Sorry for the late release (like seriously late~) My real life is quite busy that I sometimes sleep like 3 hours per day, or skip sleep altogether. Here is the next chapter that I squeeze all my life essence time to translate for weeks, so if you guys find something weird, like the name or something, just write it in the comment, my brain stops functioning by now.
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Chapter 21: Nouveau Riche
When Lu Chengyu drove to the hotel, the parking s.p.a.ce was almost full. He drove his little Benteng around and find a parking s.p.a.ce in the corner.
After straightening his coat, Lu Chengyu got out of the car, closed the door and entered the hotel lobby. The hotel is well-known throughout the capital. It is the usual place to holds a wedding banquet here. It takes at least half a year before to book this place.
As soon as he entered the lobby, he can see that there is a desk for receiving gifts on both sides. It seems to be a separate gift for both men and women. Visually, the number of bride side's guests is significantly higher than the bridegroom side's guests.
The bride has a good family background and knows many people. This situation really makes the bridegroom side's looks desolated.
[T/N: In China, usually they separate the guest from the bride and the bridegroom, so here, they can see clearly that the guest from bridegroom is less than the bride.]
Read at shunraikitranslation please. I'm not gonna be mad at you
Lu Dong and Shen Min are talking to a middle-aged couple wearing very expensive clothes. So, Chengyu didn't bother them, he went straight inside and give the gift money.
Lu Chengyu's uncle and aunt are greeting guests. When they see Lu Chengyu coming, they greet him with a smile.
“Cheng Yu is here,” the uncle laughed and took two steps forward. He looked at him and saw that he was dressed up very well. He said, “I haven't seen you for a long time, and you didn't come to our house.”
“I just graduated, so this is the time when I need to work hard. I usually have less time to rest and sleep. When my work is stable, I will come to your house.” Lu Chengyu smiled at Lu Yongguo. How Chengyu couldn't see that the smile on his uncle's face more to politeness than intimacy. In this kind of family relationship, it is better to distance himself(LCY) from it rather than being intimate.
Lu Chengyu took out the monetary gift that he had been prepared and gave it to his aunt, Lu Suyun, who is responsible to receive the gift and his second uncle Lu Chang Jun, who is responsible to register the monetary gift. When both of them saw the amount of the monetary gift, their complexion's change.
Lu Suyun jokingly speak out: “Cheng Yu, how's your work? How much is your salary?” This gift is quite generous among ordinary people.
“I work in the city and my boss is a good person. Also, my salary is quite appropriate, just a little busy.” Lu Chengyu smiled and answered two questions. He looks at the time and it was 11:40. It seemed that the banquet was about to start.
Lu Suyun realizes that Lu Chengyu did not want to talk about his work in detail. Although she sighed that this nephew was estranged from her, she did not continue to ask him questions. She just greeted Lu Chengyu with a gentle att.i.tude and asked him to go to the second floor where the banquet is being held.
After saying a few casual polite remarks with several elders, Lu Chengyu went up to the second floor. Earlier, he drove all the way over without washing his hands, when he thought about having dinner later, Chengyu turned around and went to the bathroom.
As soon as he reached the door of the bathroom, he heard the second uncle's son, Lu Liang, is talking to the aunt's son, Sun Junyi, inside the bathroom.
“This morning, when we accompany Dong ge to meet the bride, why didn't ask Chengyu to come along with us? If Chengyu is there, the bride's best friends will unlikely to make things difficult, we don't need to wait for a long time for them to open the door.” (T/N: ge: brother)
“Auntie didn't tell you, the eldest aunt was afraid of Chengyu's fortune will influence the newcomers. Therefore, they inform Chengyu to come to the wedding ceremony and as for welcoming newlywed, they didn't mention it to him.”
(T/N: in a Chinese wedding ceremony, the groom will decorate the car and went to the bride's home to fetch the bride, then they need to pa.s.s the block by the bridesmaids (by getting their consent, not kidnap the bride), after succeeding, he will take the bride to the wedding hall.)
“How awkward it would be if Cheng Yu knew about it,” Sun Junyi said dryly, with a lower voice. “Besides, Cheng Yu has good grades, looks handsome, and his job hunting went smoothly. Is there anything wrong with him?”
“Third uncle and third aunt…” Lu Liang cough dryly, suddenly he thinks that it is not appropriate to speak more about this topic, “Forget it, just pretend that we don't know this matter and let's not tell Chengyu about it.”
Lu Chengyu stood outside the bathroom, silently retreat back a few steps. After that, he makes heavier footsteps and entered the bathroom as if he had just walked around the corner.
When Sun Junyi and Lu Liang heard the footsteps, they stop talking to each other. When they saw it was Lu Chengyu, whom they had just talked about, both of their expressions were somewhat unnatural.
“Chengyu, when did you arrive? We were just saying that you were going to be late,” said Lu Liang while wiping his hand and squeeze out a smile, “Once several of our brothers sit together, let's have a good drink.”
Lu Chengyu washes his hand and said: “Liang ge is a good drinker. Better not to include me to drink wine together. Spare me, if when the newlyweds giving a toast but I've already drunk, how embarra.s.sed it is.” Chengyu went to the hand dryer to dry his hand, sighed, “I've been busy planning these days. I didn't go to bed until midnight last night. Fortunately, the traffic jam is not serious today, so I didn't miss the wedding ceremony.”
When Lu Liang and Sun Junyi heard the word ‘planning', both of them can guess that Chengyu was able to mix well in the company, or else, how could someone who just enter the company able to touch this thing? With this in mind, the expression on both men was a lot gentler.
Sun Junyi saw the natural expression on Chengyu's face, he was relieved. It seemed that his cousin had not heard what they had just said.
He went up and grabbed Lu Chengyu's shoulder and said, “Who believes you can't drink? Don't say anything, we'll all drink together later, and you can't run away from us.”
Lu Chengyu smile and he easily turn his hand to the back and make a punching gesture towards Sun Junyi's shoulder. These three brothers went out from the bathroom with a smile on their face, looking like they were good brothers to each other.
After the three left, a closed toilet compartment door opened. Cao Jingshen frowned and walked out. He came to attend his cousin's wedding. He didn't realize that Lu Chengyu was a relative of the groom, and what they had just said…
There are some people who are particularly superst.i.tious will avoid doing any taboo things, but this is too obvious. Whether or not Lu Chengyu had just heard it, he felt that with Lu Chengyu's EQ, he could perceive alienation and discomfiture.
Sighed, it's hard to speak of matters between the relatives.
Nevertheless, Cao Jingshen really hates Chengyu, so for him, it's a win-win situation.
When the banquet begins, Lu Chengyu listens to MC on stage, stirring up the emotions of the audience, getting them to laugh. Chengyu stroke his somewhat hungry belly, this morning, he forgot to take his breakfast. He looks at the table where there are tobacco and sugar were placed, he feels even hungrier.
After a while, they began to serve the dishes. Lu Chengyu did not have the habit of drinking on an empty stomach, he fills his stomach with several mouthfuls of food and starts to cope with toasts given by his cousins from both sides of his parents.
Although Lu Chengyu eats several dishes to pad his stomach in between the toasts, confronting the berserk toast mode, he finally began to get dizzy. By the time the newlyweds came to toast, the people at the table were getting a little drunk and already in a confused state. On the contrary, Lu Chengyu is a more presentable person among these people on the table. Facing the newlyweds' propose for a toast, he rashly works his half-drunk brain to think a few words of blessings to the newlyweds, didn't let the mood becomes awkward.
The newlyweds were followed by their parents, who introduced their relatives' ident.i.ty, looks embarra.s.sed. After a quick toast to the table, they went to another table. (T/N: the one look embarra.s.sed is both of the parents)
After the banquet, Lu Chengyu shook his dizzy head and watched his cousins at the same table being supported by aunts and uncles. After he sobers up, Chengyu stood up and walked slowly towards the door to go outside. As soon as he reached the lobby downstairs, he heard someone calling himself. When he looks back, he saw Cao Jingshen striding towards him.
“You drink?” Cao Jingshen walked up to him and smelled the alcohol on Chengyu. “I'll take you back.”
Lu Chengyu did not refuse, and he gave Cao Jingshen his car keys. “Then, ask someone to help me drive my car back to my home.”
“You still drink although you know that you need to drive? Did no one's teach you that you can't drink if you are driving?” Cao Jingshen pushed his gla.s.ses and said, “You might as well just get drunk and forget all about it.” When Cao Jingshen remembered the conversation he heard before in the bathroom, his mood was somewhat complicated. Lu Chengyu is really graceful. If he encounters this kind of thing, he may turn around and leave, ignoring the embarra.s.sment of others.
It is reasonable to say that, people like Lu Chengyu doesn't seem like returning his grievances with virtue [1], but it seems to Chengyu, it was like nothing important had happened.
[1] 以德报怨 [yǐdébàoyuàn]: to return good for evil (idiom) / to requite evil with good
Or is it that because Lu's family has always had such an att.i.tude, Lu Chengyu has been used to it, so he doesn't care about these people at all?
“If you're drunk, are you going to carry me back?” Lu Chengyu glanced at Cao Jingshen. “I'm afraid you can't carry me.”
“I noticed that when you drunk, your mouth becomes really cheap,” Cao Jingshen dragged Lu Chengyu to the sofa on the lobby. “Did the dogs eat your usual elegance?”
Lu Chengyu looked at him and did not speak, but he proved that he was still an elegant, handsome young man with his sitting posture, even attracting the attention of the woman who walks by.
Cao Jingshen was trying to keep talking, but he heard the phone ringing and the screen showed that the caller was Yan Mu. He had to answer the phone first and let go of Lu Chengyu.
Lu Chengyu fall down on the floor and start screaming, Jingshen frowned his head
Lu Yongguo was receiving guests at the door when he saw Lu Chengyu sitting and talking with a man in a suit. He couldn't help looking at his son Lu Dong: “Who is that man, your friend?”
Lu Dong turned his head and recognized at a glance who was talking to Lu Chengyu. Isn't that Xiao Min's fierce cousin, Cao Jingshen. How did Chengyu know him?
“He's Xiao Min's cousin. I heard he's the chief secretary of Huading. He's a very powerful person,” he said in a low voice. “Even Xiao Min's family is polite to him.” (T/N: Xiao Min is the bride, Shen Min)
Lu Yongguo does not understand, “Isn't my daughter-in-law's family has their own company? Why need to be polite to a chief secretary?”
Lu Dong was too lazy to explain the differences in workplaces to his father. He thought and said, “Did Chengyu had told you where he works now?”
“Usually, how much times do we spend to stay in touch with him,” said Lu Yongguo while looking at Lu Chengyu for several times, “If we keep in touch with him too much, then what should we do when others say that we are actually concern about the dead peoples' things (Chengyu's parents' property, insurance etc),” Although the property indeed stir up some emotion in his hearts, Lu Chengyu has not only one elder. When other elders are watching, although there are some people who wanted to covet Chengyu's property, they didn't do it because they want to save their face, it will be shameful to do this kind of things.
Lu Dong frown but when he saw Shen Min coming towards himself, he stopped talking about it.
When Shen Min came to Lu Dong, she saw Lu Chengyu sitting with Cao Jingshen, but she was not surprised at all. Perhaps subconsciously, she has labelled Lu Chengyu as “very competent”, so it's normal for them to know each other.
Cao Jingshen hung up the phone and looked at Lu Chengyu, who was still sitting there. “The boss is nearby. He will send you back. I have something to do in the afternoon.”
“Oh,” Lu Chengyu rubbed his forehead, just now while he was in a trance, he seems to hear Cao Jingshen mention Yan Lao San. Apparently, the boss wants to settle accounts of this matter. But because of the relationship between Yan Mu and Yan Lao San, this matter will personally be handled by Cao Jingshen.
Seeing him like this, Cao Jingshen put his cell phone in his pocket, “I'll have your car driven back for you, and remember to go downstairs and pick up your keys.”
Lu Chengyu continued to nod his head and thank Cao Jingshen. His honest appearance left Cao Jingshen unable to get mad with him, but he couldn't hold his breath. For him, Lu Chengyu is half of his apprentices in the workplace. When he sees that Chenyu is drunk and he doesn't say a word, Cao Jingshen feels that something was wrong in his heart. (T/N: Jingshen wants to nag to Chengyu because he is somewhat his(Jingshen)'s apprentices, but looking at Chengyu's honest appearance, he didn't want to do it, but somewhere in his mind, he feels like he should say a word or two, that's why his heart feel something wrong).
In less than fifteen minutes, Cao Jingshen saw Yan Mu coming in from the gate, and his face looked very serious. When he saw them, he strode over with big strides.
Before Cao Jingshen opened his mouth, he saw Yan Mu pull out a bottle of sobering medicine from his suit trousers bag, insert a straw and handed it to Lu Chengyu.
“Thank you,” Lu Chengyu's expression twisted for several seconds after he finished drinking. He looked up at Yan Mu and smiled awkwardly. “I'm bothering boss again.”
“Lung injury caused by smoking cigarette, liver injury due to alcohol poisoning, be moderate,” Yan Mu saw that he had finished drinking. He took the empty bottle and threw it into the garbage can beside him. “Go, my car just parked outside the door.”
“Is okay to park at the entrance of the hotel? Wouldn't the security guard come out?” Lu Chengyu stood up and thought it would be better to get on the car earlier. In case the security guards came, it is humiliating.
“It's not okay, but I'm the boss.” Yan Mu went to the door and found some people standing at the door looking at Lu Chengyu. He frowned while opening the door, “Do you know these people?”
Hearing Yan Mu was the owner of this hotel, Lu Chengyu seemed quite calm. Nouveau riche does have a lot of a.s.sets that Chengyu wasn't surprised after knowing this, which is why he was calm. Chengyu has no doubt that maybe one day Yan Mu, like a man in love stories, would casually buy an island. Because the world of wealthy people doesn't have logic.
Seeing the 50 million Aston Martin that Yanmu drive today, Chengyu looks back at his relatives and he pretended to be very drunk. Then, he lay on Yan Mu's shoulder: “Well, yes.” He didn't want to be questioned about personal matters anymore. He felt he had to take the best course.
Yan Mu's shoulders were slightly stiff. After a moment of stunned, he reached out to hold Lu Chengyu and help him by bringing him to the front pa.s.senger seat. He fastened Chengyu's seat belt for him. After closing the door, he stepped on the accelerator and the others were looking at the nouveau riche(Yan Mu) as he left.
The relatives of Lu Jia who knew the value of Aston Martin's sports car were in a complicated mood for a while. Originally, Chengyu was able to study at a prestigious university. After he graduates, he knew a man who wasn't so simple, a person without parents like Chengyu's life is so good? (Jia = family)
Lu Dong looked at the direction in which the Aston Martin sports car disappeared and suddenly felt a little dull.
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Translator rambling section:
Is it normal to ask someone's salary? I don't even know my sister or my parents' salary because I feel somewhat weird to ask them…. and suck to you Lu Dong, hahahaha