"Fiancée?"
Liu Chen couldn't help but lean forward between the center console of the driver's seat and the passenger seat, her tone carrying an urgency she hadn't noticed herself:
"Brother Ren Yu has a fiancée?"
It was a red light, so Liu Fang slightly eased her foot off the accelerator, reached for a tissue from the ones tucked into the windshield gap, and wiped the sweat from her face.
"I don't know, I'm just saying. After all, your godmother's family is so rich, if Ren Yu's partner's conditions are average, or like ours, a bit better than an office worker, it might not seem like a good match.
So, it's more normal if he has a fiancée."
Liu Chen pursed her lips, feeling a bit dejected. It was true, as her mother said, if it were her in her previous life, she might never have crossed paths with Ren Yu at all, like two parallel lines in the world, never to intersect.
Chen Long, sitting in the passenger seat, looked at Liu Chen who was pursing her lips and remaining silent. He smiled and said, "Don't listen to Sister Liu's nonsense. Who these days still follows the old custom of engagements? As long as the woman is outstanding enough, her family background is secondary."
Just as the light turned green, Liu Fang released the handbrake, eased off the accelerator, and shifted gears, saying, "You don't understand. Sister Yuan Ying is too wealthy. Who knows what people from her kind of family think?"
"How do I not know, I don't..."
Liu Fang, driving, raised an eyebrow: "Hmm? What?"
Chen Long, without batting an eyelid, swallowed his previous words and said, "I mean, I don't believe Sister Yuan Ying, who seems so smart, would have such materialistic thoughts."
Ignoring the two people in front, Liu Chen, sitting in the back, thought about the sock incident that morning. She thought:
I must ask Ren Mo about Ren Yu's fiancée later.
Based on the relationship advice she'd heard in her previous life, between herself and Ren Yu, there seemed to be a subtle hint of ambiguity?
Or... was she just overthinking it, and Ren Yu was simply looking out for a younger sister?
Various speculations swirled in her mind. By the time they reached the restaurant's parking spot and got out of the car, the sun overhead shone on her, and she saw Liu Fang, who was walking ahead of her with a head of red curly hair, wearing a red coat and black leather boots, her back gradually overlapping with the slightly hunched figure from her previous life due to exhaustion.
Liu Chen snapped back to attention, blinked, and her gaze became firm, saying:
"Instead of guessing here, it's better to spend this time earning money. Once I improve myself, who cares who he likes?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Liu Chen strode towards the restaurant in her snow boots, her arrogant gait making the snow boots feel like they were eight-centimeter heels.
Ren Yu, a few steps behind Liu Chen, stood still. The fox-like eyes behind his silver frames blinked, and his pale pink lips parted slightly, uttering a few words:
"Ungrateful little thing."
Liu Chen, who had already entered the restaurant, didn't hear him.
"Hello, do you have a reservation?"
The waitress, dressed in a red qipao, asked with a smile. After receiving an answer, she led Liu Fang upstairs to a private room in her high heels.
"Hello, your Rose private room is ready. Would you like to order now?"
It was a small, Chinese-style private room with a dark brown round table, surrounded by ten chairs. In the center of the table stood a bunch of small red flowers of an unknown variety.
Liu Fang sat down, with Chen Long to her right. Ren Mo sat next to Chen Long, and to his right sat their elder brother, Ren Yu. Ren Yuan Ying intended to sit next to her eldest son, but seeing his faint expression, she became annoyed and sat down, leaving a space between herself and her eldest son.
Liu Chen had intended to sit next to her mother, but her aunt and grandmother took those spots first. This left only the seat next to her godmother, beside Ren Yu.
Fine, she'd sit there!
Liu Chen sat down naturally, missing the fleeting smile that flashed across Ren Yu's lips.
Chen Long, sitting beside Liu Fang, saw it clearly and was somewhat surprised. But looking at Liu Chen's face, which, though still young, already showed the makings of future beauty, coupled with her top-ranked intelligence, it didn't seem so surprising after all.
However...
Chen Long's gaze shifted to Liu Fang, who was smiling brightly beside him.
Would Sister Liu agree?
Perhaps because the restaurant served food quickly, or perhaps their private room's order was expedited, but less than twenty minutes after sitting down, the first dish was served.
As the dishes were placed on the table, Liu Fang raised her glass of Sprite and said:
"Wishing everyone a prosperous Year of the Ox!"
After speaking, she finished the Sprite in her glass in one gulp.
Ren Yuan Ying was amused by Liu Fang's action of drinking Sprite. She also stood up, recited a New Year's blessing, and drank her Sprite.
The table was filled with laughter, chatter, Sprite, and food.
At first, Liu Chen felt a bit self-conscious sitting next to Ren Yu, but after a few bites of the food, she thought, "Mmm! Delicious!"
As she ate, she forgot about Ren Yu's presence. It wasn't until she was full and leaned back against the chair, yawning, that she noticed Ren Yu's profile as he ate.
Some people are truly sculpted by heaven; they look handsome from the front, and handsome from the side too!
Liu Chen couldn't help but wonder if she hadn't seen enough handsome guys, which was why her heart beat so fast for Ren Yu?
Perhaps Liu Chen's gaze was too direct. Ren Yu put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and turned to her, asking, "What's wrong?"
"Brother Ren Yu, do you have a fiancée?"
"Hmm?"
Ren Yuan Ying, sitting beside Liu Chen, heard their conversation word for word. Upon hearing Liu Chen's question, she blurted out before Ren Yu could even speak:
"Heh! A fiancée? Chenchen, I'm telling you, it's a good thing your Brother Ren Yu doesn't have a fiancée. Otherwise, with how cold he is, even if he had one, she'd be driven away!"
Cold?
Liu Chen thought about the times she had met Ren Yu. Recalling them, apart from being a man of few words, Ren Yu didn't seem particularly cold.
Ren Yu looked at Liu Chen, his fox-like eyes narrowing slightly, and he smiled, saying, "What, Chenchen, do you want to introduce a girlfriend to me?"
Shaking her head, Liu Chen looked at Ren Yu's face with some curiosity and asked, "No, I'm just curious. What kind of girlfriend would a top student like Brother Ren Yu look for?"
Liu Chen's words caused everyone else at the table, who had mostly finished eating, to stop their chopsticks and look at the handsome, educated young man who was also rumored to have started his own business.
Ren Yu blinked his long, curly eyelashes, which then lifted. He looked at Liu Chen with a smile in his eyes and said,
"Is that so? I think finding someone like Chenchen to be a girlfriend would be great."
Thump, thump, thump.
Liu Chen felt as if the sound of her heart pounding wildly in her chest was echoing.