The Unreturnable Refrigerator - Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Exercise
“Who is Sheng Xiali?”
After the waiter left, Yang Beibei flipped through the menu and asked Lu Yin.
Lu Yin knew Beibei would be curious the moment she mentioned the name and had already prepared an excuse in her mind.
“Just the designer you introduced me to. Her English name is Sylvia. I overheard in their studio that she’s a regular here, and if you mention her name, you can get free herbal tea.”
“That’s a pretty unique name.” Yang Beibei flipped through the menu, not really caring about the person she had never met, and quickly moved on after asking.
Lu Yin was relieved that she had managed to gloss over it and quickly changed the subject to talk about the dishes on the menu.
But when she saw the dishes Sheng Xiali had ordered last time, she felt a little strange and couldn’t help but remember their last meal together.
She even unconsciously reminded Yang Beibei: “The portions here are quite large. Don’t order too much for just two people.”
Yang Beibei agreed. This restaurant, “Yang Ji’s Private Kitchen,” was unique in many ways. It didn’t even start serving until 11:30 AM. It was still early, so there was no rush to order. Yang Beibei started looking around at the restaurant’s decor.
She had noticed the exquisite decor as soon as she walked in. Now, looking at the entire hall, she found that the restaurant’s ancient charm was infused with a modern, refined feel. The two styles blended so perfectly that the flowing water in the atrium with the piano music didn’t feel out of place at all. Instead, it made people feel extremely relaxed. Outside their window was the artificial lake of the park, and just sitting there and drinking tea was a unique pleasure.
Just as Yang Beibei was about to pick up her teacup, she saw a familiar face at the intricately decorated entrance.
“Hi, Amy! What a coincidence, are you here for lunch too?”
Yang Beibei stood up excitedly and called out to the entrance. Although the restaurant hadn’t started serving yet, the hall was almost full. Her shout made everyone turn and look.
Lu Yin was also startled by her shout and looked up from the menu. It couldn’t be that much of a coincidence, could it? She looked toward the entrance with trepidation.
It couldn’t be that she would run into Sheng Xiali just by having a meal, could it? If so, should she pretend she didn’t see her? She secretly looked toward the entrance while pulling on Yang Beibei.
When she saw that there was only Amy at the door, she quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but she didn’t fully relax.
Amy walked over.
“It’s you two! What a coincidence.”
Yang Beibei: “Are you alone? Here for lunch? Why don’t you join us?”
She said this and looked at Lu Yin, as if asking for her opinion.
Lu Yin, of course, had no objections. Especially after she saw that Amy was really alone and there was no one else behind her, she was completely relaxed.
“Come on, it’s more lively to eat with more people.”
Amy wanted to agree. Eating with these two people was definitely more relaxing and comfortable than eating with her boss alone.
She didn’t know what was going on today, but the boss received a phone call and then asked her if she had brought her lunch or ordered takeout. When she said no, the boss brought her here for lunch.
And she seemed so hungry, as if she needed to eat right away. Just before, Amy had asked her if she was hungry when she saw her eating crackers, and the boss said she wasn’t. Now, after one phone call, she was starving.
The boss was really strange today.
Amy rejected Lu Yin’s kind invitation: “Thanks, but I’m not alone. My boss is here too.”
At the door, the boss had run into the owner of this restaurant, and they had something to talk about, so she was told to come in first.
The smile on Lu Yin’s face almost slipped when she heard Amy say she was with her boss.
Her boss was Sheng Xiali. This was crazy. Her luck was just ridiculously bad.
“Oh, I see. Well, maybe next time. You should go, I won’t hold you up.”
Lu Yin started urging her to leave, and she picked up the menu to block half her face.
Amy glanced at the door. The boss hadn’t come in yet, so there was no rush. She saw Lu Yin looking at the menu and smiled as she recommended a few dishes that she thought were very good.
Just then, the quiet hall suddenly became filled with a lot of chatter. The whispers combined to create a noisy atmosphere.
Yang Beibei looked toward the entrance, following most people’s gazes, filled with confusion. After just one look, her eyes widened. Just like everyone else, she patted Lu Yin, her voice full of excitement: “Yinyin, look at the door!”
At the entrance, the restaurant had an antique-style screen wall, adorned with real bamboo, and some other ancient scenery, creating a painting-like scene. Now, there was a person in that painting.
Lu Yin’s arm ached from Yang Beibei’s pat. She covered her arm and looked in the direction she was pointing. In one glance, she saw Sheng Xiali…
Today, she was wearing a white, wide-shouldered silk blouse with a V-neck design that perfectly exposed her delicate collarbones. Her shoulder-length curly hair fell casually in a few strands over her chest. The hem of the blouse was loosely tucked into a high-waisted skirt, giving her a casual and languid look.
In the noisy hall, surrounded by people, she had one hand casually in her pocket and the other holding her phone. Her expression was serious, her eyes deep, and she was scanning the hall as if she was looking for someone.
They should have been two completely incongruous scenes, but Lu Yin suddenly thought of some TV shows she had watched, where a modern beauty travels back in time to ancient China. The camera would zoom in slowly, highlighting her modern clothing against the ancient architecture.
The contrast was breathtakingly beautiful.
Suddenly, the dazzling and enchanting beauty moved, taking long strides as if she was descending from the clouds, stepping out of the painting.
She walked step by step toward Lu Yin.
Lu Yin’s gaze snapped back, and she buried her head in the colorful menu.
Like an ostrich.
She thought that this way, no one would be able to see her.
Amy saw Sheng Xiali come in and was about to say goodbye to Lu Yin and her friend when she saw Sheng Xiali walking toward them.
The boss’s long legs meant she was in front of them in no time.
Seeing that the boss’s gaze was on Lu Yin, Amy remembered that Lu Yin was now a potential client for the boss, so she had to say hello.
“Boss, what a coincidence, Lu Yin is here too.”
Amy’s words were mainly to alert Lu Yin, who was buried in the menu.
She also introduced Yang Beibei to Sheng Xiali.
“This is Yang Beibei, my friend. She’s also the one who introduced Lu Yin to our studio. Beibei, this is my boss, Sylvia, Sheng Xiali.”
Yang Beibei had already stood up when Amy introduced her. When she heard the name, she realized: “So you’re Sheng Xiali.”
Sheng Xiali smiled and extended her hand: “Hello.”
Yang Beibei looked at the hand in front of her and unconsciously wiped her own on her clothes before shaking it: “Hello, hello. I didn’t expect you to be so young and pretty. Are you here for lunch? Do you want to join us?”
She saw that most of the nearby seats were taken, and their spot by the window had a great view.
Lu Yin almost dropped the menu when she heard this. Yang Beibei, that social butterfly, did she even know who the person was? And she was inviting her to eat with them. Lu Yin did not want to eat with Sheng Xiali.
At this point, it was no longer possible to pretend to be an ostrich: “They probably have things to talk about. Let’s not disturb them.”
Amy was also about to say that her boss always had a private room here and didn’t like the noise of the main hall.
Before she could say anything, she saw Sheng Xiali pull out a chair and sit down.
“It’s nothing. Just here for a meal.”
She sat down and casually crossed one leg. The tip of her thin shoe gently touched Lu Yin’s loose pants leg: “It’s easier to order when there are more people.”
Lu Yin abruptly pulled her leg back, but she couldn’t escape the scent of Sheng Xiali’s perfume, a mix of rose and oud. It was subtle but extremely invasive.
Yang Beibei immediately agreed: “That’s right, it’s more fun to eat with more people.” As she spoke, she pulled Amy to sit down.
Amy felt that her boss today was inexplicably baffling.
She glanced at the reluctant Lu Yin. Was the boss really going to get personally involved to win over a small home decor client?
Yang Beibei was oblivious. She enthusiastically handed the menu to Amy: “What do you want to eat?”
Then, she looked at Sheng Xiali without blinking: “Big designer, if I buy a house in the future, can I hire you to design it?”
Amy smiled and nudged her: “Did you forget? My boss is very expensive.”
Yang Beibei hadn’t forgotten, but for such a beautiful designer, she was willing to work harder to pay a higher design fee.
But how expensive was it?
She looked at Lu Yin, who was sitting across from Sheng Xiali: “Yinyin, is it very expensive?”
After Sheng Xiali sat down, Lu Yin knew there was no way to get her to leave. She huddled against the window, trying to stay as far away as possible, and looked out the window. When she heard Beibei’s question, she didn’t turn her head: “I don’t know.”
They hadn’t gotten to the point of talking about money, and she didn’t plan on going back to Sheng Xiali.
Sheng Xiali flipped through the menu and smiled: “Friends get a discount.”
When Yang Beibei heard “discount,” she got excited. Just as she was about to ask what the discount was, she heard a burst of laughter.
“Why didn’t you go to the private room? I left a spot for you.”
Yang Sanhao walked over to Sheng Xiali, glanced at Lu Yin and Yang Beibei, and said something with a hint of meaning: “New friends, or old acquaintances?”
Amy smiled and introduced Lu Yin and Yang Beibei to Yang Sanhao, then introduced Yang Sanhao to them.
“Sister Hao is the owner of this place.”
Lu Yin politely said, “Hello, Sister Hao.”
Yang Beibei looked at Yang Sanhao. So she was the owner of this stylish restaurant. She looked to be in her thirties, with a pair of slightly upturned almond eyes. She spoke softly and gently. Meeting those shimmering eyes, Yang Beibei suddenly felt a little nervous.
“Sister-Sister Hao.”
In her nervousness, Yang Beibei stuttered.
Yang Sanhao was slightly surprised, then laughed: “Oh, you’re so sweet.”
She said this and looked at Sheng Xiali, who was looking down at the menu and didn’t react.
It wasn’t this one.
Yang Sanhao looked at Lu Yin. Then it must be this one.
She hadn’t expected that Sheng Xiali’s type would be like this. A round face and round eyes, and when she smiled, her eyes curved, making her look a little cute.
Yang Sanhao took the things from the waiter behind her, reached over Sheng Xiali, and handed them to Lu Yin: “The herbal tea was boiled late today, so you’ll have to wait. This is a new sweet soup. Try it and give me your opinion.”
She then handed another one to Yang Beibei: “I hope a young lady like you isn’t afraid of getting fat?”
Yang Beibei immediately shook her head. The words “young lady” made her ears turn red. Fortunately, she wasn’t as nervous as before, but the more she rushed, the more she talked: “No, no, I love desserts. I don’t get fat.”
She felt like she was bragging a little, so she quickly pointed to Lu Yin and said: “Lu Yin also loves sweets, and she exercises a lot, so she’s not afraid of getting fat either.”
Yang Sanhao thought that the impulsive Yang Beibei was also quite cute. Cute people indeed liked to be together. She looked at Lu Yin: “It’s good to love exercise. Fewer and fewer people like to exercise these days.”
She then looked at Sheng Xiali: “This one also likes to work out. You should get together and exercise sometime.”
Lu Yin almost spit out her sweet soup. Although she knew that Yang Sanhao’s “exercise” was definitely not the kind of “exercise” she was thinking of, Sheng Xiali used to use the word “exercise” to refer to certain things, so it was hard for her not to read into it.
She secretly glanced at Sheng Xiali. She was looking at the menu intently and didn’t react to the comment at all.
She probably forgot, Lu Yin blamed herself for her good memory, which only caused more awkwardness.
Yang Beibei saw that Lu Yin was standing there blankly and not replying to Yang Sanhao, so she quickly chimed in, worried that she would be embarrassed: “Yinyin doesn’t really like to work out. She likes to play ball. She’s really good at it. She’s had a talent for sports since she was a kid.”
Sheng Xiali finally looked up from the menu, looked at Yang Beibei, and smiled.
Yang Beibei felt like the smile was questioning her, so she quickly explained: “It’s true. Don’t let her looks fool you into thinking she’s not good at sports. She was the captain of the school’s girls’ volleyball team in high school!”
Lu Yin knew something was wrong the moment she heard the word “high school.” She choked in a panic and had no time to stop Yang Beibei from talking.
Sheng Xiali turned to look at Lu Yin, whose face was completely red from coughing. Her eyes were like a deep pool, and her clear, serene voice was a little low.
“High school team? Girls’ volleyball captain?”