After celebrating her birthday, Yao Jingjing suddenly realized she was already twenty-seven. It hit her hard—if she didn't start considering finding a partner soon, she might end up becoming a nun at Mount Wutai in her twilight years.
She began asking her bosses, colleagues, and friends to notify her if they knew any single men between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five.
Her best friend Qian Fei expressed deep concern upon hearing her age range: "Are you seriously shameless? You’re even targeting fifteen-year-old minors? At least start from eighteen—barely legal adults!"
Yao Jingjing thought this made sense. Blame it on her sudden desperation to "get hitched"—in her excitement, she had focused too much on the "young" in "young stud" and nearly crossed the line into illegality.
So she adjusted the age range, changing fifteen to eighteen.
Qian Fei continued berating her: "You really are shameless! An eighteen-year-old is a whole decade younger than you. By the time he's twenty-eight, you’ll be pushing forty! Once you’re old and haggard, you think he’ll stick around? He’ll dump you sooner or later!"
Yao Jingjing solemnly disagreed: "Mine is the scientifically sound approach! Look—when he’s twenty-eight, I’ll be thirty-seven. He’ll be in his prime, and I’ll be in my prime . He’ll be just right for me. You think you and Wang Ruohai are a perfect match just because there’s only a one-year gap? By the time you’re in your prime , he’ll be balding and sweating, completely useless!"
Not long after she said this, Wang Ruohai actually broke up with Qian Fei for cheating with another woman. Yao Jingjing nearly slapped herself.
She realized she might have a bit of a jinxing mouth.
●︶3︶●
After the morning meeting, Yao Jingjing was packing up to leave when her supervisor called her back.
Once everyone else had gone, her supervisor asked, "Weren’t you begging for blind date opportunities? I’ve got someone in mind. Want to give it a shot?"
Yao Jingjing thought seriously and asked, "How old is he?"
The supervisor said, "Around forty. Never been in a relationship."
Yao Jingjing clicked her tongue. "That pure? A rare gem from the heavens!" Then she asked, "Is he good-looking?"
The supervisor said, "No."
Yao Jingjing went, "Oh," and said, "Fine, in the dark, everyone’s Liu Qingyun—just a shadowy lump." After a pause, she added, "But is he hairy? I like it thick, more masculine!"
The supervisor gave her a sidelong glance. "Not really. A bit balding."
Yao Jingjing went, "Oh," again and asked, "Is he tall?"
Supervisor: "No."
Yao Jingjing: "Educated?"
Supervisor: "Probably finished nine years of compulsory education, but no idea if he got a diploma."
Yao Jingjing: "Last question—is he rich?"
Supervisor: "A full-blown nouveau riche."
Yao Jingjing slapped her thigh. "I’ll take it! If we don’t work out, I’ll just adopt him as my sugar daddy! I can even sell him some products and earn a commission! These days, even real heiresses can’t compete with girls who have sugar daddies when it comes to flaunting wealth!"
Yao Jingjing asked the supervisor for the man’s name. The supervisor said, "Tian Duan."Yao Jingjing burst into giggles. When her supervisor asked what was so funny, she replied, "Oh, nothing really. I'm just pleasantly surprised. Who would have thought in this flashy, chaotic society we could still hear such a pure and simple name? It's so rare! I can practically smell the fragrance of nature!"
The supervisor's lips twitched. "Just say you think his name is tacky instead of spouting all this nonsense," she retorted. After a pause, she added the finishing blow, "Your name is common, his is rustic - in that regard, you two are actually a perfect match!"
Yao Jingjing's smile turned vicious. She was seriously considering quitting.
●︶3︶●
Stuck in stop-and-go traffic the whole way, Yao Jingjing arrived at the blind date location feeling dizzy and lightheaded.
Staggering slightly, she entered the luxurious five-star restaurant, desperately trying to recall her supervisor's instructions about where to meet her date: third table by the window.
Her eyes scanned the window-side tables until she spotted a man sitting with his back to the entrance at the third table.
Clicking her high heels loudly, she marched over and took the seat across from the mystery man.
Then she froze in shock.
This man looked nothing like the rumors suggested... and was ridiculously handsome...
Her eyes laser-scanned him from head to toe in two seconds flat.
Armani shirt. Patek Philippe watch. Berluti shoes...
Definitely loaded!
Yao Jingjing smiled sweetly, pitching her voice to maximum charm: "Are you Tian Duan?"
The handsome rich guy remained expressionless. "I'm Lu Ze."
Yao Jingjing blinked.
No wonder he was so good-looking - wrong guy entirely...
After a moment's hesitation, she began looking around frantically until she spotted a balding middle-aged man at another table behind them.
Counting tables from the back, she realized that was actually the third window table.
Turning back to the handsome stranger, she announced, "Sorry, wrong table!" and immediately relocated to the balding man's table.
She moved so quickly she completely missed the momentary flicker in the rich guy's eyes and the slight twitch of his lips as if he wanted to say something but didn't get the chance...
●︶3︶●
Plopping down across from the balding man, Yao Jingjing apologized, "Sorry about being late - traffic was terrible, and then I sat at the wrong table first. Have you been waiting long?"
The balding man looked up at her in confusion.
When she removed her jacket, revealing a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage, his confusion disappeared.
Yao Jingjing mentioned her supervisor's name. The man nodded vaguely, and she knew she'd found the right person this time.
The man seemed shy, so to avoid awkward silence, Yao Jingjing launched into enthusiastic chatter. Soon her professional instincts took over - she began animatedly describing her company's products.
She was enthusiastically explaining their "galaxy-leading" after-sales service when suddenly a shrill voice bellowed beside them: "Duan Fugui! What are you doing? I just asked you to save our seats and order! Can't even do that without flirting? Who is this woman?"
Yao Jingjing looked up in shock to see a plump middle-aged woman glaring at her furiously.
"Duan Fugui?!" Yao Jingjing's mind went blank.
●︶3︶●
Things were getting complicated.The balding middle-aged man swore up and down to prove his innocence, insisting that Yao Jingjing was the one who came onto him, flaunting her looks to push her sales pitch.
The plump, fair-skinned woman wasn’t buying it. Sharp-tongued and skeptical, she firmly believed the two of them were actually involved.
Yao Jingjing felt a headache coming on. Damn it, she’d mistaken someone again!
She tried to stand up and leave, but the plump woman slapped a hand on her shoulder and shoved her back down.
“Don’t you dare run off! You think you can just slip away without explaining? Not a chance!”
Yao Jingjing’s temper flared.
What had she done to deserve this? Today was just one unlucky mess—mistaking people twice in a row. And this uncle, how could he be so shameless, acting like he knew her boss?
She decided to slam the table and stand up.
But before she could, a deep male voice cut in.
“Excuse me, but I believe this young lady simply sat at the wrong table. She was actually here to meet me.”
Yao Jingjing looked up and saw none other than that cold, handsome tycoon from earlier stepping in to bail her out.
●︶3︶●
Dressed head to toe in luxury, the aloof and handsome Lu Ze helped the clueless Yao Jingjing up and led her back to his own table.
After downing the glass of water in front of her in one gulp and wiping her mouth, Yao Jingjing grabbed her coat and said, “Thanks for helping me out.” She made to leave.
Lu Ze stopped her.
“Miss Yao Jingjing, right?”
Yao Jingjing froze.
She didn’t recall telling him her name—so how did he know it?!
Puzzled, she sat back down.
“How do you know who I am?”
Lu Ze leaned back in his chair, watching her. “Here’s the thing. I’m not Tian Duan, but I am his friend. He asked me to come in his place to inform his blind date that he’s already found true love—yesterday.”
Yao Jingjing’s eyes widened.
What kind of nonsense was this?
“Why didn’t he come tell me himself?”
Lu Ze replied, “He said he felt too guilty and didn’t know how to face you, so he asked me to apologize on his behalf.”
Hearing this, Yao Jingjing thought back to the ridiculous mess she’d just endured and finally snapped.
She slammed her palm on the table and stood up, her voice rough with fury. “Seriously, what’s wrong with this guy? He’s a grown man—can’t he live without being so dramatic? A simple phone call saying he found true love would’ve been enough! I’d have wished him well! Was all this roundabout nonsense really necessary? If he hadn’t been so extra, I wouldn’t have had to embarrass myself by mistaking someone today!” She paused to catch her breath before glaring at Lu Ze and continuing her tirade. “And you, mister, you’re something else! You knew I’d mistaken someone, yet you just sat there watching me babble on with those people. Must’ve been a real cheap thrill for you, huh? Didn’t even have to pay for the show!”
Faced with her outburst, Lu Ze merely raised an eyebrow. “You seemed to be having a good conversation. Who knows, you might’ve actually closed a sale. I didn’t want to interrupt and ruin your chances.”
At this point, Yao Jingjing abandoned all pretense of decorum and let out what sounded suspiciously like a curse. “Holy—! Fine, I give up!”
Staring at his impassive face, her frustration boiled over. A wicked idea suddenly struck her, and she smirked. “So, Lu Ze, right? Since you’re here as his stand-in, shouldn’t you fulfill some of his blind date obligations?”
Lu Ze narrowed his eyes. “What are you implying?”Yao Jingjing said, "Alright, I'm not after your looks, don't act like I'm desperate for you! But I did get quite a scare today, and you got to watch the show for free. So now I think I'll rob you of some money—you've got to take that, right?"
Without waiting for the expressionless rich guy across from her to respond, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers to summon the waiter. "I'd like to order. Bring me the top ten most expensive dishes on your menu!"
●︶3︶●
After a while, the lavish dishes began arriving at the table.
Yao Jingjing glared at Lu Ze and declared, "You're paying for this meal!"
Lu Ze shrugged. "Whatever."
Once that was settled, Yao Jingjing rolled up her sleeves and dove into the food with gusto.
As she ate, she started to realize she might have ordered a bit too much.
She looked up, chewing a mouthful of sea cucumber, and said to Lu Ze, "Hey, you there, you can eat too. Don't just sit there watching. You're paying, after all—you're the host here. Eat if you want, no need to hold back!"
The corner of Lu Ze's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. He picked up his chopsticks and began serving himself with impeccable elegance.
Yao Jingjing couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
Seriously? Putting on airs just to eat?
She roughly jabbed her chopsticks into a dish, scooped up a huge pile, and stuffed it into her mouth.
She had to show him what real life was about. Life wasn't about pretending—picking up one cashew at a time, when would you ever get full? Life was about eating big mouthfuls of meat until your lips were shiny with grease.
But this time, she had grabbed way too much. When she shoved it into her mouth, she could barely close her lips.
She chewed and swallowed with great effort.
She noticed the man across from her had set down his chopsticks.
She kept struggling to swallow.
Then she heard him speak.
"Actually, I'm still single. I suddenly think... maybe we could give this blind date a real try."
The next second, Yao Jingjing's eyes bulged, her neck stiffened, and—just her luck—she choked.
Author's Note: A chuuni young woman vs. an expressionless rich CEO—hope you all enjoy ^＿^
Actually, I really like Sean Lau, so he's the first example that comes to mind, hahaha...
So many people sent gifts yesterday—Auntie Jiu is scared to tears!!! Thank you, everyone!!!!!!! Bows in gratitude!!!!!!!!
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