Hong Kong: Black Gold Tycoons

At 7 p.m., the faint aroma of food wafted from an apartment on Bowen Road in the Mid-Levels.

The kitchen was brightly lit, and Michelle, wearing a floral apron, was busy at the stove.

The lotus root and pork rib soup in the pot was bubbling away. She had been simmering it for almost three hours. The lotus root was soft and powdery, the pork ribs were tender and mushy, the soup was milky white, and the aroma was irresistible.

"Sister, how much salt should we put in?" Shirley asked, unsure of the amount.

"Put in a spoonful first, taste it, and then add more." Michelle didn't even look up, her hands deftly chopping the tomatoes with a knife. "Don't put too much salt in scrambled eggs with tomatoes, or it will overpower the sweet and sour flavor of the tomatoes."

"Oh," Sherry responded, carefully sprinkling salt into the scrambled eggs, then stirring them with a spatula, and asked, "Is this okay?"

Michelle glanced at it and said, "It's almost done. Pour in the tomatoes, stir-fry for a couple of seconds, and then take it off the heat. Don't overcook it."

After the two sisters busied themselves with their work...

The ribs in the steamer are almost ready. The salty and fragrant aroma of fermented black beans mixed with the scent of minced garlic wafts out. This is Michelle's specialty: steamed ribs with fermented black bean sauce.

She is meticulous in her work. She marinated the ribs for half an hour with cornstarch, soy sauce, fermented black beans, and minced garlic. After steaming, the meat was tender and juicy, and even the bones were flavorful.

"Sister," Shirley asked casually while helping, "Is Chen Sheng your boyfriend?"

Michelle paused in her chopping, without looking up. "Why are you asking this?"

"Just curious," Sherry said as she served the dishes. "I can see you care about him quite a bit. You usually just throw food together casually, but today you've made soup and steamed ribs. How long has it been since you cooked something this carefully?"

Michelle put the chopped vegetables into the basket and said casually, "He's a guest. When you invite someone to dinner, you should naturally make sure it's good. It's just politeness."

"A guest?" Sherry turned around with the plate in her hand, tilting her head to look at her. "Sister, I may be young, but I'm not stupid. The way you look at him is different from how you look at others."

Michelle was silent for a moment before speaking: "Me and him... never mind, don't ask, I can't explain it clearly either."

Sherry placed the plate on the dining table, then went back to the kitchen, leaning against the doorframe and looking at Michelle. "So, do you like him?"

Michelle didn't answer. She just took the ribs out of the steamer, put them on the stove, and then stirred the soup pot.

"Sister," Shirley leaned closer and asked earnestly, "Is he the kind of person... with a lot of influence? Anyway, I don't think he's like an ordinary magazine owner."

"How would I know?" Michelle shook her head. "I only know that he... knows a lot of people and can do a lot of things. Don't ask around. He's not a bad person, and he's been good to me. That's enough."

Seeing her sister's hesitant expression, Shirley vaguely understood what was going on, but didn't press the matter further. She turned around and set the table.

As she set the table, she muttered, "Four dishes and a soup for three people, isn't that too much?"

"What's the big deal? It's his first time having dinner at home, we can't let him think we're stingy." Michelle said, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was almost 7:30. Chen Fei said he would come over in the evening, but he didn't say what time.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"I'll go open it!" Sherry practically jumped as she ran over.

As soon as the door opened, Chen Fei stood in the doorway, holding large and small bags of gifts in his hands.

"Mr. Chen, you're here!" Shirley smiled and stepped aside.

Chen Fei changed his shoes and came in. He saw Michelle coming out of the kitchen, still wearing her apron and with her hair casually tied back, giving off a very homey vibe.

"You came all this way, why did you bring anything?" Michelle took the gift, her tone slightly reproachful, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.

"It's my first time visiting, so I can't come empty-handed." Chen Fei smiled and looked around the room.

The room was decorated in a cozy style, with several potted plants on the balcony. A breeze blew in from the window, and the leaves swayed gently.

The whole house was clean and tidy, with no unnecessary decorations, and every item looked like it had been carefully selected.

"Go wash your hands, dinner will be ready soon," Michelle said, turning back to the kitchen, with Shirley following to help serve the dishes.

Chen Fei waited a short while before dinner was served.

The table was set with four dishes and a soup: steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, a plate of boiled shrimp, and a pot of lotus root and spare rib soup.

The dishes are not complicated, but each one shows care and attention.

Michelle and Shirley sat on one side, and Chen Fei sat opposite them. The three of them sat around the small square table, which was just right.

"Try my cooking." Michelle picked up a soup ladle and first ladled a bowl of soup for Chen Fei. "Lotus root needs to be cooked for a long time to taste good. I started cooking it at three o'clock this afternoon."

Chen Fei took the bowl, took a sip, and found the soup to be rich, sweet, and flavorful, with the lotus root soft and tender. He nodded, "It's delicious, much better than what you get in restaurants."

Michelle smiled and placed another piece of pork rib in his bowl. "This is also one of my specialties. Try it."

Chen Fei took a bite; the pork ribs were tender and smooth, with a rich aroma of soy sauce, and steamed to perfection. He couldn't resist picking up another piece.

Watching from the side, Shirley couldn't help but laugh and said, "Mr. Chen, my sister's cooking is really delicious. It's a pity that she usually just cooks some noodles when she's alone. She only showed off her skills today because you came."

Michelle gently kicked her younger sister under the table, her face expressionless. "Eat your food, stop talking so much."

Halfway through the meal, Michelle brought up the magazine issue: "I heard that two of your company's magazines have been pirated?"

"You found out too?"

"My colleague told me this afternoon that the pirated copies are printed terribly and are far worse than your genuine ones," Michelle asked. "Can you handle this kind of thing? I heard that piracy is rampant in Hong Kong, and many magazine publishers can't do anything about it."

"Don't worry, I've already made the arrangements." Chen Fei smiled. "We should have results in a few days. It was done by a printer; it's not a big deal."

Michelle glanced at him but didn't ask any more questions.

Sherry listened from the side, secretly glancing at Chen Fei and then at her sister, feeling that there was something inexplicable about this man.

He spoke slowly and softly, but every word seemed carefully chosen, without any unnecessary words or pleasantries.

He wasn't like the men my sister used to describe. Apparently, those men at the dinner table would either brag about how rich they were or show off who they knew. Their eyes would always dart around when they spoke, as if they were always scheming something.

But Chen Fei is different.

His tone was sincere in every word he spoke, not in the kind of polite flattery.

Moreover, when picking up food and adding soup, their movements were very natural, as if they had been sitting in this house for many years, without making people feel uncomfortable at all.

As Sherry was thinking, she suddenly felt something touch the back of her foot.

She glanced down; the tablecloth was draped over her shoulders, obscuring what was underneath.

At first, I thought it was a table leg and didn't pay much attention, continuing to eat.

Then the foot touched it again, but this time it wasn't a touch, it just touched it.

Sherry's chopsticks suddenly stopped.

She looked up at Chen Fei across from her. He was talking to Mi Xue, his expression normal, showing no sign of anything amiss.

"Who is the owner of that printing factory?" Michelle asked as she added soup to Chen Fei's bowl.

"An Englishman named Raymond Chester." Chen Fei took the soup bowl. "He's the biggest printer in Hong Kong, printing most of the magazines on the market. I didn't print for him, and he was unhappy, so he did something sneaky."

Sherry's heart suddenly started racing.

Because she felt that foot hadn't moved away, it was just gently leaning against her, neither too light nor too heavy, just right so that she couldn't ignore it.

She glanced at Michelle, who was engrossed in peeling shrimp and didn't notice anything.

Chen Fei continued talking, as if it weren't intentional.

Sydney felt very excited.

It's not that she's never been pursued before; when she was in school, boys wrote her love letters and invited her to movies. But those boys' eyes were direct and shallow; they couldn't hide their intentions, and you could tell what they wanted at a glance.

But Chen Fei was sitting right across from her, chatting casually with his sister, a smile on his face and a clear look in his eyes, while his feet were doing this kind of thing.

She thought he was incredibly bold and proactive, not at all shy, as if doing so was perfectly natural.

No one had ever dared to treat her like this before, but Chen Fei did.

Sherry found the meal tasteless and her mind a mess.

After finally finishing her meal, she hurriedly said, "Sister, I'll go clean up. You talk to Chen Sheng."

"No need, you don't know where I'm going to put all those pots and pans," Michelle said while tidying up. "Why don't you talk to Mr. Chen?"

"Don't be so formal, just call me Brother Fei." Chen Fei waved his hand.

After tidying up, the three chatted for a while in the living room.

Michelle brought over a bottle of wine. "Anyway, you should be free tonight, so have a couple of drinks."

"Okay," Chen Fei readily agreed.

Sherry immediately exclaimed, "I want some too!"

"Children are not allowed to drink alcohol!" Michelle said sternly.

Sherry insisted, "I just want to try."

She has lived in the shadow of her older sister Michelle since childhood, and now that she is going through a rebellious phase, she especially wants to prove herself and be independent.

"Whatever." Michelle poured two glasses of wine, put the bottle down, and said, "I can't control you anyway."

Sherry immediately grabbed a cup and poured herself a large glass.

Then, raising her glass, she said, mimicking something from a martial arts drama, "Brother Fei, this humble woman toasts you!"

After saying that, he drank it all in one gulp.

"Impressive drinking capacity!" Chen Fei gave a thumbs up. "You truly are a woman who rivals any man. I'll toast you too."

"Don't spoil her, or she'll take advantage of you," Michelle said from the side.

Seeing that Chen Fei had finished his drink, Shirley poured herself another glass. "Brother Fei, let me toast you again! After this, there are three more..."

Seeing her acting like a grown-up and being carefree, Michelle said, "Drink less. You're so young, yet you're acting like an alcoholic."

"Brother Fei has gone to all this trouble to come, how can I let him down?" Shirley glanced at Chen Fei, "Brother Fei, right? Can you still drink?"

"I've never been afraid of anyone when it comes to drinking," Chen Fei said, raising his glass as well.

In no time at all, the two of them had finished more than half of the bottle of wine.

Sherry's face was already flushed, but she still gave a thumbs up: "Brother Fei, you're so generous! I admire you."

After saying that, he leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

Within two minutes, it began to snore softly.

Michelle shook her head helplessly: "See? That's all the alcohol she can drink, yet she pretends to be so generous."

"Let's take her back to her room to rest." Chen Fei poured himself another glass. "Alcohol, actually, is a good thing..."

……