At that moment, Zhou Zidong took out a stack of cash from his pocket and stuffed it into Xu Fan's shirt pocket, smiling, "Don't be angry, I didn't mean to offend you with my words, I just wanted to remind you to be content and drive well. Life can still be very good, understand?"

After saying that, he arrogantly stopped looking at Xu Fan, smiled warmly at Xia Xiaodie, and moved to take her arm.

"Alright, Xiaodie, it's getting late, let's go in... uh..."

Before his hand even grazed Xia Xiaodie, she kept a cold face and quickly brushed his hand away.

"Uh, Xiaodie, what's this?"

Xu Fan was watching from the side, and seeing Zhou Zidong being rejected like that, he couldn't help but feel his face grow a bit unsightly.

Xia Xiaodie's impression of Zhou Zidong had never been good, and now, his insulting Xu Fan in front of her was absolutely intolerable.

Even if today's soirée yielded no results, she refused to put up with it!

"Zhou Zidong, since when were we close?"

She gave Zhou Zidong a cold look, and under his astonished gaze, she boldly wrapped her arm around Xu Fan's arm.

"This..."

As if an invisible slap had landed on his face, Zhou Zidong's complexion turned shades of green and blue...

He could never have dreamed that Xia Xiaodie, she would rather choose a driver over himself!

At that moment, two thoughts sprung into Zhou Zidong's mind.

The first was that Xia Xiaodie needed to see an eye doctor.

The second was that he needed to see an eye doctor.

He couldn't believe it and rubbed his eyes before looking back at Xu Fan.

The scene was still the same as before.

Xia Xiaodie girlishly clung to Xu Fan's arm.

Zhou Zidong swallowed awkwardly, unaware that an even more surprising event was about to unfold.

Xu Fan, who should have been overjoyed, instead firmly unwrapped Xia Xiaodie's arm from his own.

"Uh, Xu Fan, what's the matter?"

Having her arm unwrapped by Xu Fan, Xia Xiaodie was a bit puzzled, wondering what he was up to.

"Beautiful miss, such things should be initiated by a man."

At that moment, Xu Fan said with a slight smile.

After finishing, he took Xia Xiaodie's arm with utmost gentleness, almost perfecting Western dinner etiquette, all under her astonished gaze.

With a look filled with amorous feelings, Xia Xiaodie was momentarily enchanted.

She even had the illusion at that moment that she was a princess being crowned!

Holding Xia Xiaodie's arm, Xu Fan turned his head and looked over at Zhou Zidong, who was still petrified.

With a slight smile, he said, "Gentleman, you're not considered genteel simply because you have wealth. It takes prolonged cultivation to develop the qualities of a true gentleman. In the eyes of the wise, even those dripping with gold who have newly acquired their wealth are not genteel—their kind is mostly called nouveau riche."

"Hmm... you're Zhou Zidong, right?"

Xu Fan pressed his forehead, looking a bit puzzled as he asked before saying, "You do understand why Xiaodie won't go in with you, don't you?"

In that moment, every move Xu Fan made exuded the kind of demeanor produced only by generations of nobility, and under this invisible aura, Zhou Zidong felt bewildered, shook his head, showing his confusion.

Xu Fan gave a slight smile and leaned toward Zhou Zidong's ear, whispering a reminder.

"Because you're an idiot."

After finishing, Xu Fan elegantly looked at the stunned Zhou Zidong, patted his shoulder, and stuffed the stack of cash he had been given earlier back into his pocket in its original state.

"Take this money and buy some medicine,"

Having said that, Xu Fan, with Xia Xiaodie in his arms, walked into the hotel entrance under the astonished gaze of Zhou Zidong.

...

By now, Zhou Zidong was thoroughly out of sight, but Xia Xiaodie was still unable to suppress her laughter.

Xu Fan, this guy, is really too bad!

Shaking her head, Xia Xiaodie put away her smile and said with a sense of pity, "Big dummy, it looks like we may have come all this way for nothing today."

"Hmm?"

Xu Fan looked at Xia Xiaodie in confusion, shook his head, and indicated that he did not understand.

"I didn't explain it clearly just now, but this cocktail party is held by the Zhou family."

Considering Gelangqiao's relationship with the Zhou family, Xia Xiaodie couldn't help but shake her head. Now that she was at odds with Zhou Zidong, she feared they might not gain anything from this occasion.

At this moment, she somewhat regretted that she should have been calmer just now...

"It's okay, after all, Gelangqiao's design drawings are very unlikely to end up in others' hands anyway,"

Not wanting Xu Fan to feel sad about this, Xia Xiaodie forced a smile and offered some consolation.

Gelangqiao came to Shanghai because of the Zhou family. On further thought, it was obvious that the drawings he brought would be given priority to the Zhou family, right?

Her own visit this time was merely to try her luck.

As she said this, Xia Xiaodie's face became increasingly dejected, and Xu Fan, seeing this, couldn't help but give a bitter smile.

If it were about betting on stones, with the help of Perspective Eye, it indeed wouldn't be a problem for him.

But regarding jewelry design, he really didn't know too much.

Xia Xiaodie wanted to start a business in this area, and he couldn't be of much help to her.

Having now offended Zhou Zidong, he believed, just as Xia Xiaodie had said, this time they might come away with nothing.

Even if they didn't use Gelangqiao's designs and had Lan's designers help Xia Xiaodie, it would still be impossible to defeat the Zhou family with Gelangqiao's assistance...

Drawing a deep breath, Xu Fan looked around and soon spotted Zhou Zidong not far away.

The fellow clearly guessed why Xu Fan and Xia Xiaodie were so dejected and was now smugly lifting his goblet towards Xu Fan as a salute.

The mocking smile at the corner of his mouth appeared exceptionally thick.

Immediately after, he put down his wine glass and walked straight over here.

Xia Xiaodie saw him and frowned with displeasure.

To be honest, after the impression Zhou Zidong had just made on her, she truly didn't feel like dealing with him at the moment.

"Xiaodie, you've been so desperate to attend this cocktail party; I presume it's for Gelangqiao's ten design sketches, right?"

Zhou Zidong cut straight to the point.

It wasn't a particularly difficult guess. Today, almost everyone at the party was there for that purpose.

Xia Xiaodie gave him a cold look and said, "So what?"

Zhou Zidong's mouth curved up slightly as he said, "You see, what if I give you these ten design sketches later, how about that?"

"Heh heh..."

Hearing Zhou Zidong's words, Xia Xiaodie couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

Although she had never been involved in business, she was well aware from what she had been told at home from a young age that there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world!

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