Old Mrs. Chen was a netizen through and through and a very modern grandma.
Her internet slangs might be a step behind the young people but, among those her age, she was still quite impressive.
But now –
“Impressive! Too impressive!”
Old Mrs. Chen only felt that Gu Shishi who was in front of her right now was hands down incredible.
“Not only was she good with traditional ink painting, portrait, flowers and birds, you can even paint in cute, children style. Not to mention that you are also able to capture the individual character’s temperature and demeanor. You are truly an ink painting guru!”
Being praised right to her face, Gu Shishi was shy for a change.
Old Mrs. Chen had thought that Gu Shishi most likely was the guru’s disciple given her age.
Even when her own granddaughter told her that she was the Ink Painting Guru herself, Old Mrs. Chen still had her doubts.
Now, after seeing Gu Shishi’s skills with her own eyes…
“May I ask how long you have been practicing, guru?”
So young and already had such accomplishment.
Never mind about anything else, just looking that Monkey King inside of the bowl, with just a few simple strokes, the audacity of the Monkey King to wreak havoc in the palace of heaven was clearly conveyed!
“I started painting when I was five.”
Gu Shishi smiled but did not provide her with a straightforward answer.
“My master started teaching me when I was still a child.”
Old Mrs. Chen looked solemn immediately. “May I ask who your master…”
Gu Shishi smiled bitterly, “He had already passed away.”
Even if he was still alive, with her transmigrated here, she’d probably never be able to see him again.
“That’s very regretful.”
Old Mrs. Chen sighed.
“Guru, you…”
“Grandma, it’s almost lunch time. You can’t keep on chitchatting.”
Chen Kexin worried that Gu Shishi’s secret would be revealed and wanted to get her out of there.
“I have a reservation at Baiweiju. I still need to take the guru home after lunch.”
“Alright, alright,” responded Old Mrs. Chen right away.
“Guru, I was going to invite you to have lunch at my place but Keke said you enjoy Cantonese food so I made a reservation at Baiweiju that has the most authentic Cantonese food. We will have their Master Tsai cook in person.”
Old Mrs. Chen was happy as she said that.
Not only did she obtain the work of the guru, but she could also have lunch with her.
Even though the guru was a lot younger than she had expected but she had always enjoyed the latest and greatest and had always been on the forefront of everything new. She trusted that she could carry on a conversation with the young guru.
Gu Shishi looked over at Chen Kexin and Chen Kexin, too, looked back at her.
“Grandma, didn’t you say Grandma Zhang will be visiting this afternoon? And didn’t Grandma Li asked you to go place your order for cheongsam this afternoon?” said Chen Kexin with hesitation.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s just lunch. I’ll just let them know that I will be late.”
Old Mrs. Chen was very passionate about this.
Granted, she was also good at reading people. She suddenly noticed that Gu Shishi had never once taken off her facemask.
A thought suddenly crossed her mind.
“Guru, do you not want to reveal your identity in real life?”
Alright.
This old lady even knew what’s “in real life”.
“I am very good at keeping secrets. You can ask Keke. I have never told anyone about all the examinations that Keke had failed in the past.”
Old Mrs. Chen swore solemnly.
Chen Kexin, “…… Grandma!”
“What’s the problem with sharing that with the guru?”
Gu Shishi’s lips twitched.
Oh, never mind.
Old Mrs. Chen was… a woman who was so true to herself, so what if she found out?
***
Inside of Baiweiju.
It was close to noon and a cold current entered their main lobby that should have been very busy.
A man in straightened suit walked inside of it expressionlessly.
His chiseled side profile looked handsome and cold. His dark eyes were piercing with a chilling glow.
Him just standing inside of the main lobby was enough to make the busy servers and diners paused for half a second and the cacophonous chatting quieted down.
Baiweiju, a Michelin three-star restaurant.
A place that one needed to stand in line in order to dine at. A place where all the seats were always filled.
“Big, Big Brother Huo… you really came!” Came a voice filled with a pleasant disbelief.
Huo Sishen looked up coldly and saw Luo Pingting sitting next to a window, waving at him.
He narrowed his eyes and walked toward her in his slender long legs.
The server led him over to the table and Luo Pingting stood up and pulled out his chair for him in person.
“Thank you for coming. I… really didn’t think that you’d agree to have lunch with me…”
Her cheeks were a pinkish color and there were shyness in her limpid, black eyes. She couldn’t hide how happy she was.
Huo Sishen, on the other hand, did not take a seat but just looked at her from top down.
“Have lunch with me?”
A cold sarcastic feel came out from between his thin lips.
“It seems that Miss Luo still doesn’t think that the Luo’s current situation is bad enough.”
Luo Pingting turned pale immediately.
“Big Brother Huo, I know the rumors were all fabricated. I trust you as much as Chuchu does.”
Huo Sishen narrowed his eyes.
Luo Pingting thought he had believed her and gave her a chance to explain herself. She wanted to start immediately.
“Second Brother Huo had mentioned in the past that you don’t like to interact with others.
“Which was why I had never approached you.”
She lowered her head and her cheeks somewhat red.
Which was why she failed to notice the sarcasm in Huo Sishen’s eyes.
“Big Brother Huo, you have been taken care of Chuchu since she was a child and you also take care of all of her friends. You have always been nice to us. You can’t possibly be someone who’d curse others. I’m sure those are all accidents.”
Luo Pingting grabbed onto the napkin.
“Chuchu and I always hope that you’d be able to move on from that. We only want you to be fine.
“My parents, nevertheless, never allowed me to get close to you.”
The contempt on Huo Sishen’s face thickened.
Now that the Luo’s had come crashing down, they could no longer spare the time to watch over Luo Pingting.
“You’ve invited me to go and play the piano at your place, to entertain you,” said Luo Pingting, blushing. “Big Brother Huo, I, I am more than happy to do that, except for Gu Shishi…”
Luo Pingting gritted her teeth as she got to that point.
“You and I are not related. I’m afraid that’d make your fiancé jealous.”
She had always been warned by the elderlies at home to stay away from the Huo’s; otherwise, it’d bring about bad luck and unfortunate events.
She had been staying away this entire time but the Luo’s went belly up anyway. And her dad was arrested on top of that!
She, Luo Pingting, had lost everything overnight. She was worse than Gu Shishi, a peasant, and being walked over by her!
And now Big Brother Huo had asked her to go to his place to play the piano. What was the meaning of that? Had he finally noticed her?
He wanted to get close to her?
She had nothing now. Not job and no father to protect her!
And Big Brother Huo tossed out the life-saving rope to her at this moment. What was his intention? To save her, of course! To get her out of her dire situation!
Huo ChuChu was right all along. If her brother truly cursed people, then the first one to be affected with be his darling sister!
Why would it be his father and grandfather who were barely home?
That was to stay that those were all accidents!
Gu Shishi was still very much alive right now and herself, Luo Pingting, was born to be rich. She was naturally lucky and curses wouldn’t work on her!
All she could do right now was to hold on to this cold and restrained man who was so handsome that she had fallen in love with him since she was 15 years old.
He was aloof. His maturity was so attractive. That was something that Huo Wencheng would never measure up to!
“During times like this, not even Wushuang could help me. Even Uncle Gu, who was close to my dad could only comfort me. Big Brother Huo, you, you are the only one who’s willing to help me out.”
As she was talking, Luo Pingting almost moved herself.
Anyone who was willing to be nice to her at this point must be her suitor!
Other than her, who else could relate to the feelings of being abandoned by everyone else that Big Brother Hou had gone through?
Even her best friends had abandoned her. All her mother was doing was to cry all day long. She was so useless and Luo Pingting felt so isolated and helpless!
Overnight, there was nothing left. She was drowned by the feeling of desperation, fear, and it was so suffocating…
Exactly like what he had been through back then!
“You are the only one who can understand what I am going through right now, Big Brother Huo.
“Thank you.”
There were tears in Luo Pingting’s eyes.
Huo Sishen’s lips shut tightly.
His eyes became colder and colder.
But before he was able to say anything, he heard a voice.
“Luo Pingting? You are here…”
It was Chen Kexin who was surprised.
She quickly interrupted Luo Pingting pouring out her heart.
Huo Sishen looked up, displeased, but his cold eyes paused.
Behind Chen Kexin was the girl was cascading hair. Her thin waist accentuated by her blue and black retro outfit. Her little face resembled rose pedals that were touched by petrichor, plump with a healthy glow.
The surprise in her eyes, however, pained him.
“Huo…”
Boss…
Gu Shishi, too, was dazed.
She looked at the dining area that was filled with patrons and then at the exceptionally handsome man sitting properly in his seat. She was stunned for a moment.
All the light in the room seemed to have focused on him.
But… didn’t he say he had to go in to work today? Didn’t he say he hated dining with others?
Didn’t he say he hated public places?
Yet Luo Pingting was somehow sitting across from him right now and the two of them were dining in this restaurant together?
And what was that that Luo Pingting had just said?
That Boss Huo had helped her through her difficult times? Even Gu Wushuang had snubbed her but this tsundere, no, this idiot boss Huo Sishen had helped her out?!
Gu Shishi couldn’t help but frowned her delicate brows. This was the first time there was an obvious displeased look on pretty face since she had transmigrated!
She disliked Luo Pingting.
She disliked the fact that Huo Sishen was sitting with this annoying woman even more!
And that fact that Huo Sishen told her that he would be at work but ended up dining here with this annoying woman!
When the two of them went to the French restaurant, he had reserved the entire restaurant.
They had never dined in such a lively dining area with all the others!
She frowned.
“Shishi, our private room is over there.”
Chen Kexin noticed a shred of awkwardness in the air.
If her fiancé was having an one-on-one lunch with her archnemesis who had bullied her, she’d probably have a fit?
Thinking about that, she quickly tucked at Gu Shishi.
“My grandma is waiting for us in the room.”
Her hand failed to grab Gu Shishi.
Gu Shishi had already walked up to them with her head held high!
She didn’t even look over at Luo Pingting.
“Huo Sishen.”
Her voice crisp, this was the first time she had addressed him by his full name.
Huo Sishen lifted his brows.
A look of complacency flashed through Luo Pingting’s eyes. “Shihi?”
Women were all sensitive. Even with her facemask still on, but with her shades off, Luo Pingting could tell it was Gu Shishi immediately.
“I invited Big Brother Huo out today to thank him for…”
“Big Brother Huo?”
Gu Shishi turned and looked at her.
“He only has one sister and her name is Huo ChuChu. I don’t believe she had a plastic surgery to look like how you look right now.”
Everybody found out Luo Pingting’s feeling for Huo Sishen the day of the swimming pool party.
She wanted to steal her precious man who could also extend her life? Welp, she got three words for her: In. Her. Dreams!
“Other than Huo ChuChu…”
Gu Shishi looked back at the man sitting by the table.
Her red lips parted and she enunciated each word clearly.
“I am the only one who can call him Big Brother Huo in this whole wide world.
“It’s what we do to spice thing up in the bedroom, get it?”
Luo Pingting’s mouth dropped. “You. How are you so crude?”
Gu Shishi smiled as though she didn’t hear her.
“One way or another, Miss Luo, I need you to stop addressing him that way.”
Luo Pingting blushed deeply.
“Darling, since you are here… working, I am going to take off now.”
Looking at Huo Sishen, Gu Shishi gave him a smile that wasn’t a smile.
Her voice couldn’t be tenderer.
Huo Sishen frowned…
Huo Sishen’s lips moved, as though he wanted to say something.
But Gu Shishi had already turned and walked away with Chen Kexin with her head held high.