"Just like that, problem solved..." Zhang Jingdong smiled contentedly, "When I was young, my teacher always educated me to be honest. Now that you’re a teacher, how can you lie?"
"Teacher Shu, so there shouldn’t be any problem with the way I just punished you, right?"
Shu Ran knew this guy was doing it on purpose and bit her lip: "No problem."
"Do you like the way I punished you just now?"
Shu Ran couldn’t help but laugh out of frustration: "Zhang Jingdong, you... don’t go too far... if you keep this up, I won’t pay attention to you anymore!"
"Sorry, wrong answer!" Zhang Jingdong leaned in close, staring at Shu Ran’s pretty face: "But I can give you another chance. Teacher Shu, you better answer carefully this time."
Shu Ran met Zhang Jingdong’s gaze and finally couldn’t suppress her laughter: "Alright, I give in, I like it. Happy now?"
"I knew our Teacher Shu is a smart one..."
Zhang Jingdong couldn’t resist and kissed Shu Ran’s pretty face twice more, then said: "Alright, I’ll go make you some tea..."
"No need... we... we should head out, otherwise others will definitely get the wrong idea!"
"Plus, today is the opening day of your bar, how can you, as the boss, fail to show up?"
Zhang Jingdong waved his hand: "Don’t worry, it’s fine..."
Shu Ran insisted seriously: "I came here to help you, not to waste your time, and I don’t want others to think that you... that you’re neglecting important matters for a woman."
Zhang Jingdong originally planned to keep Shu Ran here for an hour or two until Xiao Fei finished rehearsing, and then bring her to the rehearsal studio.
It should be fine if they bumped into each other, but having them together in the rehearsal studio for an hour or two—given their intuition and intelligence, trouble was bound to happen.
Shu Ran was okay, but he was a bit worried about Xiao Fei.
Although she’s been very compliant in front of him now, considering how she boldly pursued him despite knowing he was chasing Lin Shishi, and didn’t shy away from using any means necessary—and has now achieved her goal—it showed that she definitely had a competitive streak in her bones.
Plus, Shu Ran cared about face, and since he wasn’t completely tied to her yet, if Xiao Fei said something excessive, it was very possible that Shu Ran wouldn’t take it well.
Thinking this, Zhang Jingdong felt a headache coming on.
Truth be told, he had considered that as the number of women around him grew, palace drama might ensue in the future.
But back then, he thought as long as he was awesome enough, even if they knew he had other women, they might tolerate it, and until today, he felt he had achieved that.
But now he suddenly realized that he might have forgotten one thing: they might accept that he had other women, but not necessarily get along peacefully, especially when they happened to be in the same place.
However, since Shu Ran had spoken up to this extent, if he didn’t take her to the rehearsal studio now, she might overthink.
In his urgency, Zhang Jingdong suddenly had an idea: if they wanted to fight, let them. They would hardly see each other in the future, and he would have plenty of opportunities to make amends.
With that thought, Zhang Jingdong instantly regained his carefree demeanor: "Tsk, behind every successful man there really is a beautiful and virtuous woman. Alright, since you are so understanding, it would be wrong for me to slack off here. Come on, I’ll take you to the rehearsal studio."
Shu Ran finally breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly started to fix her clothes and makeup.
Zhang Jingdong intended to tease her again.
Shu Ran quickly said: "Not now, it’ll affect my state..."
But seeing that she couldn’t stop him, she continued: "If you behave... next time I can... reward you!"
"Reward?" Zhang Jingdong became interested at this word: "In my understanding, reward means treatment better than usual."
"I’ve already kissed and hugged you here, Teacher Shu, so this reward of yours is..."
Shu Ran actually hadn’t thought it through yet, so she pretended to be mysterious: "You’ll know when the time comes."
Zhang Jingdong wouldn’t be fooled easily: "Teacher Shu, if you lie, you’ll be punished, you know?"
"I know..." Shu Ran steeled herself: "If you’re not satisfied with my reward, then you can punish me however you want!"
"I am reassured with your word!"
Zhang Jingdong said, instantly transforming into a noble gentleman, and opened the door with a gentlemanly gesture: "After you, Teacher Shu..."
As Shu Ran walked out, she glanced back at him: "You’re such a waste not being in movies!"
Zhang Jingdong immediately joined in: "I’ve already found a director, filming will start soon, and you must definitely come to the cinema to support it!"
Shu Ran hesitated: "You... you don’t seem to be joking?"
"I’m never joking when it comes to serious matters!"
As they appeared in everyone’s sight, Shu Ran instantly reverted to the elegant and composed beautiful dance teacher.
And Zhang Jingdong once again became the young, successful and dashing bar owner.
But as they arrived at the door of the backstage rehearsal room, Zhang Jingdong still breathed a sigh of relief before opening the door.
At this moment, Xiao Fei had just finished rehearsing her second song.
Seeing Zhang Jingdong return, a radiant smile instantly blossomed on her usually cool face.
And when she saw Shu Ran following behind him, not only did Xiao Fei’s smile not fade, it actually became even brighter!