Chapter 696: Chapter 704

Chapter 704 This Is Harder Than I Thought “Mommy, I’m hungry.” Lu Yunxue finally broke her silence because she feared that her mother would take them away if she continued to say nothing.

She was not about to let her mother ruin her long-awaited dinner. “I’ll make you some noodles when we get back!” responded Lu Jingyuan impatiently.

Ning Ran, too, decided to speak up. “Did I do something wrong? Why are you leaving all of a sudden?”

“It’s not you; it’s me.” Nan Xing walked over.

“What did you do? Did you offend Ms. Lu?” Ning Ran asked in annoyance.

“I was just playing with Yunxue when I accidentally bumped into Ms. Lu. She scolded me, and I apologized, but I didn’t expect her to want to leave.” Nan Xing shrugged helplessly.

“I see. Then let me apologize on Nan Xing’s behalf. He’s always fooling around, but he’s really not a bad person,” said Ning Ran with a smile.

Even though Nan Xing did not appreciate what Ning Ran had to say about him, he had no choice but to swallow his pride then.

Since Ning Ran had spoken, Lu Jingyuan no longer insisted on leaving. Instead, she kept quiet and stayed for dinner.

Because of what had happened between Nan Xing and Lu Jingyuan, there was an awkwardness in the air during mealtime.

Ning Ran had a hard time trying to come up with different topics to talk about in order to ease the situation.

Still, it did not matter since Nan Xing and Lu Jingyuan were uninterested in chatting.

Ning Ran had no choice but to continue to do her best to alleviate the awkwardness.

“This soup is not bad. You should try it,” Ning Ran suggested to Lu Jingyuan before gesturing for Nan Xing to serve the woman the soup.

For Ning Ran’s sake, Nan Xing got on his feet. “Let me get you some, Ms. Lu.”

However, because of his clumsiness, Nan Xing accidentally knocked over a bowl and got soup all over Lu Jingyuan’s white skirt.

Ning Ran was utterly speechless, and so was Nan Xing.

Instead of getting upset again, Lu Jingyuan suppressed her anger before Ning Ran, and suddenly, the awkwardness surrounding everyone intensified.

“You guys continue. I’m full, so I’m going to go.” Nan Xing realized that he was the reason everybody could not enjoy dinner, so he decided to make himself scarce.

“Sure. You should have had your fill long ago,” stated Ning Ran with a chuckle.

Feeling despised, Nan Xing went to the smaller table beside them and joined the children.

As soon as the man left, Lu Jingyuan felt much more relaxed. Even the food on the table tasted better.

Before long, the two women began chatting away and having a good time.

When Ning Ran was almost done eating, she received a call from Huang Zichao, who asked to meet and informed her that he had something urgent to talk to her about.

However, he did not mention what it was about.

With everything going on, Ning Ran did not want to further complicate things, so she turned down the man. “If you’ve got something to say, just say it on the phone. It’s better if we don’t meet outside of work.”

“That’s exactly what I want to talk about—work. I just need a moment of your time; I won’t take long.”

Huang Zichao sounded as though he was very unhappy.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. If it’s really about work, we can talk on the set tomorrow.”

“No. We have to talk about it tonight. This is very important for you too, so I hope you’ll come.”

“What exactly is this about?”

“You’ll know when you get here. Please, just trust me for once. I’m only doing this for your sake,”

pleaded Huang Zichao earnestly.

After some thought, Ning Ran eventually agreed to the man’s request. “Fine. Send me the location.”

“If you’re busy, I can leave with the kids. We can do this again another day.” Lu Jingyuan rose from the chair.

“It’s fine. You can stay a little longer since it’s still early.”

“It’s okay. You do what you have to do. We can always meet again.”

After Lu Jingyuan left with the children, Ning Ran had Nan Xing accompany her to meet with Huang Zichao.

As soon as he heard what Ning Ran planned to do, Nan Xing got anxious. “You’re going to meet that award-winning actor? Why?”

“He said he wanted to talk to me about something urgent and that it was work-related. I should probably see him, so I want you to go with me.”

Nan Xing was reluctant. “Why would he talk shop at this hour? It has to be an excuse. I’m not going!”

“If that’s really the case, you can scold him for me when we get there, and if it turns out he actually wants to talk shop, you can be my witness.”

“What for?”

Ning Ran wished for Nan Xing to be her witness because she did not want Nan Chen to overthink the meeting.

However, she was too embarrassed to tell Nan Xing that. “You can help me with whatever it is that Huang Zichao wants to talk about. Are we going to discuss this all night, or are you going to man up and help me get this over with?”

“Fine. I’ll accompany you, but you’re paying for my drink.”

“You don’t worry about that. Huang Zichao will take care of the bill,” reassured Ning Ran with a smile.

Half an hour later, Nan Xing and Ning Ran met up with Huang Zichao, who immediately got nervous when he saw Nan Xing because he thought the man was Nan Chen.

It did not take long before Nan Xing noticed Huang Zichao’s anxiety. So the urgent work-related thing was indeed an excuse, huh? Why else would he be so nervous if it wasn’t? I guess I’ll just have to pretend to be Chen. It’s not as if we’ve never impersonated each other before.

“Why do you want to meet her? If you have something to say, say it. We’re busy,” said Nan Xing in all seriousness as he checked his watch, mimicking Nan Chen’s actions.

“I didn’t expect to see you, Mr. Nan. I—”

“Do you have a problem with me?” interrupted Nan Xing before Huang Zichao could finish.

“No. I’m glad that you’re here,” replied Huang Zichao.

“Let’s just get down to business. What is this about?” Ning Ran asked.

“My management team contacted yours because we wanted you to appear on a talk show with me.

You know that, right?”

“I do. When will the shooting start?”

“Actually, I’m hoping that you’ll turn it down.”

Ning Ran was puzzled when she heard that. Since our management teams have already reached an agreement, why would he want me to reject the collaboration?

“Does that mean that was your company’s idea, not yours? You don’t want to appear on the talk show with me, so you hope I’ll turn down the offer. Is that it?”

“Not exactly. It’s just that…”

Huang Zichao had a hard time trying to tell Ning Ran the truth, but he only made the request for her sake.

Even though he could not say no to Ding Fei, he did not want to hurt Ning Ran. Asking Ning Ran to reject the offer is the only solution I can think of. That way, I won’t be able to slander her on the show.

“What? There has to be a reason why you’re asking me to do this, right? Besides, I’ll have to pay for the breach of contract. Why would I do that?” questioned Ning Ran curiously.

“That’s nothing compared to…” Huang Zichao swallowed his words once again and left his sentence hanging.

The conflicted man did not want to be direct with Ning Ran, but at the same time, he was unsure how else to make her understand. This is harder than I thought.

“If you’re not going to talk, we’re leaving. Do you think you can have someone sign a contract and then ask them to breach it just because you feel like it? Who do you think you are, and why should we listen to you?” Nan Xing spoke in a cold tone to make himself sound more like Nan Chen.

However, anyone who knew the brothers well could still easily tell them apart despite Nan Xing’s efforts.

Huang Zichao was not one such person.

“I mean well, Mr. Nan. I really do. I’m just trying to…”

“What is it?”

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