CH 54.2

In the end Gao Yuan went along with Fu Zheng's decision. Thankfully, the Chinese restaurant in Yuecheng Hotel really was beautiful. Every table had a screen separator painted with a landscape, and after Fu Zheng and Gao Yuan took their seats, it didn't take long for the one next door to be filled as well. Through the screen, Fu Zheng could only see a red outline. It looked as though, like Ning Wan, they were wearing a red dress. Could it be his imagination? The figure surprisingly did resemble Ning Wan...

Fortunately, the arrival of the waiter served to distract him from those bothersome thoughts.

Although he had speculated that Ning Wan might come to this Chinese restaurant, it was in the end just a speculation. She might have chosen some other, more cost-effective restaurant. He absolutely hadn't come to Yuecheng just to bump into her, Fu Zheng persuaded himself. After all, Rong City was so big. There were all sorts of restaurants within a 20 minute drive. He had merely inquired with Gao Yuan and then casually chosen a restaurant.

In such a large city, the possibility of two people running into each other after work was really slim.

But even knowing this - perhaps it was because he saw Ning Wan every day, all day - but now he even saw her in a stranger behind a screen at a neighboring table. There were plenty of people in this world who wore red dresses and were about the same size as she was.

But soon, Fu Zheng realized that it wasn't his imagination.

Although the screen separator concealed the person's figure, it didn't insulate them from the sound. Normally one would keep one's voice low for privacy when eating, but oddly enough the next table seemed to have deliberately raised their voice for whatever reason, so Gao Yuan and Fu Zheng could make it out quite clearly.

Almost as soon as the other person opened their mouth, Fu Zheng knew that it was her. The neighbour sitting close to him had been Ning Wan from beginning to end, not just someone resembling her.

"Partner Jin, the reason I'm here is..."

Though Ning Wan's voice was slightly raised, it had a feminine lilt that she had never before used in front of him. It sounded fragile and a little coquettish, so flirtatious that for a moment Fu Zheng was in a trance.

Gao Yuan didn't pay it any heed at first, but as Ning Wan continued, he seemed to realize, met Fu Zheng's gaze and lowered his voice. "Ning Wan?"

Frowning, Fu Zheng didn't answer. Meanwhile, neighbour Ning Wan continued in a voice like tender and delicate tofu, complaining and weeping tearfully--

"Partner Jin, I'm sorry, last time I was..."

The more Gao Yuan listened, the more he looked as though he was hallucinating. "Jin Jianhua? Why is Ning Wan having dinner with Jin Jianhua? And apologizing to him? What could she be sorry for? It's always seemed like they don't know each other well..."

They didn't know each other well, yet Ning Wan was talking to him in this tone? There was something strange going in.

Although there existed beautiful women who used their looks as weapons, who could get easy money by flirting with a boss of the opposite sex, Gao Yuan had never had the impression that Ning Wan was someone like that. On the contrary, she had always seemed bold, brave and careless, not someone who relied on her good looks...

It was just that...

It was just that nothing was absolute. After all, people changed. One could know a person's face but not their heart. Gao Yuan hadn't spent time with Ning Wan in a long time, and the things she was complaining about right now were more than justified--

"Partner Jin, it's so hard being in the community. It's full of old uncles and aunties whose cases are all complicated but about trivial stuff, plus the people involved are uneducated. I try and try, and talk until my mouth is hoarse, yet they still don't understand. If I don't do what they want, they yell and shout and curse. It's unbearable..."

"I've been there for years now, am I going to be there forever?" Neighbouring Ning Wan wept pitifully. "Partner Jin, I was the one who was stupid for refusing you when you tried recruiting me onto your team. Now I know how difficult it is to go it alone. I've learnt my lesson, I've grown up. I just wanted to ask if I could have a chance to join your team again..."

When he heard that, Gao Yuan understood that Ning Wan was out eating with Jin Jianhua to get transferred back to headquarters. He glanced at Fu Zheng to find that the other's face was quite ugly. In his impression, Fu Zheng had never liked female subordinates who used their femininity to their advantage. What Ning Wan was doing was poking a nerve. Not to mention, the fact that she was appealing to Jin Jianhua meant that she wasn't prepared to apply for entry onto Fu Zheng's new team through a fair and open competition...

Thinking that Ning Wan had just abandoned Fu Zheng and defected to Jin Jianhua, Gao Yuan felt some sympathy. He whispered encouragingly, "Don't take it to heart. It's just human nature. Ning Wan has been in the community for a long time, and it's normal for her to give thought to her future. Although you're forming a new team, competition will definitely fierce since you're a senior partner with a lot of experience and plenty of sought-after cases. Ning Wan assessed the risks and chose the more secure path by appealing to Jin Jianhua. It's understandable."

It was understandable, but Fu Zheng still felt betrayed. He had tossed and turned to guide Ning Wan's case studies over email for so long, yet it seemed as though she hadn't appreciated his efforts to groom her for entering his team at all. For a fleeting moment, Fu Zheng even felt like he had been the victim of a playboy.

Besides, even if you wanted to get into Jin Jianhua's team, couldn't you just say so? Usually when she spoke to him, she never spoke softly or weakly. How did she end up here, speaking to Jin Jianhua with a voice so soft it could be made of tofu? It was completely inappropriate for a female subordinate to talk to her male boss in this tone.

But even before he could take a calming breath, Ning Wan's words made him flare up again.

Completely unaware of all this, neighbouring Ning Wan used an even more pathetic  and slightly flirtatious tone to say, "Partner Jin, I'll do anything as long as you can let me into your team... I-- I've already realized what I did wrong, and I understand now what I really want, so you see..."

Ning Wan had lowered her voice just there so that one couldn't hear some words clearly. Gao Yuan, his face full of gossipy delight, would have put his ear right onto the screen to eavesdrop if it hadn't been for Fu Zheng's presence. While trying to distinguish the words, he mouthed to Fu Zheng, "If you hear Ning Wan talking, it's almost like she's trying to seduce Jin Jianhua? Jin Jianhua's been married forever, he has kids in high school..."

Shaking his head, Gao Yuan said disapprovingly, "Nowadays, young people don't know  how to choose their words. This would be so easy to misunderstand. It's a good thing I don't have a gutter mind. Plus, Jin Jianhua has a pretty good reputation and seems to be very attached to his wife and children, so it would be impossible for something like this..."

But before Gao Yuan could finish his sentence, the happenings from next door slapped him hard in the face--

"Anything?" It was Jin Jianhua's voice. But unlike the steady tone he had always used before, his voice at the moment was clearly flirtatious. He chuckled. "Ning Wan, you must know I'm not a vegetarian1."

Gao Yuan frowned. He glanced across. Sure enough, the thunderclouds on Fu Zheng's face could be seen with the naked eye. His face was completely black, but wait, if one looked carefully, Gao Yuan felt, within the blackness there seemed to be a little green2.

Before Jin Jianhua's play on words, not only did Ning Wan not turn him down, but she even smiled, looking shy and cross. "Oh? Are you going to eat me, Partner Jin?"

There was no way around it... This was obviously flirting...

……

The moment he heard Ning Wan say these words, Gao Yuan's first reaction was to check Fu Zheng's face. He felt like the greening trend was becoming more and more pronounced, and that soon he might be stationed at a crossroad as a traffic light...

Gao Yuan sighed internally. Fu Zheng, oh Fu Zheng. You bet on the wrong one after all...