Jiang Xianrou temporarily put the person she saw just now into the back of her mind. She took a deep breath, nervously clenched her handbag, followed behind her mother, and said, ''Okay.''
Her mother was right. Qiao Nian was merely a country bumpkin from Rao City. She didn't have to compare herself to someone like that. It would only serve to belittle herself.
She should set her eyes higher.
As for what she just saw now, could she really be mistaken?
...
''Miss Qiao, please sit.'' Although it could be said that the Imperial Mansion was a restaurant, it was more like a clubhouse.
There was a cafeteria serving Suzhou cuisine, leisure and entertainment areas, and even a meeting hall upstairs.
Ye Wangchuan was a frequent visitor.
He would come here occasionally with his friends to play cards.
Gu San followed him here often and was very familiar with the facilities available here. As soon as they arrived at their reserved table, he smoothly showed them to their seats.
Qiao Nian wasn't concerned about her seat. She raised her eyebrows and sat on the seat near the windows.
Afterward, she heard Gu San's authoritative voice saying, ''Master Wang, please take the seat beside Miss Qiao. I will take the seat opposite to her.''
After saying that, he pulled out the opposite chair and sat down. At the same time, he explained the situation to her, ''This table is a bit too small. We booked this table without prior notice and did not manage to get a better table. Miss Qiao, sorry to inconvenience you, but you will need to squeeze a little with Master Wang.''
In fact, Imperial Mansion was opened by one of Ye Wangchuan's close friend. At the start, he had also invested in the restaurant and held onto some shares. He could be considered a behind-the-scenes co-owner of this place.
The boss couldn't possibly even reserve a table for himself?
But when they got off the plane, Gu San had sneakily requested the manager to provide them with a table with a couple seat near the window, with good scenery and atmosphere.
The couple seat was definitely not going to be very big.
Thus, it became like this.
It wasn't Ye Wangchuan's first time here. How could he be not aware of Gu San's calculations and sneaky actions? When his deep black eyes landed on him as if by chance, Gu San's gaze also changed. With a pretense of looking at the scenery and and birds, Gu San avoided his gaze.
Feeling helpless, his lips twitched a little. He gingerly pulled out the seat beside Qiao Nian and asked, ''Will it be too squeezy if I sit here?"
Qiao Nian had already found a comfortable sitting position. With one leg on her side, an elbow supporting her chin, and her back leaning against the chair, she didn't have proper sitting posture. Hearing his question, she raised her head and looked at him nonchalantly, casually saying, ''It's fine. I don't think it's too squeezy.''
She almost said, ''If you feel that it's too crowded, you can sit over there beside Gu San.''
But with a second look, she noticed the people sitting in the opposite side. They had ready occupied most of the space on the other side. They were both tall and had long legs. It must be even more squeezy than Ye Wangchuan sitting beside her.
Just as she was about to ask him to sit on the other side, she changed her mind. ''You should just sit beside me.''
If not, it would be too unfair for them to squeeze together.
So what was a couple seat? It was a seat meant for two people, with cushions surrounding the sides, making it more comfortable for two people to sit together.
Whenever Qiao Nian sat, she preferred to lean on the sides of the chair. She liked to have a private and a separate space. With someone suddenly sitting so close to her, it would be a lie to say if it wasn't a little unnatural for her. Especially since Ye Wangchuan's aura was difficult to ignore.
Fortunately, it was sitting beside her. She felt a little less unnatural.
After all, Ye Wangchuan was very familiar with her. He was also Chen Chen's uncle. In past, they had discussed what kind of relationship they had. He had agreed that they were good friends.
It was normal for good friends to sit together during meals.