Even for Wang Cheng, three grown men going grocery shopping together was a first. Their return rate was practically one hundred percent, especially since all three were exceptionally good-looking. Aunties from the village who knew Wang Cheng deliberately came over to greet him, their eyes constantly drifting toward Chu Yifeng and Zheng Jingen.
Take Third Aunt Guan, the neighbor next door. Wang Cheng had not expected to run into her at the market. If he remembered correctly, she had a daughter in her final year of high school.
“Wang Cheng, are these two your friends? Do they have girlfriends? Are they married? If not…” Third Aunt Guan eagerly started introducing her daughter. This was hardly how one ought to marry off a daughter. She made it sound as though her own child were a bargain item.
“I don’t know about that, Third Aunt. I still have things to do, so I’ll get going.” Wang Cheng hurriedly cut her off, then pulled the two men away. If he let her keep talking, she would probably start asking for their birth dates next.
After the three had walked some distance, Zheng Jingen smiled. “The people of Guanjia Village really are enthusiastic.”
“If Mr. Zheng stayed here for two days, you’d find their enthusiasm impossible to handle. To put it plainly, they’re just nosy,” Wang Cheng said without turning around.
“Is that so? Then perhaps I should come stay sometime when I’m free and experience it for myself. I only wonder whether you’d welcome me.” Zheng Jingen spoke with deliberate meaning.
Wang Cheng found the remark puzzling. Whether Zheng Jingen came to Guanjia Village had nothing to do with him, unless the man was planning to stay at his house. Still, he did not let that thought show. He had no interest in getting his ears twisted by Papa Wang. “Of course you’d be welcome.”
Chu Yifeng, however, understood the hidden meaning. His gaze landed on Zheng Jingen just as the other man looked over. Their eyes met, and the air between them seemed to spark.
Wang Cheng noticed nothing. After buying the ingredients for lunch, the three returned home.
The miniature pig, which he had left at home, charged toward his feet as soon as he came inside. Its eyes shone as it stared fixedly at the grocery bags in his hands, practically drooling.
Wang Cheng raised the bags and grinned wickedly at it. “We’re eating pork for lunch today. If the market ever runs out of pork, you’ll make excellent emergency rations. Don’t worry. Your turn will come sooner or later.”
The miniature pig fled into the kitchen in terror.
“Chengcheng, stop bullying it all the time.” Papa Wang came out when he heard them return and happened to catch the remark. He shook his head helplessly.
Wang Cheng shrugged and carried the groceries into the kitchen.
The miniature pig did not dare come back out. Wang Cheng’s words had stirred up old memories. Back on Fengxia Mountain, he had threatened several times to turn it into roast pork, especially when the old monk was around. His master never stopped his disciple. If anything, he encouraged him. The crimes of that master-disciple pair were outrageous from a pig’s perspective.
Chu Yifeng originally intended to go into the kitchen and help, as he sometimes did at the apartment. Papa Wang refused, however. How could a guest be made to work? He dragged Chu Yifeng back to the living room to chat, and Zheng Jingen was not left out either.
Wang Cheng had already experienced his father’s tendency to favor outsiders over his own son more than once. Resigned, he prepared a fairly lavish lunch by himself. It was almost noon when they returned from buying groceries, so he chose dishes that did not take too long, such as braised pig trotters, which could be finished in about thirty minutes with a pressure cooker.
By nearly one o’clock, lunch was finally ready.
When no one came to help carry the dishes, Wang Cheng did not need to think hard to know what was happening. Papa Wang was probably refusing to let Chu Yifeng move, while also not wanting to neglect the guests himself, meaning his backside was undoubtedly still glued to the sofa. Wang Cheng was about to carry out the dish he had just finished when someone appeared at the kitchen doorway.
“Mr. Zheng? What are you doing here?”
Wang Cheng had assumed it would be Chu Yifeng, but instead it was Zheng Jingen, still dressed neatly in his suit.
“I came to help,” Zheng Jingen said.
“No, no. You’re a guest. How could I make you help? I can manage. Mr. Zheng, just wait outside. I’m already finished.”
“It’s fine. There’s no need to be so polite.” Ignoring Wang Cheng’s objections, Zheng Jingen picked up the freshly cooked plate of diced chicken in sauce and carried it out.
Not long afterward, Papa Wang’s voice came from outside, protesting that they could not let a guest carry dishes and so on. Zheng Jingen did not return. Instead, Chu Yifeng appeared, having slipped away while Papa Wang was distracted by the other guest. Zheng Jingen had used much the same trick, excusing himself to use the bathroom before coming to the kitchen.
By the time Papa Wang realized the other guest had disappeared too, all the food was already on the table. With both guests present, he could hardly keep complaining.
It was Zheng Jingen’s first time tasting Wang Cheng’s cooking. He was surprised by how good it was. Once the surprise passed, however, a strange, difficult-to-name feeling emerged.
“What’s wrong?” Wang Cheng noticed the odd way the man was looking at him. Was there a hint of pain in that gaze? Sympathy?
Zheng Jingen immediately pushed the feeling aside and praised him instead. “Nothing. I’m simply surprised your cooking is this good. You’re not far behind the senior chefs at major hotels.”
“Haha, right? I think so too.” Humility truly had nothing to do with Wang Cheng.
Zheng Jingen laughed.
Papa Wang felt thoroughly embarrassed for his son.
After lunch, as usual, Wang Cheng was the only one clearing the table. Before long, Chu Yifeng came over. Wang Cheng did not want Papa Wang lecturing him again, so he refused to let him help. Besides, this was Wang Cheng’s home. On the surface, they were only ordinary friends, hardly close enough to wash dishes together. Chu Yifeng therefore stood at the kitchen doorway, watching him wash while chatting.
“How did you get away from my dad?”
“I told him I had something to discuss with you. Uncle Wang let me come over.”
The two had once been boss and employee, so their friendship was at least deeper than Zheng Jingen’s simple customer relationship. Papa Wang therefore had no reason to suspect anything. Zheng Jingen was different. The only thing he and Wang Cheng could really discuss was jam, and Papa Wang knew about that too. He could simply talk business with him himself.
“Boss Chu, bring that pig over here,” Wang Cheng said.
Chu Yifeng said nothing, but turned and went to look for the miniature pig.
Papa Wang noticed and asked what he was looking for. Chu Yifeng told him. Wang Cheng had previously explained that the miniature pig technically belonged to his boss, so Papa Wang thought nothing of it. He found the pig hiding in the corner of a room upstairs and personally delivered it into Chu Yifeng’s hands.
The miniature pig was wary of Wang Cheng and resisted going into the kitchen. After struggling for a moment, however, its nose suddenly caught an enticing smell. It immediately searched for the source and locked onto the bowl in Wang Cheng’s hands, which contained a little food Wang Cheng had intentionally saved for it.
“Stupid pig, time for pig trotters,” Wang Cheng said deliberately as he placed the bowl on the floor.
The miniature pig hesitated, but its appetite ultimately defeated its caution. It sniffed the bowl, discovered there were no pig trotters in it after all, and immediately shoved its head inside.
“Your nose works well enough.”
Zheng Jingen did not stay much longer. Unlike Chu Yifeng, he could not use his relationship with Wang Cheng as an excuse to linger. Before leaving, however, he still tried to drag Chu Yifeng away with him.
“Mr. Chu, would you like to leave with me? It might be nice to have company on the road.”
“No. I still have something to discuss with Wang Cheng,” Chu Yifeng refused directly.
Zheng Jingen smiled. “Mr. Chu and Wang Cheng really are close. You seem to have a great deal to talk about.” He was alluding to the excuse Chu Yifeng had used when Wang Cheng was washing dishes.
“We are.”
Wang Cheng walked over carrying a bag, interrupting the subtle tension between them. “Mr. Zheng, these are fruits picked from our mountain. They’re very sweet. Take them home and try some.”
“How could I accept that?”
“Don’t be so polite. We have too much fruit at home to finish anyway.”
“Then thank you.”
After Zheng Jingen left, Wang Cheng waited until Papa Wang was gone, then pulled Chu Yifeng outside. He had no idea what history the two men might share, but by now even someone as oblivious as him could sense the combative tension between them.
“What exactly is going on with you two? Every sentence sounds like it’s packed with gunpowder. Didn’t you say you barely knew Mr. Zheng? You two act like enemies. Did something happen between you in the past that you don’t want to tell me?”
“You’re overthinking it. Nothing like that happened. There’s another reason. Haven’t you noticed?”
Wang Cheng looked baffled. “What exactly am I supposed to notice?”
“Don’t you think his behavior is nothing like that of an ordinary customer? What customer keeps coming here this frequently and this attentively? If he were simply an ordinary businessman, that would be one thing. But he isn’t. And he is very clearly making a deliberate effort to please your father. What do you think that means? Can’t you see it?” Chu Yifeng’s expression remained calm as he spoke, but to Wang Cheng, it looked like the stillness before a storm.
“Wait. Aren’t you also trying to please my dad…” Wang Cheng stopped halfway through the sentence and stared at Chu Yifeng with widened eyes. “No way.”
“I can’t think of any other explanation.”
“But…” Wang Cheng could barely believe it. “I didn’t know him at all before this. If he hadn’t shown up at the jam shop himself, I wouldn’t even know he existed.”
“Maybe he saw you somewhere before. There are always things in this world you can’t imagine. Wealthy people also have plenty of strange tastes. How would you know? Of course, I’m an exception.” Even while casting suspicion on Zheng Jingen, Chu Yifeng did not forget to exempt himself.
Normally Wang Cheng would have mocked him immediately, but now his entire mind was consumed by that absurd possibility. He could barely imagine it. Zheng Jingen had seen him somewhere before, fallen for him at first sight, then chased him all the way here? What nonsense. And yet besides that explanation, he could not think of another reason for Zheng Jingen’s behavior. Ever since getting together with Chu Yifeng, even Wang Cheng’s way of thinking had become strange.
“Why did you have to tell me that?” Wang Cheng glared at him. If he had never known, he would not be imagining all this now. Being irresistibly attractive was apparently its own kind of burden.
“Because I’m annoyed.”
“…”