Spicy Noodles Please!

"Xue, I think we should eat inside, the patio will be too cold for you."

"No, we can sit by one of the space heaters, it is always too crowded in the shop."

"Yeah and once we have a couple beers and the steaming noodles it will be warm. Okay. I see a table over there." Qiqi points to the left then chuckles, "See that Auntie? I drew her a couple months ago for a character at the beginning of my last arc. The manager at the convenience store where Bai met Rui."

Lang Xue glances at the plump woman with short frizzy black hair and a round red face drinking a bottle of coke. "Oh my God, that is funny."

Qiqi walks over to the table, "Mrs. Gu! How have you been?"

The woman wipes her mouth covered in red sauce with a napkin then takes off the plastic gloves she is wearing. "The old man added a new dish, Flaming Hot Chicken Wings."

Fanning her greasy mouth she drinks her coke. "Ahh..sooo spicy" She shows them the menu. "He has some new competition down the block so he had to change up his menu."

"I am surprised, Mr. Woo is so stubborn.." She is interrupted by a short elderly man with white hair and a long sparse beard. He is wearing a sauce splattered apron and carrying a box of napkins. "Little Girl, who is stubborn?"

"Haha...Grandpa Woo! You know the old man at the fish market. The one that will only take cash."

"Oh, yeah he is a stubborn old fart. Qiqi, I haven't seen you in awhile, you brought a friend? She looks cold in that skimpy dress."

"..."

"You girls come inside. I will give you a basket of Chicken Wings."

"Thanks Grandpa but we are going to sit on the patio. I will try the new dish next time, I have been craving your delicious beef noodles."

He raises an eyebrow looking at the goosebumps Lang Xue's thin arms, "Ok."

After they sit down they order a couple beers and the beef noodles. Lang Xue pulls the wool scarf tighter around her neck and moves her chair closer to the outdoor heater. "Qiqi, how do you know Zheng Chang ? Is it because his family lived in the same community?"

The beers arrive and Qiqi takes a gulp, "Ahh." She eats a few of the fried tofu appetizers they ordered. "I never met him at that time, but do you remember the second year of Middle School when my parents went to England to reorganize the management of Shen Entertainment Europe?"

QiQi suints her eyes in pleasure, "Beer and fried tofu...the best combination!"

She continues, "I stayed with Auntie Han and used to go to the hospital where she worked to volunteer after school and on weekends. I met him there."

She picks up a piece of tofu, "Try these they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, yummy!"

Lang Xue sips her beer,  Zheng Chang would have been a senior in High School. "So he volunteered there too?"

"No. He was a patient." Qiqi drinks the beer and then sighs, "Ahh..so tasty."

When she sees the steaming bowl of beef noodles her eyes light up. She uses the chopsticks and moves quickly to eat the piping hot food.

Sweat forms on her forehead as she devours the spicy noodles. "I am so happy when they built the high rise condominiums in this area they didn't tear down these small shops."

When she takes a break she notices Lang Xue isn't eating only playing with the chopsticks, "I thought you liked Beef Noodles."

She waves at the server, "Margie, could we have two more beers. Thanks." 

Biting her bottom lip, Lang Xue wonders if she should ask more questions. After the thretening look Zheng Chang gave me I don't want Qiqi to become suspicious about my interest in him..Hmmm...

Her curioustiy outweighs her worry and she asks,"Why was he in the hospital?"

"Well, I can't say. The only reason I know was because I sneaked a peek at his medical chart. I might get in trouble from Auntie if she knew I looked."

She waves her chopsticks, "Not that I think you would tell but to be honest I felt really guilty after I did it. Like prying into someone's personal pain."

"So how did you become friends?"

Qiqi laughs and pokes her with a chopstick, "Are you interested in Brother Chang? I have never seen him with a girlfriend. I should fix you up with him! He is completely dreamy...gentle...smart...kind and he looks like a male model. I saw a picture of his mother she was French, he looks like her except for his Peach Blossom eyes."

Lang Xue's eyebrows twitch, are we talking about the same person? He is a damn devil! "He isn't my type, I was just curious. I never heard you mention him."

"I guess he never came up in conversation. I did use sketches of Brother Chang for Jason. Do you remember that character? Bai's friend who came back from abroad... the tennis champion."

Qiqi gets lost in thought remembering Zheng Chang in the hospital. He had been in a horrific car crash and his mother died from her injuries. He suffered facial bruising and a leg injury but the worst problem was he had traumatic blindness from seeing his mother's bloody body.

Qiqi saw him sitting in a wheelchair with no one else around so she asked him if he needed her to push him somewhere. He didn't answer and she didn't know he was blind. It looked as though he was staring at her so she smiled brightly and asked him again.

Her aunt came out of her office when she heard Qiqi's voice and told her to take some magazines to the common area.

The next time she saw him she overheard him being insulted by a middle aged man for being a useless blind man. She rushed over and interrupted them, saying it was time for him to go to the garden for fresh air.

Once they were outside she put a green tea into his hands she had just bought exclaiming what a horrible man his Uncle was. After that incident they slowly became friends over the course of his stay at the hospital.

Lang Xue waves her hand in front of Qiqi's face, "Qiqi! Qiqi!"

"Oh sorry, I was thinking about him at that time."

Lang Xue doesn't pursue the subject and eats the soggy noodles but wonders why he was hospitalized. She didn't meet him until she was a Sophomore at Stanford. She had a crush on him when he was the TA in her Statistics class, openly pursuing him, never believing he would reject her advances.

Being the sought after school flower she couldn't accept the embarrassment when he ignored her, then made a big mistake by dating his step brother. She ended up being an unknowing pawn in his revenge plan against Zheng Chang.

Suddenly Qiqi slams down her glass of beer and her eyes water, "I am going to call Sun Zhi!"

"Who?"

"The handsome man who has my laptop."

"Oh. Right."

Before she can dial his number, her phone rings, "Chang?"

Lang Xue anxiously grips her napkin. Why is he calling?

"Qiqi, I have an invitation to a Jade Auction tomorrow night. I heard they will be auctioning a flawless Mutton Jade carved bracelet from the Han Dynasty."

"Really! If I get my laptop back I can go!"

Zheng Chang crosses his long legs while sitting on his Grandmother's balcony. He has been watching Qiqi on the patio of the Noodle Shop across the street.

He lights a cigarette. "What happened to your laptop?"

"Long story, but it has important files on it and if I don't get it back I need to redo my work."

"Maybe I could help you. What software program did you use?"

"Thanks, but I am calling the man right now who has my laptop in his Land Rover."

Narrowing his eyes dangerously, he crushes the cigarette he just lit in the ashtray. "What man?"

"Well...hmmm.. this is where it is a long story. His name is SunZhi. I will call you after I contact him. I really want to go to the Auction." Qiqi hangs up the phone before he asks any more questions.

He knows Zhi Sun and wants to retrieve the laptop for Qiqi and to know the relationship between the two.

He calls Sun Zhiand casually says, " I just returned from Africa do you want to go to Sihao's Club for a drink?"

"Sure."

"Okay, I will shower and be there."

 Sun Zhi's phone rings again, it is an unknown number so he doesn't answer. Tossing the phone on the table he goes into the bathroom.

When he doesn't answer Qiqi frowns, "He isn't answering."

"It probably comes up as an unknown number. Where are you going with Zheng Chang?"

Qiqi is a little drunk and she holds her friend;s cold hand as she teases, " I have never heard you ask so many questions haha.. I think you do like Brother Chang! Love at first sight!"

Lang Xue's pretty face turns crimson red and she snaps, "Shut up! I just want you to finish the arc. You don't need any distractions."

"I was kidding, don't be so serious! There is a Jade Auction I want to attend, he has an invitation. I love jade and I still have my birthday money on my card."

Ordering another beer she has an idea. "I think I will look on the internet and see if I can find information about Sun Zhi."