Chapter 1104: Perplexed and Smitten (164)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Correct. So, Young Madam, I think the item that you’re looking for must be with the old patriarch. Regardless of how incompetent he may be, he’s still an authoritative member of the Yin family.”
“I doubt I can find if that easily. That’s a precious belonging of the Yin family, they’ll definitely keep it well hidden. However, we do have an abundance of time and patience to wait here. We’ll ambush them when they’re not paying attention. They definitely aren’t that vigilant or sharp, and they probably don’t have their guards that high up.”
“How old is the old patriarch?” No. 5 asked.
“According to our investigation, he’s said to be 77 years old.”
“He’s already so old, how invincible can he be?” No. 5 remarked.
An Xiaoning chided, “Don’t belittle that old man. How can he be the head of the family and command the respect of his children and servants if he’s really incompetent? Let’s not talk about that for now. We just need to get the thing that we want. The rest is not of our concern. Hurry and eat up. Once you’re done, we’ll go get things done while s.h.i.+xin goes out to meet a few candidates whom he’s interested in.”
Fan s.h.i.+xin frantically waved and said, “Young Madam, I’m not in a hurry. Let’s focus on the important things first.”
“We’re not in a hurry today. No. 5 and I can manage on our own. Go ahead and get busy with what you have to do.”
The thought of a matchmaking session never failed to give Fan s.h.i.+xin a major headache.
Indeed, his headache was not uncalled for.
In the afternoon, he went on blind dates with five consecutive women in B City.
Yet, none of them could pique his interest, and he was not at all keen to get to know them better.
Although they did look pleasant in their photos and seemed to possess great attributes according to the given information, they turned out to be far worse than what he had imagined.
“Young Madam, I really don’t want to go on matchmaking sessions anymore. I’ll throw up at the thought of having to go on more in the future.”
Staring at him solemnly, An Xiaoning said, “s.h.i.+xin, you’re definitely going to get sick of matchmaking if you go on too many blind dates. However, you’ll be fine after throwing up. Just continue and press on. I refuse to believe that you can’t find a suitable woman out of so many of them.”
“Maybe I’m getting too old for love, or maybe it’s because I haven’t been in a proper relations.h.i.+p before, but I still don’t know women too well. I can’t seem to figure them out at all.”
“Why so?” An Xiaoning asked in puzzlement.
“I’ve met seven women in total, including those from yesterday, and five of them refused to drink the coffee because they were afraid of gaining weight from all the added sugar. They’re all paper thin and yet they’re so obsessed with losing weight. What a great insult to overweight girls. They’re just spoiled and contentious. Most men prefer women who are chubbier. Women who are just skin and bones really don’t look pleasant at all.”
No. 5 guffawed in amus.e.m.e.nt upon hearing his complaints. He chimed in, “I completely agree with you, Chief. I added lots of women as friends on my WeChat account and I found that a few of them are exactly like those that you’ve described. They’ve uploaded so many digitally altered photos of themselves that are so heavily retouched, their parents probably won’t be able to recognize them. They often complain about struggling to lose weight in their captions too. However, they all seem to weigh less than a hundred pounds. I really felt like leaving a comment on their photos, but I decided to forgo the idea after some consideration.”
“What did you want to comment?”
No. 5 chuckled and answered, “I wanted to say, ‘Hey chick, you’re already so slim and flat-chested. If you continue to lose any more weight, you’re going to look even worse than before. Men prefer a well-endowed woman to a thin and emaciated woman.”
Fan s.h.i.+xin clucked his tongue in disdain toward No. 5’s snide remark. “Fortunately, you didn’t leave any such comments. If you did, they would probably react to your comment in a typical manner.”
“How would they react?”
“They’ll obviously blow their top and tell you off, claiming that you have no right to poke your nose into their business. They’ll also tell you to screw off. After guessing that you’ve already read their reply, they’ll delete it and block you off their account. The highest skill that a man can attain is turning a blind eye to everything. You never know when you’ll offend women with just a frivolous and casual remark.”
No. 5 agreed, “Yes, yes. Women are the hardest to please.”
They looked at each other before turning to look at An Xiaoning, who was staring at them while smiling. She remarked, “No wonder you two can’t get a girlfriend.”
Her words shut the two of them up.
—
It was nighttime.
Jin Qingyan was sleeping peacefully on the s.p.a.cious bed.
Bei Qi had given him a dose of chemical that would aid him in sleeping. He tried it and discovered that it really helped to improve his quality of sleep.
As usual, he added a few drops of the chemical to his food during dinner, after which he soon began to feel sleepy.
He had an unusually long night of dreams.
However, he was lucid during his dream and was well aware that he was merely dreaming.
The first sensation he felt was a sudden chilliness.
It felt just like wintertime.
He scanned his surroundings and got out of bed.
However, he was dressed in a white robe. He picked up the clothes on the hanger and took a closer look, only to discover that it was not something that he would usually wear. “Someone, come in,” he yelled.
Two servants who were dressed in ancient clothing scrambled toward the door. “Your Highness,” they greeted.
“Put my clothes on for me.”
The two servants looked at each other and hurriedly did as instructed, not daring to ask any more questions.
Although Jin Qingyan was not used to being served by others, he kept a straight face and remained standing.
“Your Highness, would you like to have breakfast alone or with Miss Jin…”
“We’ll go to her place. You guys take the lead.”
They looked at each other and hung their heads low before saying respectfully, “We wouldn’t dare to.”
“Cut the c.r.a.p and walk in front of me.”
“Yes…”
Jin Qingyan arrived at the backyard, and he instructed his bodyguards to wait by the door while he entered alone.
The door was wide open, and Yu Jiao was sweeping the floor at the backyard. Her cheeks had turned pink due to the biting cold. Upon the sight of him, she put the broom away gleefully and said, “Your Highness, Miss Jin has yet to wake up.”
Jin Qingyan placed his hands behind his back and gazed at Mei Yangyang’s face. “It’s alright, go prepare breakfast while I wake her up.”
Yu Jiao sensed that something was different about him. After racking her brains, she realized that he had stopped putting on airs.
However, she did not dwell on it any further and nodded fervently. “Yes, I’ll go right now.”
He continued walking toward the red wooden door.
He was greeted with the wafting aroma of incense that filled the room. She seemed to have lit up some incense to aid her in sleeping.
He walked inside and lifted the curtain.
There was another red curtain around the wooden bed. He stopped in his tracks and lifted the curtain to look at Hua Jin.
He initially thought that she was really still asleep, like what Yu Jiao had said. To his surprise, she was already wide awake and had her eyes open.
Upon the sight of him, she turned over and whined coquettishly, “Why are you here? I don’t wish to see you.”
Jin Qingyan immediately understood that she was upset with him.
He bent forward and leaned closer toward her, only to realize that she had teared up. He said in a sweet and affectionate voice, “You might not wish to see me, but I want to see you. Even when we don’t meet, you’re constantly running through my mind. I didn’t sleep well at all last night because I had been thinking about you. C’mon, get up and let’s have breakfast together.”