They arrived at the revolving restaurant on the top floor.
“Mr. Jiang, please follow me.”
The moment the waiter saw Jiang Zongyan, he immediately lined up respectfully with the others and personally opened the door for them, leading the way.
“Thank you.”
Jiang Zongyan gave a slight nod. His manner was polite, yet distant.
The young female server met his eyes and instantly blushed from shyness.
Zhou Suisui quietly narrowed her eyes as she watched.
Her brother was right. This man really was a complete flirt. Wherever he went, he attracted admirers.
Following behind Jiang Zongyan, she immediately spotted the young man seated by the window.
This was Jason.
He seemed to be waiting for someone. A thick laptop sat on the table before him, and his fingers flew across the keyboard. His brows were tightly furrowed, his hair was sticking up in all directions, and his beard was unkempt.
Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought he had escaped from a hospital.
The restaurant was noisy, but he remained completely absorbed in his work, unaffected by the commotion around him.
Just as she was marveling at him, Jiang Zongyan suddenly reached out, grabbed her hand, and led her toward Jason.
The warmth of his touch washed over her.
Zhou Suisui stiffened and instinctively tried to pull her hand free.
As if sensing her intention, Jiang Zongyan slid his fingers between hers and firmly hooked them around her thumb and forefinger, clasping her hand possessively.
“Herr Jason!”
The moment Jason saw Jiang Zongyan, he rose with a smile.
“Lange nicht, Mann.”
The two of them immediately began chatting fluently in German, speaking so quickly that they sounded like machine guns.
Zhou Suisui was completely lost. She leaned toward Zhang Liang’s ear and whispered, “What are they mumbling about?”
“They’re just greeting each other and asking how things have been lately,” Zhang Liang translated in a low voice.
As soon as she finished speaking, Fu Jie stepped forward and greeted Jason in impeccable German.
“Guten Tag!” (Pronounced: goo-ten tahk.)
He glanced at Zhou Suisui and deliberately slowed down, enunciating each word clearly.
Zhou Suisui was an exceptionally quick learner.
Imitating Fu Jie, she extended her hand toward Jason and greeted him in somewhat clumsy German. “Guten Tag!”
Jason suddenly laughed. Looking at Zhou Suisui, he said in heavily accented Chinese, “Miss Zhou, you’re very cute.”
Zhou Suisui blinked. “???”
She stared at Jason in surprise. “You speak Chinese?”
She had just made a fool of herself trying to imitate Fu Jie for nothing.
Jason scratched his head and continued in his halting Chinese. “A little. I only speak a little.”
Meeting the beauty’s direct gaze, Jason blushed shyly.
Jiang Zongyan turned to Zhou Suisui and explained in a low voice, “He was born in Germany and grew up there. He doesn’t speak much Chinese.”
Zhou Suisui nodded.
The two men seemed to know each other quite well.
Jiang Zongyan sat down across from Jason, and Zhou Suisui’s heart gave a jolt.
No way.
Had Jiang Zongyan specifically arranged to have dinner with Jason?
Did the Jiang family also want to develop an AI architecture?
But hadn’t the Jiang Group always been working with the Zhou family on this project?
Was Jiang Zongyan trying to poach Jason behind her brother’s back?
As she pondered this, a tablet was placed in front of her.
Jiang Zongyan’s deep voice came from beside her. “Order whatever you want.”
Across the table, Jason looked them over several times before asking in German, his tone full of implication, “Jiang, is she your girlfriend?”
Jiang Zongyan watched Zhou Suisui bury her head in the menu and gave her an indulgent smile. “She’s rather spoiled. I haven’t managed to win her over yet.”
Jason teased him, “Is there any woman who could resist the charms of CEO Jiang?”
Jiang Zongyan helplessly raised an eyebrow.
Fu Jie’s expression changed.
Zhang Liang lowered her head, doing her best not to laugh.
Zhou Suisui looked up at Jiang Zongyan with wide, innocent eyes. “???”
What were they talking about?
Were they ganging up on her just because she couldn’t understand German?
She was going to have to compete with these academic geniuses!
If they wouldn’t speak Chinese, they could at least speak English!
Then again, she probably only knew enough English to do written tests. She wouldn’t be able to make herself understood in conversation.
As for poaching Jason, she would leave that to Director Zhang and Finance Director Fu!
Her brother had clearly thought things through. Bringing both of them along had been a wise decision.
She could simply sit back and freeload.
Turning her sorrow into an appetite, she ordered ten dishes in one go.
The food arrived quickly.
It was an upscale Chinese restaurant. Although they had ordered ten dishes, each serving was only a few bites.
Everything tasted wonderful.
Zhou Suisui still remembered her status and ate in small, delicate bites, looking elegant and refined.
But with her cheeks puffed out, she looked like a greedy little hamster.
The other four barely touched their chopsticks and continued their rapid-fire conversation.
Even Zhang Liang had put away her earlier relaxed attitude. With a serious expression, she began explaining the Zhou family’s advantages to Jason, as well as the highest salary they could offer.
Jiang Zongyan said something to her, and Zhang Liang’s face flushed bright red. She stammered for quite some time before finally answering.
Zhou Suisui couldn’t understand a word.
But she knew how to read people’s expressions.
Jiang Zongyan was deliberately putting Zhang Liang on the spot!
He definitely wanted to steal Jason away from the Zhou family.
No. She absolutely couldn’t let him succeed!
Zhou Suisui’s eyes shifted as an idea came to her.
Under the table, she quietly lifted her foot and lightly brushed the tip of her shoe against Jiang Zongyan’s calf.
Jiang Zongyan remained perfectly composed, continuing to speak with Jason. But his hand slipped beneath the table without a sound and seized her unruly foot.
The warm pads of his fingers pressed against her delicate ankle.
His fingertips were warm and lightly callused as they gently traced over her tender skin.
Zhou Suisui’s face instantly turned crimson.
She yanked her foot back and sprang to her feet in a panic. “I—I’m going to the restroom!”
With that, she fled without looking back.
“What a pervert!”
Zhou Suisui stared at her flushed face in the mirror. Recalling the sensation of his long fingers sliding along her leg, she turned on the cold water and patted her cheeks, doing her best to cool herself down.
Once her complexion had returned to normal, she went back to the table.
The moment she sat down, she saw several pieces of fish in the dish before her, every bone carefully removed.
Jiang Zongyan was sitting beside her.
This guy wasn’t so bad after all. He even knew to serve her food.
He must have learned to do it after his mother told him to take care of her at the Jiang residence that day.
A warm feeling rose in Zhou Suisui’s heart. She picked up her chopsticks and was about to eat when a large, well-defined hand reached over and took the dish away.
“?”
Zhou Suisui looked at Jiang Zongyan in confusion.
He switched the dish with the one in front of him.
Then he pushed a plate of peeled shrimp toward her and said naturally, “Eat.”
“!”
Hmm… There was definitely something wrong with this man.
Tiantian really hadn’t been lying about him!
Across the table, Fu Jie had witnessed the entire exchange. His hand tightened around his glass, his knuckles turning white.
The hostility in his gaze toward Jiang Zongyan was impossible to miss.
Beside him, Zhang Liang secretly covered her eyes.
This love triangle was far too obvious!
The fish that had just been deboned had been prepared by Finance Director Fu for Miss Zhou!
The Crown Prince was being far too domineering!
And poor Miss Zhou had no idea what was going on.
The meal came to an end.
Zhou Suisui was the only one who had eaten her fill.
The other four had barely touched their food.
The meeting ended with what appeared to be a fairly satisfactory result.
Jason smiled as he shook hands and said his goodbyes. The details of the collaboration had already been settled beyond doubt.
The moment he left, Zhou Suisui’s face fell. Puffing out her cheeks, she glared at Jiang Zongyan and jabbed her finger against his solid chest again and again.
“What did you say to him just now?”
“Were you bullying me because I don’t speak German?”
“You two were jabbering away for ages, and I couldn’t understand a word!”
Her lips were so pursed they could have held up an oil jar, and all her indignation was written plainly across her face.
“Jiang Zongyan, I’m warning you—Jason is the talent our Zhou family has set its sights on. You’re not allowed to compete with me for him.”
Jiang Zongyan let her poke him, unable to hide the amusement in his eyes.
He reached out and caught her mischievous hand. His fingertips gently brushed over her fingertips as he leaned down toward her ear, his voice low and husky, carrying a hint of dangerous magnetism.
“Zhou Suisui, do you know what you’re doing right now?”
“What?”
Zhou Suisui touched her burning ear and leaned back, putting some distance between them.
Couldn’t he just talk normally? Why did he have to get so close?
“This is called teasing and flirting.”
Jiang Zongyan’s breath brushed over the shell of her ear, making her shiver. “I’m a perfectly normal man. If I really do something to you, don’t come crying to me afterward.”
“!!!”
Zhou Suisui’s face flushed scarlet all the way to her ears, and her heart pounded wildly, as if it were about to burst out of her chest.
She yanked her hand back and, without even daring to look at Jiang Zongyan, turned and ran for the door like a startled rabbit.
Fu Jie remained where he was, watching the two of them flirt shamelessly in front of everyone. The light in his eyes slowly faded.
