Restrictive Zone

RA 13 - Familiar

After work, Jiang Chijing and Luo Hai drove in separate cars to a restaurant that recently opened in the city.

They waited for nearly half an hour in the private room. Just when Jiang Chijing was about to burst from impatience, a tall man in a suit walked in from outside.

"Sorry, something held me up for a while." The man pulled out a chair and sat down, placing his luxury brand car keys to one side.

"It's understandable." Luo Hai quickly mediated. "Lawyers tend to behave with busier schedules."

Jiang Chijing affected a polite smile, pretending that he didn't mind.

Luo Hai made introductions for the two parties. The man was called Zhang Fan. He was already a distinguished senior associate at a law firm. He and Luo Hai had met each other in a fishing club. As the nature of their work both involved criminals, they were able to hit it off rather well.

"I can barely tell that Mr. Jiang works at a prison too."

Zhang Fan was a good conversationalist and he naturally guided the conversation toward Jiang Chijing. Although Jiang Chijing was reluctant to be matchmade, he was still a mature adult who knew how to behave according to social occasions.

"Compared to the prison guards, I don't interact with the inmates as much."

"Are there times when you'll meet inmates that are harder to keep in line?"

"Naturally."

Zheng Mingyi's face floated up in Jiang Chijing's mind. Actually, to be precise, Zheng Mingyi couldn't be considered difficult to manage. He would cooperate with the prison guards most of the time, only on occasion doing some actions that Jiang Chijing couldn't tell if they were intentional or unintentional, driving him nuts.

"I heard from Dr. Luo that many inmates would make passes at Officer Jiang. Now that I see you in person, I finally understand why."

Zhang Fan had a way with words. His praise didn't sound forced and he gave off a sincerity that came from his character. Jiang Chijing had deducted points for his tardiness just now, but after they began chatting, this score gradually recovered.

Not long later, Jiang Chijing abruptly realized that Luo Hai had been in the washroom for a long time. Getting a bad feeling about it, he took out his phone, and as expected saw that there was an unread notification from Luo Hai.

[Luo Hai: Something came up. You two enjoy your meal.]

"Dr. Luo says that he has something on," Jiang Chijing said, smiling insincerely at his phone.

"I saw." Zhang Fan had checked his phone too. "He should be trying to create opportunities for the two of us, I wager."

Jiang Chijing didn't expect Zhang Fan to be this blunt with his words, directly mentioning that the purpose of this meeting was a blind date. At first, he was still thinking of making friends, but after this layer of pretenses was torn off, the score in his mind inevitably turned more sizeable.

Being a good conversationalist could probably give him 20 points, his looks could probably give him 10. However, being obsessed with work was a definite -30.

Jiang Chijing wasn't someone with much professional ambition, or he wouldn't have taken on an idle job as a librarian in a prison. Every three sentences out of Zhang Fan's mouth was about work like his life revolved around his work; he was obviously a textbook workaholic.

Compared to workaholics, Jiang Chijing much preferred someone who knew how to enjoy life, such as someone who would sear a steak and take care of their yard in their downtime at home, instead of constantly having work on their mind.