Chapter 39 - The Mischievous Little Lion

Lin Zhi was a mature and gentlemanly man, composed yet witty in his conversation, not at all the sort who needed blind dates to solve his singlehood problem.

Intent on dispelling the awkwardness of their first meeting, Lin Zhi's efforts allowed Lin Xiaowen to gradually relax, her tense expression easing.

"I'm truly sorry for making you travel such a long way, Miss Lin," Lin Zhi said, his manner courteous yet graceful. "Because of my job, I have less than an hour for lunch. I told Aunt Xu that we didn't need to meet in such a hurry—after all, asking the lady to come so far for a first meeting is really not quite proper."

His polite words made Lin Xiaowen feel a little embarrassed. She had come with a perfunctory attitude, and here was such a high-quality match. Suddenly, she didn't mind the taxi fare so much!

"It's all right, work should come first. Do you work in this building?" Lin Xiaowen replied, making small talk to fill the silence.

When she got out of the car, she had looked carefully at the cluster of office towers surrounding them. Aside from calling them upscale and impressive, she couldn't think of any other words to describe the place.

"Yes, I'm in finance! On the 22nd floor—maybe you can come see my work environment sometime," Lin Zhi said, smiling gently at her.

Wait a minute... Lin Xiaowen blinked, thinking to herself,

'What does he mean by that? Is this... all it takes? Surely not—does this count as a successful blind date?'

"I have a very good impression of you, Miss Lin. Perhaps we could start as friends and see if we might date... What do you think?"

Lin Zhi's gaze was sincere, yet light as a cloud. The charm of a mature man was indeed quite attractive.

"I..."

He had made his intentions clear—interested in getting to know her. But what was she supposed to say?

If there was one good thing about blind dates, it was how straightforward it could be: yes or no, no fuss.

But unfortunately, Lin Xiaowen was the sort of person who didn't know how to directly refuse anyone.

"Well, what a coincidence! On a blind date, are you?" came a familiar voice, with a faint fragrance of sandalwood drifting in as its owner slid into a seat uninvited. Both Lin Xiaowen and Lin Zhi looked in surprise at the young man with his baseball cap pulled low.

"Cheng..."

The words Lin Xiaowen was about to utter were swallowed back, replaced instead with, "What are you doing here?"

"Working," Cheng Yishu replied lazily, leaning back in his chair and watching her with a smile. "Why? Others can work in such fancy, upscale offices, but I can't?"

Cheng Yishu did indeed work here, though he was filming scenes in a company upstairs.

He'd managed to finish work early today, slipped away without even notifying Da Lingzi, intending to go see Ranran.

But just as he stepped out of the building, he saw the very person he was about to visit through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

He thought it was fate—maybe she was there to visit him. The next moment, however, he saw the man beside her, and the smile on his lips froze.

Ignoring the fact that he hadn't put on a mask or sunglasses, he strode angrily into the café, deliberately choosing the seat behind Lin Xiaowen.

He had just managed to piece together what was happening: this woman was on a blind date?

"And you are...?" Lin Zhi asked politely, looking to Lin Xiaowen for an introduction.

"My surname is Cheng. I'm a very, very 'good' friend of Lin Xiaowen," Cheng Yishu said to Lin Zhi with a smile, emphasizing the word 'good.'

Lin Zhi paused for a moment, then smiled and reached out his hand. "Hello, Mr. Cheng. I'm Lin Zhi."

"What a coincidence! Your surname is Lin too?" Cheng Yishu bluffed, deliberately avoiding Lin Zhi's offered hand and turning to Lin Xiaowen. "You’re Lin, he’s Lin—does that mean you were family five hundred years ago? Would this count as marrying a close relative?"

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Lin Xiaowen's face flushed red with embarrassment, but with Lin Zhi sitting across from her, all she could do was stomp her foot under the table in frustration.

"Mr. Cheng, you are very humorous!" Lin Zhi withdrew his hand, smiling with impeccable manners.

"But I'm not being humorous," Cheng Yishu replied, his smile light but his gaze serious.

"Sorry, Mr. Lin. My friend likes to talk nonsense; please don't mind him," Lin Xiaowen apologized.

"Not at all," Lin Zhi replied, full of poise.

"So formal? Is he an elder? By the way, may I ask, Mr. Lin, how old are you? Are you forty yet?" Cheng Yishu continued in earnest, "Not that you look old, but I hear successful professionals in this building are all over forty. And your style—it’s clear you’re the cream of the crop..."

"Enough, shut up," Lin Xiaowen wished she could silence him on the spot, glaring fiercely.

"What? I'm just helping you analyze. It's rare to have someone willing to look after you, find you tolerable, and not mind your frugal, penny-pinching ways... But we can't just settle for anyone. So before you decide anything with this Mr. Lin, you need to make everything clear..."

Listening to Cheng Yishu’s rambling, seemingly reasonable analysis, Lin Zhi somehow managed to keep smiling, while Lin Xiaowen was mortified, wishing she could vanish into thin air.

"Mr. Cheng seems to know Miss Lin very well," Lin Zhi said with a faint smile.

"No—" Lin Xiaowen really didn't want to admit this nonsense-spewing boy was her friend; it was mortifying.

"Not that well," Cheng Yishu interrupted her, leaning closer to Lin Zhi and lowering his voice. "Just a little better than you, that's all."

The two men locked eyes, an unspoken air of rivalry sparking between them.

Lin Xiaowen, oblivious, grabbed Cheng Yishu and pinched his thigh hard under the table, smiling through gritted teeth as she said, "Aren’t you working here? Shouldn’t you hurry back? Your colleagues might worry if they can't find you."

"It’s fine," Cheng Yishu said, extracting his leg from her grip, biting his own words as much as the pain. "No one can find me—my phone’s on silent."

He really held a grudge, remembering her own phone had been silent and she hadn't answered his calls.

Lin Xiaowen shot him a look, and when she turned back to Lin Zhi, he was already standing, saying, "Then let's leave it at that for today. Miss Lin is right—work should come first. We can make another appointment."

"...All right, that's fine!" Lin Xiaowen stood as well, responding gently.

Cheng Yishu twisted his mouth in silent complaint,

'Why is she never this gentle when dealing with me?'

Lin Zhi looked at Lin Xiaowen and said softly, "We’ll be in touch. Goodbye."

He then turned to Cheng Yishu, his gaze carrying a slight, inscrutable smile. "Mr. Cheng, it was an honor meeting you. Farewell."

"Likewise," Cheng Yishu replied, lounging in his chair with a roguish smile, his eyes full of scorn and hostility.

He resembled a child jealously guarding his favorite toy, unable to openly fight with other kids in front of the adults.