Jiang Taoshi put down her phone, let out a light sigh, and looked distressed.
Sitting across from her, Ruan Hongzhuang asked with some surprise, "What’s wrong with you?"
Jiang Taoshi didn’t answer the question but instead pleaded pitifully, "Boss, could I please take the afternoon off today?"
Ruan Hongzhuang, sitting across from her, smiled as she crossed her legs in a lordly manner, seemingly enjoying the sight of Jiang Taoshi’s anxious look.
"Boss, you’re such a ruthless capitalist, trying to squeeze every last bit of surplus value out of me," Jiang Taoshi couldn’t help but retort.
The reason she dared to talk to her boss was, naturally, because their relationship was not ordinary.
Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang wasn’t annoyed but instead said, "You haven’t told me what you have planned for this afternoon yet?"
"It’s not this afternoon; it’s tonight. Sister Wenxin has set me up with someone and wants me to meet him tonight."
Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang sat up straighter and uncrossed her legs. Evidently, she also knew Jiang Wenxin, and Jiang Wenxin held significant weight in her heart.
"Yes, she mentioned setting me up with someone last week, and starting from yesterday, she kept calling me, insisting I shouldn’t stand him up. This morning she called yet again to remind me; I’m almost annoyed to death by it..." Jiang Taoshi couldn’t help but complain.
"Sister Wenxin is taking this seriously, so the person must be of no ordinary status. You better not stand him up and put Sister Wenxin in a difficult position. But you’re meeting tonight, right? Why do you need to take off this afternoon?"
Ruan Hongzhuang propped her chin with her hand, her face full of curiosity.
Seeing her , Jiang Taoshi was slightly stunned because Ruan Hongzhuang was really too beautiful.
Her expression was charming, her bright eyes lively, curious demeanor, even as another woman, Jiang Taoshi was taken aback by her beauty.
"Are you daydreaming? Answer me."
Ruan Hongzhuang poked Jiang Taoshi’s forehead with her finger, snapping her back to reality.
"Hongzhuang, it would be so good if I were a man," Jiang Taoshi said wistfully.
"What’s good about that?"
"I wouldn’t have to be pressured into going on blind dates all the time, and I could even take you home," Jiang Taoshi replied with a cheery grin.
Hearing that, Ruan Hongzhuang sat upright again, then gave her a sidelong glance.
"If you were a man, you think I would be interested in you? You lack ambition, you’re careless in your work, and you’re lazy and gluttonous... except for this face..."
Ruan Hongzhuang suddenly stretched out her hand and pinched Jiang Taoshi’s cheek.
Jiang Taoshi was 28 this year, but she had a youthful appearance, like a college freshman, with her round, slightly chubby face and a bit of baby fat. It felt full of collagen when pinched, extremely tactile.
When the two went out together, Jiang Taoshi was often mistaken for Ruan Hongzhuang’s younger sister.
"Stop it, or I’ll start feeling depressed."
Jiang Taoshi reached out to stop the other from continuing.
Jiang Taoshi and Ruan Hongzhuang were college classmates and had a great relationship. After graduating from college, Ruan Hongzhuang took some money from her family to start a business, and Jiang Taoshi, who was jobless at the time, chose to be her assistant, and she has been working for her ever since.
So, on normal days, the two were both superior and subordinate, as well as best friends. There were many things that couldn’t be said to a boss but could be said directly to a best friend.
"Don’t change the subject. Why do you need to leave early this afternoon? Are you planning to go back home and get all dolled up?"
Ruan Hongzhuang sized Jiang Taoshi up and down.
"I think you look just fine as you are; there’s no need for any special preparation."
"Preparation? We have to go to Qingyuan Group at five in the afternoon for a meeting. I definitely won’t make it back by six..."
"Well, alright then. You don’t need to come this afternoon."
"Thank you, boss, for your merciful kindness."
Jiang Taoshi brought her hands together, feigning gratitude towards Ruan Hongzhuang.
"This is the first time Sister Wenxin has set you up with someone, isn’t it?" Ruan Hongzhuang asked her with a raised brow.
Jiang Taoshi nodded. Her family had arranged a few blind dates for her before, but this was the first time Jiang Wenxin had done so, and she was taking it so seriously that it made Jiang Taoshi start to take it seriously as well.
"Sister Wenxin is a very reliable person; the match she has introduced to you should be a good fit," Ruan Hongzhuang said.
Ruan Hongzhuang knows Jiang Wenxin very well, or it would be accurate to say that she is quite familiar with the entire Jiang Family.
Since the Jiang Family is quite influential in Bin Hai, when Ruan Hongzhuang started her business there, she received a lot of help from them, so their relationship is extraordinary.
Jiang Taoshi nodded in agreement with Ruan Hongzhuang’s words, but then she changed the subject and asked, "Never mind me, when will our big boss, Mr. Ruan, look for a partner? We are of the same age; in fact, I am a few months older than you, so you should be calling me sister."
Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang subconsciously reached out to pinch her cheek but slightly spaced out.
She had been so busy with entrepreneurship in recent years that she hadn’t given it any thought. Orıginal content can be found at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽
Time flies quickly; it was soon 5 PM.
Ruan Hongzhuang stood up, preparing to head to Qingyuan Group.
"Where have you arranged to meet with your date? Do you want a ride on the way?" Ruan Hongzhuang asked Jiang Taoshi, who was engrossed in her phone.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Taoshi was momentarily stunned, glanced at the time, and then exclaimed, "It’s already five o’clock."
Hearing this, Ruan Hongzhuang sighed and said, "Sometimes, I wonder who’s the assistant, you or me."
"Hehe~, sorry, I was chatting with Sister Wenxin, asking about the match she introduced. Who is this person?" Jiang Taoshi raised her phone.
Ruan Hongzhuang, full of curiosity, snatched the phone.
Jiang Taoshi didn’t mind and said from the side, "Sister Wenxin said that although the person has an ordinary background, he’s handsome, a good person, and also capable."
However, as Ruan Hongzhuang went through the phone, she frowned, doubting the reliability of the match introduced by Jiang Wenxin.
She wasn’t as naive as Jiang Taoshi, who believes whatever she was told.
Jiang Wenxin mentioned on WeChat that the person was nice, but didn’t specify how they were nice, nor what capabilities the person had...
It gave her a vague and ambiguous impression.
Ruan Hongzhuang saw the meeting place.
This was an open-air coffee shop located by the sea, where you could drink coffee in the evening, enjoy the sea breeze, and marvel at the gorgeous view of the sunset plunging into the ocean and the sky bathed in shades of orange.
That’s why it was named Sunset Coffee.
Ruan Hongzhuang had been there a few times and was quite familiar with the area.
So, she said, "It’s on the way, I can drop you off."
Upon hearing this, Jiang Taoshi hurriedly packed up her things and went downstairs with Ruan Hongzhuang.
The driver, Master Sun, had been waiting downstairs for a while and quickly opened the car door when he saw them coming down one after another.
The car moved slowly along the coastal road; it was evening, the setting sun shone on the seaside, sparkling on the waves, with seagulls soaring in the sky and sailboats dotting the distance, the occasional horn of a ship could be heard...
Such a beautiful scene, but Ruan Hongzhuang, looking out the car window, seemed unfocused.
She was curious about the kind of person Jiang Taoshi was going to meet tonight.
Just then, her phone rang.
She picked it up and saw it was Jiang Taoshi calling.
"President Ruan, Assistant Chen from Qingyuan Group just contacted me, saying that President Wu suddenly had a heart attack and went to the hospital. Today’s meeting is canceled."
"Did you find out which hospital?"
"I’ll ask now," Jiang Taoshi hurriedly said.
"Forget it, leave it at that for now," Ruan Hongzhuang said with a headache and hung up the phone.
Then she said to the driver in front, "Master Sun, let’s head back to the coffee shop we just came from."