CHAPTER 182: CHAPTER 182: REUNION WITH AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE

Before reaching home, Li Jing received a call from the Baiyuan Landscape Company.

Learning that they wanted to deliver indoor plants, he was slightly surprised but then realized his new house could use some greenery, so he nodded and agreed.

However, as the new house was quite far, Li Jing was reluctant to go just to open the door for the plants. After thinking for a while, a potential person came to mind, and he directly dialed the number.

A few seconds after dialing, a woman answered the call.

"Brother Li, is there something you need from me?"

The voice was gentle and melodious, with a hint of respect, belonging to Zhang Ling, the real estate sales manager who had once sold a property to Li Jing.

After successfully closing the deal with Li Jing, Zhang Ling stood out among her colleagues, all of whom struggled to meet their targets. Her achievement was particularly outstanding, and a month later, she seized the opportunity for promotion, becoming the marketing director of their project, responsible for overseeing all marketing efforts.

In response, Zhang Ling specifically sent a thank-you message to Li Jing, saying she wanted to thank him in person, but since Li Jing was busy with film crew work at that time, they never met.

Despite this, Zhang Ling maintained contact with Li Jing.

On holidays and bad weather days, she would send messages to greet and remind him. She also regularly sent people to manage the ventilation and cleanliness of Li Jing’s new home and occasionally sent him photos of the ventilation and cleaning work.

Li Jing was very satisfied with Zhang Ling’s service attitude.

Zhang Ling was a smart woman who understood boundaries, which made Li Jing willing to maintain basic contact with her since the help and services she provided concerning the house were what Li Jing needed.

That’s why, when he thought of placing plants in his room this time, Zhang Ling came to mind first.

After hearing Li Jing’s request, Zhang Ling immediately expressed enthusiastically, "Don’t worry, Brother Li. Just give me their contact details, and I will personally oversee it, arranging all the plants in the most suitable spots in your room."

"Alright." Li Jing still had considerable trust in Zhang Ling’s abilities and nodded, "Then I’ll trouble you."

"No trouble at all," Zhang Ling paused slightly, then asked again, "Brother Li, do you have any free time recently? Last time I mentioned wanting to treat you to a meal, but it never happened..."

Hearing this, Li Jing recalled that she did mention wanting to treat him as a thank you for her promotion, but he had turned her down due to being busy.

He glanced at the Patek Philippe on his wrist and said over the phone, "How about today then? I’m still out, so let’s grab dinner together."

"Today?" Zhang Ling seemed a bit surprised.

"What’s wrong, do you have something else planned?"

"No, it’s fine. I’ll arrange my work and inform the boss, that’s all." Zhang Ling quickly explained, fearing Li Jing might cancel this meeting again.

Subsequently, after agreeing on a time and place, their conversation ended.

Li Jing’s impression of Zhang Ling remained from the time of purchasing the property.

Though they occasionally stayed in touch later, the two never met again.

Among the women Li Jing interacted with, Zhang Ling belonged to the hardworking and ambitious type, with outstanding work abilities and a clear career goal.

In terms of looks, while Zhang Ling might not compare to An Tong, she was certainly an 8.5-out-of-10 beauty, especially with her long, straight, slender legs. Paired with her professional black stockings, she possessed an extra allure.

Arriving at the restaurant, Li Jing was more than half an hour early, mainly because he had nothing else to do, whereas Zhang Ling, due to work reasons, set the meeting slightly later than agreed.

Li Jing didn’t mind and sat in the restaurant’s private room after parking, paying little attention to the restaurant’s decor and back garden.

Having visited numerous upscale restaurants, Li Jing was familiar with the routines these places employed.

Except for some uniquely themed restaurants, most of these places were similar.

Walking into such restaurants now felt similar to his casual visits to eateries before, feeling very familiar and natural.

The relaxed nature Li Jing exhibited was noticed by the staff, who knew he was likely a regular high-end customer. Their attitude grew increasingly respectful, and they proactively led him to a private room.

For half an hour, Li Jing was mostly browsing social media short videos.

The only difference from before was that he came across videos of An Tong and himself.

An Tong’s videos continued to focus on food, though without explosive popularity, they remained stable, now having over 600,000 followers, making her a small online influencer.

As for Li Jing’s videos, since they were edited by An Tong, he had never seen the finished products. Watching them from a viewer’s perspective felt somewhat novel.

But after watching a few, he found his videos too casually shot, with shaky cameras and no appearances or main characters in sight.

Compared to other professional influencers, Li Jing’s videos seemed too amateur, even after An Tong’s post-editing improvements.

If the raw footage Li Jing shot were directly uploaded, probably no one would watch it.

Realizing the issues with his videos, Li Jing furrowed his brows slightly, thinking he should take this matter seriously.

After all, he had activated a system task, and for the five billion reward, he needed to approach this seriously.

"Maybe I should ride some trends? Learn to gain traction like others?"

Li Jing thought for a while without coming up with good ideas, so he sent the issue to An Tong, asking for her thoughts.

Just after sending the message to An Tong, he heard a crisp knocking on the private room door.

Knock, knock, knock.

As the door opened gently, an elegantly dressed woman cautiously peeked her upper body inside.

Upon seeing Li Jing inside the room, her eyes brightened a bit, and she immediately called out Brother Li, then fully opened the door and walked in, promptly apologizing, "I’m really sorry to keep you waiting."

Li Jing checked the time, chuckled, "The timing is just right; you’re not late, I was just early."

After speaking, he took another look at her from top to bottom, smiling slightly while nodding in praise, "You’re getting more and more beautiful."

Zhang Ling had her smooth long hair elegantly twisted into a low bun at the back, with a few strands falling along her cheeks, appearing both lazy and charming, clearly having put effort into her appearance.

She wore a long white woolen coat over a form-fitting black turtleneck sweater underneath, the garment tightly hugging her body’s curves.

Below, she paired a black pencil skirt with black stockings, the hosiery snugly wrapping around her long, straight legs, perfectly outlining their shape, complemented by high heels that showcased the advantages of her long legs, making it hard for one to look away.

Zhang Ling had spent significant time and thought preparing this outfit, finally getting the chance to wear it for this meeting with Li Jing.

Understanding that Li Jing appreciated her legs, she maintained this look even in the winter, despite stockings offering no warmth.

Receiving Li Jing’s compliment, Zhang Ling’s smile grew even brighter, softly saying, "As long as Brother Li likes it, it’s been so long since we last saw each other, of course, I need to dress up a bit."