Chapter 226: Chapter 207: Have You Heard the Saying? Failure Is the Mother of Success

Today, Su Yue, with her snow-white skin, was wearing a black, off-the-shoulder chiffon dress with spaghetti straps. Her long, silky black hair fell over her shoulders, and on her feet was a pair of beige, low-heeled sandals.

Su Yue was restocking the shelves when she heard her friend say that Zhang Xiaohao was back. Her beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"He’s nothing if not persistent! You just turned him down yesterday, and here he is again..." Wang Ling, who was tallying accounts behind the register, said to her friend with a smile. "Too bad for him, though. Today’s going to be another wasted trip."

A smiling Zhang Xiaohao pushed open the flower shop’s door and walked inside. The wind chime hanging by the entrance let out a pleasant JINGLE JINGLE.

"Hello," Zhang Xiaohao said, greeting Wang Ling at the counter.

"Hello," Wang Ling responded with a smiling nod before lowering her head to continue with her accounting, saying nothing more.

However, a closer look would reveal that while Wang Ling appeared to be focused on her accounts, she was secretly listening in.

When Zhang Xiaohao saw Su Yue in her black, off-the-shoulder chiffon dress, his eyes lit up with admiration.

Every time he saw Su Yue, he was stunned by her appearance. It was a feeling he’d never experienced with any other woman.

In reality, Su Yue hadn’t put much thought into her outfit at all; she had simply grabbed something at random from her closet before leaving the house.

There’s a saying that "the clothes make the man," but in Su Yue’s case, it seemed to be the other way around.

"Su Yue, you don’t have plans with anyone else today, do you?" Zhang Xiaohao asked with a smile.

Having finished restocking the shelf, a look of resignation flashed in Su Yue’s beautiful eyes. She then turned to Zhang Xiaohao and said,

"I’m sorry, Zhang Xiaohao. Wang Ling’s sister is back from a business trip today, and the three of us have already made plans to go out for dinner."

"Ah..." After being turned down yesterday, Zhang Xiaohao had been sure his invitation would be successful today. Hearing Su Yue’s words, the smile on his face instantly froze.

He assumed Su Yue was just making an excuse to turn him down again. Just as he was about to press the issue, he heard the JINGLE JINGLE of the wind chime behind him.

Hearing the wind chime, Wang Ling looked up from her work at the register. When she saw the woman who had just entered, her eyes widened in surprise.

"Sis, what are you doing here? I thought we agreed to meet at the restaurant?"

Wang Jing, a striking woman with neck-length short hair, a handsome face, and fair skin, walked into the flower shop. She looked at her younger sister behind the counter and said with a smile,

"This business trip ran a little long. After I reported back to the bureau, my supervisor told me to head home early and get some rest.

"Since I got off early and your shop was still open, I figured I’d just come here to meet you."

Wang Ling couldn’t help but roll her eyes. "Sis, you were away on business for so long, and your boss at the Superpower Administration Bureau didn’t even give you a vacation when you got back? Do they always work you this hard?"

Seeing her sister complain about her workaholic supervisor, Wang Jing explained, "There’s a lot going on at the bureau. She gets even less rest than I do these days. Besides..."

"Besides what?" Wang Ling asked instinctively when her sister trailed off.

"It’s nothing. Just a special mission at the bureau these past couple of days. My supervisor is extremely busy right now..." Wang Jing said evasively.

She didn’t mention what she had just learned—that some criminals serving time in the South District Prison had been broken out.

The story would be in the news tomorrow, but since the bureau hadn’t made any official announcement yet, there was no reason for her to be the one to break it.

Wang Ling heard the evasiveness in her sister’s tone. Over the years, she had heard plenty of vague replies like this.

She knew the unspoken part of the sentence was probably classified, so she wisely took the hint and didn’t press further.

"Jing," Su Yue said, greeting Wang Jing with a bright smile.

"Su Yue, it’s been over two months! You look even more beautiful," Wang Jing said with a smile, looking her sister’s friend up and down. Her gaze drifted involuntarily to the area just below Su Yue’s collarbone, a hint of envy in her eyes.

In certain respects, she and her sister were already more blessed than the average girl, but compared to Su Yue, they had no advantage at all.

Hearing Wang Jing’s compliment, Su Yue humbly replied that she hadn’t changed a bit and looked the same as always.

They say three women are enough for a drama, and true to form, as soon as Wang Jing arrived, the three of them began to chat, their conversation growing more and more animated.

Standing off to the side, Zhang Xiaohao listened to their conversation, and the frozen, awkward smile on his face finally vanished.

He had just assumed Su Yue was making up another excuse to reject him, but now the misunderstanding was cleared. The gloom in his heart instantly vanished like smoke.

Moreover, he learned from their conversation that this handsome, striking woman was actually an Investigator for the Superpower Administration Bureau.

Yesterday, Wang Ling had interrupted him, ruining his chance to invite Su Yue to a concert, and Zhang Xiaohao had been quite annoyed with her for it.