Chapter 22: A Half-Year Promise

  After Meng Zidan left the balcony, she held a cup of red wine and walked slowly along the Hanbaiyu-made embankment. She didn't walk for long before suddenly stopping in her tracks.

  At the entrance of a veranda, on the wooden bridge, a white-clad man with an elegant demeanor stood upright, wearing a white suit and a red butterfly tie, with a refined face. The dignified air seemed like a prince waiting for the arrival of his princess.

  Meng Zidan smiled and walked over quickly, the man in white heard the crisp sound of high heels coming and turned his head to look, a faint smile on his face, also quickening his pace to welcome her, and first extended his hand: "Director Meng!"

  "Director Zheng!" Hong Zidan shook hands with him, this man was none other than the CEO of Shengqing Group, Zheng Longqing.

  One wore a white Western suit, the other a pure white cheongsam. The man was tall and handsome, the woman slender and elegant. Both had an extraordinary air about them. Standing on the white ivory coast, they seemed like a pair of golden boys and jade maidens.

  After Meng Zidan let go, he looked at the empty platform on the other side of the wooden bridge and said in surprise: "I don't know who General Zheng is entertaining today, but it's actually worth General Zheng's personal presence to welcome him here."

  "I think the person I'm treating should know you, Director Meng." Zheng Longqing tilted his head and smiled slightly: "He's here!"

  Meng Zidan followed his gaze and was stunned again, only to see a beautiful woman with an icy elegance walking slowly towards him. She wore a black silk dress that shone in the light, her long black hair falling down around her face, swaying gently in this white world, extremely eye-catching.

  Meng Zidan confirmed that the person was indeed Qiao Yun, the so-called number one beauty of Donghai and the CEO of the famous flower group. What made her puzzled was that as far as she knew, the Zheng family and the Qiao family were now sworn enemies, so how could these two people come to a private meeting?

  Zheng Longqing took a few steps forward and smiled elegantly: "Director Qiao!"

  "Long time no see, Mr. Zheng." Qiao Yun's face still had a frosty demeanor as she lightly touched hands with the other person before letting go.

  "It's an honor for Zheng Longqing to have Mr. Qiao smile upon him." Zheng Longqing said politely. As he looked at the other person, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, but he didn't mind her cold demeanor because he had long heard that Qiao Yun was a woman who never smiled at anyone, and there were even rumors that Qiao Yun's smile nerves were problematic.

  Although he had also dealt with Qiao Yun before, he had never stood together face-to-face like this. At this time, after seeing Qiao Yun's appearance clearly, no matter how many beauties he had seen, he couldn't help but feel a sense of astonishment in his heart, and secretly thought that the first beauty of Donghai was indeed not in vain.

  "Director Zheng is being too kind." Qiao Yun replied coldly, turned around and stretched out her hand to greet the approaching Meng Zidan: "Director Meng!"

  The power of the Meng family is not something that ordinary merchants can compare with, even Qiao Yun and Zheng Longqing have to lower their posture.

  Meng Zidan smiled after letting go of his hand: "I thought it was someone worthy of President Zheng waiting here for a long time, but it turned out to be President Qiao, no wonder."

  She was joking, but in her heart, she was lamenting. Qiao Yun's beauty was unmatched, and every time she stood in front of her, she felt a sense of shame. What was wrong with her? Fortunately, the other party was always cold and didn't joke around, otherwise, it would have been a city-shaking laughter.

  The three of them chatted casually for a few sentences, then Meng Zidan personally led the two to the seaside platform, and after their wine and dishes arrived, she raised her glass in a toast and left.

  As soon as she left, the two people having dinner on the seaside platform became interesting. One always had a smile on his face, and the other was always cold, plus one white and one black outfit, as if they were born to be a pair of opposing faces.

  Qiao Yun said little, silently eating the food in front of her, as if she had come just to eat, and disregarding all the beautiful things around her.

  Zheng Longqing's mind was not on the food, his gaze kept drifting to Qiao Yun's face and her neck as white as a swan, constantly trying to find a topic to break in, hoping to find common language with this cold beauty who made his heart skip a beat.

  However, what left him speechless was that Qiao Yun's answers never exceeded three words, and occasionally looking into his eyes seemed to be saying, "Don't you think this topic is boring?"

  He was speechless, looking at the beautiful scenery under the night sky, Zheng Longqing couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart. Which woman doesn't like romance? That's why he chose this place, but this woman is really not romantic at all.

  Despite this, Zheng Longqing's face still maintained a warm and elegant smile, unhurried and composed, his demeanor was indeed not bad. However, in the end, he also didn't know what to say anymore.

  Qiao Yun, who had been eating quietly, saw that Zheng Longqing had finally stopped talking nonsense. She rinsed her mouth with red wine, wiped her lips with a napkin and put it aside, then gazed coldly at the other person.

  Zheng Longqing was taken aback and said, "Director Qiao, is this all right?"

  Although his face didn't show anything, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed in his heart. I invited you to meet up, and you're just going to brush me off like this?

  "Director Zheng, I think we don't need to beat around the bush anymore. Today, we're sitting together for a reason, and we both know what's on our minds. The matters between our two families should also come to an end. If things continue like this, it won't be beneficial for either of us," said Qiao Yun.

  Seeing her like this, Zheng Longqing thought that even if he tried to evade the issue, he couldn't avoid it anymore. Since evading wouldn't work, then he would have to be straightforward.

  He put down the knife and fork, picked up a glass of red wine and took a slow sip, smiling faintly: "As for this matter, it's still that Old Qiao bullied people too much first, I wonder how Old Qiao plans to resolve it?"

  "It's not how I prepared to solve it, but rather our two families will lay out the situation and resolve it."

  "We've already set out the conditions clearly, as long as you agree, the matter will be settled naturally."

  "That condition is too harsh, let alone me, the board of directors will not agree either."

  "OK! Then I'll change the condition, no need for your board of directors to agree, as long as you agree, it's fine." Zheng Longqing said with a thick smile.

  Qiao Yun's bright eyes sparkled: "Tell me, let me hear."

  Zheng Longqing looked at the red wine in his cup and smiled faintly: "Qiao Yun, marry me, and from now on, the grudges between our two families will be gone."

  The atmosphere between the two suddenly became tense, and Qiao Yun's face turned icy as she said: "President Zheng must be joking! Do you think I, Qiao Yun, would marry someone I don't like?"

  "Haha! I must say, I've taken a liking to Director Qiao, and I really don't want to force him. Zheng Longqing put down his wine cup, furrowed his brow and said: "How about this, we each take a step back and give each other conditions that are acceptable to both of us."

  "Speak!"

  "You can't judge whether you like someone or not without getting in touch with them, and you can't make a conclusion blindly." Zheng Longqing said seriously: "There are countless people who want to pursue you, but I've heard that you never give anyone a chance and always reject people from afar. My condition is simple, just ask you to open the door wide and give me a chance to pursue you. If I succeed, it's not too late for you to marry me then, this condition isn't too harsh, right?"

  "What if I couldn't catch up?" Qiao Yun said calmly.

  "I won't be able to catch up, that's my incompetence. This matter will naturally come to an end, and I won't bother you, Ming Hua Group, again. The grudges between our two families will be dissolved. However... Zheng Longqing paused for a moment: "In order to avoid President Qiao making rash decisions, President Qiao should at least give us some time to interact with each other. We'll get along with each other for a year, and if after a year President Qiao still doesn't agree, then we'll go our separate ways, two families having nothing to do with each other."

  His intention was very clear, he was afraid that if he didn't make a move within a day or two, Qiao Yun would find an excuse to get rid of him, so he added a time limit. This is also quite direct, the key is that when you encounter a woman like Qiao Yun, you can't progress without being direct.

  Qiao Yun hesitated for a moment before firmly biting out: "Half a year!"

  Zheng Longqing smiled wryly and said: "I really can't bear to force you, okay! Half a year is just half a year!"

  "That's settled then, but I don't want to see anything like what happened to my father last time happen again, otherwise... even if it means sacrificing the prestige of our company, I will use all our capital power to thoroughly eliminate your Shengqing Group and the forces backing you. You should understand that our Meihua Group has this capability." Qiao Yun said resolutely.

  Zheng Long's eyes flashed with a cold light, and then he burst out laughing: "Good! It's settled!"

  Since he had already agreed, Qiao Yun immediately stood up and said: "Excuse me!" Then she turned around to leave.

  "Qiao Yun!" Zheng Longqing shouted at her back: "Since you've already agreed to let me pursue you, it's not very sincere of you to turn your head and leave like this!"

  Qiao Yun stopped in her tracks, slowly turned around and asked: "What do you want?"

  Zheng Longqing stood up, walked to her side and smiled: "Today is our first date, it seems that we shouldn't be in a hurry. I still have some arrangements, hoping to give you a little surprise, wait for a moment!" After finishing speaking, he didn't care whether Qiao Yun agreed or not, and had already left directly, as if taking it for granted that she wouldn't refuse.

  Qiao Yun hesitated again and again, feeling that she had promised someone, it was really not good to not even give a superficial courtesy, so she walked back to the balcony, looked at the sea in the night for a while, and then walked down the stairs towards the beach.

  On the other side of the balcony, Lin Zilei ate to his heart's content, patted his belly and let out a satisfied belch, looking like he had eaten too much. Ning Lan couldn't help but laugh at this sight. Meng Zidan, who was sitting with them, rolled her eyes and said: "I say, Lin Zilei, can't you be more refined in front of us two beauties? Can't you have a bit of gentlemanly demeanor?"

  "Ah! Gentlemanly demeanor, I'm not incapable of pretending, anyway, there's no outsider around to see us, and the key is that we're not friends anymore, right? No need to be so tired in front of friends! You guys enjoy yourselves slowly, I'll go smoke a cigarette first." Lin Zixian nonchalantly waved his hand, lit a cigarette, and swaggered down the stairs towards the beach below.

  Meng Zidan looked at his back and smiled slightly, thinking of Zheng Longqing whom she had just met. The latter always had a gentle and elegant demeanor, especially the smile that often hung on his face, as if it were molded from a template. It was indeed tiring for someone to pretend like this every day.

  It's not just Zheng Longqing, she herself greets people with a smile every day, isn't that also an act? Like Lin Zixian, who views beautiful women as nothing, eating when he wants to eat, drinking when he wants to drink, such a true nature, how many people can achieve that.

  This kind of person is either pretending or has strong confidence to face everything, so there's no need for pretence. So, which one is Lin Zixian? ... Meng Zidan couldn't help but wonder.