Female Lead... You Should Give Up...
Everything went in accordance with the plot so far. How come the iceberg just suddenly dodged the wine? Maybe it was the first time he worked with manual mode so there were some inevitable changes... But looking at the iceberg's attitude, he did not seem to have any 'romantic' feelings toward Sun Xia. They should have already been acquainted for a year already.
The more Yongliang thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. He kept biting his thumb's nail while looking anxiously at the door. Mother Lai saw his behavior and could only silently sigh. Mother Lai had long known about Yongliang's feelings toward Ren Jian and the reason he went abroad. He could only bury his heart to not implicate their current relationship. Yongliang would have laughed out loud if he knew what she was thinking.
He could not help but felt strange about the plot deviating. He was curious about how the female lead would handle herself and how the iceberg would react. His legs kept shaking in anticipation until he could not take it anymore and immediately stood up.
"I need to go to the washroom a bit." He notified the parents and dashed out of the room.
The Lai family and the Ren family blankly looked at each other. Both families just gave out a sigh.
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"President! I'm so sorry!"
Sun Xia kept bowing to Ren Jian like a woodpecker. She must have been flustered by this turn of events. Yongliang was hiding in a corner and snickering at her appearance. Ren Jian could faintly hear a laughing sound somewhere behind him, he raised his brow but he decided to ignore it to deal with the rising actress in front of him.
"It's fine. I'm busy right now so you should call staff to clean this up." Ren Jian was about to turn his back but then he heard a scream. He glanced back at Sun Xia to see that she had already fallen down to the floor.
"I-I think I twisted my ankle. I'm not used to wearing this kind of high heels"
She started massaging her legs. Her bare white smooth legs were exposed with her eyes kept blinking pitifully at Ren Jian. This iceberg did not budge at all. Yongliang rubbed his eyes to make sure he did not see it wrong. The iceberg rolled his eyes! That was not an expression for someone you felt favorable for. And, it seemed that the female lead did not notice his annoyance... He was already looking at the phone in his hand.
"P-President... May I be bold to ask y-"
"Ms. Sun, I advise you to wear something you feel comfortable walking in. I just notify the staff and they will come to help you soon. I have an important matter to attend to so have a good day, Ms. Sun."
Sun Xia was frozen on the spot. She worked with Ren Jian for almost a year and she knew about his personality. He always seemed cold and not interested in anything as if everything was fleeting. But he had always invited her to dinner parties and helped her with work. She thought he might have some feelings for her.
'Maybe... He is purer than I thought! He is just shy! He never dated anyone before after all.'
That was a widely-known fact in the circle. He was the most dashing and capable bachelor but still remained single until his late 20s. She assured herself with such hopeful thoughts. Yongliang could easily see through that gloating in her eyes. Suddenly, he felt embarrassed for her. Such confidence was good until it became excessive.
"Did you have fun?"
Ren Jian appeared next to Yongliang out of nowhere. It gave Yongliang a fright because he had always been cautious of his surrounding as long as he was not asleep. Yongliang gave Ren Jian a curious look but then quickly concealed it.
"What are you saying, Jian-ge? You just had never been with a girl before so I got curious about who she was. She was really pretty!"
A pure and bright smile appeared on the smooth chubby cheeks. It gave a feeling of innocence and youth. Ren Jian's face relaxed a bit looking at that smile but he quickly turned on the AC again.
"You really don't know any Zhu Bolin?" He asked imposingly.
"Jian-ge, I really don't know who you are looking for! I only know one Zhu who is my professor Zhu!"
It seemed like Yongliang's answer was unsatisfactory as he started shivering due to the cold air emitting from Ren Jian. He could only look at the iceberg in disbelief.
'What the hell is wrong with this male lead?!? You get angry when I don't know something that even you don't know?? '
All kinds of passionate curses and insults were spewing in Yongliang's mind as he directed his hateful glare at Ren Jian. It felt like smoke was coming out of his nose so he could only puff his cheek and look away. Then a hand was placed on his shoulders and pushed him forward.
"?????????"
This male lead seriously had a problem! How dare he put his hand on him! But after a while, Yongliang felt it was weird. His temper had been mild since he had gotten numb from traveling through many lives. How could just a little gesture of Ren Jian piss him off this much?
Ren Jian looked at Yongliang being deep in thought. There was a complicated look in his eyes. He was finding someone's shadow in Yongliang. The look of yearning was not concealed but he soon snapped out of it and continued walking toward the private room with his hand still wrapped around Yongliang's shoulder.
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After the eventful night, Yongliang spent the week visiting his grandmother. Old lady Lai was said to be weak but the moment she heard that her grandson came to visit her, she regained all the vigor from her youth. It seemed like he could only stay to accompany her for her full recovery.
The Lai family had an aristocratic roots, therefore, they were filthy rich. Despite that, there was hardly any blood-dog drama but they had a warming atmosphere instead. Mother Lai was a lady of a common family, but due to her caring and kind nature, it captured father Lai's heart. Surprisingly, there was no "here's-the-money-so-leave-my-son" drama, grandma Lai absolutely adored mother Lai because she could control and tame her wild son. This was happy family indeed.
And the Ren family, another noble family, happened to be in the same neighborhood. Somehow, Yongliang kept following Ren Jian around since they first met. It became natural for the two families to develop a close bond.
'Ha... Grandma got too excited when I came so I got kicked out... I thought I could finally enjoy looking around the city...' Yongliang was half lying on the sofa as he looked at the clear blue sky out of the window.
'I guess even in manual mode, everything still goes according to the plot.'
He squinted his eyes at the handsome man in a form-fitting suit. He wanted to roll his eyes so bad but he could not expose his disdain. For some reason, he still got stuck next to Ren Jian even though he did not follow him around like in the original plot. Mother Lai and mother Ren kept insisting on Yongliang visit his company to learn how he managed the company. Ren Jian only nodded slightly and Yongliang did not have the right to speak...
'At least the iceberg still has some courtesy and makes sure I'm comfortable here. At the same time, it seems that people of this company start sucking up to me for no reason... Did I steal the female lead's job?'
To be honest, he did not learn anything besides observing the office and looking at the iceberg's face these couple of days. The more he looked at Ren Jian, the more his face became handsome. The more Yongliang recognized that, the more hateful he became. Furthermore, this Ren Jian seemed to be quite capable and logical, how could he fall into the female lead's trap to have a fallout with the original Yongliang? However, the plot did not deviate too greatly for Yongliang to put any serious thoughts into it. The only conclusion he could come up with was 'Love is blind'!
In the room, there was sometimes the sound of typing and the sound of writing. It was a pleasant atmosphere that made idle people doze off. Just like so, Yongliang fell fast asleep. Ren Jian lifted his eyes from the documents to look at the sleeping figure. There was a slight smile but it quickly disappeared again. He walked toward the sofa and crouched down. Ren Jian's face was extremely close to the sleeping face.
"Are you really not Zhu Bolin?"
It was such a silent whisper that no one but himself could hear it, not to mention the sleep-like-dead Yongliang. His brows went into a frown when Yongliang groaned, it seemed like this sleeping posture was really uncomfortable. Ren Jian pinched his cheeks to hear some murmur about all kinds of foods.
"President! Ms. Sun said to send you this as a thank you!"
The secretary suddenly barged in carrying a luxurious box with an aromatic smell. But he could only meet an ice-cold glare from his president. The secretary looked at the close proximity between the president and the guy to immediately understand. Even though there were some rumors between the president and the rising actress, the secretary who had worked for him for years knew that it was not true. He had always known that the president was looking for someone else.
"Keep your voice down... and leave the food on the table over there."
Ren Jian said in a low voice as he carefully lifted Yongliang up. The secretary's eyes were wide-opened with admiration. 'The president is so perfect! Look at how easily he can carry a man!'
Before he could say anything else, Ren Jian had already walked into the lounge and placed Yongliang on the bed. He gently push away the hair on Yongliang's face and pinched his cheeks once more before going back to work.
The secretary had already left the moment he got back. He looked briefly at the food box and turned away when he received a text from Sun Xia.
*Thank you for helping me get the script! I want to invite you to dinner but I'm scared that you are busy so I send lunch instead. I hope you enjoy it!*
Ren Jian thought for a while before deciding to ignore the message and continued working.
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YAWN~
Yongliang slowly blinked his eyes. His arms and legs were spreading out like a starfish. He looked at the ceiling for one minute and suddenly got up. Just then, he realized that he was in the president's lounge. No wonder he had a such good sleep, this bed was definitely high quality!
"Did he... carry me here?"
Even though Yongliang did not mind his current appearance, he knew that he was quite heavy. For the past couple of days, he could somewhat tell that the cold exterior of the iceberg melted a little bit, but he did not expect to the point of the male lead carrying him to bed. He could also sense that the male lead had actively avoided the female lead's pursuit.
Even though such development was interesting, it made him restless since this had never happened before. Maybe this world would collapse if they did not get together and he would be ejected out of this world. Yongliang stopped caring about plot development the moment he arrived in A country but he liked this world. It was like a vacation to him as people around him were kind and warm and he was RICH. He wished to be here a little bit longer so he needed help out with the plot a little bit.