Luck Ch.12

Chapter 12: Like a Taste of Home

Jiang Feng got married, and now he’s about to get a divorce???

Jiang Chi also got in the car, chasing after Jiang Feng, asking, “You’re getting a divorce? Why?”

Jiang Feng still had no expression on his face. “Because she doesn’t want to have children anymore, and you’re gay.”

Doesn’t want to have children anymore? Did his brother and sister-in-law already have kids?

Jiang Chi was completely confused, finally realizing how different this world was from the one he knew.

In his original world, when he was pursuing his PhD, Jiang Feng wasn’t even married!

Jiang Chi’s brain almost overheated. “When did you have kids? Am I already an uncle?”

Jiang Feng’s tone was icy. “We don’t have any kids. Her child is with her ex-husband… Jiang Chi, you better really have amnesia, otherwise I’ll be really angry!”

Jiang Chi begged, “Brother, I really have amnesia, that…”

He had too many questions. The information in just a few sentences was overwhelming, and Jiang Chi didn’t even know which part to be surprised by first.

But he decided to focus on the main issue: his brother was getting a divorce.

Jiang Chi carefully said, “It’s perfectly normal not to want to have children. There are many DINK (Double Income, No Kids) families nowadays… Brother, you don’t still have some traditional views about carrying on the family name, do you? If you and Sis-in-law have no problems with your relationship, but you’re divorcing just because of this, I’ll look down on you.”

Jiang Feng glanced at the rearview mirror, his tone flat. “But she clearly already has a child.”

Jiang Chi instantly understood what was bothering his brother.

Jiang Feng wasn’t fixated on having a child, he could accept not having one, but he couldn’t accept that his sister-in-law had already had a child and yet didn’t want to have one with him as a symbol of their love.

Either none, or both.

It was probably jealousy.

Jiang Chi tried to persuade him: “You don’t know how troublesome children can be. Maybe Sis-in-law has raised a child before and realized that having children doesn’t mean much, so she doesn’t want to have any more. That’s very normal.”

Jiang Feng said, “It’s not about having children or not. She’s willing to have children for someone else, but not for me. It’s an attitude problem.”

Jiang Chi replied, “This… I don’t even know how to advise you now. Do you think that because Sis-in-law won’t have children with you, it means her feelings for you aren’t as deep as for her ex-husband?”

Jiang Feng didn’t answer, only pressed the gas pedal hard.

The increasing speed of the car was enough to prove that Jiang Chi had hit the mark.

Jiang Chi helplessly leaned back in his seat, gripping the seatbelt and slowly organizing his words: “But she already has a child with her ex-husband and they still got divorced. Now, you two are a family. You shouldn’t be so obsessed with the past.”

“If I were stuck in the past, I wouldn’t have married her,” Jiang Feng drove into the hotel. “She’s not someone my parents would see as suitable to be the wife of the Jiang family’s eldest son.”

If any other son married a divorced woman with a child, their parents would probably be unwilling, and knowing his own parents, Jiang Chi was aware that this would be particularly hard for them to accept.

Jiang Chi rubbed his nose. “But they still agreed in the end… You have to think about it this way. They agreed with difficulty, and now you’re getting a divorce. Doesn’t that prove their opposition was right?”

Jiang Feng gave Jiang Chi a strange look and said meaningfully, “Mom and Dad’s approval… wasn’t as hard to get as I imagined.”

Jiang Chi laughed. “Of course, Mom is quite open-minded, and even though Dad can be a bit stubborn, he can still compromise for the family.”

Jiang Feng sneered, shattering Jiang Chi’s fantasy of a loving father and son: “At the time, the family was at a standstill over this issue, and then you brought home the youngest son of the Chen family and said he was your boyfriend.”

Jiang Chi: “…”

“Three days later, you brought back the second son of the Bai family… You switched four or five of them in half a month,” Jiang Feng continued. “With all that contrast, your sister-in-law seemed like the perfect daughter-in-law. Dad got so angry that it triggered his high blood pressure, and he was too tired to argue with me anymore. In the end, he agreed to my marriage with your sister-in-law.”

Jiang Chi exploded: “You set all that up just to get back at me!”

Jiang Feng turned into the hotel’s parking area and parked the car steadily: “Sometimes, I really envy you.”

Jiang Chi glanced at Jiang Feng and joked, “Do you envy me having so many boyfriends?”

Jiang Feng opened the car door and coldly spat out one word: “Leave.”

Jiang Chi quickly left.

He called for a luggage cart, and the hotel bellboy helped move the bags into the car.

Back on the top floor of the hotel, Jiang Chi looked at the pile of things in front of the door, wondering if any mosquitoes would fly in while he was unloading the items and opening and closing the door.

Fortunately, after upgrading his mosquito-repelling device, no mosquito had been able to survive in his home for more than six hours, so it didn’t matter much.

Qin Yan was upstairs handling company matters. Hearing the noise, he came downstairs: “Why did you bring so many things back?”

Jiang Chi handed a thermos food container to Qin Yan: “My mom made some food for you. Have you eaten yet?”

At the Qin household, there were servants who called Qin Yan for meals, but when he was alone, if he didn’t feel hungry, he would forget to eat.

From an efficiency-maximization perspective, though meals are usually three times a day, if he wasn’t hungry, there was no need to eat on schedule.

But when his grandfather was alive, regardless of whether he was hungry or not, Qin Yan had to eat all his nutritional meals on time and in the prescribed amount. This made him very annoyed, but he had gotten used to following the rules and never deliberately disobeyed them.

These unpleasant dining experiences greatly reduced Qin Yan’s interest in food. So, when he gained control over his eating habits, he would not specifically eat anything unless it was necessary.

Jiang Chi had only been spending time with Qin Yan for a few days, but he had already understood some of Qin Yan’s bad habits.

If he didn’t call Qin Yan to eat, Qin Yan wouldn’t voluntarily go downstairs to eat. Only when he was hungry would he go downstairs to find something to eat.

It was like keeping a rare wild animal at home. There was no need to specifically feed it; just place food on the table, and when Qin Yan wanted to eat, he would come and eat on his own.

Occasionally, in the early morning, Jiang Chi would hear rustling sounds in the dining room, which meant that Qin Yan, who hadn’t had dinner, was hungry and was downstairs looking for food.

Jiang Chi didn’t know the real reason behind this behavior. He interpreted it as the ‘protagonist’s’ timidity and restraint. What he could do was try not to interfere with the other person’s actions, allowing ‘Ji Yu’ to feel as comfortable as possible.

Little did he know, Qin Yan felt extremely at ease at Jiang Chi’s place, much more relaxed than at the Qin family’s.

However, Jiang Chi had already been treating the big boss Qin Yan as a poor little Ji Yu. Under this distorted character relationship, the resulting information gaps were trivial details that could be easily ignored.

Jiang Chi placed the ginseng pigeon soup and raw marinated sea crabs on the table and called Qin Yan over to eat.

Qin Yan slightly furrowed his sharp brows as he looked at the sea crabs soaked in dark sauce. “What is this?”

Jiang Chi replied, “Raw marinated. I heard people from the Hong Kong city love eating this.”

Qin Yan lowered his head slightly, bringing his nose closer, like a noble feline animal. He gently sniffed and commented, “It smells too fishy.”

Jiang Chi neatly arranged the snacks and drinks: “Of course it’s fishy since it’s raw. I’m not a huge fan of seafood, never had raw crabs. Don’t you like them?”

Qin Yan wasn’t sure whether Ji Yu liked seafood or not.

People from Hong Kong City probably did enjoy these kinds of things.

It was obvious that if Ji Yu liked raw marinated crabs, then their married life would not be very pleasant.

Qin Yan felt nauseous just from smelling the fishy scent.

“I don’t like eating raw food,” Qin Yan said.

Jiang Chi looked at the several boxes of raw marinated crabs in distress. “This is bad. This stuff doesn’t keep well, and we don’t have any neighbors to give it to.”

Qin Yan closed the lid on the raw crabs, then had a sudden idea. “There’s someone who might like this, but they’d need a driver to pick it up.”

Jiang Chi replied, “Why would you need a driver? Just use a delivery service to send it over.”

Qin Yan looked confused. “What’s a delivery service?”

Jiang Chi explained, “It’s a local delivery service. You place an order on a mini-program, and someone will come pick it up very quickly.”

Jiang Chi opened the delivery app and asked Qin Yan to enter the address.

Qin Yan filled in the address and handed the phone back to Jiang Chi. Jiang Chi was quick, not noticing that this was the address of the Qin residence. He submitted the order and paid the 18 yuan delivery fee.

Qin Yan was surprised. “It’s that cheap?”

Jiang Chi was also surprised. “This cheap? A lot of food deliveries are free, and anything over 4 yuan is considered expensive.”

Qin Yan, holding his own phone, studied the order and praised the delivery service’s operational model: “It’s very convenient. The user market is wide, and the idea is genius.”

Jiang Chi asked, “What’s so genius about it? Doesn’t Hong Kong have this?”

Qin Yan shook his head. “I don’t know. This is my first time using it… The food delivery here is also very convenient and cheap.”

Jiang Chi smiled and said, “The mainland has developed so quickly in recent years, it’s truly been changing by the day. Delivery services, quick deliveries, express shipping, mobile payments, QR code economies… every new thing that’s emerged has been a genius idea, and it’s had a huge impact on the real economy. My dad even said today that business is getting harder and harder.”

Qin Yan pondered, “It’s not surprising that business is tough. All industries must eventually merge and seek mutual benefit to survive… I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how to integrate the industry chain.”

Jiang Chi was surprised, “Huh? You think about such profound things every day?”

Qin Yan gave a slight hum, “Yes, though it’s not that profound. It’s being overpraised.”

Jiang Chi teased, “I’ll reward you with a bowl of pigeon soup to refresh your brain. If you come up with any insights, share them with me so I can show off to my dad, so he stops saying I’m not focusing on serious business.” Jiang Chi opened the soup pot and served Qin Yan a bowl. “How is it? Tasty?”

The pigeon soup was made with angelica root and several other herbs, and Jiang Chi could already smell a faint bitterness from afar, guessing it probably wasn’t very tasty.

Qin Yan had gotten used to these strange nutritional meals since he was young and didn’t find them difficult to swallow.

At least it was better than bitter melon and celery juice.

Before long, the delivery person arrived to pick up the marinated crabs.

After handing over the packaged crabs to the delivery person, Jiang Chi sat down at the table and kept Qin Yan company during the meal.

Qin Yan served Jiang Chi a bowl of soup.

Though Jiang Chi had already eaten at home, he didn’t mind the extra bowl of soup. He slowly sipped it with a porcelain spoon, casually chatting with Qin Yan.

“This soup is easy to recognize as something my mom made,” Jiang Chi said, poking at the red dates in the bowl with his spoon. “She puts red dates in every soup she makes.”

The crystal chandelier in the restaurant cast a warm yellow light, making the food appear even more delicious.

The oil droplets on the surface of the soup reflected dazzling light and shadow, filling the room with the warmth and comfort of countless home lights, as if all the warmth of the world had gathered here.

Qin Yan’s movements were graceful, the porcelain spoon lifting and falling without making a sound. “Aunt’s cooking is really good; this soup is delicious.”

Jiang Chi, sitting with poor posture, propped himself up on his hand and looked at Qin Yan. “You must be good at cooking too, right?”

Qin Yan, who didn’t know how to cook: “……”

“In the novel, Ji Yu’s noodles are at the same level as the eggplant in Dream of the Red Chamber, so tempting just to look at,” Jiang Chi continued.

Jiang Chi recalled the description from the text:

“The seemingly simple clear soup noodles were incredibly delicious, each bite an exquisite enjoyment. The hot steam, accompanied by fragrant aromas, was like the warmth of a hearth in the middle of a snowstorm, a small bowl that captured all the warmth of human life. It was unforgettable, like a taste of home—Qin Yan had never tasted such delicious noodles before, the full flavor of home.”

Suddenly being called out, Qin Yan: “……”

He had truly never tasted noodles that could taste like home, let alone capture the warmth of human life.

Qin Yan’s curiosity was completely piqued.

The author really knew how to describe things. In contrast, the pigeon soup no longer seemed fragrant.

Qin Yan looked up and met Jiang Chi’s expectant gaze.

Qin Yan seemed to understand what Jiang Chi was about to say. Without waiting for Jiang Chi to speak, he took the initiative to agree, “I’ll make some and let you try when I have time.”

Jiang Chi leaned back in his chair, feeling nostalgic. “I guess I’ve fulfilled my dream of eating noodles made by the protagonist.”

Qin Yan nodded. “No problem, I’ll arrange it.”

*

At the Qin residence, Ji Yu was wearing a little bear onesie, opening the large boxes of raw marinated seafood that had been delivered by Flash Delivery.

The moment he removed the freshness cover, his mouth almost watered.

He had grown up in Hong Kong and loved seafood, especially raw marinated dishes!

So fragrant, so delicious!

Having been at the Qin residence for so long, he had never met Young Master Qin. He thought Young Master Qin must have forgotten about him. But unexpectedly, Qin Yan suddenly sent him a message today, asking if he liked raw marinated seafood.

Young Master Qin was quite nice.

Ji Yu took a picture and sent it to Qin Yan via WeChat.

[Ji Yu: Young Master Qin, hello, I received the raw marinated seafood, thank you!]

Qin Yan didn’t reply, which wasn’t surprising. Big shots like him didn’t have time to chat on WeChat.

However, not long after, Ji Yu’s phone suddenly popped up with a new message.

[Qin Yan: Can you cook noodles?]

Ji Yu was confused and couldn’t figure out what Young Master Qin meant.

[Ji Yu: Yes, when you return to the Qin residence, I can cook them for you.]

[Qin Yan: Send me a portion via Flash Delivery tomorrow.]

[Ji Yu: Okay, Young Master Qin.]

…

Meanwhile, at Jiang Chi’s house.

Qin Yan turned off his phone screen with confidence and announced to Jiang Chi, “We’re having noodles tomorrow.”

Jiang Chi smiled brightly, his eyes curving up in a cheerful arc.

The orange light spilled down, adding a warm glow to his handsome features, making him look gentle and kind.

Qin Yan’s thoughts shifted slightly: If those noodles really were as delicious as described, perhaps he could hire Ji Yu as an hourly worker to cook for them at Jiang Chi’s place.

<< _ >>