"Really?" The assistant smiled. "I’ll buy it for Miss Long tomorrow morning then."
When Long Qiu returned to the office, Tao Ran and the female assistant were talking and laughing. As soon as she came in, the assistant immediately shut up and went out. Tao Ran looked at Ling Qiu with a smile plastered on his face but felt that the atmosphere was a bit odd.
Long Qiu expressionlessly asked, "Do you like my assistant very much?"
Tao Ran replied without much thought, "She’s a very good lady."
"Really?" Long Qiu sat down on her seat before answering. "Then I'll let her be your assistant."
As long as one was not mentally retarded, it was easy to notice the change in Long Qiu's tone. Tao Ran blinked and stayed silent as he thought about what he could have done wrong.
Misunderstanding his silence as Tao Ran’s interest in her assistant, Long Qiu became even angrier. She said in an impatient tone, "You almost died two days ago and now you’re running around without even checking to see if others are free to talk nonsense with you."
Tao Ran stood up and said, "Excuse me then, I’ll go now."
"Wait." Long Qiu called out. "Why are you here?"
Tao Ran: "I wanted to have lunch with you."
"Then what are you going for?" Long Qiu said with a look filled with disgust, "Is that how you’d invite a lady out to eat?"
Tao Ran: "..." Didn't you just say that you’re not free?
Long Qiu stood up, walked to the other end of the room, opened the office closet, changed into a brightly colored coat, and walked to Tao Ran's side. "Let's go, hurry up. I still have a lot to deal with in the afternoon."
Tao Ran, who had been a woman for more than 20 years, suddenly felt that he really didn't understand women at all. For example, right now, he had no idea what Long Qiu was thinking. She had obviously just said that she was not free, then in the blink of an eye, she couldn't wait to have lunch with him. Isn't this Lady President different from other ordinary women?
The two of them found a place to eat in the western restaurant next to the company building. Long Qiu ordered steak for both of them and also a bowl of soup for Tao Ran. Her reason was that Tao Ran had not fully recovered and could not drink strong beverages. After a few minutes, the steak she ordered came up. Tao Ran picked up the fork and knife and was about to eat.
Long Qiu: "Are you also this rude when you and my assistant go out to eat?”
"..." Tao Ran stared dazedly, wondering what he did wrong again. Long Qiu used to hate him for being rude when eating, but he had tried his best to be elegant today. He had helped Long Qiu pull out a chair for her a while ago, but he couldn’t understand why Long Qiu was staring daggers at him again.
Looking at Tao Ran's blank eyes, Long Qiu said with a straight face, "Help me cut the steak."
Tao Ran blurted out a complaint, "Can’t you cut it by yourself?"
Long Qiu's expression instantly became stormy. Tao Ran closed his mouth tightly in fright and began to work hard to help Long Qiu cut the steak. After cutting, he attentively asked, "Ms. Long, do you think this size is appropriate?"
Long Qiu snorted through her nostrils, indicating that it was okay. The weary Tao Ran began to eat, wondering what gave him the idea to eat with Long Qiu.
Halfway through their meal, two girls suddenly walked up to Tao Ran and asked, "Hello… Are you Tao Ran?"
Tao Ran turned to look at them and smiled. "Yeah, It's me."
"Wow... God..." The two girls blushed with excitement, leaning close to Tao Ran and asking, "Can you sign an autograph for us?"
"Okay," Tao Ran said. "but I don't have a pen."
"Then can we take a photo with you? How about a group photo?"
Tao Ran happily agreed and took a photo with each of them. When he raised his head again, the face of Long Qiu opposite him was as black as the bottom of a pot. When the two girls left, they were still whispering, "That black-faced woman is Ranran's girlfriend, right?"
"It can’t be, Ranran has such bad taste?"
"..." Tao Ran defended in a cold sweat, "Miss Long, don't be angry, they are mistaken.”
Long Qiu’s black face looked carefree for a moment, then she lifted her chin disdainfully and said, "How would you know?"
Tao Ran was trembling after the meal, which directly caused the stylist to think that Tao Ran had oily skin, so he stuffed him with a lot of oil-control skincare products before he left. Tao Ran took the skin care stuff along with the clothes that he needed to wear and also left, complaining to nobody in particular that the sweat on his face was all due to being scared by the Lady Dragon.
After returning home, he received a call from Cui Xiao, inviting him to walk the red carpet together. Because people like Bai Shaohui don't belong to the entertainment circles and couldn’t walk the red carpet, the person that was turned into a flower protector naturally became Tao Ran. Tao Ran patted his chest and replied confidently, “You can wear high heels casually, I will surely hold you steady by then.”
On the night of the film festival, Cui Xiao arrived together in Tao Ran's car. Along the way, Bai Shaohui called Tao Ran, "Brother, I will leave Xiaoxiao to you temporarily. I deliberately didn't come to send her off today. You know that I have a surprise in store for her."
Your surprise is a frightening moment for me. Tao Ran complained inwardly, but said, "Don't worry, leave Cui Xiao to me. Will you stop worrying about it?"
"I’m not worried about it, I’m just handing her to you, Xiaoxiao has already praised me by saying I look handsome several times."
Tao Ran: "That can't be helped, she’s telling the truth."
"Don't talk nonsense," Bai Shaohui said, "Don't disclose my surprise to Xiaoxiao."
"Okay, good..."
He had just hung up the phone when Cui Xiao said with a smile, "Shaohui is getting more and more wordy."
Before Tao Ran could agree, another call came in again, it was from Long Qiu.
Long Qiu: "Hey, where are you? I want you to go to the theatre with me. Do you want to go in my car?"
"No need Miss Long." Tao Ran said. "I have already set off with Cui Xiao."
"Toot toot..."
Tao Ran looked at the phone with confusion and muttered, "Why did she hang up so suddenly?"
Long Qiu tossed the phone fiercely, and the assistant quickly picked it up for her, and said, “Ms. Long, we should set off."
Long Qiu wore an elegant black dress and painted delicate makeup on her already beautiful face which now looked enraged. She didn't know why she was so angry. She obviously let Tao Ran approach Cui Xiao herself, so why did she feel irritated all of a sudden? Long Qiu got into the driveway. "Let's go."
Long Qiu's car entered the Huangtian Film Festival in a low-key manner. When she sat down in the seat allocated with VIPs and stars, she looked around, but she didn't see Bai Shaohui. The situation on the red carpet was clear to see from where she was seated.
After Tao Ran's car arrived, he was immediately overwhelmed by reporters. The moment they got out of the car, he was under pressure to protect Cui Xiao from the mob amidst the cheers from the audience. Since the movie’s release, the two of them had also gained a lot of CP fans. Tao Ran supported Cui Xiao to prevent her from falling while coping with the reporters.
They were constantly asked to stop and take pictures, taking twenty minutes to walk a short section of the red carpet. In the end, Tao Ran couldn't stand it anymore. He took Cui Xiao, left the carpet, and went inside. After the two sat down in their seats, Tao Ran asked, "Did Mr Bai say that he has a surprise for you today?"
"No.," Cui Xiao said excitedly, "Do you know what it is?"
Tao Ran smiled. "It’s a secret."
Cui Xiao couldn't help laughing, silently looking forward to Bai Shaohui's surprise in her heart.
Long Qiu's seat was next to Tao Ran, and she could see Tao Ran and Cui Xiao talking and laughing. It was really an eye-opener. She suddenly felt irritation in her heart and realized that Cui Xiao was indeed an annoying woman, one that had to be cleaned up sooner or later.
The reporters also took pictures of the two of them sitting together while talking and laughing. They even thought about the headlines of tomorrow’s newspaper. ‘The drama couple suspected to be a real couple off-screen…’
The lights on the stage suddenly turned on with a burst of merriment. Two hosts, one male and one female, came on stage in bright and elegant clothes as the music in the background flared on, followed by the opening remarks. Tao Ran already felt a little sleepy.
Cui Xiao said next to him, "Do you think we can win the awards this time?
"Yes,” he said confidently and continued, "So all you have to do now is to take out your acceptance speech and recite several times. "
Cui Xiao smiled and nodded in agreement. She took out a small note from her bag, and looked at it seriously, trying to memorize what she had written.
Tao Ran was a little nervous because of her. He reached into his pocket, ready to take out his acceptance speech and recite it, but after digging in for a long time and not touching anything, Cui Xiao asked, "What are you looking for?"
"My acceptance speech." Tao Ran said with sweat on his forehead. "It's gone."
Cui Xiao said, "Just look at mine. Anyway, acceptance speeches are the same. Just change the name and some things that I said."
Tao Ran moved his head closer to Cui Xiao’s side, their cheeks almost touching, and the two murmured to a small piece of paper.
Long Qiu at the side saw the two of them whispering to each other for a long time, and was very curious, so she leaned over as well and overheard what the two seemed to be discussing. In the end, she just listened to what they said, “Thanking my mother, thanking CCTVxxTV, thanking the director, thanking the screenwriter…” Her expression lightened.
"..." Long Qiu’s feelings became complicated again. She withdrew her head, thinking about how the young people of this year turned out to be like this.
The next item was the performance of various stars, and then the host would announce the selected works and actors for various awards, before finally announcing the final results. Then the actors would take the stage and give speeches on their awards. This process was very lengthy, but the important award for best actor and actress was the finale, which meant that Tao Ran and Cui Xiao would have to wait until the end.