The lounge was completely silent.
Yan Xia nestled against Lu Qianzhou's chest. Perhaps due to being too busy recently, after their intimate encounter, he quickly fell into a deep sleep, his breathing steady.
She carefully raised her head to look at Lu Qianzhou's expression. Unexpectedly, the next second, he placed a hand on her head and made her rest against his chest again. She could hear his strong heartbeat in her ear.
"What are you doing?" Lu Qianzhou asked with his eyes closed, his voice full of magnetism.
"So you weren't asleep." Yan Xia was wide - awake, blinking her sleepy eyes. "Third brother, are you done with your work? Do you have time recently?"
Lu Qianzhou replied, "In a couple of days."
"Can you go meet my father?" Yan Xia asked.
Lu Qianzhou's breath hitched for a moment. He lifted the corner of his lips and said, "Meeting the parents? Is he going to assess me?"
Yan Xia said, "Sort of. But mainly because you're too outstanding. He thinks I'm not good enough for you."
Lu Qianzhou let out a soft laugh. "I never thought that one day my family background would become a burden to me."
Yan Xia always thought Cheng Hua's concerns were unnecessary. Since childhood, she had been outstanding. She was the apple of her family's eye, an early - blooming girl with a keen sense for financial figures. In everyone's eyes, she was a smart and proud young lady.
So she never felt inferior, even though the Cheng family might not be as prestigious as before. She still believed that one day she would make a comeback and restore the family's glory. That was the charm of her personality.
"So, third brother, you'll have to figure out how to behave as a proper junior in front of my father." Yan Xia reached out to touch his chin. "If you can't get my father's approval, you'll lose your little girlfriend."
Lu Qianzhou grabbed her mischievous hand. "If your father doesn't agree, you'll break up with me?"
Yan Xia blinked. "Yes, so this is a problem you need to solve."
Lu Qianzhou suddenly fell silent.
His sudden silence made Yan Xia a bit uneasy. She looked up at him.
"Third brother, are you angry?"
"Not really." Lu Qianzhou gently kissed the back of her hand. "I'm just thinking about how to get your father's approval. After all, I can't let my little girlfriend slip away."
Yan Xia couldn't help but giggle.
True to his word, Lu Qianzhou accompanied her home to meet Cheng Hua two days later.
He brought generous gifts. Knowing that Cheng Hua no longer held shares in Shengshi Company, he gave Cheng Hua the 7% of the shares he had bought at a high price during the chaos in Shengshi when Fang Jiangyi was arrested.
In addition, having heard that Cheng Hua liked tea, he brought extremely precious tea. Considering that Cheng Hua had a strong sense of self - esteem and was very competitive, and that living in the Third Master Lu's mansion would make him uncomfortable, he generously gave him a villa on a tea - mountain. He had taken care of everything, and it was ready for occupancy at any time.
Yan Xia waited for Lu Qianzhou's arrival without showing her emotions, but she was actually very nervous.
Cheng Hua, on the other hand, was sitting in the living room, sipping tea, looking thoughtful.
When Lu Qianzhou arrived at the living room, the maid came forward to greet him. Yan Xia was sitting on the sofa. She originally wanted to go and greet him together, but was deterred by a look from Cheng Hua and obediently sat back down.
If she couldn't go, so be it. Anyway, Lu Qianzhou was so outstanding that he would surely impress her father.
Lu Qianzhou walked straight into the living room. Cheng Hua was sitting on the sofa with his back to him. He exchanged a look with Yan Xia and they smiled in perfect understanding.
He placed the exquisitely wrapped tea on the table and said with a smile, "Uncle Cheng, this is our first meeting. I'm Lu Qianzhou. I heard you like tea. This is a little gift for you. I hope you like it."
Yan Xia watched Cheng Hua nervously, only to see him nod coldly and say, "Sit down."
Lu Qianzhou behaved very properly and deliberately kept a proper distance from Yan Xia.
Cheng Hua quietly unfolded the chessboard on the tea - table, separated the black and white chess pieces, and looked up at Lu Qianzhou.
"Can you play chess?"
Lu Qianzhou said, "I know a little, but I'm not very good at it."
Cheng Hua finally smiled and said, "Then play a game with me."
The situation seemed very harmonious, but secretly, there were invisible undercurrents. Cheng Hua could see through Lu Qianzhou's thoughts at a glance. He was definitely full of schemes and ambitions. Lu Qianzhou was the same. He knew very well that Cheng Hua was trying to fathom his mind.
Yan Xia silently reached out her hand to help sort out the chess pieces.
But Cheng Hua reached out his hand to block her and refused. He turned his head to look at her and ordered, "Go upstairs obediently and come down for dinner."
Yan Xia immediately felt dissatisfied. "I can play chess too. Why are you sending me upstairs?"
Before Cheng Hua could say a second word, Lu Qianzhou had already spoken first. "This is a conversation between men. You really shouldn't listen. Didn't you say you didn't sleep well last night? Go upstairs and rest."
Yan Xia understood his look. He was telling her not to worry, that he could handle it.
As soon as Lu Qianzhou spoke, Yan Xia immediately became obedient. She murmured "Okay" and then got up and went upstairs.
Seeing that she was so obedient to Lu Qianzhou now, almost to the point of obeying his every word, Cheng Hua frowned even more tightly. Looking at Lu Qianzhou's victorious smile, he knew that the situation was very dangerous.
He dropped the first white piece first, lowering his eyebrows and saying, "I heard from Yan Xia that thanks to your care in the past six months, she was able to successfully escape Fang Jiangyi's trap. I also want to say thank you to you, Mr. Lu."
Lu Qianzhou dropped a black piece. "You're too kind, uncle. It's all I should do. Moreover, Xia Xia and I made it clear from the start that my goal was money. We mutually benefited each other. There's no need for thanks."
In front of Cheng Hua, he seemed like a gentle and elegant junior, showing none of his usual sharpness.
Cheng Hua continued to drop a white piece. "What does Mr. Lu like about Yan Xia?"
"Uncle, you don't have to be so formal. Just call me Qianzhou." Lu Qianzhou smiled and said, "I just like her. If you ask me what exactly I like, I really can't answer. But don't worry, uncle. I'm sincere to her. I will never abandon her, even if she breaks up with me voluntarily."
Cheng Hua held the chess piece in his hand and didn't drop it for a long time.
Finally, he looked up at Lu Qianzhou and said, "Actually, Mr. Lu should have met me when you were a child. I wonder if you still have any impression?"
He was testing him. How could Lu Qianzhou not know?
But there was no change in his expression. He even looked a bit confused.
"Really? It seems I was fated to meet you before, uncle. I don't have any impression at all."
Cheng Hua's deep and inquisitive gaze remained on his face, not moving away.
Lu Qianzhou pointed at the middle of the chessboard and kindly reminded him, "Uncle, if you don't rescue the pieces in the middle, I'll capture them."
Cheng Hua looked down and saw that, without his noticing, most of the chessboard was already under Lu Qianzhou's control.
This Lu Qianzhou was really not simple. After all, how could a person from the Lu family be simple? If he really had no other motives, he wouldn't have approached Cheng Yanxia and used her plastic surgery to achieve his own goals.
Suddenly, Cheng Hua threw away the chess piece in his hand and spoke bluntly.