The "good brother" persona remains intact.
Jonathan kept a low profile during his trip, spending most of his time in his hotel room after checking into the Holdoff Hotel.
Nevertheless, on the morning of the second day after checking in, a hotel message card and an envelope were found on the food cart delivered to the room.
The message contained mostly formulaic expressions of gratitude and honor, ending with an invitation for Janus to fully experience the various services. The envelope contained a unlimited spending card valid in the Ceramic Region of Holdorf.
Jonathan's feelings for Jingting were complicated. He had no intention of going out for fun, but he was getting bored staying in his room for too long, so he decided to accept Hordorf's offer and take a walk around the hotel grounds.
As lunchtime approached, Jonathan took Vasin to a coffee shop and ordered a Geisha. He then pulled out a hotel brochure from the magazine rack, randomly flipped to a page with a picture of a courtyard house, and saw that the facilities described a place that served Chinese food. So he followed the map on the brochure to find the place.
The main building of the courtyard house has a plaque for Ziyuan Pavilion hanging on it. The two side rooms on the left and right are Huangting and Queting respectively. The brochure says that Ziyuan Pavilion is used for receiving guests, Huangting serves Chinese food, and Queting serves French food.
As soon as I stepped over the threshold into the left-hand corridor, a figure in a black suit and leather shoes walked out from the first floor of the Purple Iris Pavilion, stood by the cigarette holder at the corner of the railing, and lit a cigarette.
For some reason, Jonathan's first reaction was to hide in the shadows of the wall. Seeing Vasin still standing at the entrance of the arcade looking around, he grabbed the zipper of his jacket and pulled him over without saying a word.
Jonathan peeked through the edge of the peephole. The figure in black looked rather serious, puffing on his cigarette one puff after another.
Oh right, today is the fourth day. I no longer need to fast or abstain from water, nor do I need to abstain from smoking or alcohol.
What is he doing here? Did he come specifically to see me?
Jonathan's eyes flickered, and he moved forward along the wall to the next window to peek.
At this moment, the figure in black suddenly paused, frowned, and coughed violently. After the coughing subsided, he raised one hand to pinch his temple, and with the other hand holding a cigarette, he waved it in front of his eyes before sticking the unfinished cigarette into the cigarette holder.
Jonah withdrew his gaze and strode towards the Phoenix Court, where the doorway connected to the courtyard, allowing him to meander his way to the figure in black.
However, when Jonathan stood in the doorway, he saw that a short-haired woman in a black trench coat had appeared beside the figure in black. She was standing on tiptoe and stretching out her arms to thoughtfully drape a long coat over the figure.
The figure in black did not refuse; instead, he smiled gently and readily accepted the care, carefully putting on his coat.
Once they were dressed, it became clear that the coat was also a trench coat. The two stood side by side, looking like a pair of models showcasing matching outfits.
It turns out he came specifically to find "her".
"who is she?
Jonah took out his gift card, slipped it into the brochure in his hand, shoved it into Vasin's arms, and ordered him to go into the Phoenix Court to order and dine first.
Then she took off her sunglasses, put them backwards on the back of her head, and walked straight to the entrance of Ziyuan Pavilion with an aura that rivaled that of a model, shattering the beautiful and harmonious scene under the plaque.
-
“Hey, Jiang.” Jonathan greeted Jiang Songhe enthusiastically, then turned his gaze to the short-haired woman. “What a coincidence!”
Jiang Songhe looked past Tao Nian and saw who it was. She was taken aback at first, then her face darkened and she raised an eyebrow: "Jiang?"
Jonathan ignored Jiang Songhe's brief question and kept staring at Tao Nian with a captivating smile.
Tao Nian covered her half-open mouth in surprise, pointed at Jonathan and quickly looked at Jiang Songhe. Seeing that Jiang Songhe had no intention of introducing her to the top singer, she changed her impolite one finger to five and extended them to the other side: "Hi, I'm Tao Nian, Jiang's…friend."
“Pleasure to meet you…Tao Nian.” Jonathan reached out and shook hands, then gently twisted his wrist to flatten Tao Nian’s right hand, gentlemanly raised it, bowed, lowered his eyes, and lightly pecked the back of her hand. “I’m…”
"Janus!" Tao Nian then covered her flushed cheeks and exclaimed excitedly, "I know!!!"
Jiang Songhe glanced at the two hands clasped together, narrowed his eyes without saying a word, turned away, blending into the air, and lit another cigarette with a snap.
Jonathan seemed to know a lot about how to use his tone of voice and subtle gestures to please women. He was so good at it that in just a few words, the two of them were already chatting enthusiastically in fluent English.
I never really thought about it deeply, Jonathan might like more than just men.
Having not touched a cigarette pack for almost four days, Jiang Songhe still couldn't get used to it after smoking a second cigarette and immediately felt dizzy again.
As Jonathan and Tao Nian chatted, it seemed they had suddenly grown tired of speaking and hearing English and wanted a change of pace, so they switched to Chinese: "I've been talking to President Jiang about collaborating on the OST for 'Yan Ge Xing' recently. Did you meet here to discuss something similar?"
"Really?! Old Tao, really! With Janus helping out in 'Yan Ge Xing,' what's there to worry about?" Tao Nian tilted her head to look at Jiang Songhe. "Brother Songhe, haven't you told Old Tao that we have a trump card yet?"
Jiang Songhe stubbed out his cigarette and replied indifferently, "It's not finalized yet. I originally planned to inform President Tao once things were settled."
“We…” Jonathan finally spared a glance at Jiang Songhe's face, “haven’t finalized it yet?”
Jiang Songhe's eyebrows twitched, but she didn't look back.
Tao Nian seemed to have caught the subtle change in the atmosphere and realized that she had momentarily lost her composure and said something inappropriate, so she immediately changed the subject.
"We met here because I just returned to Jingting and happened to be staying at Huodaofu. We didn't actually talk much about the project; it was just a casual get-together with Songhe." She abruptly steered the conversation back to Jonathan's previous question.
Jiang Songhe lit another cigarette.
Tao Nian quickly glanced at Jiang Songhe, took out her phone, and continued to add, "By the way, I have some very talented classmates in New York City. The music videos they produce often appear on the G-Grammy screen. If you're interested, Janus, we can add each other on WeChat to discuss it in detail."
Jonathan put one hand behind his back into his back pocket, paused for a few seconds, then quickly put his other hand into the other back pocket, and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I don't have WeChat. Is it a chat app?"
"Um, right..." Tao Nian put away her phone, having said too much in one breath, and suddenly found herself speechless and embarrassed.
Seeing this, Jonathan didn't let Tao Nian remain embarrassed. He regained his initial enthusiasm and suggested, "To express my apologies, I would like to invite Miss Tao Nian to a fashion show that my friend is holding at Jingting on February 14th, if you don't mind the same-sex theme."
“Of course not!” Tao Nian’s eyes lit up instantly. “Half of my friends are gay…”
What's the theme? What are they all about?
It was hasty.
"Cough cough cough cough!!!" Jiang Songhe was suddenly choked by the smoke and interrupted in a hoarse voice. Only after being interrupted did he realize that whatever he said was just meddling in other people's business. Helpless, he could only call out to Tao Nian with a forced smile.
Tao Nian turned to look at Jiang Songhe in confusion. As if she had thought of something, she was suddenly startled and mouthed "oops" to him before pursing her lips and falling silent.
Jonathan chuckled, then turned Tao Nian to face him, exuding charm as he tempted her, "How about I have my friend send an invitation to your room tonight? If you don't show up, you'll miss 'Song He's' amazing performance~~~"
"Qiao, Na, Xi." Jiang Songhe's forced smile escalated into a gritted teeth.
"Am I wrong?" Jonathan released Tao Nian and stepped forward to look Jiang Songhe in the eye at close range. "Jiang, Song, He."
The atmosphere, which had been peaceful just moments before, suddenly turned tense and hostile.
In the reflection of the sunglasses worn backwards on Jonathan's head, Tao Nian's lower face remained pursed and cautious, while the upper half of her face revealed an expression that was somewhere between a moment of realization and gossip.
“Thank you for your kind invitation, Janus. But I may have to disappoint you. Valentine’s Day is actually my father’s and mother’s pearl wedding anniversary, and I’m returning to Beijing to be with them to witness this important day.” Tao Nian finally spoke.
"I wish your friend's fashion show goes well, and I wish you both a happy Valentine's Day..." Tao Nian shrugged and tightened the collar of her trench coat. "And I wish the performance goes well too."
After offering her blessings, Tao Nian explained that her father was waiting for her to go home together, and then said goodbye and returned to the main building of the hotel.
"He's clearly afraid of being associated with people like us and getting suspected, yet he puts on airs, meddling in everything and trying to control other people's wishes." Jonathan said sarcastically to Jiang Songhe, who was watching Tao Nian leave. "President Jiang really keeps up his 'good brother' persona."
Jiang Songhe really didn't want Tao Nian to see her attending a LGBTQ+ themed fashion show on Valentine's Day, especially as a crossover model whose appearance was unknown.
Tao Nian found out, and Tao Lifeng would most likely find out soon too. That's why he used the low-price transfer of a share of "Yan Ge Xing" to Tao Nian in the tea room behind him to appease Tao Lifeng and persuade him to buy him time to deal with the paparazzi.
Moreover, at this critical juncture, "Yan Ge Xing" could no longer afford to plant another hidden danger due to its own orientation.
Jiang Songhe was so angry that her face turned blue, but thinking that Jonathan Xi had more or less hit the nail on the head, she snorted angrily for a long time, and finally only managed to utter one sentence: "You!"
"What? I almost ruined your and Tao Nian's good time?" Jonathan laughed provocatively, taking another step closer.
Jiang Songhe turned her face away, walked into Ziyuan Pavilion, picked up her business bag, and headed out of the courtyard.
"It's nothing, never mind."
-
After getting into the car and sitting in the driver's seat, Jiang Songhe smoothed her hair, took out her phone from her pocket, and opened her WeChat chat with stylist Grace.
Hello, I'd like to confirm with you what I'll be wearing on the day of the fashion show.
Unlike the last time, the other party was not inefficient and replied in less than a minute.
However, he wasn't as attentive as last time. His words were cold and impatient, and he even used almost the exact same dialogue from the last part of their conversation to respond.
GRACE: There's no going back now. [Smile]
GRACE: Please trust in Designer Wu's professionalism and just follow the arrangements.
Jiang Songhe felt like he was about to vomit blood, and he began to furiously tap the screen with his two thumbs.
▉: Let me confirm again, designer Wu's show will ultimately only be exposed on the external network and within a special group, right?
One hour later.
GRACE: 1
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