The next day, torrential rain poured down continuously. Qiao Qingman opened her eyes in a daze, and the sound of heavy rain striking the window glass echoed by her ears.
It was raining heavily? It really was raining heavily?
Last night, the moon had been bright and the stars had filled the sky. And now, starting from early morning, there was a torrential downpour?
Sure enough, the power of the plot was truly formidable.
Wuwuwu, it was raining so heavily and she still had to follow the plot. She still had to get her “loving bento” thrown away. She still had to “redden her eyes,” still had to get drenched in the rain, and still had to gaze tenderly at a male lead who liked the female lead.
Wasn’t this too miserable?
Then the system told her, [Host, in the book, the plot of delivering the loving bento takes place before lunch. Host, do your best.]
Qiao Qingman listlessly lifted the blanket and got out of bed, walking toward the bathroom. [Do my best at what?]
System: [Making the loving bento.]
Qiao Qingman: [……That? Easy.]
Ten minutes later, after doing a simple wash-up, Qiao Qingman went downstairs to eat breakfast.
When she was almost done eating, she drank the last sip of milk and said to Aunt Zhuang, “Oh right, Aunt Zhuang, later please help me pack this.”
Aunt Zhuang looked shocked. “? Miss, pack this?”
“Yes, this one. Just put it into a takeaway container,” Qiao Qingman replied.
After thinking for a moment, she added, “Remember, the lunchbox packaging needs to be a bit more refined.”
Although Aunt Zhuang was curious, she still responded, “Alright.”
The system, however, was completely stunned. [Host, you’re really using this as the loving bento to give to the male lead?]
Qiao Qingman: [Yes. Anyway, no matter what’s inside, it’ll get thrown into the trash by the male lead. Why waste food? Don’t you think so?]
To be honest, if it were not for the fact that the bento container would be seen by the male lead, she would have liked to use a disposable takeaway box. And even with the things Aunt Zhuang packed, she still felt it was a pity for them to be thrown into the trash.
System: [……]
It felt like something was off, yet there was no way to refute it.
*
An hour later, Qiao Qingman arrived outside the Gu Group office building.
According to the plot, she was supposed to wait in the car and only get out after she saw the male lead, Gu Qianshi, appear.
However, just as she was about to catch up to the male lead, she saw him walk into a cafe.
Qiao Qingman followed him to the cafe. As soon as she reached the entrance, she saw the male lead sitting face-to-face with a girl.
The male lead looked at the girl with a gentle smile. The two chatted and laughed together. Even though their gestures carried a sense of polite unfamiliarity, the emotions in their eyes shimmered under the lights like scattered starlight, enchanting and dazzling.
This immediately made Qiao Qingman, who deeply loved the male lead, sense that something was off.
After that came the plot where her bento was thrown away and she vented all her anger onto the female lead.
After checking the plot once more, Qiao Qingman went along with it and silently memorized the lines several times, sitting in the car and fussing over the “injury” on her hand.
Just now, in order to match the plot, she had no choice but to wrap her right hand up like a rice dumpling. At that moment, Qiao Qingman heard the system remind her, [Host, the male lead has appeared.]
OK, showtime!
Qiao Qingman took a deep breath, picked up the bento bag, and got out of the car.
Sure enough, as soon as she walked into the cafe, she saw the male lead sitting face-to-face with a very beautiful and refined girl.
Gu Qianshi was gazing intently at the girl in front of him.
The female lead, Su Xia, was stunningly beautiful.
She wore a star-blue fitted dress that set off her snow-white skin, gentle and sweet.
“Yiyi asked me to go shopping with her and said the coffee here is really good. She insisted that I come and try it. In the end, she herself ended up being late for a long time.”
Su Xia’s voice was clear, soft, and sweet, very much like moonlight on a summer night, gentle and pleasant to the ear. “Luckily, I ran into Mr. Gu here, and Mr. Gu was willing to sit with me and chat a bit. Otherwise, I would have been super bored.”
Hearing this, Gu Qianshi said, “I didn’t expect that I would see Miss Su again so soon.”
“And Yiyi told me to look after you a bit.”
The implication was that he was accompanying her here because his cousin had asked him to.
Su Xia smiled slightly and changed the topic. “If Mr. Gu doesn’t mind, you can just call me Su Xia, or Xiaxia. Always calling me ‘Miss Su’ feels too distant.”
At her words, Gu Qianshi’s gaze flickered slightly.
But he did not respond to Su Xia’s suggestion.
Gu Qianshi clearly felt that although they had only met briefly last time, he kept inexplicably thinking of the face in front of him that was stunning at first sight.
He had even, after leaving the banquet hall last time, caught sight of a figure that resembled Su Xia. Before he could react, he had already driven off in pursuit.
Just like today, when he had accidentally glimpsed Su Xia’s figure, his feet had subconsciously carried him into this cafe.
At this moment, his heart was beating uncontrollably fast. His deep gaze seemed fixed on Su Xia.
There also seemed to be some strange emotion surging endlessly within his body, trying to break free.
This feeling was far too unfamiliar and uncontrollable. Gu Qianshi unconsciously tightened his grip on the coffee cup.
His deep eyes were dark and unreadable.
Across from him, seeing the man fall silent, Su Xia’s smile grew even sweeter.
She seemed completely unbothered by his lack of romantic responsiveness. While using sugar tongs to pick up a cube of sugar from the plate and drop it into her coffee, stirring it gently, she said, “I was just worried… that I might be delaying Mr. Gu’s work.”
She deliberately emphasized “Mr. Gu,” hoping Gu Qianshi would hear the distance in the form of address and seriously consider her “suggestion” to change how he addressed her.
Unfortunately, all she heard was his steady reply, “It won’t,” without any mention at all of the form of address.
Su Xia felt particularly displeased inside. She lowered her eyelashes to conceal her emotions. When she looked up again, she was already smiling sweetly. “That’s good, then.”
She took a sip of the coffee and frowned slightly. “Mm, this coffee is so bitter.”
Then she shyly fixed her gaze on the sugar cubes in front of Gu Qianshi and said somewhat embarrassedly, “Mr. Gu, could you lend me your sugar cubes?”
For a moment, it seemed as though some pleasant sentiment was flowing through the air.
Their eyes met, and Gu Qianshi froze slightly. “…You can.”
He could not help but feel puzzled. Were there really girls who were this soft, whether in the way they spoke or in their actions and behavior?
Gu Qianshi did not have many girls around him. His cousin Chen Yiyi was carefree and blunt, and then there was Qiao Qingman, his pursuer…
Strange. Why did he bring up Qiao Qingman?
Meeting the gentle, clear smile of the girl across from him, he averted his gaze from Su Xia, picked up a sugar cube with the tongs, and prepared to place it onto her saucer.
Just then.
“Gu Qianshi—”
As a food bag was placed on the table, a familiar figure abruptly appeared in Gu Qianshi’s line of sight.
He looked up and saw Qiao Qingman, who should not have been here at all. She cast a hostile glance at Su Xia, then pouted and asked in an aggrieved, wronged tone, “Who is she?”
Her expression was coquettish. Her voice was soft and delicate, carrying a hint of lazy sweetness.
Natural and not affected, making people’s hearts soften in an instant.
Gu Qianshi, who had thought just a second ago that Qiao Qingman was not soft at all: “……”
In fact, for this short line of dialogue, Qiao Qingman had practiced in front of the mirror countless times before leaving.
Only after gaining the system’s approval did she patiently move on to practicing the next micro-expression.
Even so, because she had snarled at this man only yesterday, Qiao Qingman still felt somewhat uncomfortable having to face the male lead again with the posture of a devoted admirer.
Fortunately, Gu Qianshi did not notice.
After a second of silence, Gu Qianshi suppressed the irritation rising in his heart and said, “Qiao Qingman? What does this have to do with you? What are you here for?”
“Does it have to do with me? You tell me it has to do with me…”
She was about to continue, but when Qiao Qingman noticed Gu Qianshi’s icy gaze, she felt a stifled ache. She sniffed, unwilling but still forcing herself to swallow the rest of her words.
Then she took the exquisitely packed lunchbox out of the bag and pushed it toward Gu Qianshi. “Gu Qianshi, th-this is a loving bento I made with my own hands for you. Y-you’ll definitely like it.”
The girl’s expression was earnest, her gaze burning with fervor, and her right hand was still wrapped in thick gauze.
At a glance, it was obvious that she had injured her hand on purpose while learning to cook for him.
Gu Qianshi’s movement with the sugar tongs paused, and his brows knitted tightly.
A loving bento?
What was this Qiao Qingman trying to do?
First, she had stood him up for no reason, then yesterday she had run the moment she saw him, yet she had waited in the underground parking garage for an entire day, and even got angry at him?
And today she had come all this way to deliver a loving bento, and even injured her hand while cooking?
Was she messing with him?
Gu Qianshi heard Qiao Qingman say in a wronged voice, “I specially made this rich and nutritious lunch. Gu Qianshi, even if you don’t like me, can you at least taste my cooking, okay?”
Gu Qianshi: “……”
As if the person who had nearly run him over with her car yesterday and then went “bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh” at him was not Qiao Qingman.
And Qiao Qingman, under the system’s prompts, continued to build up her emotions and recite her lines. “I got a blister from being scalded while making your bento. It hurt so, so much.”
Gu Qianshi really did not want to hear Qiao Qingman continue.
He spoke helplessly. “Take it back. I won’t eat it.”
In truth, the hand holding the tongs unconsciously tightened.
Even his tone was, without him realizing it, gentler than usual.
Qiao Qingman, however, was immersed in her own thoughts and pressed on.
She held up one finger. “Gu Qianshi, can you just take one bite, okay? Just one bite?”
“Do you not understand human language? Qiao Qingman, you…” Gu Qianshi snapped irritably as he looked up.
Then he saw that Qiao Qingman’s beautiful peach-blossom eyes were filled with sour pain.
The corners of her eyes lifted slightly. Her fair skin was tinted with a faint blush, like a butterfly under the moonlight of a summer night, wings broken yet still desperately struggling to fly, making people ache for her.
In an instant, Gu Qianshi’s remaining words caught in his throat.
At the same time, in the back seat of a low-key luxury sedan parked not far outside the cafe, Gu Qingshan watched the scene inside. His deep eyes, like a cold, dark pool, were filled with harsh chill.
He had only told her his name yesterday, yet today she had once again run to Gu Qianshi’s side?
And she was giving him a loving bento, only to be rejected?
Qiao Qingman, do you even know who the person you kiss every day really is?
Or was it precisely because she knew he was Gu Qingshan, not Gu Qianshi, that her attitude had suddenly made a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn?
Forget gentle words. She had even worn an openly displeased expression and, in a stiff tone almost like an order, unilaterally set restrictions on where they could kiss in the future.
The atmosphere inside the car grew oppressively heavy without anyone noticing.
Gu Qingshan tapped the document in his hand again and again. The crisp, low sound enveloped the enclosed, narrow space. The taut, suffocating tension circulated rapidly.
Secretary Jiang, seated in the front passenger seat, kept his expression tight. He now clearly understood that it was fortunate he had reported Gu Qianshi’s meeting with Qiao Qingman today. Although he did not even dare to breathe right now, if he had concealed it, he likely would not be able to remain by his boss’s side any longer.
If he had not known beforehand, it would have been one thing. But after personally witnessing yesterday how much his boss valued Miss Qiao, he did not dare to make decisions on his own.
What Secretary Jiang had never expected, however, was that Miss Qiao Qingman would have such a great impact on his boss.
Gu Qingshan had always been cold and indifferent. In the business world, he was ruthless and deeply calculating.
No matter where he stood, he was a man who could neither be ignored nor easily touched. Although he rarely appeared in public, whenever he did, he was an unattainable existence.
Secretary Jiang had always believed that for such a man at the top of the pyramid, aside from that father-and-son pair, there had never been anyone who could make his boss care so particularly.
Yet he had not expected…
Having followed Gu Qingshan for many years, Secretary Jiang had never seen his gaze so dark and icy.
Inside the entire car, no one dared to make a sound.
It was like a tightly stretched layer of thick ice. With the slightest breeze, the ice would shatter, and those standing upon it would fall into boundless cold.
“Jiang Xinjing, there’s no need to delay the actions against the Gu Group any longer. Proceed to the next step.”
From the back seat came his boss’s voice, devoid of warmth.
Like a sword suspended high atop a snowy mountain peak, it made one shudder instantly.
Secretary Jiang’s heart tightened. He carefully responded, “Yes, President Gu.”
He silently took out his phone and relayed his boss’s instructions.
After giving the order, Gu Qingshan continued to watch in the direction of the cafe.
At this moment, Gu Qianshi was still stirred by the sight of the girl before him, whose delicate, fragile appearance made one’s heart ache. Yet immediately afterward, he was forcefully restrained by a familiar, helpless, inexplicable force.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, Gu Qianshi inadvertently caught sight of the girl sitting opposite him. Her soft brows were slightly furrowed, and her gaze was burning yet bitter. The man suddenly realized that this was Qiao Qingman playing hard to get again.
His heart choked.
Recalling the way she had been cold one moment and warm the next toward him over the past few days, Gu Qianshi completely lost the patience to continue playing such a childish game.
He picked up the lunchbox at hand and, without hesitation, threw it forcefully into the trash can by his feet. His voice carried obvious irritation. “Qiao Qingman, do you not understand human language? I said I won’t eat it. Can you stop bothering—”
Before he could finish the rest of his sentence, a soft “bang~” sounded. Gu Qianshi, unwilling to look any longer at Qiao Qingman’s tearful expression, turned his head and saw that the bento lunchbox tossed into the trash had flipped open. Something seemed to have rolled out and reached his feet.
Gu Qianshi reflexively looked down at his feet.
Then several white steamed buns came into view.
Stea-steamed buns?
What did this mean? The bento she had supposedly painstakingly made for him, the one that had scalded her hand and left it blistered and wrapped like a rice dumpling, the loving bento that had almost moved him just now, was actually just a few steamed buns?
And nothing but steamed buns?
Gu Qianshi nearly laughed out of anger.
The remaining word “me” died completely in his throat.
After a long moment, Gu Qianshi, caught between laughter and tears, turned his head. Looking at Qiao Qingman, whose expression was awkward and whose eyes still held traces of bitter emotion, he steadied himself before finally forcing out his voice, word by word:
“Miss Qiao Qingman, this is what you call a ‘rich and nutritious loving bento made with your own hands’? It’s certainly rich—”
The last few words were spoken through clenched teeth.
Qiao Qingman, who had finally managed to brew up a sense of bitterness by thinking about how she had spent so much money on Gu Qianshi, the male lead: “……”
Gu Qingshan, who had just been about to get out of the car but happened to receive an important phone call: “?”