Chapter 109 unlocks a new side quest.

The next day, Wen Chu learned that Jiang Xing was away on a business trip and would not be back for a month.

Wen Chu knew without even thinking who did it.

Now, if she wants to finalize a plan, she has no choice but to go to Lu Ming.

But she remained professional, learning from how people had treated her before: talking about work was fine, but talking about feelings was something she would ignore.

She officially took over the technical roadmap for the project, going all out and holding frequent meetings with her staff.

The robotics project began to move forward steadily and rapidly.

Whenever Lu Ming sat in the audience and watched the woman stand on the stage, recovering to an even better state than before in such a short time, being neither humble nor arrogant, and professionally conducting a meeting with her employees, the corners of his lips couldn't help but turn up, and it was hard for him to take his eyes off her.

The favorability progress bar is still moving forward little by little.

However, he had some doubts. Wen Chu had no work experience before, yet she handled things with unexpected skill and composure. This was not the kind of demeanor and ability a newcomer who had graduated from university less than two years ago should have.

For the next month, they spent all their time together, discussing plans, holding meetings, and exchanging ideas with other experts.

Even outside of work, Lu Ming relentlessly sent Wen Chu flowers and gifts, and booked different restaurants for her meals every time—a typical way for straight men to pursue someone. When Wen Chu wasn't busy, she would leave work early to avoid being bothered, but the other man was always one step ahead, and his scheming was also getting more sophisticated.

This scheming man would use the excuse that everyone had been working overtime lately to organize team-building dinners. At this point, even if Wen Chu wanted to refuse, she would be pushed to the center of the gathering by the enthusiasm of the technical department.

Their dramatic love story is known to almost everyone, which has divided the employees into two factions: the reconciliation faction and the division faction.

The peace faction would frantically try to bring her and Lu Ming together at dinner parties, while the separation faction would disrupt the conversation and change the subject when the focus shifted to the two of them during games, preventing their relationship from developing further.

Wen Chu was caught in the middle, feeling both amused and exasperated, but she was the only neutral party, choosing to ignore everything and focus on eating.

In addition, there were countless private "chance encounters".

With nothing to do on the afternoon of the weekend, and not in a particularly good mood, Wen Chu decided to go to a nearby shopping mall to relax and clear her head.

She was thinking of picking out two casual suits for Wen Heng and then buying some writing brushes and ink for Yang Lan.

Her brother was a very refined man who always wore the best of everything, but when she woke up again, Wen Chu could clearly feel that he was much more perfunctory towards her, much more haggard, and much more composed.

Her mother isn't as sociable or talkative as she used to be.

Wen Chu knew that she had brought all of these things. Seeing them standing in front of her, genuinely concerned for her and anxious about her, even though Wen Chu knew that everything here was not real, she still couldn't help but feel guilty and moved.

She turned into a suit store, and before she had been browsing for a while, she saw a tall figure walk in, instantly drawing the attention of everyone in the store except her.

Wen Chu's eyelids twitched, and she turned to the side, trying to cover herself with her clothes.

"Sir, is there anything I can help you with?" she heard the sales assistant approach.

"Need not."

Wen Chu had her back to the person, but she heard footsteps getting closer and closer behind her. The other person's target was clear, and they stopped right next to her.

Seeing that she had been discovered, Wen Chu narrowed her eyes unhappily, turned around and greeted him, "Mr. Lu, you're here to buy clothes too?"

Lu Ming looked down at the men's suit in her hand: "Who are you picking out clothes for?"

"What's it to you?" Wen Chu ignored him, turned her head to continue picking out clothes, and told the shop assistant what she needed. While introducing the materials and designs of the clothes to her, the shop assistant did not forget to gossip about their relationship.

"Is this for your boyfriend? You can try it on here," the salesperson said enthusiastically, her eyes lingering on Lu Ming's face. Everyone wants to take a second look at someone handsome.

Wen Chu said directly, "He's not my boyfriend, and I didn't buy it for him."

Lu Ming followed closely behind her, silent and sullen, with a bitter expression on his face, as if he had suffered some great injustice.

The shop assistant sensed the subtle tension between the two and gave Lu Ming a pitying look: "Okay..."

The awkward atmosphere lasted for ten minutes. Other customers in the store cast gossipy glances at them. One couple's woman raised her voice, which Wen Chu overheard. She was saying to her boyfriend: "Look at how handsome he is, he still has to coax his girlfriend! Why don't you? What face do you have? If you were half as handsome as him, I'd coax you every day! Ugh, what did you pick? Not tall, and your taste is mediocre!"

Then the couple started arguing.

Having inexplicably caused a fight, Wen Chu finally lost her temper, pulled the person aside, and whispered, "What exactly do you want? Why are you following me?"

"I also want to buy two pieces of clothing. Is that not allowed?" Lu Ming said in a muffled voice.

"Then you go and pick one out."

"I think the one you have is pretty good."

"Here you go!" Wen Chu said, tossing the clothes into his hand.

Lu Ming took it and asked, "Is this a gift from you?"

"Consider it robbery!"

"Then I don't want it anymore, I'll take another look." Lu Ming stuffed the clothes back into her hands and pretended to look at them.

Wen Chu couldn't catch her breath: "You..."

The two of them huddled together in a quiet, sullen spot, watching. Whenever Wen Chu said something, Lu Ming would interrupt and cause trouble.

The shop assistant clearly still assumed they were a couple arguing, since they seemed like a perfect match in every way. She smiled and tried to mediate, saying, "Why don't you buy one for your boyfriend? He's clearly upset because you bought it for someone else and not for him. There's no need to argue."

Wen Chu said coldly, "He doesn't need it at all."

“I want it,” Lu Ming said immediately.

Wen Chu tilted her head in annoyance and glared at the person.

Lu Ming just looked at her.

The sales clerk smiled even wider: "Look! Why don't you buy one for your boyfriend? He looks absolutely stunning in a suit, and it'll be a pleasure to look at him at home. You'll feel good looking at him too, won't you? I happen to have a few styles that I think would be perfect for him."

Finally, to end this farce as quickly as possible, Wen Chu had no choice but to hold her breath and buy the black suit recommended by the salesperson. Because it was expensive, the salesperson also gave them a polka-dot tie as a gift, which Wen Chu also threw into the bag they had given them, barely making up a complete outfit.

When they left the store, Lu Ming's complexion was noticeably better, and he said to her, "Thank you, I really like it."

Wen Chu gave a cold snort and strode forward.

Lu Ming caught up with her again, and after a long while, he said the reason with disappointment: "You have bought gifts for many people, but you have never bought them for me."

But you clearly said before that I was your favorite.

Wen Chu's heart trembled, then she sneered, "Why would you need me to deliver it? Aren't you obsessed with Wen Xue? I can't afford to have her deliver it for you."

Lu Ming frowned: "Don't mention her again... I have no contact with her anymore."

"You're allowed to bring it up, but I'm not? Move aside, I'm going home." Wen Chu pushed the person away.

"Aren't you going to shop anymore?"

"If you follow me again, I'll call the police!"

That evening, Lu Ming carried the packaging bag to the suburbs, to his mother's residence.

After completely breaking ties with Lu Mingxiao, Lu Ming finally realized how absurd his previous yearning for fatherly love was. He then stopped caring about other people's opinions and started visiting from time to time.

The house wasn't large, and it had an old-fashioned decor, but it was very cozy, and you could tell the owner was a very gentle person. The red-lacquered display cases held various handicrafts and paintings, with a seashell painting prominently displayed in the center.

"You're back?" A woman dressed simply but elegantly brought dishes to the table.

"Hmm," Lu Ming replied in a relatively light tone.

Su Wen glanced at her son, then at the clothing bag in his hand, and grinned: "In a good mood today, huh?"

"She bought it." Lu Ming answered without being asked.

Su Wen's eyes lit up: "Really? She forgave you?"

Lu Ming lowered his head and said, "Not yet... but I will win her back."

Su Wen sighed and gestured for him to sit down and eat: "Wen Chu is a good girl, but don't push her too hard. You can't act like a hooligan. You have to be polite when you're pursuing a girl."

"I know, I'll be careful."

Seeing that her son had finally regained some vitality, the woman's mood improved somewhat. She put some food on his plate and earnestly instructed him, "You can't be foolish again this time. If you do it like before, I'll really punish you!"

She didn't know Wen Chu at first, nor did she know what had happened between them. During the time when the girl had the accident, Lu Ming didn't tell her right away. It wasn't until she received the birthday gift from the girl that she casually asked if he had a girlfriend and that the gift had been sent to their home. She was shocked to see her usually quiet son, who always carried his burdens on his own and rarely showed his emotions, staring blankly at the painting for a long time before clutching it tightly and crying.

In the days that followed, Su Wen listened to her son recount what had happened between them, and saw that he seemed to have lost all his energy. She was so distressed that she couldn't sleep for nights on end. So when Lu Ming offered to take care of the girl for the rest of her life, she didn't say anything, only hoping that he could live up to his own heart.

She herself would go to the temple every few days to burn incense and pray to Buddha, hoping that Wen Chu could wake up.

Fortunately, things finally took a turn for the better, and she was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after a year of pressure.

Lu Ming said very seriously, "Absolutely not. I really like her."

-

Another afternoon, Wen Chu went to the bookstore and bought a lot of psychology books. She wanted to find design points that might appeal to users, and she had to link robot design with human psychology.

She was carrying a pile of books when she opened her office door and saw Lu Ming sitting in her chair, dealing with his own business.

This person is really annoying (clingy) right now.

Every now and then I'd find some excuse to pop into her office and say a few random things. Now that I can't see her, I just sit down at her desk and wait.

Wen Chu was speechless: "What do you mean by that? Isn't your own office enough for you?"

"Where did you go?" As soon as Lu Ming saw her, his gaze was glued to her like bubblegum.

Wen Chu didn't reply to him, but placed a thick stack of books on the table in front of him.

Lu Ming looked closely and understood. He gazed at the books thoughtfully and said, "Sometimes I really wonder why you care so much about this project, as if someone has given you a task that you must complete."

Wen Chu paused, glanced at him, and quickly looked away.

It was just a subtle, almost insignificant expression, but it made Lu Ming's heart skip a beat.

These days, he always felt that Wen Chu was hiding a secret, and once that secret was revealed, he might lose her.

He had questions about some of people's behavior, but he had never been able to get a reasonable explanation.

From a certain day onwards, Wen Chu's personality became different from what he remembered. Although she would sometimes have a sudden flash of brilliance, there was still a significant change overall. Could a person really change so much in such a short period of time?

In addition, he had significant memory problems, and these problems were intermittent.

In the year that Wen Chu had the accident, he had many dreams, and those fragments felt so real.

In his dreams, the woman would approach him arrogantly and rudely, ambush him on his way home from get off work, buy him desserts and force him to eat them, but she would also mix drinks for him on his dejected nights and play games with him.

At first, Lu Ming thought he was obsessed, that his longing had gone too far, and that he had started to fantasize about the past.

But over time, he began to wonder if these dreams might be memories he had forgotten.

The feelings in the dream were so intense that they even matched some of the timelines he remembered.

He wasn't a dreamer; every step he took was connected to reality. Those recurring, dark nightmares of losing Wen Chu were probably a reflection of his inner world. How could he have so many sweet and vivid dreams?

The temperature he felt when he touched the girl and the strange sensation he experienced were etched deeply into his mind after he woke up, allowing him to savor them repeatedly and sustain his survival.

Until a few nights ago, he used a scene from his dream to test the other person, and the person's reaction confirmed it.

He dreamt that he was feeling down, and Wen Chu made him a sweet drink to cheer him up. The drink tasted almost exactly like a drink he made himself.

That flavor was something he had created himself when he was a teenager, under his mother's guidance. It was sweet, unique, and meaningful, and he named it "Panhao" (meaning "hope for good"). Wen Chu could never have known about it.

So this must be a dream he imagined. But when he asked Wen Chu to adjust it for him again, and even emphasized "again", Wen Chu was not surprised or refuted, as if she had actually done it before.

He was deeply moved, but he couldn't show it.

Even he himself had become aware of the loss of his memory. As the person who had always been clinging to him and participating in almost all of his free time, did he really not notice anything at all? But Wen Chu had never mentioned any of this to him.

He carefully recalled some of Wen Chu's illogical actions. At the party, she seemed to know she would be drugged, and her nervousness didn't seem fake. Later, he forgot their date time. He clearly saw anger and unhappiness on her face, but she didn't immediately question him about why he forgot what they had agreed on. And then there were all the subsequent signs... She never asked why. Even when Chairman Wen had an accident, Wen Chu's reaction was very unusual.

It was as if she knew the reasons for these accidents and also knew that he had memory problems.

And then there's what she said before she took her own life: "I just want to go home."

Throughout the year, he dreamt countless times of the girl falling from the building. Every word she said echoed in his mind, except for this one sentence, which he couldn't quite understand.

Why can someone who commits suicide go home? Isn't her home right here?

The myriad of questions made Lu Ming's hands and feet go numb; the more he thought about some things, the more panicked he became.

Wen Chu's voice rang in his ears, interrupting his thoughts: "I told you, I just like to see things through. I'm interested in this project, so I want to do it well. Can you leave now? Get out of the way, I need to get to work."

Wen Chu rudely tugged at the man's sleeve.

Lu Ming had no choice but to stand up from his chair: "Next time you buy these, you can tell me, and I'll go with you. It's too heavy for you to carry alone."

"Am I that weak?" Wen Chu pointed to the door. "Go out!"

Lu Ming gave her a deep look, then left dejectedly.

Another busy day. Wen Chu and Lu Ming shuttled back and forth between the seventh and thirteenth floors all day until evening, when most of the employees had already left work.

Lu Ming was originally the boss, and all he needed to do was look at the results, but he took on a lot of work that wasn't his responsibility.

Wen Chu rubbed her neck, looked up from the pile of data, and glanced at the person sitting on the coffee table. The man was focused on looking at the test report on the tablet.

These days, Wen Chu sees Lu Ming as a tireless robot.

There are some things that don't actually require his personal involvement, but he acts like a deputy director of the project, wanting to know everything. In addition, there are many other things in the company that require his decision-making. This person is almost always working at a high capacity, never turning off his phone.

The man had faint dark circles under his eyes, but his demeanor remained calm and composed, as if he could handle anything with ease. When Wen Chu discussed work with him, she would occasionally feel a sense of disorientation; he was becoming more and more like Lu Ming in real life. During the year she was in a coma, the man's features had also matured considerably.

With a slight surge of emotion, Wen Chu composed herself, closed her laptop, and said, "That's enough for today. I'm going home now. We can discuss the rest tomorrow."

"Okay," Lu Ming replied softly, turning off the tablet.

Wen Chu couldn't help but scoff; it was as if she were the boss.

Seeing her smile, Lu Ming's lips couldn't help but curl upwards as well, and he asked blankly, "What are you laughing at?"

"Mind your own business." Wen Chu's face turned cold again. "Let's go eat."

What do you want to eat today?

The other person automatically included themselves in the group of people who would have dinner with her.

Wen Chu ignored him, but the moment her hand touched the doorknob, she heard the system's voice: "Ding—New side quest unlocked: Please spend the night in a room with the male lead and try to increase his affection level!"

"?" Wen Chu could hardly believe her ears.

Are you sick?

She tried to pry the doorknob open, and sure enough, the door wouldn't budge.

After trying a few more times, unwilling to give up, Wen Chu closed her eyes, took several deep breaths, and finally calmed down her urge to curse.

This damn system finally took action because it saw that she had been doing nothing lately, right?

"What's wrong?" Lu Ming stepped forward and asked.

"The lock is broken," Wen Chu said coldly.

Lu Ming's eyes lit up: "Really?"

"Why don't you try it yourself and you'll see?" Wen Chu stood aside with her arms crossed.

Lu Ming didn't move. Instead, he took out his phone from his pocket, tapped the screen, and asked, "What should we do?"

Wen Chu rolled her eyes, thinking to herself, "Didn't you already contact security? Why are you asking me?"

But if the security guards actually come and pry the door open, wouldn't the mission fail?

But she had no reason to stop people from calling security, did she?

She bit her thumbnail in frustration, unsure what to do. This damn system really knows how to torment people. Wen Chu cursed a few times in anger, then chose to open the shop. She leaned against the door, resigning herself to fate.

The door with the system lock probably won't be easy to open; who knows what kind of accident might happen.

Lu Ming put his phone away, and seeing that she didn't respond, he looked at her again.

Wen Chu clicked her tongue and tapped the phone in his hand with her chin: "Didn't you contact security? I don't have their contact information."

"I did contact them..."

Wen Chu nodded without giving it much thought: "Then let's wait for them to arrive."

Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?

Where is there anything to eat?

Lu Ming walked into the lounge and came out carrying a bunch of snacks: nuts, chocolate, beef jerky, and bread. He walked over to her and let her choose: "You can eat these to tide you over."

Wen Chu stared at the things in his hand, then paused, "There are these things in the lounge?"

"There's still water. Would you like some?"

"Never mind." Wen Chu casually tore open a bag of cookies and started eating.

Lu Ming leaned against the door just like her, slightly hunched over, and said in a light tone, "Why is it that when we're together, the door always breaks for no reason?"

Wen Chu said with a resentful expression, "That's a good question. Maybe it's because you're a jinx."

"...But I don't feel unlucky, so you must be my lucky star?"

Wen Chu glanced at him speechlessly, then turned back to continue eating in a daze.

When did you learn to be so glib?

yue.

After finishing the cookies, Wen Chu opened a bag of beef jerky. Lu Ming watched her chew quietly, a slight smile playing on his lips.

Wen Chu felt very uncomfortable being stared at and wanted to turn the person's head away.

She turned around, pressed her ear against the wall, and listened for any sounds outside. There wasn't a single footstep. She frowned and asked, "Why isn't the security guard here yet? Did you hear anything?"

"No."

"That's not right." Wen Chu glanced at the time on her phone. "It's been more than ten minutes. Even a snail would have crawled up by now. Why don't you contact them again?"

Lu Ming replied, "My phone is dead."

Wen Chu had a look on her face that said, "Do you think I believe you?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? You're like someone with battery anxiety; whenever there's a power source, your phone is always over 80% charged."

Lu Ming's eyelids twitched. "How did you know?"

"What's it to you how I know? Can't I just be good at observing?"

Are you observing me?

No, what are you secretly gloating about? Wen Chu felt a strange sense of satisfaction and wanted to punch him a couple of times.

This is actually Lu Ming's habit in real life. Wen Chu guessed that version 2.0 would probably have the same thing, and it turned out to be true.

"You didn't actually contact me at all, did you?"

Logically, when the security guard receives a call from the boss, he should immediately rush up the stairs like a rocket.

“I’ve made the contact,” Lu Ming said seriously.

"What's going on? Give me your phone, I'll ask again." Wen Chu stretched her hand out in front of the man.

Lu Ming glanced at her outstretched palm, raised his hand, and gently patted it.

Wen Chu: "?"

"Only my girlfriend has permission to view my phone besides me."

Wen Chu: "..."

Wen Chu nodded in agreement, then withdrew her hand with great pride, and verbally confirmed again, "Are you sure you really contacted them?"

"I'm sure."

"Then why aren't you here yet!"

"Because I contacted them so that they would all be off work."

“You…” Wen Chu’s eyes widened as she recalled how quickly the other person had pulled out their phone. It turned out that it wasn’t to solve the problem, but to add fuel to the fire?

fine.

I was angry, but it didn't seem particularly unexpected.

"Playing me? Is that fun?"

“It’s not funny, and I wasn’t playing a trick on you.” Lu Ming acted innocently. “The door broke by itself, I really didn’t do it.”

"You didn't even bother to test it to see if it was really broken!"

"Why should I try? If you say it's broken, then it's broken."

"..."

Are you afraid you might accidentally open the door?!