"I have been sparing you all this time. What you are doing now is worse than even defeat. Too bad you aren't equally skilled."
Shangguan Ning had no choice but to speak truth. Unexpectedly, the words activated Zhao Anan's desire to win. She grabbed the racket instantly. "Hmmph! I'm never scared! I will surely win this time!"
However, half an hour passed and Zhao Anan was still a defeated participant.
As they were playing, Zhao Anan suddenly abandoned the racket and shamelessly slumped down upon the ground. She laughed as she said, "Hahaha, Beauty Shangguan! I know who can conquer you!"
Shangguan Ning stopped in her steps, drank some water and showed a confident smile. "Oh, really? Let her try playing me someday. But you have no excuse to run away today."
Zhao Anan shook her head like a rattle, eyes twinkling bright as stars. She pointed at the entrance of the pitch and said excitedly, "Not someday. He is here today!"
Shangguan Ning's eyes traced the direction in which she was pointing. A tall and straight perfect figure greeted her eyes.
He was with a group of women and men. But none of them was able to mask his dazzling radiance. He stood there coldly, with a charisma that shone above the crowd.
Although Shangguan Ning considered this man distant and bizarre, she had to admit that he was extremely eye catching at this moment.
Jing Yichen seemed to have sensed something as well. He moved his distant pair of eyes to Shangguan Ning but moved them away very fast.
So fast that Shangguan Ning thought she had just imagined it!
Zhao Anan waved to him instantly when she saw him looking towards their direction.
Jing Yichen, however, continued to speak with people next to him as if he had never noticed her. He nodded every now and then, as he talked.
Soon, he moved towards the entrance of the tennis pitch, surrounded by a large crowd of people.
Zhao Anan was disappointed and dissatisfied. She felt that she had lost her face in front of her good friend. But that was what Jing Yichen was like – cold and distant, not willing to greet others with enthusiasm.
But Anan was a thick-skinned girl. She was able to adapt herself to any situation. She dialled Jing Yichen's number, not caring whether he was busy with something or not.
The call didn't connect until a while later. Anan understood that he must have been busy inspecting the entire project of "Big World". It was one branch of his family business and was soon going to be under his charge.
Shangguan Ning noticed what happened a while ago. Manager Qian, who was the person responsible for the tennis courts, was standing besides the crowd of people with full respect. She had suspected that Jing Yichen might have been the real owner of "Big World" Studio but she was smart enough not to ask. She knew that Anan would have told her if it was not a secret.
"Brother, when are you finished? Come and play tennis when you are done! I'm being bullied! Come and take revenge for me, otherwise I will report you to the two old ladies!"
"Is that your only trick?" Jing Yichen's voice sounded cold but he didn't reject her.
"One line is more than enough for you. Women and villains are the hardest to handle and I'm both of them! Are you coming or not?" Anan didn't care about anything other than Jing Yichen's helping hand to extract her revenge. She had been suffering defeat for half a year already!
Jing Yichen threw a glance at the crowd outside the glass door of the conference room, hesitated for a moment before saying, "Okay."
He hung up the call and walked out of the conference room. He exchanged a few brief words with the present Manager of the "Big World" Studio. Then he walked away, abandoning the startled group of people behind.
Tiger, who had always been by Jing Yichen's side, had never expected that Master would have finished the inspection so fast. But he never asked more than he needed to and followed him always full-heartedly. It was not any different this time. He caught up with Jing Yichen once he spotted him leave the building.
Jing Yichen reached his luxurious Aston Martin, opened the trunk. He took out a set of sportswear and a pair of sneakers from the suitcase full of clothes. Luckily, he had the habit of carrying clothes with him wherever he went.
"Tiger, you are free to go now. I am playing tennis for a while. Will call you when I leave." Jing Yichen told Tiger and then went to change his clothes.
Tiger was confused. Master had been too abrupt and sudden for him to catch up to.
Did Master finish the inspection ahead of time just to play tennis?
No way! That was not Master's way of doing things.
He always finished things fully once he started them. He never gave up halfway. Very few people were able to affect his decision.
Also, hadn't Master told him sometime ago that he was quitting tennis? What was wrong with him today?
Tiger hadn't noticed Shangguan Ning and Zhao Anan at the tennis pitch, a while ago. He was totally focused upon his own Master whenever there was a huge crowd of people around. This was precautionary in case he ran into any dangerous situations. There had been many times when such unsafe incidents had occurred. Hence, he needed to be careful with everything.
Zhao Anan, on the other hand, was delighted beyond words. She waved and danced around on the court.
Actually, she had been a bit worried that her brother would not approve her messing around. Apparently he had been engrossed in the activities of the family business. He planned to take them over smoothly in the near future.
Also, he had never taken any interest in being with people he wasn't familiar with. Although he had met Shangguan Ning, they were not on a familiar term with each other enough yet.
It was a surprise that her brother had agreed so fast. A strange feeling reached her but the careless Zhao Anan soon forgot about it. She was deeply absorbed in the joy that her brother had agreed to help her with the revenge.
"Haha, my brother is coming soon. Beauty, be ready to lose!" Zhao Anan was highly flattered, as if it was she who was going to beat Shangguan Ning.
Shangguan Ning's eyes brightened. She got curious and asked, "Does your brother play tennis well?"
"Of course he does! I have never met anyone who can beat him on that since I was born. He used to be the renowned Prince of Tennis, attracting countless girls who went running after him crazily all the time. The reason why he stopped playing tennis was because he got too scared of those shameless girls." Anan seemed to be exaggerating. It looked as if she was trying to extol her brother into the sky!
However, Anan had been even more extravagant with her compliments when she was presenting her brother the last time. The truth was that her description had turned out to be completely true, not a single element of exaggeration in that at all.
Shangguan Ning couldn't help but look forward to it.
She had not played tennis with someone really skilled for a long time, nor had she experienced an exciting and delightful match for a while.
Minutes later, when Shangguan Ning was almost done with resting, Jing Yichen came towards them, dressed in a white outfit.
Jing Yichen looked indescribably vital, dressed in sportswear. His coldness seemed to have disappeared and his tall handsome figure made him look like some character walking out of a painting.
Shangguan Ning was slightly taken aback. He looked good in everything!