After successfully kissing the male lead, Qiao Qingman decisively pulled away from his lips.
She immediately covered her mouth and looked at the man in front of her with caution.
After waiting for a moment and seeing that the man did not deeply kiss her like before, Qiao Qingman even felt a slight sense of discomfort.
Then, realizing that the man was currently sleepwalking, she suddenly understood.
“I almost forgot. You can’t kiss me right now.”
Qiao Qingman happily took a lollipop out of her trouser pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into her mouth.
The sweet taste neutralized the bitterness of the bitter gourd coffee. In a good mood, Qiao Qingman patted Gu Qianshi on the shoulder, lowered her voice, and said, “Gu Qianshi, I’ll be waiting for you.”
“If you come to find me on your own during the day…”
Then she would really have to sit down and sort things out properly with the system.
The system, having silently understood the implication behind its host’s words: […]
Before Qiao Qingman could finish speaking, the drowsiness that had been briefly suppressed by rest and coffee surged back up.
She did not linger any longer and quickly left the Gu family villa, driving away.
In her moment of excitement, she had completely forgotten that she would get sleepy after kissing the male lead.
No, this was not good. She missed her bed more and more.
But then again, this bitter gourd coffee worked pretty well. The sleepiness in her body was not as overwhelming as it had been after the kiss two hours earlier.
It seemed she would need to keep bitter gourd coffee on hand in the future.
White peach–flavored lollipops too.
She had completely forgotten that at the place where she had just lingered, a pale green lollipop wrapper had fallen onto the ground.
After she left, Gu Qingshan raised his hand, removed the small red flower from the top of his head, and casually tossed it aside.
A trace of bitterness lingered in his mouth, accompanied by a faint, dull pain at the tip of his tongue.
Thinking back on the kisses over the past few days, if he had still harbored doubts about Qiao Qingman at the beginning, then now, Gu Qingshan was completely certain that Qiao Qingman absolutely did not like Gu Qianshi the way she claimed.
Otherwise, how could she have let such a perfect opportunity go? How could she leave him, a “deeply loved man” in the middle of sleepwalking, alone, kiss him once, and then run off?
And the day before yesterday at the bar, she had also kissed him once and immediately covered her mouth and tried to run. Then, upon seeing Gu Qianshi at the entrance, she had turned back in anger and stepped on his foot. Later, between Chen Leyan and Gu Qianshi, she had rejected Gu Qianshi without hesitation.
And she was only willing to spend one thousand yuan to buy Gu Qianshi’s itinerary?
Summing it up, she not only resisted Gu Qianshi but had also repeatedly mistaken him for Gu Qianshi.
She even mischievously put a small red flower on his head. And after he mentioned the white peach flavor on her lips, she deliberately drank bitter coffee?
This Qiao Qingman was really…
“Gu Qianshi, I’ll be waiting for you.”
“If you come to find me on your own tomorrow…”
The words Qiao Qingman had said before leaving echoed in Gu Qingshan’s mind.
Waiting for you?
Come find her on his own?
What did Qiao Qingman mean? Why would she say such things to a Gu Qianshi who was sleepwalking?
Was she certain that Gu Qianshi would look for her during the day?
Why?
According to the investigation results, Gu Qianshi did not like Qiao Qingman and would not take the initiative to look for her.
Even the incident at the bar had only happened by coincidence. Gu Qianshi had been stepped on for no apparent reason by a girl who liked him. Unwilling to accept it, he had only then…
Gu Qingshan realized that he was finding it increasingly difficult to understand Qiao Qingman.
At this moment, a rustling sound came from the grass not far away. Gu Qingshan’s expression did not change as he calmly glanced at the man lying on the ground, who looked almost exactly like him.
This was his elder brother, born ten minutes before him, and also the brother whose childhood had been vastly different from his own.
Moments later, Gu Qingshan lifted his foot and walked toward the fence. After taking two steps, he turned back, picked up the small red flower and the fallen lollipop wrapper, then turned around and left in long strides.
After leaving the Gu family villa, once Secretary Jiang opened the car door for him and he got in, Gu Qingshan gave a calm instruction. “Take care of the surveillance footage.”
Secretary Jiang responded smoothly, “Yes, President Gu.”
Several hours later, Gu Qianshi was awakened by the cold.
At this moment, dawn had just broken. The first ray of light pierced through the clouds and fell from the sky. Gu Qianshi groggily opened his eyes and discovered that he was lying in green grass.
His body was icy cold, and his thin sleepwear was damp with morning dew.
A trace of confusion flashed through his mind. He had been sleeping perfectly fine. How had he ended up here?
A gust of cold wind blew past. Gu Qianshi sneezed hard and shivered all over.
“Young Master? Young Master, why are you here?”
The butler, Uncle Chen, who always woke up the earliest, hurried over with a shocked expression. Seeing that Gu Qianshi’s clothes were damp, he was even more puzzled.
Worried, he urged, “Your clothes are all wet. Hurry and go back to your room to change.”
Gu Qianshi did not answer the butler’s question.
With a cold expression, he returned to the bedroom, took a hot shower, and once he felt comfortable, immediately had the butler bring up the surveillance footage.
What he saw nearly stunned him. He had actually sleepwalked and jumped down from the balcony in the middle of the night?
Gu Qianshi was completely baffled. He could sleepwalk? Since when did he sleepwalk?
Yet the surveillance footage clearly recorded that at the spot where he fell from the balcony last night, there had been no one else besides him.
That ruled out the possibility that someone had knocked him unconscious and then thrown him out as a prank.
What he could not understand the most was that if he had sleepwalked and jumped down, why did his entire body not hurt at all?
*
Because the fifth day’s kissing mission had successfully checked in at a little past one in the morning, and tomorrow’s kiss could be checked in any time before twelve o’clock at night the following day.
With no KPI hanging over her head for the next two days, Qiao Qingman was in an exceptionally good mood.
Ever since her consciousness awakened, she had either been kissing the male lead or on her way to kiss the male lead.
Today, she could finally take a proper rest.
And conveniently wait for the male lead at home.
Yet by the time night fell and the clock hands crept closer and closer to midnight, forget about the male lead coming over to kiss her. She did not even receive a single phone call.
What was going on?
Had she misunderstood something?
Unlike Qiao Qingman’s confusion and the faint frustration brewing in her heart, the system was clearly much more relaxed: [Host, I told you the male lead doesn’t have a mission, right? I think he’s just a scumbag.]
A scumbag?
Then why was he not a scumbag before her consciousness awakened?
Back then, how many times had she thrown herself at him for the sake of that ridiculous love-brained persona? Had he ever given her a proper look even once?
It did not make sense at all.
The more Qiao Qingman thought about it, the more stifled she felt.
At the same time.
A low-key luxury sedan was driving into an enormous landscaped villa estate.
In the back seat of the car, Gu Qingshan was flipping through the documents in his hands.
Glancing at the sky outside the window, now completely dark, the man’s gaze shifted slightly, as if something had occurred to him.
Secretary Jiang turned around at that moment to report, “President Gu, Gu Qianshi stayed at the Gu Group all day today. In the evening, he had dinner with President Xu of Changyue International. He’s already back at Rongjing Villa now. He didn’t go anywhere else.”
Although his boss had arranged for people to keep an eye on Gu Qianshi, he rarely asked for updates.
He did not know what was going on today, but his boss had instructed him to keep track of Gu Qianshi’s movements at all times.
Looking again at his boss, Gu Qingshan, who simply gave a detached “Mm” with no expression and looked toward a certain direction.
Gu Qingshan had thought that Gu Qianshi might go look for Qiao Qingman today, just as she had said. Yet unexpectedly, it was as if Gu Qianshi had completely forgotten about Qiao Qingman.
Would Qiao Qingman be disappointed?
And what kind of relationship existed between the two of them that outsiders did not know about?
The man’s eyes darkened.
And not far from the direction Gu Qingshan was gazing toward, Qiao Qingman was lying on her bed, conflicted as she watched the time tick past midnight.
The male lead really did not come?!
What was going on?
Qiao Qingman tossed and turned in confusion until late into the night, sleeping the entire time fitfully.
When she finally woke up the next day, it was already time for lunch.
At the dining table, Aunt Zhuang saw that she had slept for most of the day and asked worriedly, “Miss, are you alright?”
Qiao Qingman replied, “I’m fine. What’s wrong?”
Aunt Zhuang, who had vaguely noticed several days ago that the miss had been unusually sleepy lately, said, “Nothing, nothing.”
Then she took out the chef instructor’s business card she had prepared earlier. Seeing that Qiao Qingman had finished eating, she smiled and said, “Miss, Chef Chen said he’s available anytime to teach you cooking, as long as you need him.”
Qiao Qingman paused while drinking her milk.
After thinking for a moment, without looking at the card, she said, “Then tomorrow.”
Anyway, once the chef instructor arrived and she “spent” that large sum of money, this plot would be completed.
Quite simple.
It was just a pity about her money. Boohoohoo.
Then again, since the male lead had not come to find her yesterday, did that mean she would need to find another way to kiss the male lead today? But where would the male lead go today?
Alright, that made her even more depressed.
An hour later, intending to clear her head before thinking about the kissing mission, Qiao Qingman went to a high-end private club.
The environment here was tranquil. Red, delicate flowers stood gracefully amid lush greenery. A cool summer breeze blew through, carrying fragrance under the blazing sunlight.
Orange-red clouds at the horizon reflected the fiery sunset onto the lake’s surface, the rippling water dazzlingly bright.
Qiao Qingman admired the scenery for a while, took photos, and posted them to her Moments.
She accidentally tapped the location tag and sent it.
Then she headed toward the restaurant inside the private club.
She did not notice at all that not far behind her, a man’s eyes lit up with a trace of amusement when he saw her.
“Brother Zhuo, isn’t that the chick who rejected you at the bar a couple of days ago?” A man beside him patted Zhuo Junhuan on the shoulder, grinning maliciously.
Zhuo Junhuan and this man were both spoiled rich kids from prominent families. Their private lives were chaotic, and they had never suffered losses over women.
A few nights ago at the bar, Zhuo Junhuan had merely found Qiao Qingman eye-catching and used losing a bet as an excuse to strike up a conversation. Not only did the woman give him no face at all, he had even been unceremoniously thrown out by the bar’s security guards.
Because of that incident, he had been laughed at by his buddies for several days.
This was unbearable.
Even if the bar owner was mysterious, even if his family had warned him not to provoke the bar owner.
This was not that bar, and the bar owner was not here.
“Wait, everyone who comes here is rich. Who did this woman come in with?” Zhuo Junhuan’s companion, Shen Gaolang, said gleefully.
“Brother Zhuo, want me to help you ask around? My cousin is the manager of this club.”
“And I’ve got some stock on hand too. If you want it, Brother Zhuo…”
Zhuo Junhuan impatiently slapped away the hand draped over his shoulder, but he did not refuse.
Shen Gaolang immediately laughed and leaned back in, slinging an arm around Zhuo Junhuan as they walked forward. “Don’t worry, Brother Zhuo. With my cousin here, whose information can’t we get? What thing can’t we—”
“When the woman eats that stuff, won’t everything be up to you then, Brother Zhuo?”
What they did not know was that as the two of them left, a man wearing a dark, hand-tailored custom suit appeared at the spot they had just occupied.
The man’s elegant bearing and perfectly tailored dark suit radiated an indescribable, powerful aura.
Coupled with his flawless, refined features, he instantly drew the attention of guests passing through the flower garden.
“Find out who those two are.”
The man ignored the heated gazes around him. His voice was calm, without the slightest emotional fluctuation.
“Yes, President Gu,” Secretary Jiang replied respectfully, his heart sinking.
It looked like the club manager was going to be replaced.
He needed to notify HR to contact headhunters as soon as possible.
“By the way, President Gu, President Zhuo of Zhuo Group is waiting for you at the club again. He wants to meet you.”
“And Gu Qianshi is also in the club restaurant.”
On the other side.
Qiao Qingman arrived at the restaurant and chose a window seat with a view of the scenery.
“What would you like to order?” the staff asked politely.
“Salted egg yolk pepper crab, caramel profiterole tower…”
After ordering, Qiao Qingman picked up her phone to admire the Moments post she had shared.
There were quite a few likes underneath, including from her parents, who were busy working overseas.
Soon, the dishes she ordered were served.
The presentation, aroma, and colors were all perfect, immediately whetting her appetite.
Just as Qiao Qingman was about to put her phone away, a server came over and placed a dessert on her table, saying to her, “Hello, Miss Qiao. This dessert was sent to you by Mr. Gu.”
Mr. Gu? What Mr. Gu?
Qiao Qingman instinctively looked up and saw a familiar figure.
The male lead was wearing a well-tailored black suit. Opposite him sat another man in formal attire.
They appeared to have just arrived. The man across from him was respectfully shaking his hand.
Gu… Gu Qianshi?
Why was he here?
Wait. Qiao Qingman lowered her head and looked at her phone screen. On her WeChat Moments, her location was clearly displayed.
Could it be that the male lead Gu Qianshi saw her Moments and came here specifically because of it? Did he really have some unspeakable kissing mission?
Or was it simply a coincidence that he happened to have an appointment here to discuss work?
Then why did he send her dessert?