During the following few days, Tang Jianan became very busy. After being abroad for over half a month on a business trip, he rushed back to New York for a shareholder"s meeting. After three or four meetings, he was swamped with work and his schedule was packed without leaving any time for him to take a breather.
After around two months, during one night he was having dinner with a client on the top floor of Shiguang Hotel. He had the habit of looking around whenever he sat down, and he suddenly saw Feng Ping. There was a young male sitting at the same table with her, and he was dressed impeccably. Looking at his profile, he seemed to look quite familiar, but Jianan was unable to think of who at the moment.
When the person you"ve been trying to find to no avail suddenly shows up, Tang Jianan"s new and old grudges were brought up again. The new grudge was naturally how his attempts to find her at her apartment were fruitless. It"s always been women trying to chase him, when had he ever made the effort to find a woman? The old grudge was when she was acting dumb on the airplane. Daring to use her poor acting skills on him, that was too insulting for him.
She looked a little darker than the last time they met, and her hair was shorter and sported some bangs. It was the look of a young student, which was rarely seen nowadays, yet it suited her features.
Acting innocent? Tang Jianan felt stifled, wondering who the male sitting with her was. To be able to eat at Shiguang Hotel"s restaurant on the top floor, he must be quite wealthy. Shengying"s circle was not very big, so he should recognize him?
His obvious staring made his client, Tianyao Technology"s Director Liu, look back as well. He recognized the male right away.
“Huh, isn"t that Fang dashao(1)? There were rumors that he was fighting with his father and wanted to start up his own company…”
Hearing his words, Tang Jianan suddenly remembered.
Fang Junhao, Shiguang Hotel was owned by his father and there were only thirteen in the world. In the country, other than Shengying, there was another one in Wuming City, known as the capital of culture. Rumors had it that Fang family"s younger daughter Junyi was a beauty, Tang Jianan had two younger brothers that studied at the same school with her in England, so that"s how he heard.
Who knew what the two were talking about when Fang Junhao suddenly laughed out loud. Feng Ping"s hand was holding the winegla.s.s and one could see a smile on her face as well, which was quite extraordinary, making her seem very n.o.ble. Tang Jianan suspected his eyes were wrong. Huh, not seeing her for a couple of months, did she go take an etiquette course?
Director Liu saw that Tang Jianan was distracted and wasn"t paying attention to their conversation, his eyes constantly drifting off to that table. Director Liu sighed involuntarily, Everyone says that Tang family"s second son is a playboy, looks like it"s true. That woman"s beauty truly is incomparable, but it shouldn"t be to the extent that one would lose their soul.
Although he thoughts were like this, he held a smile on his face, “If Director Tang recognizes them, why don"t you go ahead and greet them?”
Tang Jianan didn"t reply and sank a little lower.
At this time, Fang Junhao"s cellphone suddenly rang. He picked it up and shot an apologetic look towards Feng Ping. She nodded her head and he walked off to the side to pick up the phone.
The moment Fang Junhao left, she turned her head towards the direction of Tang Jianan and smiled.
She really could act.
Tang Jianan gave a cold laugh and threw his napkin down as he stood up, “Then Director Liu, please wait a moment, I"m going to go say hi.”
With big steps he walked over to her table and before he could open his mouth, Feng Ping spoke first. Sitting on the chair, she tilted her head up to look at him, smiling, “It"s been a while Mr. Tang.”
Her face was clear and dewy, while her eyes seemed to be sparkling as she gazed at him. Tang Jianan suddenly felt somewhat captivated as his heart gave a start. The words he originally planned to say were forgotten and he could only follow along, “That"s right, has Miss Feng been well recently?”
Feng Ping gestured for him to take a seat, “Same as always.”
Pulling out the chair across from her, Tang Jianan sat down and began his interrogation, “I heard that Miss Feng left Eryang"s workshop, I wonder where you"re currently working?”
“No work.”
“Are you in school?”
“No.”
“Then did you just graduate?”
“No.”
From the beginning up until now she carried a smile, but since her answers were so conscise, Tang Jianan didn"t question her any further. He had some measure of knowledge in his heart. He knew a few girls that were like her, ones that didn"t need to work yet weren"t struggling to survive and dressed up so brilliantly every day and had expensive cars to chauffer them around. Otherwise how could she be able to eat at the most high-end restaurant in the city? Just the price of the dishes on her table would equal a two-month salary of a regular white-collar worker.
Tang Jianan looked at the dishes and then Feng Ping"s face.
She was still smiling at him, showing off her flawless facial features. Taking a closer look, she wasn"t wearing any makeup so her skin looked soft and clear. Such flawlessness, she really suited the term ‘natural beauty".
Amongst the girls that he knew, there were none that didn"t wear makeup. This made Tang Jianan feel a little unhappy inside: Being born this beautiful, what"s the harm in letting her use it?
He dug out a name card from the few that he always carried around and handed it to her, “My card.”
Feng Ping took it, seeing only a name and a string of numbers as well as Beicheng Corporation"s logo. Giving thanks, she tucked it away in her purse.
Waiting a little longer, Tang Jianan saw that she didn"t have any intentions of giving her phone number and couldn"t help but remind her, “I don"t know Miss Feng"s…”
Before he could finish, Fang Junhao returned with a funny expression on his face.
“Tang ershao(2)?” He looked at Tang Jianan, then Feng Ping, and then rested his gaze upon Tang Jianan once more. He had a suspicious look on his face and his words portrayed his surprise, “Do you two know each other?”
Tang Jianan only replied with a small smile.
Feng Ping suddenly spoke, “Junhao, do you remember my home phone number?”
Fang Junhao nodded.
She smiled, showing her teeth, “Then can I trouble you to write it down for Mr. Tang? I can never remember my home phone number.”
Hearing this, Tang Jianan gave a start. This was way too brave! Saying these words right in front of Fang Junhao, isn"t she telling him that he, Tang Jianan, wants to hit on her? Even though he really did have this idea, he wasn"t shameless to the point where he would do it right in front of the other party.
As expected, when Fang Junhao heard these words he immediately turned around, his gaze sparking.
He could only give an elegant smile, “I"ll have to trouble you.”
Since she didn"t care, then he didn"t have to pretend to be so modest either. Regardless of whether she wanted to provoke Fang Junhao or whether she had some other motives in mind, he"ll deal with the rest of it once he gets her phone number.
Tang Jianan gave thanks after receiving it and stood up, “Then I won"t be bothering the two of you anymore. Miss Feng, let"s talk later.”
Feng Ping smiled, “Alright.”
On his drive home after dinner that day, as Tianyao Technology"s Direct Liu recalled the events that happened during dinner he felt more and more amused. Within the first half hour, Tang Jianan kept stretching his neck to stare at Fang Junhao"s table, and then during the latter half hour, it was Fang Junhao who kept shooting glances at Tang Jianan. These two youths were part of the diamond five VIPs in the city. If the woman that night was just an ordinary one, his train of thinking wouldn"t head in this direction either.
The phrase ‘a beauty begets disaster" seemed to be quite true.
Tang Jianan was originally absolutely sure that Feng Ping wanted to hit on him, but after meeting Fang Junhao, he wasn"t so sure anymore. Just the opposite, he felt that she became even more interesting. Things that are being fought over are better, that was why men were such sc.u.m.
He didn"t know how far Feng Ping and Fang Junhao"s relationship hda progressed but he was confident that it wasn"t shallow. At least Fang Junhao knew her home phone number, on this note alone, Fang Junhao was stronger than him. Speaking of that, she sure had wide connections. Fang Junhao usually stayed in Europe to help his father manage the hotels there, how did he get tangled up with her?
a.n.a.lyzing futher: That"s right, one can meet a lot of famous people when entering the fashion world. No wonder she wanted to work in Eryang"s workshop. That"s a place that girls wrack their brains trying to get into. But then why was she so willing to suddenly leave? He couldn"t figure it out.
As Tang Jianan wracked his brains trying to figure out the situation, the weekend had already arrived.
After arriving home from work, it was 5:30 PM. After brewing for a little bit, he took out his cellphone and dialed Feng Ping"s number. As he waited for the voice on the other end to come through, he suddenly heard the thumping sound of his own heartbeat, feeling his face grow hot. How embara.s.sing. He wasn"t even this nervous when he had his first relationship!!
The most pitiful thing was that no one actually answered him!
He wasn"t satisfied and dialed another three times only for his calls to still go unanswered. Now he was really miffed and went to the bar in his house to pour himself a drink. Sitting on the wide couch for a little bit, he grabbed his phone and called Xia Yao. Xia Yao was currently in the midst of filming at her shooting location, but when she detected that something was off, she immediately told him that she would talk to the director and come back to accompany him.
Tang Jianan just wanted to confirm the superior feeling he had all his life, he didn"t actually need someone to accompany him so he calmly rejected her. Afterwards, he called Wu Nianzhen and Yu Manwen. Both of them were extremely happy and were very gentle. Even though Yu Manwen scolded him for a little bit, it was also a gesture of love.
Look at that, in this city there are numerous women that are at his beck and call, only that hateful Feng Ping wouldn"t even pick up a phone call? Since she"s not at home she doesn"t know how to forward her home phone to her cell phone? She wouldn"t not even have a cell phone right? How stupid!!
As Tang Jianan kept feeling depressed, he went to the bathroom to take a shower and then went to bed.
The next day he woke up and seeing that it was only 6:15 AM, he laid on the bed for a while. Grabbing his phone he dialed the familiar string of numbers.
This time it only rang twice before someone picked up. A clear and bright voice sounded, “Who is it?”
Tang Jianan didn"t harbor any hope that his call would go through, not to mention how quickly it was picked up, so he hurried sat up from his bed, “Feng Ping xiaojie?”
She gently laughed, “You didn"t call the wrong number, Mr. Tang.”
Tang Jianan felt awkward all of a sudden, “Um, I didn"t realize you were up so early?”
She laughed louder, “If I didn"t wake up this early then who would Mr. Tang talk to?”
Tang Jianan quickly coughed, feeling that his brain still hadn"t woken up yet, he could speak bluntly, “I called you yesterday night but you weren"t at home…”
“I"m sorry, I came home late yesterday.”
“Do you have any plans today? I want to treat you to a meal.”
“Hehe, I"m afraid that I won"t be free until tomorrow after 8 PM…”
Tang Jianan hurriedly replied, “Then tomorrow at 8PM, I"ll come pick you up.”
Feng Ping paused for a moment.
Tang Jianan"s heart jumped.
“Mr. Tang,” After a short pause, she spoke again, albeit a little hesitantly, “Mr. Tang, please forgive me for being so blunt but my time is very precious.”
One of Tang Jianan"s hands was holding his cellphone while the other was knocking his head. Was he really not awake? Why couldn"t he understand what she was saying?
“I, don"t really understand what you"re saying?”
“What I"m trying to say is, if you want me to eat with you, you"ll have to pay me.”
With this sentence, Tang Jianan almost fainted on his bed, full of disbelief.
This was way t-t-t-t-t-t-t-too forward!!!
For her to be able to say it this clearly and openly, without any trace of shame, Tang Jianan was about to bow to her in admiration. He"s met quite a few women that were materialistic, but at the very least those women knew how to cover it up by using feelings. Only she would be able to clearly lay this out, how brave. His feelings of admiration for her came out like a flood…
“Did I scare you Mr. Tang?”
“No, no you didn"t.” Tang Jianan"s brain churned, “I was wondering, how should I pay you?”
After saying this he wanted to choke himself. Oh my G.o.d, how could he say such words? Even if she could treat herself as an XX(3), was he going to treat himself as an XX as well? My G.o.d!!
Her voice was extremely moving, “Four hundred dollars per hour. You can"t cheat me.”
“If I do this long-term, is there a discount?” He finally found back a bit of soul and purposefully teased her. This was his specialty.
She seriously replied, “There"s no chance of it being long-term. I"ve said it before, my time is limited.”
Tang Jianan pretended to be shocked as he exclaimed, “I"m very curious as to how Feng xiaojie schedules her time?”
Feng Ping softly laughed, “Let"s put it this way Mr. Tang. When I want to go out and entertain myself, there will be people specially a.s.signed to plan things for me. When I want to be alone and in a quiet place without anyone disturbing me, they will automatically disappear until I need them again.”
Speaking up to here she paused and then spoke again, “So, Mr. Tang, if you want to go on a date with me, other than preparing to pay me four hundred dollars every hour, you must also wait until I have time to spare.”
Tang Jianan almost couldn"t breathe.
This woman was way t-t-t-t-t-t-too arrogant!!
Feng Ping waited for a while and after she didn"t hear a reply, she spoke with a slightly gentle tone, “Then Mr. Tang, tomorrow at 8 PM, you"ll…?”
She didn"t even finish speaking before she heard a “pa” sound and the line went dead.
Still holding the phone, Feng Ping sat for three seconds before she gently put it back.
A weird and crazy grin started to grow on her face, all the way to the corners of her eyes until she couldn"t hold it in anymore and laughed loudly on her bed.
Two minutes later, her phone rang again.
She barely picked up the phone when she heard Tang Jianan gritting his teeth and spitting out, “Tomorrow at 8 PM, I"ll come pick you up.”
And then the other end hung up again.
Feng Ping fell onto the bed laughing again.
Ten minutes later, the phone rang again. She pressed the speaker b.u.t.ton and heard a man"s beautiful voice sound out as he spoke deferentially, “Xiaojie, your yacht and plane have been prepared. Bojue furen(4) will welcome you at her countryside manor. Right now, the car to take you to the harbor is already waiting for you downstairs.
(1) dashao: Literally older young master.
(2) ershao: Second young master
(3) XX: This was how it was written in the raws
(4) furen: A way to refer to a married woman.
Forchen Notes: We finally have a glimpse of Feng Ping"s background! She"s definitely not just a simple girl, hmm.