Wang Cheng had never expected Mother Zheng to have something like this in mind.
When he arrived at Ronghui Restaurant, Mother Zheng was not alone. A father and daughter were sitting with her: Tang Tianyu and Tang Jiayan. Tang Jiayan was the woman who had once mistakenly assumed Wang Cheng was being kept by a wealthy older woman. Her father, Tang Tianyu, had business dealings with Zhou Group and had also been Mother Zheng’s classmate when they were young. After Wang Cheng’s birthday banquet, Mother Zheng and Tang Tianyu had stayed in touch by phone.
Mother Zheng had not said so outright, but Wang Cheng understood immediately: his mother wanted to introduce him to a potential girlfriend.
Tang Jiayan had spent much of her life overseas, but she had not picked up any bad habits. After meeting her several times, Mother Zheng had formed a very favorable impression of her and started imagining her as a daughter-in-law. Tang Tianyu happened to have the same idea, so the two reached an understanding. That was how this dinner had come about.
Tang Tianyu would actually have preferred Zheng Jingen, but Mother Zheng had not mentioned her elder son, and he was too embarrassed to bring it up. On second thought, Zhou Cheng was a good prospect too. If he inherited Zhou Group one day, it would be enormously beneficial to Tang Tianyu’s business.
“Chengcheng, over here!” Mother Zheng spotted Wang Cheng and waved.
Wang Cheng approached reluctantly. He had discovered something his biological mother and adoptive mother had in common: neither thought to tell him in advance when she arranged a blind date for him. They both loved pairing people up without consulting them. Luckily, Chu Yifeng had been right beside him when Mother Zheng called, so he knew about the dinner. Otherwise, if word got back to him, there might be a misunderstanding.
“Mom, why didn’t you tell me Chairman Tang and Miss Tang would be here? I thought it was just going to be the two of us.” Wang Cheng sat on Mother Zheng’s right. Tang Jiayan was seated a little farther along to her left.
Mother Zheng had wanted him to sit to her left, but now that he was settled, it would be awkward to make him change seats. “Mom was so happy I forgot. I’ll remember next time. And don’t call him Chairman Tang. Call him Uncle Tang. We went to university together.”
Next time?
Wang Cheng greeted Tang Tianyu as Uncle Tang without enthusiasm. Next time, he would definitely find an excuse not to come. No, perhaps there would not be a next time at all.
“Don’t just sit there. Let’s order! Pick whatever you like. The food here is very authentic. I’ve eaten here a few times.” Mother Zheng called a server over and asked for two more menus.
Wang Cheng had no appetite at all. “I’m not picky, Mom. You order.”
“Neither am I, Auntie. Please decide for us,” Tang Jiayan said. She looked as though she had dressed up deliberately today: light makeup, a plain-colored dress, and a short jacket. Her manner was more restrained than usual, and she spoke in a soft, gentle voice.
Just then, Tang Tianyu’s phone rang. Apparently something urgent had come up, and he had to leave to deal with it. That left only three people at the table. Less than five minutes after he went, Mother Zheng received a call from Father Zheng, who supposedly needed her to return to the Zheng residence.
By that point, Wang Cheng had figured out their little performance. He immediately stopped Mother Zheng as she was about to leave. “Mom, I’ll go with you. There’s something important I need to tell you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. How can you leave Jiayan here by herself? Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow. That’s settled. Mom is going now. Take good care of Jiayan for me. If you neglect our guest, I won’t let you off!”
Mother Zheng hurried away without giving him another chance to speak.
Wang Cheng slumped back into his chair, dispirited. He had wanted to follow her, but Mother Zheng had invited the Tang father and daughter to this meal. If he ran off and left a woman to pay the bill, his mother would lose face.
“Is having dinner with me really such a burden?” Tang Jiayan had been quite happy at first. Seeing Wang Cheng’s unmistakable reluctance made her uncomfortable. She had always been confident in her appeal, yet Wang Cheng had struck down that confidence twice now. Their first encounter had admittedly been unpleasant, but she had already apologized.
“How would you feel if your elders summoned you to a dinner that turned out to be a blind date without telling you? Miss Tang, I thought you disliked me too. Why force yourself to eat with me?”
That was genuinely what Wang Cheng thought. He assumed Tang Jiayan felt the same way he did, which showed how little he understood the way her mind worked.
“What if I really am interested in you?” The strained smile on Tang Jiayan’s face disappeared almost at once. She had spent more than a decade overseas and was accustomed to being open and straightforward. Her brief moment of awkwardness passed quickly.
Wang Cheng lifted his head in surprise. Her expression was serious. Frowning, he said, “Then I regret to inform you that I’m not interested in you.”
“Why? I don’t see anything about me that makes me unworthy of you.” Tang Jiayan had prepared herself for rejection, but even if she was out of the running, she wanted to know why.
“There’s already someone I like. My mom just doesn’t know.”
“Since before you met me?”
“Does it make a difference?”
“Of course it does! If you were already in love before you met me, it means it’s not that I lack charm. Your heart simply belongs to someone else, so you can’t appreciate me.”
“Think whatever you like. The point is that you and I are impossible.” Wang Cheng recognized the attempt to comfort herself and saw no reason to expose it.
“Don’t talk as though I can’t live without you. I’m only a little interested in you. Plenty of men like me, you know.” Tang Jiayan crossed her legs with the air of a queen and immediately reverted to her true personality. Deep down, she was very proud, and being rejected still left her feeling annoyed. Wang Cheng lowered his head and concentrated on eating, leaving her to say whatever made her feel better.
“Hey! Are you listening to me? When someone is speaking, shouldn’t you at least have the manners to listen?” Watching him ignore everything she said made Tang Jiayan angrier.
“Weren’t you talking to yourself?” Wang Cheng ladled himself a bowl of soup. Mother Zheng had ordered the food, and although he had said he was not picky, she had chosen dishes he particularly liked. He hated wasting food. Since he was the one who would be paying the bill now, he had every intention of eating his fill.
Tang Jiayan was furious. “Then enjoy your meal by yourself!”
Wang Cheng glanced back at her as she stormed out of the restaurant and curled his lips. He had no desire to listen to her build herself up by putting him down. He had not invited her here. Why was she acting as though she was the victim? Being a man did not mean he had to be the one to suffer. He would eat just about anything, but he refused to swallow a loss. Besides, Tang Jiayan meant nothing special to him.
After finishing the entire table of dishes by himself, Wang Cheng paid and prepared to leave.
Perhaps he simply was not meant to go out today, especially where women were concerned. Just as he reached the entrance, two people walked in. The woman nearest him was that “fish spirit,” Yu Jing; the man beside her was the superstar Sun Chu.
Wang Cheng gave them a cursory glance and kept walking, but Yu Jing suddenly called after him.
“Wait. I have something to say to you.”
Wang Cheng did not even turn around.
Yu Jing seemed astonished that he would ignore her. By the time she recovered, she had hurried after him and planted herself in his path. “I’m talking to you. Didn’t you hear me?”
“And you are? Are we supposed to know each other?” Wang Cheng gave her a look reserved for idiots.
Sun Chu remained a short distance away, watching Wang Cheng. As someone in the entertainment industry, of course he knew who Wang Cheng was, particularly now that Wang Cheng had become so well known in show-business circles. Neither of these people was someone he could afford to offend, so he sensibly stayed out of it.
Yu Jing clenched her teeth. “Wang Ning’an hasn’t come to work for some time. I’ve tried to see him, but he’s never there, and I can’t get through to his phone. I want to know what happened to him.”
“What does that have to do with you?” Wang Cheng asked.
“He works at my father’s company. What’s wrong with asking?” Yu Jing could not treat Wang Cheng the way she treated other men, pulling rank or threatening them. She had enough self-awareness to know that her family could not afford to offend Zhou Group or the Zheng family.
“Nothing wrong with asking. But why should I tell you? You’re nobody to my big brother.”
His words struck directly at a sore spot. Yu Jing had once publicly declared her feelings for Wang Ning’an, but that iron tree had never bloomed. Their social circle had laughed at her, and her affection gradually twisted into an angry obsession with getting what she could not have. She knew there were plenty of men in the world better than Wang Ning’an. But failing to win over a man from the countryside was humiliating. Her wounded pride now outweighed any actual affection; that was the real reason she persisted.
“You keep saying you like my big brother, but I haven’t seen much evidence of it. Since we’ve run into each other today, let me make this perfectly clear. If I ever catch you or your family harming even a single hair on my big brother’s head again, I will make sure you regret it.”
Wang Cheng strongly disliked Yu Jing. After learning she had connections within the entertainment industry, he had paid a little more attention to her and discovered her colorful past.
She was a spoiled rich girl with too much time on her hands. Ordinary people struggled daily to earn a living, but people like her found even a life of wealth boring. They often made bets with one another, such as how long it would take to win a particular man over.
Wang Cheng did not know whether Yu Jing had ever bet anyone she could get his big brother within a certain number of months. Either way, he would never allow a woman like that to toy with him. To her, changing boyfriends was probably as casual as changing clothes.
“Are you threatening me?” Yu Jing demanded angrily.
Wang Cheng smiled. “Good. At least you recognize a threat when you hear one. I’ve always protected my own. If you dare touch my big brother, you’d better be prepared for the consequences.” With that, he left.
Yu Jing did not try to stop him again, but she had lost her appetite.
Sun Chu considerately suggested canceling their dinner date and drove her home instead.