“I was passing by,” said Ouyang Feifei as Luo Ziling sat down beside her. Without waiting for him to respond, she ordered her driver to start driving.
With a slight hint of dissatisfaction in his voice, Luo Ziling asked, “Can’t you be a little more inconspicuous?”
He had no idea if anyone saw him get into Ouyang Feifei’s car. If anyone did, news would soon spread quickly on the school forum.
“I don’t like travelling in any other way,” replied Ouyang Feifei bluntly.
Luo Ziling didn’t know what else to say to her. It didn’t seem like Ouyang Feifei was going to initiate a conversation with him either, so the both of them just stared straight ahead in silence. That made Luo Ziling feel a bit awkward, but he was clueless as to what topic he should bring up. In the end, the silence continued until the very end of their short trip.
Without asking for Luo Ziling’s opinion, Ouyang Feifei arrived at a classy cafe called ‘Cyan’. It was empty, almost desolate in fact.
After their convoy rolled to a stop, Wang Qing got out to lead the way. She showed Ouyang Feifei and Luo Ziling to an expensive-looking private booth on the second floor of the cafe.
Ouyang Feifei had the gracefulness of a queen as she walked. In a way, Luo Ziling and Wang Qing, who were following behind her, were like her trusty servants. She proceeded to order a hot latte for herself, and Luo Ziling, who had never liked nor drank coffee, ordered a pot of green tea.
“I need you to tell me about what you said yesterday!” said Luo Ziling.
Seeing how Ouyang Feifei was not going to bring up the topic herself, he had no other choice but to do it himself. After all, the only reason he agreed to meet her was because he wanted an explanation for her seemingly unreasonable warning yesterday.
“What kind of compensation would you be interested in?” asked Ouyang Feifei, looking at him expressionlessly. “Whatever you wish for, I will help you obtain it.”
Such words shocked Luo Ziling. Suddenly, memories of yesterday’s event—his confrontation with Li Dongjun—surfaced in his mind.
“We’ll talk about that later.” Luo Ziling wasn’t interested in the compensation matter at all. What he sought was information about Ouyang Feifei and her sister’s interaction with his mother, Ling Ruonan. “Tell me about your meeting with my mother last night.”
Luo Ziling’s request took Ouyang Feifei by surprise, as evidenced by the sudden change in her eyes, but shortly after, she returned to her default expression.
“What did Huihui tell you?” she asked.
“She didn’t say anything, which is why I’m here to ask you about it.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” said Ouyang Feifei, rejecting his request without a second thought. “We are here today to discuss your fight with Li Dongjun and how you would like to have it settled.”
Ouyang Feifei must’ve put in a lot of effort to compose such a lengthy reply. After she finished her sentence, her large, enchanting eyes gazed at Luo Ziling without blinking.
Luo Ziling wasn’t going to back down because of her petty intimidation tactic. Staring back at her, he said in a pitiful tone, “I just want to know what it was like, meeting my mother and all.”
“I never force myself to do things I am not willing to do,” came Ouyang Feifei’s reply.
“Why did you tell Ouyang Huihui to not talk to me about it?” This time, Luo Ziling’s tone sounded a little firmer.
Ouyang Feifei’s brows furrowed, as if a thought had suddenly popped up in her mind, but her lips remained shut. That look of hers made Luo Ziling all the more angrier. He took in two deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down before moving on to his next question.
“Why is she unwilling to see me?”
“I don’t know,” answered Ouyang Feifei, shaking her head.
“Then, tell me what you guys talked about last night.”
Ouyang Feifei could only shake her head in silence. Throughout their entire exchange, the expression on her face remained the same, reminiscent of a cruel, merciless, and cold woman of power.
That itself made Luo Ziling feel extremely uncomfortable sitting in front of her.
“If you’re not gonna talk about that, then what’s the purpose of me being here?” he asked in an unfriendly tone.
“I need to know what you want from Li Dongjun.”
Luo Ziling shot up from his seat. “Stop poking your nose into my business! I’m leaving!”
Without looking back, he exited the private booth. As he stormed out of the door, he bumped into the waitress, spilling hot tea all over her apron.
Ouyang Feifei’s assistant, Wang Qing, who was standing guard at the doorway, saw Luo Ziling’s dumbfounded expression change into one of rage. Without sparing her even a glance, he broke into a jog and quickly disappeared from her view.
After hesitating for a moment, she knocked lightly on the door of her master’s room.
“He left,” said Ouyang Feifei to Wang Qing with a half-hearted smile. “Tell me, what right does he have to be angry at me?”
Wang Qing did not have the guts to give Ouyang Feifei an answer and could only stand there in silence.
After what happened, Ouyang Feifei surprisingly did not get up to leave immediately. Slowly, she raised her cup of coffee up to eye level so she could observe the steam coming off of its foamy surface.
“Young Lady, I don’t think he’s suited to be your lover,” said Wang Qing. She couldn’t bear to see Ouyang Feifei being so emotionally affected by Luo Ziling. “There are many men pursuing you who are far better than him.”
Ouyang Feifei smiled oddly at Wang Qing. “But he’s the only one to date to ever reject me. Not only that, even his mother acts the same way. Like her, he yelled at me today. It seems that I really am lower than the floor in both of their eyes.”
Not daring to unintentionally provoke Ouyang Feifei, Wang Qing remained silently standing there. Her impression of Luo Ziling could not get any worse than right now. She planned to teach that jerk a lesson he would never forget in her master’s stead.
In the heat of the moment, Luo Ziling stormed out of the cafe, abandoning his date at the table. However, after wandering around for a while, he realized that he was lost and couldn’t find his way back to the university.
While he had indeed looked out of the window of Ouyang Feifei’s car during the drive here, he did so without remembering the number of turns they took or the roads they had travelled on. After darting around aimlessly, he became even more confused, which further fuelled his anger.
And so, his impression of the Ouyang sisters had once again reached an all time low.
Planning to ask Cao Jianhui for directions, he whipped out his phone. However, upon doing so, he noticed that his phone had come pre-installed with the Baidu Map application. Switching it on, he prepared to search his way back home.
Although he had never touched smartphones before, Luo Ziling quickly got the hang of using them due to his superior intelligence. Typing in his destination, he found out that the university was more than three kilometers away, which made his heart sink.
After toggling the map so that he faced the right direction, he began his long march back to the university. He wasn’t even halfway through the journey when a notification popped up on his phone.
‘You’re a show-off?’
It was a message from ‘Fang Feijin’, whom he had made no effort to contact after accepting his or her friend request on WeChat. Of course, Luo Ziling was surprised to receive a message from this mysterious friend out of the blue.
‘What makes you say that?’ he replied. Seconds later, he added, ‘I have the capital to do so after all.’
However, the only thing this Fang Feijin sent back to him was a vomiting emoji. After that, the chat went silent, making Luo Ziling feel a little disheartened.