Chapter 341 - Chen Yanü’s Silent Attention
Translator: Lav
Editor: Llikia
Chen Yanü made a simple gesture for Yu Banzhi to sit, but he shook his head and spoke again. “Isn’t it a crime if I don’t open the window and look at the snow in this weather? Chen Yanü, do you mind?”
She shook her head with a smile and gestured him to do what he wanted. However, she took out a snow-white scarf from behind her and wrapped it around Shi Lei’s neck.
“Godmother, I’m not cold. You should wear it. You shouldn’t catch a cold.” Shi Lei reached out, wanting to take it off.
Chen Yanü placed her hand on his and shook her head. She pointed at the jacket on her, showing that she wasn’t cold.
Shi Lei could only accept her care for him, but the fluffy scarf felt itchy.
Yu Banzhi opened a window halfway and a gust of piercing cold wind filled the room. The gust carried snowflakes that instantly melted into water when they landed on the warm floor inside.
“Haha, this is more interesting. I think the lake is already covered with a thin layer of ice. It’s a shame that it’s too warm in the south. Otherwise, it would be fun to walk on a frozen lake.”
When Yu Banzhi sat down, he wasn’t as loud as before, silently opening the seal made of soil on the pot of wine. He sniffed it and shook his head. “This is exactly what I mean. Even if I hang out with this kid Shi Lei, I can’t tag along to try some of Old Bai’s wine collection. But this isn’t bad. It’s at least a decade old and can more or less count as Nüerhong(1).”
Yu Banzhi poured the wine into a flagon, picked up the small bronze basin on the table, placed it on top of the clay heating pot, and positioned the flagon of wine in the middle of the basin.
There were four plates of sweetmeats on the table. Yu Banzhi didn’t bother being polite and picked up a piece of dried apricot. He nodded as he tasted it before casting his glance out to the open lake.
At this time, Shi Lei realized that he could actually see the profound marks of a soldier in him. His boldness and generosity, his mannerisms when drinking, and his carelessness of the vulgar opinions of society. He was greatly influenced by his family, which had many soldiers. However, he wasn’t willing to enter the military and was the child with elegant hobbies, descended from a line of soldiers.
Chen Yanü’s eyes smiled. She pointed at the sweetmeats and gestured for Shi Lei to try them.
Shi Lei also picked up a piece of apricot. It was soft and sticky. It retained its natural fragrance without any artificial flavors from the market.
“It tastes good. Godmother, don’t tell me Old Bai planted the trees and made it here?”
Chen Yanü gestured and smiled. From previous interactions, Shi Lei could more or less understand some of her hand gestures.
At the moment, she was telling him that the first half of his sentence was correct, as Old Bai’s family had planted the apricot trees, but the second half was wrong.
Then Chen Yanü pointed at herself and the corners of her lips were curved upwards.
“You made it yourself? You know how to make sweetmeats?” Shi Lei was very surprised as he picked up a piece of plum and tasted it. It was the same as the apricot, the natural fragrance was retained nicely but with a slight hint of the sweetness of honey.
Chen Yanü smiled in silence.
Yu Banzhi never talked during this time. When the wine had heated up, he poured a cup for himself and drank, occasionally picking up a sweetmeat.
But Shi Lei was very talkative and chatted with Chen Yanü in a soft voice.
She looked at him with a smile on her face, only making a few simple gestures when he completely stopped talking. She looked at him with the expression of a loving mother.
At around 11 PM, the snow gradually stopped and Yu Banzhi stood up, patting Shi Lei on the shoulder. “Let’s go. Let your godmother rest early.” He then turned to Chen Yanü. “Chen Yanü, thanks. I’ll be leaving first.”
Shi Lei had drunk a little and Chen Yanü, even less. The pot of wine had mainly been drunk by Yu Banzhi.
The driver was still waiting for them. Chen Yanü insisted on walking Shi Lei to the car. When the car drove to the front gate of the district, Shi Lei could still see her standing there.
Without knowing why, he felt sorrowful and tears filled his eyes.
When they had driven half the way back, Yu Banzhi suddenly asked, “Have you recently been learning how to invest?”
Shi Lei froze for a second before nodding. “Yes. Just for fun.”
“Who didn’t start from that? When you went to the bathroom, Chen Yanü told me that you invested in a company, but someone’s trying to mess with it. She said she didn’t want your first investment to fail.”
Shi Lei understood that Yu Banzhi had meant Chen Yanü’s gestures when he said “she told me.”
But he didn’t think that she even knew about such a small investment.
A strange feeling rose in his heart. He had been looked into by others, but this felt completely different. Jiang Yuan had investigated him because he was curious, or put bluntly, to satisfy his personal desire. But Chen Yanü was different. She paid attention to him in silence and supported him whenever necessary, without even wanting him to know.
He knew that if it wasn’t for Yu Banzhi’s personality, others would only help in silence without saying anything.
“The problem should be solved. There’s no need for Brother Yu to help. If you do, the movement would be too big.”
Yu Banzhi nodded. “That’s exactly what I said to Chen Yanü. You should experience whatever you should. Protecting you would only make you useless. Although you weren’t born in a wealthy family, every single one of your actions is being watched now that you are Chen Yanü’s godson. I didn’t want to warn you, but there are things that you have to learn yourself. However, even though Chen Yanü mentioned it today and it’s been some time since you became her godson, you don’t ever seem to think about using this connection with the Bai family for anything. This is very good. So I’ll give you a warning. There aren’t many people who know about the relationship between you and Chen Yanü, but there definitely aren’t very few people either. So even if you don’t think about the Bai family, you need to consider more for your godmother. In Wudong, you can now surprise many people with a single raise of your hand. But if you don’t encounter any problems, not too many people would respect your power and authority. Use it carefully.”
Shi Lei smiled. “I hope that I will never have the chance to use it,” he replied. “And I never thought of using the Bai family’s name. In fact, even if I wanted to, it would only make things more convenient for the Wei family.”
“Wei family…Haha…” Yu Banzhi closed his eyes. He didn’t seem finished, but it was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
Shi Lei’s heart skipped a beat. Perhaps the Wei family will soon encounter some problems? But isn’t it impossible for an enormous family like that?
He quickly concluded that he was overthinking. What kind of existence was the Wei family in Wudong? Wei Ye was someone who was on the same level as the Song family. How could they possibly have any trouble?
Seeing that Shi Lei had kept silent, Yu Banzhi was slightly surprised. He opened his eyes and stole a glance at him. This young man could really keep his composure. Yu Banzhi’s mindset decided that he wouldn’t assume that Shi Lei wasn’t actually keeping his composure, but he was thinking too less. Even if he was on the edge of something, he himself would easily back off.
“Contact me when the company you invested in reaches round B.”
Yu Banzhi’s words were light, but it meant that as long as Zhen Xu’s company could smoothly operate during the round A, Yu Banzhi would invest a good amount of money during round B.
But Shi Lei declined the offer without hesitation. “There’s really no need to help me. And when it reaches round B, I will leave.”
“Oh? You don’t see potential in it?”
“I do, but I don’t want to do it in the long run.” Shi Lei put it simply.
1. Nüerhong: A type of millet wine in the Zhejiang Province. It is also used to describe the wine that a family buries for their daughter and digs it back out for her marriage. These wines are at least sixteen to eighteen years old, literally meaning “daughter(nü’er) red(hong).”