While they were talking, the two of them had already arrived at the door of Manying Company's office.
Pushing open the door, a tall figure standing by the window came into view at once.
Just as he remembered, she was tall, intellectual, and long-haired, with a cold gaze and an aura of an arrogant, icy queen in every gesture.
As their eyes met, Lu Chen felt a strange sense of trance.
A woman who should have been dead as of last night was now standing safe and sound right in front of him...
Zhou Manyin turned her head to look back. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him, and she walked over quickly to look him up and down before bowing deeply.
"Thank you for saving my life yesterday."
Lu Chen waved a hand.
"It's nothing. If you really want to show your gratitude, giving me a red envelope might be more direct."
He was hardly some refined person who looked upon money as dirt.
Zhou Manyin smiled, gently tucking a lock of long hair that had fallen across her towering chest behind her ear.
To be honest, it was very alluring.
However, Lu Chen cared more about what she was going to say next.
"Of course money won't be lacking, otherwise wouldn't it make my life seem too cheap? The exact amount will be a surprise, and finance will transfer it to your account very soon."
"But the reason I asked you to cooperate with me this time is only partly due to this debt of gratitude. Secondly, I feel that you have great character, and collaborating with you will be very reliable."
"I think character, rather than skill, is the key to our collaboration."
Hearing that there was money to be made, Lu Chen felt a lot more at ease inside.
"Shall we discuss the improvement plan for the design drafts next, then?"
Zhou Manyin shook her head. "No, next we'll go straight to the factory to take a look. With the physical product as a reference, you should get better inspiration."
After going downstairs, instead of heading to the ground floor, they went straight to the underground parking garage.
Seeing his puzzled look, Zhou Manyin explained, "Ever since yesterday's accident, I've decided to drive myself every day."
She was driving a red streamlined sports car. When he sat in the passenger seat, it felt a bit cramped, obviously because the person who usually sat there was a woman of shorter stature.
Lu Chen immediately pictured Tan Mengying's long legs in his mind.
Well, it certainly fit.
"Let's go. The factory is in the suburbs, about half an hour's drive if there's no traffic."
Zhou Manyin proved to be an experienced driver, handling the car with great skill. With a press of the accelerator, the car shot forward, the roar of the engine echoing continuously through the underground parking garage.
Once she put on her sunglasses, her demeanor became even more dashing, her black hair fluttering constantly in the wind, and a faint fragrance tickled the tip of his nose.
Still, Lu Chen could sense her stealing a glance at him from the corner of her eye, as if observing his reaction.
"This car has pretty decent power, it's a Porsche. Want to drive? I can buy you one, you pick the color."
"This gift is too precious, General Manager Tan—er, General Manager Zhou, you aren't planning to keep me as your kept man, are you?" Lu Chen felt a bit strange and joked.
As a result, no response came after his words fell.
He was stunned for a moment and turned his head to look, only to see Zhou Manyin staring straight ahead at the traffic light without turning her head, though the tips of her ears hidden among her black hair were slightly red, and her grip on the steering wheel was noticeably tighter.
She couldn't possibly be serious, could she?
Lu Chen was genuinely startled.
For real?
The corners of his twitched.
Could such a good thing as saving a damsel in distress and having the beauty offer herself in return actually happen to him?
Though it felt pretty awesome to catch the eye of a wealthy female tycoon, it still felt rather weird.
"It's not keeping a kept man..."
After falling silent for a moment, Zhou Manyin said in a low voice, "It's just that my mind has always been entirely consumed by how to develop my career; I've never considered matters of romance, nor have I ever dated anyone of the opposite sex."
"At least you are the only male besides my relatives whom I don't find repulsive. So I don't want to miss this chance."
"I also don't know how to express goodwill toward the opposite sex, but I figured money must be something everyone likes..."
Isn't that just keeping a kept man, then?
Lu Chen didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
So when this female tycoon wanted to pursue a man, her method was to knock him senseless with money?
How should he put it? She was clearly a powerhouse in the business world, but completely blank, innocent, and cute when it came to romance.
He casually made a joke: "Actually, I heard a strange rumor that you and General Manager Tan were in a romantic relationship..."
"Huh? Me and her?"
Zhou Manyin turned her head back in surprise, denying it immediately as if afraid he would misunderstand.
"How is that possible? Both of our orientations are completely normal."
Yet, after thinking about it carefully for a moment, she nodded thoughtfully.
"Come to think of it, though, it's understandable how such a rumor could arise..."
Afterward, she straightened her posture to look ahead again, her ears flushed red as she murmured, "So, would you consider..."
Before she could finish, her phone suddenly rang, cutting off the rest of the conversation.
She glanced at the caller ID, hesitated for a moment, and still pulled the car over to the side of the road to answer it.
"Hello? Doctor Zhao?"
"Hello, Ms. Zhou..."
Though the voice on the phone was quiet, it could not escape Lu Chen's now-acute senses; it was the slightly heavy voice of an older woman.
The content of the conversation was brief: essentially, an older relative of Zhou Manyin's who was hospitalized and receiving treatment had suddenly taken a turn for the worse, so she was asked to hurry over immediately.
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Manyin looked at Lu Chen apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I have an emergency right now and need to go to the hospital first. We'll have to visit the factory another time."
"It's inconvenient to hail a cab here near the suburbs. Why don't you come with me to the hospital first, and I'll have someone drive you back later."
Lu Chen nodded in agreement.
Zhou Manyin gave him a grateful look, quickly made a U-turn, and sped toward the hospital.
Ten minutes later, they rapidly arrived at the hospital. When they got out, Lu Chen naturally followed her inside.
For all these years, Lu Chen's health had been fine, and this was his first time coming to a hospital since growing up. He looked around his surroundings with mild curiosity, but suddenly caught a strange yet peculiar scent.
It made saliva instinctively secrete in his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbed slightly, and his eyes drifted toward the direction where the alluring fragrance was drifting from.
"What smells so good..."
He turned his head only to see a bag of blood held in a nurse's hand.
He froze for a moment before the realization hit him instantly.
Blood!
He had almost forgotten that he was still a Blood Clan member, and blood was his sustenance!
"Damn it... I really want a sip."
He followed behind Zhou Manyin, but his gaze couldn't help drifting toward that plump bag of blood behind her. In his eyes, it looked just like a freshly baked, fragrant cumin-spiced roasted chicken drumstick, making him swallow hard.
He wondered if hospitals sold bags of blood.
There was a high probability they didn't, so where on earth should he go to get blood?
He could try animal blood later to see if it worked; actually, he was quite fond of spicy blood tofu stew himself.