Jiang Cheng glanced up at him, the corner of his mouth hooking slightly. "Sit."
Seeing Jiang Cheng not pick up his thread, Jiang Xin felt awkward but maintained a facade of affability.
"The others aren't here yet?"
Jiang Cheng unhurriedly picked up his teacup, blew on it, took a sip, and then looked at Jiang Xin. "I only invited you."
Hearing this, Jiang Xin's expression clearly faltered for a moment.
He had been somewhat surprised when Jiang Cheng invited him, as their previous meetings had always been arranged by others.
This time, when Jiang Cheng asked him out, he thought he was finally going to attend a gathering organized by Jiang Cheng himself.
But he hadn't expected it to be a private invitation.
This... momentarily left him unsure of Jiang Cheng's intentions.
He shouldn't have offended him, right?
Putting on an act of being overwhelmed by favor, he said, "Wow, thank you, Brother Cheng, for the treat."
Jiang Xin directly used a joking tone to smooth over the expression he had just revealed.
As he spoke, the private room door was lightly knocked, and a Waitress in a plain cheongsam entered carrying menus, her eyes curved just right. "Gentlemen, our daily menu changes. Here is today's selection."
After speaking, she handed the menu with subtle embossed patterns to Jiang Cheng.
However, Jiang Cheng only reached out and took one copy, leaving the other hanging in mid-air.
Seeing Jiang Cheng not pass a menu, Jiang Xin, observing this, silently withdrew his hand, his fingertips tapping lightly on his knee.
The smile on his lips remained unchanged, but a flicker of calculation passed swiftly through his eyes before he nonchalantly picked up his teacup again.
After taking the menu from the Waitress, Jiang Cheng flipped through it, his tone flat. "A friend recommended this place. They say the owner is an old Beijinger, makes authentic Beijing cuisine. Since we've both come from Shanghai to Beijing, eating local Shanghainese food all the time gets boring. Let's change things up today."
Jiang Cheng's failure to hand him a menu further unsettled Jiang Xin's thoughts.
Forcing a nod and a smile, he responded, "Absolutely. When in Beijing, you should try the authentic flavors. On previous business trips here, I never found the right spot."
His finger tracing a few dish names, Jiang Cheng didn't look at Jiang Xin and crisply ordered from the Waitress: "Jingjiang Rou Si (Shredded Pork in Beijing Sauce), Zhizi Kaorou (Griddle-Grilled Meat), a portion of Laba Suan Liu Gan Jian (Pork Liver with Pickled Garlic), the signature Da Lu Mian (Noodles with Thick Gravy) for the staple, and add a Sour and Spicy Black Fish Egg Soup."
After reciting the order, he directly handed the menu back to the Waitress.
Seeing Jiang Cheng hadn't once asked Jiang Xin "what would you like," the Waitress politely inquired, "Sir, would you like to add anything else?"
Jiang Xin's smile stiffened for an instant before he waved his hand, his tone deliberately light. "Brother Cheng ordered all authentic Beijing dishes. No need to add anything."
"Very well. Please wait a moment..."
After the Waitress withdrew, the atmosphere in the private room grew quieter.
Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, he pasted that affable smile back on his face.
"Are you also following the developments at Love Book?"
Before Jiang Xin could fully quell the unease in his heart, Jiang Cheng's light, airy sentence yanked the conversation back to its starting point. It was a masterful move.
He clicked his tongue inwardly, not daring to show a hint of it on his face.
Having scrambled in the business world for so many years, he'd long since honed the skill of telling people what they wanted to hear.
Even the old foxes in his own company rarely made him tread this cautiously, step by step.
Yet, facing Jiang Cheng, he always felt his thoughts were being seen through, led by the nose from start to finish.
He remembered Jiang Cheng was only about nineteen, but the unflappable composure he carried and his knack for reading people were seasoned to an uncanny degree.
One had to remember, the Jiang Family's roots in the capital were unfathomably deep, far beyond what their locally-grown rare earth family could compare to. Jiang Cheng inviting him alone was definitely not just for a simple meal.
Jiang Xin picked up his teacup and took a sip. The warm tea slid down his throat but did nothing to quell the calculations in his heart. Masking the complexity in his eyes, he re-donned that appropriate smile and followed Jiang Cheng's lead. "Naturally. Brother Cheng, when you make a move, it's always precise and decisive. People like us just get to bask in a bit of the glow, watch the show."
"Hah. I didn't expect our interests to align quite so well." Jiang Cheng set down his cup, fingertips tapping lightly on the table.
Last time at the bar, when he learned Jiang Xin's family was in the rare earth business, Jiang Cheng had the Security Team investigate them.
Before 2018, the Jiang Family's reputation as the 'Rare Earth King' was quite resounding.
But after the policies landed this year, times had started getting tough.
Mining quotas tightened, environmental red lines were drawn ever stricter.
The technological barriers to deep processing were also absurdly high.
The Jiang Family held the mines but could only watch as their profits were squeezed thinner and thinner.
The glory days of making easy money from rare earths were long gone, a thing of the past.
Not to mention the internal family divisions.
The older generation clung stubbornly to the old mines, unwilling to let go. The younger generation wanted to pivot but lacked both capital and connections.
Just one policy shift, and the vast family enterprise already showed signs of becoming precarious.
He pulled back his thoughts, looked up at the stiffly seated Jiang Xin across from him, took another sip of tea, his tone unreadable.
"Just watching isn't fun. Want to join in?"
Jiang Xin hadn't expected Jiang Cheng's attitude to shift so quickly.
His hand holding the teacup tightened slightly.
That day at the bar, he'd brought it up once, and Jiang Cheng hadn't relented or even acknowledged him.
Today, he suddenly invites him out and opens the door to offering him a share...
Even though he knew there was a catch...
He still answered truthfully, "I do, of course I do. I just never felt right about bringing it up before, afraid you'd think I was too eager to latch on."
Jiang Cheng was, after all, a person with the Mind Perception Skill.
Although Jiang Xin's face remained steady, his inner thoughts were clearly numerous.
With a light chuckle, Jiang Cheng's fingertips tapped the table again.
His tone was casual yet carried an undeniable certainty. "Business is all about give and take. Sharing profits, that's how it works. No need for Excuse me (embarrassment)."
As his words fell, he shifted gears, his gaze landing on Jiang Xin's face, cutting straight to the point. "Speaking of which, your family's rare earth business must be having a rough time lately, right?"
The moment these words were uttered, the smile on Jiang Xin's face froze instantly, his teacup-holding hand pausing mid-air.
His heart skipped a beat. He understood in an instant.
Jiang Cheng inviting him out today wasn't simply about cutting him in on profits. He had clearly set his sights on the Jiang Family's rare earth industry.
A complex surge of emotion welled up in his heart.
He pursed his lips, fingers unconsciously rubbing the cool surface of the cup.
The Jiang Family's rare earth industry was the foundation their ancestors had built with their own hands, the very bedrock the entire family relied on for survival.
For so many years, regardless of market ups and downs, the industry's decision-making power had always remained firmly in the hands of the Jiang Family.
If Jiang Cheng got involved, while his capital and sky-high connections could undoubtedly revive the current deadlock...
A large portion of the benefits would inevitably be split off, and they might even have to cede some core decision-making authority.
When that happened, those conservative old shareholders in the family would surely jump out and oppose it tooth and nail.
Not to mention, this would involve shaking the family assets accumulated over generations. It was no simple matter of sharing a slice of the pie.
His heart was a battlefield of conflicting emotions, yet he didn't dare let a shred of it show on his face.
He could only force out a composed smile, his tone steady enough to betray no flaw. "Brother Cheng, you jest. It's just market fluctuations. The Jiang Family's foundation... can still hold on."