After celebrating her birthday, Yao Jingjing suddenly realized she was already twenty-seven years old. It dawned on her that if she didn’t start considering finding a partner soon, she might end up spending her twilight years as a nun on Mount Wutai.
She began asking her supervisors, colleagues, and friends to notify her if they knew any single men between fifteen and thirty-five.
When her best friend Qian Fei heard about this age range, she expressed great concern: “Aren’t you being a bit shameless? You’re not even sparing fifteen-year-old boys? At least start from eighteen, so you’re at least corrupting adults!”
Yao Jingjing thought this made sense. It was all because her determination to “strip bare” had come so suddenly. In her excitement, she had focused too much on the “young” part of finding a young wolf pup and nearly broke the law in her carelessness.
So she revised her age range, changing from fifteen to eighteen.
Qian Fei continued to criticize her: “You have no shame! Finding an eighteen-year-old who’s more than a decade younger than you. When he’s twenty-eight, you’ll be almost forty! When you’re old and faded, how could he still be with you? He’ll dump you sooner or later!”
Yao Jingjing solemnly objected to her view, saying, “My approach is scientific, okay? Look, when he’s twenty-eight, I’ll be thirty-seven. He’ll be in his prime, and I’ll be like a tigress. He’ll be perfect to satisfy me. Do you think you and Wang Ruohai are suitable just because you’re only a year apart? By the time you’re a tigress, he’ll already be balding and sweating, unable to satisfy you!”
Not long after she said this, Wang Ruohai broke up with Qian Fei because he cheated with another woman. She almost slapped herself for her big mouth.
She felt she was a bit too much of a jinx.
After the morning meeting, Yao Jingjing was packing up to leave when her supervisor called her over.
After everyone else had left, the supervisor asked her, “Weren’t you begging for blind date opportunities? I have a candidate now. Do you want to give it a try?”
Yao Jingjing thought seriously for a moment, then asked, “How old is he?”
The supervisor said, “About forty or so. He’s never been in a relationship.”
Yao Jingjing clicked her tongue, “So pure? A rare flower indeed!” Then she asked, “Is he good-looking?”
The supervisor said, “No, not good-looking.”
Yao Jingjing let out an “Oh” and said, “Well, that’s fine. When the lights are off, everyone looks like Liu Qingyun. It’s all dark anyway.” After a pause, she asked again, “Does he have thick hair? I like it thicker, it’s sexier!”
The supervisor glanced at her sideways and said, “Not thick. He’s a bit balding.”
Yao Jingjing let out another “Oh” and asked, “Is he tall?”
Supervisor: “Not tall.”
Yao Jingjing: “Is he educated?”
Supervisor: “He should have completed the nine years of compulsory education through junior high, but I’m not sure if he has a diploma.”
Yao Jingjing: “Last question, is he rich?”
Supervisor: “A total nouveau riche.”
Yao Jingjing slapped her thigh, “I’ll go on this blind date! If we can’t be a couple, I’ll just treat him like a sugar daddy! I can sell him some products and earn a commission! These days, when it comes to showing off wealth, even real princesses can’t compare to those with sugar daddies!”
Yao Jingjing asked the supervisor for the man’s name. The supervisor said his name was Tian Duan.
Yao Jingjing burst into laughter. The supervisor asked what she was laughing at, and Yao Jingjing said, “Nothing, I’m just pleasantly surprised. I never thought I’d hear such a pure and simple name in this chaotic and materialistic society. It’s so rare! I can almost smell the fragrance of nature!”
The supervisor’s mouth twitched, “Why don’t you just say you think his name sounds rural? No need for all this nonsense!” After a pause, the supervisor added salt to the wound, “Your name is vulgar, his name is rural. In this aspect, you two are a perfect match!”
Yao Jingjing’s smile turned into a grimace. She felt like quitting her job.
Yao Jingjing encountered heavy traffic on her way, stopping and starting, making her dizzy and disoriented. By the time she finally arrived at the blind date location, she was feeling a bit lightheaded.
She stumbled into the luxurious five-star restaurant, trying hard to remember the meeting spot her supervisor had told her: the third table by the window.
She scanned the row of tables by the window and saw a man already sitting at the third table, his back to the entrance.
She clicked over in her high heels and sat down opposite the man.
Then she was shocked.
This man didn’t match the description at all. He was way too handsome…
Her eyes scanned him from top to bottom like laser guns in just two seconds.
His shirt was Armani, his watch was Patek Philippe, his shoes were Berluti…
Indeed, he was quite the rich guy!
Yao Jingjing smiled, making her voice incredibly sweet: “Are you Tian Duan?”
The cold, handsome rich man replied with an expressionless face, “I’m Lu Ze.”
Yao Jingjing was stunned.
No wonder he was so handsome. He wasn’t the right person at all…
She blinked, then started looking around, swaying her head back and forth. She spotted a man in his forties with a slightly balding head sitting at the table behind them.
She counted. If you counted from the back, that uncle’s table was indeed the third table.
Yao Jingjing immediately turned back to the cold, handsome rich man and said, “I’m sorry, I sat at the wrong table!” With that, she stood up swiftly and instantly moved to the table behind.
She moved so quickly that she completely missed the momentary flicker in the cold, handsome rich man’s eyes, the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, as if he had something to say but didn’t get the chance…
Yao Jingjing plopped down opposite the balding uncle and apologized, “I’m sorry, there was traffic on the way, and I just sat at the wrong table. Have you been waiting long?”
The uncle raised his balding head and looked at her with a puzzled expression.
When he saw her take off her coat, revealing a glimpse of her impressive cleavage at the neckline, the uncle’s gaze was no longer confused.
Yao Jingjing mentioned her supervisor’s name, and the uncle let out a couple of “Oh”s. Yao Jingjing was sure she had found the right person this time.
The uncle didn’t seem very talkative, so to avoid awkwardness, Yao Jingjing started chattering away, finding topics to discuss. As she talked, her professional habit kicked in—she began enthusiastically introducing her company’s products.
She was excitedly explaining how their after-sales service was leading the entire universe when suddenly a lioness’s roar came from beside her: “Duan Fugui, what are you doing?! I asked you to come here to hold a table and order some food. In just this short time, you’re already misbehaving! Who is this woman?!”
Yao Jingjing was stunned. She looked up to see a plump, white woman in her forties glaring at her with fierce eyes.
“Duan Fugui?!” Yao Jingjing was a bit confused.
The situation became chaotic.
The balding uncle, in an attempt to prove his innocence, swore that Yao Jingjing had approached him on her own, flirting and trying to sell products.
The plump woman didn’t believe him, insisting with sharp words that they must be having an affair.
Yao Jingjing felt a headache coming on. She had mistaken the wrong person again!
She stood up to leave but was pushed back down by a slap on the shoulder from the plump woman.
“Don’t go! Do you think you can slip away without explaining? No way!”
Yao Jingjing’s temper flared.
What had she done to deserve this? Why was she so unlucky today, mistaking the wrong person twice? And this uncle, how could he be so unethical, pretending to know her supervisor!
She decided to slam the table and stand up.
But before she could, she heard a deep male voice.
“Excuse me, I think this young lady just sat at the wrong table. She should be here to meet me!”
Yao Jingjing looked up to see that it was the cold, handsome rich man from earlier coming to her rescue.
Lu Ze, the cold, handsome rich man dressed in luxury brands, helped the foolish girl Yao Jingjing up and led her back to his table.
After downing a glass of water from the table in one gulp, Yao Jingjing wiped her mouth and said, “Thank you for helping me out of that situation.” With that, she grabbed her coat and was about to leave.
Lu Ze stopped her.
“Miss Yao Jingjing, right?”
Yao Jingjing froze.
She didn’t think she had told him her name, so how did he know it?!
She sat back down, puzzled.
“How do you know who I am?”
Lu Ze leaned back in his chair and looked at her, saying, “It’s like this. I’m not Tian Duan, but I am Tian Duan’s friend. Tian Duan asked me to come. He wanted me to tell his blind date that he found his true love yesterday.”
Yao Jingjing’s eyes widened.
What was going on?
“Why didn’t he come to say it himself?”
Lu Ze said, “He said he felt very guilty and didn’t know how to face you, so he asked me to apologize on his behalf.”
Hearing this, Yao Jingjing thought about the embarrassing situation she had just been through and couldn’t hold back anymore.
She slammed her hand on the table, stood up, and spoke in a rough voice full of anger: “What’s wrong with this guy? He’s already middle-aged, can’t he live without being so melodramatic? Couldn’t he just make a phone call and say he found his true love? I’d congratulate him! Why does he need to be so roundabout? If he wasn’t so dramatic, I wouldn’t have embarrassed myself by mistaking someone else!” She paused to catch her breath, then looked at Lu Ze and continued her tirade, “And you, mister, you’re quite interesting too! You knew I had mistaken the wrong person but just kept watching coldly as I chatted away with that man. Did you enjoy the free show? Didn’t even cost you a penny, did it?”
Faced with her anger, Lu Ze merely raised an eyebrow: “I heard you chatting quite well with him. I thought you might sell a product. I didn’t want to interrupt and possibly block your path to wealth.”
At this point, Yao Jingjing abandoned all pretense of dignity and blurted out what seemed to be a swear word: “Damn it! I give up!”
Looking at the expressionless face across from her, she felt her anger rising uncontrollably. Suddenly, an evil idea struck her, and she smiled mischievously, saying, “Your name is Lu Ze, right? Since you came on behalf of someone else, shouldn’t you fulfill some of the blind date duties?”
Lu Ze narrowed his eyes, “What do you mean?”
Yao Jingjing said, “Come on, I’m not going to rob you of your virtue. Don’t act like I’m coveting you or something! But I’ve been through quite a shock today, and you’ve had your fill of laughing at me. So now I think I’ll rob you of some wealth. You should at least endure that much, right?”
Without waiting for the expressionless rich man to respond, she raised her arm and snapped her fingers to call over a waiter. “Excuse me, I’d like to order. Please bring me one of each of the ten most expensive items on your menu!”
After a while, the lavish dishes started arriving at the table.
Yao Jingjing glared at Lu Ze and said, “You’re treating!”
Lu Ze shrugged, “Whatever.”
Assured of this, Yao Jingjing rolled up her sleeves and began to eat voraciously.
As she ate, she felt she might have ordered a bit too much.
She looked up, chewing on a sea cucumber, and said to Lu Ze, “Hey, you, you can eat too. Don’t just watch. You’re paying anyway, so you’re the host. If you want to eat, go ahead. Don’t hold back!”
The corner of Lu Ze’s mouth twitched ever so slightly. He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat with impeccable grace.
Yao Jingjing couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.
Is it necessary to be so pretentious while eating?
She roughly extended her chopsticks, grabbed a large chunk of food, and stuffed it into her mouth.
She wanted to show him what life was really about. Life is about not being pretentious when eating. Picking up just one cashew at a time? When would you ever get full that way? Life should be about taking big bites of meat until your whole mouth is greasy.
But she had picked up a bit too much this time. When she stuffed it into her mouth, she could barely close it.
She struggled to chew and swallow.
She saw the man across from her put down his chopsticks.
She continued to struggle with swallowing.
She heard the man across from her say something.
“I’m still single. I suddenly feel that maybe we could try a real blind date.”
The next second, Yao Jingjing, with bulging eyes and a stiff neck, fatally choked.