Which one was his blind date, anyway?

Lin Fengmian had no time to trade barbs with Xia Qinghe. With only nine months left before he turned thirty, his own mother had hauled him out of bed first thing in the morning, washed him up, and fussed over him from head to toe, until even every strand of his hair exuded refinement.

The fragrance made Lin Fengmian sneeze several times. He sniffed. "Mom, this is overkill."

"What overkill? Looking your best shows respect for your blind date." Song Su inwardly gave her third son-in-law a thumbs-up, completely forgetting that she had a new son-in-law whose connections she had yet to tap.

Lin Fengmian quirked his lips. "If I end up prettier than my blind date, how do you think she'll feel?"

Song Su's hands paused as she straightened his collar. She raised a hand and chopped him, making him duck his neck. "Nobody will think you're mute if you keep your mouth shut."

A moment ago, Song Su had thought her son looked drop-dead gorgeous. He would definitely sweep his blind date off her feet; they could make their relationship official today, get their marriage license tomorrow, and have a baby the day after.

Now, everything about him annoyed her.

Song Su glared at Lin Fengmian. Were you a robot vacuum in your past life? Nobody sucks the fun out of things like you.

Lin Fengmian blinked innocently. Apparently, he wasn't even allowed to tell the truth.

This was experience he had gained from his blind dates, too. He had never once failed on a blind date. Even when he courted disaster like Xia Qinghe, those dates would still tell the matchmaker they liked him.

In truth, what these people liked wasn't him, but the Lin Family behind him.

Who wouldn't want connections with the Lin Family, whose power in Shengjing knew no bounds? Of all the family's unmarried children of marriageable age, he was the only one left, and more and more people were setting their sights on him.

They weren't even limiting themselves to one gender anymore.

And his mother turned no one away. As long as they breathed and were alive, she shoved them his way, wishing he would get married and have children right on the spot.

He truly couldn't understand the adults' way of thinking, as though not getting married violated some heavenly law, and in old age he would be struck by lightning and die without an intact corpse.

Song Su tightened Lin Fengmian's suit vest, squeezing a muffled grunt out of him. "Mom, even if you have a problem with me, surely you don't need to strangle your own son."

He felt as though he lived in the eighteenth-century West, where he had to cinch himself into a tiny waist to qualify as human.

Song Su completely tuned out his smart remarks, remaining undisturbed throughout. "Don't eat too much at the meal later. You can eat more when it's over and you're home. Understand?"

Lin Fengmian didn't answer. He was already going on a blind date, and now he wasn't even allowed to eat his fill. Where was the justice?

Song Su pinched his arm, and only then did Lin Fengmian give a reluctant "Okay."

"Hand over your phone."

"What for?"

"To block Xia Qinghe first, so he won't bombard you with calls the moment he can't find you." Song Su knew Xia Qinghe as well as she knew Lin Fengmian.

Put those two together, and they were lawlessness personified.

"I'm warning you, you're not allowed to unblock Xia Qinghe until the blind date is over." Song Su blocked Xia Qinghe with practiced ease.

She was so practiced it was almost painful to watch. How many times had this happened for her to have learned this lesson?

Lin Fengmian thought little of it and took back the phone Song Su handed him.

By the time the driver delivered Lin Fengmian, the "walking human fragrance concentrate," to the agreed venue, seven, eight, nine-ten people had already arrived on the woman's side. They filled an entire table, each wearing meticulous makeup and dressed to the nines, and had already ordered a tableful of food.

When Lin Fengmian appeared, the chattering girls all turned their eyes toward him at once, an unfathomable meaning flickering in each of their gazes.

The young man had finely sculpted features, clear, clean skin, and softly colored lips. A black vest lay over his white shirt, and a faint, cool fragrance surrounded him, mingling clean soap with subtle woody notes, fresh and soothing.

"Hello, I've got the wrong private room." Lin Fengmian turned, shut the door, and took off running.

He left a roomful of girls exchanging bewildered looks.

"Holy crap, that guy was insanely handsome."

"Did he really have the wrong room? What a shame."

"It really is. I didn't get his contact info."

"If only the Lin Family's fourth young master looked like that."

"Let's wait a bit longer. Xiaoya, ask the server to bring more food. Why are the portions here so small? A few bites and they're gone. I'm not even full."

"And it's so expensive. These rich and powerful people really know how to enjoy themselves. I've never eaten anything this good in my life." She practically wanted to swallow her tongue along with it and wanted more.

"When the food comes, let me get some more shots. I'm posting them on my Moments."

"Me too, me too."

Lin Fengmian kept glancing behind him as he ran. No one had come after him.

Then he turned back and slammed into an iron plate-an iron plate that smelled of cool sandalwood. Tears streamed from Lin Fengmian's eyes at the impact. A lightly callused hand covered his face and gently rubbed it. "What are you running for?"

Lin Fengmian huffed irritably. "I'm here for a blind date. I opened the wrong private room just now and nearly thought I'd walked into the spider demons' cave. Good thing I ran fast."

"The Prosperity Room?"

Lin Fengmian nodded. "How did you know?"

Xia Qinghe didn't answer. He habitually called Lin Fengmian at ten every morning. Today, when the call wouldn't connect, he knew he had been blocked.

If Lin Fengmian had blocked him, there was no explanation other than a blind date.

There were only a handful of suitably prestigious hotels in Shengjing, and the Lin Family always took blind dates seriously, so they generally booked one of those hotels. He had called their owners one by one and found out in no time.

The moment he found out, he had headed straight over, ready to watch his best buddy's blind date up close.

They had both been on blind dates now, so neither had any business laughing at the other.

Lin Fengmian eyed Xia Qinghe warily. "Are you here to laugh at me?"

Xia Qinghe smiled so punchably as he slung an arm around Lin Fengmian's shoulders. "What do you think? Would I be here because I had nothing better to do?"

Lin Fengmian: "..." He'd known his mother blocking Xia Qinghe wouldn't do any good.

The guy had followed his scent right here.

Xia Qinghe looked Lin Fengmian up and down, his gaze finally settling on his reddened nose. "Tsk, looks like you really want to get married, dressing this flashy."

Lin Fengmian tugged at Xia Qinghe's obviously carefully chosen suit. "And why are you dressed so flashy? Trying to steal my thunder?"

"Pfft." Xia Qinghe reached up and mussed Lin Fengmian's carefully styled hair. A few locks fell across his forehead, finally making him a little easier on the eyes. "I'm this flashy every day, okay?"

"True." Lin Fengmian thoroughly agreed.

They chatted as they walked, until Xia Qinghe stopped and Lin Fengmian stopped with him. "Are we really going in? I finally found an excuse to get away."

Hearing that, Xia Qinghe knew something fishy was probably going on inside. In that case, he had to check it out.

He raised a hand, knocked, and turned the handle. The girls inside all looked over at once.

Lin Fengmian steeled himself and kept up the act. "...I didn't have the wrong room?!"

Xia Qinghe strolled in, keeping his arm around Lin Fengmian and dragging him inside.

Under every girl's gaze, he pulled out a chair and sat directly opposite a girl wearing jade earrings, folding his arms and staring at her with a dark expression.

Honestly, she was at most modestly pretty, not even as good-looking as Lin Fengmian. If it were him, he would feel unworthy of Lin Fengmian, so mortified he would want the ground to swallow him up, unable to sit still, and desperate to call his friends over and leave immediately.

Lin Fengmian pinched Xia Qinghe. This guy had thought himself above everyone since childhood, always looking down his nose at people.

"Sorry, I thought I had the wrong room earlier. I'm Lin Fengmian." Lin Fengmian introduced himself first. With so many girls, he couldn't quite tell which one was his blind date.

Every one of them looked dressed for a blind date, so he really couldn't be blamed for not knowing.

The girls who had been joking about everything moments earlier had gone utterly silent. Only when Lin Fengmian spoke did their eyes light up. They had previously imagined the Lin Family's fourth young master to be someone ordinary, never expecting him to be this handsome. Even if he neglected proper work and did nothing productive, it seemed they could accept that. Besides, he still had the Lin Family behind him.

Once they married into the family and had a child, would they really need to worry about securing a good life?

They scrambled to introduce themselves, leaving Lin Fengmian listening with a deep frown.

Which one was his blind date, anyway?