Chapter 63: The Blind Date

"Sigh~"

Jiang Taozhi put down her phone and let out a soft sigh, her face scrunched up in worry.

Ruan Hongzhuang, sitting across from her, asked with a hint of surprise, "What's the matter with you?"

Instead of answering, Jiang Taozhi put on a pitiful expression and said, "Boss, can I take the afternoon off today?"

"No."

Sitting opposite her, Ruan Hongzhuang smiled as she crossed her legs, seeming to thoroughly enjoy watching Jiang Taozhi fret.

"Boss, you really are a cold-hearted capitalist, trying to squeeze every last drop of surplus value out of me," Jiang Taozhi complained helplessly.

The only reason she dared speak to her boss this way was because of their exceptionally close relationship.

Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang wasn't annoyed at all. Instead, she asked, "You still haven't told me what you have to do this afternoon."

"It's not the afternoon, it's the evening. Sister Wenxin set me up on a blind date and wants me to go meet him tonight."

"Sister Wenxin?"

Ruan Hongzhuang straightened up upon hearing this and uncrossed her legs. Clearly, she also knew Jiang Wenxin, and Jiang Wenxin held considerable weight in her heart.

"Yeah. She mentioned setting me up last week, and since yesterday, she's been calling me, telling me absolutely not to stand him up. This morning she even called bright and early to nag me again. I'm going crazy with her badgering..." Jiang Taozhi grumbled.

"Since Sister Wenxin is taking it so seriously, it means the guy's background must be quite extraordinary. You shouldn't stand him up and put Sister Wenxin in an awkward position. But aren't you meeting at night? Why do you need the afternoon off?"

Ruan Hongzhuang rested her chin in her hand, curiosity written all over her face.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Taozhi paused for a moment because Ruan Hongzhuang was simply too breathtaking.

At this moment, whether displeased or amused, her bright eyes shifting gracefully with curiosity, she was so stunning that even as a fellow woman, Jiang Taozhi found herself momentarily dazed by her beauty.

"I asked you a question. What are you zoning out for?"

Ruan Hongzhuang reached out and flicked Jiang Taozhi on the forehead, finally snapping her back to reality.

"Hongzhuang, how I wish I were a man," Jiang Taozhi sighed emotionally.

"What's so good about that?"

"Then I wouldn't have to be forced into blind dates every day, and I could even marry you and bring you home," Jiang Taozhi said with a grin.

Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang straightened up once more, casting a sideways glance with her clear eyes.

"If you were a man, do you really think I'd look twice at you? You have no grand ambitions, you're sloppy in your work, you love to eat and hate to work... Aside from this face—"

Ruan Hongzhuang suddenly reached out and pinched Jiang Taozhi's cheek.

Although Jiang Taozhi was already twenty-eight years old, she looked remarkably young, resembling a fresh college student. With her chubby little face and a hint of baby fat, pinching her cheek revealed skin full of collagen, offering a wonderfully bouncy texture.

When the two of them went out together, Jiang Taozhi was frequently mistaken for Ruan Hongzhuang's younger sister.

"Stop talking, or I'm going to get depressed."

Jiang Taozhi reached out to block her from saying any more.

Jiang Taozhi and Ruan Hongzhuang had been college classmates and shared an exceptionally close bond. After graduation, Ruan Hongzhuang obtained some startup capital from her family, and Jiang Taozhi, who was unemployed at the time, chose to become her assistant, sticking with her all the way to the present.

Therefore, in their daily lives, they were both superiors-subordinates and best friends. Many things that couldn't be said to a boss could be vented directly to a best friend.

"Don't change the subject. Why do you need the afternoon off? What, are you planning to go back and doll yourself up?"

Ruan Hongzhuang looked Jiang Taozhi up and down.

"I think you look fine just the way you are; no special dressing up is needed."

"Doll myself up for what? At five o'clock this afternoon, we have to go to Qinyuan Group for a meeting with them. There's no way we'll make it back before six..."

"Fine then. You don't have to come this afternoon."

"Thank you for your immense mercy, Boss."

Jiang Taozhi pressed her palms together, putting on a theatrical display of gratitude.

"Isn't this the first time Sister Wenxin has ever set you on a blind date?" Ruan Hongzhuang asked, giving her a sidelong glance.

Jiang Taozhi nodded. Her family had arranged a few blind dates for her in the past, but this was the first time Jiang Wenxin had personally set her up with someone, and with such seriousness at that, which made her take it a bit more seriously as well.

"Sister Wenxin is a very reliable person. The guy she's introducing to you should be quite suitable for you," Ruan Hongzhuang said.

Ruan Hongzhuang was very familiar with Jiang Wenxin—or rather, she was quite familiar with the entire Jiang family.

Because the Jiang family had considerable influence in Binhai, when Ruan Hongzhuang first came to Binhai to start her business, she received a lot of help from them, making their relationship extraordinary.

Jiang Taozhi nodded, heartily agreeing with Ruan Hongzhuang's words, but then changed the subject and asked, "Leaving me aside, when is our President Ruan going to find a partner? The two of us are the same age. Come to think of it, I'm even a few months older than you. You should be calling me older sister."

Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang instinctively reached out to pinch her cheek again, though she drifted off into a brief trance.

"A boyfriend?"

Having been busy building her business all these years, she genuinely hadn't considered the matter.

Time flew by, and five o'clock in the afternoon arrived in the blink of an eye.

Ruan Hongzhuang stood up, preparing to head to Qinyuan Group.

"Where did you agree to meet him? Do you want a ride on the way?" Ruan Hongzhuang asked Jiang Taozhi, who was currently burying her head in her phone.

Hearing this, Jiang Taozhi snapped out of her daze, checked the time, and cried out in surprise, "It's already five o'clock!"

Ruan Hongzhuang sighed and said, "Sometimes, I really wonder if you're the assistant or if I'm the assistant."

"Hehe~ Sorry, I was chatting with Sister Wenxin, asking her what kind of person the guy she's introducing is," Jiang Taozhi said, waving her phone in the air.

"Let me see."

Curiosity getting the better of her, Ruan Hongzhuang reached out and snatched the phone away.

Jiang Taozhi didn't mind and said from the side, "Sister Wenxin said that although his background is very ordinary, he's handsome, has a great personality, and is very capable."

However, Ruan Hongzhuang, who was scrolling through the phone, furrowed her brow, starting to doubt whether the person Jiang Wenxin introduced was reliable at all.

She wasn't as naive as Jiang Taozhi, believing whatever anyone told her.

Jiang Wenxin said on WeChat that the guy had a great personality, but failed to mention *why* it was great. She said he was very capable, but once again failed to mention *what* his capabilities were...

It gave her a rather ambiguous and evasive feeling.

Ruan Hongzhuang spotted the meeting location.

"Sunset Coffee?"

This was an open-air café built right by the seaside. In the evening, one could sip coffee, feel the sea breeze, and admire the breathtaking scenery of the sun sinking into the ocean amidst a sky full of tangerine hues.

That was how it got the name Sunset Coffee.

Ruan Hongzhuang had been there a few times and was quite familiar with the neighborhood.

So she said, "It happens to be on the way. I'll drop you off there."

Hearing this, Jiang Taozhi hurriedly packed her things and went downstairs with Ruan Hongzhuang.

Driver Sun was already waiting downstairs. Seeing the two of them coming down one after the other, he hurried to open the car door.

The car moved slowly along the coastal highway. It was now evening, with the setting sun casting its golden glow upon the sea, causing the waves to sparkle. A few gulls soared through the air, and in the distance, sails dotted the horizon as the occasional sound of a ship's horn drifted over...

Despite such gorgeous scenery, Ruan Hongzhuang, gazing out the car window, had unfocused eyes.

She couldn't help feeling a flicker of curiosity about the kind of person Jiang Taozhi was going to meet tonight.

Right at that moment, her phone rang.

Picking it up, she saw it was a call from Jiang Taozhi.

"What is it?"

"President Ruan, Assistant Chen from Qinyuan Group just contacted me. He said their President Wu had a sudden heart attack and was rushed to the hospital, so today's meeting is canceled."

"Did you find out which hospital?"

"No."

Ruan Hongzhuang:......

"I'll call and ask right now," Jiang Taozhi said hurriedly.

"Never mind, just leave it for now," Ruan Hongzhuang said with a headache, ending the call.

Then she instructed the driver up front, "Driver Sun, let's head back to the café."