The World Is Collapsing
Yongliang immediately pulled away from Ren Jian's embrace and ran out of the room. What just happened? Did Ren Jian just kiss his forehead a-and cheek? Yongliang could feel his cheeks burning up as his hands cupped his face. He kept running with a red face until he reached his room.
Ren Jian, who was left in the music room, finally snapped out and started chasing after Yongliang. The servants around the residence had a fun time watching this interaction.
Thanks to his increasing stamina due to exercise, Ren Jian could not catch up to him at all. The door was slammed shut before Ren Jian could even enter.
"Huff... Huff... Liangliang, open the door... Huff...Huff..."
His forehead was leaning onto the door as he was out of breath. Knocking continuously but there was no response. Ren Jian could only plead more earnestly.
"Liangliang... don't be angry... I'm sorry for kissing you without permission. Come out and punish me however you want, ok? Don't shut me out, Liangliang."
"Jian-ge..."
"Liangliang, please come out and talk to me..."
Hearing that pleading tone of voice made Yongliang's heart twist. It was not that he did not want to go out, but his head was a mess that could not process anything at the moment. He caught his breath and leaned his back on the door.
"Can you... give me some time?"
"..."
There was a five-minute of silence before a sigh could be heard.
"Ok, Liangliang. I'm sorry... remember to text me?"
Yongliang sighed in relief. His heart also softened at Ren Jian's compromise. He never thought he would feel bad for a male lead of any world. He grabbed the doorknob and turned it open. Revealing a head peeking out of the door, Ren Jian's brows slightly knitted looking at the cute gesture.
"I will. Just give me some time to think..."
Yongliang lowered his eyes. He did not dare to look at the expression on Ren Jian's face. He knew that he would give in the moment he saw that damn tender eyes.
Ren Jian could only turn his back to leave. However, his steps were hesitant as he kept looking back pitifully at Yongliang. A small laugh was let out and Ren Jian's face brightened. Yongliang waved his hand.
"Bye bye, Jian-ge."
"Bye bye, Liangliang."
Yongliang watched until he could not see Ren Jian's shadow anymore. A long sigh was let out again as he closed the door. He jumped on the bed face down hugging the nearby pillow. His hand touched his forehead and slid down to his cheek. The soft touch was still vivid in his mind as his face turned red again. He took a deep breath to calm himself.
"What to do, what to do... Will the plot collapse or not? It turns out that Ren Jian likes me... But, I know how the female lead and male lead got together and it is still possible for them to continue the plot."
Moreover, he never knew what would happen if the world collapsed. All he had ever done before was to stick to tasks issued by the system and died as issued by the system.
His head was muddled as he thought of all the possibilities before feeling a vibration in his jeans pocket.
*Sir, I have found the evidence. You can check it in the email attachments.*
He jumped onto the chair and immediately check the email. As he finished, he leaned back and smiled devilishly. He had already put away those other thoughts.
"I need to check how things progress first before doing anything hastily. That damn system did not explain anything to me ever. Ugh."
"... Now that I think about it. Can I still access the system shop? I accumulated quite a lot of points after all. Hey! System! Open the shop!"
[System Shop is here at your service.]
Yongliang's eyes immediately sparkled when a screen appeared out of thin air. On it were different catalogs from weapons to potions to miscellaneous items. Ho, he did not even need the system's permission to open the shop anymore. This manual mode was indeed great!
After making that wonderful discovery, Yongliang soon forgot about his promise to Ren Jian. Meanwhile, Ren Jian glued his eyes to the phone screen all night long.
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[Lai Yongliang: All the malicious rumors will come to light sooner or later.]
After updating his status on social media, he turned off the phone to marinate the scandal again. The public continued to be in a frenzy. Their opinions were divided with one being patient to let the truth come to light and one condemning him for using his power to shut up the victims.
One particular person felt incredibly panicked. She kept biting her fingernail and looking at the screen in front of her. A call was connected.
"Goddess Sun, to what do I owe the pleasure?" A disguised voice sounded.
"Anon, are you sure that that news would never get traced back to me?"
"Of course! Are you doubting my ability? Don't worry, he did wrong so he should be responsible for it. I just wish that the victims would speak up so we can persecute him."
"Y-yeah, but we can't force the victims if they are not comfortable. They must have been traumatized."
"Goddess Sun is too kind. Anyway, I will be off if that's it." The call was hung up immediately.
Sun Xia sighed in relief. She was lucky enough to have one of the strongest hackers be a fan of hers. That person helped her plenty of times to expose other rivals of hers. She never got tracked but this time, her opponent was the Lai family. She never noticed how powerful they actually were until she saw the discussion forums.
She was having cold sweat when she learned of the Lai family history. She regretted poking into them but strangely, they had not made any moves yet. She needed to have someone strong to protect her when the Lai family decided to come after her. What kind of plan could she use this time?
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The morning after that eventful day, Yongliang woke up to 32 missed calls and 42 text messages. The contents were so sappy and romantic that it made his skin crawl like 'You're the sun of my life, I swear to never wrong you.' or 'I miss you so much, you can hit me if you are still mad'. However, he still read through it all while laughing at this melted iceberg.
For this next week, he just stayed at home and only left to visit his grandma. Grandma Lai was looking a lot better and she would be discharged soon. Yongliang needed to deal with the plot before she got discharged.
During this week, gifts were sent to his room every day with some handwritten cards to express Ren Jian's sincerity to him. Yongliang would laugh every time he received one but he still carefully put it away in his desk. Each evening, he would be given a bouquet of tulip flowers and accompanied for dinner by Ren Jian. His room became a tulip flower shop.
Due to the excessive amount of gifts, the secretary had been busy trying to organize it for the president. It was all neatly wrapped and stacked with notes on which day to deliver. Sun Xia spotted the secretary pushing a cart of gifts and followed over to ask.
"Are these the company rewards? It's not the year-end party yet?"
The secretary looked at her for a while before answering
"These are the president's presents for someone, you don't need to know, Ms. Sun."
Sun Xia's eyes became wide open. No one had ever received a personal present from the president before. Did a new rival appear when she was busy dealing with the piggie?
"Do I have the honor to know this person? They must be extremely important for all these gifts to belong to them."
"Hm... I could say that it's for his beloved." Secretary just thought of the president's happy expression when he was choosing the gifts. It was scary because he did not even know the president could even have that expression.
Sun Xia stood still at the revelation. She was busy dealing with an obstacle and a rival came out of nowhere. This would not do, she had to know who it was.
She excused herself and retreated to the practice room. Then she whipped out her phone and called someone that had been away for three months. It was the second male lead, Duan Jinhai.
One of the reasons for Ren Entertainment's prosperity was Duan Jinhai. He had godly acting skills as well as an unparallel look, not counting the male lead. He was also friends with Yongliang and Ren Jian since his high school years. In the original plot, Jinhai would help her whenever Ren Jian was not present. However, he had to leave to film a project abroad for months, and when he came back, the leads were already together.
However, the plot changed already as the leads were still not together when he was coming back in two days.
"Oh, Sun Xia! It's rare for you to call me." A sunshine and cheerful voice answered.
"I'm sorry, Jinhai-ge. I have been busy lately with a lot of upcoming projects. How have you been?" Sun Xia replied in a soft voice. She knew that Ren Jian and Duan Jinhai were close friends by the way how he could freely come and go from the president's suite.
"That's great for you, it means that you are thriving! I'm coming back soon so tell me if there's any changes that I should know?"
"Any changes...hm... Oh, I heard that the president seemed to be interested in someone. There was a mountain of gifts to be sent on his behalf."
"What?! Ren Jian is interested in someone?!" A thud sounded from the other side of the phone. It seemed like he stood up to fast and the chair fell.
"I think so but I'm not sure at all. You know president Ren, he is a private person." Sun Xia had no way to know about Ren Jian's movement, even Anon had to surrender trying to find out his information. The only way to know was to let Duan Jinhai, this busybody, pester Ren Jian to find out the truth.