Truly naive thinking

He Zhouyan knew very well that there was no escort with Jing Lihua.

Why else would she have informed Jing Lihua on the last date? The very purpose was to not allow Jing Lihua enough time to arrange for an escort.

Thus He Zhouyan's words were aimed at nothing but to demean Jing Lihua. On the surface, In her words, He Zhouyan had expressed how important Jing Lihua's position was. However, the underlying meaning was to ridicule her utilizing such satire. 

A few people, who grasped the mockery in her tone, understood at once that Jing Lihua won't be having any escort. And it was easy to conclude this. After all, who would want to offend the Su family in this city?

On the other hand, the other few other simple-minded people, who could not detect any anomaly in He Zhouyan tone, assumed it to be a normal conversation. Now they were curious. They anticipated the identity of the person who would escort her.

In short, everyone was now focused on Jing Lihua.