"My second brother is such a good-for-nothing! It's only this late and he's already here for dinner?" Ji Anxi thought to herself, but a big smile appeared on her face. "Second brother, what are you doing here?" To avoid her second brother asking questions, she decided to take the initiative. Anyway, there was a handsome man standing next to Ji Anbo, who was quite different from his previous cronies.
Ji Amber looked a little uncomfortable, and coughed lightly before saying, "Nothing much, just had dinner with some friends. What about you?"
“Me? Me too.” Ji Anxi’s gaze was somewhat evasive. “I came to eat with my classmates. I… I arrived a little early!” She hesitated for a moment, afraid that Ji Anbo would go and greet her “classmates,” so she said she arrived a little early.
"You're the first one here? Come on, your second brother will help you choose the vegetables!"
Unexpectedly, things backfired. Ji Anbo insisted on accompanying her inside to choose dishes and even planned to pay the bill before leaving.
Ji Anxi, unaware of when Zhou Paihuai had arrived, panicked. She hurriedly said, "No need, it's not like I don't have money. Besides, our classmate reunion always splits the bill!" Her tone was tense, and her intention to get rid of him was quite obvious.
However, Ji Amber didn't realize it. Although he didn't quite understand what his little sister, who was so old, was thinking, that's just how friends get along, and he could only respect that.
“Then I’ll go with you to choose the dishes first. I know this restaurant very well, and other people don’t know which dishes are good!” Ji Anbo was still very enthusiastic.
"..." Ji Anxi had never found her second brother so annoying. Everyone has eaten before. At worst, she could just order all the dishes here. Was she afraid of not finding something delicious?
"President Ji, there are still some matters at the company that require your attention. Shall we head back first?" The aloof-looking man next to Ji Anbo suddenly spoke up.
Ji Anxi was taken aback by his tone of voice. Was this an employee of her second brother's company? When did her second brother's company acquire such talent? She couldn't help but take another look at the man and found that he was indeed very aloof. When reporting to the boss, he acted as if the boss owed him millions. Wasn't he afraid of upsetting the boss?
"Really? Then shall we go first?" Ji Anbo was indeed not angry. Instead, he gave up helping his younger sister choose vegetables and went to her to go back to the company with her.
"..." Anyway, Ji Anxi was quite happy to finally get rid of Ji Anbo. She watched him leave with a smile, thinking that she could finally go see Zhou Paihuai in peace, and then turned and went into the restaurant.
Chapter 49 So you became a fan so early on.
"There's something wrong with your sister!" Jiang Ye suddenly said as they got into Ji Anbo's car.
Jiang Ye is the aloof man with both stunning looks and exceptional charisma standing next to Ji Anbo. However, Ji Anxi has misunderstood. He is not Ji Anbo's employee. The two originally had a one-night stand, but Ji Anbo keeps pestering him, so things are a bit complicated now.
"You're the one with the problem!" Ji Anbo hadn't won Jiang Ye over yet, so he was very good to him. But no matter how much he liked Jiang Ye, he wouldn't allow him to criticize Anxi.
Jiang Ye rolled her eyes at him and said, "What I mean is, she's lying to you."
“... ..."
Ji Anbo refused to believe it, so he made a bet with Jiang Ye and decided to wait at the door to see if any of Ji Anxi's classmates would come over.
... ...
Ji Anxi declined the waiter's offer to lead the way and walked towards the private room on her own. The closer she got to the room, the faster her heart beat, pounding as if it were about to jump out of her chest. She had to put her hand to her heart to calm it down.
Five steps, four steps, three steps, two steps... Finally, Ji Anxi arrived at the entrance of Piyunzhai. She checked several times; this was the place. She should have just pushed the door open or knocked, but at the last minute, Ji Anxi shamefully chickened out. Thinking about it now, she was incredibly bold. She didn't even know who was on the other end, yet she dared to meet someone alone. What if a few burly men jumped out of the room? Would they assassinate her? Even if it wasn't an assassination, what if Zhou Youzui didn't believe she wasn't a hater and forced her to sign some shady agreement?
The door was suddenly pushed open from the inside, startling Ji Anxi, who was prone to making wild imaginations, so much that she took a few steps back and almost jumped up. Her sudden movement also startled the person who opened the door.
"Who are you? What do you do?"
The person who came out of the door was not Zhou Paihuai at all! She knew it, she knew that Zhou Paihuai had been lying to her all along, and that Zhou Paihuai had never intended to meet her.
Liar! Liar! Liar!
Silently repeating the order three times in her mind, Ji Anxi mustered up the courage to have a big argument with this swindler who colluded with Zhou Huaihuai. Unexpectedly, she heard the sound of a door opening behind her, and then her clothes were tugged.
"Who?" Ji Anxi, still thinking about the few burly men, subconsciously shook off the man's arm.
"..." The person behind seemed to sigh deeply, then said, "You've come to the wrong room."
The voice was very familiar. Ji Anxi took a moment to react before suddenly turning around and seeing Zhou Paihuai, who was dressed very strangely. Yes, although she was wearing a hat and a mask, Ji Anxi recognized her at a glance.
Oh, so Zhou Paihuai wasn't lying to her; she had simply gone to the wrong room. Suppressing her doubts, Ji Anxi apologized. Ugh, how embarrassing! Ji Anxi, her face flushed, followed Zhou Paihuai back to their pre-booked private room.
It was so embarrassing. Ji Anxi never expected that their first formal meeting would be so awkward. It seemed like she was having a run of bad luck. She shouldn't have made plans to meet with Zhou Huaihuai.
But how did Zhou Paihuai know he had gone to the wrong room and come out in time to save him from the predicament? Could there be a security camera in this room?
"How did you know I was outside?" Ji Anxi couldn't help but ask.
Zhou Paihuai turned around to look at her and saw the little black-faced girl blushing and looking completely confused. She was just as adorable as she had imagined; the little black-faced girl seemed to have a knack for being cute. As for her question, Zhou Paihuai didn't know how to explain it. Just now, she had suddenly had a strong urge to go out and see what was going on, and then she realized that the not-so-bright little black-faced girl had almost gone into the wrong room. If she had to give an explanation for this mysterious thing, it could only mean that the two of them were destined to be together; the little black-faced girl was meant to be her friend.
"I figured you should be here by now, so I went out to check," Zhou Huaipai explained.
Although the two had played games together for so long and developed a certain camaraderie, that was before they even met in person. Their first offline meeting, however, was remarkably natural; they acted as if they had known each other for ages. It was truly a miracle.
To prove she wasn't stupid, Ji Anxi said, "I clearly checked several times, wasn't the room I booked Piyunzhai? Why... ..."
“It’s not your fault, it’s just that the place is poorly designed.” Zhou Paihuai pointed behind her. “This private room is indeed Piyunzhai. As for why another room is also named this, if you look closely, you’ll see that the room name has a left-turning arrow next to it. It means that if you see that room, turn left and you’ll find Piyunzhai.” Zhou Paihuai wasn’t just trying to comfort Ji Anxi. If she hadn’t come here several times, she probably wouldn’t have been able to find the place without someone showing her.
How could there be such a strange design?
"Alright, let's forget about the design for now. What would you like to eat?" Zhou Paihuai picked up the menu and handed it to her.
Ji Anxi still couldn't believe that she was really going to have dinner with Zhou Paihuai. She didn't even know who she was, yet she agreed to meet with her and have dinner with her.
In Zhou Huapai's eyes, it was as if the little hater was staring at her face after she took off her mask and hat for a long time, completely mesmerized.
"Pfft~" She chuckled and said, "Hey, you've edited so many videos, and you're still not immune to this face?"
Ji Anxi then realized that she was acting a bit like a lovesick fool, and she hurriedly shifted her gaze to the menu: "Let me see!"
The girl in black almost buried herself in the menu, covering half her face, leaving only her large eyes visible. Zhou wandered around looking at it, then suddenly felt that the girl in black looked familiar.
"Have we... met before?" Actually, Zhou Paihuai hadn't met many people since arriving in this world, so she wondered if the original owner and Xiao Heifen had met before, and if this body had memories of Xiao Heifen.
Ji Anxi gripped the corner of the menu tightly with her fingers, and said casually, "Anyway, I see you on TV every day, you probably haven't seen me before!"
Something's not right! Zhou Paihuai stood next to Ji Anxi and said, "Stand up."
"Huh? Why?" Ji Anxi obediently stood up.
Zhou Paihuai compared her height to Xiao Heifen's and found that Xiao Heifen was actually a little taller than her, which made her even more suspicious. "Weren't you at my birthday party last time?" Looking at her now, Xiao Heifen was clearly the one who had helped her out at the birthday party, and she had actually said she hadn't seen her before.
"No...no way! Why would I go to your birthday party?"
She clearly came, but she still won't admit it. She's so stubborn! But speaking of which, her birthday party was half a year ago. Did her haters become fans so long ago? Although Ji Anxi won't admit it, she probably doesn't realize how flustered she is. Zhou Paihuai is very good at judging people and is completely certain that she is the one who helped her at her birthday party.
"It seems I'm quite charming."
Seeing that she completely ignored her explanation and was convinced that she was the person at the birthday party, Ji Anxi could only say in exasperation, "You're too narcissistic! If the paparazzi hear this, you'll definitely be trending again!"
Narcissism is human nature; how many people in this world aren't narcissistic? Zhou Paihuai didn't think this assessment was derogatory, and even if it made her trend on social media, she wouldn't worry. Besides, what she said was true; the haters had already become fans. How many people in this world can turn haters into true fans? She did what many celebrities couldn't. So what if she's a little narcissistic?
“I’m not afraid of trending on social media.” Zhou’s hesitant gaze fell on the menu. “Have you made your choice yet? It’s getting late, and tomorrow is Monday, so you can’t go back to school too late.”
Ji Anxi had already made her choices. It would be wasteful to order too much food for just the two of them, but the portions at this restaurant weren't too large, so they each chose three dishes they liked.
After selecting the dishes, Zhou Paihuai took out his phone and said, "They cook very slowly, should we take this opportunity to try our food?"
"... " Ji Anxi realized that Zhou Paihuai was really addicted to this game; no wonder she was so good at it. While internally complaining, Ji Anxi honestly pulled out her phone. Okay, she was actually quite addicted to the game when Zhou Paihuai invited her to duo queue. She just didn't know whether she liked the game itself or the feeling of playing with Zhou Paihuai.
... ...
Ji Anbo and Jiang Ye had been waiting outside the restaurant for over an hour. During that time, it wasn't that no one went in, but those who did were all quite old, and they were definitely not Ji Anxi's classmates.
"As it turns out, I was right," Jiang Ye said, his voice clear and cold yet penetrating.
"Maybe...maybe she was late on the way!" Ji Amber stubbornly insisted, "My sister has no reason to lie to me. It's not like our family forbids her from having a social life!"
Jiang Ye snorted coldly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with his explanation, and asked, "So you want to continue waiting here to prove that your sister didn't lie to you?" If so, he would leave. He wasn't like Ji Anbo, a spoiled brat, who had so much time to waste.
"Wait a little longer, I think her classmate will definitely come. Anxi wouldn't come all this way for a meal by herself!" Ji Anbo is now particularly curious about who has the ability to invite Anxi to a place like this.
"How do you know the person hasn't arrived yet?" As a lawyer, Jiang Ye always spoke bluntly. "I'm afraid the person she arranged to meet arrived before your sister did, but you just didn't notice."
It's not impossible that Ji Anbo is now itching to get out of the car and rush in to find Ji Anxi and see who she's meeting with.
"There's really no need for ordinary friends to hide things from you..."
Jiang Ye hadn't finished speaking when Ji Anbo understood. If it were a friend or classmate, Anxi would have no reason to hide it from her brother, unless—unless she was meeting her boyfriend today! Anxi actually has a boyfriend? How old is she to have a boyfriend?! No, this absolutely cannot be!
After realizing what was happening, Ji Anbo was about to get out of the car, intending to rush in and arrest the person, and also give that brat who had corrupted Anxi a beating. In Ji Anbo's mind, his sister was the kind of person who was always there for her parents, and could also act as a trusted confidante for her older siblings. Now that she was lying to her second brother, someone must have corrupted her.
But as Ji Anbo was about to get out of the car, he realized that Jiang Ye, who was sitting in the driver's seat, did not stop him at all.
"Aren't you going to try and stop me? I'm going down there and beat someone up!"
Jiang Ye's tone remained indifferent: "If you get sued after beating someone up, I can give you a discount."
“... ..."
"If you're going down, hurry up, I'm leaving." Jiang Ye's tone was tinged with annoyance. He must have been out of his mind to come to dinner with Ji Anbo today, and he didn't expect to waste so much time with him after dinner. This guy is just toxic.
"No way, what will I do if you leave?" Ji Anbo slumped back into the passenger seat. "I specifically didn't drive here today, I just wanted you to take me home!" The second young master of the Ji family made this request with a sense of righteous indignation.
"Shall we leave now? Or you can get out of the car and call someone to pick you up."
"Forget it, you take me home. I can't control Anxi here!" Ji Anbo was quite aware of his position in the family. Anxi had never caused any trouble since she was little, and even if she really did... she must have her own plans.
After listening to him finish speaking, Jiang Ye started the car and prepared to drive away. However, just as he was about to leave, Ji Anbo noticed with sharp eyes that Ji Anxi was coming out of the restaurant. Strangely, she was alone.
"Wait a minute!" Ji Amber called out to Jiang Ye again, "Attorney Jiang, it seems even horses stumble and people make mistakes. You can be wrong too!"
Although Ji Anxi said her classmate didn't come, judging from the current situation, it seems more like she was stood up by her classmate, otherwise she wouldn't have come alone and left alone.
"Just five more minutes!" Jiang Ye said, intrigued. "Someone else will definitely come out alone soon, just like her."
Sure enough, five minutes later, a suspicious person appeared in their line of sight. The person's clothing was indistinguishable between male and female, and they were wearing a mask and a hat, which looked suspicious.
"I want to get out!" This time, Ji Anbo did not hesitate at all. He got out of the car and walked aggressively toward the person whose behavior he found extremely sleazy.
This place wasn't far from Zhou's apartment, but it wasn't particularly close either, about five or six kilometers away. So she was still debating whether to walk back or take a taxi when she saw someone rushing towards her.
She looked around; there was no one nearby, so he must have come for her. Zhou Paihuai felt a little helpless. She hadn't expected that even though she was all bundled up, she would still be recognized by a fan. But thankfully, the hater had left, and she figured it wouldn't be a problem to bump into a fan and take a photo while she was out having a meal.
So when Ji Anbo rushed up to Zhou Huapai, she took off her mask.
"Did you bring your own pen if you want an autograph?"
--------------------
Author's Note:
The older brother and his partner are a secondary couple, and they are involved in less of the main storyline.
Chapter 50: Clothes Endorsed by Zhou Paihuai
When Ji Anbo saw Zhou Paihuai's face, he was completely dumbfounded. This was not what he expected. Had Jiang Ye guessed wrong, or had he found the wrong person? Should he wait a little longer?
Ji Anbo's stunned silence was nothing to Zhou Paihuai. After all, he was Ji Anbo's idol. It's normal for ordinary people to do strange things when they see their idols. Plus, Zhou Paihuai was so easy to talk to, agreeing to take a photo and sign an autograph. It was normal for Ji Anbo to be momentarily speechless.