The Rice Pot Next Door

Untitled Part 34

This is a chapter where there is no Qiao Feng but where everything is about him. We learn more about his student days, his quirky ways, and a small secret -woohoo! Someone is a cheater in more than one sense of the word.

Chapter 52: The Past

Lan Shan receives a call from Xie Feng Sheng, the financial consultant who has declined to take her on as a client previously. He is a prolific consultant with a shiny degree from a distinguished university and has worked in Walls Street before returning to China to start a successful consultancy. He is not the kind to entertain small investors like Lan Shan, which is why she is curious about his sudden request to meet up.

When they meet at a café, Xie Feng Sheng can sense her question and outs his reason instead of beating around the bush. "Do not think that this is my idea. Qiao Feng insists that I take you on as a client and says that I can think of managing your money as if it is last digit in his account."

Last digit.... Lan Shan does not know whether to or laugh or to cry. Although she is not rich, she has saved three hundred over thousand after slogging for years, but to another person, it is only the last digit of his balance sheet? How is she expected to feel? Seeing her reaction, Xie Feng Sheng quickly adds. "I heard that you are friends with him so I am being frank. Please do not take any offence."

She shakes her head. "No worries. Yes, we are friends so I guess I have to trouble you with my money matters." She must remember to thank Qiao Feng too when she sees him next time. That rascal, he has certainly kept a tight lid and not breathe a word to her before this.

Xie Feng Sheng takes out a contract and after explaining it to her, she signs on it on the spot. He gives her a curious look. "Are you sure you have understood all that I have told you just now?"

"I understood none of it." Lan Shan put the last stroke of her signature on paper and caps the pen. "But you are a professional so I trust you." Xie Feng Sheng does not believe that she can be so trusting towards a man whom she has only met twice until she adds. "And the most important thing is, I trust Qiao Feng."

Xie Feng Sheng smiles as he keeps the contract. "Now I can believe that the 2 of you are friends. To speak the truth, I am a little skeptical when I heard about the "friends" bit as Qiao Feng is not the kind of person who has lots of friends, as I am sure you already know."

"Why not? He is fairly easy to get along with."

"It is because he does not see the need to. So long as he has enough friends to satisfy basic social niceties, it will be enough for him. Too many friends will actually stress him as he will then have to spend time and effort to maintain the relationships." That sounds logical to Lan Shan but the realization that she can follow Qiao Feng's thought process makes her feel a little unsettled.

Xie Feng Sheng continues. "Moreover, he is someone who expects a lot from himself and his friends so to him, most people will not be deemed worthy of any notice much less make it to the friendship mark. Please excuse my curiosity but do you mind if I ask how did the 2 of you come to be friends? Pardon my bluntness, but from what I can see, you do not strike me as extraordinary besides the way you looks."

Hello mister, can you be less blunt? Tapping her nose, she finally answers. "Actually, I do not know the reason myself. Perhaps we have affinity?"

"Affinity? Qiao Feng does not believe in affinity; only statistics, science and logic. However I believe in affinity and feel that we may end up meeting another person in live even if it is just one second earlier or later. But since he thinks of you as a friend, it only goes to show that there is something about you that he agrees with."