Chapter 275
After hanging up, Zhao Chengning told his parents and Grandfather that he was dating Shen Jingbin. Papa Zhao and Old Master Zhao were obviously overjoyed, but Mama Zhao was far from happy. Her expression immediately darkened, and she refused to attend the dinner, let alone recognise Shen Jingbin as her son’s girlfriend.
However, Mama Zhao’s opinion was of no importance, and it was just a way for her to let off some steam. A glare from both Papa Zhao and Old Master Zhao was all it took for her to shut her up and obediently change into something presentable before accompanying them to dinner.
Shen Jingchen’s mood took a turn for the worse when he spotted Shen Jingbin placing the clothes she’d bought for Zhao Chengning in the car. He eyed her with grief written all over his face, and said, "You’re my sister, and you’ve never even bought me a single article of clothing after all these years. Looks like all those years spent looking after you were just so that we could hand you off to someone else."
Shen Jingbin rolled her eyes at him. "Alright then, pick a day, and I’ll accompany you to buy whatever you want. Does that work?"
"Will you be paying?"
"Fine, I’ll pay," In the end, she’d just be spending his money anyway if she ran out of money, so this was no different from Shen Jingchen buying himself a present.1
When they arrived at the restaurant, the waiter led them over to a private room where they found that the Zhao family was already seated. Upon entering, the Zhao family gave them a hearty welcome while Shen Jingbin quietly snuck over to Zhao Chengning’s side. "Come with me to the car to get your stuff after dinner."
Shen Jingbin spoke in a whisper so he couldn’t hear clearly. But, he roughly knew what she was saying. He leaned closer to her and replied in a low voice, "Are you talking about the clothes you bought for me?"
Shen Jingbin nodded. Just as she was about to speak, she suddenly felt the room grow quiet and looked up. The elders from both families who were initially exchanging greetings with one another had stopped what they were doing and were now calmy eyeing the couple with a gossipy look flashing through their eyes.
Old Master Shen chuckled. "Sigh, kids these days always stick to their partners whenever they get the chance, completely ignoring us old folks."
Old Master Zhao chimed in. "That’s not true, even at home, our brat doesn’t talk much to us."
Grandma Shen smiled. "Youths are all like that. Come, let’s have a seat."
Shen Jingbin gave her Grandmother a look of thanks. Being teased by your elders was a genuinely embarrassing occurrence.
Shen Jingbin was seated between Zhao Chengning and Shen Jingchen, while Zhao Chengan sat on Zhao Chengning’s other side. By a weird twist of fate, Mama Zhao was sitting opposite Shen Jingbin.
The moment Shen Jingbin sat down, she received an eye roll from Mama Zhao. Even someone who was blind would be able to tell just how unhappy she was with Shen Jingbin. It wasn’t just Shen Jingbin who could feel it either, the three others sitting near her noticed it too.
Zhao Chengan’s brows furrowed.
It looked like he needed to have a talk with his Mother.
The New Year was still three days away, and both families were discussing the arrangements for New Year’s Eve. Once done, they began drinking and reminiscing over old times. When it was nearing the end of dinner, the Fathers of both households even started referring to each other as in-laws.
Mama Zhao issued several unhappy grunts off to the side. "No one knows for sure whether she’s going to become part of the family, so what’s the point of being so intimate with one another now?"
However, she didn’t actually have the guts to say it out loud. Apart from being afraid of both Papa Zhao and Old Master Zhao, the pressure that Mama Shen gave off was a little difficult for her to bear with too.
This was why she didn’t like Shen Jingbin one bit!
Once dinner was finished, Shen Jingchen had the presence of mind to get into Papa Shen’s car for a ride home. Zhao Chengan played chauffeur for his own family too, leaving the couple to whisper sweet nothings to each other.
Shen Jingbin brought Zhao Chengning to her car and handed over several bags that were inside.
Zhao Chengning was slightly taken aback by what he saw. "That much? I thought you were only bringing over one set for me to look at... You did a pretty good job coordinating the colours."
"It looked nice, so I wanted to find some things to go with it. It seems like I have a pretty good eye for this."
Zhao Chengning grabbed the bags in one hand and slung them over his back. He stretched out his other hand and rubbed Shen Jingbin’s head. "How thoughtful."
Shen Jingbin smiled back at him.
How would it feel to receive a heartfelt smile from the person you like? To Zhao Chengning, Shen Jingbin’s charming smile left his heart tingling. He responded by bending down ever so slightly and planting a gentle kiss on her lips.
The kiss tasted sweet, warming their lips when they touched.
At the end of it, Shen Jingbin didn’t even know how she’d driven home and gone to sleep. By the time she’d come to, it was already the next day.
Yiju was really efficient. After announcing that they were releasing the promotional trailer, it came out the very next day. True to their expectations, the trailer was an instant hit, climbing to the top of the trending list within an hour of its release. Xue Sijia was quite a popular artist in her own right, so there was a fair amount of discussion revolving around her. Countless eyes were also on Shen Jingbin, a previously unknown beauty who, until now, had never been in the public’s eye. This caused the video to shoot all the way up to second place on the trending leaderboards.
Countless people sighed in their hearts after laying eyes on her. Who would’ve thought that someone could look that good?
They then broke into a mad frenzy trying to look her up. However, to many netizens, Shen Jingbin had basically popped up out of thin air. And, the Administrator of Yiju’s social media account had, at Shen Jingbin’s request, only listed her as Miss Shen. In fact, they didn’t even include an @, leaving them at a loss.
That’s so sad; I feel sorry for Shen Jingchen now XD ↩