Chapter 215: Numerous Hidden Love Rivals (1)

Xue Sijia allowed Yangshu to leave in the MPV first, while she herself sat in Long Dinghai’s car and traveled to the restaurant together with him.

The sight of Xue Sijia entering Long Dinghai’s car was caught by several young women from Yiju, who immediately began to chatter and gossip amongst themselves.

Xue Sijia silently looked back at them; her beautiful eyes hidden behind sunglasses not displaying any change in emotion.

She then turned to Long Donghai who was sitting in the car and fell into contemplation.

She’d always known that rumours were circulating in both her company and outside of her being unofficially claimed by Long Dinghai. But, what they didn’t know, was that Long Dinghai hadn’t even laid a single finger on her from the time he’d first seen her and signed her on, till now.

And, as for Long Dinghai taking care of her, she felt like his care was more akin to him raising a pet than anything else.

Long Dinghai himself might not have noticed it, but his gaze always contained a sense of aloof pity whenever he looked at her. Xue Sijia had seen this look before on her cousin’s face, back when she was still working as a martial arts assistant. It was the same look her cousin had when she saw an abandoned dog that she’d later brought home.

Noticing her gaze on him, Long Dinghai suddenly turned to her and asked, “What’re you looking at?”

Xue Sijia came back to her senses and reverted to her usual cold and haughty appearance. To people like Long Dinghai, women who only knew how to rely on others weren’t the least bit attractive.

“It’s nothing. Mr Long, why’d you think of eating with me today?”

“I was just curious about the new person you snatched the lead role from."

“Are you satisfied now?”

Long Dinghai suddenly chuckled and said, “It was far beyond my expectations.”

“In that case, am I going to have another colleague soon?”

“No, she’s in a completely different league when compared to you… Xue Sijia, from today onwards, you are to put aside all of your little schemes and cease your plotting against her,” Long Dinghai spoke while looking straight ahead, his expression unchanged from before.

Xue Sijia’s heart sank.

“Alright.”

The next day’s shoot went off without a hitch. Although Xue Sijia still maintained the same cold and haughty expression she always had, she was a lot more cooperative when it came to filming. Due to this, filming for the promotional video quickly came to an end.

Everyone in the green room let out a deep sigh of relief when they were done with the final scene. It was finally over.

The end of the shoot also signified the Shen siblings return to A City. Shen Jingchen suggested treating Zhao Chengning and Xuya to a meal before they left. After all, during this time Xuya had acted as their driver, shuttling them to and fro every day. He was so busy that he even had to cut into his own life of debauchery.

Unexpectedly, they received a call from Old Master Shen when they left the hotel.

The two of them had reported to Old Master Shen before they left for B City.

This time around, Old Master Shen called to ask when they’d be returning. When he heard Shen Jingbin’s offhanded reply that they were leaving immediately, he began hounding her to bring back some of B City’s speciality products.

Shen Jingbin accepted before she helplessly hung up.

Shen Jingbin clearly understood what Old Master Shen was thinking. Although he may have just been asking her to bring back some specialty products, he was actually criticising them for going off to enjoy themselves and forgetting about the elderly at home.

Thus, with just one phone call, buying souvenirs was added to the siblings’ itinerary. The silver lining to all this was that Zhao Chengning just so happened to be free today, so the job of picking out a suitable specialty product fell on his shoulders.

B City was a very modern city, and it was very different from A City which possessed several hundred years of history. B City was the product of modern-day economic development, which made itself known in all the various luxury goods that were on offer as specialty products.

They couldn’t possibly bring back luxury goods for the old man, could they?

The old man would probably beat them to death.

Shaking the thought out of her head, Shen Jingbin found herself at a complete loss. She had no idea what to buy for Old Master Shen.

After hearing about her frustrations, Zhao Chengning thought for a bit and suggested, “How about this, I know of a place that sells precious stones. Within this country, B City is the only place that sells them. To top it off, it’s well received by the elderly as well. Why don’t I bring you over there to take a look?”

Shen Jingbin felt that he’d given an excellent suggestion and hurriedly agreed.

Xuya and Shen Jingchen exchanged glances. Third wheels like them shouldn’t follow along, so they came up with some excuse and ran off, leaving the couple to go off on their own.

The jade shop that Zhao Chengning was referring to was hidden in a small alley. It was impossible for one to locate it unless they were familiar with B City.

Afraid that she wouldn’t understand this, Zhao Chengning broke into an explanation as he guided her along, “This shop has been here for many years, but the owner is a sentimental man and refuses to shift his shop even though he’s got the money to do so. Luckily for him, his shop has garnered a fair bit of reputation over the years; otherwise, he probably would’ve shut down by now.”

“Quality goods need no advertising,” Shen Jingbin replied.

Zhao Chengning smiled in return.

The alley was quite deep, and it was filled with twists and turns. Zhao Chengning was worried she might have trouble traversing the route, so he tried holding her hand to help her out. Shen Jingbin froze, and her palm twitched in reflex, but she didn’t try to break free from him. When he felt Shen Jingbin’s delicate hand in his own, an irrepressible smile crept onto Zhao Chengning’s face.

“It’s a difficult path; I’ll lead you along.”

“Mm,” Shen Jingbin replied uncertainly.

After walking for a while, a rustic looking shop appeared before them. Zhao Chengning stopped and let go of her hand. He then turned back to her and said, “We’re here.”

Shen Jingbin looked over to the shop and saw a solid wooden signboard on the upper part of the shop. Three words were written on it with ornate calligraphy.

Jade Treasure Pavilion.

The moment she walked into Jade Treasure Pavilion, Shen Jingbin was filled with thoughts of archaic rhymes. If it weren’t for the lingering fragrance on her hand back from when she held hands with Zhao Chengning in the alley, she would’ve thought that she’d transmigrated to another world.

The storefront looked simple yet still exuded a sense a majesty, and beautiful flowing calligraphy could be seen adorning its walls.

Zhao Chengning pointed at one of them in particular and said, “This one was written by the owner.”

Shen Jingbin’s respect for the jade shop’s owner instantly shot up. Anyone who could write such beautiful calligraphy was no ordinary person.