"Old man, please don't move for now."
Lin Fan was in the middle of acupuncture for a patient when his phone started ringing incessantly.
With no other choice, he asked the patient to wait and went behind the counter to pick up the call.
An unfamiliar number!
"Is it the person Li Yu Rou mentioned?"
Lin Fan was overjoyed and quickly pressed the answer button.
"Xiao Fan, don't just leave me halfway through my treatment."
The patient sat with his legs straight on the chair, dozens of gleaming silver needles inserted into them.
"Don't worry, I'll just take a quick call and be right back."
Lin Fan said as he walked into the courtyard.
Zheng Yue's brows were tightly furrowed. Lin Fan had been speaking in dialect, and she hadn't understood a word.
She subconsciously glanced at the number, which matched the one in her memory perfectly.
"Hello, this is Lin Fan."
Lin Fan introduced himself in Mandarin.
"I am Zheng Yue. My father sent me to find you."
Zheng Yue's tone was cold, like eternally frozen ice, sounding very unfriendly.
"Uh."
Lin Fan was surprised that the other person was a woman.
"Xiao Fan, are you done with your call?"
The elderly patient was uncomfortable with his legs stretched out straight on the chair and kept urging him on.
"Coming, coming right away."
Lin Fan replied, then said into the phone, "Where are you now? I'll come to you."
"I… there's a Peninsula Coffee House downstairs. Let's meet there."
Zheng Yue glanced at her watch. "Ten thirty, be there on time, understand?"
She had a strong aversion to people involved in supernatural or strange affairs, so she had no good feelings towards Lin Fan. After speaking, she hung up the phone.
If it weren't for her father's instructions, she wouldn't have come to meet Lin Fan for anything.
"Ten thirty?"
Lin Fan felt something was wrong and looked down at the time on his phone.
"Holy crap! It's 9:55!"
"When I said 'coming right away,' I wasn't talking to you!"
Lin Fan quickly redialed, but Zheng Yue didn't answer.
"Damn it!"
Lin Fan's heart sank, and he immediately called Tian Meng Yao.
"I have to go meet a very important person. Can you give me a ride?"
"I thought you were going to care about me a little. Turns out you just want me to be your chauffeur. Lin Fan, you really are something!"
Tian Meng Yao complained with disappointment.
"I have no choice! She wants me there by 10:30. Whether we acquire Borun Pharmaceuticals or not hinges on this meeting."
Lin Fan appealed to her emotions and reason. "I'm also doing this for the village's benefit. If we get Borun Pharmaceuticals, our medicinal herb deep processing will be much smoother."
Tian Meng Yao considered this. "Alright, wait for me. I'll be right back."
Ten minutes later.
An off-road vehicle screeched to a halt in front of the clinic.
Lin Fan jumped into the car, exasperated. "It's past ten, we'll definitely be late."
"Couldn't you have set the meeting for a later time?"
Tian Meng Yao said grumpily, "Thirty minutes! Even if I fly, I can't get there!"
"I wish I could, but that scoundrel wouldn't listen to me at all and didn't even answer the phone."
"Who is it? Such airs."
Although Tian Meng Yao grumbled, she absolutely wouldn't stand for anyone bullying Lin Fan. She was the only one who could.
"I don't know, don't recognize her, and don't want to."
Lin Fan gave up trying to call Zheng Yue. "Anyway, I just need to use their company's name for a bit. Once this is done, I'll never deal with them again."
"Mhmm."
Tian Meng Yao nodded. Big companies often had such airs, which was understandable.
...
Eleven ten.
The coffee in front of Zheng Yue was nearly finished.
She refused the waiter's offer to refill and stood up, saying to her secretary, "Let's go."
"Miss, aren't we waiting any longer?"
The secretary looked a little scared.
Hadn't the master specifically instructed them about this? Were they not even going to meet?
The dark-skinned, slender but sharp-eyed bodyguard also stood up.
For him, Zheng Yue's words were commandments; nothing else mattered.
"I don't think there's any need to meet someone who doesn't keep their word. My time is very precious, and I don't want to waste it on meaningless things."
Zheng Yue said impatiently.
Just then, a man and a woman rushed into the coffee house.
Lin Fan was on the phone while looking around.
When the phone rang, the secretary's eyes lit up. "Miss, they're here!"
The secretary breathed a sigh of relief, no longer worried about being punished by the master.
"Hello, I'm here. Where are you?"
Tian Meng Yao had been speeding the whole way, yet she was still over forty minutes late.
"You're late. Give me a reason to meet you."
Zheng Yue said coldly, her tone even colder than before.
"They're over there."
Lin Fan, with his exceptional hearing, immediately pinpointed the location of Zheng Yue's voice.
"Let's go."
"Let me catch my breath first."
Tian Meng Yao leaned on the table, feeling like her legs were about to give out.
She regretted not being more forward earlier. It would have been nice if he'd just carried her.
"Let's go sit down and rest."
Lin Fan took Tian Meng Yao's hand and led her to Zheng Yue's table.
Zheng Yue was astonished. They were more than ten meters apart, with a partition in between. How did they find them?
Lin Fan supported Tian Meng Yao and sat down opposite Zheng Yue.
"Hello, I'm sorry for being late."
Lin Fan smiled apologetically at Zheng Yue. "When I was on the phone, a patient was undergoing treatment. I wasn't lying when I said I'd be right back, and you wouldn't answer my calls."
"Are you blaming me?"
Zheng Yue looked down on him, her expression displeased.
"No, no, it was just a misunderstanding."
Lin Fan thought to himself, "A step back makes the sea and sky wider." After all, she was someone Li Yu Rou had asked him to meet; he had to show some respect.
"Hmph."
Zheng Yue snorted and sat back down.
The secretary sat beside her, her expression unreadable.
The bodyguard's eyes were hostile, staring intently at Lin Fan, looking as though he was ready to attack at any moment.
Lin Fan felt awkward. Was it really necessary?
Were big companies always this dramatic?
"Introduce yourself."
Zheng Yue waved to a waiter. "Get me an orange juice, thank you."
After speaking, she waved the waiter away.
Tian Meng Yao was immediately displeased.
'I haven't even put on airs yet, and you're already acting like this?'
"Who is she?"
Zheng Yue said with dissatisfaction, "I thought I only invited you."
"She…"
"Hey, are you done?"
Tian Meng Yao couldn't stand Zheng Yue's haughty attitude anymore.
"May I ask which company you are from, and your name and surname? So I can get to know how you trained an employee like you."
Zheng Yue's face darkened. "You are not worthy of knowing my name."
Tian Meng Yao was furious. "Who do you think you are!"
*Slap!*
Zheng Yue slammed her hand on the table.
In her entire life, no one had ever dared to speak to her like this.
"Miss!"
The bodyguard sprang up and threw a punch.
The punch whistled through the air, heading straight for Tian Meng Yao's left shoulder.
Lin Fan quickly reached out to block.
Even though it wasn't a vital spot, Tian Meng Yao was small and frail. If that punch landed, she'd be lucky if it didn't break a bone or dislocate a joint!