As I drove, I pondered this matter and interrupted, "Baozi, let me tell you the truth, that person is actually..." Jin Shaoyan coughed violently, and Baozi glared at him.
I continued, "That person is actually Jin Shaoyan's twin brother, only 5... seconds younger than him. The two of them have a serious falling out over family property." I had to give her a heads-up first.
Baozi chuckled and said, "Family feuds? That's hilarious, just like a Hong Kong TV drama."
Li Shishi looked at the two of us with a mixture of belief and disbelief. Even with her intelligence, there were some things she couldn't understand just by thinking. Baozi wanted to ask something more, but Qin Shihuang suddenly said, "When are we going to eat?"
So he treated the 12,000 yuan Western meal like a snack.
As our car passed a street stall, Qin Shi Huang sniffed and said, "What's that smell?"
That smelled like grilled lamb skewers and wonton soup. I turned around and said, "Aren't you still hungry? Shall we grab something else?"
They all nodded. It seems this foreign stuff really can't satisfy their very traditional stomachs.
I led the way and sat down at an open-air beer stall. I ordered wontons from the person next to me, and then told the owner, "Beer, meat skewers, lamb kidneys, and small fish—you name it, we'll pay for everything at the end." I said generously, "This time it's on me."
As soon as the wontons arrived, Qin Shi Huang slurped up half a bowl and exclaimed, "I should have had this sooner!" Jing Ersha, who had remained silent, gave Jin Shaoyan a disdainful look, as if to say, "Your grandson is broke but acts all high and mighty, serving people only scraps. Look how generous Qiangzi is!" Liu Bang, Xiang Yu, and the others, upon receiving their meat skewers, all praised them highly, instantly dispelling the somber atmosphere in the Western restaurant.
If Dou E hadn't come, Jin Shaoyan would be the most wronged person of the 21st century. He'd embarrassed himself and spent 12,000 yuan to buy a bunch of complaints. After a bottle of beer, I comforted him, saying, "It's okay, brother. Anyway, it's Jin Shaoyan, the one left behind by Caesar, who's the one who's embarrassed."
Jin Shaoyan chuckled foolishly for a while before realizing what was happening, and said to me, his face turning red with embarrassment, "That's me too!"
Li Shishi stared blankly, biting into a meat skewer. She was a sensible woman; she knew this wasn't a fancy place, and the idea that princesses and rich girls ate at street stalls was utter nonsense. A few hooligans next to us were groping Li Shishi's chest, but Xiang Yu glared at them, and they all paid their bills and left.
After drinking 1982 vintage red wine, premium Moutai, and Yanjing beer, Baozi started acting crazy while teaching Liu Bang how to play "Two Little Bees".
Jin Shaoyan grabbed me and said, "Brother Qiang, I need to get this matter done quickly. I just can't figure out why he would appear at Caesar's. This wasn't something I did five days ago. It seems things are starting to get out of my control."
I said, "Is it possible that because of my text message, that guy's heart fluttered, and since he didn't get a reply, he contacted the dog's tail flower?"
Jin Shaoyan thought for a moment and said, "Very likely. It seems to be the butterfly effect; one wrong step leads to another. Now even I can't guess what he'll do next."
I said with a wicked grin, "At least I'll know what he's doing tonight."
Jin Shaoyan blushed and said, "I'll call Dogtail Flower first thing tomorrow morning and tell her to stay away from me so it'll be easier for us to make our move." He thought for a moment and added, "I've thought about it. It would be very difficult for you to get close to him. You know my sexual orientation is normal..." As Jin Shaoyan said this, he glanced at Li Shishi intentionally or unintentionally.
I said, "You're not thinking about hitting on her again, are you? Don't even think about it. Besides, she's already been exposed. If you did something like this again, wouldn't he suspect she has ulterior motives?"
Jin Shaoyan smiled and said, "There are plenty of women with ulterior motives. I've met them before. As long as the conditions are good, I'll accept them all. Dogtail Flower is a case in point. In order to 'bump into' me, she hired 13 migrant workers to monitor my movements. And later I did help her out. Now she's considered a minor celebrity."
"The problem is that my cousin has no intention of doing this kind of thing anymore."
Jin Shaoyan was taken aback: "You've done this before?"
"I don't know the specific details, but that person is much higher in status than you. In her eyes, you're just a businessman."
Jin Shaoyan looked at me in surprise, glanced around, and asked me in a low voice, "A politician?"
"More than that, at the central level."
Jin Shaoyan lowered his head, and I said to him, "You don't need to feel unbalanced. That person has been dead for many years."
“Once it’s past midnight, we only have four days left. You know, I used to be hard to approach. If I knew the person texting him was a guy, I would definitely block you, and our chances would only get smaller and smaller. Here’s what we’re going to do: you can say you’re your cousin’s manager and go to see him with Xiaonan. Then Xiaonan won’t have to show up anymore. You can stall him for three or four days and then stop him from getting on the bus.”
"Tell me the truth, why are you so eager to introduce my cousin to him? Do you have ulterior motives? Are you trying to pave the way for the future?"
Jin Shaoyan lowered his head: "I didn't expect you to see through me."
I spat out a piece of undercooked meat and said, "If there's one person in this world who's wholeheartedly good to you, it used to be your mother, but now it's definitely you. You're like a squirrel, already busy storing food for winter. Let me tell you, no matter how rich and powerful you are, in another month—no, 29 days, sigh… it's useless to tell you this. You'll see if you try stepping in dog poop with your new shoes."
Li Shishi overheard this last sentence and chuckled, "Cousin, who's going to step on you?"
Jin Shaoyan stared at her in disbelief, drooling like Captain Squid from Pirates of the Caribbean.
I've also noticed a problem: Li Shishi really can't laugh. Her laugh is more captivating than a panda's, stirring the hearts of millions of men. Some women's laughs are wanton, some are innocent, some are wanton yet innocent inside, some are innocent yet wanton inside (can you read that all in one go?). Li Shishi is different. Even when she tries to act wanton, there's an unnatural 30% innocence mixed in—and vice versa. Innocence and wantonness are scrolling across her laugh.
Jin Shaoyan said with a hint of pain, "I really like Xiaonan."
I said, "I actually graduated from Harvard."
"How is that possible?" Jin Shaoyan glanced at me and said.
"You see, some things are obviously false without even thinking about them."
Jin Shaoyan said with a wry smile, "You have a problem with us rich people."
"Bullshit! This has nothing to do with whether you're rich or poor. I'm asking you, besides liking her for her curvy figure and pretty face, what else do you like about her? Everyone likes curvy figures, I think you're just driven by lust."
"I can't explain it to you, it's just a feeling. Even if she wasn't as pretty as she is now, I would still like her."
I said casually, "Then why didn't you like steamed buns at first sight?"
Jin Shaoyan stared in disbelief for a long time before cautiously saying, "To be honest, please don't be angry, I've never considered her a woman."
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Beautiful Manager
What he said was exactly what I expected. A man who hasn't been intimate with a woman for a couple of months and then slept in the same bed with her won't even realize she's a woman. It's actually quite something to be proud of, and it always makes me feel like a good man, because I think this is what the YY novels of the 1980s and 90s called "true love."
Baozi and Liu Bang were having a great time, making out. Suddenly, I think I understand why Liu Bang liked Baozi. He must have slept with countless stunning beauties, and these women all desperately tried to please him. But his wife, Empress Lü, knew exactly what kind of person he was and always looked down on him. In terms of women, Bangzi was practically struggling to survive. Then suddenly a woman, though indifferent to him, still treated him as a friend, and Bangzi fell head over heels in love. In this light, although our Baozi may not be as handsome as many female celebrities, in terms of temperament… in terms of temperament, he's not as good as them either—Liu Bang was just a scoundrel.
At this moment, Xiang Yu suddenly stood up, his hair standing on end in anger, and said, "The wine is poisoned!" He clutched his stomach with one hand and glared at the stall owner. Although the two were about 2 meters apart, Xiang Yu could grab him if he reached out.
Then Xiang Yu's stomach rumbled loudly, and he let out a big burp—he'd drunk two bottles of beer in one go, no wonder he felt so full. He stood there blankly after burping, and I said, "Feeling better now, Brother Yu? Sit down!" The street vendor was lucky to have escaped death!
Jin Shaoyan glanced at him and said, "Look at the people you've been entertaining. They've never seen anything like this before. I'd like to spend these next few days showing them around."
"Don't keep taking them to nice places to eat, drink, gamble, and whore. What will I do if they get addicted after you just pack up and leave?"