“Age?”
“Twenty-five.”
“Education?”
“Master’s degree.”
“Family situation?”
“…Not a local, working in Beicheng.”
“Then it seems you have neither a house nor a car. Miss Ning, I roughly understand your situation. Given your family background, what advantages do you think you have in Beicheng’s matchmaking market?”
Ning Wanji paused, took a sip of water, looked at the local Beicheng man sitting in front of her—dressed in a sharp suit with a neatly tied tie—shook her head, and then, tightening her fingers around the water glass, said: “None.”
“Let me state this clearly first, Miss Ning: I returned from studying abroad in Germany, I’m a doctor at a Class 3A hospital in Beicheng, I own an apartment within Beicheng’s Third Ring Road, and I drive a Land Rover. You also know my family situation—my parents are both retired employees of state-owned enterprises with stable pensions. Apart from being a graduate of P University for undergrad and having studied at Columbia, what else do you think makes you qualified to go on a matchmaking date with me?”
Though the words were spoken somewhat directly, they indeed reflected the current reality of the matchmaking market in Beicheng. Unquestionably, there was some truth to what he said, but his overly arrogant attitude still made her feel subtly uncomfortable.
Matchmaking was actually just like this: everyone was picking and choosing. Rather than looking for a significant other, it was more like putting oneself up for sale to find a partner whose conditions seemed appropriate in every aspect to bundle together and get through life with.
Before being dragged to this blind date, Ning Wanji wasn’t very willing either. However, her college roommate, He Qingqiu, insisted that the guy she snagged this time was of high quality with superior family background, urging Ning Wanji not to miss out. That was how this date came to be.
He Qingqiu had high expectations for this date. Before leaving, she specifically instructed Ning Wanji to dress up nicely to make the best possible impression on the date.
So right before stepping out the door, Ning Wanji was dragged along to get her hair and makeup done. The clothes she wore were the latest style coordinated at a high-end luxury boutique, and her perfume cost several thousand yuan a bottle. In He Qingqiu’s words: You can’t catch the wolf without sacrificing the child.
Before the date, Ning Wanji calculated that this outfit and perfume would cost roughly a quarter’s worth of her salary. She originally thought these things were flashy and impractical, but thinking that she could reuse them for company galas and other important occasions, she bit the bullet and signed the bill. Only when considering the cost-performance ratio did she feel a bit more at ease.
When the POS machine prompted a spending total of 100,000 yuan, Ning Wanji’s heart was bleeding.
Buying this outfit in an impulse moment was for a blind date in He Qingqiu’s eyes, but in Ning Wanji’s eyes, it was not.
She didn’t buy the clothes to cater to a blind date, but rather to have a decent, presentable set of clothes when attending work meetings and other important occasions like banquets.
After graduation, she worked as a journalist at Financial Storm magazine, a trendsetter in the financial magazine industry whose status in China was comparable to The Wall Street Journal.
Since starting her job, Ning Wanji mostly came into contact with figures from the upper echelon of society, all rich or influential. The company frequently required them to attend important occasions, yet her outfits rarely cost over a few thousand yuan, making her seem somewhat out of place when interviewing high-society celebrities.
Her editor-in-chief had previously given her a subtle reminder to find a presentable outfit, otherwise there would be no way to keep assigning her interviews with business titans. After all, when she went out, she represented Financial Storm magazine, not just herself. This reasoning sounded a bit abstract, but since the editor-in-chief said so, Ning Wanji couldn’t afford not to take it to heart.
She used to think that as long as her interview drafts were written well enough, she could secure a place in the industry relying on solid professional literacy. She hadn’t expected that clothing and appearance were actually factors the company evaluated as well.
This was the highest-paying job offered to a fresh graduate since she finished school; other jobs were not as generous. To satisfy her boss as much as possible, this set of clothes was likely a blood-sweat investment that would prove worth its price.
Inside the café, beautiful music slowly poured out from the gramophone, and afternoon sunlight cast diagonally inward from the transparent glass windows.
The man opposite her was still relentlessly dissecting her family situation.
Ning Wanji’s WeChat vibration abruptly rang out. She picked up her phone and glanced at it; it was a message from He Qingqiu.
“Wanwan, how is it going? Is the date going smoothly? I told you, someone as good as our Wanwan couldn’t possibly be disliked.”
He Qingqiu typed out a large wall of text without waiting for her reply. Ning Wanji’s fingers paused slightly, and immediately after, she typed two words back with an expressionless face:
“Failed.”
“Eh? No way, how could it fail? You have such excellent academic and work credentials. Does he even have eyes, I ask?”
Just as Ning Wanji was replying to the message, she heard the voice of the man sitting opposite her suddenly grow louder. He tapped the tabletop, looked at Ning Wanji who was fiddling with her phone, and opened his mouth to say: “Miss Ning, are you actually listening to me carefully? Don’t you know that playing on your phone while someone else is speaking is a lack of respect for them?”
His tone was very stern, clearly showing a bad mood. Ning Wanji placed her phone on the table, lightly raised her eyebrows, took a sip of the coffee in front of her, and spoke.
“Mr. Zhang.”
Ning Wanji’s voice was very soft yet clear and reasoned: “I hope you first understand one point: respect is mutual; it cannot be achieved unilaterally. Since you don’t respect me, why should I respect you?”
Her disposition was normally not the type that liked to show off, but ever since her school days, Ning Wanji always held fast to one principle: I will not attack unless attacked; if attacked, I will surely attack back.
Attending this blind date wasn’t her intention in the first place. If her family hadn’t been pressing her so hard, and if she hadn’t known He Qingqiu was anxious on her behalf because of her family’s nagging, Ning Wanji wouldn’t have come to keep this appointment at all.
Folding her hands together, she gazed calmly at the person in front of her and continued: “Since neither side is satisfied, there is no need for this conversation to continue.”
Ning Wanji’s tone was composed and her manner composed. She stood up from her seat, glanced coldly at the man in front of her, and called out amid his bewildered expression: “Waiter. Bill, please.”
As soon as her voice fell, the blind date sitting opposite her immediately spoke up: “Wait, why are you saying you’ll pay the bill? Are you trying to humiliate me or what? At the very least, we should split it 50/50!”
…
Ning Wanji was a bit speechless. Just as she was about to say something more, she caught sight of a suit-and-tie-clad man sitting in the corner of the café. His expression was sharp and cold. Holding a cup of iced Americano in his hand, he leaned against the wall, lightly raised his eyes, and happened to lock eyes with her.
His fingers were long and fair, and his aura was noble and refined. The man sitting opposite him was chatting with him casually. The air conditioning in the café was blowing at full blast, so he didn’t need to take off his expensive suit. The Patek Philippe worn on his wrist indicated that its owner possessed immense wealth.
Their eyes crossed in the cold air. His dark eyes were deep and his expression calm; it was impossible to decipher his emotions from their gaze. The moment she was stared at by him, Ning Wanji had an illusion—it felt as if, in that instant, all the emotions she had disguised could be seen straight through by him.
Ning Wanji hadn’t expected to run into Ji Shijing at a moment like this. Standing here like this, compared to his brilliant attire, she couldn’t help but look far too pathetic.
The wall lamp in the café cast light onto his overly harsh side profile. Ning Wanji bit her lip and stared at him in the quiet air, taking in his firm outline, high nose bridge, and features that left no room for fault anywhere—just like the finest masterpiece of the goddess Aphrodite.
The light flickered in shadows. Ning Wanji saw Ji Shijing stand up and unbutton his suit jacket. Underneath, he wore an Italian handmade haute couture white shirt; Ning Wanji had casually seen it before in a fashion magazine, costing a fortune—roughly several hundred thousand RMB.
His fingers tapped lightly on the table, the bone on his cool-white wrist standing out. Ji Shijing leaned down to say something to the person sitting opposite him, then rose and walked toward her.
It was a moment of bewilderment.
Ning Wanji hadn’t expected Ji Shijing to walk over to her—or perhaps walking toward her was purely her own illusion.
The two had not seen each other for many years. Furthermore, to Ji Shijing, she was nothing more than an ordinary junior schoolmate from their Beicheng Middle School days. He shouldn’t be making a special trip over for her sake, yet he was indeed walking toward her.
It wasn’t her illusion.
The feeling was extremely subtle. While she was still dazed, her hand was already taken by Ji Shijing’s. Pulling her behind him, his voice was pressed very low with a hint of hoarseness, yet sounded like water droplets tapping on jade stone.
“Were you trying to make things difficult for this lady just now?”
Ji Shijing’s voice was no different from his persona—carrying silence and strictness. The hem of his suit coat brushed against Ning Wanji’s skirt, putting the two of them excessively close.
Ever since her middle school days ended, Ning Wanji had never been this close to anyone again.
The palm of his hand was scorching hot, forming a sharp contrast with the low temperature inside the café. Held by him, she could feel an unprecedented sense of security.
The man opposite was clearly dissatisfied. Standing up, his voice carried an enraged fury, taking on the tone of a shrew scolding in the street: “Who the hell are you? I’m on a blind date with her, what’s it to you? I was just talking about her paying the bill—she’s looking down on me, so I was reasoning with her. How does that bother you? Who are you to meddle in my business?”
In truth, for a split second just now, Ning Wanji had felt a bit aggrieved, but she understood that she couldn’t show weakness.
If she showed weakness, the person in front of her would look down on her. Having been immersed in the workplace after graduation, she understood these truths more or less.
Her phone kept vibrating continuously, but Ning Wanji no longer had the heart to pay attention to the messages sent by He Qingqiu. Her entire perception was completely carried away by the man holding her hand in front of her.
The man drew out his tone slightly, his voice carrying a touch of chill—a nonchalant and confident aura that disregarded everything.
“Wangjing Group, Ji Shijing. Am I qualified to meddle in this business, sir?”