At her desk, An Qingning finally received a message from Lin Chu. She glanced at it and was slightly stunned.
Hm?
'A yacht party?'
'There's a big shot there?'
She took a deep breath, a little troubled, and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
'This is bait.'
'It's definitely bait.'
However, she was still a bit hesitant, and also quite tempted.
"Huh? I thought you said you were coming to my company today?" she typed, adding a couple of pleading emojis.
She sent it deliberately, trying to play a little hard to get.
After she sent the message, Lin Chu quickly replied: "Never mind then."
Sigh…
Seeing his message, An Qingning was speechless. 'He's really that blunt!'
'Asshole!'
'Even a fisherman wouldn't be this impatient, right?'
'He's not giving me any room to play hard to get?'
"I didn't say I wasn't going. I'll go ask my manager if I can take some time off…"
Lin Chu: "Let me know within half an hour. If you can't, forget it."
An Qingning: …
"Okay."
...
「Meanwhile.」
Zhang Peng sent Bai Fangfei a message to meet downstairs at the hotel so they could head back to the company together.
"Where's Brother Chu?"
Bai Fangfei asked with a pout. She had thought Lin Chu would be there too, but she didn't see him when she arrived.
"Brother Chu has something this afternoon. Let's go back to the company first."
Zhang Peng knew what she was thinking and smiled. "Don't be so clingy. The more you stick to him, the more annoyed he'll get. Don't worry, you'll get your reward. I'll have him send you a Carnival later."
He naturally had to handle this kind of cleanup himself.
Even though Bai Fangfei heard this, she still looked gloomy, her lips pouting high.
Zhang Peng had already called a car and ushered her into the back seat.
"Are you angry?"
Zhang Peng asked with a smile, looking at her expression.
"No… just a little bummed out. I thought he was going to take me to the yacht party. Last night, they said they were going to hang out on a yacht today."
Bai Fangfei composed herself and said in a soft, sweet voice.
"Heh, they go to parties like this all the time. There'll be plenty of opportunities later. Maybe they have to discuss important business today, so it's not convenient to bring a woman along. Be smart about it, don't act up. Of course, you can act up, but the big boss won't put up with it. One time will be the last time."
Zhang Peng took the initiative to hype up Lin Chu and lay down the rules.
"Oh…"
Bai Fangfei was helpless but couldn't say anything more.
"So? Last night… were you satisfied?"
Zhang Peng teased her with a mischievous grin.
Her face turned slightly red. She turned her head away and said with a touch of coyness, "Stop it. Don't ask about that stuff. You might have to call me 'sister-in-law' one day."
"Alright, alright. Hello, sister-in-law."
Zhang Peng said with a laugh, but inwardly he was speechless.
'Fucking toad lusting after a swan's flesh. What a beautiful dream. Someone like you wants to be the sister-in-law?'
'Besides being good-looking and having a great body, she's got nothing going for her.'
...
An Qingning didn't keep Lin Chu waiting long. She sent a message: "I took the day off, so I can go. Do I need to bring anything? Where are you?"
Drawing from last night's experience, Lin Chu knew that even if there were girls at the gathering, as long as he was with his buddies, he would still get a rebate. So he replied: "Ensue. Just come straight here. We'll have a meal first."
"Oh, okay."
An Qingning replied in a second.
She had wanted to eat at this two-Michelin-star restaurant for a long time, but work hadn't been going well recently. With no sales, she never had the chance to go.
'With a per-person cost of several thousand, who can afford that?'
'I even sent the restaurant guides from Little Red Book to my bootlickers, but they all went silent and didn't take the hint.'
'Now…'
*Tsk.*
'It really is… 'Finally I've found you, thank goodness I didn't give up.''
She still hadn't deleted that Moments post.
But she did discover that Li Yaoyao had deleted her as a WeChat friend and also kicked her out of the group chat.
But that wasn't important anymore.
...
Lin Chu first met Lu Ming at the entrance of Ensue. Lu Ming had changed into a sun-protection jacket and looked very sporty. Beside him was a fair-skinned girl with a rather scholarly air about her.
"Brother Chu."
Lu Ming greeted him with a smile, pretending they hadn't seen each other last night. "Long time no see…"
He blinked nonchalantly.
Lin Chu understood instantly. "Isn't that the truth. You're a busy man, and I've been pretty busy myself lately. Let's go, we'll eat first. And this is…?"
Only then did Lin Chu look at the girl next to him.
"Hello, you can just call me Xiaolu."
She said with natural grace.
Lin Chu didn't probe into their relationship. He just gave a casual nod, and the three of them entered the private room.
They were served by the same beautiful waitress from yesterday.
She, too, was taken aback for a moment.
Yesterday, these two customers had spent 120,000 and even refused a complimentary dish from the head chef. It had truly left a deep impression on her.
"Something to drink?"
Lin Chu asked Lu Ming with a smile.
"Sure, I'm good."
Lu Ming hesitated for a moment but still nodded. The wine here was quite expensive, definitely pricier than market value. The markup was so high that ordering it felt like being a sucker.
However, he had to maintain his image in front of the girl. Since Lin Chu had suggested it, they might as well order.
"Let's get a bottle of Romanée-Conti. This one."
Lin Chu ordered the 180,000-yuan Conti. 'What you keep thinking about will eventually manifest.' Yesterday he couldn't afford it, not even with his entire net worth. Now, he could.
His current bank balance was 760,000.
After this meal, he estimated it would surpass one million.
Lu Ming glanced at the wine list, then at Lin Chu, his brow furrowing imperceptibly. He sighed inwardly.
'Such a spendthrift.'
'A hundred and eighty thousand for a bottle of wine.'
'But then again, he dropped 300k at the club last night.'
'Now, it seems like 180k isn't such a big deal.'
What grew more in his heart was curiosity.
'What kind of "fortuitous encounter" did Lin Chu have?'
This level of spending was something that even guys worth tens of millions, or even a hundred million, would rarely dare to do. This was the spending level of a top-tier rich second-generation.
At this moment, the girl named Xiaolu was also slightly astonished.
She had eaten at Ensue quite a few times, but this was the first time she had ever seen someone order a 180,000-yuan bottle of wine.
"What does Brother Chu do for a living?"
She asked curiously.
Lin Chu glanced at her, then looked at Lu Ming, but only smiled without saying a word.
Lu Ming smiled and patted her head. "Little kids shouldn't ask so many questions. Just be good and eat your food. Hurry up and pick what you want."
This was the unspoken understanding between men.
'Control your girl, and don't let her ask too many questions.'
Xiaolu's expression immediately became a little embarrassed. Her face flushed slightly, and she gently bit her lip, trying to look cute to ease the awkwardness.
...
The food hadn't arrived yet, and the wine was being left to breathe.
An Qingning arrived.
She pushed open the door to the private room, and upon seeing Lin Chu, she immediately smiled and greeted him, "Brother Chu, sorry about that. The traffic was a bit heavy."
Lin Chu looked at her. She had clearly dressed up meticulously. Her makeup was exquisite, and she wore white sneakers, yoga pants, and a sports bra, an outfit that outlined her figure perfectly. Tucked into the deep cleavage of her chest was a pair of sunglasses, giving her the vibe of an Instagram influencer.
*Tsk.* 'Attack speed build.'
"Have a seat. Don't let it happen again."
Lin Chu said casually.
She smiled, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Then she greeted Lu Ming, "Brother Lu, we meet again."
Lu Ming's expression flickered for a second.
Lin Chu also suddenly realized that she had let it slip. Although he didn't know why Lu Ming was hiding the fact they had been drinking together last night, he obviously couldn't expose him now.
"President Lu is a busy man with a lot on his mind. Let me introduce you again. This is my assistant, An'an. You two met last time we had crayfish."
Lin Chu said nonchalantly.
An Qingning: ?
She suddenly had a flash of understanding. She pursed her lips into a smile and decided not to say anything for the time being.
Lin Chu's quick cover-up worked. Xiaolu didn't realize anything was amiss and said with a sweet smile, "Sister An'an, hello. Just call me Xiaolu."
Lu Ming breathed a sigh of relief.
An Qingning looked at Lin Chu and quickly understood the situation, thinking: 'So this is what men are like. That damned "friendship" between men.'
'Covering for each other, huh?'
...
...