Chapter 103: Chapter 103
“Tomorrow morning, at six am. He gets in early.” She smiled softly, feeling her phone vibrate and pulled it back quickly to check her message from YuZhi.
Have fun. I’ll wake you up in bed. Love you, baby xx
Rong caught sight of it over her shoulder, gritted his teeth and snapped his face forward so he looked straight ahead, to curb his jealousy. Pasting a bright and smiley expression on while clenching his fists and cursing Leng for being a perverted asshole that probably had a woman at every hotel he stayed at.
TangShi was too busy smiling to herself and fluttering with internal butterflies from YuZhi’s text to notice the simmering dark cloud growing beside her. Getting lost in thought as they all boarded one by one and headed on their way.
Rong chatted to the other passengers, being overly sociable and upbeat, while TangShi seemed glued to her phone. Updating her art blog and uploading the pictures she had taken of the gallery viewing. It irritated him that sat right next to her, she was blankly ignoring him and didn’t seem to understand she was the sole reason he booked such an opulent restaurant in the hotel tonight.
To wine and dine her and show her he too had enough money to splurge when the mood took him, and she didn’t need to rely on rich jerks to support her in life. That Rong had class and ability if she took her face out of her god damn cell for a minute and paid attention to his good qualities. He knew he could be a better match than some fifth-generation brat who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and no real ability to cherish anything he was given.
TangShi was immersed in her post. Writing up her joyful experience of the last few days and sharing her new artwork with her fans. All her images of her new pieces went up along with the diary entry and she knew her print shop would ask for the main ones as an addition to her existing line of available works. She was proud of them and was going to surprise YuZhi by gifting him his favorites for his office at Leng group HQ.
She was also too tired after last night and today to do much in the way of small talk and socializing and using this travel time to clear her head and give her brain a rest. YuZhi had been an absolute demon last night and hadn’t let her sleep until he left for the airport. Not that she was complaining, because it was a memory she was storing in her happiness file for all time. Having him make love to her in every space of their apartment, in multiple positions, including the shower, and yet it hadn’t felt dirty or weird, but helped her confidence grow in being that way with him. Her body was still tingling today at the memories of how many times she had orgasmed and yet he had been superhuman in his ability to stay hard for hours. Shocking her with a side to him she never imagined he could have.
“We’re here.” Rong Cai announced with a slightly stilted tone, aiming it at TangShi even though it was an announcement to them all. Quieting their chatter as they all disembarked and slid out of the taxi. It was midafternoon although the sun was still high in the sky, the show ending a lot later than the noon cut off due to the gallery being lenient and a last-minute surge of new visitors.
The restaurant was opulent and stunning. They were ushered into a private dining room on a high floor, with huge windows overlooking the river Huangpu, the center of the space filled with a large round table covered in a crisp white cloth and dotted with purple velvet plush seats. The surface expertly dressed with linens and silverware that wreaked of expense and class. It was elegant yet modern and had low music playing around them adding a relaxed ambience as side dishes were set in the center on a rotating inner section of the huge table.
“It’s a set menu, all Chinese favorites so I hope you’re hungry. Eat as much as you want, it’s already paid for.” Rong waved his hands out, encouraging them all to sit and TangShi headed for the far side to get a good view from the window while walking about four seats away from Rong Cai in hopes he would sit where he stood. She wanted space to sit alone and relax now the busyness was over and she was tired.
Rong eyeballed her moving off, unamused that she always seemed to put distance between them. He watched the way the students spread out around the oversized table that could sit sixteen and yet their party was only seven today with the extra students who came to help. The view out at this height gave an unobstructed view of the Oriental pearl tower, which seemed incredibly close and would be gorgeous when lit up as it got darker.
Rong walked around after they were all seated and slid in next to TangShi, pulling some smirks from a couple of the students who could see the blatant obviousness that he had a thing for her, and passed raised brow glances to one another. TangShi was oblivious and too busy setting her napkin on her lap and surveying the huge amount of food before them. A nice array of dishes and sides and began helping herself eagerly as the center table slowly turned to give them constant access.
The meal soon became relaxed, and chatter and time began to freely flow between them, pulling TangShi in, and with wine as the accompanying drink it mellowed everyone out. TangShi forgot her uptightness and began to enjoy the company, stuffing herself full and stopped minding Rong being right next to her for the duration. Becoming engrossed in the small talk and finding her fellow students easy enough to talk and laugh with when school wasn’t the focus. As a class they didn’t really do this much together as it was a nice change and great bonding time.
The hours passed quickly and when the food was no longer a mountain of dishes, but instead cleared platters, Rong bought them all some extra drinks and moved them all to the seating area in their private room. Low couches by the far wall which were nestled together cozily and had access to a small mini bar as well as the bell to bring their waitress back and forth. TangShi was alternating her alcohol consumption with water and fruit juice hoping the others didn’t notice that she was still on the sober side of merry, while most of them were getting very drunk. She only trusted herself to get intoxicated when with YuZhi and was heeding his request to be careful.
She checked her phone and was surprised to see it as almost ten pm already and the afternoon had flown by in such good company. Feeling a little guilty she was still out this late.
“I think I need to go home.” One of the girls slurred, swaying around and then got up on unsteady legs. “Bathroom first though or I may have an accident.” She giggled and almost tripped over the legs of her nearest friend. TangShi reached out lifting up out of her seat and caught her, steadying her by the arm to help her.
“I’ll come with you and help you call an uber.” She latched onto the girl gently around the waist, guiding her by the low coffee table and Rong Cai moved his legs to let them pass, touching TangShi on the leg.
“If she’s that drunk I can book some rooms and have everyone stay here. It’s all coming out of school expenses anyway.” He smiled, seemingly sober too and TangShi nodded thinking maybe that would be for the best for this particular girl. She knew she lived alone at the other side of the city and not many cab drivers would be happy with a girl this drunk in their car.
“I’ll take her to the loo. I need to pee.” One of the other girls shot up, seeming less intoxicated but still slurring her words and took her out of TangShi’s arm, pushing TangShi down a little roughly next to Rong with a mischievous smile and wicked gleam in her eye. “Keep your boyfriend company instead.” She laughed and pushed off with her classmate as they both laughed at the joke she made. TangShi blushed from chin to roots and sat down quickly. Rong had moved nearer her own space on the couch, and she became ultra-aware of others smiling their way.
“I have a fiancée. Rong is just our friend and school proprietor.” She blurted out, not wanting any of them to misunderstand, losing the merry feeling and Rong slid his around her shoulder patting her with a paternal gesture. Beaming widely at the snarky jibe as his heart filled with optimism.
“Ignore them. They mistake my fondness for a talented artist as something else. We both know what it’s not and some should watch themselves or they may lose points.” He warned mockingly, no real sternness to his tone and winked at the students across from him as TangShi stiffened up and tried to extract herself from his grip. Her merry glow was fast fading and now she longed to get out of here. “How about we switch to something a bit more special for the next drink?” Rong offered, eyeing them all, and TangShi shook her head.