"Director Guan is still very energetic." Tao Ran said with a smile. He held up his glass of wine towards Director Guan. "I also toast to you, Director Guan. It has been a pleasure working with you and I also want to thank you for all your guidance during the filming. I hope that there will be more opportunities to cooperate with you in the future.”
"Oh, there will certainly be more opportunities." Director Guan didn’t hide his admiration for Tao Ran’s work attitude either.
The atmosphere was very lively. Everyone toasted to each other and relished the hard work that the team had done during the filming. Bai Shaohui’s unhappiness at not being able to sit with Cui Xiao gradually eased up amidst the happy atmosphere in the room. He didn't have time to pay attention to Cui Xiao.
Tao Ran smiled at Long Qiu. "President Long, thank you for giving me such a good opportunity."
Long Qiu said, "You won the opportunity yourself."
Bai Shaohui caught sight of their small talk and took the opportunity to say to Cui Xiao, “Xiaoxiao Congratulations.”
Cui Xiao blushed instantly and shyly raised her glass to drink with him.
Long Qiu kicked Tao Ran's foot under the table, and beckoned him with her eyes. Don't you have any idea what to do now?
Tao Ran took note of her expression silently, and immediately raised his glass to Cui Xiao. "I want to offer a toast to my classmate too and for our friendship."
Seeing that Cui Xiao kept on accepting the toasts and drinking more, Bai Shaohui felt a little pain in his heart. He wanted to persuade her, "Xiaoxiao, don't drink too much."
Long Qiu kicked Tao Ran underneath the table again. Tao Ran grinned with pain, and said to Cui Xiao, "Come Cui Xiao, let’s toast to our pleasant working relationship and future cooperation."
Cui Xiao drank another glass of wine, making Bai Shaohui feel very anxious. He was throwing daggers at Tao Ran with his eyes. Tao Ran, you said that you’re not interested in Cui Xiao but you dare to pour my girlfriend wine in front of me. Do you really think I won’t dare get my revenge? He offered toast to Long Qiu in anger. "Miss Long, let's have a drink too, to respect our cooperation this time."
Ah! He took the initiative to toast me...
Long Qiu was dizzy with happiness, so she had a drink with Bai Shaohui.
Bai Shaohui was still angry, so he poured another glass and said, "President Long, seeing you like this is so refreshing. Come and have another cup."
Tao Ran knew what Bai Shaohui was thinking, but he felt wronged too. You think he wanted to keep offering Cui Xiao toasts? He had no choice and he was helpless so he had to do it.
Eventually, both Long Qiu and Cui Xiao ended up so drunk they could barely sit up straight.
Bai Shaohui glared at Tao Ran and said annoyedly, "Look at what you did."
Tao Ran retorted back, "As if you didn't do the same."
"If you didn’t get Xiaoxiao so drunk, would I be like this?" Bai Shaohui pointed to Tao Ran. "You were taking over my position with her, are you still my brother?"
"Why not?" Tao Ran said righteously. "If I didn't get Cui Xiao drunk, how could you have a chance to take her home tonight?"
Bai Shaohui: "..."
Bai Shaohui blushed innocently like a young boy, and coughed dryly. "You're right, but why didn't you say it earlier?"
Tao Ran: "Did you even give me a chance to tell you?"
"Ahem, look..." Bai Shaohui pointed to Long Qiu. "Didn't I also create this opportunity for you?"
"No way." Tao Ran wanted to cry. "How could I dare to do that to our Boss?”
Bai Shaohui laughed at Tao Ran’s expression. Then, he supported Cui Xiao and said to everyone at the table, "Everyone, keep playing and enjoying yourselves. I’m going to send Xiaoxiao back." He helped the drunk Cui Xiao onto her feet and supported her to walk out of the room.
Tao Ran looked at the backs of the two, and said to Bai Shaohui that he had to persevere and take advantage of this opportunity to have Cui Xiao for himself. But don't give Long Qiu any more room to entertain her fantasies. This woman has a very rich imagination and her brain is full of her fantasies about you.
After Bai Shaohui left, Tao Ran also didn't want to stay any longer. He went over to Long Qiu’s side and helped her get up. He bade farewell to Director Guan and left with his arms supporting Long Qiu. When he got into the taxi, he remembered that he didn't know where Long Qiu was living at the moment. He tried calling Tony to ask but the call wouldn’t go through. Tao Ran sighed and decided to forget about taking her to her home. He would just take her to his place. Anyway, a fellow with a woman’s heart wouldn’t be able to do anything with her.
Tao Ran helped the drunk Long Qiu to get out of the taxi. Long Qiu lost her balance when getting off and Tao Ran immediately pulled her into his arms to prevent her falling on the pavement. The building security saw this scene and gave Tao Ran a meaningful smile. Men always knew the hardship of bringing home a drunk girlfriend. Although Long Qiu was not his girlfriend, he didn’t stop to explain it to the guard to wipe that meaningful smile off his face.
Tao Ran panted heavily as he opened the apartment’s door with Long Qiu's body draped over him. He dragged both their bodies into the room. Even though he wanted to immediately drop the woman on the bed, he carefully laid her body across the sheets and took off her shoes which miraculously hadn’t fallen off yet. Tao Ran had a new estimate of this woman’s weight and he realized just now that a man that could pick up his girlfriend casually was definitely not a simple man.
Panda Xiaomei screamed frantically, "Host, your opportunity is here! As the saying goes, to get a woman's heart, you must first pass her X Dao. Tonight you have to take the opportunity to take her down, and when you wake up tomorrow morning, Long Qiu will abandon Bai Shaohui and fall in love with you."
Tao Ran kicked panda Xiaomei a few times. "Go away! Are you even speaking human words? You actually said this to a lovely girl? I’m telling you, even now, I haven’t used any functions of men except peeing.”
Xiaomei embraced herself, feeling aggrieved. “Systems are not human, so how can I speak human words? Let’s talk about you. You’re obviously a rough man now, rougher than Bai Shaohui."
Tao Ran burst into tears, and he rushed into the bathroom to take a bath. The mirror in the bathroom fully reflected the naked body of this man. Looking in the mirror, the man had wide shoulders, a small waist, slender legs, and just the right amount of muscles covering his body. He was his own ideal man before. He was still drooling in the mirror when he had just crossed, but now, looking at the mirror again, there were no waves in his heart.
Xiaomei comforted him. "It doesn't matter, host. It's fine as long as you have money. As long as there's money, it doesn't matter whether you like men or women."
In the dim living room, Tao Ran lay on the sofa with his injured heart, and stared at the ceiling with his eyes open. "Xiaomei, what if every female partner is as difficult as Long Qiu to deal with?"
Xiaomei was silent for a while and sighed. "Host, our tasks were arranged in order of difficulty. Long Qiu is the easiest target to deal with."
Tao Ran's mood dampened, then he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Long Qiu woke up with a terrible headache. She opened her eyes and laid on the bed dazedly. She didn’t move for a long time. She began to piece together the memory of yesterday slowly. Long Qiu remembered that Bai Shaohui was drinking with her, and then her head became more and more dizzy. Suddenly she thought of something and sat up with a start.
She checked her clothes carefully and sighed with relief to see that she was still well dressed. She looked around the room she was in again, and her eyebrows rose slightly. Wasn't this the suite she gave to Tao Ran? When Long Qiu got out of bed and opened the door, she saw Tao Ran sleeping on the sofa in the living room. He was curled up on the sofa, fast asleep, his lips slightly pouting. The rays of the morning sun that filtered in through the partially opened drapes on the glass windows shone on him, illuminating his soft hair that was spread messily on the couch pillows, making it look like fluffy dandelions.
Long Qiu stared at Tao Ran for a long time, then shook her head to clear her mind. What’s going on? Why am I focusing on Tao Ran? My brain must be malfunctioning. It must be because I had too much wine last night, right? She moved away slightly, wanting to go back to the room to clear her head.
Tao Ran was awakened by Long Qiu’s movements and opened his eyes to see her slowly backing away. He squinted and said, "You’re awake?"
His voice sounded low and hoarse since he had just woken up. Long Qiu's heart jumped when she heard it. "Ah…”
Tao Ran sat up holding the quilt, leaning on the sofa and tilted his head to look at Long Qiu. "Are you hungry?"
Oh, what should I do? He looks like a cat this way, and I just want to touch and caress him. Long Qiu's head was full of thoughts about Tao Ran's morning appearance. I heard that male cats have a very good personality, maybe like Tao Ran? I really want to touch him. Ahhhh...what's the matter with me?
Seeing Long Qiu staring at him intently, Tao Ran reached out and wiped his face and asked, "What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?"
"No, no." Long Qiu answered with a slight panic in her voice and tried her best to conceal her thoughts, trying to make sure her craving to touch him didn't show on her face. "I mean, I'm hungry."
"Oh." Tao Ran stretched his arms and stood up, "You go and wash first and I will make you breakfast. Do you like noodles?"
Long Qiu: "I do."
"Would you prefer the poached egg to be well cooked or tender?"
Long Qiu: "Tender."
“With onions on it?”
Long Qiu: “With onions.”
Tao Ran quickly entered the kitchen. He prepared the food ingredients while keeping his ears open to listen to the movements in the other room.
Long Qiu washed her makeup off with her skin products that were still in the bathroom. She opened the side top drawer and saw her toothbrush, clean face towels, and her other cleansing products neatly arranged in rows. She smiled but felt a little confused about the reason she suddenly felt happy. Long Qiu went out of the bathroom to the closet in the room and found her clothes that she had when she lived here before. Her smile became bigger and even though she did her best to wipe it away, she failed to do so. She chose a casual set to wear then walked out of the room to the kitchen and asked, "You haven't thrown away my clothes yet?"
"Yeah." Tao Ran looked up from what he was doing and casually said, "I thought that you might need to use it anytime you came over."
Tao Ran put chilli oil and green onions into the bowl. Then, he made a bowl of clear soup with boiling water. After that, he picked up the cooked noodles and placed them in the translucent white soup, adding the green onion and fried golden poached eggs on top.
Long Qiu said, "It's beautiful."
Tao Ran smiled slightly. "I used to love eating a bowl of noodles the most in the morning before going to work."
Long Qiu asked, finding it strange, "Go to work? Didn't you come to Starlight right after graduation?"
Frick, I almost spilled! Tao Ran hastily explained, "I meant when I was doing an internship in my senior year."
"Oh." Long Qiu nodded. Tao Ran put the noodles on the table, then turned to go to the bathroom.