Feng Jun was quite stirred by Sister Hongâs glance, and couldnât help but answerwithasmile, âIf I really wanted to balance things out, Iâd flirt with you, Sister. Overthrowing a beautiful boss, wouldnât that be more thrilling?â
âPah,â Sister Hong spat out with a laugh, âYou, always spouting nonsense⦠The moneyearned from selling Jade, thatâs what youâre planning to use to buy land, right?â
âExactly,â Feng Jun nodded, âThe quality and quantity of the Jade this time are almost the same as last time. After selling it, my priority is to buy land and build villas. Youâll earn a commission, and your friend will have money too, isnât that nice?â
Sister Hong gave him a strange look, âYou trust me with such a large sum of money?â
âIf I donât trust you, who else can I trust?â Feng Jun replied with a smile. âAnyway, Iâm not afraid of you pocketing my money.â
âYou trust me, but I donât even trust myself,â Sister Hong said, spreading her hands, and expressed bluntly, âMoney has always been known to tempt people.â
âIf you mess up, youâll have to compensate me,â Feng Jun said, looking at her with a grin, âAt that time, I wonât be merciful.â
Upon hearing this, Sister Hong shot him a look, her eyes brimming with charm, âOver a hundred million⦠I didnât expect Iâd be so valuable in your eyes.â
Feng Jun held up his index and middle finger, speaking seriously, âNearly two hundred million, depends on whether you can sell itâ¦â
Then he spread his grin wider, revealing a mischievous smile, âBut in my eyes, Sister Hong, you are priceless. A mere two hundred million canât match your true worth.â
At these words, Sister Hongâs heart couldnât help but flutter, before she forcefully suppressed the strange feeling.
She instinctively lowered her head to reach for her wine glass, using it to mask her perturbation.
One had to admit that women are indeed like dragons, very fond of all kinds of wealth. Even though she knew that Feng Junâs words were just exaggerated rhetoric, his belief that her worth far exceeded two hundred million still made her very happy.
It is disrespectful to measure a womanâs worth in money, but if the sum was two hundred million, most women wouldnât mind the disrespect. In fact, they might prefer to be offended a bit more harshly.
Sister Hong was no exception. If a penniless guy talked about two hundred million, she would have merely scoffed, but she was well awareâFeng Jun actually had that much money.
So for a moment, she felt somewhat panicked and had to use the act of holding her wine glass to cover it up. Even so, her hand couldnât help trembling slightly, the wine in the glass rippling gently, reflective of her current mood.
Feng Jun sensed her unease, impulsively reaching out to grasp her slender, fair hand.
Her hand was soft, delicate, and unusually cold.
But Sister Hong was startled by his move, instantly regaining her composure. She glared fiercely at him, lowering her voice to rebuke, âXiao Feng, what do you think youâre doing?â
Just like a woman seasoned by society, where most women would panic in such a situation, she did the exact opposite, regaining clarity from being emotionally confused.
But who was Feng Jun? He was a man who had his share of social experiences, well aware of the secrets of flirtingââbold, attentive, and thick-skinned.â He couldnât help grinning as he began to speak, âSister Hongâ¦â
âAhem,â at that moment, someone coughed softly. It was Xiao Wu bringing up a bowl of soup. Upon seeing this scene, he paused for a moment before saying, âUh⦠the last dish is up, Sister Hong, should I leave first?ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âYou can sit down and have some too,â Sister Hong said as if nothing had happened, then glancing at Feng Jun, âI donât feel cold here. My hands are naturally chilly, so⦠thereâs no need to turn on the air conditioning.â
Feng Jun chuckled sheepishly and withdrew his hand, silently admiring her. Sister Hong really was impressive, nonchalantly dispelling any potential awkwardness with a few words. That quick wit was definitely worth 64 likes.
However, he glanced sideways and found a little secret: a faint redness on Sister Hongâs neck.
For a moment, he couldnât help feeling smug: So your indifference was also a facade, my flirting skills are indeed not bad.
Xiao Wu didnât listen to Sister Hong, though. He grabbed a plate, picked a bit of every dish, and then carried the plate into the kitchen, âSister Hong, if you need any more dishes, just let me know.â
After he left, Sister Hong downed her wine in one gulp, then said softly, âXiao Feng, donât tease me, or youâll regret it.â
Feng Jun smiled slightly, an expression of âDo you think Iâm easily scared?â on his face, and asked quietly, âOh? How will I regret it?â
Without looking at him, Sister Hong nonchalantly reached for her chopsticks to pick up some food, speaking emotionlessly, âSince Iâm selling the Jade for you, can I directly contact Li Dafu and Henglong?â
âOf course,â Feng Jun replied, seeing her bringing up the main topic, his focus also shifted back, âIf they donât trust you, I can vouch for you. Mainly, Iâll be quite busy and donât want to engage in communication for such matters. It will take too much of my time if I deal with the Jade business as well.â
Seeing him stop flirting, Sister Hong returned to her normal self, smilingly saying, âThatâs true. Boss Feng is a man of greater stature now, and doesnât care for such small change. I, your former boss, can only swallow my pride and work for you now.â
Feng Jun spoke earnestly, âItâs not that I donât care, Iâmnot that rich yet. Itâs just that I have serious matters to attend to and canât afford the distraction. If I did the Jade business at the same time, it would take too much of my attention.â
âOh?â Sister Hongâs eyes spun, and she looked at him with a half-smile, âIs there any other more lucrative business? Youâre not including me?â
âHehe,â Feng Jun chuckled dryly, without giving an answer.
Sister Hong remained silent as well, and the room fell into an eerie quiet.
After a long while, Feng Jun spoke again, âYou might find out in the future, but right now⦠the timing isnât quite right.â
Sister Hong still said nothing, and it was quite some time before she nodded slightly, âSince you put it that way, I feel a bit better.â
After they had had their fill of food and wine, she left with Xiao Wu, taking four pieces of jade with her. She said she wanted to make contact with Li Dafu and Henglong first to negotiate a draft agreement.
Feng Jun couldnât say he trusted her unreservedly, but right now, his mind really wasnât on the jade. And essentially, he wasnât greatly interested in doing business; the haggling and pettiness didnât suit his personality.
Anyway, his supply of jade was nearly limitless, so even if Sister Hong betrayed his trust, it would just be this once that he got fooled.
After all, you canât always be on guard and wary in this world. Otherwise, life would be far too exhausting.
Xu Leigang returned two days later, not only completing the task but also bringing Feng Junâs mother, Zhang Junyi, with him.
Zhang Junyi came from an intellectual family, and you could tell from her name that her father was quite cultured. Her marriage to Feng Junâs father, a humble vendor, had come after a bit of a struggle.
But all that was in the past now. Her son had made her proud by getting admitted to a top university, allowing her to hold her head high among her peers.
However, after graduation, her son turned down offers from several companies, insisting on developing his future in the same city as his girlfriend, which made her somewhat uneasyâafter all, she too had given up a lot to marry Feng Wenhui, and the hard times that followed were not to be disclosed to outsiders.
As expected, her son eventually broke up with his girlfriend and moved to Zhengyang. His parents tried to find him a job in their county town, but he flatly refused.
A mother worries for her child who travels far, and Zhang Junyi could understand her sonâs pride, but she was mostly concerned about him.
This time, her son even sent her a generator, which made her happyâhe was finally growing up. But at the same time, she felt uneasy: the generator wasnât cheap, and he had only been in Zhengyang for a few months. Where had he gotten the money for this?
The crux of the issue was that faced with her questions, Xu Leigang couldnât say much, and he even dared not mention that Feng Jun had a large amount of high-quality jade. He could only vaguely say that Feng Jun had recently started a jade business and was making a lot of money.
So Zhang Junyi followed him to Zhengyang to see her sonâs situation for herself.
When she saw Feng Jun, she could hardly believe her eyes, âYouâre twenty-five and still growing taller?â
âTwenty-three, had a growth spurt,â Feng Jun joked with a sheepish smile, responding in their local dialect to his motherâs skepticism, âDidnât you always say you wished I were taller? Iâm now one seventy-nine.â
Zhang Junyi of course knew her son hadnât been possessed by someone elseâ she didnât read online novels. Though her son had gotten taller, his features were still the same, even resembling how thin he was when he went to college.
For a moment, she felt a pang of distress for her son, âLiving alone out there, not eating well, look at how thin you areâ¦â
âThis is healthy,â Feng Jun replied with a laugh and a cry, âIf I were as fat as I was a while ago, itâd be hard to even find a partner.â
Zhang Junyiâs eyes lit up at this, âSo whereâs your current partner? Bring them here for mom to see?â
Coming from a scholarly family with broad horizons, she wasnât the sort to urge her son to marry, but she was still happy to see him moving on from his past heartbreak.
âWhat partner?â Feng Jun could only smile wryly, thinking to himself about net friends and the like; there were one or two, but a partner⦠there were truly none.
He knew that if he could bring a partner to meet his mother, she would definitely be happy, and he couldnât help but think: why not do as they do in online novels and find a random girl to pretend to be his girlfriend?
But the next moment, he dismissed the idea, joking to himself that he wouldnât be able to stand bringing an unattractive girl, and as for attractive ones, he genuinely didnât know many.
People like Xiao Li, Ye Qingyi, or Xia Xiaoyuâwell, he might reluctantly consider bringing them to meet his mother, but⦠what if they took it seriously? How would he handle it?
He had a slight preference for mature women, and people like Sister Hong or Hua Hua would impress based on looks and figure, but he dared not bring either of them home to mom; she was likely to get sick with anger.
That goes to show, you really canât take whatâs in online novels seriously.
(Third release of the night, calling for monthly votes and recommendation tickets.)