Chapter 1612: Chapter 1917: Matchmaking Convention (1)
Nanrong Wanqing answered, then secretly shot a look at Ling Chen. He got the hint, stepped forward to follow behind Nanrong Wanqing, and went upstairs together with her. Once in the room, Ling Chen spread his arms and wrapped Nanrong Wanqing’s delicate body from behind, pressing his face to the back of her neck. Breathing in her faint body fragrance, he teased, "You brought me here, don’t tell me you’re planning to get a little cozy with me?"
Nanrong Wanqing’s face flushed red, and she scolded, "Can’t you be serious for once? I asked you here because I have something important to tell you."
Something important? Ling Chen let go, turned Nanrong Wanqing around, looked at her stunning face, and asked, "What’s so important?"
Nanrong Wanqing said with a distressed expression, "I don’t know what’s gotten into my mom lately, she keeps dragging me along to visit her old friends’ houses."
"What’s wrong with visiting friends? Isn’t that normal?" Ling Chen asked, puzzled.
"If it was just purely visiting, of course I wouldn’t overthink it. The problem is, every time we visit someone, there’s always some guy about my age there. The vibe... it feels just like a blind date. You have no idea how awkward it is for me."
"Blind dates?" Ling Chen rubbed his nose, looking surprised as he asked, "You’re sure your mom is taking you on blind dates?"
Nanrong Wanqing nodded and said, "Otherwise, why does she only bring me along and not Nanrong Hao? And also..." At this point, a trace of hesitation flashed in her eyes, as if she was debating whether to say it or not.
Seeing that, Ling Chen said, "Don’t hold back. Just say it. Didn’t you ask me here so I could help you think of a solution?"
Nanrong Wanqing lowered her head and said, "Lately my mom keeps talking to me about you. She says... you’re not really suitable for me, that you can’t give me a stable life. Maybe because of what happened to my dad, she hopes I can live peacefully. Even if I find an ordinary man, it’d be better than someone like you."
Hearing that, Ling Chen couldn’t help but laugh. He gently stroked Nanrong Wanqing’s long hair and said, "That’s just your mom’s suggestion. It’s not like she’s forcing you to marry some ordinary guy. You’re Nanrong Wanqing, the chairwoman of Hongyu Group, a famous iron lady in the business world. Don’t tell me you can’t even fight for this bit of autonomy?"
"I know, but... but she’s my mom. After all these years, it wasn’t easy for our family to finally be reunited. I don’t want to upset her."
"So what then? Are you thinking of breaking up with me or..."
"No, that’s not it." Nanrong Wanqing hurriedly shook her head and said, "That’s not what I mean. I just wanted to discuss it with you, see if there’s a way to make Mom accept you."
"Accept me?" Ling Chen said with a wry smile, "I am who I am. You can’t expect me to turn into some ordinary guy. That’s just not realistic. Wanqing, it’s not that I’m unwilling to give up everything for you, it’s that I can’t. A lot of people are counting on me. If I just walk away and leave them behind, their end could be really miserable. Since I’ve chosen this path, I can only keep walking down it. I hope you can understand."
"I do understand, so we..."
Before Nanrong Wanqing could finish, Jiang Yue’e’s voice drifted up from downstairs: "Wanqing, are you all up there? We have guests, hurry and come down."
"Guests?" Ling Chen looked at Nanrong Wanqing and said, "Weren’t you only inviting me? There are other guests too?"
"I don’t know, Mom only told me to invite you. Come on, let’s go down and take a look first. We can talk about our stuff later."
Leaving the bedroom, Ling Chen followed behind Nanrong Wanqing and headed straight to the living room downstairs. At the top of the stairs, Ling Chen glanced over and saw several young men sitting in the living room. Each of them was in a sharp suit, handsome and polished, clearly having dressed up deliberately for tonight. By comparison, Ling Chen’s outfit looked quite plain.
As Nanrong Wanqing came down the stairs, a few of the young men immediately stood up from the sofa. All their gazes locked onto her, some filled with admiration, others with greed.
"Miss Nanrong, it’s a pleasure to see you again." One of the young men stepped forward, extending his right hand like a gentleman, wanting to escort Nanrong Wanqing to her seat. But Nanrong Wanqing was rather aloof; she only gave him a faint "hello," then walked right past him.
Ling Chen followed behind and glanced at the snubbed young man. When he noticed the other man’s gaze turn his way, he was just about to offer a polite greeting, but the guy completely ignored him and instead turned around to catch up to Nanrong Wanqing.
Watching the few young men crowd around Nanrong Wanqing, all smiles, fussing over her, each presenting the gifts they’d prepared, Ling Chen couldn’t help rubbing his nose. He quietly went to sit off to the side, pulled out his phone, and started fiddling with it. After a while, footsteps sounded from outside the door. Everyone turned to look and saw Nanrong Hao walking in with two bottles of red wine in hand.
Seeing so many people in the living room, Nanrong Hao grinned and said, "Whoa, pretty lively in here."
"Nanrong, we meet again."
As Nanrong Wanqing’s younger brother, he was naturally someone these people wanted to curry favor with. One or two of them even secretly slipped a few small items into Nanrong Hao’s pockets. After a few pleasantries, Nanrong Hao’s gaze naturally drifted over to Ling Chen.
Noticing Ling Chen sitting alone there, playing idly with his phone, then glancing at how things were around his older sister, Nanrong Hao immediately understood. He put down the red wine, quickly trotted over, and in no time came back holding a freshly made cup of coffee, setting it in front of Ling Chen with a squinty-eyed smile. "Chen, here, have a taste."
Seeing what Nanrong Hao did, the expressions of the young men all changed slightly. They’d already noticed Ling Chen. In their eyes, he was here for the same purpose they were, so they deliberately left him out. But the eldest young master of the Nanrong Family, Nanrong Wanqing’s own brother, actually personally made him coffee? What was that about?
Under everyone’s gaze, Ling Chen acted as though he hadn’t noticed, casually pointed at the coffee table beside him. Nanrong Hao instantly got the message and quickly set the coffee down on the table. This scene gave everyone another shock. Damn! Who was this guy? Not only did Nanrong Hao personally make him coffee, but he didn’t even bother to take it from him—how rude was that? Yet judging from Nanrong Hao’s smiling face, he didn’t seem to mind Ling Chen’s attitude at all.
Could this guy not be a romantic rival? Maybe he was also someone from the Nanrong Family? For a moment, everyone’s minds were spinning. A few of them even hesitated over whether they should go and greet Ling Chen proactively.
"Chen, what’ve you been busy with lately?" Nanrong Hao started chatting casually.
"What else could I be doing? Just killing time." As he said that, Ling Chen crooked his finger at Nanrong Hao, who immediately leaned his head in and asked, "Chen, what is it?"
