Pharmaceutical Negotiator - Chapter 33

Imperial Grand Hotel.

Exaggerated chandeliers, like a sky full of stars, shimmered with golden light, illuminating the intricately carved ceiling. The walls, covered in gilt edged wallpaper, and the marble floor all glowed with gold. A floor to ceiling window spanned one wall, offering a view of the high rise buildings outside.

The private room was noisy, filled with a group of people roughly the same age as Luo Mourong.

On the way, Luo Mourong had told Qi An that these were his high school classmates. The gathering required bringing a plus-one, and he needed Qi An to pretend to be his partner one more time.

Qi An scoffed, saying he could just admit he was single. Luo Mourong hemmed and hawed, explaining that his high school crush would be bringing a plus-one, and he didn’t want to lose face.

If I had known it was such a boring dinner, I’d rather be eating boxed lunch with Sister Sitan in the office, Qi An thought. Fortunately, though, Zhang Sitan had done her makeup, so she looked a bit more spirited.

As they entered the private room, the volume in the room automatically increased by several decibels. The air was hazy with smoke, and everyone was gathered around the tea table, chatting and drinking tea.

The moment Luo Mourong walked in, someone immediately spotted the person accompanying him, and one person’s teasing sparked a wave of similar remarks.

“Oh my  Oh my”

“Not bad, you old dog. You brought such a cute little sister.”

Qi An strongly disliked the teasing, feeling like an accessory whose only value was for show.

Luo Mourong gestured with his chin towards the first person who had started the commotion, signaling him to stop the fuss.

“Ahem, Qi An, my girlfriend.”

In for a penny, in for a pound. Under the scrutiny of the crowd, Qi An could only nod with a smile, accepting the identity.

The person who started the teasing was Luo Mourong’s childhood friend and was privy to the secret of Luo Mourong’s single status. He quickly pulled Luo Mourong to his side.

Qi An only knew Luo Mourong here, but he was currently squeezed into the middle of a group. Since she couldn’t easily join him, she spotted an empty sofa by the tea table and walked over to sit down.

Luo Mourong’s classmates were all like him, having attended an international program to prepare early for studying abroad, so many of them had returned with foreign degrees. One of them, named Zhu Tengyu, was complaining about his boss, peppering his complaints with English phrases.

“God he is so unprofessional, he actually told me yesterday that my salary is at a Junior level, god this simply cannot push me OK.”

“Anyway his body hair I’m just och, och…”

His voice was shrill, and his scrawny figure resembled an aging, shrunken child. Few people were listening to his complaints, so he turned to ask another girl why she had blocked him on her Moments.

Qi An’s gaze wandered aimlessly, lingering on Zhu Tengyu for a few extra seconds because his body language was exceptionally dramatic.

A girl holding a teacup sat down next to Qi An, following her gaze: “That’s Zhu Tengyu, the most unpopular person in our class back then. I heard he’s doing really well now.”

“Doing well by bullshit,” she added.

Qi An snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the girl sitting next to her. She was wearing a very fashionable vintage outfit, her hair was short and slightly frizzy. Her eye makeup was very smoky, and her skin looked either tanned (by sun or a tanning booth) or as if she had been living in a tropical country, sporting a shade of artificially darkened skin.

“Hello, you can call me Cola.” The girl named Cola winked playfully.

“Ah. Hello, I’m Qi An.” Someone coming over to talk to her made Qi An feel flattered, and she gave a very formal introduction.

“Mmm, I know, Luo Mourong’s girlfriend, right?” Cola had an air of knowing exactly what was going on.

Qi An didn’t dare say she wasn’t, but also didn’t want to nod in agreement, so she just didn’t respond.

This Cola seemed very talkative. Even without a response from Qi An, she could ramble on and on.

She introduced the few people gathered around the tea table chatting excitedly to Qi An. Although Qi An was completely bewildered, she could sense Cola’s friendliness to some extent.

“There were sixteen people in our class, and only two didn’t go abroad. Guess who they are?”

“One of them is you, right?”

“Hahaha, yes, the other one is,” Cola didn’t mention herself, instead lowering her voice and leaning close to Qi An, “the one Luo Mourong desperately pursued.”

“Aiya I’m telling you, back then…” Although Qi An wasn’t Luo Mourong’s real girlfriend, from Cola’s perspective, she still held that status.

It felt a bit strange to tell the current girlfriend how her boyfriend chased his ‘white moonlight’ in the past.

Qi An wasn’t listening very carefully. She had been hunched over her computer all day, her eyes were almost out of focus, and now she was forcibly dragged here to engage in forced small talk with a stranger.

On the way, Luo Mourong had told her that the girl he liked in high school would also be coming, and she was bringing a plus one, which was why he needed Qi An to save face. Now, hearing Cola’s words, it seemed all the pieces fit together.

Qi An glanced at the people sitting in front of the tea table. Excluding her and Cola, there were only three girls. She didn’t know which one was Luo Mourong’s ‘white moonlight.’

Cola noticed Qi An’s searching gaze and motioned for her not to bother: “She hasn’t arrived yet. When she does, I’ll point her out to you.”

“Hey, guess who her plus-one is?” Cola’s eyes sparkled, eager to share this piece of gossip with Qi An.

“Who?”

“You’d never guess.” Cola made a few clicking noises with her tongue, shaking her index finger.

“It’s a girl,” she whispered, her voice full of excitement.

Qi An was a bit speechless, but understood what Cola meant. “Is she a lesbian?”

“Yes!” Cola was still very excited. “Can you believe it? I was so shocked when I first found out. But now that I think about it, it makes sense. Back then, she was so aloof, always acting distant to everyone. Now I realize, oh, she was a lesbian.”

Your misunderstanding of lesbians is profound.

Qi An turned her gaze towards Luo Mourong. He was still chatting animatedly with the people around him, completely oblivious to Qi An’s current predicament.

Zhu Tengyu was arguing about something with someone, his face flushed red and his neck strained. The three girls seemed to be a small clique, sitting together and exchanging meaningful glances.

Cola was still chattering away next to her. Qi An really wanted to snap at her and ask why she kept bringing up Luo Mourong’s past, the one he failed to catch.

Ugh, it’s so complicated. Qi An recalled Zhang Sitan’s advice: don’t waste time on ineffective socializing or boring interactions; always figure out the context and objective before deciding whether or not to attend any meal.

“I really want to escape.” Qi An picked up her phone and sent a WeChat message to Zhang Sitan.

The screen remained lit for a while before automatically dimming and turning off. Zhang Sitan didn’t reply; she was probably still busy organizing the recordings.

No one offered Qi An any tea, but Cola herself was happily sipping away. Qi An didn’t want to squeeze into the crowd either, so she could only sit awkwardly.

Finally, after enduring a little longer, the door to the private room was pushed open from the outside.

The continuous chattering stopped for a moment, and the three girls uniformly turned their gazes towards the door.

There were two people who entered, both of whom Qi An recognized. One was Su Wei, and the other was Zhou Yangyue.

“Aiyo, the great beauty Su is here!” Zhu Tengyu also stopped arguing and scurried over to Su Wei, looking utterly smarmy.

Su Wei walked straight past him, greeting the others. A tall, thin boy took a teacup and poured tea for Su Wei. Su Wei took it and handed it to Zhou Yangyue, so the boy poured her another cup.

The one accompanying Su Wei must be the rumored plus-one. Everyone was curious, staring at Zhou Yangyue either openly or discreetly.

Back then, Su Wei was considered the most ambitious in the class. The international program focused heavily on foreign languages and political ideology, while subjects like Physics only required passing a proficiency exam. However, Su Wei excelled in everything, eventually scoring high enough on the national college entrance exam to get into a medical university.

At the time, not only Luo Mourong liked her, but Zhu Tengyu and others had also expressed interest in dating her.

Once during gym class, Su Wei was changing her damp bra in the locker room, and Zhu Tengyu had even peeked, which was another reason why everyone always looked down on him.

Zhou Yangyue was behaving very obediently this time, staying quietly by Su Wei’s side. Although her face was still devoid of much expression, at least she didn’t seem as impatient as she had been in Qingdao.

Su Wei hadn’t known about this gathering and had never attended one before. Someone in the group chat spread the rumor that she had come out, and people started @-ing her, teasing and demanding to see her partner.

Su Wei simply found them tedious and ignored them. But Zhou Yangyue wouldn’t have it she insisted on showing off a bit and posted her picture in the group.

In the end, with the crowd’s relentless teasing, Su Wei had no choice but to attend the gathering.

Several boys, including Luo Mourong, crowded around Su Wei, asking about her current situation.

This formerly high-profile, high-fail sweet little fatty completely forgot that he had a “girlfriend” sitting on the sofa looking awkward and uncomfortable.

However, someone else remembered her.

One of the members of the three-girl clique, seeing everyone crowded around Su Wei, said sarcastically, “Master Luo still can’t forget our great beauty Su, even ditching his girlfriend on the side.”

Her remark instantly made Luo Mourong feel mortified, and he retreated awkwardly.

Su Wei’s expression remained unchanged. She didn’t have a good relationship with these three girls and had anticipated before coming that they would bring up old stories, constantly rehashing past embarrassing incidents.

“It’s natural for everyone to be curious since we haven’t seen each other for years,” Su Wei said, rescuing Luo Mourong.

Cola, seeing the three-girl clique with a confrontational look, wore an expression of someone watching drama unfold and nudged Qi An: “See that?”

“See what?”

“Jealousy, of course. Those three girls have always been trouble. They used to constantly make things difficult for Su Wei back in school, and they’re still doing it now.”

“Luo Mourong confessed to Su Wei during the weekly flag-raising speech back then, and the academic dean’s face turned green, hahahaha.”

“But it was truly romantic, truly crazy,” Cola continued to exclaim.

Qi An roughly pieced together their relationships. A class of sixteen, five girls. Everyone came from a wealthy background, so forming cliques and showing off their wealth and abilities must have been common.

It seemed Cola and Su Wei were not part of that. However, Cola’s relationship with Su Wei probably wasn’t that good either, perhaps just mutual lack of hostility.

“Su Wei didn’t go abroad, and Luo Mourong even took a break from his studies abroad and snuck back just to see her.”

“Sigh, but I don’t think Luo Mourong is good enough for her.”

After all that conversation, Qi An thought Cola might just be a naturally talkative person who liked to stir the pot and spoke without filter.

“Then why didn’t you go abroad?” Earlier, Cola said only two people in the class didn’t go abroad, and she was one of them.

Given her personality, which seemed quite tomboyish, Qi An was genuinely curious as to why she stayed in China.

“Me?” Cola pointed to herself. “I became a mother, you know.”

Qi An was at a loss for words. Fortunately, everyone had finally arrived, and people started making arrangements to eat, moving towards the dining table.

The boy who handed Su Wei the tea was the class monitor, and he started directing everyone to their seats.

In this circle, money was no longer the sole measure. This class monitor’s family had some political influence, and he was genuinely a decent person, so even these difficult wealthy young men respected his instructions.

Sitting down according to the arrangement, Qi An realized she could see Su Wei every time she looked up.

Su Wei only noticed Qi An then, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. Seeing Luo Mourong sitting next to her, she became more confused, unsure when this relationship had started.

The table in the private room was so large that Qi An suspected the lazy Susan in the middle would only need to complete one rotation for her to see every dish, and then the meal would be over.

Although everyone was only superficially friendly, they were all adults now and no longer wore all their feelings on their sleeve like they did in high school. So, the meal was relatively pleasant.

Except for Zhu Tengyu occasionally telling crude jokes, trying to flirt with Su Wei in a way he thought was funny.

Su Wei ignored him, but Zhou Yangyue retorted several times.

Eventually, Qi An couldn’t take it anymore and was about to speak, but Cola beat her to it.

“Can’t you see she brought a plus-one? Why is your mouth still so dirty? Come here, I’ll give you a couple of slaps.”

“You’re just spewing nonsense that no one wants to hear. Haven’t you been beaten up enough in the real world?”

Everyone knew Zhu Tengyu had a foul mouth, and everyone knew Cola had a fiery temper. No one said anything for a while, as if they felt the scene was perfectly normal.

“I’ve noticed your class is both united and disunited,” Qi An whispered to Luo Mourong.

“Oh, how so?”

“You’re very united against Zhu Tengyu a joint barrage of fire. But you’re very disunited towards Su Wei  the boys have a lot of secret thoughts, and the girls have a lot of secret thoughts too.”

“Hahahahaha,” Luo Mourong laughed.

So many years had passed; he had moved on from Su Wei, but still admired her.

Hearing Qi An’s observation, he agreed wholeheartedly and whispered back to Qi An, “That Zhu Tengyu has so many bizarre stories. I’ll tell you about them later.”

Su Wei was sitting across from them, and seeing them leaning in to talk so intimately, she was momentarily confused.

Based on her experience reading people, and the ambiguous way Zhang Sitan had put a sun hat on Qi An’s head at the pharmaceutical factory last time, she had always thought there was something between the two of them. Now, how had Qi An gotten together with Luo Mourong?

Although Luo Mourong was a decent guy, it just didn’t feel right.

She secretly raised her phone, snapped a picture of the two of them, and sent it to Zhang Sitan: “Is your little assistant dating?”