Ning Ran continued to refill Feng Minsheng’s glass, urging him to drink. He eventually passed out on the table.
Ning Ran left the restaurant with ease. As she stood at the side of the road, attempting to hail a cab back home, she was approached by black Jeep that seemed familiar.
As the jeep pulled over in front of her, she noticed Qiao Zhan in the driver’s seat. There was no one else in the car.
“Young Mistress, please get in the car,” said Qiao Zhan politely.
“Wow, you are still following me at this hour? I must say, I’m impressed,” Ning Ran mused.
“That’s nothing. Ensuring the safety of the Young Mistress is my job.”
That was a good choice of words – it was neither servile nor overbearing.
I’m not following you as much as I was trying to protect you. Even if you think that I am stalking you, there is nothing that I could do about that.
Ning Ran understood the hidden meaning behind Qiao Zhan’s words, so she did not give the driver any trouble and got into the car immediately.
It was a free ride anyway.
“Where’s Nan Xing? I haven’t been able to contact him recently,” inquired Ning Ran.
“Young Master Xing went on a business trip to Europe. I was not filled in on what he is doing there nor when he will come back,” replied Qiao Zhan.
“Even if you knew, you wouldn’t tell me, would you, Captain Qiao?” Ning Ran chuckled.
“I would if I could, Young Mistress, but I honestly have no idea about his trip this time.”
“Fine, I get it.”
Ning Ran leaned back into her seat, intending to take a short nap.
“Sir Chen summoned me to his office,” Qiao Zhan suddenly piped up.
Ning Ran remained silent. She was curious as to where he was going with this conversation.
“Sir Chen brought you up,” Qiao Zhan continued.
He was hoping that Ning Ran would give him some kind of response. That way, it would be easier for him to transfer the message.
However, Ning Ran purposely kept her mouth shut, as she waited for him to continue.
Without Ning Ran prompting him to speak, Qiao Zhan found it hard to share about his conversation with Sir Chen.
The car fell into a deep silence.
In this moment, Ning Ran came to the realization that feigning indifference was actually a handy weapon.
As long as she remained silent, the other party wouldn’t be able to gauge her thoughts or feelings, and hence wouldn’t know how to continue.
“Young Mistress, do you not wish to know what Sir Chen said?” Qiao Zhan asked as he couldn’t bear it any longer.
“He was talking to you, so why would I need to know anything about that?” Ning Ran asked in return.
“But Sir Chen was talking about you.”
“I don’t have any interest in that,” replied Ning Ran.
Qiao Zhan had no choice but to come clean.
“Sir Chen said that he does not like the idea of you meeting the guy named Feng.”
“Oh,” Ning Ran replied casually.
Qiao Zhan’s intention was to tell Ning Ran about the matter without offending her.
Knowing that there was a high possibility that Ning Ran would marry into the Nan Family, Qiao Zhan didn’t want to be in her bad books.
If he were to be on bad terms with Ning Ran, he would be in deep trouble once she really became the Young Mistress of the family.
While Qiao Zhan might be a brawny man, he was by no means a dumb one. He had to draw up a good strategy.
After some thought, he finally came to an answer. He decided that it would be best to reveal bits and pieces of the message and give her a vague impression. Then, he would leave Ning Ran to interpret the message by herself. Not only would this help him accomplish his task, it would also spare him from the risk of offending Ning Ran.
However, he did not anticipate that Ning Ran would not take the bait.
“Since it was not to Sir Chen’s liking, could you please refrain from having any interactions with that man from now on?” Resigned, Qiao Zhan gave up on his initial plan and bluntly stated Master Chen’s request.
“So I’ll have to stop seeing Feng Minsheng just because Sir Chen doesn’t like it? Is he going to stop talking to someone just because I told him I don’t like it?”
Naturally, Qiao Zhan couldn’t answer.
Obviously, Nan Chen would refuse to comply with such an absurd request. There was no one in this world that could restrict him, not even his father.
“Will he?” Ning Ran prodded for an answer.
“I don’t think so. After all, the young master is not someone that can be easily influenced by others to begin with. Even if the old master personally requested it, I doubt there will be any difference,” Qiao Zhan answered honestly.
“There you have it. If he wouldn’t listen to me, then why would I have to listen to him? This has nothing to do with him. Tell him to mind his own business.”
Qiao Zhan couldn’t help but sigh. I wonder how mad Sir Chen would be if he learns about this.
“But…”
“No buts.”
“But Young Mistress, I’m afraid that the young master might order me to do something nasty if you insist on hanging around the man.”
“And what exactly would he instruct you to do?”
“That would be to obstruct you and the man from seeing one another.”
Ning Ran wanted to laugh. Even if you didn’t stop me, I wouldn’t want to hang around that liar! Go ahead and obstruct us!
“So what are you going to do about it?” Ning Ran asked, a devilish smile playing on her lips.
“I don’t know, Young Mistress, that’s why I’m asking you.”
“How would I know? Just do whatever you like,” Ning Ran said nonchalantly.
Qiao Zhan seemed to be in a bind.
I was worried that I would offend you, that was why I gave you prior notice. But you don’t seem to care at all, so what should I do now?
To make matters worse, the request from the young master was also vague.
If Qiao Zhan’s methods were too extreme and he harmed Ning Ran, it would be disastrous.
On the other end of the spectrum, if he was too lenient, it wouldn’t be able to serve the young master’s purpose.
Qiao Zhan was caught between a rock and a hard place.
Before he knew it, they arrived at Ning Ran’s residence. Ning Ran thanked Qiao Zhan before she got out of the car.
“Young Mistress…”
“It would be better for you to not call me that as I’m aware of my position. Besides, your young master wouldn’t let me become the Young Mistress of the Nan family,” said Ning Ran.
“That may be so, but to me, you are the Young Mistress. As an underling, we are not allowed to refuse any orders given by our master. If I were to offend you in any way due to the master’s orders, I hope that you can empathize with my difficult situation.”
Qiao Zhan was open about where his loyalties were.
“Don’t worry, I understand your situation. So, what do you plan to do? Beat Feng Minsheng up? I hope that the Nan family wouldn’t kill someone over a trivial matter like this,” Ning Ran said with a faint smile.
“Rest assured, the Nan family abides by the law. We don’t normally resort to physical assault, but there are many ways to make someone disappear from this town.”
“I understand. In that case, do as you please. Thanks for giving me a ride. I’ll be on my way then, bye bye.” Ning Ran waved her hand to bid him farewell.
“Young Mistress…”
“Bye bye.” Ning Ran waved her hands again.
“Aren’t you putting me in a tough spot? You know full well that the young master doesn’t like the idea of you being around that man. He can’t even compare to our young master…”
But Ning Ran had already entered the house. It was unbeknownst to him whether the mistress had actually heard what he was saying.
Suddenly Qiao Zhan’s phone started to ring. It was from his subordinate who was giving him a report of that man. Apparently, he was shouting Ning Ran’s name in front of a restaurant, appearing to be drunk. He had even threw up at the entrance of the restaurant.
“Then you play the drunkard and beat him up. We’ll decide what to do after that,” said Qiao Zhan, feeling frustrated.
“But captain, didn’t you say that we should proceed with this cautiously?” asked the subordinate as he was obviously confused.
“I have already been very cautious! Any more cautious and I would be in the lunatic asylum! Beat him up to vent some stress. Don’t you dare cripple him or kill him, do you understand?” said Qiao Zhan.
“Got it captain.”
“Remember not to overdo it!”
“Rest assured captain, I know how to gauge my strength.”
