It was already 5:30 in the afternoon when they drove out, without changing into their casual clothes, Xia Jinyuan and Ye Jian wore their straight military uniform as they accompanied the Supreme Commander out on each side, they were chatting cheerfully, and it was evident that the mood between them was quite harmonious.
The place where they were having dinner wasn’t a bustling area. Instead, it was located in a deep part of an alley near the imperial palace’s walls; they drove the entire way in and arrived in front of the gates of a Siheyuan.
This used to be the residence for dignitaries, and today, it had turned into a private restaurant that the average person couldn’t even get a reservation for.
Behind the pair of guardian lions by the gates, there were already plenty of guests who came for a meal walking around, and under the light of dusk, it was evident that these guests were either wealthy or influential.
The private dining room had an antique atmosphere; it was the typical indoor furnishing of the Ming-Qing dynasty; even the dining chairs were made from high-quality huanghuali(Chinese rosewood).
On the baggage cabinet, small decor like jade bottles were placed on it; although they were art crafts, their prices were not cheap at all.
Xia Jinyuan considerately pulled out Ye Jian’s chair and received Supreme Commander Xia’s overcoat, and he didn’t give it to the waiter and hung it by himself.
“An acquaintance owns this private restaurant, the cooks he hired were all reputable chefs, each of them are masters in their own way, we had just returned from training, so let’s order a few lighter dishes, next time I’ll bring you to taste the heavier ones.” Xia Jinyuan flipped open the menu; it didn’t smell like oil; instead, what met his nose was the fragrance of rosewood.
Only then did Ye Jian realize the menu was made with rosewood as the spine, then inlaid with papers; it doesn’t look like a menu and was more like a work of art.
While they were waiting for their dinner to be served, the three of them were chatting about the interesting things in their life; they didn’t mention anything about the military and had maintained a high sense of alert at all times.
By the time dinner was served, Supreme Commander Xia would indicate Xia Jinyuan to scoop some of the dishes for Ye Jian every now and then and would say, “Young people need to have some courage.” in good humor.
He would also say: “You should be lovey-dovey why you’re young, and then all of that would turn into memory when you’re old, Lil’ Ye, if you have the time, you have to order him to do some work, and have to condition him first.”
Every time Supreme Commander Xia said similar things, Ye Jian listened humbly.
Xia Jinyuan, however: “Those experiences of yours are just misleading, don’t teach too much, we’ll discover by ourselves.” or he would say, “You’re just trying to get revenge, why do you keep holding a grudge against the things I butted heads with you when I was younger and naive, we must look forwards!”
Whenever the father-son duo butt heads, Ye Jian would choose to sit back and observe the fight, only smile and not say anything.
On the other side, Supreme Commander Xia noticed Ye Jian stopped talking; he immediately turned his head and asked: “Lil’ Ye, do you know why I remember those things?”
She really didn’t know.
Ye Jian poured him a cup of hot tea and asked with a gentle smile, “I really don’t know.” She really didn’t expect the Supreme Commander was this normal in private, and now she wasn’t nervous at all.
“There’s no way I could forget, when the old man couldn’t win against the kid, that’s not something you could forget for your entire life.” Supreme Commander Xia guffawed happily, “You could consider this as my dark past, I guess, he stirred up trouble outside, and I was considering tossing him into juvie and let them take care of him, and that capable kid then. Proposed a bet with me.”
Inadvertently, Ye Jian had heard a segment of Supreme Commander Xia’s dark past, that was the dark past of the Ground Forces’ highest-ranking leader, and she had heard it while she wasn’t prepared at all.
The situation was the same as the last time Xia Jinyuan had mentioned Mrs. Xiao; both times happened while she wasn’t prepared at all and she had heard everything clearly.
“I get ten bullets, he gets ten bullets, he proposed that whoever hits the bullseye ten out of ten was the loser, and the loser would have to run around the field for three kilometers. At the time, I thought I wouldn’t lose no matter what; if I can’t hit ten perfect bullseyes, at the very least, I can still hit one nine-pointer.”
