“President Thin?”
“Mm, you do not need to call me President Thin. You can call me by my name.”
Truth be told, Shi Ruan also felt that calling him President Thin for such a long time was a bit awkward. After all, he wasn’t an employee working under the man, and calling him that all the time made it sound like he was still on the clock at work.
“Thin Jing…” Seeing Thin Jing looking at him with beaming smiles, Shi Ruan momentarily froze, wondering if he had done something wrong.
“What is wrong? Are you not used to me calling you that? Then I will just call you President Thin again.”
“No, it is just that Ruanruan’s voice sounds very pleasant, and I was momentarily captivated by it.”
It wasn’t that Thin Jing wasn’t used to it; rather, he was far too used to it! So used to it that his mind could only picture what that voice would sound like calling his name in bed.
Now it was Shi Ruan’s turn to freeze. Thin Jing smiled, reached out, and ruffled his hair, saying:
“What? Do you not like this form of address? I figured calling you this would shorten the distance between us.”
“It is fine. If you like it, then just call me that.”
Shi Ruan was simply feeling unaccustomed to it. After all, growing up, absolutely no one had ever addressed him by his name with such genuine warmth; most of the time, people called out to Shi Ruan with disgust.
He hadn’t expected that when this name was spoken by Thin Jing, it would evoke such a completely different feeling. President Thin really was a very gentle person.
What Shi Ruan failed to notice was the triumphant smile in Thin Jing’s eyes. If they hadn’t just met, he would have loved to call him Little Ruanbao right then and there. But where was the fun in rushing things?
“Brother?” Shi Yan had naturally felt miserable after being scolded by Su Jiaojiao, so he came looking for Shi Ruan to vent some of his frustration. He never expected to run into the scene where Shi Ruan was about to head out with Thin Jing.
Inwardly, he cursed Shi Ruan for failing to recognize his own station and actually attempting to seduce a top-tier Alpha like Thin Jing.
At the same time, he was terrified that Thin Jing might actually take a fancy to Shi Ruan because of that face. After all, some Alphas simply enjoyed playing with pretty Betas. In Shi Yan’s mind, however, Thin Jing was already safely within his grasp.
How could he let Shi Ruan taint Thin Jing when Thin Jing hated Shi Ruan so much? Even being played with was something he wouldn’t allow.
“Brother, are you guys going out shopping? Can you take me along?”
Shi Ruan thought to himself that they were just going out shopping and not doing anything private, so of course it was fine. He was just about to nod when he heard Shi Yan say:
“Should we go call Teacher Su as well? I noticed she didn’t bring much luggage, and since she is a girl, she definitely needs a lot of things. Can you go upstairs and help me call her?”
Shi Yan had just been yelled at by Su Jiaojiao, and now getting Shi Ruan to go upstairs and summon her, his underlying intentions were already painfully obvious.
Just moments ago, when Shi Yan was preparing to head upstairs, the director had stopped him: “Teacher Shi, hold on a second!”
“What is wrong?” Because they were still under the cameras, Shi Yan naturally kept up that innocent, white-lotus persona of his.
It looked as though a single glance at him would be enough to move anyone with his kindness.
“Well, earlier when Teacher Su went upstairs, she didn’t take her key. You are staying right next to her, so could you help bring the key up to her?”
Shi Yan’s immediate instinct was to say: Why pick me instead of Song Xia?
As a result, the moment he raised his head, he discovered that Song Xia had long since vanished to goodness knows where.
He could only curse Song Xia to hell and back in his heart while putting on an unconcerned expression as he accepted the key.
“Alright, I will help bring the key to her in a moment.”
After dragging his own luggage upstairs, Shi Yan still had this matter weighing on his mind, so he didn’t even have time to unpack before knocking on Su Jiaojiao’s door.
Su Jiaojiao had already been plagued by a terrible case of exhaustion, and coupled with how tired she was, she had fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow without even removing her makeup.
Hearing the knock on the door at that moment made her even more furious than if her coffin lid had been pried open.
Outside, Shi Yan knocked for a while without getting a response, and just as he was about to hang the key on the door and leave, the door in front of him was jerked wide open.
“What are you knocking for? Are you trying to collect my soul?”
Su Jiaojiao’s roar was loud enough for the recording equipment in the hallway, which wasn’t even very close, to pick up clearly, let alone Shi Yan, who was standing face-to-face with her.
[Oh ho, the tigress is unleashing her fury.]
[My god, the mic is picking it up so clearly even from that far away. Pouring two minutes of silence for Shi Yan.]
[Why is she roaring like that? My baby Yan kindly brought her key up. Is he in debt to her?]
[It is the staff’s fault too. Why didn’t they deliver it themselves instead of making a guest do it?]
The staff member who had asked Shi Yan for help hadn’t expected it to turn out like this either. If they had known earlier…
If they had known earlier, they would have made Shi Yan deliver it anyway; wouldn’t that generate instant traffic? Once the main episode cut that footage in, ratings would be completely guaranteed.
“This is the key to your room. They asked me to help bring it over.”
“Who asked you to bring it? Couldn’t you just leave it downstairs so I could get it myself? Do you have any idea how tired I am right now?”
Shi Yan was utterly dumbfounded. Was Su Jiaojiao seriously not afraid of getting flamed? How could she spout such unreasonable words?
“I…”
Before he even had a chance to explain, she slammed the door shut right in his face. Immediately afterward, Shi Yan realized this was a golden opportunity.
After all, wasn’t Su Jiaojiao the textbook definition of a ready-made negative example?
Therefore, when Shi Yan appeared under the camera lenses with his head lowered, quite a few viewers felt immense pity for him.
[Oh dear, look at how they cussed out my baby Yan. People like this are rat droppings no matter where they go.]
[No, that’s not it. Our Jiaojiao acted like that because she has terrible sleep tantrums. Besides, she wasn’t wrong either; she didn’t need anyone to deliver it up to her, okay?]
[So someone kindly bringing it up to your precious Jiaojiao means they deserve to be cussed out?]
[Su Jiaojiao truly has a rotten personality. Who knows when she’ll finally get kicked out of the entertainment industry? I get annoyed just looking at her.]
This time, no matter what Su Jiaojiao’s fans said, it was useless, because so many people had witnessed Su Jiaojiao cursing out Shi Yan with their own eyes.
Coupled with the fact that Shi Yan deliberately kept his back to the cameras while capturing a perfectly timed tear drop, it successfully rocketed the hashtag SuJiaojiaoCursingPeople straight to the trending searches on Weibo.
At that moment, Shi Yan’s earlier move of asking Shi Ruan to go call Su Jiaojiao also sparked a heated debate.
[Why did Shi Ruan ask Shi Ruan to go call her? Couldn’t he go himself?]
[Did you not see Shi Yan get cussed out just a moment ago? He obviously went up there because he was scared of getting cussed out again.]
[So if he got cussed out, Shi Ruan wouldn’t be scared?]
[Baby Yan probably didn’t think that much into it. He just figured Su Jiaojiao was a girl and probably had a lot of things she needed, which is why he wanted to invite her to go together. Still such a considerate baby Yan. Look at whether anyone else would still invite her to go after getting cussed out.]
[If you ask me, nobody should invite Su Jiaojiao to anything. Anyone who meets someone like her finds her repulsive.]
“Brother, are you unwilling? Actually, it is fine if I go call her myself. It is just that earlier…”
Before Shi Yan even finished his sentence, he lowered his head, putting on a terrified, frightened expression. The staff member who had asked Shi Yan to deliver the key earlier already felt a deep sense of guilt toward Shi Yan because of their own oversight, and at this sight, they couldn’t help chiming in to defend him:
“Teacher Shi, just help go upstairs and call her.”
Unexpectedly, the moment they spoke, they were hit by a death glare from Thin Jing. That staff member had no idea what they had done to offend this major financial backer, so they instantly shut their mouth and played dead.
Instead, Shi Ruan spoke up: “It is fine. I will go upstairs and call her.”
Watching Shi Ruan head upstairs, Thin Jing didn’t follow him. Instead, he stayed right where he was and waited, which gave Shi Yan the delusional illusion that Thin Jing was staying behind specifically for him.
Just as he was shuffling closer to Thin Jing with small, hesitant steps, he was frozen in place by the look in Thin Jing’s eyes, unable to gauge the man’s intentions and forced to stand rooted to the spot.
“President Thin, what kind of type do you like?”
[Here it comes, here it comes! The pure little wife takes the initiative!]
[President Thin, don’t be shy. We can all tell you like Shi Yan. After all, who doesn’t love a fragrant, soft wife?]
[President Thin didn’t even dare cast a glance at Shi Yan. Who can say this isn’t true love?]
Thin Jing had originally been expressionlessly staring in the direction of the stairs where Shi Ruan had gone up. Hearing Shi Yan’s question, he initially had no intention of answering, but then he thought that Shi Yan was Shi Ruan’s younger brother.
Perhaps he would chat with Shi Ruan about these kinds of topics?
“I like people with a soft personality and fair skin.”
In Thin Jing’s mind, this statement was practically one step away from blurting out Shi Ruan’s full name, but falling into Shi Yan’s ears, it sounded completely different. Wasn’t the man literally describing him?
To be fair, Shi Yan truly lacked even an ounce of self-awareness.
[No, is it just me who thinks the person President Thin is describing is Shi Ruan?]
[User above, while I ship President Thin and Shi Ruan too, AO is the true supreme path. I hope you return to the righteous path soon.]
[Tsk tsk tsk, look at these ambiguous pink bubbles.]
[I don’t care, the White Jade couple is real.]
Regardless of whether Thin Jing was talking about him or not, Shi Yan wore a shy smile. After dropping that line, Thin Jing resumed his original posture, ignoring Shi Yan’s little maneuvers entirely. Yet to the viewers watching, these actions were interpreted as Thin Jing tacitly confirming it.
[So this pair is officially locked in, right?]
[No way! Can I say I’m shipping Xu Rui and Shi Yan instead?]
[User above, me too! Are you telling me right now that my ship has already sunk? This is way too cruel for me.]
Right at that moment, Shi Ruan came downstairs accompanied by Song Xia. The moment he saw Shi Ruan descend, Thin Jing wanted to step closer, but seeing Song Xia trailing right behind him made him frown.
The moment Shi Ruan stepped out, he spotted Shi Yan’s smile. He knew all too well what that smile meant to Shi Yan.
After all, every time that smile appeared in the past, it meant Shi Yan had successfully engineered a situation where Shi Ruan got scolded or beaten up. Either way, it always resulted in Shi Ruan losing something important.
The most critical instance was when Shi Yan tore up Shi Ruan’s college admission letter, lied to Shi Ruan by claiming he simply failed his exams, and when Shi Ruan eventually found out, had the audacity to claim that even if Shi Ruan went now, it was already too late to enroll.
Shi Ruan had been away from home for so many years and hadn’t interacted with Shi Yan in ages, but the moment he caught sight of that smile, Shi Ruan still felt his heart skip a beat.
Subconsciously, Shi Ruan cast his gaze toward Thin Jing, only to find him staring right at him with a frown.
Logically speaking, Shi Ruan no longer had anything of value left for Shi Yan to scheme against, yet he had instinctively looked at Thin Jing.
It was at that exact moment that Shi Ruan realized: Had he already subconsciously categorized Thin Jing into the realm of important things?
Yet Thin Jing’s expression filled Shi Ruan’s heart with a wave of bitterness. He was merely a Beta; Thin Jing would surely never fall in love with him, right?
Thin Jing only saw Shi Ruan glance at him before instantly lowering his head, looking momentarily dazed. He couldn’t help wondering: Shi Ruan went upstairs for just a short while, so why did it feel like the two of them had grown distant again?
“Brother, did you not go call Teacher Su?”
Shi Yan asked with a look of feigned curiosity, inwardly thinking he had caught another one of Shi Ruan’s flaws, though this time, things wouldn’t go the way Shi Ruan wished.
“I told him not to go.”
Song Xia’s reasoning was much simpler. A delicate Beta with such a pleasant personality like Shi Ruan running over to Su Jiaojiao’s face would undoubtedly get chewed up alive.
At the mere thought of Su Jiaojiao, Song Xia shuddered involuntarily. People like that should just be left to the heavens; stop letting them terrorize the rest of us.
“Ah? If that is the case, would it be a bit inappropriate?”
“Oh, it is fine. Let us head out first.”
Shi Yan still wanted to keep pushing his green-tea persona, but Song Xia, despite being a woman, completely failed to pick up on it and simply tried to comfort Shi Yan instead.
Seeing that even Song Xia said so, Shi Yan naturally stopped pressing the issue. Instead, the sound of footsteps echoed from the stairwell once more.
“Where are you all going?”
“Teacher Xu, we are planning to go out and buy some daily necessities. Would you like to join us?”
Although Shi Yan had set his sights on Thin Jing, Thin Jing hadn’t shown any active interest, so he obviously couldn’t hang himself from a single tree. And lo and behold, Xu Rui was right there radiating goodwill.
In his imagination, Thin Jing should have been burning with jealousy, but instead, the man stealthily crept over to Shi Ruan’s side.
Catching the familiar scent of cedar, Shi Ruan realized that Thin Jing, who had been standing quite far away just a moment ago, was now standing right beside him.
Sensing that Shi Ruan looked like he had something to say, Thin Jing lowered his head, only for Shi Ruan to shake his head in response.
Shi Ruan didn’t know what he even wanted to say to him. Are you fond of my younger brother? Or do I like you?
With zero courage left in him at the present moment, Shi Ruan could only shake his head.
When they reached outside, Song Xia offered to drive herself and asked who wanted to ride with her. Thin Jing also drove his own car, wanting nothing more than for just the two of them to ride together.
Xu Rui, acting as a truly clueless nephew, marched straight over the moment he saw Thin Jing unlocking his car and lunged for the front passenger seat.
“Little uncle, your car is genuinely nice! How much did it cost?”
“Get out.”
Before he even finished his sentence, a single sentence from Thin Jing chased him right back out. Xu Rui felt as though his heart had been utterly shattered by his little uncle.
Reluctantly stepping down, he kept thinking to himself that he was going to spam the family group chat with the news of Thin Jing snoring in his sleep a hundred times over!
[Hahaha, poor nephew.]
[Nephew, is that a seat for you to sit in? That is a seat for your future aunt-in-law.]
[Not gonna lie, Xu Rui, do you even have any situational awareness at all?]
[Once you have a partner, who even needs a nephew anymore?]
Shi Ruan, who had originally intended to get into Thin Jing’s car, took those words to mean that Thin Jing disliked having other people in his car, so he pivoted and headed toward Song Xia’s vehicle instead.
“Yo, hop into the passenger seat so we can chat on the way.”
“Okay.”
Shi Ruan, who was originally prepared to climb into the back seat, was grabbed by Song Xia and hauled into the front. Seeing this unfold, Thin Jing’s face turned pitch black.
Shi Yan, wearing a shy expression, wanted nothing more than to sit in Thin Jing’s front passenger seat as well, only to be yanked away by the scruff of the neck by Xu Rui.
“Let’s go. Someone’s front passenger seat is far too precious; the two of us will just sit in the back.”
“Ah? Okay…”
Shi Yan put on an innocent, white-lotus face while agreeing aloud, though who knew what dark thoughts were churning in his head, as he was probably cursing Xu Rui for ruining his golden opportunity.
Still, Xu Rui was quite handsome too; although he wasn’t a top-tier Alpha, he was vastly superior to average Alphas.
Even if he couldn’t latch onto Thin Jing, securing Xu Rui would still guarantee Shi Ruan’s younger brother a comfortable lifetime.
Clinging to this train of thought, Shi Yan willingly and cheerfully sat in the back with Xu Rui, choosing not to brush away Xu Rui’s hand when the man casually held his.
Yet this entire scene was interpreted by the live chat in an entirely different light:
[Oh ho, the nephew snatched the little uncle’s wife?]
[User above, how is this not a complete moral collapse?]
[Xu Rui: You won’t let me sit in the front passenger seat? Fine, then I’ll just snatch your person directly.]
[The ship I’m sailing just came back to life! I knew Xu Rui and Shi Yan had something shady going on.]
[I think Shi Ruan and Song Xia have great chemistry too, don’t they?]
Just as Shi Ruan settled into his seat, Song Xia chimed in with a warning:
“Fasten your seatbelts, everyone, and watch how big sister takes you flying!”
Banxia Novels, bringing you endless joy.