Starting from then, whenever he had free time he would go to Yi Eryang"s workplace trying to think of ways to wash away his shame.
The workers there seemed to have been infused with new life. Everyone fought to look the best and gave flowery smiles, regardless of whether it was men or women, old or young, married or not, everyone became more pretty, more gentle, even photographer Liu secretly put on some makeup. According to him, what if Tang Jianan is also interested in this type of dish?
After coming by a couple of times, Tang Jiana met numerous dolled up men and women, yet the person he was looking for never showed up. After coming so many times and not getting any results, he had no choice but to be straight with Yi Eryang.
Because of this fellow"s unwelcome presence, the productivity of Yi Eryang"s workshop plummeted and he was furious, pointing and cursing, “Scram, scram, the next time someone dares to let you in, I"ll make them scram too.”
Tang Jianan had a big smile on his face, “Tell me Feng Ping"s address and phone number and I"ll immediately get out.”
Yi Eryang immediately refused, “I don"t know.”
Tang Jianan sat down on the desk, swinging his legs and snorted in contempt, “Who believes your bulls.h.i.t? She"s your employee yet you don"t know her phone number. Is your place a teahouse, people come and go as they please and don"t need to fill out any forms or go through some sort of registration?”
Yi Eryang gave a long sigh, “She"s just a part-timer, what do I care?”
Tang Jianan was shocked, his face full of surprise, “Ah, Eryang! You actually let a part-timer sit with you in business cla.s.s, when did you become this generous?”
Yi Eryang wanted to cry and howled in grief, “I say Jianan gongzi(1), Jianan dianxia(2), just because she didn"t recognize your precious ident.i.ty, you can"t be wanting to use such underhanded methods to deal with her…”
“F*** off!” Tang Jianan laughed as he punched his shoulder, and held up the coffee that was on the table to take a sip, “Speaking truthfully Eryang, is it because you like her that—”
“I swear on my heart!” Before he could finish, Yi Eryang cut him off, “If I have this intention, my name is Zhong Sheng Yang Wei(3).”
Tang Jianan sprayed out the coffee that was in his mouth and couldn"t stop laughing.
Yi Eryang lost all the color in his face and hurriedly went to go save his designs. After wiping them down, he threw the balled up napkins at Tang Jianan"s head, furious, “Scram.”
Tang Jianan laughed as he ducked, and spent a long time fixing his expression, “Eryang let me ask you, a woman who is part of Shengying"s fashion circle, she actually doesn"t know who Tang Jianan is? Do you believe that?”
Yi Eryang pouted and didn"t say anything.
Tang Jianan gave a cold smile, “She even dares to say that she doesn"t care about the entertainment world, what a joke. She was actually trying to attract my attention, how devious…”
“Then why are you letting yourself fall into the trap?”
“If I don"t enter the tiger"s den, how could I get the tiger?(4)”
Yi Eryang gave a mocking laugh, “Have you been that bored?”
Tang Jianan also laughed and grabbed a hold of him, “That"s right that"s right, just grant this wish of mine. You and I are brothers, and I"ve never asked you for anything. Just this once, give it to me…”
He squeezed into Yi Eryang"s chair, one arm curled around his shoulder begging for him to grant his wish, yet didn"t notice at all that Yi Eryang"s a.s.sistant was at the door. Tongue-tied, she stared at the two people in front of her, one as handsome as a G.o.d, another clean and straight, one pure and elegant, another dark and calm. Witnessing such intimacy in the chair behind that desk, her eyes were about to fall from her head.
Three minutes later, rumors about them already spread around the whole office.
Within the office, Yi Eryang could not stand his tortue and finally admitted defeat, writing down an address and gave a long sigh, “Another delicate sapling is going to be ruined.”
With the address in his hand, Tang Jianan immediately a.s.sumed the aura of a beast, seeming to say that he"s going to destroy the bridge after crossing the river(5) and pushed Yi Eryang onto the desk—
At this time, the young ladies in the office heard the sounds coming out from the room and looked at each other as they broke out into a cold sweat.
Tang Jianan felt very satisfied after tormenting him and slowly adjusted his clothes, raising a hand to fix his hair and sneered, “I almost got scammed by you.”
Yi Eryang raising a trembling finger and wailed, “Tang Jianan, you evil playboy, I curse you to be full of bad luck starting from now.”
Tang Jianan"s face was full of satisfaction and after laughing loudly, left the room.
Seeing his face that look as if spring had come, everyone"s gaze in the office followed him as their faces turned red, their eyes holding peach blossoms. Photographer Liu sat on the desk and with an enchanting expression, follow Tang Jianan"s back as he uttered a phrase, “As long as he fancies this dish, I still have a chance…”
Tang Jianan went to go find Feng Ping three times in one month, yet hadn"t seen a trace of her. When he went for the fourth time, his patience was already at its limit. He can"t be this bored all the time, plus if the paparazzi catches him, that"d be fulfilling her wish and giving her face.
This time his luck wasn"t too bad. Even though no one answered the doorbell when he rang, he heard some sounds coming from the apartment, meaning that there was someone at home. So he raised his fist and knocked on the door, after knocking at least ten times, there still wasn"t anyone answering but instead the neighbor woke up.
The auntie took a look and saw a male whose height was around 180 cm, wearing sungla.s.ses and a black suit and coupled with his imposing aura, he looked like he was part of the mafia, frightening her so thoroughly that she hurried shrunk back.
Tang Jianan stuck his foot out to prevent the door from closing, “Auntie please wait!”
Her face turned pale and gripped the ends of her pajamas, “What do you…do you want?”
Shocked by her actions, Tang Jianan hurriedly retreated a couple of steps and opened his mouth to show off his white teeth, “Auntie, I just want to ask something, do you know about what time the person living next door in apartment 101 usually returns home?”
Frightened, the auntie replied, “There"s no one living in 101. Originally it was a pair of husband and wife but they sold it, and no one has seen the new owner.”
“No way?”
Tang Jianan couldn"t believe it and looked at the address in his hand, he was at the right place.
“Auntie are you sure? There isn"t a girl that"s around 172 cm tall, with long hair, in her early twenties living here? She"s very pretty, she"s hard to forget even if you meet her just once.”
“Hard to forget after just meeting once? Hehe, hehe, then I definitely haven"t seen her.” The auntie coldly laughed and ready to close her door, “Go ask the property manager downstairs.”
Tang Jianan was completely confused and suspecting that Yi Eryang messed with him, he immediately dug out his phone to interrogate him.
After being yelled at, Yi Eryang also become suspicious and went to dig out the original copy of the information, and tracing along with his pen, he read into the phone, “1108 Yin Hua Street, Bai Ma Apartments 3rd tower, 13th floor, Apartment 101. Feng Ping. Home Phone: None. Cell Phone: None. E-mail: None.” As he read it he also became surprised, “Could she be from an ancient era?”
The reason why Tang Jianan kept thinking about Feng Ping was because one, he had the same illness that all the rich young masters had, he was bored. Second, of course, it was also because Feng Ping was quite pretty. Now there was a third, curiosity.
“Where did you originally find her?”
“Because there weren"t enough people to help out for the fashion show, I put out an ad and she came for an interview.”
“What"s her experience? Which university?”
“She didn"t have experience nor did she go to a university. She said that she made some clothes for her family members before and could complete this job. When I looked at her portfolio, she was better than the other college students that were interviewing with her, so I used her.”
“You sure don"t follow conventions when it comes to hiring people~~”
Yi Eryang ignored his provocation, “Even though she said that she never received any formal training, I actually hope that she is a professional.”
“Was she lying?”
“I actually hope that she"s lying!”
“Why?”
“If she wasn"t lying, then she"s a genius at designing clothes.”
Yi Eryang gave a long sigh and with a voice full of emotion said, “The only thing I"m happy about right now is that she doesn"t have enough money to start her own shop, otherwise I would no longer have a place in our country"s fashion scene.”
On the other line, Tang Jianan didn"t say anything, trying to guess if Yi Eryang was telling the truth or not.
“Now you know why I didn"t want to tell you her address, right? Tang Jianan these three words are equivalent to money.” Yi Eryang"s voice carried a hint of laughter, “If you two were to get together, I would be ruined.”
Tang Jianan replied, “Then that means that you admit she was trying to hit on me on the plane, right? Right?”
Yi Eryang hated seeing his narcissistic side the most and coldly smiled, “Not quite, she might really have not known who you were.”
Tang Jianan reminded him, “Being jealous will ruin your elegant demeanor…”
“Bulls.h.i.t!”
“Since you"re interested in her, why didn"t you keep her in the office? Now I can"t even find her…”
Yi Eryang immediately refuted, “Idiot! Do you think she"d be satisfied working under someone else?”
Tang Jianan laughed, “Were you rejected by her? Haha…it"s alright, I"ll help you take revenge…”
He hadn"t finished his words when the person on the other end hung up.
(1) gongzi: Another term for young master (used in the ancient times)
(2) dianxia: To refer to a prince (used in the ancient times)
(3) Zhong Sheng Yang Wei (终生阳痿): Literally lifelong impotence.
(4) 不入虎穴，焉得虎子： In English, the closest equivalent would be ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained"
(5) 过河拆桥: Essentially it means to throw someone away after they have helped you.
Forchen Notes: In case it wasn"t clear, the “dish” being mentioned is in regards to whether Jianan swings both ways.