Chapter 27.2

Rong Yuan turned to Xu Xia:
“Uncle Xu, we’ll chat with Mr. Liao for a bit. Please go ahead.”

Seeing Liao Jiqing cozying up to Rong Yuan, chatting like old friends, Xu Xia had no choice but to rein in his fury in front of such company. He glared at his daughter again:
“Still not leaving?”

Xu Xia dragged his daughter out. Feng Xueming, watching Chen Zhiqian holding Fan Qi so closely, realized he’d lost his chance. He had come intending to protect her, but now he could only leave awkwardly as well.

Once they were both gone, Fan Qi quickly released Chen Zhiqian’s arm and said:
“Well… I’ll let you get back to work?”

But Chen Zhiqian took her hand and leaned in to whisper:
“Let’s go back together later.”

Even though she knew he was just acting, Fan Qi still blushed when his warm breath brushed her ear:
“Got it…”

After Liao Jiqing escorted the guests to the meeting room, the female office staff — especially Sister Xiang — gathered around Fan Qi:

“Fan Qi, that is your husband?”

Fan Qi nodded:
“Yep!”

The new admin assistant looked at her with wide, sparkly eyes:
“I always thought Feng Xueming was one of the most handsome rich heirs… but standing next to your husband, the difference is huge!”

“It’s not just about looks — both their features are decent. It’s the aura. Even standing next to Rong Yuan, he doesn’t pale at all.”

“He’s got that classic young master air—so well-mannered. I was totally entranced when he smiled just now.”

Miss Xiang rested a hand on Fan Qi’s shoulder. “What really melted me was when Fan Qi looked at him and he blushed.”

“Exactly! I’m totally falling for him. Why isn’t he in the entertainment industry? Why isn’t he acting?”

“Someone who can associate with Rong Yuan? Acting is beneath him,” Miss Xiang scoffed. “Fan Qi, your husband got Rong Yuan to invest and even introduced him to Xu Xia from Changxing? What kind of business does your husband run? He looks so young!”

That question stumped her. The original Fan Qi had always assumed Chen Zhiqian came home late because he was working overtime or doing side jobs. Clearly, that wasn’t the case. So what exactly did he do? It had to be something related to his area of expertise, right?

“He’s still in school. While studying, he developed an electronic product on the side,” Fan Qi said, trying to be vague and brush it off.

Luckily, the conversation shifted toward Liu Xiangnian.

“Fan Qi, your husband just said he won’t acknowledge the Liu family. But Liu Xiangnian is a real tycoon! If your husband returns, he’ll be the only grandson.”

“People with real ability don’t care about a bit of family inheritance,” someone said. “Take Rong Yuan, for instance. The Lin family was so prestigious back then…”

Fan Qi listened as the ladies gossiped on. Apparently, Rong Yuan was once an illegitimate son of a shipping tycoon who had fallen into obscurity in the mainland. The Lin family recognized his talent and tried to bring him back into the fold. But he refused, even after the Lin family went bankrupt. A messy story, really.

Whatever. That drama didn’t matter. All Fan Qi needed to know was that Rong Yuan was a venture capitalist.

After chatting for a while, it was time to clock out. Everyone returned to their desks to tidy up before heading home.

Chen Zhiqian had asked her to wait, so Fan Qi sat down and reviewed her study guide for next week’s futures exam.

When she heard footsteps, she packed up her materials. A group exited the conference room, and Chen Zhiqian walked over to her. “Let’s go. Time to eat.”

Liao Jiqing had ordered takeout from a nearby Japanese restaurant in the hotel next door.

It wasn’t even 7 PM yet, and the streets around the exchange building were packed with people. As they walked, Chen Zhiqian chatted with Liao Jiqing while also keeping a careful eye on Fan Qi, playing the role of the doting husband to perfection.

Fan Qi was genuinely grateful for how he acted today. With this, maybe Feng Xueming wouldn’t dare pull any more ridiculous stunts.

While Chen Zhiqian mingled with others, Fan Qi didn’t crowd in. She fell half a step behind and walked beside Liao Yazhe.

“I had no idea your husband was so impressive,” Liao Yazhe said.

Thinking of how he was a big shot in the original novel, Fan Qi nodded. “Yeah, he’s pretty incredible.” Though honestly, the novel didn’t go into much detail.

Noticing she wasn’t keeping up, Chen Zhiqian paused and waited for her. Fan Qi quickly caught up, and he took her hand as they crossed the street together.

They were in Central, Port City. Everyone else was walking briskly, and the two of them looked like middle school sweethearts, holding hands across the street.

At the Japanese restaurant, Fan Qi sat down, and Liao Jiqing had Liao Yazhe order. Liao Yazhe asked the two guests if they had any dietary restrictions. They said no. Then he handed the menu to Fan Qi. “You know your husband’s taste best. Let’s order together.”

Like hell she knew! The original Fan Qi never cared what Chen Zhiqian liked to eat. She had no clue. She glanced at Chen Zhiqian, who was still chatting with Rong Yuan. Forget it—she’d just order whatever she liked.

After placing the order with Liao Yazhe, Chen Zhiqian leaned over and asked, “Ah Yuan and our family have some kind of connection?”

“Huh?” Fan Qi was surprised.

Rong Yuan overheard and turned his head. “When I went back to Beijing and talked with my grandparents, I mentioned Zhiqian’s grandmother. Turns out our families have been old friends for generations. Our house in Shanghai was just two streets over from yours.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, so we agreed—come Spring Festival, we’ll both go back to Shanghai and visit each other.”

Fan Qi nodded. “Sounds great! Looking forward to it.”

Rong Yuan smiled at Chen Zhiqian. “You’d better have your jianbing guozi ready by then. We’re expecting a feast.”

Jianbing guozi? Fan Qi looked at Chen Zhiqian, confused. He shot a mildly annoyed glance at Rong Yuan. “You’re the one who said you could bring anything from the mainland as long as it wasn’t illegal—and within three days.”

“How could I have guessed you’d ask for a jianbing griddle?”

Griddle? Fan Qi looked at him in surprise. Chen Zhiqian looked a bit embarrassed. “I didn’t even know where to find a restaurant supply store here, so I asked Rong Yuan to help.”

“No need for him to make them. I’ll do it.” Fan Qi jumped at the opportunity.

After countless failures in her past life, she had mastered the art of making jianbing guozi. If she were the heroine of a period novel, she could’ve started a stall and made her first fortune selling them.

At the dinner table, Fan Qi finally learned what Chen Zhiqian actually did—he was working on a home video game console.

Apparently, home consoles had only become popular in the last year or two.

Fan Qi knew video games would become a massive industry in the decades to come. She listened as Chen Zhiqian talked about developing not just home consoles, but also portable gaming devices.

His company was preparing for an IPO. Since Rong Yuan was backing it as a venture capitalist, he wanted things done by the book from the beginning—including early engagement with brokerage firms to guide the IPO process.

“Oh right, Mr. Chen,” Liao Yazhe poured him a cup of sake. “You mentioned production issues earlier. How are you planning to resolve that?”

“Most garment and electronics manufacturing is shifting inland. I’ve just negotiated with a state-owned electronics factory back in the mainland—we’ll be forming a joint venture.”

Liao Yazhe nodded approvingly and, remembering Fan Qi liked it, passed her a dish of wasabi sea conch. She had devoured it in just two bites at lunch the other day, so he had given her his portion too.

“Here—sea conch.”

“Thanks!” Fan Qi reached for it with her chopsticks, but just then a shell-on grilled prawn was placed in front of her. She turned her head and saw Chen Zhiqian, still deep in conversation with Liao Jiqing about market insights.

She lowered her gaze and quietly ate her prawn.

The colleague responsible for new stock listings and underwriting glanced over and said to Liao Yazhe, “Fan Qi has her husband looking after her.”

Seeing Fan Qi not eating, Liao Yazhe reached to take back the wasabi sea snail slices, but Fan Qi stopped him. “I want to eat that too.”

Chen Zhiqian handed her a plate of wasabi octopus instead. “Don’t fight over food—this one tastes about the same.”

But the crunch of sea snail and octopus was definitely different. Why else would she have ordered both?

Forget it. She decided to give him some face and started eating the wasabi octopus.

Just after a couple of bites, a few slices of seared tuna were added to her plate. She turned her head—he was eating too and motioned for her to eat as well. So she continued.

By the end of the meal, Chen Zhiqian had also given her half a bowl of sukiyaki and a scoop of ice cream.

After dinner, Rong Yuan offered to drive them, but Chen Zhiqian politely declined. “Fan Qi and I will take a walk and ride the subway home.”

Fan Qi shot him a glare—so he did know that she needed a walk after eating too much.

As they walked, Chen Zhiqian watched her with a faint smile as she stopped by a newsstand to buy a newspaper. Seeing her eat earlier had made it hard for him to resist the urge to pat her on the head.

Fan Qi held the newspaper as they entered the subway.

That morning’s paper covered the charity gala from the night before—elegance and grace all around, at least on the surface.

But the truth can’t be hidden for long. The evening papers had already gone wild with the details of the gala.

By nine o’clock, the subway was nearly empty, and they found seats. Fan Qi sat down and opened the newspaper.

On the entertainment page, the photo of her and Jin Xiaohui from that morning had now been cropped and enlarged to focus only on the jade pendant on her chest.

Main headline: Fan Qi wears Qing Dynasty imperial jade melon pendant to charity gala
Subheadline: Liu Xiangnian finds his long-lost legitimate grandson from the mainland

There were many people in Hong Kong, and plenty who knew their stuff. The history and origin of that jade piece had already been dug up and laid bare.

Even the dramatic love story between a rich young lady and a poor scholar from years ago had been revived for extra flavor—leaving readers shaking their heads.

After detailing that soap opera of a past, the papers naturally turned to marvel at Fan Qi’s incredible stroke of luck. While other actresses slogged through years without a shot at marrying into wealth, she’d seemingly stumbled into it overnight and became the future granddaughter-in-law of a tycoon.

After reading the entertainment section, she turned to finance. She was still reading when Chen Zhiqian nudged her, “Let’s go. This is our stop.”

They exited the station and walked to the street in front of their apartment building—only to see a crowd gathered ahead.

Before they could react, the group swarmed toward them, surrounding them completely.

Flashbulbs popped. Microphones were nearly shoved into Chen Zhiqian’s face.

“Mr. Chen, is it true that you’re Mr. Liu Xiangnian’s grandson?”

“No,” Chen Zhiqian replied crisply.

That shut the crowd up for a second—where could they go with the questions now?

Thankfully, he followed up himself, “I’m honoring my grandmother’s wishes. Whether in the past, now, or in the future—I’m a son of the Chen family.”

As he led Fan Qi forward, a reporter jumped in front of them: “Aren’t you giving up a huge inheritance by walking away from the Liu family?”

Chen Zhiqian smiled mildly, looking every bit the refined gentleman. “You can’t give up what you’ve never had.”