"Oh? I just opened Douyin and hadn't even looked yet; maybe my finger accidentally swiped a video open," Wu Huina said with feigned surprise, taking her phone back. After glancing at it, she added, also pretending to be surprised, "It really does look like President Lu. What a coincidence, huh?"
"Let me see again."
Mrs. Lu took the phone from her, looked at it for another moment, and said with certainty, "It is Jingming. He wore this exact outfit when he went out today."
"Is that so?"
Chairman Lu also leaned over to look. After checking, he raised a new question, "There's a girl next to him too? What does this text say? 'Domineering CEO and... girlfriend... check-in... local... street food'?"
Chairman Lu paused, "This young lady looks somewhat familiar..."
Mrs. Lu laughed at him, "This is Xiao Xu. She went to the company to help today. This was probably them going out for lunch. How did they get filmed and posted on Douyin?"
As she spoke, she handed the phone back to Wu Huina, seeming not too concerned.
Wu Huina could only smile and say, "Perhaps President Lu rarely eats at such places, so colleagues who saw them found it novel."
"However, Xiao Xu has been quite trending these past two days. Many colleagues have been seeing posts about her today."
Chairman Lu immediately became curious, "Seeing posts about what?"
"It seems her family has a street stall at the night market on Xiahe Street. They had a bit of a dispute with someone yesterday and it happened to be filmed."
After saying this, Wu Huina waited for the reaction from the couple in the back seat.
She only heard Mrs. Lu say to Chairman Lu in a very ordinary tone, "It's that matter we talked about during breakfast this morning."
Chairman Lu went "Oh," "The Jiu Shan matter, right? Seems it caused quite a stir."
Wu Huina quickly nodded, "Yes, now everyone is praising Xiao Xu for being pretty and capable. Many people have even gone to review sites to leave negative ratings for Jiu Shan because of her."
Mrs. Lu didn't say anything.
Instead, Chairman Lu sighed with some emotion, "So you see, a leader's decisions are crucial to a company's image. One must maintain clear awareness and judgment, otherwise, it can really make people resentful."
"You are absolutely right."
Wu Huina smiled and added, "By the way, it seems that earlier, when Xiao Xu went to deliver meals to the Chairman and President Lu, some colleagues in the company mistook her for President Lu's girlfriend."
"There was such a thing?"
Chairman Lu found this very novel.
Mrs. Lu, however, gave a light snort of laughter and said, "If he doesn't date, not only are we anxious, others get anxious too, don't they?"
This left Wu Huina at a loss for words.
She vaguely sensed that Mrs. Lu's mood wasn't developing as she had anticipated...
Seeing the car turn a corner and a subway station appear ahead, she spoke to the driver Lao Zhao again, "Uncle Zhao, could you please pull over for a moment? I'll take the subway from here."
This time, Mrs. Lu didn't object, so Lao Zhao pulled over and let her out.
The car continued towards the Lu family mansion.
Mrs. Lu took out her phone, found a contact in her WeChat list, and sent a voice message, "No need for Xiao Wu to accompany me on this trip to Europe. Cancel her ticket."
"Huh?"
Chairman Lu, who was busy scrolling through videos on his phone, asked her, "Why not take Xiao Wu? Wouldn't it be nice for her to help carry your bags?"
Mrs. Lu put her phone back in her bag and simply said, "She talks too much. I want some peace and quiet."
As the car drove through the gates of the Lu residence, Chairman Lu finally found a couple of photos of his eldest son going out for lunch.
The scene was bathed in brilliant sunlight. Lu Jingming, dressed in a shirt and trousers, walked among the high-rises. Beside him was Xu Yanxia, wearing a white blouse and a pencil skirt, her hair in a ponytail.
The two seemed to be conversing. Lu Jingming was looking sideways at Xu Yanxia as she spoke, a faint smile playing on his lips.
A handsome man and a beautiful woman—a truly pleasing picture.
Chairman Lu studied it for a long while and said, "It seems Jingming isn't entirely averse to being around girls. Look, he's smiling quite happily with Xiao Xu."
Then, he tentatively glanced at Mrs. Lu and asked, "What do you think? If he were to date Xiao Xu, would you be unhappy?"
Mrs. Lu snorted with laughter, "If he could date Xiao Xu, I'd be chanting 'Amitabha Buddha' in gratitude! There are even rumors outside now that he's gay. It infuriates me!"
...
At half past six in the evening, the third son of the Lu family, Lu Jingyao, also returned home from school.
The mansion was lit up, and dinner commenced.
The dishes on the table today were exceptionally sumptuous: shiitake mushrooms with bok choy, stir-fried fish slices, braised chicken with chestnuts, honey-glazed cherry pork, stewed rice cakes with crab roe, bird's nest with shredded red and white duck, and a golden plate of fried toon fish.
Just as he was about to sit down, Chairman Lu spotted the fried toon fish and immediately exclaimed with delight, "Is that fried toon? I haven't seen this dish in years! How did Xiao Xia think to make this today?"
Xu Yanxia then explained, "We talked about it while having potstickers with President Lu at lunch today. President Lu mentioned that both you and he really like this dish but haven't had it in a long time. Coincidentally, I saw toon on Wan Nong's shelves, so I asked the supplier to deliver some this afternoon. I just hope it tastes the way you both remember."
"Good, good. I must try it then!"
Chairman Lu hurriedly sat down, picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of the fried toon, tasted it, and immediately nodded, "Delicious, delicious. This is exactly the taste!"
He then invited the others, "You all should try some too. This was considered a delicacy when I was a child."
Unfortunately, just as Lu Jingming had said, only he and his father in the family liked toon. After Chairman Lu's invitation, only he obliged and tried it.
Mrs. Lu served herself a spoonful of the bird's nest with shredded duck.
This was a traditional, classic dish—steamed bird's nest stewed together with marinated duck breast meat, finished with a light broth-based sauce. Not only was the presentation exquisite, but the taste was also layered and exceptionally refined.
It drew continuous praise from her, "I haven't had bird's nest prepared this way in so long. It truly is very fragrant."
The whole family was eating with relish. Only Lu Jingyao, who hadn't been home for several days, expressed his dissatisfaction, directing his complaint at Lu Jingming and Xu Yanxia, "You two went to eat something delicious without calling me? That's too much!"
"..."
Before Xu Yanxia could explain, Chairman Lu immediately interjected, "Your brother and Xiao Xia were attending to business. You focus on your studies at school and stop being a third wheel."
