Chapter 5: Taste

It was only after Su Le entered the room did she see Chen Yue, that lass, already seated down at a corner nibbling on some melon seeds as she chatted with a guy beside her. He must be a good looking person since Chen Yue seemed to not have noticed Su Le when she entered.

Walking towards Chen Yue, Su Le sat beside her and carefully examined the guy. No matter how Su Le looked, the guy seemed very familiar yet she could not recall who he was.

“Ah? Chen Yue, that’s your good friend from university, Su Le, right?” The guy immediately recognised Su Le when he saw her, “Su Le, long time no see. I didn’t think you would be in this city.”

For the time being, Su Le couldn’t recognise who this person was, but looking at Chen Yue’s attitude, he and Chen Yue must have been friends. Su Le also smiled and nodded her head, “mmm, right. After I graduated, I always stayed in this city to work, but I never thought you would be here too.”

“Ah, the last time I heard, you had wanted to work near your parent’s house. So how come you’ve stayed here?” The man passed a beverage to Su Le, “At that time, there was someone who found it a pity when you made that decision.”

Su Le was surprised, because her decision to return to her hometown was spoken by her during her second year. For this man to know that, she guessed, she must have met him during her second year. Su Le turned to look at Chen Yue, hoping to find an answer on her.

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“Cao Yu Dong, what nonsense are you talking about,” Chen Yue saw the change in Su Le’s expression and thought Su Le must have recalled something about Zhuang Wei so she hurriedly closed the topic, “You are our senior by two years, what do you know.”

Cao Yu Dong remembered the matter between Su Le and Zhuang Wei, so he lifted his head to look at Wei Chu who was standing a few steps away. Cao Yu Dong smiled and cleverly started another topic.

Su Le listened to Chen Yue and Cao Yu Dong’s conversation and slowly remembered who Cao Yu Dong was. Wasn’t he the student ambassador of their department? And when he left, it was Zhuang Wei who was elected to take over the position.

Thinking about Zhuang Wei, Su Le wrinkled her brows and reached out to open her beverage but she felt her hand tremble slightly.

“I’ll help.” Someone took the beverage away from her hands and she only heard a noise of it being opened. The person then sat down beside her and conveniently placed a straw in the drink before passing the drink back to her.

“Thank you,” Su Le received the drink and shifted her seat closer to Chen Yue before smiling at Wei Chu.

Chen Yue and Cao Yu Dong stopped chatting and placed their attention on the other two. Chen Yue asked in surprise, “Senior Wei, I gave you a call yesterday morning and you said you wouldn’t be coming.”

Wei Chu smiled towards Chen Yue, “I’ve just finished handling some business this afternoon, so I’m able to come tonight.”

Su Le blinked at Chen Yue. Originally, who was it who said Wei Chu would definitely be coming tonight. In the end, he had only attended because his work was done. Chen Yue, that lass, her words were really unreliable and could not be fully trusted.

Cao Yu Dong smiled awkwardly as he looked at Wei Chu before sweeping his gaze to the pull tab, “For the sake of attending tonight’s reunion, Wei Chu worked overtime last night and skipped lunch today.”

“Senior Wei really cares about his relationship with others.” Chen Yue praised.

Cao Yu Dong nodded, “He really cares about certain schoolmates.” As Wei Chu’s friend, he generous enough to not withdraw his support.

—————-

Pretty much everyone had arrived so the group went to the fifth floor of the restaurant and entered the room they reserved to order some dishes. By chance, Li Xuan Ran who sat next to Su Le suddenly saw a close friend and went to sit with her. About ten seconds later, the empty seat beside Su Le was filled by the famous Wei Chu.

He seemed to notice Su Le’s blank expression and elegantly said, “Are you not used to me sitting next to you?”

Su Le’s lips twitched, “No, it’s my honour.” Her hand that was holding a menu stiffened and she randomly ticked a dish which she disliked.

“You like stir-fried bitter gourd with egg?” Wei Chu placed a teacup for Su Le where she could easily reach. “Don’t you hate bitter gourd?”Su Le randomly selected another dish and passed the menu to Wei Chu. Even though she disliked bitter gourd, she had already chosen it. And with so many people here, surely there is someone who likes it. She smiled at Wei Chu, “Changing one’s taste occasionally is good.”

Seeing Wei Chu tick a few Sichuan dishes, Su Le laughed, “Never thought our tastes would be similar.”

“Really?” Wei Chu seemed slightly surprised as he passed the menu to the next person and explained, “My grandmother is from Sichuan, and she’s good at cooking Sichuan dishes.”

Su Le’s eyes brightened up, “I also think Sichuan food are pretty good.”

Wei Chu smiled gracefully and said, “I learnt how to cook a few dishes from my grandmother. If you have the time, you can come try some of the Sichuan dish that I made.”

Su Le smiled brightly, “Ok, when there’s a chance, I will definitely try.” Su Le was really surprised that Wei Chu could cook, but she was not foolish to take the sudden invitation seriously. As a woman, even if she wasn’t the smartest, the least she should know was how to adapt to the different situations.

Wei Chu could see that Su Le not serious about his invitation, so he stopped talking about it and changed the topic, “I heard from Chen Yue that you’ve resigned. Do you have any interest working in my company?”

Su Le was startled but immediately declined with a smiled, “Thank you, Senior Wei, but I’m not in a hurry to find a job as of yet. I’ll take my time to search for them first.” After speaking, Su Le’s heart tightened. Sooner or later, she would have to zip that mouth of Chen Yue’s.

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During the time when she was working, her salary was not high, but she was unlike her other classmates who needed to pay rent so she had some money saved up. Additionally, she liked writing novels online which earned her a little income. So as of yet, she had no problems surviving for a few months. Regarding Wei Chu’s invitation, apart from being startled at the beginning, she was able to recover quickly. That was only polite a conversation between schoolmates, and there was no need for her to take it seriously. Even if she really did want to enter Wei Chu’s company, she would enter it through having a formal interview and not by connections.

Cao Yu Dong, who was sitting with Chen Yue, rubbed his chin and said, “Chen Yue, do you feel… Wei Chu is speaking and smiling a lot today?”

Chen Yue gazed over at the two and saw Wei Chu cleaning Su Le’s spoon. She quickly retracted her gaze and said, “As a matter of fact, we are just hallucinating.” Su Le that idi*t, to really let Wei Chu do those things for her. Did she really think Senior Wei was like those young male students who pursued her? That idi*t, what is she thinking?!

The dishes quickly arrived at the table and all of them looked exquisite. The dish Su Le chosen, “The Thousand Silver Threads” was actually just some cold things mixed with vermicelli. After tasting the dish, she calmly put down her chopsticks. The names used for the dishes in this restaurant were elegant as usual but the taste was just average – not great.

The rest of the dishes on the table all looked great but the taste was nothing extraordinary. The soup “Turtle Mountain Landscape” tasted like water; “The Fish Leaping the Dragon Gate” lacked the fresh flavor of fish; and as for the taste of the squid and abalone, no words could be used to describe it. To Su Le, the best dish was probably the pak choi with vinegar, at least it still tasted like pak choi.

“Try the Phoenix in the Sky dish, there’re shiitake mushrooms that taste alright,” Wei Chu turned the rotating tray until the dish was in front of Su Le and solemnly said, “At least when you eat it, you can still taste that they’re mushrooms.”

Su Le almost laughed and reached her chopsticks to take a shiitake mushroom from the chicken’s stomach and said softly, “Isn’t it just chicken soup, why call it Phoenix in the Sky.”

Wei Chu scooped some soup into Su Le’s bowl, “Drink quickly, the time to chuck down alcohol will begin soon,” said Wei Chu as he exposed a slight smile.

Lowering her head, Su Le drank the chicken soup and could not help but think this Senior Wei did not seem as aloof, unreachable, and superior as the rumours say.

Zhuang Wei’s eyes dimmed as he saw the interactions between Su Le and Wei Chu.

—————-

As Su Le drank her soup, she could not help but add another criterion when finding a husband. Not only is cooking necessary, he must also be someone who drinks less alcohol.

As the meal carried on, Su Le was still forced to down some alcohol even with Wei Chu’s blocking. There were also some who teased Su Le and Wei Chu’s relationship which Su Le joked along. To say she and Wei Chu had a relationship was better off saying that Zhuang Wei would come back crying and begging her to have her back while admitting he was wrong.

Only when everyone went to pay the bill later did they know Zhuang Wei had already picked up the tab. When Su Le saw the cocky look on Lin Qi’s face, she could not help but massage her forehead and grab her phone from her bag to check the time. Su Le hesitated while deciding if she should leave early. With so many people going to karaoke, the chances that she would need to sing was not high, but she was already feeling tipsy. Would she still be able to sing if given the need?

“Su Le has drank too much, I will send her home. You guys can go to the karaoke. We won’t be going.” Before Su Le could refuse, Wei Chu had already spoken. Su Le’s eyes twitched. Bro, there’s no need to go so into the act, do you really think you’re my boyfriend? Su Le shivered, with this type of person being her boyfriend, she would surely die from other women’s curses.

Seeing Su Le shiver, Wei Chu asked, “What’s wrong? Cold?” He looked at the dress on Su Le and stood near her, in the direction of the wind to block it and firmly said, “I will send you home.”

Everyone who was present saw the scene and jeered. Saying Wei Chu loves his girlfriend a lot and how they were envious of Su Le as if they had forgotten Su Le used to be Zhuang Wei’s girlfriend.

Su Le did not take those words to heart. She had also wanted to take this chance to leave so she went with Wei Chu’s suggestion. As for whether Wei Chu took a liking to her “beauty” and was deliberately trying to get her alone to do some XXOO stuff, Su Le was not worried at all because for one, she firmly believed Wei Chu’s taste of woman was not that bad; two, Wei Chu was not foolish enough to take her away in front of so many people and then do something to her unless he truly is foolish; and three, as a legendary person of A university, surely he’s not that vulgar.

So, under the envious gazes from the females present, Su Le left with Wei Chu. And of course, she did not see the ugly expression that hung on Zhuang Wei’s face.