave it a thought and took out her phone.
She wanted to call Lin Chu but thought that she could not be trusted. Her intuition told her that Lin Chu would not be honest with her, so she called Lin Chu"s house number instead.
Xu Moyan"s delivery had just arrived when the phone at home started ringing. There was something strange about it because the phone was left by the previous tenant of the house they rented together. They usually did not use it. They would contact each other via cellphones if needed. Even telemarketers called their cellphones and not the landline.
She picked it up and heard that it was Lin Yuwen. Xu Moyan was in no mood to speak nicely to her.
"Is Lin Chu there?" Lin Yuwen asked rudely.
Xu Moyan frowned slightly, trying to figure out the reason Lin Yuwen called Lin Chu at home but not her cellphone. Lin Yuwen had never called this number since the day she and Lin Chu moved in.
Her actions seemed to indicate that she was trying to find out Lin Chu"s whereabouts.
Xu Moyan was high on alert and replied coldly, "Lin Chu is cooking in the kitchen. What do you want?"
Lin Yuwen frowned and said, "Ask her to the phone."
"Whatever you want to say, just say it. If you have nothing to say, just hang up. The kitchen"s on fire right now, she"s busy making a meal over it. Who has the time to talk to you? If you have something urgent, just call her cellphone. How important do you think you are that you want her running to the phone specially for you?" Xu Moyan did not bother with her anymore and hung up.
Lin Yuwen felt better. She must have been wrong.
Yan Beicheng closed the door and turned around. Lin Chu was sitting somewhere that could not be seen from the door. She felt a little fl.u.s.tered when she saw Yan Beicheng walking over.
When Yan Beicheng sat down, she quickly said to him in a low voice, "I don"t want the Lin family to find out anything about me."
Yan Beicheng"s dark eyes looked as if they were smiling when they were staring at her. Laughter burst out from him. "I didn"t say anything."
Lin Chu did not know what to say.
He said he did not want to hide their relations.h.i.+p just now, but here he was telling her this.
"It"s not that I"m trying to keep you a secret, I just don"t want the Lin family to find out about us. I didn"t stop you from getting to know the people closest to me, did I? Like the princ.i.p.al and Moyan. I really do think that the Lin family doesn"t deserve to know about us." Lin Chu said quietly.
Yan Beicheng pa.s.sed the wedding invitation to Lin Chu. "Lin Yuwen gave me this just now. It"s their wedding. You can"t hide now. Do you want me to go?"
Lin Chu was stunned. She took the wedding invitation and before she could say anything, Han Zhuoli spoke up from opposite them, "Stop whispering between the both of you. Are you trying to show off how loving you are?"
Yan Beicheng raised an eyebrow, and his lips curved. "My girlfriend, Lin Chu. We are dating for marriage. She"ll be the future Mrs. Yan. All of you would need to approve of her. Do take care of her the next time you meet her."
Lin chu blushed and stole a quick look at Yan Beicheng. He had not warned her about telling everyone that she was Mrs. Yan. It was embarra.s.sing to sit here like this.
Qi Chengzhi gave a casual laugh. "Let"s exchange numbers. Beicheng is always going outstation. If he"s not around, you can give us a call if you b.u.mp into any trouble."
Lin Chu was a little hesitant. They were only meeting for the first time and suddenly her phone was filled with so many valuable numbers. She suddenly felt like her phone become heavier.
However, this was everyone"s way of showing her their kindness, so she did not reject them. Otherwise, it would not be nice of her. It would have seemed hypocritical too. It would as if she was rejecting everyone"s good intentions.
Yan Beicheng wanted to introduce her to his friends because he wanted to bring her into his world. She did not want to create a wall between her and his world just because she felt a little awkward. She wanted to be accepted by his friends and did not want him to drift away from them nor be looked down upon by them.
Yan Beicheng had happily taken out her phone and said, "All of you can take down her number. I"ll save all your numbers on her phone on her behalf."
Yan Beicheng typed away on her phone while he was talking and logged into WeChat, adding Lin Chu into the chatgroup of "8x8 is 64."
Everyone was in a happy mood and drank quite a bit. Yan Beicheng had to drive, but no one gave him any leeway. They made Lin Chu drink on his behalf instead. Lucky for Lin Chu, Qi Chengzhi and the others were quite chivalrous and did not force her to drink too much. It could be that they were not yet familiar with her yet.
Lin Chu had a straightforward personality. Drinking capacity aside, she would drink as long as someone toasted her. She was not going to embarra.s.s Yan Beicheng. She drank until she got tipsy. Her face was bright red, but she was not drunk. Though it did look like she would be drunk if she drank one more gla.s.s.
Qi Chengzhi and the others stopped asking her to drink. All they did was tell Yan Beicheng to bring his driver the next time. He had finally got himself a girlfriend. How could he allow her to drink on his behalf on such a happy occasion? It was a must for him to drink the occasion with his best friends.
Yan Beicheng ignored them. He looked at Lin Chu"s reddening face and felt distressed. Those big, clear eyes were starting to show a befuddled look in them.
"Look at what you guys did," Yan Beicheng reproached them. He asked the waiter to bring a gla.s.s of honey water for Lin Chu and made her eat something.
Han Zhuoli and the others quickly apologized to Lin Chu while laughing. Lin Chu, of course, could not blame them. Besides, everyone was having a good time.
Since Qi Chengzhi, Qi Chenglin and Wei Ziqi had kids at home, they did not stay long and left after filling up their stomachs.
Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu stood outside the doors of Sheng Yue, waiting for the jockey to bring their car over. Lin Chu"s face was still pumping red, and she was not sure if it was because of the cold or because of the drinking.
The night was cold, so Yan Beicheng covered Lin Chu"s face and ears with his hands to block the wind. "I"ll get my driver to come along the next time. You don"t need to drink on my behalf."
She was not sure if it was because of the alcohol or because she was tipsy but Lin Chu became just a little bit bolder. She put her hands into Yan Beicheng"s coat without hesitation and hugged him on the waist through it.
She had not actually felt him up until this point. She had just realized how hard his abdomen was.
She may not have touched them before, but she has seen them. Those 8 packs were not just for show. She did not expect the side of his waist and his back to be rock-hard as well. It made her feel secure.
"I like the feeling of drinking on your behalf. It makes me feel closer to you." Lin Chu lifted her head and her eyelashes trembled. She watched him under the moonlight. He looked like a good man standing strong in times of coldness and chaos.
She watched as his lips curved up into a slight smile. His faint gaze seemed only to belong to her. She could smell his clean, pine fragrance brought to her by the cold wind.
Lin Chu buried her face into his chest in her tipsiness. She even rubbed her face into it. Her actions turned Yan Beicheng into mush.
Yan Beicheng took the opportunity to hug her closer. He lowered his head as his breath sprinkled down on her, making her feel warmer in the cold wind. His breath blew on her ears, and they turned red immediately as if they were soaked in blood.
Yan Beicheng could not help but laugh at her submissive coyness. His laughter got stuck in his throat and rumbled through his chest. Lin Chu felt the tremor on her chest, and her ears picked up the sound of his seductive laugh.
"If I knew you"d be this way after drinking, I"d have brought you out drinking long ago." Yan Beicheng deep voice was hoa.r.s.e as he said those words into her ear. His dark eyes watched as the color of her burning ears subsided a little. He lowered his head slightly and leaned closer to give her a kiss on the ear.
Lin Chu was obviously trembling in his arms, so much so that she pressed her forehead hard on his chest. It made Yan Beicheng laugh.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw his car being driven over. Yan Beicheng then gave another kiss to her pale yet red ears before helping her into the car.
Lin Yuwen walked out to pick up a call, only to see Yan Beicheng hugging a woman from afar. They looked annoyingly cozy together.
However, the woman in Yan Beicheng"s arms had her back facing the entrance. Her face was stuck close in Yan Beicheng"s arms. By the looks of how Yan Beicheng had her in his arms, he really did treasure her so much that he was prepared to protect her at all costs.