Chapter 10: Forum
"Cheap man! Cheap man!" Wen Lan Sheng's delicate eyes twisted with hatred.
"What's wrong, Lan Sheng? What happened?" Xie Cen heard a commotion in the living room and hurriedly ran out from the bedroom.
"Oh no, why did you smash all this perfectly good food?!" Xie Cen exclaimed with distress, looking at the food and soup spilled all over the floor.
"It's nothing," Wen Lan Sheng said, his voice deliberately calm as he crouched down to clean up the mess.
Xie Cen's expression was worried. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "Did you have a fight with Fan Xia?"
Wen Lan Sheng paused while picking up the broken dishes, then looked up with a slight smile. "Dad, what are you imagining? Xia Xia and I are fine, we didn't fight."
Xie Cen sighed in relief, "That's good. When I saw you so angry just now, I thought you had a fight with Fan Xia... But what happened then?"
"Nothing, just ran into someone annoying," Wen Lan Sheng said, kneeling on the floor and carefully wiping up the oil stains, his eyes dark and unreadable.
Xie Cen chuckled, "Getting so angry over something so small? You rarely get angry, except for that time in college when a man was hitting on Fan Xia..."
Seeing Wen Lan Sheng's tightly pressed lips, Xie Cen's expression changed slightly. He hurriedly asked, "It's not that Fan Xia is seeing someone else, is it?"
"Dad, don't think such nonsense. Xia Xia isn't the type to fool around," Wen Lan Sheng said with furrowed brows.
"I know, I know. Fan Xia inherited Director Fan's faithfulness. But you can't stop those shameless butterflies out there," Xie Cen said worriedly. "To be honest, Fan Xia has attracted boys since she was little. Now that she's successful in her career, with a car and house, who knows how many men are eyeing her. Men these days will use any means to climb up... It's really hard to find a woman with Fan Xia's qualities. Lan Sheng, you must hold on tight to her so you can live comfortably as a rich husband for the rest of your life."
Wen Lan Sheng's eyes flickered. "Dad, Fan Xia and I aren't together for money."
If he wanted money, he wouldn't have given himself to her when she had nothing in their second year of high school. He was already satisfied just to have Fan Xia. He only wanted to live a simple life with her.
But Fan Xia's development was beyond his expectations. She was too outstanding - even when down and out, she would still shine in the dust. Not to mention after she got into the capital's university, her whole person radiated dazzling light. He was happy for her success, but also felt inferior about his own ordinariness. The gap between them was too big - so big that everyone who learned they were a couple and were going to get married reacted with confusion and shock rather than congratulations.
"I know. You've been secretly dating since high school, behind my and your mother's backs. You're childhood sweethearts with a bond stronger than gold. But you need to realize that the current Fan Xia is different from before. No matter how much she loves you, she can't stop others from deliberately trying to steal her away, especially at this critical juncture. You must be extremely vigilant," Xie Cen said.
"I know, don't worry," Wen Lan Sheng replied flatly.
Chasing away the butterflies around Fan Xia was something he had done countless times since high school. Fan Xia just didn't know about it.
Seeing Wen Lan Sheng like this, Xie Cen nodded reassuringly and returned to his room.
After cleaning up the mess in the dining room, Wen Lan Sheng picked up his phone.
"Xia Xia, Senior Rong Xiu hung up too quickly just now, I didn't even have time to say much."
"Tell Senior Rong Xiu to take good care of himself. It's already not easy for a man to survive in a business world full of women. Every day he's either entertaining directors from other companies or attending various business drinking parties, often drinking until he passes out. Wasn't that the case last time when you had to pick him up from the club? Who knows how much alcohol those women made him drink..."
"Senior Rong Xiu really has it tough. Take good care of him, and come back after you're sure his fever has gone down."
"Oh, remember last time at the Yunding Restaurant you said their seafood soup was delicious? I specially searched for a recipe online and tried to make it. The taste is pretty close to that restaurant's. When will you come back to try it?"
Ding ding dong dong, a series of phone notifications sounded.
Rong Xiu calmly took out a set of bowls and dishes, ladled a bowl of porridge and brought it to Fan Xia. Steam rose from the bowl: "There's not much to eat in the fridge. You've been taking care of me all day, you must be hungry."
"No need, since you're fine now, I'll head back first," Fan Xia said, preparing to leave as she looked at the constant stream of messages popping up.
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