Chapter 4 (1/2)
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 s.h.i.+guang 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 s.h.i.+guang 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, s.h.i.+guang 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 relations.h.i.+p 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 fas.h.i.+on 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 relations.h.i.+p!!