The Nanting No.1 Hotel.
That was one of the landmarks of Flower City. The hotel had an outer appearance that looked like a staircase that reached for the sky and had Nanshi Corporation’s logo shining at its side. A tower that tall can be seen from miles away.
That was the only seven-star hotel in Flower City and was the place where Nanshi Corporation served important customers.
The hotel had three entrances – one on the Southern side, one on the Eastern side, and one on the Northern side. The entrance on the North was usually shut, and would only be opened for VIPs.
The security was air-tight there and everyone was inspected before they were allowed into the hotel.
Even Ning Ran, who was vouched by the renowned Sir Chen, needed to register with her identity card.
However, Ning Ran was already traumatized, and the thought of using her identity card was frightening for her.
She stalled for as long as she could as she deliberated about whether or not she wanted to stay there.
Will I be recognized?
“Please show us your identity card so that we can register you into our system,” reminded the beautiful receptionist.
The receptionist dared not be rude or slow because Ning Ran was someone that Nan Chen had brought over so the receptionist remained standing while talking to Ning Ran.
“Can I skip that part?” asked Ning Ran.
“I’m sorry, but that is not possible. We are responsible for our customer’s safety so we have to insist that every customer registers with us,” said the receptionist with a big smile, “In fact, we have a number of politicians staying right now so we can’t allow unauthorized individuals to stay here.”
“Then forget it, I’m not staying here,” said Ning Ran who turned around to leave after hearing that she must register.
Ning Ran was in such a hurry that she almost bumped into the annoyed Nan Chen whose face was practically dripping with irritation. “What?” asked Nan Chen.
“Sir Chen, the lady refuses to show us her identity card,” replied the terrified receptionist.
It was Ning Ran’s fault, but the receptionist was still worried that it would affect her.
“What is up with you?” asked Nan Chen as he glared at Ning Ran with distaste in his eyes.
“I… I’m not staying here.”
“Take it out,” ordered Nan Chen cruelly.
“What?”
“Your identity card,” said Nan Chen coolly.
Ning Ran refused to obey him. I’m not staying here anymore. Why should I hand my identity card over?
Someone interrupted with a report at that instance and said, “Sir Chen, the director’s car will be arriving in 15 minutes. Will you be greeting him at the entrance?”
“Yes,” replied Nan Chen.
“Hurry!” said the furious Nan Chen.
Ning Ran understood then that there was an important customer heading over, and Nan Chen was needed at the entrance.
If she disrupted Nan Chen’s work, the consequences would be dire.
Ning Ran had no choice but to fish out her identity card and was about to hand it over when she retracted all of a sudden and asked, “No one will recognize me, right?”
“Hmph, who do you think you are?” sneered Nan Chen.
Ning Ran tightened her lips then rolled her eyes at Nan Chen.
That spoiled attitude with just a hint of shamelessness was supposed to be vexing, but that woman was able to carry it out in an alluring manner.
Add that to the sweet orange blossom scent that was exuding on and off of her, and Nan Chen suddenly felt like he was being flirted at.
After registering, someone personally brought Ning Ran to her room.
Ning Ran almost shouted aloud when she stepped in.
That hotel room was extremely different from the one she has stayed in earlier.
The most obvious difference was that the size of the room was at least three times bigger!
The second most obvious difference was the luxurious decorations that encompassed a wool carpet, chandelier, and a wine cabinet.
“Ms. Ding, please rest. The restaurant is open 24 hours if you’re hungry. If you have other preferences, we can also have someone go to the restaurant bring the food over for you. Also, should you require anything else, please call the butler, and we’ll do our best to fulfill your needs,” said the waiter politely before he bowed.
“The butler?”
“Yes, we have butlers in the hotel. If you need anything at all, you can inform us. For example, if you are craving roasted meat from a particular restaurant in the East, or if you want a particular drink from a place in the West, we can get it for you, provided that the store or restaurant was still open.”
Ning Ran thought that the service provided was really good.
Unfortunately, she didn’t care about any of that. She only had one special request that the butler probably won’t agree to.
“I don’t really feel like eating anything, but I do have a special request that I’m not sure if you can fulfill.”
“Please do clarify. As long as it can be done within the city, we will be able to carry it out.”
“Erm… that’s great. You see, I have two kids, and I want to bring them here so they can have dinner with me,” said Ning Ran, “Can you arrange that?”
“That is… We’ve never had that request before. If your kids are adults, we can send a car over, but if they’re kids, we…”
“I knew it! You were all confident just a minute ago and were claiming that you could do anything, but you can’t even bring two kids around!” complained Ning Ran who pretended to be unsatisfied.
“That…” The waiter looked troubled.
“Forget it, it’s fine.”
The truth was that Ning Ran knew that the butler couldn’t do anything about it, but she wanted to try.
“Let me ask my manager,” said the troubled waiter, “I’ll let you know if there is anything we can do.”
“Alright, you may leave.”
Ning Ran didn’t want to make things too difficult for the waiter because she understood that there were things that were out of his control.
After the waiter had left, Ning Ran lay down on her bed.
She didn’t have anything else to do anyway so she could only lie there.
After some time, Ning Ran became so bored that she began browsing the internet through her phone.
She realized that malicious news about her had drastically reduced, and the main entertainment news website had practically stopped reporting about it.
Someone must’ve done some PR management, and the only person who could pull something like that off was Nan Chen.
Later, Ning Ran noticed that there was a new article about how the new actress Ding Mi and the celebrity Zheng Lunlun were at a charity event.
The article stated that about a month ago, Zheng Lunlun’s team had decided to donate ten million to build schools for the poor.
That charity event was also participated by the new starlet Ding Mi.
The duo had decided to donate to the same region so the local charity organization had reached out to both Zheng Lunlun, Ding Mi, and the co-organizer of the charity – Nanshi Corporation.
The dinner at the hot pot restaurant was set up so that all three sides could discuss the next charity event.
According to the article, Ms. Ding Mi had donated over 5 million worth of resources.
Ning Ran scanned the article again. Yep, it said Ding Mi.
The photo that accompanied that article was the one where she and Zheng Lunlun were eating together in the restaurant.
But when had she ever donated 5 million? She was so broke that she couldn’t even afford rent so donating 5 million was not possible.
Does that mean that the article was fake? That didn’t seem to be the case either, because the media company that ran the story was credible.
So what was going on?
Ignoring the fact that the news was faked, the positive impact brought about by that article was real because that news had cleared up any misunderstanding that had arisen from the incident that had gone wild on the internet.
Zheng Lunlun and Ning Ran weren’t in an intimate relationship as the rumors had made it out to be. They were just professionals who had a little work to do so they hung out together.
The fact that they had only gotten together for a charitable reason had also boosted both their images.
The article was shared on the internet soon enough, and since Zheng Lunlun was a renowned celebrity, the news had spread like wildfire.
The haters who had been shouting at Zheng Lunlun and Ning Ran had turned around and started to support them!
