Chapter Twenty-Nine: Comparing Oneself to Others Is Infuriating

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I drove all the way to the entrance of Emerald River Gardens before remembering that my car was not allowed inside.

After thinking it over, I took out my phone and started a group voice call in the chat the three of us shared.

“Fan, are you off work yet? I’m in Tianhai. I’ll pick you and Xinze up, and we can go get something to eat.”

Lin Xingfan answered first. “Sure. Wait for me at the hospital entrance.”

Only after a ding did Zhao Xinze join the call.

“What’s up?”

“Food. Same old place. You in?”

“Just pick up Fan. I’ll drive over myself once I finish what I’m working on.”

“All right.”

After picking up Lin Xingfan, we went to a little family-run restaurant that served stir-fries, a place we had often visited back in university.

Over the years, the owners had bought up the two neighboring shops as well. After opening all three storefronts into one and renovating the place, they had turned it into a spotless open-kitchen restaurant. It no longer resembled the tiny hole-in-the-wall it had once been.

The prices, however, remained cheap and reasonable, and most of the customers were still university students.

The proprietress sat behind the counter. When the sensor bell chimed, it announced, “Welcome!”

She looked up, recognized Lin Xingfan and me, and smiled.

“Jiang, Lin, you’re here! Find yourselves a seat. What would you like today? The usual three dishes?”

“Add a mapo tofu. Someone else is still on the way, so bring us two bottles of mineral water and one iced cola. The water should be room temperature.”

“Why are you drinking room-temperature water on a hot day? Are you feeling unwell?”

The proprietress took the drinks from the cooler and carried them over to our table.

“Come on, we’re not kids anymore. We have to start taking care of our health.”

She laughed. “Your big brother and I haven’t started doing that yet, but you two work hard. You really ought to look after yourselves.”

In the kitchen, the proprietor was tossing his wok with dazzling skill. When his wife told him we had arrived, he stole a moment to look through the serving window.

Though sweat covered his brow, he still gave us a guileless, hearty smile.

Before long, sweet-and-sour pork, fish-fragrant shredded pork, stir-fried greens with garlic, mapo tofu, and three bowls of rice were brought to the table.

The proprietress brought over another plate of crispy fried pork.

“This one’s on the house. It’s been such a long time since you came by. Your big brother and I have really missed you.”

“Thank you, Sis!”

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The moment the food had been served, Zhao Xinze walked in and greeted the proprietress.

“Xinze, over here!”

Zhao Xinze pulled out the chair beside Lin Xingfan and sat down. He loosened his collar, took off his tie, and draped it over the back of the chair.

I pushed the iced cola toward him. “I ordered this for you in advance.”

He twisted off the cap with a sharp hiss and glanced at the room-temperature mineral water in front of Lin Xingfan and me.

“What’s this? Are you two trying to ostracize me? You’re both drinking the same thing, while I’m the only one with iced cola?”

Lin Xingfan picked up his water and took a gulp. “Stop talking nonsense. Jiang Jian is—”

“Cough, cough.”

My coughing drew Lin Xingfan’s attention. When he saw me give a slight shake of my head, he looked at me in confusion.

Even so, he swallowed the rest of his sentence.

Zhao Xinze sensed that something was wrong. “What are you two whispering about? Is there something you can’t tell me? What’s wrong with Jiang Jian?”

“Nothing. I was hospitalized for my stomach a while ago, remember? The doctor told me to take care of myself, so I don’t dare drink anything iced anymore.”

“So that’s what it is. You made it sound all mysterious. By the way, what did the doctor say about your stomach? You never told me.”

“Just a gastric ulcer. Nothing serious. I only need to take care of myself.”

I was not yet ready to tell Zhao Xinze that I had stomach cancer. Though he was not as wholeheartedly devoted to Jian Xia as I was, he had still genuinely worked and struggled for her.

He had a short temper and was prone to acting impulsively. I could not predict what decision he might make once he learned that I intended to walk away from Jian Xia.

So, until I had handled everything, I would keep it from him.

Seeing the situation, Lin Xingfan changed the subject. “You dumped Xu Zhixia and she actually let you get away?”

“I left her behind and floored it. She was limping, so there was no way she could catch me. Ha-ha.”

Lin Xingfan chuckled under his breath and gave me a thumbs-up. “That’s our boy.”

“If Xinze hadn’t told me that Xunxing’s project had been finalized, I wouldn’t have dared do it.”

Zhao Xinze had no idea what had happened between Xu Zhixia and me recently. He sat there beside us, staring at us like an idiot.

Lin Xingfan gave him a rough account of the whole affair. Zhao Xinze’s expression shifted from vacant bewilderment to shock, and finally to uncontrollable fury.

He slapped his chopsticks down on the table.

“How dare Xu Zhixia treat you like that? Is she even human?!”

I hurriedly put a finger to my lips. Fortunately, the restaurant was crowded and noisy, so no one paid much attention.

“Keep your voice down. We’re eating out!”

“Oh, right, right. I got carried away. I’ll watch myself.”

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“Fan and I both told you back then to cherish Ji Leqing, but you wouldn’t listen. You insisted on hanging yourself from Xu Zhixia instead. And look where that got you. Now that you want to let go, she clings to you like a plaster and refuses to come off.”

Maybe it was just my imagination, but when Zhao Xinze mentioned Ji Leqing, his expression seemed to change for an instant.

“Let’s not talk about the past.”

Halfway through the meal, Zhao Xinze brought up the idea of building his own factory again. But my attitude remained the same as it had been on the phone: I neither supported nor approved of it.

“Xinze, this step is far too risky. Go back and think it over carefully.”

“More than twenty million is not a small sum. I know your family is well-off. If you’re ever at the end of your rope, they can still help you out.”

“But I don’t have that option. If I take one wrong step, I’ll be ruined for good. I’ll never be able to get back on my feet.”

Lin Xingfan joined in. “Xinze, we know you’re doing this for Jian Xia’s sake, but you also need to consider what Jiang Jian can afford to bear.”

Zhao Xinze lowered his head and prodded the remaining rice in his bowl with his chopsticks. After a long silence, he finally spoke.

“Since you both put it that way, I suppose it really is too risky. We’ll talk about it another time.”

After the meal, Zhao Xinze insisted on paying. Neither Lin Xingfan nor I managed to beat him to it.

“All right, but next time I’m treating!”

Zhao Xinze drove away. My craving for a cigarette struck again, and I leaned against the car door as I took out my pack and tried to light one.

Lin Xingfan reached over, snatched the pack from my hand, opened it, glanced inside, and hurled it hard against my chest.

“Go ahead and smoke. You really are determined to smoke yourself to death!”

“Fine, I won’t smoke anymore. Happy?”

“If you really quit, I’ll call you Dad!”

“Haven’t you always been my son? My adopted son, anyway.”

I leaned over and deliberately provoked him. In return, I took a vicious punch to the arm.

“You hit hard, you bastard. Don’t you know I’m a patient?”

“Does a patient who’s asking to die still count as a patient?”

I raised both hands in surrender. “Enough fooling around. We need to figure out where to park the car. I can’t drive into Emerald River Gardens.”

Lin Xingfan thought for a moment. “Park it at my complex. When I bought my apartment, didn’t I win a parking space in the developer’s grand-prize draw?”

“Tch. No wonder you’re so lucky. A parking space alone costs several hundred thousand. I’ve never had your kind of luck.”

Comparing yourself to others was enough to drive anyone mad.

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