Chapter 7: Braised Chicken Rice
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The next day, Xia Wanyuan brought the little dumpling out for breakfast before taking him to school. As she watched him get into the school bus, she felt slightly reluctant to part with him.
Last night, she had agreed to divorce Jun Shiling in three months. The Jun family would definitely not give her custody of the child. However, modern society was still much more civilized than before.
In the past, after a woman was divorced, she would never have the chance to see her child again. Now, it seemed things had changed. Even if they divorced, she was still the child’s mother. That was why she had agreed so quickly.
She took out her phone and saw the messages from Bright Red 99+. She had not been out for the past two days and her friends had sent her a lot of messages.
Xia Wanyuan had a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder. She walked to the swing in the courtyard, sat down, and began to open and delete the useless messages one by one.
‘Great. All the messages are deleted.’
Xia Wanyuan searched for ‘Lin’ in the search bar at the top. As expected, the face of an elite who was dressed in professional attire appeared.
Xia Wanyuan had a special status, so it was unavoidable that she needed to contact the Jun family. However, Jun Shiling had no interest in dealing with her, so Lin Jing was mainly responsible for contacting Xia Wanyuan.
Xia Wanyuan opened up the chat and typed something. As she was still unfamiliar with using a phone, her typing speed was somewhat slow.
Special Assistant Lin had just finished a meeting and was about to sort out the meeting records and hand them over to Jun Shiling, when his private WeChat notification rang.
Lin Jing picked up his phone. The message on his phone stopped him from sorting the documents.
“Can I move into the apartment that was prepared for me in the city center? Help me arrange it, thank you.”
The words ‘Xia Wanyuan’ were displayed above the message.
Lin Jing adjusted his glasses and was stunned when he saw the words ‘thank you’. Then, he smiled mysteriously. Closing the document, Lin Jing proceeded to walk towards the CEO’s office.
After rejecting a few calls from her friends asking her to go out and play, Xia Wanyuan called the chauffeur.
The last time she went through the wardrobe, she realized that the original owner of the body’s clothing style was too flamboyant. There was barely anything in there she found suitable to wear. Since she hadn’t entered the drama production team yet, she wanted to go out and shop.
In the original owner’s memory, clothing stores that had all kinds of dazzling exquisitely designed clothes were everywhere in this era. Perhaps because the peaceful life here had allowed her to relax, Xia Wanyuan’s natural love for beauty as a woman had been aroused.
Since the original owner of the body seemed to be a celebrity with a little fame, infamous to be exact, Xia Wanyuan had Nanny Li bring a mask and a cap to disguise her somewhat. She then got the chauffeur to send her to Tianfu Road.
As expected of a famous shopping district in China. It took some time but Xia Wanyuan finally found a less-crowded street and took her time strolling around. What she didn’t know was that the lack of people here was due to the high prices of the clothes here. The bright and colorful clothes in the display windows piqued her interest.
Xia Wanyuan went into a more elegant-looking shop. Although she was wearing a mask and her face was covered, the shop assistant knew that big business was here when she saw Xia Wanyuan’s branded clothes and elegant posture. She hurriedly went up to greet her with a smile.
Branded stores had fewer customers, so basically all the shop assistants had crowded around Xia Wanyuan, eagerly recommending various outfits to her.
Xia Wanyuan did not decline and tried on all the clothes that she found herself drawn to. With her svelte and womanly figure, she looked good in whichever outfit was brought out. If anything, the originally beautiful clothes looked even more exquisite on her.
“Wrap all these up.” By the time she had tried on all the clothing, two hours had passed. Xia Wanyuan took out a card she hadn’t used in a long time to pay the bill.
It would be a waste not to use it, Xia Wanyuan thought. Anyway, that was the card that Jun Shiling had given her.
The moment the card was swiped in the clothing store, Jun Shiling received a text message on his cell phone. “The bank card with the account number last digits being *** had been charged 320 thousand dollars on Tianfu Road.”
The card was the allowance card that Jun Shiling had given Xia Wanyuan back then. However, as the monthly allowance was not much, Xia Wanyuan had never used this card since she was rich. However, after several years of accumulation, the card already had a few million dollars in it.
‘Is the Xia family that poor now? However, that woman, as always, likes to spend money. It seems like she is just putting on an act these few days.’
But for some reason, the image of Xia Wanyuan’s bright and clear eyes appeared in Jun Shiling’s mind, making his heart turn cold.
Frowning slightly, Jun Shiling turned off his phone, clearing his thoughts. That woman had nothing to do with him.
…
After a long morning, Xia Wanyuan was a little hungry as well. When she came out of the clothing store, she took out her phone and navigated for a while before turning to the street filled with restaurants nearby.
It was time for lunch. All kinds of restaurant signs proclaimed their goods in the streets, and the fragrance of all kinds of delicacies lingered in one’s nostrils, whetting one’s appetite.
Xia Wanyuan walked slowly. Because she was tightly covered, very few people could recognize her. However, the lotus-like swaying temperament of hers that showed as she walked still caused people to constantly turn their heads, wanting to see what kind of heavenly beauty was beneath that mask.
There were several people at the entrance of one of the shops and it was rather lively. A rich fragrance wafted out from the shop, causing Xia Wanyuan’s appetite to increase greatly.
She strode into the restaurant, and the signboard at the entrance said “Braised Chicken Rice”. It was none other than the famous chain in China that sold braised chicken rice.
Because it was located in the capital city, although it was a common snack brand, the restaurant was clean and tidy. Two floors were filled with solid wood tables and chairs. Business was good, and the fragrance of food lingered in the restaurant.
Xia Wanyuan ordered the shop’s signature meal like what other customers had ordered. She found a seat on the second floor near the window and waited for the staff to bring the food over before she slowly removed her mask.
At the same time, in Jun Corporation’s office, Jun Shiling was momentarily at a loss when he saw the text message that said she was spending her time in the braised chicken rice restaurant. Was this the Xia Wanyuan who wanted nothing more than a full, formal banquet to show off her status?
However, Xia Wanyuan did not know about those things. She looked at the braised chicken that was served in a clay pot.
The chicken meat was fresh and tender, and it was wrapped in thick gravy and mixed with a few mushrooms and green peppers. The dish gave off waves of hot steam, making one’s appetite increase the more they looked.
Xia Wanyuan had eaten delicacies before, but she had also eaten leftover steamed buns. Now that she was at the popular food market in the modern world, her appetite was stirring.
Picking up a piece of meat with her chopsticks, she placed it into her mouth, followed by a mouthful of rice. The rich broth spread in her mouth, and the combination of rice and meat produced an incomparable taste. Xia Wanyuan ate happily with a satisfied smile on her face.
She did not notice that there was a young lady looking at her curiously from four tables away.
“Hey, look, isn’t that a celebrity?” The round-faced girl poked her friend.
Her companion curiously looked in the direction where she pointed and was immediately stunned. “Isn’t this Xia Wanyuan?! Why is she here?!”
They could not be blamed for being shocked. After all, every time Xia Wanyuan appeared, the topic of conversation was either luxurious mansions or luxurious jewelry. Who would have thought that they would see her in such a down-to-earth place?
“Are you sure?” The round-faced girl was a little suspicious.
“I’m one hundred percent sure! After all, I was her fan for some time before I turned into a hater.”
Besides, there was something she did not say. The person whom they saw looked like that. Who else could it be other than Xia Wanyuan? If anyone on the road was so good-looking, it would be too much of a blow.
“I heard that the Xia family went bankrupt. Is she out of money? Is that why she can only eat this?”
“I don’t know. This has nothing to do with us. Look how much she’s enjoying it. Why isn’t our food here yet?”
They had once followed the crowd and scolded Xia Wanyuan on the internet, so they naturally did not have a good impression of her. But strangely, as they watched Xia Wanyuan eat, they actually developed a good impression of her.
‘She looks so beautiful, and you can tell she’s really enjoying the food!’
Sensing that someone was looking at her, Xia Wanyuan put down her chopsticks and looked ahead. She saw two young ladies looking at her curiously.
Seeing that there was no malice in their eyes, Xia Wanyuan smiled at them, then lowered her head to eat the last few mouthfuls of food before getting up to leave.
When the two ladies saw Xia Wanyuan’s smile, they felt as if thousands of flowers were blooming before their eyes. It was only when Xia Wanyuan stood up and left that they reacted. They quickly took out their phones and took a photo.
Watching Xia Wanyuan’s back disappear down the stairs, the round-faced girl sucked in a breath of cold air. “Hiss, although I heard that her character isn’t good, she’s really beautiful.”
“I agree.” Her friend, who had turned anti-fan, also felt the same way. If not for Xia Wanyuan’s scandals being too eye-catching, she would have wanted to become a fan again after that smile. ‘Who doesn’t like beautiful young ladies!’
“By the way, why isn’t our food here yet? I’m starving.”
After Xia Wanyuan had eaten her fill, she ran to the snack shop to buy some snacks that she often saw young people eat when she was surfing the internet. After buying some, she took the car back to the villa that was located halfway up the mountain.
As a result, President Jun’s private phone, which rarely rang, received a few messages in the afternoon. The milk tea cost 20 dollars, the egg waffles cost five dollars, and the sausages cost five dollars.
The more Jun Shiling looked at it, the more confused he became. What nonsense was this? Based on Xia Wanyuan’s habits, there was no way that she would put these things anywhere near her mouth. On the other hand, children liked to eat junk food. Could it be that she had bought them for Jun Yin? Thinking of this, his brows furrowed even more tightly.
Jun Shiling settled the matters in the afternoon promptly and called Lin Jing to cancel the meeting that was originally scheduled for that night. He then picked up his coat and called the chauffeur over, asking him to drive to Xia Wanyuan’s place.
The chauffeur had received this order for the second time within two days, and the shock made him pause. Young Master had always hated Miss Xia. What was wrong with him? Why was he going there every day?
Despite imagining countless scenarios in his mind, he masked them inside and remained expressionless. The chauffeur started the car and drove steadily towards the suburbs.