Ding-a-ling... An pleasant ringtone sounded from the phone.
After a moment, the call connected, and a pleasant yet familiar voice came through: "Hello, who is this?"
It was An Ya, the Flight Attendant Zhou Xing had met on the flight.
"Zhou Xing."
On the other end of the line, An Ya was silent for a moment, then said in a somewhat stiff tone, "Mr. Zhou, may I ask what the matter is?"
Even though Zhou Xing wasn't very good at analyzing a woman's psychology, he could clearly tell.
An Ya was angry.
He rubbed his nose. There was nothing he could do about it.
Xiao Lanlan's sudden appearance caused Zhou Xing to forget about this matter and stand her up.
He had said he would treat her to dinner... but he only called her a full day later.
"Didn't we agree on the plane? You show me around Shanghai properly, and I'll treat you to dinner."
Zhou Xing said with a smile.
"I don't think Mr. Zhou needs a tour guide anymore. After all, you've been in Shanghai for so long; a day is enough to get familiar with it. I also need to fly back to Jiangcheng soon."
Even through the phone, he could sense An Ya's strong tone of resentment: "So I don't really have time. Let's talk about it later."
"It's just that I had things to deal with in Shanghai. I was too busy..."
Zhou Xing explained, "I only just got free now, and I immediately thought of inviting you to dinner, so I contacted you right away. I haven't even eaten yet."
"Really?"
An Ya was somewhat swayed by Zhou Xing's words.
"Of course, it's true."
Zhou Xing smiled slightly, giving An Ya no chance to refuse: "Where are you staying now? I'll come pick you up."
"Let's forget it."
An Ya seemed very hesitant: "I'm staying with my colleagues, and we were just about to go downstairs to eat."
She was tempted, but also conflicted.
If she agreed too easily... would Zhou Xing misunderstand her as an easy woman?
"Just give me the address. Consider this dinner my apology to you."
Zhou Xing's words easily dismantled An Ya's psychological defenses.
"Alright then, I'll send you the address."
An Ya's voice was much softer.
"Okay, I'll call you when I arrive."
Zhou Xing hung up the phone.
The address quickly arrived on his phone.
He took a look.
All Seasons Hotel.
A four-star hotel.
Although it wasn't as luxurious as the Ritz-Carlton where Zhou Xing was staying, it was still quite good.
The airline's accommodation arrangements were quite decent... Inside the hotel.
An Ya put down the phone, bit her lip, and annoyedly rubbed her hair.
She still couldn't hold out.
Zhou Xing was the first person she had given her contact information to, and she had been full of anticipation the day they arrived in Shanghai.
She even started washing up after arriving at the hotel.
And put on delicate makeup.
But she waited until ten o'clock that night and still didn't receive a call from Zhou Xing.
This made her extremely angry.
It seemed Zhou Xing's words on the plane were just lies.
After arriving in Shanghai, he completely forgot about her.
When she learned it was Zhou Xing calling just now, she felt a surge of joy inside.
The anger from being stood up was dissolved by a few words from Zhou Xing.
While secretly cursing herself for being weak, she hurriedly got up and sat in front of the mirror to tidy up her makeup.
Her colleague sharing the room saw An Ya doing this and couldn't help but ask curiously, "An Ya, we're about to go down for dinner. Why are you putting on makeup here?"
An Ya's eyebrow pencil froze mid-air. She stammered for a long time without saying a word, but her ears turned red first.
"You don't have a date, do you?"
The colleague asked with shining eyes, as if she had discovered a huge secret: "Is it with your boyfriend?"
"No."
An Ya blushed deeply and said shyly, "Just... a regular friend!"
"Male or female?"
"Ma... male."
An Ya's voice became increasingly uncertain.
"We all agreed to go down and eat together, and you're betraying us now, yet you say he's not your boyfriend!"
The colleague looked unconvinced.
"He's not my boyfriend, really, just a regular friend!"
An Ya stamped her foot.
"How did you two meet? Is he handsome? What does his family do? He must be rich, right? Otherwise, how could he snatch away the prettiest little flower of our crew? Introduce him to us, too; I'm quite curious."
The colleague completely ignored An Ya's words, her gossip soul burning brightly.
"Oh, Tingting!"
An Ya's face was already flushed red: "If you keep this up, I won't talk to you!"
The colleague rolled her eyes and didn't press further.
Instead, she took out her phone and sent a message in the group chat: "Breaking news! An Ya is dating! Her boyfriend is coming to pick her up soon. Should we go down and meet him later to see what he looks like?"
This message immediately dropped like a depth charge.
Countless messages instantly popped up in the quiet group chat, all unanimously saying they wanted to go downstairs together to see what the guy who managed to win over their universally recognized beauty looked like.
An Ya, however, was completely unaware and just quietly continued applying her makeup.
Just then.
The phone rang.
An Ya saw that it was Zhou Xing calling and quickly answered.
"Hello?"
"I'm already downstairs. You can just come down."
"Oh, okay. I'll be right down."
An Ya hung up the phone, only to find the girl named Tingting standing nearby, listening in with her ears perked up.
After being discovered by An Ya, she wasn't embarrassed at all. Instead, she giggled and said, "The one who called must be the boyfriend you're going out on a date with, right?"
"It's just a simple dinner, and he's not my boyfriend."
An Ya reiterated.
"If he's not your boyfriend, why are you going out to eat, and alone at that!"
Tingting countered.
An Ya was immediately speechless and couldn't answer for a moment.
She couldn't possibly tell them what happened on the plane, or they would mock her for ages.
Her face flushed again.
"Come on, let's go downstairs quickly. Don't keep him waiting."
Tingting didn't give An Ya a chance to explain and pushed her toward the door.
"You're going down too?"
An Ya asked in surprise.
"Oh, I'll just go down and take a look. It's nothing, and I can screen him for you!"
Tingting said.
An Ya was getting anxious now, knowing she couldn't keep Zhou Xing waiting too long. She had no way to stop Tingting and could only agree.
"You can come down, but don't talk nonsense. There's really nothing going on between us."
An Ya instructed again.
"Alright, alright, I know. Let's hurry down."
Tingting pushed An Ya.
An Ya could only walk toward the elevator, only to find several colleagues standing there, chattering away.
When they saw An Ya arrive, their eyes instantly lit up, and they surrounded her.
At this point, how could An Ya not know what was going on?
She turned and glared at Tingting irritably.
Tingting knew she was in the wrong, stuck out her tongue, and said nothing.
The group of colleagues insisted on going down together. An Ya couldn't stop them and could only sigh.
She resigned herself to fate!
She stood in the elevator expressionlessly.
She silently prayed that these people wouldn't talk nonsense later.
Otherwise, she would die of embarrassment and probably try to find a hole to crawl into immediately.
"Ding."
The elevator successfully arrived on the first floor.
Tingting craned her neck and looked around: "An Ya, where is he? Why don't I see him?"
An Ya also frowned, searching for Zhou Xing.
"An Ya, over here!"
Zhou Xing's voice came from the entrance.
Everyone looked up, and a sudden uproar erupted.
Their eyes were full of shock.
Zhou Xing, who was 1.85 meters tall, stood at the entrance, wearing a white T-shirt and black sweatpants.
He looked simple and clean.
His youth combined with his sunny and handsome appearance.
Like a crane among chickens, he was impossible to ignore.
Most crucially, he was standing in front of a brand new lamborghini aventador.
This gave everyone an extremely strong visual impact.
"Lamborghini, huh? A car of this brand must cost at least several million, right?"
"More than that, I think. This looks like the big bull. The starting price is at least six million!"
"It's one thing to be so handsome, but he's also so rich!"
"An Ya, where did you find such a great boyfriend? I'm genuinely envious."
After a brief silence.
The colleagues looked excited, their eyes constantly sizing up Zhou Xing and the big bull.
An Ya also hadn't expected Zhou Xing to arrive driving a Lamborghini.
Although she felt a little embarrassed.
Seeing the envious looks of her colleagues, her heart couldn't help but fill with joy.
Her vanity was greatly satisfied.
She walked up to Zhou Xing and said shyly, "These are my colleagues. They all insisted on coming down to see you, and I couldn't stop them. I had no choice."
"It's fine."
Zhou Xing just smiled, turned around, and greeted them: "Hello everyone, my name is Zhou Xing."
"Hello, you must be An Ya's boyfriend, right?"
Tingting stepped forward, and with her outgoing personality, she grinned and said to Zhou Xing, "My name is Gu Ting. I'm An Ya's colleague and best friend! You're really handsome. No wonder you managed to win over the prettiest little flower of our crew! Introduce yourself to us, too; I'm quite curious."
"Tingting, shut up!"
Before Gu Ting could finish speaking, An Ya panicked.
She hurried forward and covered Gu Ting's mouth, explaining to Zhou Xing with a flushed face, "She just likes to talk nonsense. Don't listen to her!"
"There's absolutely nothing going on!"
An Ya irritably told Gu Ting, "I already said we're just regular friends!"
"Regular friends?"
Gu Ting looked at Zhou Xing and said with a smile, "That means you haven't won her over yet, Zhou Xing. You need to work harder!"
"Why don't you bribe us? Take us out tonight, and as her best friends, we'll put in a good word for you. Wouldn't that settle things?"
An Ya was about to cover Gu Ting's mouth again to stop her from talking.
The other colleagues also joined in the fun.
"Exactly."
"Make us comfortable, and we guarantee you'll get twice the result with half the effort. Little An Ya will be yours for the taking!"
"If An Ya doesn't agree, we'll tie her up and bring her to you!"
An Ya couldn't cope and kept stamping her feet: "If you keep this up, I'm really going to be angry!"
"Sounds good."
Unexpectedly, just as she finished speaking, Zhou Xing's voice came over.
He said with a smile, "After An Ya and I finish dinner, I'll book a spot at a bar, and we can all go over and hang out."
An Ya was instantly speechless.
She buried her head in her voluminous 'headlights', not daring to look up for a long time.
Her clear earlobes were already red.
She secretly glanced at Zhou Xing.
Didn't his words imply that he was already pursuing her?
"Is that true?"
Gu Ting and the others' eyes instantly lit up.
Since they were Flight Attendants, they were all young and naturally had a fun-loving spirit.
"Of course."
Zhou Xing said, "I'll have An Ya send you the location later."
"Then it's settled."
Gu Ting immediately pushed the shy An Ya toward Zhou Xing: "Since you're so generous, I'll entrust An Ya to you. You must take good care of her!"
"Tingting!"
An Ya panicked. Why was Gu Ting saying increasingly embarrassing things?
Gu Ting leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "Stupid An Ya, I'm helping you! Look how handsome and rich Zhou Xing is! Didn't you see how jealous several of our colleagues are?"
"If you slack off even a little, someone else might step in and steal him!"
"Seize the opportunity! Don't miss out on such a high-quality guy, or you'll regret it!"
An Ya fell silent and looked around.
Sure enough, several colleagues were staring intently at Zhou Xing, their eyes fixed on him.
As a woman, how could she not understand the meaning behind that?
They all looked like hungry wolves, eager to devour Zhou Xing whole, but they were only holding back because she was present.
Her heart instantly tightened.
She also had a good impression of Zhou Xing; otherwise, she wouldn't have agreed to his request.
But given her personality, taking the initiative was incredibly difficult.
She could only bite her lip and silently get into the car.
Seeing this, Zhou Xing waved at Gu Ting and the others, then started the Lamborghini.
The powerful engine roared.
The car drove out of sight.