Chapter 153 — May I Sit Here?

"Junjie, is anyone sitting here?" Wei Zhao was watching Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu out of the corner of his eye when someone walked over and stopped in front of his table.

Wei Zhao looked up. It was a mature woman of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, elegantly dressed. Though the bar was dim, he could still make out her fine figure and the perfect contours of her face. There was no doubt she was a woman with assets to spare, more alluring and more arresting than the green Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Tang Yun.

A sly shrewdness glinted in her eyes, and he could tell at once she was a veteran of the bar scene. Wei Zhao was not so foolish as to imagine that this lovely older sister had taken a fancy to him.

"Not for the moment," Wei Zhao said coolly. He let his gaze slide off her and did not look at her again.

Sun Jingyan was a little taken aback. She had not expected Wei Zhao to be so cold. She had chosen him only after careful deliberation. To her mind, Wei Zhao was one of the wolves who came here to hunt for women, though his face was a touch callow and he did not seem like a veteran. That was precisely why she was confident she could handle such a man, could wrap him around her finger with her charms and get him to do a few things for her with ease.

Yet against all expectation, Wei Zhao was utterly indifferent to her, as though he did not even register her existence. It galled Sun Jingyan. Could it be that Wei Zhao only liked that sort of green little girl?

Since it was not yet very late, the bar was still far from full. The spot where Wei Zhao sat was a good distance from the central stage, one of the poorer seats. And on this side, apart from Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu's table, there were no other customers at all.

So naturally, Sun Jingyan concluded that Wei Zhao's prey were Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

Was she not a match for two green little girls? Sun Jingyan had a keen eye. Though Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had changed their clothes, she had recognized at a glance that they were young, most likely still at school.

"Aren't you going to invite me to sit down?" Sun Jingyan asked Wei Zhao, swallowing her irritation and smiling.

"Heh," Wei Zhao said with a faint smile. "The bar isn't mine. If you want to sit, it's not as though I can drive you off."

"Junjie, you really do have a way with words." Sun Jingyan had certainly heard the keep-your-distance note in his voice, but she sat down across from him all the same. Time waited for no one, and finding another man as seemingly harmless as Wei Zhao in this bar would truly be difficult. To say nothing of the fact that no sooner had she shaken off one trouble than another might come knocking at her door. "Junjie, your targets are those two little beauties at that table, aren't they?"

As she spoke, Sun Jingyan pouted her lips toward Gu Mengyao and the others.

Wei Zhao glanced at Sun Jingyan and did not answer her question. "If you have something to say, say it. I don't like beating around the bush."

"Hm?" Sun Jingyan stared at Wei Zhao, startled. She had not expected him to realize that she had come over with a purpose, that she was not simply dropping by for a chat. She frowned slightly, sensing that this Wei Zhao was not as harmless as he appeared on the surface, that this man was perhaps not so simple after all.

In that case, had she chosen right?

"Junjie, do me a favor, would you?" She was already sitting here, with no way out. Whether choosing Wei Zhao had been right or wrong, she could only grit her teeth and press on.

"What's your name?" Wei Zhao asked, looking at her.

"Me?" Sun Jingyan had not expected this at all. The man across from her refused to play by the rules; his answers never matched her questions, and then he would ask something else entirely.

"Sun Jingyan." After a moment's hesitation, she gave him her name.

"Stop calling me Junjie. My name is Wei Zhao." While Sun Jingyan spoke, Wei Zhao had kept his eyes fixed on hers. If she lied, he would catch the faintest flicker in her gaze. The reason he had asked her name was to judge whether the woman before him could be trusted. If she was full of lies, then no matter how beautiful she was, he would waste no time sending her packing.

Wei Zhao had no time to waste on a woman who talked nonsense.

But Sun Jingyan had not lied, so he let the conversation continue.

Sun Jingyan had not expected Wei Zhao to tell her his name so readily. Surprised, she found herself even less able to read the man before her. If he was here to hunt for women, then that did not quite fit either. Could he be putting on airs on purpose, to draw her and her friends' attention?

"All right, Wei Zhao, do me a favor, would you?" Whether Wei Zhao truly had that kind of temperament or was merely posturing made no difference. What mattered was getting past this hurdle first.

"What favor?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Be my boyfriend," Sun Jingyan said.

Wei Zhao looked her up and down a few times. "Are you sick? Love at first sight?"

"..." Sun Jingyan flushed and hurriedly added, "A temporary one. Just for a little while. Is that all right?"

"Oh, a shield, then. Why didn't you say so earlier?" Wei Zhao understood at once. This was not the first time he had done such a thing; he had been dragged here by Miss Chu to serve as her shield, though so far he had never actually had to play the part. "I thought you were a lovesick fool."

"..." Sun Jingyan was speechless. Only the man before her could say such a scathing thing to her face. So this was how furious a woman could get when she was ignored! Sun Jingyan felt an urge to kick Wei Zhao to death.

If time had not been so pressing, if she had not needed Wei Zhao, Sun Jingyan would already have risen and left.

"Good, since you understand, then that's wonderful. Just play along with me in a moment. You don't need to say much; I'll handle everything." Sun Jingyan instructed him, "Once it's done, I'll treat you to a big meal."

"No need for the meal. Just give me some money." Wei Zhao was telling the truth. "I don't have time." Once this was over, he still had to escort the two young ladies home; where would he find the leisure for some grand dinner? And if Gu Mengyao found out, the sky would fall.

Sun Jingyan truly did not know how to describe Wei Zhao. Call him blind? Just now, when he had looked her up and down, he had deliberately let his gaze linger greedily on her chest several times.

And yet he had turned down the chance to dine alone with her... and asked her for money outright! Was this posturing, or...

By now Sun Jingyan no longer thought it very likely that Wei Zhao was putting on airs. She had met men who deliberately postured before. She knew very well just how great her looks, her figure, and her charm were.

Some of the men around her would show amazement, even infatuation, and lavish attention on her. But there were others who deliberately did the opposite, putting on a cold, aloof, I-don't-care air in hopes of drawing her attention. Such men she held in utter contempt.

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