55: Chapter 55 Today's Intelligence

The breakfast restaurant is on the east side of the sixty-third floor, with a full floor-to-ceiling window facing the river.

The sunlight at this time of day is just right, becoming soft and warm after being refracted by the river water, spilling onto the snowflake-white marble floor like a thin layer of honey.

The buffet station is open-style, with copper chafing dishes neatly arranged. Above each dish is a hand-written nameplate in elegant English cursive.

The air is filled with the aroma of freshly ground coffee, the crispness of a freshly baked baguette's crust, and the rich, earthy fragrance of black truffle scrambled eggs wafting through the steam.

The host led them to a seat by the window.

The white tablecloth was starched, as crisp as a freshly unwrapped piece of drawing paper, with the creases at the corners still clearly visible.

Jiang Chen pulled out a chair for Lin Wan to sit down.

When she sat, her movements were half a beat slower than usual.

The moment her waist touched the back of the chair, she slightly adjusted her posture. Her facial expression didn't change at all, but Jiang Chen noticed.

“What do you want to eat? I'll go get it,” he asked.

“Just pick something for me,” Lin Wan said. “Something light is fine.”

Jiang Chen nodded and walked toward the buffet station.

When he returned carrying two plates, Lin Wan was looking at the river view outside the window.

The morning light fell on her profile, and the shadows of her eyelashes cast onto her cheekbones like a small pair of fan-shaped wings.

She heard footsteps and turned her head. When her gaze fell on the plates, she froze for a moment.

Placed in front of her was a serving of poached eggs.

The yolk was encased in a thin membrane of egg white, appearing as a translucent amber. At the slightest touch of a fork tip, the yolk slowly overflowed, merging with the velvet-like layer of mashed avocado underneath.

The smoked salmon was sliced thin as a cicada's wing, its edges slightly curled, garnished with a few pink peppercorns and finely chopped chervil leaves.

The English muffin was toasted crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Fine air pockets could be seen on the cut surface—marks left only by handmade bread.

On the other plate were two freshly baked croissants.

The puff pastry shimmered with a golden-brown luster under the lights, and a perfect honeycomb cross-section could be seen from the side.

There were two cups of coffee.

One black coffee, one oat latte.

The foam of the oat milk was whipped extremely fine, with a layer of dense micro-foam on the surface forming a perfect circle at the rim of the cup.

Jiang Chen pushed the black coffee and the poached eggs in front of her.

Lin Wan glanced at the oat latte, then looked at him.

“You remembered?”

“Remembered what?”

“I said last night that I drink oat lattes during my fat-loss periods.”

Jiang Chen picked up his oat latte and took a sip. “You said a lot of things last night.”

“But I only said that once.”

“Once was enough.”

Lin Wan lowered her head and forked a small piece of salmon into her mouth.

The fat of the salmon melted on the tip of her tongue, the salty-smoky flavor and the spiciness of the pink peppercorns emerging alternately in her mouth.

As she chewed, the tips of her ears turned slightly red.

Jiang Chen looked at the tips of her ears, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

Lin Wan swallowed that bite and cut another small piece of the poached egg.

The yolk and avocado mash blended together, the texture as rich as liquid velvet.

She squinted her eyes slightly, showing a satisfied expression.

But that expression only lasted for a second because she suddenly remembered something.

Her fork stopped in mid-air, and her face slowly turned red, layer by layer.

Jiang Chen noticed. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing.”

She quickly put the food on the fork into her mouth, her gaze falling on the river outside the window, avoiding his eyes.

But her mind was full of that moment just now.

When she cut the poached egg, the image of the yolk overflowing made her think of a certain moment from last night.

She poked the salmon on her plate with her fork, poking it several times without putting it in her mouth.

The tip of the fork hit the bone china plate, making a faint 'ding' sound. She snapped back to her senses and found the salmon had been poked into fragments by her.

She took a deep breath and took a large gulp of coffee.

The bitterness of the black coffee exploded at the base of her tongue, forcibly suppressing those images.

Jiang Chen ate his croissant quietly without looking at her, the curve at the corners of his mouth never disappearing.

The two of them ate quietly for a while.

Sunlight shone diagonally through the floor-to-ceiling window, casting shadows of the window frames onto the white tablecloth.

In the distance at Jiangcheng University, the tree canopies swayed gently in the morning breeze.

Jiang Chen put down his fork and picked up his phone to check today's wealth intelligence.

[Today's Intelligence: Street-front shops at No. 127-136 Xuefu Road, North Gate of Jiangcheng University. Due to urban planning for the 'Xuefu Road East Extension and Metro Line 7 Phase II Project,' the shops in this section have been included in the scope of expropriation. Demolition is expected to officially start in one month. The compensation standard is calculated based on the commercial supporting premium of residential land. The demolition compensation is approximately 12 times the original value. The landlord is selling urgently, possibly due to the need for capital turnover. The quote for a single unit is 400,000 yuan, or 4 million yuan for a package of 10 units. If the demolition compensation is finalized, the compensation for a single unit is expected to be in the range of 2.4 to 3 million yuan.]

He locked the screen and put his phone back on the table.

“What is it?” Lin Wan asked.

“Nothing, just saw a message. I have to handle it later.”

Lin Wan nodded and didn't press further.

“By the way, are you busy this afternoon?” she asked.

“Not at the moment, why?”

“I have a Moot Court rehearsal this afternoon at the Law School. If you're free...”

She paused, her tone becoming more casual, “You can come take a look, be an audience member, and give some feedback.”

Jiang Chen looked at her. “Are you inviting me to come see you?”

“To see our group's presentation,” she corrected him, but there wasn't much force in her tone.

“What are you responsible for?”

“Defense statement.”

“Then you'll definitely do well.”

Lin Wan looked at him. “How would you know?”

“When you were reasoning with me last night,” he said, “I couldn't refute a single word you said.”

Lin Wan choked a little at those words. She took a sip of coffee, a faint blush appearing on her face.

“That was different,” she said. “Last night was...”

She didn't finish.

Because everything following 'last night' was currently playing out as vivid images in her mind.

Her face instantly turned red all the way to the base of her neck.

Jiang Chen looked at her suddenly flushed face, his gaze shifting slightly. Then he lowered his eyes and took a sip of his latte.

“What time this afternoon?” he asked, his voice a bit lower than before.

“Three o'clock,” Lin Wan's voice was quieter than she had intended.

“I'll go.”

Lin Wan gave an 'mm' and didn't speak again.

She lowered her head to continue eating breakfast, but the food on her fork didn't reach her mouth for a long time.

The sunlight fell on her profile, and the red on her ear tips wouldn't fade.

The sunlight fell on the water, breaking into a shimmering field of gold.

And at the highest point of this city, two people sat facing each other across a small round table.

On the table was a half-eaten breakfast, and something was flowing quietly in the air.

It wasn't that fiery, heart-racing thing from last night, but something deeper, heavier—something like the river water, slow yet unceasing.

When Lin Wan later thought back to this morning, what she remembered wasn't the timing of the poached eggs or the Moot Court case.

What she remembered were those few unnatural steps she took when walking from the bedside to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Those few steps were taken very slowly, as if measuring the crossing of some boundary.

She had crossed it.

And then she found that the ground on the other side was covered in sunlight.