"Tongtong, this is my cousin Luo Yifan, you're already familiar with him. Hehe, this is my high school classmate Xu Tao, whom I often mention to you."
Luo Yuanyuan didn't notice her friend's condition and continued with her introduction. Le Tong nodded slightly as a greeting to the man not far away and then turned to extend her hand to Xu Tao.
"Hello, I'm Yuan'er's good friend, Le Tong."
Xu Tao shook hands with Le Tong, exchanging words of flattery typical when a man first meets a woman. Le Tong smiled and responded politely, rarely revealing her true nature to strangers.
"Tongtong, you look so proper and ladylike, even I'm getting fooled." Luo Yuanyuan teased her.
Le Tong rolled her eyes at her, ignoring her.
"Tongtong, what would you like to drink?" Luo Yifan, sitting beside Le Tong, waved to the bartender asking her preference in a low voice.
"My stomach has been a bit upset these past couple of days, just get me a glass of juice."
Though she had known Luo Yifan for a long time, they weren't particularly close.
Luo Yifan ordered a honey citrus juice for her, took another glance at her, and then asked with concern, "How are you feeling now? If you're still uncomfortable, should I get you some stomach medicine?"
Le Tong shook her head, "No need, it's just intermittent pain. If I don't bother it, it won't bother me."
Le Tong's stomach was actually in good shape. Due to her mother's influence, she paid a lot of attention to her personal health, especially being on her own right now; if she didn't take care of herself, falling ill would be quite problematic.
Luo Yuanyuan tapped the table in front of the two of them, "Hey, hey, don't neglect friendship for romance, you two!"
Le Tong took a sip of water, glanced at her, "We're not friends to begin with!"
Luo Yifan also knocked on her head, "Yeah, I'm not friends with you either!"
Luo Yuanyuan leaned on Xu Tao, "You're the reliable one after all!"
Xu Tao leaned to the side, dodging her attempt to lean on him, "I'm not friends with you either."
"You guys... are all bad friends!" Luo Yuanyuan pouted, looking like a frog.
Le Tong was amused by her friend's sulky appearance and bent over laughing at the bar for a while before straightening up, inadvertently catching sight of Ji Rui's direction.
Le Tong couldn't suppress her smile in time and noticed the other party just happened to be looking at her, so she smiled and nodded at him.
Luo Yuanyuan finally noticed her friend's action and looked in the same direction, "Hey, isn't that your President Ji?"
Le Tong withdrew her gaze, rolling her eyes at her, "Hey, watch your words. He's not mine!"
Before, Luo Yuanyuan often said this, but Le Tong never protested. After what happened that night, even though Le Tong couldn't remember anything, she still felt guilty and subconsciously avoided associating herself with him.
"Yuan'er, I'm going over to say hi."
Luo Yifan, as the future successor of the Luo Family, had been attending social gatherings with the elders early on. Currently, he was serving as a general manager at the Luo Family corporation. Though he wasn't particularly close to Ji Rui, they had occasional interactions, so ignoring him would be impolite.
"Go, go."
Luo Yuanyuan waved him away impatiently, having no fondness for Ji Rui, as he seemed to be taking up more of her friend's time these days.
Luo Yifan carried his wine glass over to Ji Rui. Sitting beside Ji Rui was a man who looked affluent, Zhuo Jiarui, Ji Rui's best friend.
"Brother Ji, Brother Zhuo, long time no see!"
Ji Rui nodded slightly as a greeting, while Zhuo Jiarui, in contrast to Ji Rui, had an outgoing and talkative personality. If it weren't for the friendship between their families, Ji Rui would probably never hang out with such a man.
"Yifan, you're something! Since when did you set your eyes on your Brother Ji's secretary?" The playful scene with Luo Yifan and the others was all observed by the two.
Yifan turned to see Le Tong smiling and chatting with Luo Yuanyuan, then said, possibly joking, "For several years now, unfortunately, Tongtong doesn't fancy me," with an expression of playful ambiguity.
Zhuo Jiarui looked surprised, "What? Did I hear that right? Just a little secretary, yet she made the Luo Family's Young Master face closed doors for years?"
Luo Yifan chuckled, took a sip of his drink, and didn't comment on Zhuo Jiarui's remark.
Zhuo Jiarui nudged Ji Rui with his shoulder, "No way! Isn't your secretary like a little bunny, obedient and diligent? I thought she'd be easy to chase!"
Ji Rui's expression remained calm as he swirled his drink, took a light sip, seemingly not hearing Zhuo Jiarui's words.
Luo Yifan glanced at Le Tong, then leaned toward Zhuo Jiarui, "Since Brother Zhuo says that, you must have a sharp eye for girls. Any tips for your little brother?!"
Zhuo Jiarui punched his shoulder jokingly, "What, have you really fallen for her?"
Luo Yifan chuckled a few times, "Look at what Brother Zhuo is saying, what's that got to do with falling for someone?"
This group of young masters often drank and womanized together, with few genuinely falling in love.
Zhuo Jiarui also smiled, "Indeed, this has nothing to do with falling in love."
Luo Yifan noticed Ji Rui's silence. He wasn't stupid and could feel Ji Rui's coldness, assuming he was interrupting their old friends' conversation, so he stood up, "Brother Ji, Brother Zhuo, you two chat, I'll go back and keep trying!"
Zhuo Jiarui watched Luo Yifan's back, elbowing Ji Rui, "Hey, Ji Rui, is your little secretary really so aloof? She even rejected the Luo Family's Young Master?"
Ji Rui cast a cold gaze over Le Tong's smiling face and replied indifferently, "Who knows?!"
Zhuo Jiarui stared at him for a while and suddenly seemed to realize something, "Oh... I get it, did she fall for you? No wonder..."
Ji Rui remained expressionless, neither denying nor affirming, ignoring him as he raised his glass to the bartender, signaling for another drink.
Zhuo Jiarui, having grown up wearing open-crotch pants with Ji Rui, was used to Ji Rui's reticence. Seeing him not talking, he continued on his own accord.
"Tsk, I reckon Luo Yifan mostly just wants to play, your secretary indeed looks tempting... If I weren't afraid of you punching me, I'd want to give it a try too!"
While saying this, Zhuo Jiarui's gaze shifted to Le Tong, who was sipping her drink with her face propped up.
"Her face is just right, her skin is pale, tall with nice curves..."
Zhuo Jiarui appraised Le Tong under the enchanting lights with the eyes of someone watching models on a runway, "Tsk, if you don't look carefully, you wouldn't know, your secretary is really something, long and straight legs..."