Chapter 34: Food Is An Art
"What is this, Mr. Xiao?" Ru asked as her green eyes looked at the black card in Xiao Zhi-Ren's hand. There were standing in the lobby of the condominium building at the moment.
"We have a product launching event tomorrow. This is my special invitation to you, Mr. Xie." Xiao Zhi-Ren replied without missing a beat. His lips were slightly curled upwards into an arc while his ink-black eyes kept looking at her face.
Ru frowned with her eyes on the card in his hand as she rubbed her bottom lip with the pad of her thumb in a thoughtful manner. After taking her sweet time, she lifted her eyes to meet his deep ones and said, "Not interested."
She turned to leave but to her dismay, Xiao Zhi-Ren caught her hood pulling her backward. "Wooo! What do you think you're doing?" She glared at him indignantly.
But one thing she didn't know about Xiao Zhi-Ren was that he was as nonchalant about public opinions as she was herself. Which meant her glare or indignance had little to no effect on him. He smiled politely and said in an appealing voice, "May I know the reason for declining this invitation?"
Ru swatted his hand which was still holding her hood and fixed her sweatshirt. "Don't like parties. Don't want to come. What's so difficult to understand here?"
"It's a launch event, not a party." Xiao Zhi-Ren reminded her which made her roll her eyes at him.
"People are gonna socialize there, that makes it a socializing party." Seeing him furrow his brows, she added, "Also, I have social anxiety."
Xiao Zhi-Ren couldn't help but scoff at this statement. "At least pick a suitable lie." He took a deep breath and said, "Fine. Don't come. But wait here, I have something for you."
He went to the reception and collected a lunch box before walking back to Ru. She was indeed quite curious to know about what could he have for her. After all, the number of time she received things from people could be counted on one hand.
"Here, this is for helping my brother with his studies." Xiao Zhi-Ren extended his hand which held a beautiful lunch box towards her.
Seeing that it was a lunch box, Ru didn't bother being polite at all. She quickly snatched the lunch box and took it to the waiting area in the lobby. Placing the lunch box on the table, she immediately opened it to reveal wonton soup, Kung Pao chicken, Sesame-Ginger beef, and rice.
Her mouth watered at the sight and that enticing aroma made her hungry. She quickly picked the chopsticks to taste and was more amazed. It had been years, she had tasted such amazing food. She knew how to cook herself but with her wandering habits, she rarely cooked these past years.
She packed the whole lunch box again and turned to see Xiao Zhi-Ren staring at her with amusement in his eyes. "What?" She inquired innocently.
"Why are you packing it? Aren't you gonna eat it?"
Ru stood before him and stretched her long arm to tap on his chest surprising Xiao Zhi-Ren. "Mr. Xiao, food is an art for me. I don't eat it. I savor this art. And this is not the place where I'll be able to appreciate this tempting taste." She took a pause before adding, "Can you share the contact info of this chef? I'd love to hire him."
For some reason, Xiao Zhi-Ren felt proud for having such amazing cooking skills. But he chose not to tell the young 'man' before him. "If you like his skills so much, you can come to my place whenever you want to eat."
"Can't I just poach him from your side?" Xiao Zhi-Ren's eye twitched but he managed to put on a polite smile.
"No... You can't."
"Tsk... What a pity!" Ru sighed disappointedly. "Oh, by the way, I'll be there for your event."
"What changed your mind?" Xiao Zhi-Ren asked perplexedly.
Ru tapped on the lunch box saying, "This food did."
Xiao Zhi-Ren didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Food won over his modesty? But he was relieved to know that Ru decided to accept the invitation. On the other hand, she snatched the invitation card from him and turned to leave, walking briskly towards the elevator.
On the following day, the product launch event of SnapVise Technologies was all over the news. Plenty of distinguishable and acclaimed guests joined the event merely to size up the new competitor who suddenly decided to invade into the Asian market.
The entire A.K Convention Center was packed up with round tables lining up in the huge hall. The media representatives were given a separate area to keep them under check.
The event began with the SnapVise Technologies representatives going up on stage one-by-one to introduce their mission and goals along with what the general public could expect from them in the future.
After they introduced their whole new range of devices, to involve their guests into the event, they had set up a separate section where people could do a test run of the new devices.
During the whole process, Xiao Zhi-Ren was looking for a specific person who said that 'he' would come but wasn't here until now. He was busy meeting with people when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Xiao Zhi-Ren turned around to see Ru standing in plain black jeans and a button-up shirt with an elegant black blazer.
For the chairman of Metrix Consortium, this attire seemed too ordinary but with Ru's dignified aura and personality, no-one could question her choice of clothes.
"Those are some high tech devices. If I knew you're this capable, I'd have tried to curry favor with you." Ru said with a charming smile as she flipped her chocolate brown hair to one side with her slender fingers.
"Curry favor? With me? Really?" Xiao Zhi-Ren naturally didn't believe her words. Who would? Metrix Consortium wasn't involved in the modern tech. All the companies under Metrix Consortium were in real estate, developing, mining, and trading.
"Whatever! Congrats anyway." Ru waved her hand nonchalantly. "I don't think anyone will be able to take over these products that easily."
Xiao Zhi-Ren smiled at her words but changed the topic, "You're late."
Ru punched lightly on his arm saying, "I had been here all along, my friend. You just didn't see me." The way she said 'my friend' made Xiao Zhi-Ren immediately smile brightly. Ru didn't even realize it herself that she had called him a friend.
"Hi, Mr. Xie! I didn't know you'll be here," Qin Qu greeted Ru enthusiastically. He was one of those people who knew how to talk with people and when or where, what to say.
Ru took his hand to shake briefly before saying, "I'm a free bird. And free birds like me tend to fly from one branch to another. Right now, I'm here. Who knows where I'll be in the next second."
Seeing her talking like a dialectician, Xiao Zhi-Ren knocked on her head making Qin Qu gasp at the side while Ru glared at him again. "Can't you stop with your deep thinking for a while. It doesn't suit your childish behavior." Xiao Zhi-Ren said sternly.
"I'm childish?" Ru scoffed at him. "I'm a very mature person. But I'm also a very alive person."
"Now, what is that supposed to mean?" Xiao Zhi-Ren looked at her anticipating a weird logic again.
"Aigoo! Mr. Xiao, being alive and mature means that I've kept my mature thinking along with my inner child. When we kill the inner child of ourselves and try to grow mature that's when we turn into those boring old businessmen over there." She pointed at a group of people having some serious discussion.
"You... I have no words for you." Xiao Zhi-Ren shook his head at her.
"I know." Ru obviously even took that as a compliment.
Qin Qu shook his head and tried to talk again. "So, Mr. Xie, what's up?" Xiao Zhi-Ren gave him a look which Qin Qu couldn't understand until he heard Ru's reply.
She innocently looked up and pointed her finger upwards saying, "A chandelier! Are you seeing something else?" Xiao Zhi-Ren chuckled at her response while Qin Qu stared at her with nothing else to say.
"You changed the answer this time," Xiao Zhi-Ren remarked.
"Well, Superman can't possibly fly in the hall freely." Ru gave him a knowing look before Xiao Zhi-Ren nodded his head agreeing with her point.
Qin Qu on the side was so surprised to see the comfortability level between these two. It was like they had been friends for decades. Oddly, he realized that even his and Xiao Zhi-Ren's interactions weren't like this. 'When did they become so close?' He thought to himself.
But what he didn't know was that they had made a strange bond even during their first interaction. And after Xiao Zhi-Ren saved Ru from being hit by the car, she considered herself to be in debt. Also, after the lunch box that he offered, Ru was more than comfortable with Xiao Zhi-Ren since she believed that food is a sacred thing.
As she says, 'Bonds created over food are unbreakable ones. It ties us closer than a blood bond.'
Xiao Zhi-Ren's smile stiffened suddenly and Ru's keen senses didn't miss this small detail. She had always been sensitive to these small things. She followed his line of sight to see a middle-aged man being greeted by several people. He seemed to have a noble status since everyone was willing to go up to him themselves.
The middle-aged man was none other than Xiao Zhi-Ren's own father, Ji Yifeng. Ru didn't find anything wrong with that newcomer since his eyes were gentle and soft with a smile permanently etched on his face. He gave the impression of an easygoing and yet noble presence. Overall, he gave Ru a feeling of being a very warm person.
But Xiao Zhi-Ren didn't share her thoughts at all.
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