Chu Yang opened the door and saw Zhang Jingzhi. He wasn't particularly surprised, probably guessing that Xiao Xiao had to tell her about it. He didn't say much, went back to his desk, and sat down, occasionally flipping through his notebook before typing away. Zhang Jingzhi, having climbed the stairs too quickly, was a little out of breath. She didn't have time to speak yet, standing in the doorway to catch her breath first, secretly admiring her cousin's composure.
Chu Yang suddenly asked, "Sis, do you read romance novels?"
Zhang Jingzhi was taken aback, and subconsciously nodded.
Chu Yang called out to her, "Come over and help me analyze which option is the most suitable."
Zhang Jingzhi, bewildered, went over and saw that Chu Yang had already typed most of a message on the computer:
A plan to seduce a violent, dissolute, wealthy, narcissistic, mature man
Scenario 1: A woman acts innocent and naive, attracting a man's attention. She first firmly rejects his unreasonable demands, arousing his desire to conquer. During this time, the man will try various methods to seduce the woman. The woman is unable to resist the temptation, but she will always stick to her "principles" and disdain the man's money... The battle between the two is omitted. The final result is that the man reforms and is redeemed by an "angel" (X).
Scenario Two: A woman uses seductive allure to attract a man's attention. She then employs a strategy of feigned weakness, readily agreeing to his unreasonable demands and offering herself to him to expedite his encounter. She accepts any money from him (though inwardly she despises him). The details of their interaction are omitted. The final result—the man sees through her act—only intensifies his desire to conquer her. The outcome follows the same pattern as Scenario One. (X)
Scenario 3: ...
Zhang Jingzhi could hardly believe her eyes, and her voice trembled slightly as she asked, "What do you want to do?"
Chu Yang leaned back in his chair, a little annoyed. "I stayed up half the night reading romance novels to come to this conclusion. Which category do you think Fang Yi falls into?"
Zhang Jingzhi felt her brain freeze, staring blankly at Chu Yang.
Chu Yang frowned: "Haven't you read a lot of romance novels? Is there anything else? Tell me about it."
Zhang Jingzhi can only shake her head now.
"This is too difficult. The more I think about it, the deeper it gets. It's like rock-paper-scissors. I guess he'll choose scissors, but I'm also afraid he'll guess that I'll choose scissors. So I should choose scissors, but what if he also thinks that way? Then I should choose paper. Oh no, oh no, the more I think about it, the more complicated it gets. What should I choose?" Chu Yang grabbed his hair in frustration and frowned as he looked at Zhang Jingzhi.
After Chu Yang played a game of "rock, paper, scissors," Zhang Jingzhi felt even more confused and completely paralyzed. It took her a long time to finally ask Chu Yang, "What exactly do you want to do?"
"I'll date Fang Yi sincerely, cling to him, ask for his money, compete with his other women for his attention, call him every day, check up on his whereabouts, and so on. If he falls in love with me, then I'll marry him. If he wants a divorce, I'll cry, make a scene, and threaten suicide. Then I'll ask for alimony during the divorce proceedings. If he dumps me halfway through, then I'll pester him for another six months, fight with his new lover, and ask for a breakup fee. Then I'll make a perfect exit!"
Zhang Jingzhi was completely stunned and muttered, "Xiao Xiao wasn't wrong, you really are crazy."
Chu Yang raised an eyebrow at her. "What else? Are you really going to run away? Hmph, he's rich and powerful. The more I run away, the more excited he gets. I'm not going to run away."
"What if he only plays a few times?" Zhang Jingzhi asked.
Chu Yang sneered, "That's even easier. If he offers money, you absolutely can't accept it at first. You have to pester him for two months before asking for a large sum in the end!" Chu Yang suddenly stopped, as if he had remembered something. "No, if I don't accept it at first, won't he think I'm too high-minded and be more interested? Should I accept it? Oh, no, sister, do you think I should ask for money the first time?" Chu Yang asked Zhang Jingzhi seriously.
Zhang Jingzhi gripped the table, feeling dizzy. "Good Zhang Jingzhi, please don't get dizzy, please don't get dizzy," she muttered to herself.
"Forget it, we'll see how things go then, but we have to keep bothering him a few times before letting him go, just to prevent future trouble!" Chu Yang said.
Zhang Jingzhi now completely agreed with Xiao Xiao's statement: Yes, Chu Yang was insane. If she weren't, would she be seriously discussing with her whether or not she should pay for their first time?
Zhang Jingzhi (revised)
It was not yet 12 o'clock when Zhang Jingzhi left Chu Yang's place. Only then did she realize that she had rushed a bit. Just as she left the residential area, Wang Yuhan called.
He asked, "Have you eaten? If not, let's eat together."
Zhang Jingzhi thought to herself that this person was really outgoing. After only meeting a few times, he could speak to her in such an intimate tone. This was really funny. Didn't he realize her attitude towards him?
"Hehe, I just ate," Zhang Jingzhi said with a smile.
Wang Yuhan laughed on the other end of the phone and asked, "So early? Hehe, really, you don't want to eat with me, do you?"
"How could that be? Look at what you're saying," Zhang Jingzhi smiled politely. "I really did eat it. My colleague just brought it back for me. It's Yangzhou fried rice. Hey! Xiao Wang, could you throw my lunchbox away too?" Zhang Jingzhi pretended to call out, making it sound so real that she was almost asking Xiao Wang to respond. But it's a phone call, so how could she possibly transmit her voice? She just needed to put on a good show.
"Don't let Xiao Wang get lost, let me help you."
"No, no!" Zhang Jingzhi quickly said, then suddenly realized something was wrong. She turned her head and saw Wang Yuhan's car, and Wang Yuhan sticking his head out of the car with a sly grin...
"Are you pretending to be smart, or are you really stupid?" Wang Yuhan asked while driving.
Zhang Jingzhi was still embarrassed by being exposed for lying on the spot. When she heard Wang Yuhan ask her a question, she instinctively wanted to reply, but before she could even utter a sound, she realized there was a trap in his question. What was the difference between pretending to be smart and being genuinely stupid? She suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at Wang Yuhan, and just smiled at him, saying softly, "I was worried that you would spend too much money, and lunchtime is quite short. It must be tiring for you to run around like that."
Wang Yuhan laughed: "But aren't you a lady? How can a lady lie?"
Zhang Jingzhi gave a stiff laugh, "You're joking, when have I ever been a lady?"
"Oh? No?" Wang Yuhan glanced at her, his smile widening. "Then at least lie properly. It's so noisy on the street, what kind of 'Little Wang' are you? Listen to the horns on the road, do you think cars can drive into your office?"
Zhang Jingzhi took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to punch him in the face. She thought to herself, "Why is this guy so clueless? Why does he have to keep harping on my little mistake? He's even more persistent than the old lady downstairs's lapdog!" She thought maliciously, but still wore an embarrassed smile on her face.
“I’ve never lied before, unlike you who’s so experienced,” she said, her words carrying a hidden barb.
Wang Yuhan paused for a moment, turned to look at her, and then burst into an even louder laugh.
Zhang Jingzhi couldn't hold back her smile any longer. She glared at him angrily and said, "Laugh all you want, laugh until you die. Is it really that funny?"
Seeing that she was really getting angry, Wang Yuhan forced back his laughter, glanced at her, and wanted to laugh again, but he held it in, took several deep breaths, and then focused on driving.
Zhang Jingzhi also felt that she shouldn't let such a crazy man ruin her ladylike image, so she forced back her anger and calmed herself down for a while. Just as she was about to put on another ladylike smile, she heard Wang Yuhan chuckle and ask, "Do you know what you were doing when I first met you?"
Zhang Jingzhi was stunned and didn't react for a moment. Wang Yuhan continued, "He's lying. He even said he was working overtime. Haha."
"Are you ever going to shut up? So what if I lied? What's it to you?" Zhang Jingzhi was really angry, completely abandoning her ladylike image, and turned around to yell at Wang Yuhan.
Wang Yuhan laughed, ignoring her anger. After she finished yelling, he chuckled and said, "This is better. This is more like you!"
Zhang Jingzhi sat back down dejectedly, suddenly realizing that she had lost her temper.
The car stopped in front of a fairly large restaurant. Zhang Jingzhi looked at the sign, then at Wang Yuhan, and asked, "Are you inviting me to eat here? Are you free at lunchtime?"
Wang Yuhan chuckled: "I'm not very free, but I can still manage to have a meal."
"No! I have to go to work this afternoon!"
"Didn't you take two hours off?" he said with a smile. "Since you've already taken it, make good use of it."
Zhang Jingzhi asked, somewhat puzzled, "How did you know I took leave?"
"It's a secret," Wang Yuhan said with a mysterious smile.
The restaurant was warm. Wang Yuhan gentlemanly helped Zhang Jingzhi take off her coat, only then noticing that she was still wearing her work uniform underneath. He was slightly surprised: "So rushed?"
Zhang Jingzhi nodded and sat down.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" he asked.
Help? Help Chu Yang? Zhang Jingzhi shook her head, thinking to herself, what kind of help could you offer? Could you help her persuade Fang Yi to stop wasting Chu Yang's time, or help Chu Yang figure out whether or not he should pay for his first time?
"I'm going to the restroom," Zhang Jingzhi said.
Wang Yuhan nodded, pointed out the location of the restroom to her, and smiled, "You don't need me to go with you, right?"
Zhang Jingzhi rolled her eyes at him, got up to wash her hands, and when she returned, before she even reached her table, she saw a man at the next table waving at her and politely calling her "Miss." Zhang Jingzhi looked around; there was no one else there. So he was calling her? Although puzzled, she still maintained a polite smile and asked softly, "Sir? Did you call me?"
The man nodded, gesturing for her to come over.
Zhang Jingzhi glanced at Wang Yuhan and saw that he had also noticed them and was looking at them with some puzzlement. She hesitated for a moment before going over, and then she heard the man say, "Miss, I'd like to add another bowl of rice to your plate."
Add rice? What does adding rice have to do with her? Zhang Jingzhi looked at the man in front of her, completely bewildered. The man, seeing Zhang Jingzhi staring blankly at him without moving, also looked at Zhang Jingzhi strangely.
Zhang Jingzhi glanced at the man, then looked down at her work clothes, and then looked up at the man in front of her. The man was still looking at her strangely. She looked down again and even saw the light blue tie on her collar. She looked up again, and the man was still looking at her.
"Miss, please add another bowl of rice for me," he repeated.
Zhang Jingzhi finally understood, and then she heard Wang Yuhan's muffled laughter behind her. She gritted her teeth and said to the man who was asking for rice, "I'm here to eat too! I'm not a waitress!"
The man was stunned. Zhang Jingzhi ignored him and angrily returned to Wang Yuhan. Seeing him still there with his head down and chuckling, she said angrily, "You did this on purpose, didn't you? You seem to be a regular here. How could you not notice that my clothes are very similar to theirs?"
Zhang Jingzhi (revised)
Arguments need to be "argued" out. Now Zhang Jingzhi understands the meaning of this sentence more deeply. Although she was full of anger, she found herself unable to continue because Wang Yuhan kept looking at her with a smile.
No matter what I said, he didn't react, just watched with a smile, a hint of amusement and indulgence.
This infuriated Zhang Jingzhi, but she was truly speechless.
She also had to be mindful of her image. Although she had already attracted everyone's attention, she believed that while it was impossible to be a lady again, she shouldn't become a shrew either. Therefore, she had to control her expressions and volume.
All of this made her very depressed, extremely depressed.
From the first time she met Wang Yuhan, she always broke her "pretense". The ladylike image she had painstakingly cultivated for more than ten years completely collapsed in front of him, while he always acted like a gentleman, polite and courteous, and seemed never to have raised his voice.
Just like the description she gave them that night: a pitiful, frantic mouse and a smirking, nasty old cat!
If it weren't in a public place, she would love to slap him across the face, or use his neck as a handle when she's wearing a corset!
Unfortunately, this is a public place, and there are quite a few people there.
So all she could do was endure, endure, endure, and endure some more, clenching her fists tightly before slowly relaxing them.
If you lose face, you have to pick it back yourself! She took a deep breath, sat down again in front of Wang Yuhan, and ordered food.
Wang Yuhan simply smiled gently: "Do you have time tonight?"
"I'm sorry, no!" she replied politely, but also decisively.
She smiled, elegant and poised.
He smiled and nodded as if he understood.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I, uh,” he said, sounding somewhat apologetic, “I didn’t know you came out in such a hurry, you didn’t even have time to change your clothes, and—”
"Uh? And what?" Zhang Jingzhi asked with a smile.
Wang Yuhan smiled and said, "Your uniform looks great on you. I mean, it has a lot of character, and it's clearly different from theirs." He pointed to the waiters walking around.
Zhang Jingzhi felt her anger rising again, but she still smiled and said, "It's nothing. I should be glad that I didn't wear a cheongsam, otherwise I probably would have been caught at the door."
Wang Yuhan looked up at the entrance. Several hostesses in cheongsams were standing at the restaurant entrance. They were all quite tall. He suddenly thought that if she were also wearing a cheongsam and standing there, she would look quite nice. As he thought about it, a smile appeared on his lips.
Seeing the smile on his face, Zhang Jingzhi knew what he had thought of, and she was so angry that she gritted her teeth.
Halfway through the meal, Zhang Jingzhi's phone rang. She was a little surprised to see the number; it was Yang Lei.
"Hello. Yes, it's okay, haha. Are you alright? I'm fine. Don't worry. Okay, but I might get off work a little late. Haha, no need to pick me up, I can go by myself. Haha, really, no need. I'm not a little girl anymore. Haha. Okay, see you then, bye-bye."
Zhang Jingzhi hung up the phone and looked up to see Wang Yuhan's thoughtful expression.
She raised an eyebrow: "Hmm? What's wrong?"
He scoffed, "Someone just said they didn't have time tonight."
She laughed: "Yes, you just heard it, I already have plans for tonight."