Seeing the curious gaze and the ‘meaningful’ smile of the long-haired, strikingly handsome man, Jiang Fei’s heart, which had just settled a bit, suddenly tightened again.
What’s with this guy? Why is he looking at me like that?
“Do you… know me?” Jiang Fei hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking.
“So it really is you,” the long-haired man laughed, extending his hand again. “Let me introduce myself first. My name is Jing Ran.”
Jiang Fei glanced at the hand Jing Ran had extended.
Not only did this guy look like a woman, but even his hands were delicate! A grown man’s hand being this small, almost the same size as Qiao Yiyi’s—it could practically be called a pair of slender, jade-like hands!
There’s a saying in medicine that the size of a person’s fist reflects the size of their heart. Did that mean this man had a small heart?
After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Fei finally reached out and shook Jing Ran’s hand, nodding politely. “Hello.”
Thankfully, the dreaded scenario didn’t happen. The long-haired man didn’t hold onto Jiang Fei’s hand for too long, nor did he try anything sneaky like lightly scratching Jiang Fei’s palm or giving him a ‘seductive’ wink, suggesting they meet up later that night…
It seemed this guy wasn’t into men after all.
Now that Jiang Fei got a closer look, he noticed that despite Jing Ran’s overly feminine appearance, his clothing and demeanor still carried a masculine edge—clean and sharp. He wasn’t wearing earrings or any jewelry, and there was no trace of perfume on him either.
“How do you know me? We’ve never met before, right?” Jiang Fei asked, voicing his confusion.
“Guess,” Jing Ran replied with a smile, his long-lashed peach-blossom eyes curving slightly.
Seriously, this guy is way too feminine! Jiang Fei couldn’t help but complained in his mind.
A man with peach-blossom eyes was already rare enough, but this guy even had such long lashes. It was enough to make any woman jealous.
“I can’t guess,” Jiang Fei said bluntly.
He wasn’t interested in playing guessing games, nor was he about to engage in some flirtatious banter with this guy!
Jing Ran shook his head, looking a bit disappointed. “I’m good friends with Ye Yuanyuan and Mangguo. They’ve mentioned you to me before. They said they’d invite Qiao Yiyi to Mangguo’s birthday party through you. Now that I’ve seen Qiao Yiyi, I took a guess that you must be Jiang Fei—and I was right. But why are you standing outside? Why not go in?”
Jiang Fei suddenly understood.
So this long-haired guy was friends with Ye Yuanyuan and her best friend, Bai Mangguo. No wonder he knew about him.
Pointing at the golden membership card in Jing Ran’s hand, Jiang Fei sighed. “I’d love to go in, but Ye Yuanyuan didn’t give me an invitation or a membership card. The guards stopped us earlier. I was just about to call Ye Yuanyuan to come get us.”
“Ah, I see. The rules at this ‘No. 26 Club’ are quite strict. Mangguo usually doesn’t hold her birthday parties here, but this year she’s turning 26, and the club’s name and floor number coincidentally match, so she decided to host it here,” Jing Ran explained with a smile. “Come on, no need to call Ye Yuanyuan. I’ll take you in. I just called Mangguo, and she and Ye Yuanyuan aren’t here yet.”
“Thanks, that’s a big help,” Jiang Fei nodded politely, though internally he was complaining. Ye Yuanyuan isn’t even here yet? She’s really leaving me hanging!
“No problem.”
Jing Ran led the way, and the group smoothly entered the main hall.
Once inside, Jiang Fei began to understand why the rules here were so strict. It seemed that the 26th floor of the building had been largely reserved for this club, covering an area of at least 2,000 square meters. The space was transformed into a grand hall, almost like a small plaza, with luxurious and meticulously designed decor that clearly bore the touch of a master.
Even Jiang Fei was impressed by the lavish setup. Forget the extravagant decorations—just renting such a massive space in the heart of the city’s first ring road, where land was worth its weight in gold, must have cost a fortune.
Jing Ran and his group were clearly familiar with the place. They led Jiang Fei and Qiao Yiyi through the center of the hall, where couples were gracefully dancing, and over to a large sofa table near the wall.
From here, they had a stunning view of the city’s nightscape through the floor-to-ceiling windows, with countless lights twinkling in the distance.
As they sat down, a waiter brought over glasses of champagne.
Throughout this, it was clear that Jing Ran was quite interested in Jiang Fei. However, the women with him didn’t seem to share the same curiosity. Instead, they appeared to be small fans of Qiao Yiyi. While they weren’t obsessive, they were visibly excited to see her.
Except for the woman in the red dress. Her mood seemed off. She looked at Qiao Yiyi with a hint of displeasure and asked, “Didn’t you injure your vocal cords? Can you still sing tonight?”
Although she hadn’t been informed about singing tonight, Qiao Yiyi politely replied, “Yes, my voice has been completely healed by Jiang Fei.”
Hearing this, the woman in the red dress grew even more upset, her brows furrowing in what seemed like jealousy. It wasn’t Qiao Yiyi she was jealous of—it was Bai Mangguo.
For her own birthday party, she had tried to invite Qiao Yiyi but failed. In the end, she had to settle for a fading star, whose popularity paled in comparison to Qiao Yiyi’s current fame.
“Jiang Fei? So that’s you?” The woman in the red dress glanced at Jiang Fei coldly. “What do you do? Are you a professional doctor?”
“Yes, that’s me. I’m a doctor,” Jiang Fei nodded, admitting it without hesitation.
Being a doctor was a noble profession, one that saved lives. There was no shame in it.
“No wonder I’ve never seen you before. So you’re just a doctor,” the woman sneered, her lips curling in disdain. “Letting Bai Mangguo borrow the No. 26 Club for her birthday party is a disgrace to the club’s reputation! Tonight, it seems like just anyone can walk in.”
The No. 26 Club was one of the most exclusive circles in Jincheng. Those who could enter were either successful individuals or the children of successful individuals—people like the woman in the red dress, who had been born into wealth and privilege.
The club operated on a strict membership system. Without a membership card, the guards wouldn’t let you in. Tonight, since it was Bai Mangguo’s birthday party, the rules had been slightly relaxed. Even without a membership card, an invitation from Mangguo would suffice.
However, Jiang Fei wasn’t happy with the woman’s tone.
Her words were insulting. Was she implying that as a doctor, he wasn’t worthy of entering this so-called No. 26 Club? Why not?
Was this place the White House or Zhongnanhai? Even if it were, Jiang Fei felt that if he wanted to, he could eventually gain access to those places too!
He was already somewhat of a celebrity, a miracle doctor who had been featured twice in the Chuan-Shu Metropolitan Daily. Was he really not qualified to enter this place?
“What kind of person am I? Are you saying I don’t belong here?” Jiang Fei asked, his voice tinged with disgust as he looked at the woman.
“I didn’t say that,” the woman in the red dress chuckled lightly. “But if you’re interpreting it that way, I won’t stop you. At least it shows you have some self-awareness.”
“You seem to look down on the medical profession,” Jiang Fei said, his eyes narrowing as anger flickered within them.
Seeing Jiang Fei’s anger, the woman seemed to grow even more pleased. She wasn’t the least bit intimidated. “Should I respect it?”
Jiang Fei’s face turned cold. He had finally had enough.
“If you look down on doctors, then why did you go to one to get your double eyelids and chin augmentation?” he asked bluntly.
His words left everyone at the table stunned. It took a moment for the woman in the red dress to react. Her face instantly turned red with anger, contorting slightly in fury as she glared at Jiang Fei with murderous eyes. “What. Did. You. Say?!”
“I said you’ve had plastic surgery,” Jiang Fei replied calmly. “Aren’t your double eyelids the result of surgery? Didn’t you get your chin augmented? If you dare swear you haven’t, I’ll apologize.”
When someone doesn’t show you respect, why should you respect them?
When someone insults your profession and your dignity, why should you hold back?
Even if this woman was Ye Yuanyuan’s friend, Jiang Fei wasn’t about to tolerate her rudeness. He hadn’t even wanted to come tonight, and now that he was here, he wasn’t going to put up with this nonsense.
The woman in the red dress was trembling with rage. She couldn’t refute Jiang Fei’s accusation because it was true—she had undergone minor cosmetic procedures. This was an open secret among her close friends and Jing Ran, but no one had dared to bring it up in years. She had almost forgotten about it herself!
And now, this man had the audacity to mention it in front of everyone, even questioning her about it.
She was so furious and humiliated that she felt like she might faint!
“You… jerk!” Without hesitation, the woman grabbed the glass of red wine in front of her and threw it at Jiang Fei.
But Jiang Fei was quick. Thanks to his mastery of the Threefold Cloud light-foot technique, he dodged the wine effortlessly, moving like the wind.
The woman was stunned. At such close range, how had he avoided it? Fueled by rage, she grabbed the wine glass and hurled it at Jiang Fei.
Snap!
Jiang Fei caught the glass with one hand.
“If you keep throwing things, I might just throw this glass back at your face. And trust me, you won’t be able to dodge it,” Jiang Fei said coldly as the woman, now in a frenzy, reached for Jing Ran’s glass.
“Wu Xue, that’s enough!” Jing Ran quickly grabbed the woman’s hands, then turned to Jiang Fei with a frown. “Jiang Fei, what you said was out of line. Apologize to Wu Xue.”
“I won’t accept his apology!” Wu Xue shouted, her face still red with anger.
“You don’t need to apologize to her,” a cold voice interrupted from behind them. It was Ye Yuanyuan.
