Chapter 14: Jealous

Ryan, meanwhile, was completely focused on Anna. He leaned in close and said softly, "Order whatever you want. Don’t worry about the price."

Anna’s eyes sparkled.

As the manager walked away, Anna leaned her head on Ryan’s shoulder and murmured, "Ryan, this is the best birthday I’ve ever had."

Ryan smiled, gently patting her hand: "It’s not even your birthday yet. When your actual birthday comes, I’ll give you something even better."

Anna looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with excitement: "Really? You promise?"

"I promise," Ryan said softly.

Over at the other table, Tina watched the scene unfold through narrowed eyes. Her jaw tightened as she saw Anna laughing and leaning against Ryan.

"Look at them," Tina muttered under her breath. "Acting like they’re a real couple."

Kai shrugged, "Let them be. We’ll see how long it lasts when the bill comes."

But as the complementary dishes started arriving at Ryan’s table, one after another, the smile on Tina’s face slowly faded.

"Wait," she said, her voice dropping. "Where did Ryan get that kind of money?"

Kai frowned, "Maybe he’s maxing out every credit card he has. Or maybe Anna’s covering it."

Ryan, noticing her gaze, looked over and gave her a calm, indifferent smile. Then he turned back to Anna, completely dismissing her.

Tina’s face burned with humiliation. He wasn’t even looking at her anymore. It was as if she didn’t exist to him.

And somehow, that hurt more than anything he had ever said.

Before, Ryan would have felt faint just looking at this, these things were never meant for him in this lifetime.

But now, with money and a beauty by his side, he could not lose face. He barely glanced at the cheaper items and flipped straight to the back for the priciest signature dishes.

This move made Anna’s eyes light up. Sure enough, the stuff you would find at banquets did not impress him.

At the garden restaurant, Japanese and Western food came in cheaper sets. For real class, it was the premium Western cuisine.

"Two portions of lobster bisque, one beef Wellington, one king crab platter, two truffle beef casseroles, and two servings of premium caviar."

"That should be enough for the main courses, right?"

Anna was stunned. Just that truffle beef casserole alone was 5,800 dollars per portion.

The server reminded him, "Sir, seafood can get greasy. Maybe balance it with something else."

Ryan flipped back to the earlier pages and said, "Alright, then add black garlic wagyu beef and a pan-fried mushroom dish!!"

The server noted it down and said, "Sir, that should be enough. What would you like to drink???"

Anna had been waiting for this moment. She immediately opened the wine list and asked innocently, "Ryan, what should we drink?"

She set aside the juice and soft drink options entirely. The server said warmly, "Sir, madam, we’ll provide a complimentary mango juice."

"No thanks, I’m allergic to mangoes. And I don’t want anything too cold."

As soon as Anna said that, she realized she had slipped. For players and queen bees, a woman saying she cannot have cold drinks meant only one thing.

But Ryan remained calm and said gently, "Then drink more soup. Soft drinks aren’t healthy anyway."

He is so pure, Anna thought, growing fonder by the minute. This wealthy heir really was a rough diamond worth polishing.

Anna giggled, "It’s my first time eating so well, a little wine would make it more romantic."

"Romantic, huh!!!"

Ryan glanced at the wine list and asked, "Only wine???"

"No, we also have premium brandy and some of our finest aged spirits."

The server quickly introduced.

Anna asked cautiously, "Ryan, you don’t like red wine?"

"Drinking that would be wasting it on me. It’s like tea, no matter how expensive you say it is, it all tastes the same to me."

That was the honest truth. In Ryan’s world, wines were distant concepts, high-proof liquor and beer were where it was at.

But Anna heard it differently...

Ryan must come from a wealthy family. He has probably had plenty of expensive wines and teas and is just bored of them.

So low-key, so down-to-earth, the more time she spent with him, the more she discovered his good qualities.

Anna put on a pitiful, coquettish act and said, "Ryan, with such a nice atmosphere, can we have some wine?"

"Sure, something with a bit of alcohol content is fine."

Ryan was easygoing, he did not really care what they drank.

"What should we get???"

Anna was still looking at the wine list when Ryan pointed directly at a bottle and said, "That bottle looks nice. Let’s get that one!!"

The server’s expression froze. She hesitated and said, "Sir, please wait a moment. This is our flagship bottle, I need to check with our boss first."

"300,000 dollars!"

Seeing the price, Anna gasped and covered her mouth in surprise.

Louis XIII LE JEROBOAM Limited Edition 3-liter bottle, rarely seen in the country, pretty much the ultimate status symbol.

Soon, the server and the manager came over together. The manager asked excitedly, "Sir, are you sure you want to open this classic commemorative Louis XIII???"

"Open it!!!"

Ryan said casually.

"Alright, we’ll prepare it right away!!!"

The manager knew this tycoon had topped up one million, so there was no hesitation.

"Ryan, that’s... so expensive!!"

Anna was stunned and whispered.

"It’s fine. As long as you like it, it’s worth it."

Ryan, usually bad with words, surprisingly had a moment of inspiration, mimicking classic playboy lines he had seen online: "Every dish here, every bottle of wine, they only have value because you’re the one enjoying them."

Anna was so moved her eyes sparkled. Her heart raced as she looked at the man before her. If it were not for all the eyes around, she would have thrown herself at him and kissed him.

"Madam, you might want to sit across from him for easier dining."

The manager kindly reminded her.

Anna immediately moved to the opposite seat. The manager stood by and offered, "If you’d like to take photos, we can provide professional equipment."

"Yes, thank you!"

Anna agreed without hesitation.

On the other side, Tina was taking beautiful photos and savoring the exquisitely plated dishes.

Kai slipped a hundred-dollar tip to discreetly get a copy of Ryan’s menu. When Tina saw it, she frowned: "Is this a mistake?"

Kai said firmly, "No, I checked with him multiple times. This is definitely their table’s menu."

"What’s wrong? Did they order two seafood fried rice plates? How embarrassing."

Tina looked dazed and handed it back, saying, "No, it’s probably a mistake. There’s no way they’d order such expensive dishes."

The fish maw casserole was 5,800 per portion, and the shark fin soup was even more at 6,800...

The total came to nearly 100,000 dollars. Kai frowned deeply: "Impossible. Anna’s family might be comfortable, but there’s no way she’d spend like this."

"Just to make you jealous? Spending that much???"

Even as Tina said that, she didn’t believe it herself.

Kai put down the list and sneered, "Whatever. Let’s see how they handle the bill later. Ordering all that, they’ll be paying off debts for the rest of their lives."

"Try to dine and dash at the garden restaurant, they won’t get away with it."

They couldn’t help but keep glancing over. The first dish served was Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

The other dishes took time to prepare, but Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, though labor-intensive and made with precious ingredients, was prepared daily so it came out fastest.

Tina was instantly annoyed.

The manager stood right beside their table, personally serving the soup into their bowls with great care.

Anna was taking photos, and behind her, two servers were holding light boards and even brought in professional lighting, the whole restaurant had only this one spectacle.

In comparison, Tina’s face dropped. The food in front of her suddenly didn’t taste so good anymore.

Kai’s face was also ashen. He called out, "Waiter, come here!!"

The server came over: "Hello sir, how can I help you?"

Kai pointed at the other table and demanded, "What’s going on over there? Are you shooting a commercial or something??"

The server shook his head: "No, sir. Those are two distinguished guests dining. They wanted to take photos, so we provided the appropriate service."

Tina heard that and immediately said, "I want to take photos too. Get two people for me."

"Sorry, we can provide light boards and lamps, but you’ll need to operate them yourselves."

The server shook his head again.

Kai was furious: "Why do they get special treatment?"

The server replied, "Sir, Mr. Ryan tipped each of my colleagues 2,000 dollars and tipped our manager 10,000 dollars."

He looked envious. Tipping did happen here but not much, it wasn’t common.

Occasionally, it’d be 50 or 100. 2,000 was already high here, let alone 10,000 for the manager.

Tina’s expression soured even more...