It was night. As Luo Nanchu rushed toward the door of the Western restaurant, she could not help but inhale deeply.
The words Jie Ling had said to her when she told her the address swam in her head.
"He's a highly eligible bachelor, so take good advantage of this chance."
"Don't put on airs and take more initiative to talk to him. He might even turn out to like you."
"Even if you don't care about yourself, you should think about your younger brother and father. Go find a rich man to marry ASAP while you still have youth and beauty on your side! When the time comes, your younger brother and father will live the life with you."
Click.
She opened the door to the booth gently.
Her fingers curled up slightly. She was a little nervous.
Although she was at her wits' end, she was still afraid that she might unleash a flood of vomit at the table if the man she was meeting for her blind date turned out to be a middle-aged baldy or a big, fat man with a pot belly.
She steeled herself and lifted her head to look at the man sitting on a nearby sofa. When her eyes met his visage, Luo Nanchu's black pupils contracted violently, and she froze in shock. After a moment passed, she snapped out of it, pursing her lips tightly.
The man in front was simply clad in a white shirt. His cuffs were rolled up lazily, revealing an exquisitely fair wrist. His hand cupped his chin as he leaned back on the sofa and looked at her like he was smiling, but also not smiling at the same time. Under the shine and shadow cast by the booth lights, his already relaxed and leisurely posture seemed to even gain an unrestrained quality.
He was the opposite of the paunchy man and middle-aged baldy that her imagination had conjured. He was handsome beyond comparison.
He looked young, noble, and elegant—he checked all the boxes for every girls' dream lover.
She could not help but recall what Jie Ling had said to her.
"He's a highly eligible bachelor."
Heh, he really was a highly eligible bachelor.
Heh!
Luo Nanchu's lips curled up in a slow, sharp smirk. As she stared at the man in front of her, a trace of bitter resentment clouded her inky eyes.
Half a year ago, the wealthiest individual in Tong City went bankrupt. His son-in-law had conspired with outsiders and bought all the shares he owned under his name, causing the company to switch owners overnight. The wealthy man fell into such a great rage that he suffered a stroke, and the son-in-law forced his wife to sign a divorce agreement in order to pay for the man's surgery, succeeding in leaving that idiot of a woman.
That idiot of a woman was Luo Nanchu.
That's right. She had led a wolf, Fu Tingyuan, into her household and had let him seize power, step by step, to successfully snatch her company away. She had caused her father's coma and caused herself to leave her marriage empty-handed. Forced to live hand-to-mouth, she was at the point where she could only exchange her virginity for her father's and brother's medical fees!
Never in her imagination did Luo Nanchu think that the person Jie Ling had contacted for her blind date would be Fu Tingyuan.
She watched as the man walked over to her with a confident spring in his step. Casting a look at her lowered eyes, his lips curved into an unhurried, light smile.
"It's been a while, Chuchu."
His smile could be described as gentle. Such a man was worthy of rousing any girl's heart.
At that time, Luo Nanchu had been bewitched by these same gentle features and dove head-first into the abyss that was Fu Tingyuan. There had only been one thing on her mind—to marry him. She had been really insistent and stubborn about this.
Yet, the price… the price was way too heavy… She had destroyed the Luo family, turned her father into a vegetable, thrown away all the money needed to treat her brother's illness, and even left her younger sister with no money for education.
Luo Nanchu balled her fists tightly. Lowering her head, she turned around and walked away without a single word.
She did not know what Fu Tingyuan was playing at, but it was definitely another round of humiliation.
Fu Tingyuan did have grounds for vengeance. At that time, he had been head over heels in love with Bai Zhiyan, but Luo Nanchu broke them up unscrupulously, forcing the youthful, frivolous, and proud Fu Tingyuan to marry her. In the three years of their marriage, he schemed and schemed until he got his big revenge and dragged this scoundrel down from her high horse. As the saying goes, "Love will always find a way." To have Luo Nanchu tumble down from being the daughter of the wealthiest man in Tong City to being deep in debt and living precariously was a delightful and satisfactory ending.
Luo Nanchu was now at the door, and she reached out to grab the handle.
Fu Tingyuan's voice drawled from behind, "I recall you're supposed to go on a blind date today, hmm?"
Luo Nanchu stood resolutely at the door, then turned around to face him. Her expression was neutral.
"My apologies, Mr. Fu. I have no time for your games."