Chapter 262

Chapter 262: This Is My Girlfriend, Ruan Chutang Ruan Shaodong had agreed, so Chu Tang and Jiang Shixu could finally be together openly. On Friday afternoon, Jiang Shixu and Chu Tang went out for dinner. It was a Thai restaurant near the law firm that Yu Jiaojiao had recommended to Chu Tang, saying the food was quite good. Chu Tang then suggested they try it out. The restaurant was beautifully decorated, located in a commercial district. Since it was Friday, there were many customers. As the two walked in, a server approached and asked, "Welcome, table for two?" Chu Tang nodded. "Yes." The server gestured. "Right this way." Chu Tang asked, "Do you have private rooms?" The server replied, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't have private rooms here." "Alright." The server led them toward the window. "Sir, ma'am, how about sitting here?" Chu Tang said, "That works." "You can scan the QR code on the table to order." Chu Tang took out her phone and scanned the code to order. The restaurant Yu Jiaojiao recommended was reasonably priced—even the most expensive dish was only a little over a hundred yuan. Since the restaurant had no private rooms, they had to sit by the window in the main hall. At this hour, it was crowded and noisy. Chu Tang looked up at the man across from her. "It's a bit loud. Do you mind?" "I don't mind." The man's eyes curved gently as he said softly, "I wouldn't mind even if you took me to eat at a street stall." Chu Tang smiled. "You said that yourself. Next time, I'll take you to a street stall." Jiang Shixu curled his lips into a smile. "Fine by me." "See what you'd like to eat?" Chu Tang handed her phone to Jiang Shixu so he could look at the menu. Jiang Shixu said, "Just order what you like. Anything works for me." "Alright, I'll order then." Chu Tang lowered her head and scrolled through the dishes on the screen. Suddenly, a female voice came from above: "President Jiang, it really is you!" Chu Tang looked up. A woman in a white blouse and black pencil skirt was smiling as she greeted Jiang Shixu. She was quite pretty, her hair clipped back with a shark clip, dressed very professionally—clearly someone who had just gotten off work and come straight to dinner. Jiang Shixu merely gave a slight nod, his expression indifferent, without saying a single word. Gu Qiuhui kept smiling. "President Jiang, what a coincidence. I'm here eating with my colleagues too." Jiang Shixu hummed in acknowledgment without even glancing at Gu Qiuhui. He only looked at Chu Tang sitting across from him and explained, "Tangtang, this is Gu Qiuhui, the director of our company's planning department." Chu Tang nodded and looked at Gu Qiuhui. "Hello." Then Jiang Shixu introduced to Gu Qiuhui, "This is my girlfriend, Ruan Chutang." The smile on Gu Qiuhui's face froze, and her tone noticeably dropped. "Hello, Miss Ruan." As Gu Qiuhui greeted her, she looked Chu Tang up and down, a flicker of disdain passing through her eyes. So this was President Jiang's girlfriend. Pretty enough, but clearly just a pretty face—she must have charmed President Jiang with her looks. Men all liked this kind of eye candy; it made them look good in public. But a man like Jiang Shixu being paired with a pretty face was such a waste. Chu Tang caught the disdain in Gu Qiuhui's eyes, and her own gaze turned cold. "Miss Gu, is there anything else?" Gu Qiuhui was annoyed inwardly. What business is it of yours whether I have anything else? I'm greeting our President Jiang—what's it got to do with you? You're just a pretty face. Once a man gets tired of you, he'll toss you aside. Do you really think you can marry into a wealthy family and become a lady of leisure? Though that's what she thought, Gu Qiuhui didn't dare show it, since Jiang Shixu was right there. She put on a fake smile and said to Jiang Shixu, "President Jiang, I won't disturb you then. Bye." Jiang Shixu hummed expressionlessly. Gu Qiuhui smiled as she turned around, her smile vanishing the instant she faced away. She ruthlessly trashed Ruan Chutang in her mind. Hah, what's she so smug about? She'll get dumped by President Jiang sooner or later. After Gu Qiuhui left, Jiang Shixu keenly noticed a shift in Chu Tang's mood. "What's wrong, Tangtang?" "That woman just now seemed to have some inexplicable hostility toward me." Jiang Shixu frowned slightly. "Why do you say that?" Jiang Shixu hadn't really looked at Gu Qiuhui just now, so naturally he hadn't seen the disdain and mockery that flashed through her eyes. But Chu Tang had seen it. Chu Tang said flatly, "The way she looked at me just now was very unfriendly." With that, Chu Tang gave the man across from her a knowing, half-smiling look. "Another admirer of yours?" Jiang Shixu was baffled. "What?" "The way she looked at you clearly shows she's interested in you." Hearing this, Jiang Shixu's brows knitted together as he explained, "She was just transferred over from the branch office. I've never said a single word to her beyond work matters." Chu Tang made no comment. "Let's eat." ... A few more days passed, and Chen Wan's case went to the second-instance trial. Unsurprisingly, the appellate court upheld the original judgment. Still one year of imprisonment. Chen Wan was officially taken into the women's prison. That evening, Chu Tang and a few colleagues from the law firm went to a private club to unwind, and by sheer coincidence, they ran into Gu Zechuan. At that moment, Chu Tang and her colleagues were walking through the corridor when they passed by a private room. The door happened to open, and a waiter stepped out. Chu Tang happened to glance inside—and what she saw was quite a sight. She saw Gu Zechuan wearing the bar's uniform—a white shirt, black vest, and black trousers—sitting with a woman in her forties, drinking with her. Since the divorce case between Gu Minghua and Meng Yaqin had concluded, Ruan Chutang had never seen Gu Zechuan again. Counting the days, it had been nearly two months. During this time, Gu Zechuan had finally settled down, no longer coming to pester or disturb her. Chu Tang's gaze happened to meet Gu Zechuan's. His face turned pale. Chu Tang showed no reaction. She calmly withdrew her gaze and continued walking toward their reserved room with her colleagues, chatting as if she hadn't seen anything at all. The private room they had reserved was quite large—a suite-style arrangement with a karaoke room, a game room, a billiards room, and a dining area. Yu Jiaojiao and Xiao Xiao were singing their hearts out in the karaoke room. Chu Tang wasn't interested in singing, so she sat on the sofa nearby, eating from the fruit platter and listening to the two of them sing. A Wen sat nearby playing Happy Match. Lu Shuci, Zhang Yang, Chen Yuning, and another newly hired lawyer were gathered in the game room playing mahjong. At the mahjong table. Zhang Yang—Lu Shuci's close friend and one of the firm's partners—asked Lu Shuci with a gossipy tone, "Have you won her over yet?" Zhang Yang and Lu Shuci had been college classmates and close friends for many years, so naturally he knew that Lu Shuci liked Chu Tang. Lu Shuci's face showed no expression. He calmly played a tile, playing dumb and asking back, "What?" "Don't play dumb with me." Zhang Yang raised an eyebrow. "I'm asking whether you've won Lawyer Ruan over yet." Zhang Yang hadn't been to Shu Mingyue's cruise party, and he wasn't in the same social circle as Shu Mingyue, Jiang Shixu, and those other young masters and ladies. He didn't yet know that Ruan Chutang and Jiang Shixu had already reconciled. That wasn't his fault, after all—Ruan Chutang only ever talked about work at the firm, never personal matters. After they reconciled, Jiang Shixu had come to the firm to see Chu Tang a few times. Once the office door closed, no one knew what they discussed inside. Zhang Yang simply assumed it was work-related. Chen Yuning pursed her lips and perked up her ears to catch the gossip. She had long noticed that Lu Shuci was different with Ruan Chutang, but that was his personal business, so she hadn't felt comfortable prying. Now that someone else had asked, she listened intently. Lu Shuci looked at the tiles in his hand without even lifting his eyelids. "Why do you need to ask so much?"