Futile Devices Scans

This year’s winter snow came rather late. After three consecutive days of snowfall, the snow-covered imperial capital seemed to have shed its gaudy beauty, leaving behind only a natural, carved magnificence. The air carried a touch of icy wind and frost. As soon as the snow stopped in the imperial capital, people who had been hiding inside their warm homes came out one after another to breathe the fresh air.

Seeing that the snow had stopped, Wang Cheng asked Chu Yifeng to accompany him to the supermarket. There were not many people at the supermarket; most preferred to stay at home.

The shopping cart stopped in the baby products section. Wang Cheng picked out several toys and placed them into the cart. “Boys probably all like these little cars, right?”

“Are they for Kun Kun?” Chu Yifeng followed beside him, watching as he picked through the items. A row of miniature cars sat on the shelf, some remote-controlled and some manual.

“No. Kun Kun doesn’t like these little cars. They’re for Yuan Xia’s son. He’s about to be born soon, so I’m buying the gift in advance.”

Yuan Xia’s belly was already very large. Wang Cheng had visited him a few times. For now, he could not quite imagine what it felt like to have a round belly like a ball, but Yuan Xia’s condition seemed fairly good and did not appear to affect him too much, so Wang Cheng felt a little more reassured. A few days earlier, his grandfather and maternal grandfather had even urged him to hurry up and use surrogacy to have a child. He had never told them that what he planned to do was a different kind of IVF, so he had continued finding excuses to brush them off.

After choosing the baby products, the two went to the fresh food section.

That evening, they were preparing to hold a hotpot gathering at Wang Cheng’s villa. This was the house he and Chu Yifeng had later bought together. After they no longer needed to hide their relationship, they simply moved near the families and bought a villa with a garden courtyard. That way, they could have barbecues in summer and hotpot in winter.

Wang Cheng had invited many people this time: the Zheng family, the Chu family, and their friends. He had invited basically everyone he could. The only pity was Yuan Xia. He had not been able to invite him to the previous barbecue, and this time, because Yuan Xia was close to giving birth and could not let too many people see his heavily pregnant appearance, he could not come either.

Wang Cheng saw several women choosing luncheon meat. Luncheon meat was a canned food—convenient and easy to eat—but he did not like it. Meat was better fresh and in its original flavor. Luncheon meat was processed; it might taste good the first time, but eating too much of it was never ideal.

The two arrived at the fresh meat section. Many people ate hotpot in winter.

“There are frogs here. Want some?” Wang Cheng picked up several frogs. They had not been available the last time he came. The supermarket did not stock many, so they were often snatched up as soon as they were placed on the shelves. He was rather nostalgic about frogs. When he was little and his family could not afford meat, his father would take him and his older brother to catch frogs.

“Then let’s buy a few,” Chu Yifeng said. Looking up, he saw two supermarket employees pushing over a refrigerated box and dumping its contents into the freezer. He quickly said to Wang Cheng, “There are fresh crabs and shrimp over there.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of women had already walked over to choose from them. Wang Cheng hurriedly placed four or five frogs into a bag, told Chu Yifeng to watch the cart, and walked over.

There were too many things he needed to buy: livestock meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables, and more. Beef and lamb were indispensable. Finally, they went to the vegetable section. Enoki mushrooms, cabbage, shiitake mushrooms, winter melon, white radish—everything they could buy, they bought. The cart they were pushing had long since run out of space.

“With this much stuff, how are we supposed to bring it all back later?” Chu Yifeng noticed many people around them looking at them, probably because it was their first time seeing someone buy so much.

Wang Cheng was still holding a bag of dried bamboo shoots he had not yet placed in the cart. He noticed as well and could not help giving a dry laugh. At first, he had simply felt that personally doing the shopping gave him a sense of achievement, but he had miscalculated the number of people attending the gathering and the amount of ingredients needed. Although they had already bought a full cart, it still might not be enough for everyone.

“If we can’t bring it back ourselves, we’ll have the supermarket deliver it. We’re buying so much that they’ll definitely be happy to help. Since we’re already having them deliver it, let’s buy a bit more.”

With that, Wang Cheng plunged straight back into the meat section. More men were attending the gathering, and all of them loved meat. If he did not buy more, he worried the meat would be gone halfway through the gathering.

Chu Yifeng laughed helplessly.

The supermarket manager was indeed very willing to arrange home delivery for them, because the ingredients Wang Cheng bought could almost fill a small truck. The transaction amount was also the highest single retail purchase since the supermarket opened. When they left, Wang Cheng only carried the gift he had bought for Yuan Xia’s son.

When the two returned to the villa, there were already people inside.

Winter break had arrived, so Wang Ziyu and Zheng Jingxue did not need to attend school. The two had arranged a time in advance and come over early. Since they were eating hotpot that evening, they had come to help.

After the supermarket delivered the ingredients Wang Cheng had bought, the two girls and the servants borrowed from the Gu family moved everything into the kitchen to wash and prepare. Wang Cheng worried they might not do it properly, so he specially went into the kitchen to check several times. With the servants helping, things progressed much faster. By the time the ingredients were nearly washed, the others had already begun arriving one after another.

As long as the younger generation of the Chu family had free time, they all came over, including Lei Yunze, Chu Wenting’s family of three, and Chu Yifeng’s twin cousins. Hearing that Wang Cheng was holding a gathering at the villa and that the hotpot soup bases were personally prepared by him, they were all extremely looking forward to it, having already experienced his cooking skills before.

Zheng Jing’en also came, as did Zheng Jingping. Only the younger generation from the eldest uncle’s family did not come, and Wang Cheng had never planned to invite them. He had already witnessed the faces of that eldest uncle’s wife and daughter during this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival. Zheng Jie, who had once been scolded by Wang Cheng, had always held a grudge over that incident. Originally, she had wanted to retaliate against him, but Wang Cheng later found out that his older brother had turned the tables on her, and in the end, Grandpa had sent her abroad. Officially, it was called further study, but in reality, it was exile—so she would not return to the country and embarrass the Zheng family. Apparently, Zheng Jie’s private life was a mess, and she had even had an abortion. The eldest uncle’s family thought they had hidden it well, but Grandpa had known all along.

Zheng Jing’en also invited his friend Luo Sheng. Luo Sheng was their benefactor; if he had not casually mentioned back then that Wang Cheng looked very much like him, Zheng Jing’en would never have noticed Wang Cheng. Shen Yuan came with him as well. The two had happened to meet at the door. When Shen Yuan heard Wang Cheng was hosting a gathering, he immediately canceled his blind date and rushed over without another word.

Wang Ning’an and He Ping arrived last. The two came together, while Aunt Guan Meifang had already returned to Shanhai City back in September.

Wang Cheng had originally wanted to invite Huang Tong’an and David as well, but the former had gone on a date with his girlfriend. It was said that good news was close, which also counted as a wonderful thing. David had returned to Italy.

Wang Cheng had already prepared the hotpot soup bases. He made several flavors: spicy, beef, seafood, and more. Everyone could eat whichever flavor they liked, or they could share one hotpot together. The food was rich and satisfying. Two large tables were pushed together into one, and a group of people gathered around to eat hotpot. Even without imagining it, one could tell the atmosphere would be lively.

Kun Kun wanted to sit beside Wang Cheng. Taking advantage of his mother’s inattention, he crawled under the table. When Shen Qing discovered he was missing, she searched around before finally finding him beside Wang Cheng. Her face immediately darkened with speechlessness.

The moment Kun Kun saw his mother, he immediately hugged Wang Cheng’s arm.

The corner of Shen Qing’s mouth twitched. Was this brat really her son? Why did she increasingly feel as though he had come to collect a debt from her?

“Forget it, forget it. If he likes sitting there, just let him sit there,” Chu Wenting stepped in to persuade her.

Shen Qing could do nothing about her little brat, so she accepted the way out Chu Wenting offered her. In truth, she was merely afraid her son would trouble Wang Cheng. Fortunately, her son was highly intelligent. Wang Cheng only needed to pick food for him; he did not need to feed him.

Once everyone sat down, they began cooking hotpot. The ingredients filled two entire tables, with several plates of each item, so no one needed to run to the other end of the table just to eat a particular dish.

Because Kun Kun sat beside him, Wang Cheng had to divide some of his attention toward the child. Afraid Kun Kun might burn himself, he blew on the food for him. As a result, the little fellow ate very quickly, while Wang Cheng himself barely ate much. Seeing this, Chu Yifeng cooked some slices of meat for him. Lei Yunze, who sat on his left, noticed Chu Yifeng only focusing on Wang Cheng and gave Chu Yifeng some of the beef slices he had cooked. The actions of the four of them looked especially amusing to the others.

Across from them, Shen Yuan could not help laughing. “How nice. Why doesn’t anyone cook meat for me?”

The words were purely teasing, but He Ping, seated beside him, took them seriously. He placed the lamb slices he had just cooked into Shen Yuan’s bowl.

“This is for you.”

Shen Yuan froze, his gaze shifting to He Ping’s handsome face.

Seeing him staring directly at him, He Ping blinked. “What’s wrong?”

Shen Yuan smiled. Using his chopsticks, he picked up the meat He Ping had given him and put it into his mouth. “Nothing. Thank you for the meat.” The delicious, tongue-scalding flavor burst across his tongue like an explosion. The taste lingered wonderfully. He actually felt it was incomparably delicious, even though he had clearly eaten better hotpot before.

He Ping smiled and nodded, then placed a handful of enoki mushrooms into the hotpot. Unlike Wang Cheng and the others, he actually preferred vegetarian dishes, though he occasionally ate meat as well.

Shen Yuan propped his chin up and discreetly studied He Ping, someone he had only heard of but never met before. He only knew that this cousin of Wang Cheng’s had suffered an accident in childhood that caused his intelligence to remain at the level of a seven- or eight-year-old. Later, after Doctor James was invited and the surgery succeeded, He Ping finally became like a normal person, though he had to relearn everything from the beginning. The He Ping Shen Yuan had imagined was silly, honest, and a rough country man. But after meeting him in person today, Shen Yuan realized he had been mistaken. The Guan family’s genes were indeed good. Since they could produce an outstanding grandson like Wang Ning’an, having another He Ping was only natural.

Gentle as water.

With just one meeting, Shen Yuan felt the man before him was like a cup of warm mountain spring water—neither scalding nor freezing. Smooth, lingering, and worth savoring.

He Ping tilted his head and happened to meet Shen Yuan’s smiling gaze. Slightly startled, he smiled back. Thinking Shen Yuan still wanted more, he placed the freshly cooked meat into his bowl.

“What a considerate good person. Whoever marries you will definitely be very happy,” Shen Yuan said, his smile growing even brighter.

He Ping froze. “Marries?”

Shen Yuan only then realized what he had said and immediately burst into laughter. “Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. The meat you cooked is delicious. You should eat some too. Don’t just focus on me.” Then he picked up a slice of meat and placed it into He Ping’s bowl.

He Ping’s attention was immediately diverted.

Seeing this scene, Zheng Jing’en laughed softly. “This cousin of yours is still very innocent.”

Wang Ning’an glanced at him upon hearing this, then withdrew his gaze back to the hotpot in front of him and said calmly, “There’s nothing wrong with being innocent. In a society that dyes everyone who enters it, how many people like that are even left?”

“That’s true.” Zheng Jing’en tilted his head and looked at him. For some reason, he thought of the few times he had interacted with Wang Ning’an. Others felt they were very similar, but in his eyes, Wang Ning’an was not like him at all. This man was actually colder than many people. It was as if his emotions had all been devoted to his family, leaving none extra for outsiders.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Wang Ning’an noticed his gaze and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Zheng Jing’en smiled faintly. His gaze fell to the hotpot in front of him, and he picked up his chopsticks to take out the cooked meat and vegetables, placing them into Wang Ning’an’s bowl. “Have all the troubles at Gu Corporation been resolved?”

Wang Ning’an did not know why he suddenly brought up the Gu family, but still replied, “Just a few small fry.”

Yes, in Wang Ning’an’s eyes, people like Gu Ping and Gu Li were not difficult problems. This was also the reason he had not immediately agreed to enter Gu Corporation after returning to his family. Since it was his, how could a few insignificant people with no real influence possibly snatch it away from him?

Seeing how lightly Wang Ning’an spoke of it, Zheng Jing’en suddenly realized that a serious man was truly handsome. His gaze shifted to Shen Qing, who was carrying Kun Kun back. Come to think of it, he was no longer young either.

“Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, we’re already nearing thirty.”

Wang Ning’an gave him a puzzled look.

Zheng Jing’en met his gaze and smiled.

Elio’s Notes: I’m so happy to finally witness the end of the translation of this story’s main story line. I remember picking up this story together with Beloved Marriage in High Society back in 2017. It’s almost a decade ago! Thankful that it gets to end back into my hands. We really had to stop translating back then due to the pandemic. Please stay tuned for the extra chapters. You’ll see more of Wang Cheng and Chu Yifeng! Please share your thoughts and ratings about this story on Novel Updates here. If you have feedback or questions about our translation, feel free to leave your comment here and we’ll respond as soon as we can.

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