Chapter 100: The Prince, the Princess, and the Knight

The Jin Ding Hotel is situated at the tunnel entrance of Yan'an East Road in Pudong, beside Century Avenue, in the heart of Pudong's core area—the center of Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone. It faces the bustling scenes of Pudong New Area to the east, overlooks the elegant scenery of the Huangpu River and Shanghai to the west, lies south of Pudong Zhangyang Road commercial district, and is bordered by a 100,000-square-meter central green space to the north.

The designer of Jin Ding Tower is from a renowned design firm in New York, USA. With innovative design concepts, the firm cleverly combined the world's latest architectural trends with traditional Chinese architectural styles, successfully creating a world-class, cross-century classic masterpiece. It has become a milestone in the history of Shanghai-style architecture and a famous landmark building in Shanghai.

The 88th-floor rotating restaurant is one of the top viewing spots in all of Shanghai. With its expansive glass curtain walls, one can enjoy a wide view, lean on the railing to look far, and take in the urban scenery along both banks of the Huangpu River as well as the grandeur of the Yangtze River estuary. One can appreciate the indescribably wonderful sunrise and sunset, along with the ever-changing blue skies and white clouds.

Appreciating the night view here is a special pleasure. Revered as a grand showcase of world architecture, the Bund gleams with colorful lights, breathtakingly beautiful. From afar, the lights on the elevated roads and bridges resemble colorful ribbons encircling, competing with the stars and moon in brilliance. This scene makes Cheng Xiaoyu feel as if he has entered a paradise of immortals.

Cheng Xiaoyu holds a plate containing some old Shanghai salted pork rice, a few pieces of vegetarian duck, a bit of crab-flavored tofu, and several pieces of braised pork. He stands there eating heartily without a care in the world. Beside him is a paper box.

Today's banquet is not only Xu Qin Ning's birthday but also a gathering of Shanghai business elites. Moreover, Shanghai Mayor Gu Shitong has attended. Naturally, Jin Ding Hotel dares not slacken, with chefs personally supervised by the hotel's master chef, every dish crafted to perfection.

Obviously, this is of little use, as most people are not there to eat but to raise their glasses and network with others.

There are also many people of the same age as Cheng Xiaoyu. It's not that only Cheng Xiaoyu is eating at the table, but generally they hold plates with one or two pieces of food and delicately taste them in small bites, whereas Cheng Xiaoyu eats without regard for appearances at all. There are none like him.

It's not that Cheng Xiaoyu doesn't know to mind his image, but he fundamentally doesn't care. In his view, the purpose of making money is to live the life he desires, not to showcase his wealth or deliberately adapt to the so-called qualities of the upper class.

For example, in his previous life, he was very repulsed by the pretentious Western table manners, such as holding the fork in the right hand and knife in the left. When seated, the body should be straight, and elbows not on the table. At first, he thought eating Western food was very elegant, but later realized that one's refinement and elegance have nothing to do with whether one holds the fork in the right or left hand.

What touched him most was once, when dining with a real tycoon at a famous Western restaurant, the waiter prepared knife and fork for him, but he insisted the server bring a pair of chopsticks. The waiter was stunned; the first time someone in a Western restaurant requested chopsticks, he didn't know how to handle it.

Later, the restaurant manager, recognizing the frequent cover figure of a financial magazine, quickly went out to buy a pair of chopsticks for him to use.

Cheng Xiaoyu asked the tycoon he had accidentally met why he didn't care about Western table manners. The tycoon replied that rules are prepared for people in the secular world, while those like them are above the rules themselves. Mastering power and money is to do as one wishes. He couldn't stand the foreigners' set anyway. If even eating a meal can't satisfy him, what's the point of climbing to his current position through effort?

After hearing these words, Cheng Xiaoyu, who had a bit of petit bourgeois tendency before, no longer pretended. There's nothing more important than making oneself comfortable in life. Even if you pretend to be noble in front of others, it cannot change the fact that you are actually a gay behind your back.

Cheng Xiaoyu's mindset is open; in fact, no one is paying attention to this insignificant little role of his. Cheng Xiaoyu doesn't care either about those so-called upper-class people unrelated to his world.

Cheng Xiaoyu is eating happily, but Xu Qin Ning is not happy at all. Gu Xuewei circles around her like a fly, offering flattery. In principle, someone like Gu Xuewei, an excellent young man, should not provoke her disgust, but in reality, no matter how outstanding a person Xu Qin Ning is, as long as they pursue her, she gets annoyed.

She doesn't know why. She once suspected she might be a lesbian, otherwise how could she like Su Yuxi so much? But when she and Su Yuxi slept together, there was no impulse. Yes, the word "impulse" is used to describe it. She once asked her friend what she would do if sleeping with a beautiful woman. The answer was, "Whatever a man wants, I want."

This left Xu Qin Ning puzzled again. She could at most touch the chest, without further impulse. This shows she is not a lesbian, or perhaps she has not fully evolved yet.

But she has never encountered a boy she likes, and as long as the boy pursues her, she gets disgusted. This leaves her troubled.

Therefore, when Cheng Xiaoyu told her that he likes the same sex, Xu Qin Ning immediately felt close to Cheng Xiaoyu. This is one reason why Xu Qin Ning has been particularly warm and unreserved with Cheng Xiaoyu all along. Su Yuxi is an important reason, and this is equally important.

Gu Xuewei is very fond of Xu Qin Ning; family background and looks are perfect, figure is outstanding, reportedly a bit sharp-tempered, but he believes he can train her well. A high school girl, if he takes it seriously, won't he have her in the palm of his hand?

However, Miss Xu has no interest at all in Gu Xuewei. Looking at Gu Xuewei chatting animatedly in front of her, Xu Qin Ning is extremely impatient and can only force a smile.

Before coming, her father had already warned her not to mess around. Gu Shitong and Gu Xuewei are the protagonists of this banquet.

And her birthday is just an excuse? Her birthday is next week, just to match the schedules of these big shots, so they came early today.

Thinking of this, Xu Qin Ning's inner frustration increases even more. She doesn't know what Gu Xuewei said to her.

At this moment, Xu Jiacheng and Gu Shitong walk over with smiling faces.

Xu Qin Ning obediently called out, "Uncle Gu, hello."

Gu Xuewei also greeted with a full smile, "Uncle Xu, long time no see, you look even younger, much handsomer than my dad."

Xu Jiacheng is over fifty but well-maintained, looking dignified and imposing, in the prime of his life.

Gu Shitong is Gu Xuere n's second uncle, that is, the second son of the current premier. Merely in terms of Shanghai Mayor's identity, Xu Jiacheng wouldn't value it so highly. Forming a亲家 with the Gu family would be a wonderful thing, although Xu Qin Ning is only 17, and the future is uncertain, but with the huge inertia of both families' powers, many things will happen naturally. Besides, Gu Xuewei seems quite admiring of Xu Qin Ning.

Gu Shitong is also quite satisfied with Xu Qin Ning, of course, the satisfaction here mainly comes from Xu Jiacheng.

Xu Jiacheng warmly patted Gu Xuewei's shoulder and said, "Xiao Wei, when you have time, come play with Ningning more. Our family's door is always open for you. She has a wild temperament, you can pass on some scholarly atmosphere to her. See if you can make her a bit more quiet."

Gu Xuewei smiled shyly, "Uncle Xu, I think what you said is wrong. I think Qin Ning is too quiet. I chatted with her all the time just now, and she didn't speak much. But I like her such temperament very much."

Xu Jiacheng and Gu Shitong both laughed. Looking at this pair of young people, like future son-in-law and daughter-in-law, Gu Shitong looked at Xu Qin Ning and said, "Then we won't disturb you young people in your conversation. Little Ning, when you have time, come play at our house too. Uncle is not here, but aunt is always there."

Xu Qin Ning responded with a forced smile, feeling as if her father is treating her like a commodity to be sold. With Gu Xuewei, she no longer wanted to pretend. When Xu Jiacheng and Gu Shitong turned around, she put on a stern face toward Gu Xuewei and said, "Sorry, I'm feeling a bit off, I'll excuse myself first."

Gu Xuewei only thought Xu Qin Ning really wasn't feeling well, and quickly asked concernedly, "Where does it hurt? Do you need medicine?"

Xu Qin Ning cursed Gu Xuewei ten thousand times in her heart, it's the gay who should go get the medicine! The whole family should go get medicine! But she forced a smile and said, "I keep feeling nauseous and wanting to vomit recently. I don't know why!"

Gu Xuewei suddenly felt as if he had been struck by five thunders. Xu Qin Ning didn't look like that kind of girl at all! He hesitated and said, "Is it that your stomach is not feeling well?"

Xu Qin Ning pretended to frown and hold her chest and said, "It shouldn't be, recently I've been liking to eat sour things."

When Gu Xuewei heard this, he could only let Xu Qin Ning walk away gracefully, his heart in turmoil. Although he didn't fully believe it, this was undoubtedly Xu Qin Ning's indirect statement that she had no interest in him, which dealt a heavy blow to Gu Xuewei, who had always sailed smoothly.

Xu Qin Ning was afraid Gu Xuewei would continue to pester, so she quickly walked to the center of the hall, searching everywhere for Cheng Xiaoyu's figure. When she saw him eating heartily by himself at the dining table, Xu Qin Ning couldn't help but smile. Among so many hypocritical and pretentious people, there was still one who was real, which made her feel warm.