I followed the waiter into the restaurant and then went upstairs to the second floor, where we stopped in front of a private room. The lobby manager knocked on the door and respectfully said, “Mr. An, I’ve brought the esteemed guest you were expecting. May we come in?”
“Please come in.”
The lobby manager pushed open the door to the private room and gestured for me to enter. After thanking her, I stepped inside. The woman in the red dress was sitting upright on the sofa, holding a document and reading it. She only looked up at me when I stood directly in front of her. I smiled and asked her, “Your staff keeps calling me an esteemed guest. Am I really that noble?”
The woman in red finally smiled, but she didn’t respond to my comment. Her smile was breathtakingly beautiful, perhaps only Mi Cai could rival her. However, her personality was truly hard to appreciate. Every time she conversed with someone, she seemed unsatisfied unless she left the other person emotionally wounded. In contrast, Mi Cai’s calm, gentle, and slightly childlike demeanor was far more charming.
Seeing she was busy, I went ahead and sat down at the dining table, playing with my car keys. Eventually, she put down the document and came to my side, handing me Mi Cai’s car keys and thanking me, “Thanks to you yesterday, otherwise I would have been late for an important matter.”
“What important matter?”
I instinctively asked, but immediately regretted it. With her personality, she would most likely scold me for “minding other people’s business.” Unexpectedly, she patiently answered for once, “I had a meeting last night with the director of the city’s investment promotion office for a project, and I almost got late!”
“Nowadays projects are discussed at night?”
Her true nature surfaced again as she complained to me, “Why do you always have so much unnecessary chatter?”
“Well, we’re the only ones here in this private room. Should we just stare at each other? And don’t you find it boring without talking?”
The woman in red sat down opposite me and retorted, “I don’t find it boring. If you talk too much, it’s only fair you feel suffocated!”
I was momentarily speechless and decided to stay silent. But it was really too boring, so I couldn’t help myself and asked her, “You surnamed An, right? What’s your full name?”
She gave me a look like she couldn’t stand me and finally said after a while, “I’m just inviting you for a meal. Do you really have to ask so many questions like an investigation?”
“You think I really care about knowing your name? But we have to say something, right? Is this how you treat your guests?” I became more and more upset, raising my voice, “Sitting here like this makes me uncomfortable. Forget the meal, I’m leaving!” I threw her car keys on the table, stood up, and prepared to leave.
She sarcastically remarked, “Walking away in front of a woman like this, truly embodying the style of a Xuzhou man!”
I turned back around and leaned on the table, saying to her, “You’re such a master of subtle sarcasm, even dragging my entire hometown of Xuzhou into it. Let me tell you, I’ve met many Yangzhou girls, but none as fierce and hard to communicate with as you. You’re ruining the golden reputation of Yangzhou girls!”
Just as our argument escalated to regional attacks, the waiters finally brought the dishes into the private room. Seeing the table full of delicious-looking food, I suddenly had no desire to leave anymore and was too lazy to continue arguing with her. I picked up my chopsticks and started eating. Otherwise, I would really feel guilty about the time I had spent helping her with her car last night.
While I was eating, she seemed to have a change of heart and finally asked me in a normal tone, “Why didn’t you bring your girlfriend today?”
“She’s busy. She went fishing in the suburbs.”
The woman in red smiled and said, “I didn’t expect the general manager of Zhuomei Group to have such a masculine hobby!”
“She doesn’t really have a hobby. She just impulsively joins in the fun!” Right after I finished speaking, I became curious and asked her again, “How do you know she’s the CEO of Zhuomei?”
“The recent news about Zhuomei’s IPO has been all over the place. The business circle in Jiangsu isn’t that big, so I’ve heard a bit. Plus, the construction of Zhuomei’s shopping malls in Nanjing and Shanghai was handled by my friend’s construction company. So, of course, I know about it.”
I sighed and said, “Sigh, even such a misfortune of our family has reached the ears of outsiders!”
The woman in red shrugged and said, “Isn’t that just how the business world is? The only constant is interest. It’s too illusory to talk about family or friendship in this circle!”
“You seem to have quite a lot of experience!”
“In large-scale groups, how many don’t have power struggles? After being in this circle for a long time, you see these things often enough!”
I became curious about her identity again and asked, “Can you be honest with me? What exactly do you do?”
This time, the woman in red answered more straightforwardly, “Have you heard of Tianyang Group?”
“I have a vague impression, but I’m not clear about what industry they’re in.”
The woman in red smiled and said, “Go ask your girlfriend when you get back. She definitely knows.”
I asked her in confusion, “Didn’t you two meet briefly in Xitang before? Why didn’t you recognize each other then?”
“Do you find that so strange? I only recently heard some rumors in the business circle and learned about her.”
I didn’t say anything else, but I felt that this woman in front of me must have a significant background. When I got back, I really needed to ask Mi Cai about what industry Tianyang Group was in, and then this woman in red’s identity would be revealed.
…
The meal ended quickly. Before leaving, I asked the woman in red while she was seeing me out of the restaurant, “Will you go back to Xitang again in the future?”
She shook her head and replied, “I don’t have much time to go back. However, if you have activities with a charitable nature like last time, you can invite me to participate.”
“I’d be more than happy. Then let’s exchange contact information so I can notify you when there’s an event.”
“Add me on WeChat.”
I nodded and took out my phone from my pocket. She immediately gave me her WeChat ID. Thus, we had each other’s contact information for the first time. The relationship between people is so subtle. If it weren’t for this accidental encounter in Xuzhou, we might never have crossed paths again. But fate brought us together in such a coincidental way, so there must be some meaning behind it. As for what that meaning is, I don’t yet know.
…
After saying goodbye to the woman in red, I immediately drove to the outskirts of the city. I wanted to see if Mi Cai had any success in her fishing during the past half day, and also to ask her about the Tianyang Group and the identity of that woman in red.
It took about 20 minutes before I finally arrived at a reservoir on the outskirts. It was the weekend, and there were many people fishing, but I quickly spotted Mi Cai in a corner wearing a sun hat. She was sitting on a small stool, intently staring at the water’s surface. Her patience really made her seem like an expert angler.
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