Su Yiling made it back to Phoenix Garden without any more incidents. Her hands had finally stopped shaking by the time she reached the front gate, though her phone screen remained stubbornly cracked from its collision with the pavement.
The house smelled like congee and bacon when she stepped inside. Weekend mornings at the Su household were always more relaxed, with Auntie Chen preparing elaborate breakfasts that mixed both Chinese and Western dishes instead of the usual quick weekday fare.
"Yiling?" Her mother's voice drifted from the dining room. "Is that you, sweetheart?"
"Just me," she called back, kicking off her running shoes. "Give me ten minutes to shower."
The hot water felt incredible against her skin, washing away the last traces of her panic attack along with the sweat from her run. She stood under the spray longer than necessary, letting the heat unknot the tension in her shoulders.
By the time she made it downstairs in clean clothes, her family was already gathered around the dining table. Her father sat reading the financial section of the newspaper, occasionally making small sounds of approval or disapproval at whatever he was seeing. Jihan was scrolling through his phone while eating, and her mother was arranging fresh flowers in a vase.
"How was your run?" Jihan asked, looking up from his screen.
"Good. Cleared my head."
Auntie Chen appeared with a plate of scrambled eggs and toast, along with a small bowl of congee and pickled vegetables, setting it down in front of Su Yiling with a maternal smile. "You need to eat more, young miss. All this running around, you'll waste away to nothing."
Su Yiling accepted the gentle scolding with good humor. Auntie Chen had been saying the same thing for years, regardless of Su Yiling's actual weight or health.
Her mother poured her a glass of fresh milk from the pitcher on the table. "Drink this too. Good for your bones."
The family ate in comfortable silence, broken only by the rustle of newspaper pages and the occasional comment about weekend plans. Her father mentioned a golf game with some business associates. Her mother talked about meeting friends for lunch. Jihan said something about catching up on research papers.
She was finishing her milk when the doorbell rang.
Auntie Chen bustled off to answer it, returning moments later with a puzzled expression and an elegant white envelope.
"Delivery for Master," she announced. "A young man sent this, said it was urgent."
Her father accepted the envelope, noting the expensive paper and the embossed return address. His name was written in flowing calligraphy across the front.
"What is it?" her mother asked, curiosity evident in her tone.
Her father opened the envelope and unfolded the single sheet of paper inside. The message was brief but impeccably formatted:
Mr. Su Zihang,
Mr. Gu Yisheng requests the pleasure of your family's company at a dinner reception tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM at the Meridian Hotel Grand Ballroom. The occasion is an informal introduction to local business families and an opportunity for mutual acquaintance.
Please respond at your earliest convenience.
Respectfully,
Lu Wei, Personal Assistant
The silence that followed was profound.
Her father read the invitation twice. Jihan stopped scrolling. Her mother's eyes went wide.
"Gu Yisheng," her father said finally. "He's finally making contact."
"This is what we've been waiting for," her mother said, leaning forward to read over her husband's shoulder. "An informal introduction means he wants to get to know the families personally before making business decisions."
"Business casual," Jihan noted. "So it's meant to feel relaxed, not intimidating."
Su Yiling looked at the invitation again. "The whole family is invited?"
"All the select families, it sounds like," her father replied. "The Lin family will probably be there, the Lui family too. He's evaluating everyone at once."
Her mother was already shifting into planning mode, though less frantically than if it had been formal attire.
"Business casual still means we need to look polished," she said. "Yiling, you'll need a nice dress. Something sophisticated but not overdone."
"Mom-"
"No arguments, but this time it won't be as elaborate. Just something appropriate for meeting someone who could change our family's future." Her mother stood up, though with less urgency than before. "We should still go shopping, but we have more options with business casual."
Su Yiling looked at her father and brother, who both wore expressions of resigned understanding.
"At least it's not formal wear," Jihan said with a small smile. "That would have meant a whole day of shopping."
"This will only be half a day," her father agreed cheerfully.
Su Yiling finished her milk and stood up with a sigh.
"Well, I suppose we should get this over with."
"That's the spirit," her mother said, already heading for her purse. "The good shops still get picked over if you wait too long."
"Wish me luck," she told her father and brother.
"You'll need it," they said in unison.
Twenty minutes later, Su Yiling found herself in the passenger seat of her mother's car, being driven toward the city center at a more reasonable pace than expected.
"This is such an opportunity," her mother was saying, navigating traffic calmly. "Do you understand what this means for our family business? Meeting Gu Yisheng in person, even in a casual setting, could determine our entire future."
"It's just a dinner party, Mom."
"There's no such thing as 'just a dinner party' when someone like Gu Yisheng is hosting it." Her mother's grip was relaxed on the steering wheel. "He's evaluating every family there. How we dress, how we speak, and how we carry ourselves. Everything matters."
Su Yiling stared out the passenger window, watching the city pass by. Her mother was right - even an informal meeting with Gu Yisheng was significant. The question was whether these would set the pace for their family to rise into the Beijing marketplace or whether they would further go down in the business pyramid. "We'll start at Spring Fashion," her mother was saying, having planned their shopping route. "They have nice business casual pieces. Something professional but approachable. Nothing too flashy."
Su Yiling let her mother's voice wash over her while her mind worked through tomorrow evening. She was going to meet Gu Yisheng in a room full of other competing families. The mysterious businessman who could change everything with his decision.
She wondered if her mother could hold herself back from getting into a shopping frenzy.
More importantly, she hopes to survive today's shopping and not break down.