Chapter 290: Karen
Translator: Lonelytree Editor: Millman97
Thankfully, Ye Shuang was the type who could be useful all over the world. As long as it was related to memory and language, it was not a problem for Ye Shuang. Su Zheng had left the country before, but she could not communicate with the local. Ye Shuang had no problem communicating even though she had not left the country since she was young. With the cooperation between the two, Su Zheng provided the name of the hotel that she remembered while Ye Shuang translated it. With their cooperation, the taxi driver soon understood their destination.
“Charles de Gaulle Square is very popular. It is just south-west from les Champs-Elysees Avenue. There are many shops and five-star hotels.” Su Zheng pulled on Ye Shuang and rambled on endlessly. “I’ve brought plenty of money with me, so I gotta shop until I drop before we go back!”
“Didn’t you have chance to go shopping when you came here before?” Ye Shuang asked with a lack of interest.
Su Zheng pouted. “I’ve only been to France twice, and once wasn’t even to Paris. The other time, there was time to shop, but at the time, the price was too expensive, so…”
Many people would feel nervous and confused when they left the country. If they were not actual rich barons, normal tourists would rarely splurge on stuff. Most would be scared by the high asking price in the foreign countries, and instead of buying, they would satisfy that need with many pictures so that they could use those pictures to gloat to their friends.
In reality, half of these people would start to regret when they got home. After all, when would they next have the chance to go shopping overseas? Therefore, with that knowledge in mind, the temporary economic struggle did not seem that important anymore. Ye Shuang silently calculated the amount in her bank, and she realized sadly that she actually was not that rich. “…Well, you have fun, but I’m not going to accompany you during the day. I hope you have no problem communicating with the store owners.”
Su Zheng pouted before feeling better. “Oh well, later, when you reach the hotel, help me contact the local tourist center.”
Facing such a direct request from Su Zheng, Ye Shuang could only sigh—her initial decision not to bring anyone had been correct.
…
They split up for two days. In those two days, Su Zheng immersed herself in the foreign delight while Ye Shuang attended the many fashion shows related to LPA and collected the information that she could. Two days later, Rong Su also arrived in France, and Ye Shuang officially bade farewell to Su Zheng. The next day, it was Brother Shuang who showed up at the hotel.
“Brother Ye!” Once Rong Su reached the hotel, she waved happily at Ye Shuang and then giggled at Su Zheng. She turned to tell the familiar French youth with a smile. “I don’t think you need me to introduce Mr. Vincent again, right? You have met Mr. Ye before, and next to him is my friend, Su Zheng.”
Qiu Yu was following Rong Su as her translator. She calmly translated everything to the youth, and Vincent nodded with a smile. “Of course, I can still remember Mr. Ye. Glad to see you here again and your friend, who is another beautiful lady.”
Ye Shuang smiled. “Mr. Vincent, did you come to welcome us?”
“Of course.” Vincent liked to talk to Ye Shuang the most, not because of his status but mainly because he did not need to go through a translator to talk to him. “Karen knew that Miss Rong Su would come to France, and since she is Xia Cheng’s friend and is the latest spokesperson for the coming year, Karen wished for all of you to come stay with her at her home… Er, it is more comfortable than a hotel, right‽”
Technically speaking, Karen only invited Rong Su. One, the other people had nothing to do with her, and two, Xia Cheng wanted to use this one week to brush up his affection with the girl. But there was no choice. Rong Su had been talking so much about her friends, and she expressed the willingness to stay with them at the hotel and said that she would like to go out with her friends when she was not working… Therefore, to not push her away and to gain a closer contact with Rong Su, Xia Cheng had no choice but to accept all of them at once. Karen could only follow the orders.
Checking out of the hotel, they entered the car that Vincent had borrowed. The two girls chatted happily in the back while the other girl listened quietly. The front was the world of the two men. While he drove, Vincent chatted with Brother Shuang and introduced the places for them to go to in France.
After one hour, they reached their destination, a western garden that looked rather quaint and quiet. It seemed like Karen had quite a comfortable lifestyle. The garden was well tended to, and each decoration of the house was exquisite. The amount of money and time taken to maintain this appearance would be quite high.
“Hello, I am Karen.” When she heard the car honk, a fashionable woman around forty came out to welcome them. Karen kept her body fit; in fact, for her age, she was much fitter and prettier than younger girls. Her carefully kept hair fell on her shoulders, and the end of the hair curled, lending her an air of intelligence. She wore a professional outfit. The jewelry that she had around her neck, on her wrist, and on her ears was all high end. Even though she was over forty, objectively speaking, her looks could be considered not bad. There was a sense of maturity to her beauty.
“She’s beautiful.” Su Zheng used Chinese to whisper to Brother Shuang. “It’s really hard to believe that such a gorgeous woman would use other people’s designs.”
Ye Shuang watched as Vincent brought Rong Su forward to exchange pleasantries. He glanced at Su Zheng and whispered back, “Even if she might not understand Chinese, you’d better not make any more comments like that, just in case… Furthermore, there is a Xia Cheng living in her home.”
Su Zheng stuck out her tongue, but she did not say anything beyond that. Ye Shuang’s group was invited by the hostess into the house. The living room was clean and neat, the style of a warm country home. It was different from the modern, fashionable style that they came to expect. From this point, one could see that Karen did not bring her job home. She was the chief designer at LPA, but at home, she was a wife to her husband and mother to her child.
“What would you like to drink?” Karen invited the guests to sit. “My husband is still at work, and my son is at school for an extra-curricular activity… Oh, I almost forgot, Xia Cheng is absent because he has to deal with something. Perhaps he might join us later.”
Qiu Yu completed her task to translate for everyone. Vincent laughed. “Karen, there’s no need to be so courteous. You probably don’t know this, but this handsome gentleman here speaks French with a very good accent.”
Karen had been focusing on Rong Su, so she did not notice Brother Shuang, who had been hiding his presence. Even though the beauty standard was not the same, Ye Shuang’s handsomeness was transcendent. Furthermore, Ye Shuang did not have the issue of her skin being too yellow after they left the country like other countrymen. Her almost crystal-like skin was a perfect complement to her handsome features such that even Karen, who had seen many beautiful men before, was quite shocked.
“I knew this would happen.” Vincent smiled. “Mr. Ye Shuang always know how to attract people’s attention.”
Ye Shuang raised her brow and smirked delicately. “I didn’t even do anything.”
“You don’t need to do anything to have that effect,” Vincent said and then made the introduction to Karen about Ye Shuang and Su Zheng.
Karen did not hide her admiration. After she recovered, she shook hands with Ye Shuang with a smile. With a friendly tone, she said, “This is such a regret. If I was twenty… no, thirty years younger, perhaps I might have come after you.”
“But even now, Miss Karen, your beauty is quite unrivalled.” Brother Ye very naturally teased her back.
Su Zheng looked left and right, and she forgotten the lesson from earlier to lower her voice. “I have this feeling that Brother Shuang has been with many women before—that is the only explanation to this expertise and naturalness. What do you think?”
“…Brother Ye is looking at you,” Rong Su whispered back without looking at her.
Su Zheng almost jumped from the scare. She turned around and met Ye Shuang’s warning glare. Forgive me!
She really could not understand how the man managed to hear her voice, which was so soft. After briefly getting to know each other, Karen brought the group to see their room.
Four of them had to stay there. Naturally, as the only male, Brother Shuang had a room to himself. Su Zheng requested to stay with Rong Su, but considering that Rong Su might need to interact with people from LPA, before anyone could say anything, Ye Shuang vetoed her request, and in the end, it was Qiu Yu, who could prove to be more useful, that stayed with Rong Su.
Su Zheng could only accept the fate of staying with Karen. Xia Cheng had his own room, and Karen’s husband and son naturally shared one room. After unpacking, Vincent left because he had something else to do.
After that, it was the question of dinner.
“I’m going to go buy some ingredients. Do any of you want to tag along?” Karen asked with a smile and waved the car key in her hand.
“I’ll go with you.” The others played dead. Rong Su volunteered and left with Karen and Qiu Yu. After the car engine disappeared down the street, Ye Shuang turned to look at Su Zheng.
Su Zheng felt her scalp go numb. “Wh… what? I promise, I will not run my mouth again, okay?”
“It’s not that.” Brother Shuang looked at the second floor and smiled gently. “Why do you think Karen did not assign me to stay in the same room as Xia Cheng?”