Chapter 63: The Blind Date |
Sigh~
Jiang Taozhi put down her mobile phone, let out a soft sigh, her face full of worry.
Ruan Hongzhuang, sitting opposite her, asked with some surprise, "What's wrong with you?"
Jiang Taozhi didn't answer the question, instead saying pitifully, "Boss, can I please take the afternoon off today?"
"No."
Ruan Hongzhuang, sitting across from her, crossed her legs with a smile, seeming to enjoy the sight of Jiang Taozhi's distress.
"Boss, you're such a black-hearted Capitalist, trying to squeeze out every last bit of my surplus value," Jiang Taozhi couldn't help but retort.
The reason she dared to speak to her Boss like this was naturally because of their unusual relationship.
Ruan Hongzhuang wasn't annoyed upon hearing this, instead saying, "You still haven't told me what you have going on this afternoon."
"Sister Wenxin?"
Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang sat up straight and uncrossed her legs.
Clearly, she also knew Jiang Wenxin, and Jiang Wenxin held considerable weight in her mind.
"Yeah, last week she said she'd introduce me to someone.
Starting yesterday, she's been calling me, telling me I absolutely must not stand him up. Today, she even called first thing in the morning to remind me.
I'm about to be annoyed to death by her…" Jiang Taozhi couldn't help but complain.
"Since Sister Wenxin is being so serious about it, it means the other person's status must be quite extraordinary.
You'd better not stand him up and make things difficult for Sister Wenxin. But aren't you meeting at night? Why do you need to take the afternoon off?"
Ruan Hongzhuang rested her chin on her hand, a curious look on her face.
Seeing her like this, Jiang Taozhi was momentarily stunned, because Ruan Hongzhuang was simply too beautiful.
Her expression was a mix of playful annoyance and amusement, her bright eyes shifting, looking completely curious.
Even as a woman herself, Jiang Taozhi was dazed by her looks.
"I'm asking you a question, what are you spacing out for?"
Ruan Hongzhuang poked Jiang Taozhi's forehead with a finger, snapping her back to her senses.
"Hongzhuang, if only I were a man," Jiang Taozhi said with a sigh.
"What would be so good about it?"
"I wouldn't be forced into a Blind Date every day, and I could marry you and take you home," Jiang Taozhi said with a grin.
Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang sat up straight again, then shot her a sidelong glance from her bright eyes.
"If you were a man, do you think I'd even give you a second look? No ambition, careless in your work, gluttonous and lazy… aside from this face…"
Ruan Hongzhuang suddenly reached out and pinched Jiang Taozhi's cheek.
Although Jiang Taozhi was already twenty-eight this year, she looked very young, like a freshman in college. Her face was chubby, with a bit of baby fat, and a pinch revealed it to be full of collagen, feeling wonderful to the touch.
When the two went out together, Jiang Taozhi was often mistaken for Ruan Hongzhuang's younger sister.
"Stop talking, you're going to make me depressed."
Jiang Taozhi reached out to stop the other from continuing.
Jiang Taozhi and Ruan Hongzhuang were university classmates with an excellent relationship. After graduation, Ruan Hongzhuang took some money from her family to start a business, and Jiang Taozhi, who was unemployed at the time, chose to be her assistant, a role she's held ever since.
So on a normal day, they were both superior and subordinate, as well as Best Friends. Many things one couldn't say to a Boss, one could complain about directly to a Best Friend.
"Don't change the subject. Why do you need the afternoon off? What, are you planning to go home and get all dolled up?"
Ruan Hongzhuang looked Jiang Taozhi up and down.
"I think you look fine just as you are, you don't need any special dressing up."
"What dolling up? At five this afternoon, we have to go to Qingyuan Group for a meeting with them.
There's no way we'd be back before six…"
"Alright then, you don't have to go this afternoon."
"Thank you, Boss, for your great mercy."
Jiang Taozhi put her palms together, feigning an expression of gratitude.
"This is the first time Sister Wenxin has set you up with someone, right?" Ruan Hongzhuang asked, rolling her eyes at her.
Jiang Taozhi nodded.
Her family had arranged a few Blind Dates for her before, but this was the first time Jiang Wenxin had introduced someone to her, and with such seriousness, which made her take it a bit more seriously too.
"Sister Wenxin is a very reliable person.
The man she's introducing you to should be quite suitable for you," Ruan Hongzhuang said.
Ruan Hongzhuang knew Jiang Wenxin well, or rather, she was quite familiar with the entire Jiang Family.
Because the Jiang Family was quite influential in Binhai, Ruan Hongzhuang had received a lot of help from them when she first came to Binhai for her Entrepreneurship, so their relationship was extraordinary.
Jiang Taozhi nodded, quite in agreement with Ruan Hongzhuang's words, but then changed the subject, asking, "Enough about me, when is our Big Boss Ruan going to find a partner? We're the same age, you know.
Speaking of which, I'm a few months older than you, so you should be calling me elder sister."
Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang subconsciously reached out to pinch her cheek again, but she seemed a bit lost in thought.
"A boyfriend?"
She had been so busy with her Entrepreneurship these past few years that she really hadn't considered this question.
Time passed quickly, and five in the afternoon arrived in no time.
Ruan Hongzhuang stood up, preparing to head to Qingyuan Group.
"Where are you meeting him? Do you want me to drop you off on the way?" Ruan Hongzhuang asked Jiang Taozhi, who was engrossed in her mobile phone.
Jiang Taozhi was startled by her words, glanced at the time, and then exclaimed, "It's already five o'clock!"
Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang sighed and said, "Sometimes, I really wonder if you're the assistant or if I am."
"Hee hee~, my apologies.
I was chatting with Sister Wenxin, asking her about the person she's setting me up with," Jiang Taozhi said, waving the mobile phone in her hand.
"Let me see."
Full of curiosity, Ruan Hongzhuang reached out and snatched it away.
Jiang Taozhi didn't mind, saying from the side, "Sister Wenxin said that although his background is very ordinary, he's handsome, a good person, and very capable."
But Ruan Hongzhuang, who was looking through the mobile phone, frowned, starting to doubt whether this person Jiang Wenxin was introducing was reliable or not.
She wasn't as naive as Jiang Taozhi, believing whatever anyone told her.
On WeChat, Jiang Wenxin said the man was a good person, but didn't say how he was good.
She said he was very capable, but didn't say what he was capable of either…
It gave her a feeling of ambiguity and evasiveness.
Ruan Hongzhuang saw the meeting location for the Date.
"Sunset coffee?"
It was an open-air café by the sea. In the evening, you could drink coffee, feel the Sea Breeze, and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the sun sinking into the ocean, filling the sky with orange hues.
That's why it was named Sunset Coffee.
Ruan Hongzhuang had been there a few times and was quite familiar with the area.
So she said, "It's on the way, I'll take you there."
Hearing this, Jiang Taozhi quickly packed her things and went downstairs with Ruan Hongzhuang.
Driver Sun was already waiting downstairs. Seeing the two of them come down one after the other, he hurriedly opened the car door.
The car moved slowly along the coastal road. It was evening, and the setting sun shone on the seashore, its light glinting on the waves.
A few seagulls soared in the sky, sailboats dotted the distant water, and the sound of a steam whistle could be heard from time to time…
Despite the beautiful scenery, Ruan Hongzhuang's gaze, looking out the car window, was unfocused.
She was a little curious in her heart about what kind of person Jiang Taozhi was going to meet tonight.
Just then, her mobile phone rang.
She picked it up and saw it was a call from Jiang Taozhi.
"What's wrong?"
"Boss Ruan, Assistant Chen from Qingyuan Group just contacted me. She said their Manager Wu had a sudden heart attack and went to the hospital, so today's meeting is cancelled."
"Did you ask which hospital he's in?"
"No."
Ruan Hongzhuang: …
"I'll go ask right now," Jiang Taozhi said hurriedly.
"Forget it, let's just leave it for now." Ruan Hongzhuang hung up the phone, a headache coming on.
Then she said to the driver in front, "Driver Sun, let's go back to the café we just passed."