Haicheng was especially hot in August. The gentle evening breeze that occasionally drifted through seemed to soothe the passersby’s irritation from the heat.
“Don’t rush me, I’m almost there~” A sweet, soft voice came from the basement-level parking garage at Zhonghai Tianzuan.
Jiang Yun hung up and picked up her white Chanel COCO Handle bag with her left hand and her white LV Trainer sneakers with her right. Since she never drove in high heels, she changed into flats and set her white, rhinestone-studded stilettos on the passenger seat.
Once she was ready, she pressed the accelerator. A white Porsche 911 glided through the brilliantly lit streets of Haicheng…
“Yunyun, over here, over here…”
A voice called out from the noisy BILLOW Bar. Jiang Yun followed it and spotted Lin Jiuer, her friend of more than twenty years. The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
Lin Jiuer looked at Jiang Yun in her red strappy dress. The lights made her fair skin look even more luminous.
The fitted dress perfectly showcased her hourglass figure, while its slightly low neckline offered a tantalizing glimpse of her cleavage.
What a knockout!
“Yunyun, are you planning to go back to your family’s company now?”
Lin Jiuer sat at the bar, holding a glass in one hand and propping her chin on the other as she asked.
“That’s right. Dad’s getting on in years and is thinking about retiring, so I’m going to get used to things there first.”
Jiang Yun took a small sip of her cocktail over ice, then looked around curiously.
Just then, she lifted her head. Her gaze cut through the dim lights and thronging crowd before settling on a booth upstairs.
A man in a white shirt sat there. His skin was fair, his nose straight and high-bridged, and thick lashes rested above his deep-set eyes. His profile was sharp, yet somehow gentle.
As Jiang Yun looked at him, the man upstairs seemed to lower his head at that very moment and glance toward the bar.
The shifting lights happened to outline her delicate features. Their eyes met for only a moment before the man in the booth quickly looked away.
The pounding beat of the music seemed to drown out the quickening of Jiang Yun’s heart…
She arched a brow, swallowed her cocktail, and couldn’t help exclaiming,
“This drink is really good~”
Lin Jiuer followed Jiang Yun’s gaze and teased, “Yunyun, are you talking about the drink—or the man? Hahaha!”
Jiang Yun looked away and lightly tapped her friend.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
The bar’s lights flashed, and the music pounded deafeningly.
At the bar, two young women were having a grand time, bursting into laughter now and then.
But their laughter was soon swallowed by the loud music and the hubbub of the crowd.
Meanwhile, upstairs in the bar’s luxurious booths, a group of people were making the most of the night.
Among them was a man named Jiang Jin, sitting on the sofa with a weary look.
Beside him sat his spoiled, privileged friend Ke Shaoyu, trying to persuade him to drink with them.
“Come on, Old Jiang. Who comes to a bar and doesn’t drink? If you can’t handle it, go sit at the kids’ table.”
Ke Shaoyu slung an arm around Jiang Jin’s shoulders and urged him with a grin. Jiang Jin merely rolled his eyes and said nothing.
He picked up a glass of whisky from the table, downed it, then set the glass down and said calmly,
“I have surgery tomorrow. You guys drink.” With that, he stood and headed downstairs.
Watching Jiang Jin leave, Ke Shaoyu shook his head helplessly and muttered,
“What a bore.”
But he soon got back into the spirit of things and continued drinking with his friends…
When Jiang Yun saw the man from upstairs leaving, she put down her cocktail and said to Lin Jiuer,
“Jiuer, I’m going to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
Her clueless friend asked, “Want me to come with you, Yunyun?”
“No, no. You keep drinking.” With that, she headed toward the entrance in her slender high heels…
Jiang Jin was waiting for his driver to pick him up. After finishing five surgeries that day, he took a cigarette from his pocket. The evening breeze brushed over him as he savored a moment of quiet; it seemed to ease some of his physical exhaustion.
“Hey~” A soft call came from behind him.
At the sound, Jiang Jin turned around. When he saw who it was, he stubbed out his cigarette and tossed it into the trash can.
“Why’d you stop smoking?” Jiang Yun walked up to him and asked with a smile.
“I don’t make a habit of letting women breathe secondhand smoke,” Jiang Jin replied evenly.
He wasn’t much of a smoker, really. He only lit one when work left him exhausted or his mood turned sour.
“Oh~ So that’s why~ You’re quite respectful toward women, then.”
Jiang Yun’s lips curved into a faint smile, and she found herself liking him a little more.
“It’s late. Are you going home? Want me to drive you?”
Jiang Jin didn’t answer right away. He fell silent.
Seeing this, Jiang Yun thought he hadn’t heard her, so she asked again,
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Want me to drive you?”
Jiang Jin slowly raised his head and looked at her with an almost amused expression.
“If I remember correctly, you’ve had quite a bit to drink, haven’t you?”
Jiang Yun didn’t look embarrassed at all. A faint smile played on her lips, but she didn’t answer his question.
Instead, she gently ran a hand through her long, seaweed-like hair and said slowly,
“Jiang Taigong fishes.”
Jiang Jin found her sudden remark baffling. His brows drew together in confusion.
Jiang Yun chuckled softly, then asked,
“Do you know what comes next in the saying about Jiang Taigong fishing?”
Jiang Jin still said nothing. She wasn’t surprised; she’d expected as much. So she answered for him,
“Those who are willing take the bait.”
Jiang Jin seemed wholly uninterested. With his hands in his pockets, he stared calmly ahead and tugged lightly at his shirt collar, as if trying to air out the smell of alcohol…
Jiang Yun wasn’t discouraged. Instead, she leaned slightly toward him, lifted her eyes, and looked straight at him.
Her delicate fragrance drifted over on the breeze, lingering around his nose like an invisible tether.
Then her soft, gentle voice sounded beside his ear:
“Jiang Taigong fishes, and those who are willing take the bait. So if I’m fishing for you, will you take the bait?”
Jiang Jin lowered his head and studied the girl before him. When she finished speaking, her lashes fluttered; her curled hair swayed in the breeze, her soft lips parted slightly, and her bright eyes were alluring and captivating…
Jiang Jin gave a quiet scoff. “How many men have you tried to hook before me?”
He exhaled, as though steadying his breathing.
“Just one, and I haven’t hooked him yet~”
Jiang Yun brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Before Jiang Jin could respond, she continued in a sweet, coy voice,
“And he hasn’t even told me his name.”
Just then, a car horn sounded several times from the road. A black Maybach pulled up outside the BILLOW Bar.
Jiang Jin looked toward the driver, then turned to Jiang Yun and said,
“Girls shouldn’t casually offer to drive strange men home this late at night.”
With that, he walked away…
The black Maybach disappeared into the glittering night. Jiang Yun smiled to herself, then swayed back into the bar.
Lin Jiuer had seen how long she’d been gone and teased her, “Did you fall into the toilet? What took you so long?”
Jiang Yun gently placed a finger against her silly friend’s lips and made a shushing gesture. Her red lips curved in a faint smile as she drawled,
“I didn’t fall in the toilet. I went fishing.” Every little smile and frown of hers was utterly beguiling.
Lin Jiuer fell for her charms and gave her a playful smack on the waist. “Stop trying to seduce me!” she said, then added, “You were gone so long, I could’ve raised fish in this drink.” The two friends went back to drinking and chatting…
When they were ready to leave, they both called for designated drivers. Perhaps because she’d had a little too much to drink, Jiang Yun had a headache.
She rolled down the car window. At three in the morning, the city streets were already empty of pedestrians. The cold wind seemed to help clear her head.
Thinking of the man she’d met that night—and how boldly she’d made her move—she lowered her head and smiled to herself. Alcohol really could intoxicate the heart. She wondered whether they were destined to meet again, whether she’d ever run into her fish again…
(Princesses and young masters, welcome to my new book! There’ll be no melodramatic car accidents, amnesia, or a bankrupt heroine.
It’s a love story between Jiang Jin, a shrewd, secretly passionate orthopedic doctor, and Jiang Yun, a soft, alluring heiress.
Both have happy families, with no scheming white lotuses or parents standing in the way of their relationship.
P.S. Life is hard enough already, so I’m going to make this one a little sweeter ^_^
It won’t be all sweetness; later on, there’ll be a mild arc in which the male lead tries to win her back. If that bothers you, proceed with caution.
If you don’t like it, you can leave—but please don’t rush to give it a low rating.
Things will gradually get more interesting later on. Give it a chance; don’t leave just yet.
Trust me, you’ll fall in love with it.