“This is for you!” Lin Nuan smiled and said to the young girl.
The young girl wanted to decline the gift, but she couldn’t hold herself back from reaching out for it as it was a gift from her idol!
After sending the British ambassador’s daughter home, Bai Xiaonian turned back to pick Lin Nuan up for lunch.
“I wanted to take you to that hotpot place, but Director Hu seems especially ambitious today. He said he wants to film another scene in the afternoon!” Lin Nuan didn’t even remove her makeup. She simply changed out of the heavy armor and into a white shirt as she asked, “Do you want to grab a bite with me near the theater? Otherwise, I can get someone to buy the food that you like, and after we wrap up in the afternoon, I’ll take you to the hotpot place.”
“I’m booked for the afternoon. My dad introduced me to this overseas returnee and asked me to meet him. He seems pretty satisfied with the guy!” Bai Xiaonian said as she sat opposite Lin Nuan and crossed her long and slender legs.
Lin Nuan nodded.
“I’ll order takeout from Man Jiang Lou. It’s faster that way!” Bai Xiaonian took out her phone and ordered a few dishes that Lin Nuan liked to eat.
“Did you talk things out with Lu Jinnan over the past few days that I wasn’t able to contact you?” Lin Nuan asked Bai Xiaonian.
Bai Xiaonian looked down at the tea leaves in her disposable cup, blew on her tea, and avoided the topic in a very forced manner. “Is this scene difficult for Xiao Liuli? It seems physically demanding on top of being a test of her acting skills…”
Yun Liuli was filming her most important scene today. She was going to ask her eldest sister to kill her on the battlefield.
Yun Liuli had done multiple takes for this scene. Director Hu felt that she had even more potential for him to develop, so he let her try again and again.
Knowing that Bai Xiaonian didn’t want to talk about it, Lin Nuan didn’t probe further. She glanced in Yun Liuli’s direction and saw that Director Hu was currently discussing the scene with her. She said, “Liuli likes acting, so she enjoys herself even if it’s difficult!”
Bai Xiaonian nodded.
In the afternoon, Lin Nuan and Yun Liuli had lunch with Bai Xiaonian without taking off their makeup. Through their conversations… Bai Xiaonian could tell that Yun Liuli really liked to act. Throughout the whole meal, she was frowning and mulling over her character. She would even ask Lin Nuan questions from time to time.
After lunch, Bai Xiaonian wished Yun Liuli good luck before heading back to the office.
She worked until 6:30 pm and only stopped work when she received a call from her father.
Bai Xiaonian’s rival, Tong Huan, was in hot water. By trying to bring down Bai Xiaonian with her, she had shot herself in the foot. After all, she didn’t think that Bai Xiaonian would submit a recording of her phone call with Shen Zizhou’s assistant.
Hence, Bai Xiaonian was very relaxed at work that day and answered her father’s call cheerfully. “You don’t have to remind me, Old Bai. I’m doing my makeup right now, and I’m going to meet him after I’m done! I won’t stand him up!”
Bai Xiaonian stood in front of a mirror and applied some lipstick. She’d planned to meet the overseas returnee, but she wasn’t planning on taking things further.
She recalled how her father… secretly cried in his room when she didn’t meet the last guy he introduced to her.
Her father had tried so hard to promote the guy to her last night, so she acted a little more optimistic in front of him. After meeting the guy, she would clear things up with him. If he didn’t get the message, she would go back and tell her father that she didn’t fancy the guy. Regardless, she had to be polite to him!
“Okay, okay!” Bai Xiaonian’s father smiled, just as she expected. “I’ve sent you the address. Have fun chatting with him!”
After hanging up the call, Bai Xiaonian glanced at the address to the restaurant. It was the hotpot restaurant that Lu Jinnan previously took her to.
Mr. Xu Liuchuan, the man Bai Xiaonian was meeting for the blind date, was already seated in the restaurant when she arrived.
“Sorry I’m late!” Bai Xiaonian smiled and greeted Xu Liuchuan.
Now that he was in casual clothing, Xu Liuchuan didn’t come off as an elitist and instead seemed easygoing.
“No, I was just early!” Xu Liuchuan pulled out a chair for Bai Xiaonian to sit as a gentle and unhurried smile graced his lips. “Uncle Bai told me you like hotpot. This restaurant’s pretty popular, and it’s supposedly new. I just came back to Haicheng, so I’m not very sure what hotpot restaurants are good here. My friend recommended this place to me!”
Bai Xiaonian smiled at Xu Liuchuan and got straight to the point. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Xu. I promised my father to come for this blind date even though I didn’t actually want to. It’s very rude of me to say this to you right from the start, but I haven’t fully gone through with a divorce yet, so I’m not planning to start a new relationship. My father’s in poor health, and I don’t dare to tell him all this as I don’t want his health to deteriorate. I’ll treat Mr. Xu to this meal today, and I hope we can become friends after this. Also… can you keep our conversation today a secret from my father? I’m afraid he won’t be able to take it.”
Xu Liuchuan wasn’t angry at all. He smiled and replied to Bai Xiaonian, “I was thinking the same thing, Ms. Bai! I said all that just now because I was going to tell you that I already have a girlfriend, but my mother isn’t fond of the idea of having a foreign daughter-in-law. My mother and your father are ward mates, so that’s why… I’m very sorry too!”
With that out of the way, it was much easier for Bai Xiaonian and Xu Liuchuan to chat.
The two of them had a very enjoyable meal. During the meal, Bai Xiaonian learned that Xu Liuchuan lost his father at a very young age, and his mother never married and single-handedly brought him up. Hence, he rarely went against his mother’s wishes.
Xu Liuchuan learned that Bai Xiaonian didn’t have a mother and that she had agreed to meet him because she was worried about her father’s health.
The two of them didn’t have any feelings towards each other and treated each other as friends. They had an enjoyable time chatting about the news, as they had a lot in common.
“Are you two done?”
The two of them were deep into their conversation when they heard the voice and looked up…
Lu Jinnan was wearing a suit and had both hands in his pockets as he stood beside the hotpot table, a hint of a smile on his lips. His handsome and well-defined features looked cold, and there was an unreadable expression in his deep eyes.
Bai Xiaonian tightened her grip on her chopsticks.
Xu Liuchuan stood up and reached out his hand to Lu Jinnan. “Mr. Lu…”
Bai Xiaonian saving Lu Jinnan in America was still a very popular topic of discussion among overseas Chinese. Hence, Xu Liuchuan naturally knew who Lu Jinnan was.
Lu Jinnan generously reached out and shook Xu Liuchuan’s hand, but he didn’t intend to sit down. He simply asked, “Are you two done? If so, I’ll be taking my wife home!”
Xu Liuchuan ignored the hostility in Lu Jinnan’s eyes and smiled gently. He didn’t plan on being Lu Jinnan and Bai Xiaonian’s third wheel, but he wanted to see what she thought.
Xu Liuchuan looked at Bai Xiaonian with a questioning look in his eyes.
If Bai Xiaonian showed the slightest emotion, Xu Liuchuan wouldn’t hand her over to Lu Jinnan.
Bai Xiaonian hesitated only for a brief moment. Worried that the bastard Lu Jinnan would do more things that would make her go berserk, she smiled and pulled out a tissue to dab at her mouth before grabbing her bag. “I’m sorry, Mr. Xu, but I’ll make a move first. You can contact me if you encounter any problems related to the news! I’ll pay for the meal today… don’t fight with me for that!”