Sheng Jie's shouts echoed throughout the entire Saiwei Clubhouse. Even though she was drunk, it seemed like Dong Manman's stamina had increased a shocking amount.
Normally, she would usually be so exhausted that she'd feel like vomiting blood after climbing a flight of stairs, but in this moment, she was in a league of her own as she chased Sheng Jie around maniacally and refused to look back, no matter what!
"Hmph! I'll make you sorry that you ever opened your stupid mouth to say that I'm fat! Now… You can experience the enormous weight of a fat person, squashing you flat!" Dong Manman picked up the bottom of her skirt as she spoke and was about to sit on Sheng Jie and crush him!
As An Qi watched the scene in horror, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to stop her, even if she'd wanted to. As for Sheng Jie, just hearing the name Dong Manman alone terrified him, so when Dong Manman started advancing toward him like a humongous meat mountain, all Sheng Jie could think of was to try and escape!
However, he'd just turned and taken half a step forward when he ran headfirst into a man's burly chest. Sheng Jie didn't even bother to look up and see who the person was before he faked a smile and screamed in a panic, while panting from being chased, "Big Brother! Please protect me! That woman is really terrifying!"
Leng Jin, who was the mystery person, was disgusted, and he looked down at Sheng Jie and said, "Sheng Jie, get your hands off of me!"
Within half a second after the familiar voice rang out, Sheng Jie's blood began to rise to his cheeks and a scarlet blush soon spread over all his face. Even when Dong Manman caught up to him from behind and used her body to attempt to crush him, Sheng Jie was completely unaware of it. He was just staring in a daze at Leng Jin, feeling as if he were in another world.
At that moment, An Qi ran over, panting. As soon as she reached them, she cast an apologetic glance at Leng Jin and Wu Linzhi as she thought inwardly… Manman's behavior is so disappointing! What's wrong with her? How did she let herself get so drunk?
The two men immediately understood the apologetic emotion in An Qi's eyes. However, she shouldn't have been worries, as they weren't upset at all. After all, Dong Manman was really none of their concern, as An Qi was the only person they'd really wanted to meet.
But, when they saw Sheng Jie, they both wondered... What is Sheng Jie doing here?
Even though Leng Jin was puzzled by Sheng Jie's presence, he had much better manners than to stare. In the end, it was Wu Linzhi who persuaded Dong Manman to leave, and only then did both of the men's expressions become more relaxed.
"An Qi, is this your new friend in the Leng Group?" Leng Jin asked, his tone as calm as a cool, spring breeze.
However, as he spoke, Sheng Jie was cursing him in his heart for being a hypocrite. After all, he'd grown up with this young master in the Leng family's villa! He clearly knew him!
Disgusted by this ruse, Sheng Jie thought to himself… Well done... Distancing yourself from me in front of An Qi! You just continue putting on an act. I'd like to see how long you can last at that!
"Well, kind of..." An Qi smiled awkwardly and gave him an ambiguous answer.
However, if she were to think about it, the encounter in the underground storage area was her first real meeting with Sheng Jie, so he could, in fact, be counted as her friend. After all, they'd clicked immediately, long before An Qi had connected with Leng Yuchen.
Moreover, as Leng Jin was her benefactor, although there were some things that An Qi could not disclose to him regarding her own personal difficulties, she did try to tell him the truth as much as possible. At the moment, she figured that once she had managed to help the two brothers reconcile later, she could then speak more freely.
She also though that she would then be able to take the initiative to talk to Leng Yuchen about her abduction with Leng Jin when she was a child.
"Oh… So… Since he's a friend, let's go together," Leng Jin said, while ignoring didn't An Qi's facial expression.
After all, since An Qi had brought Sheng Jie, he could not just turn him away. On the surface, at least, the considerate Leng Jin would never do anything so brutish!
As the waiter seated the group of five, although all of the men were handsome and the women were beautiful, he still felt that their combination as a group was quite strange. He couldn't place his finger on it, but he instinctively felt that this was not a good combination of personalities at all!
When they were waiting for their food, An Qi re-introduced Sheng Jie to Wu Linzhi and Leng Jin. Luckily, this time around, Sheng Jie lived up to her expectations and was not as timid as he'd been previously.
An Qi guessed that the reason for his cool and calm demeanor now must have been due to his being beside Leng Yuchen for such a long time, which saw him experiencing all sorts of big events and important meetings.
"An Qi, I think that you need to take a few days off around for an outdoor photoshoot with Linzhi in the scenic area of Z City," Leng Jin said casually as he sliced into his steak.
"Oh?" An Qi was surprised by his suggestion, which was revealed in her shocked expression, as well as her using far too much strength and almost slicing through her plate with her knife as she cut up her food!
"What's the matter? Are you too busy at work? Didn't we discuss the photo shoot earlier?" Leng Jin asked, somewhat perplexed by her reaction.
"No. I can manage to squeeze it in. But, as for Linzhi..." An Qi looked down and dared not say anything more. She was afraid that Wu Linzhi would be unhappy with her response.
Suddenly, all eyes turned to Wu Linzhi, who seemed to be quite at ease and even complacent. He glanced back at all of them and asked with a smug expression, "What's the matter? Why are you all looking at me? Have you been stunned by my enticing beauty? Hehe!"
"Ha! How can you still eat, when we are here enduring the moment and keeping silent? I also wanted to ask... How do you intend to settle the storm that your interview last night caused? At the very least, you should stop fueling the fire!" Dong Manman seemed to have mostly sobered up once she saw Wu Linzhi.
In fact, half of the reason why she'd gotten so drunk in the first place was because of because of this fellow! After all, it was already common knowledge that the studio had asked him to be their spokesperson, and if Wu Linzhi were to lose his fans adoration, Dong Manman's studio would probably perish as well.
Wu Linzhi immediately grew solemn as he looked around at everyone present. He then turned to ask Dong Manman, "Why don't you take a look at what the trending topics are saying now?"
"Hmm?" Dong Manman was puzzled by his question, so she began to dig out her cell phone in order to check online.
An Qi marveled at how Wu Linzhi could seem to get Dong Manman to do whatever he wanted with just a mere suggestion. It was almost as if he had brainwashed Dong Manman! An Qi couldn't help but think that this was indeed the power of idols!
Maybe it was because she'd drank too much, or maybe it was because Dong Manman had gotten more than a little excited after hearing Wu Linzhi's words. But, the way that she took out her mobile phone at his prompting, like an obedient and eager puppy, was a bit sickening, and not to mention very clumsy.
In fact, An Qi felt that practically any other female creature on the planet would probably be more elegant than Dong Manman was being now. She was definitely no lady!
At the moment, Dong Manman was staring at Wu Linzhi, while slightly pouting her red lips, which she thought was seductive. However, she actually looked quite clownish and even menacing, like she had a bloody, gaping mouth!
Moreover, her actions were slow and dulled. First, she rummaged in her bag for a long while. She then dug around in her pockets for a moment.
As she did this, she was mumbling to herself. This made her look like a zombie that was looking for a brain to eat!
An Qi couldn't bear to see Dong Manman make a fool of herself in public, so she handed her own cell phone to her friend quickly, while not forgetting to help Dong Manman wipe off the extra lipstick on her mouth quickly thereafter.
Such actions just like this were what really revealed what a true friend An Qi was to Dong Manman. Although many friendships are fake, like plastic, the relationship between this pair of best friends was definitely not. Instead, it was strong, like stainless steel.
As he was very anxious to see what was being said online, Wu Linzhi took An Qi's mobile phone from Dong Manman's hands and began to search online. He felt really excited, but in order to not arouse the others' suspicions, he tried to keep a calm outward appearance…