Zhou Yuanyuan rolled her eyes at her best friend in disdain, but the next day, she was still rather decent and sent over three boy bands for Yang Yuran to choose from.
It happened to be lunchtime when Yang Yuran received the message.
Just as she opened the first member's photo, Yang Fei's shrill exclamation rang out from beside her, "Wow, sister, your new boyfriend is so handsome."
Yang Yuran, annoyed by the noise, barely maintained the family's basic facade and shot an irritated sideways glance.
Yang Fei seemed utterly oblivious to her mood, spearing a piece of steak with her silver fork and gracefully chewing and swallowing it before lamenting with self-pity.
"Compared to sister, I feel so inferior. Sister just broke up and has already found a new boyfriend in no time."
Yang Yuran shook her head with a scoff, set her fork down smoothly, folded up a napkin to wipe the corners of her mouth, and asked the sorrowful person beside her with a gentle tone,
"Do you know what the most important factor in human evolution is?"
Yang Fei, sensing a trap in Yang Yuran's question, answered very cautiously, while taking the opportunity to throw some shade, "Sister, are you trying to say I'm dumber? I know I'm pretty dumb, just waiting for Li Shuo, unlike sister, who knows how to enjoy the moment and never settles for less."
Seeing the drama queen was about to cry, Yang Yuran showed great tolerance, pulling out a fresh tissue and stuffing it into Yang Fei's hand, sending comfort her way.
"Many creatures have good brains; humans aren't the most special in that regard. One of the most important evolutionary factors for humans is shame. You see, most animals don't care about exposing or hiding their privacy, but humans are very concerned about their privacy and equally mindful of their dignity."
After concluding her statement, her slender fingers meaningfully patted Yang Fei's shoulder, advising earnestly, "In the future, try to avoid such embarrassing atavism."
Yang Fei's expression was wonderfully colorful, starting to turn faintly green and then slowly paling. Yang Yuran hadn't used a single dirty word, but she had exposed her snooping and bootlicking behavior in a most unflattering way.
It seemed crying was her only recourse to garner Mr. Yang's protection, as she trembled and shook off Yang Yuran's hand from her shoulder.
The moment she began to sob, Mr. Yang's favored reproach arrived as expected.
"Yuran, you are the older sister; how could you bully your younger sister?"
He scolded her, while inadvertently glancing at the guest of honor, Principal Song.
Yang Yuran read Mr. Yang's hint: with an outsider present, she had better restrain herself and not embarrass him, or else she'd regret it.
Even though she understood, Yang Yuran still couldn't be bothered to play along. She had only found out after arriving that Mrs. Yang had been forced to stay at home. Her mother was suffering at home whilst the mistress and her daughter thrived outside.
And they still expected her to help make a good impression? Dream on!
"I'm very sorry, Uncle Song, I have some urgent matters to attend to this afternoon, so I must leave. Please enjoy your meal," she apologized.
Out of respect for Principal Song's acquaintance with her mother, she made a concession and bowed. Once he nodded, she smiled and rose to leave.
Behind her, the criticism from Bai Yan and Yang Fei continued as expected.
"This child has no manners, I'm so embarrassed, making you laugh, Brother Song."
"Even if my sister has something against me, she shouldn't vent it on such occasions, sob sob sob, I'm sorry, it's all my fault for upsetting my sister."
*
Sitting in the car, Yang Yuran unsurprisingly received a message from her father, which listed three tasks.
1. She shouldn't bother going to Hangzhou University anymore; Mr. Yang thought it was embarrassing and had no face to talk to Principal Song about getting her into the school.
2. Go to work at the company diligently and start from the bottom.
3. Starting next week, I've arranged five blind date candidates for her, stop being capricious and go meet them on time.
Yang Yuran was very filial and concisely extracted the essence: "The sooner you marry off a daughter, the better."
In the few seconds before the message was sent successfully, Yang Yuran admitted to feeling quite smug, but alas, ginger is still the spiciest, the seasoned player used PUA tactics on her mom.
He gave her the cold shoulder until evening, timing it just before she was about to blow up, then sent a message that hit her where it hurt.
"You'd better take advantage of your youth and good looks to find a suitable match for yourself, at least give your mom a new support."
Experiencing the cold-heartedness of men once again, Yang Yuran could only feel sorry for Mrs. Yang.
After pondering for a moment, she came up with a rather spiteful plan and replied word for word: "Next week, have all five of them meet together, since father dear plans to play a game of 'rare commodity', at least he should trigger the men's desire to win."
Saying one thing and explaining another is truly exhausting, but if she didn't endure some pain, Mrs. Yang would have to endure it for her.
The chat window displayed 'typing' for a long time, and ten minutes later, Mr. Yang only replied with four words: "I will arrange it."
Yang Yuran sank back into the couch, recalling some psychological philosophy from anthropology that made a lot of sense to her: to accomplish something, one first needs to consider the other party's objectives.
Mr. Yang clearly intended for her to seduce young men of value, selecting the most beneficial son-in-law for the Yang Family. According to Mr. Yang's plan, she had to position herself as high and unattainable.
On the weekend, Yang Yuran had a good sleep at home, and then on the new Monday morning, went on the arranged dates, and met with the gorgeous boy band members in the afternoon.
Just thinking about the schedule made the morning event seem not so annoying.
After washing up, she opened her wardrobe, and was dumbfounded by the nearly empty storage, hanging with just the three pieces of clothes she brought back for changing.
She had forgotten the main point—her fancy clothes were all in the dormitory at school.
A woman can't go to battle without her armor, so she urgently called her national best friend.
Zhou Yuanyuan had not yet woken up and answered the voice call in a daze. After hearing the request, she refused outright: "Woman, I'll give you money, go buy something new. Haven't you thought about it? I'm 156cm tall, you're 168cm tall, my clothes won't fit you."
"No can do, my dad marketed me as a lady who only wears haute couture and attends shows, I can't just buy haute couture on the fly."
Yang Yuran quickly came up with a clever idea: "The L Brand released a somewhat androgynous shirt at the beginning of this year, lend it to me, and also lend me a pencil skirt."
"I have the skirt, but I'll see if I can find the shirt for you. Are you sure you want to wear an androgynous shirt to a blind date? Will that really work?" Zhou Yuanyuan expressed doubt.
Yang Yuran playfully declared with full confidence: "The most seductive attire for a man is a revealing yet concealing one."
Zhou Yuanyuan, lost in confusion, upheld the principle of unconditional trust of a good friend, and helped Yang Yuran gather the clothes within an hour. She delivered them personally, sitting quietly in Yang Yuran's nearly empty apartment, waiting for her to finish dressing and doing her makeup.
Waiting for over ten minutes was incredibly boring, but the moment Yang Yuran stepped into her field of vision, Zhou Yuanyuan felt herself nearly swoon with attraction.
Yang Yuran, though slender, was well-endowed at the front. She intentionally left the top three buttons of the shirt undone, half-revealing her cleavage and collarbones, with an innocent expression amidst her seductive appeal, appearing like the girl-next-door who had mistakenly wandered into a den of vice, tempting others towards sinful thoughts. Looking further down, the knee-length pencil skirt made her long legs look even more so.
"Yang Enchantress, you're dressed like this for a blind date banquet with five men?"
Zhou Yuanyuan couldn't control her hands and took off the black and white Chanel jacket from her shoulders, draping it over her friend. The flamboyant beauty in front of her looked like she was walking right into a tiger's den.
Yang Yuran acted coy after securing a bargain, giving a wink and a flirtatious glance, pretending to be weak: "Come with me, and afterwards, we'll go to Uncle Zhou's company together."
Zhou Yuanyuan knew there was no good reason for being summoned so early in the morning, sigh, another day of being the bearer of complaints.