Guide to Rising to Power as a Wife in Beijing's Elite Circle

Fang Jingxiu laughed, a self-deprecating smile: "I'm just an ordinary person."

"No." Chen Nuo shook his head and said seriously, "In many people's eyes, you are not an ordinary person. You are Director Fang, a powerful leader in the National Development and Reform Commission, someone who needs to be looked up to."

She paused for a moment, then said, "But here, you're Brother Fang. You'll get hungry, you'll get tired, and you'll come here for a bowl of hot wontons."

Fang Jingxiu looked at her, his gaze deepening.

He didn't say anything, he just continued eating his wontons.

But Chen Nuo could sense that something in the air was different at that moment.

Uncle Luo then brought over a small dish of pickled radishes: "These are for you! Homemade!"

"Thank you, Uncle Luo," Chen Nuo said with a smile, picking up a piece.

The crisp radish, with its subtle sweetness and spiciness, is very appetizing.

"Is it good?" Fang Jingxiu asked.

"It's delicious." Chen Nuo nodded. "It's better than what you get in restaurants."

"Because it's made with heart," Fang Jingxiu said. "Uncle Luo has been making wontons for forty years, and my dad has been eating here since he was young."

Chen Nuo's heart skipped a beat: "Does your father come here often too?"

"Hmm." Fang Jingxiu took a sip of soup. "He used to bring me here often when I was little. Later, he got busy with work, so I came by myself."

He spoke casually, but Chen Nuo understood the story behind it.

A father brought his son to a small street-side shop to eat wontons. Later, the father got a promotion and became busier with work, and the son grew up, but the shop remained.

It's like a connection, linking the past and the present, connecting lofty power with the ordinary warmth of everyday life.

"You..." Chen Nuo asked softly, "Do you really like this kind of place?"

Fang Jingxiu remained silent for a few seconds.

"I like it," he finally said. "Because here, I am who I am. Not the son of the Fang family, not Director Fang, just Fang Jingxiu."

After he finished speaking, he continued eating his wontons.

But these words stirred up a storm in Chen Nuo's heart.

She suddenly realized that Fang Jingxiu might not have brought her here because it was on the way, or because he was hungry.

Rather, it was because he wanted her to see what the real him was like.

Fang Jingxiu, who gets tired, hungry, nostalgic for his childhood, and longs for a bowl of hot wontons on a snowy night.

Not the composed and capable Director Fang from the TV news.

It was him.

After finishing his wontons, Fang Jingxiu scanned a QR code to pay.

Uncle Luo waved his hand: "No need, no need! It's on me!"

"That won't do." Fang Jingxiu insisted on turning over one hundred coins. "Uncle Luo, keep it."

"Oh, you silly child..." Uncle Luo reluctantly accepted the package, then packed two more portions of pickled radishes. "Take them home and eat!"

Fang Jingxiu accepted the paper bag without hesitation.

As I stepped out of the wonton shop, the snow began to fall even harder.

A thin layer of white had accumulated on the streets, shimmering under the streetlights.

Fang Jingxiu stood at the shop entrance, watching the snow falling heavily, and remained silent for a while.

Chen Nuo stood beside him, also watching the snow.

"Are you cold?" he suddenly asked.

"It's not cold." Chen Nuo shook his head; the down jacket was very warm.

Fang Jingxiu turned his head to look at her. Snowflakes landed on her eyelashes and quickly melted into tiny water droplets.

"Let's go," he said. "I'll take you home."

The car drove back into the snowy night.

This time, Fang Jingxiu didn't close his eyes to rest, but looked out the window, as if he was thinking about something.

Chen Nuo didn't say anything, just sat quietly.

When they arrived at the entrance of the film academy, Fang Jingxiu suddenly said, "Don't take Uncle Luo's words seriously."

Chen Nuo was taken aback.

"He likes to joke," Fang Jingxiu added casually. "Girlfriend or anything like that, he just says it offhand."

Chen Nuo's heart sank, but his expression remained calm: "I know."

She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car.

Standing in the snow, she bent down and said to Fang Jingxiu in the car, "Brother Xiu, thank you for the wontons tonight."

Fang Jingxiu looked at her, his eyes as deep as the sea in the snowy night.

"Okay." He nodded. "Go inside and get some rest."

Chen Nuo nodded, turned around and walked into the school gate.

After taking a few steps, she turned back.

The black Hongqi H7 was still parked in the same spot, its headlights on, like a lone lamp in the snowy night.

The car slowly drove away only after she entered the dormitory building.

Chen Nuo stood in the stairwell, watching the car's taillights disappear into the snow through the glass window.

She knew that Fang Jingxiu's last words were a way of drawing a line between them.

Don't take it seriously.

"Just saying."

He was reminding her, and he was also reminding himself.

Our relationship hasn't reached that point yet.

But she wasn't in a hurry.

Because she saw more.

She saw that he would stop by to see her on a snowy night, take her to eat at the wonton shop from her childhood, unbutton his shirt in the warmth of the heater, and smile like an ordinary person.

This is enough.

The road ahead is long.

She's not in a hurry.