As Lu Zhuonian finished speaking, the scene suddenly fell silent for a second.
Celebrities and new nobles were the most sensitive to the atmosphere.
While Lu Zhuonian and Xiao Qiwu were at loggerheads, everyone nearby noticed something was wrong and looked on.
Even if their eyes didn’t look over, their ears were always paying attention to the center of the conflict.
Xiao Qiwu turned his eyes to Lu Zhuonian for a few seconds. The corners of his lips were still smiling, but his eyes gradually grew cold. “So it’s Mr. Lu. What, are you going to drink this glass of wine for him?”
Lu Zhuonian casually put away the glass aside. “I’m not interested.”
Xiao Qiwu said dumbly, “Why is Mr. Lu’s temper still the same as when he was a child? He likes to throw things around when he’s unhappy.”
Lu Zhuonian ignored Xiao Qiwu’s words and slowly took out a silk handkerchief to wipe his hands. “Chen Zemian, what did I say to you when I came?”
Chen Zemian was suddenly asked a question and was stunned. After thinking, his eyes gradually became blurry as he repeated, “What did you say?”
Lu Zhuonian’s voice was neither light nor heavy but loud enough for everyone around to heart. “I said if anyone provokes you, just scold him and let him come to me.”
As soon as these words came out, the scene instantly descended into confusion.
Chen Zemian was used to fighting alone, and suddenly he was so blatantly favored that he was actually a little at a loss.
He gently tugged at the corner of Lu Zhuonian’s clothes and said in a low voice, “He didn’t provoke me. Don’t be angry.”
“I brought you here to play,” Lu Zhuonian said, holding the handkerchief and wiping Chen Zemian’s hands, then raising his eyelids to glance at Xiao Qiwu. “Whoever makes you uncomfortable is going to make things difficult for me, Lu Zhuonian.”
Xiao Qiwu said lightly, “Mr. Lu, when you were eight years old, Kesong touched your toy racing car, and you wiped it with a handkerchief like this. Later, you couldn’t stand the pain in your heart, so you threw the racing car away yourself.”
Lu Zhuonian’s tone was slightly cold. “What do you want to say?”
Xiao Qiwu said, “I’m just curious — what if it’s a person?”
Lu Zhuonian’s face sank slightly. “Chen Zemian is not a toy racing car; he is my friend.”
After saying this, Lu Zhuonian raised his hand and threw the handkerchief into the trash can, looking around. This sentence was said to Xiao Qiwu, but also to everyone present.
“Let’s see who dares to touch him.”
The words fell to the ground with a sound, and the moment stretched infinitely —
The Hermes handkerchief thrown by Lu Zhuonian slowly fell.
A second before the handkerchief hit the trash can, Chen Zemian quickly fished it out.
Chen Zemian quietly poked his waist, raised his head, and whispered in Lu Zhuonian’s ear, “Didn’t you just buy it? It costs several thousand. If you don’t want it, give it to me.”
Everyone at the scene: “…”
Lu Zhuonian turned around and looked down at Chen Zemian.
Chen Zemian curved his eyes and gently bumped Lu Zhuonian’s shoulder.
The surging anger in Lu Zhuonian’s heart dissipated in an instant.
Chen Zemian’s overly strong insensitivity always made Lu Zhuonian unable to start, but at this moment, he had to admit that strong insensitivity was a great thing.
When Lu Zhuonian was irrational and not calm, if Chen Zemian also got angry — whether he complained about grievances or bullied others — it would only make Lu Zhuonian’s emotions run even higher.
In this way, it would be difficult to end tonight.
But Chen Zemian didn’t.
Even though he was at the center of the vortex of contradictions, he could still ease the atmosphere in a unique way amid the tit-for-tat conflict.
Lu Zhuonian’s eyes moved slightly and fell on the silk handkerchief in Chen Zemian’s hand.
This silk handkerchief might not be cheap for ordinary people, but compared with Chen Zemian’s current wealth, it was nothing.
Especially before going out today, Chen Zemian had just complained about the old-fashioned print on this silk handkerchief and asked Lu Zhuonian if he deliberately bought some silk handkerchiefs with ugly prints so that he wouldn’t feel bad about throwing them away after wiping his hands.
So no matter from which angle, Chen Zemian had no reason or need to ask him for a silk handkerchief he didn’t like in such a tense atmosphere, and even took the risk of being talked about for being stingy and greedy in public.
What he picked up was not a light silk handkerchief, but Lu Zhuonian’s unbearable emotions.
Chen Zemian shook the handkerchief and joked, “Why don’t you say anything? Are you reluctant to give it to me?”
Lu Zhuonian smiled and said, “If you want it, I’ll give it to you.”
Seeing that Lu Zhuonian finally changed his expression, everyone present was relieved.
Especially Xiao Kesong.
After all, Xiao Qiwu is a member of the Xiao family and a real relative. If Lu Zhuonian and Xiao Qiwu couldn’t agree, then on one side was his uncle and on the other side was his childhood friend, and he would be the most embarrassed person.
Fortunately, Chen Zemian mediated and avoided this tit-for-tat.
Xiao Kesong looked at Chen Zemian apologetically.
Chen Zemian raised his eyebrows calmly, indicating that it was not necessary to mind.
The two of them tacitly took a step back at the same time and walked to the corner to talk in private.
“My uncle is not usually like this,” Xiao Kesong gently pulled Chen Zemian and said in a low voice. “I don’t know what happened to him today.”
Chen Zemian smiled. “It doesn’t matter. It’s all a small matter.”
Xiao Kesong observed Chen Zemian’s face and was relieved to see he was not angry, but he still added, “If you really want to be angry, be angry with him, not with me.”
Chen Zemian couldn’t help laughing. “I’m not angry with you. Let’s talk about our own things.”
Xiao Kesong laughed out loud. “Fortunately you are kind, otherwise I would be in trouble.”
Chen Zemian said very loyally, “With brothers here, how can I make things difficult for you?”
Xiao Kesong was happy again when he heard this, smiled, tilted his head, and whispered with Chen Zemian again.
Lu Zhuonian saw the two of them coming and going and became more and more convinced that Chen Zemian’s joke just now was intentional.
Although this behavior is in line with Chen Zemian’s consistent abstract style, the fundamental reason why he did that just now was to make himself happy.
After confirming this, the last bit of displeasure in Lu Zhuonian’s heart disappeared.
For Lu Zhuonian, the fact that Chen Zemian was willing to go to great lengths to coax him was enough to please him, and the means and methods were secondary.
Chen Zemian didn’t know that his random action of asking for a silk handkerchief could be interpreted by Lu Zhuonian in so many ways.
He just felt a little embarrassed at the time.
Moreover, although Xiao Qiwu’s attitude towards him was a little strange, according to Chen Zemian’s recollection, this person was not the villain in the book.
In this case, it is better to have less trouble than more, and Lu Zhuonian didn’t need to be hostile to Xiao Qiwu because of him.
*****
Some time ago, Chen Zemian took the time to sort out all the villains in the original book and made a “list of villains,” which was stored in an encrypted document on his laptop, in the same folder as all the important plot node outlines.
In order to prevent confidentiality leaks, he did not use ordinary Chinese but employed his own creation — the “Chen Zemian Pinyin Method,” the specific rule of which was to intersperse the pinyin of his own name within the pinyin.
For example, the normal spelling of Xiao Kesong’s name should be “xiaokesong,” but it would be written as “xcihazo.ekme.isaonncg” in Chen Zemian’s phonetic notation. Not to mention that others couldn’t understand it, he sometimes had to count the letters one by one for a long time.
It wasn’t Chen Zemian’s fault for making a fuss. According to his vast reading experience, too many predecessors who traveled through time and space had failed because of this.
He had to act with caution.
Especially in the original book, Lu Zhuonian would meet a middle-aged programmer who was “optimized” by a big company in the future. On the surface, this programmer was unemployed, divorced, and in debt at the age of 40, but in fact, he was a computer genius ranked in the top three of the global hacker list.
When he was most frustrated in his life, Lu Zhuonian gave him respect and help, and he could be said to be his mentor.
Although this swift horse has not appeared yet, what if he suddenly comes one day and hacks his computer?
You know, before the programmer decided to follow Lu Zhuonian, he thoroughly checked everyone around Lu Zhuonian!
So it is still very necessary to take precautions in advance.
Anyway, since Xiao Qiwu is not on the list of villains in the original book, let’s put him in the good guys’ category for the time being.
Chen Zemian glanced at the silk handkerchief in his hand.
Besides, it would be a waste to throw away something he had just bought out of anger.
This silk handkerchief was dark in color, interwoven with beige and black twill prints, and the style did not match Chen Zemian’s temperament. Even if he wanted to take it back, he would wash it and put it back in Lu Zhuonian’s closet.
Chen Zemian rolled up the handkerchief into a ball and stuffed it into his trouser pocket, then said to Lu Zhuonian, “Xiao Kesong said there will be a lucky draw in a while; let’s go and take a look.”
Xiao Kesong just felt it was too awkward to stay there and wanted to find an excuse to leave, so he immediately agreed, “Yes, it’s over there.”
Lu Zhuonian glanced into the distance and was not very interested. “It’s not that interesting, just drawing some bouquets of flowers.”
Chen Zemian looked over and said, “That’s really boring. The flowers are not as good as the ones sent by your property management.”
Lu Zhuonian laughed, turned to look at Xiao Qiwu, but said to Chen Zemian, “Oh? Did the property management send flowers?”
Chen Zemian looked at Lu Zhuonian in surprise, thinking, wasn’t this what they just talked about this morning?
At this moment, Xiao Qiwu suddenly asked, “What do you mean by the property management sending flowers?”
Chen Zemian explained, “It’s the property management of Lu Shao’s community. If you pay the property management fee in advance, they will send roses.”
Xiao Qiwu: “…”
Lu Zhuonian seemed to have just remembered. “Oh, you mean those roses.”
Chen Zemian said, “Yes.”
Lu Zhuonian seemed to have finally recovered his memory. “Yes, they also sent a greeting card, which said: ‘The new year is coming, I am happy for you.’ It’s a very sincere greeting.”
Chen Zemian joked, “Lu Shao, do you think the property management knew that you were single, so they deliberately sent roses and wrote this greeting to wish you to be single as soon as possible next year?”
Lu Zhuonian chuckled softly and turned the question back to Chen Zemian. “Do you think I’ll finally stop being single next year?”
Chen Zemian, recalling the plot from the book, answered with quiet sincerity, “Honestly… I think it’s unlikely.”
Lu Zhuonian: “…”
Xiao Qiwu took a deep breath and tried to guide Chen Zemian’s thoughts in the right direction. “How do you know that it was sent by the property management?”
“There’s a ‘π’ signed at the bottom of the greeting card, and their property is also called Luxury π,” Chen Zemian said reasonably. “Lu Shao owns four properties there, and each square meter costs 14 yuan a month. The full payment for a year is nearly 300,000 yuan. It’s really super luxurious.”
Upon hearing that, a flicker passed through Xiao Mingwu’s eyes. He said nothing, but his expression shifted—subtle, yet unmistakably complex.
Lu Zhuonian was slightly surprised. “You paid all the fees for four households?”
Chen Zemian smiled slightly and bumped Lu Zhuonian’s shoulder like a close friend. “I’m very nice, right?”
Before Lu Zhuonian could say anything, Xiao Kesong couldn’t help but jump up first —
“What?!” Xiao Kesong exclaimed. “You were stingy about renting a yacht, but you paid over three hundred thousand in property fees for Lu Zhuonian?!”
Chen Zemian quickly clamped a hand over his mouth. “It wasn’t over three hundred thousand. Why are you yelling?”
Xiao Kesong mumbled beneath his hand, “My birthday gift was only three thousand!”
Chen Zemian retorted, “I didn’t have money back then!”
Xiao Kesong grew even more indignant. “Now that you do have money, you still won’t spend it on me!”
Chen Zemian hurried to appease him. “I will, I will! If you want to come to Hainan too, I’ll treat you—how about that?”
Xiao Kesong reluctantly nodded, somewhat appeased.
Just as Chen Zemian breathed a sigh of relief, a quiet voice rose behind him—cool and unmistakably familiar.
Lu Zhuonian, face blank, asked, “What’s this about Hainan?”
Chen Zemian: “…”
Oh my God, did I not check the almanac before going out today? Why did I have to deal with another problem?
Help!!!
*****
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Author: LazyHermitGal
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