Chapter 53 Boyfriend, can you help me peel a shrimp? ...

Wen Chu drifted off to sleep, only to be woken up by a phone call the next day. She answered with half-closed eyes, saying "Hello?", and heard her mother's voice: "You went to the amusement park with Lu Ming yesterday?"

Wen Chu slowly opened her eyes, her voice still heavy with sleep: "You knew all this? You and Dad didn't plant any spies around me, did you?"

“Your dad and I aren’t that bored! It was your dad who saw it on the news feed this morning. You two are really something, not even paying attention. You got caught by the paparazzi. Now look what’s happened, your relationship has become such a big deal.”

"Huh?" Wen Chu sat up, rubbed her eyes, and saw the news her father had forwarded to her.

#Wen's daughter and Baiyue Group's current CEO were spotted holding hands at an amusement park during their passionate romance! The relationship is real!

Moreover, this was just one post. Wen Chu checked another social media platform and found that it had also sparked considerable discussion, with quite a few hashtags. Some said they were a good match, some said they were good-looking, and others said they were a powerful couple. The comments section was full of expressions of envy and jokes. In short, all the hashtags were positive, and there were almost no negative comments. It seems that netizens love to gossip about the love lives of wealthy people.

Wen Chu zoomed in on one of the photos, which showed their backs as they took pictures with the dolls. Another photo showed Lu Ming holding an umbrella for her, her face barely visible, but Lu Ming was completely captured. She grinned, touched her chin, and tapped "save" on the screen, saying, "I think these photos turned out pretty well."

Mrs. Wen sighed heavily: "You'd better be more careful! Don't get sold out and then be the one counting the money for them!"

Wen Chu recalled Lu Ming's earlier reminder and, considering the situation, it wasn't hard to guess that this was probably at the behest of Chairman Lu. It was both to give an explanation for what happened at the hotel last time and to further spread the news of the good relationship between the Lu family and the Wen family. If things got too out of hand, it would be difficult to handle, and it could also force Lu Ming to continue talking to her.

They even controlled the direction of the comments so tightly that her parents could only feel helpless and couldn't say anything.

Either way, it would be good for her, so there's nothing to fuss about.

Chairman Lu is clearly helping out!

Wen Chu relaxed her brows and smiled as she said to her mother, "Oh, I understand. But isn't this good too? We need to make everyone believe that he and I are real, and completely suppress the news from that night so that people won't discuss our relationship anymore. It's better to be on the entertainment news than on the gossip news."

"What's going on between you and that kid? These paparazzi photos look so convincing, I almost believed them."

Wen Chu laughed: "It's just like what you see in the photo. This shows that we have great chemistry. I've already said that he'll fall for me sooner or later."

The person on the other end of the phone was clearly speechless: "You can fool the outside world, but don't fool yourself. Don't come back crying to us when he breaks up with you! Men are the best actors. He's nice to you now, firstly because of your dad, and secondly because it benefits him a lot. With this news, his family will benefit a lot. You need to know your place!"

"And another thing is, this has become such a big deal. What will you say when you two break up? It won't look good..." Yang Lan sighed worriedly.

"Who said we were breaking up?" Wen Chu hadn't forgotten that her words and actions could influence the course of the world, so she needed to say more optimistic, positive, and beneficial things to herself. "What if he falls in love with me during this time and doesn't want to break up anymore?"

"That would be perfect, saving your dad and me from headaches every time we think about it. Your attitude is good, but don't get too carried away. And let me tell you, since you're faking it now, don't cross any lines. You need to know what you can and can't do. Since you say nothing happened that night, your dad and I will tentatively believe it was a misunderstanding, but you can't do anything reckless afterward, understand?" Yang Lan's tone suddenly became stern. "Don't let that kid take advantage of you!"

Wen Chu scratched her nose, thinking that the guy had said she was taking advantage of him yesterday. She assured him confidently, "I know, I know, you can rest assured! I know what I'm doing."

She hadn't forgotten the rules for determining intimate contact that the system had mentioned yesterday; kissing was already the maximum allowed.

She dared not cross that line again.

Otherwise, you might get screwed over by the system.

She hung up the phone, a hint of worry in her voice. "Could this rule apply to all future items? That would be so unfair..."

Qi family.

Qi Siyan, dressed casually in her home clothes, lazily came down from her bedroom upstairs. In the living room, Chairman Qi and his wife were having breakfast.

"Good morning, Dad and Mom," Qi Siyan said gently.

Qi Rui glanced at him and asked, "You're up so late, did you see the news?"

"I saw it." Qi Siyan walked over to Mrs. Qi, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

"What are you thinking? Didn't you say before that Wen Chu and Lu Ming's relationship was fake?"

"I don't have any thoughts." Qi Siyan took the milk that Mrs. Qi poured for her, smiled and said thank you, Mom. She took a sip and said calmly, "Judging from Lu Ming's attitude towards Wen Chu last time, they should be fake."

"That must have been orchestrated by Lu Mingxiao." Qi Rui said with a serious expression as he ate his meal, "If they get together, it won't do us any good. We finally got rid of Wen Xue, and now Wen Chu has come along."

“I know. But there’s no rush with these things. We have to wait until they officially break up, since I did come back quite late.” Qi Siyan cut a piece of bread with her knife and fork and put it in her mouth. A cold glint flashed in her calm eyes, but she quickly hid it.

She had clearly agreed to go to the amusement park with him, but then she turned around and went with Lu Ming instead.

That's really heartbreaking.

Mrs. Qi couldn't help but ask, "Are you really interested in Wen Chu?"

"Yes, I like her personality," Qi Siyan readily admitted.

"But I heard that Wen Chu has liked Lu Ming for a long time, so it might not be of any use if you pursue her now."

Qi Siyan curled her lips in disdain. "It's all about human effort, isn't it? You liked him so long ago, but it still didn't work out, did it?"

Mrs. Qi was about to say something more when Qi Siyan interrupted her again: "Mom, you don't need to worry about me. Of course I know what I'm doing. If it really doesn't work out, I won't force it. I do admire Wen Chu; she's beautiful and smart, but I'm not indispensable to her yet."

"That's fine then. I was just worried you'd get stuck on this one thing. We've tried our best to satisfy everything you've wanted since you were little, but there's nothing we can do about this. But there are plenty of good girls out there. It's normal that you don't have an advantage since you come back late. If Wen Chu really doesn't have that kind of interest, we can look at other girls."

Qi Siyan glanced at Qi Rui, "But didn't Dad say that their being together wouldn't be good for our family?"

Mrs. Qi sighed, and Qi Rui put down his chopsticks and said in a muffled voice, "If I had known you would be interested in Wen Chu, I would have called you back a long time ago. I really didn't realize before that this girl was quite intelligent, not as useless as Wen Shiyang said outside. I don't know what he's up to, hiding her so well."

"We should still try to win him over. It would be best if we could succeed, since I think Chairman Wen treats you much better than he treats that kid Lu Ming. If we can't, there's nothing we can do."

“Unlike Lu Mingxiao, I only have you as my son, so you can do whatever you want. I also know that you always have your own considerations and plans.”

Qi Siyan smiled and said gently, "Thank you, Dad."

Qi Rui then asked, "The competition is about to start, have you found the right people in Baiyue?"

Qi Siyan shrugged. "I haven't heard of it. Based on my understanding of his behavior over the past two years, he won't hire outside help. He'll probably choose from within the company."

"He is quite composed. He has managed to build Baiyue to this level in such a short time. He is a smart man. Don't be arrogant. You should learn from him."

"Of course, after all, he's a year older than me," Qi Siyan said, her smile not reaching her eyes.

Wen Chu ate breakfast leisurely. It was past ten o'clock. She opened the door and went to look for someone next door, only to be told that Lu Ming had gone out again.

"This guy is really busy all day long, why is he running around everywhere on the weekend?" Wen Chu muttered, but her phone rang. She had received a reply to the good morning message she had sent to Lu Ming half an hour earlier.

Boyfriend: [It's getting late.]

Wow, that's unusual.

This guy actually replied to her.

Wen Chu made a call directly, and it was answered quickly.

"Hello?"

"do what?"

Wen Chu, hands on her hips, said flippantly, "I missed you, I wanted to hear your voice. Did you miss me?"

The man ignored her question: "Did you just get up?"

"Yes, I'm standing right at your door. Why are you out so early again? Even the emperor isn't as busy as you."

“Not everyone is like you, able to sleep until 9:30.” The hospital was bustling with people coming and going. Lu Ming buttoned his shirt with one hand, picked up his coat from the stool, and left the examination room.

"It's only natural to sleep a little longer after playing all day. What did you do again? Did you go to a meeting at the company again?" Wen Chu squatted in the small garden in front of Lu Ming's house, basking in the sun and pulling up some weeds.

"No, I'll be back in a bit."

"Come quick, come quick!"

"Are you very free?" Lu Ming leaned against the wall of the hospital corridor, his expression slightly relaxed. "I need to remind you that the competition is in just over half a month. Don't end up embarrassing yourself later."

"Do you need me to tell you? You can trust me to handle things!"

"I've had Luo Wen send you the materials related to the competition to your email. You must review them within three days."

Lu Ming hung up the phone, and the nurse came up to him and said, "Mr. Lu, all the tests have been completed. You can come and pick up the reports in a couple of days."

Lu Ming nodded: "Okay, thank you."

Wen Chu patted her bottom and stood up, complaining, "As expected of an NPC, a new quest appears as soon as you get close." She scattered the plucked grass back into the ground, checked her email, and found that the data was a full hundred pages long. The sky was falling.

You'll go blind from looking at this!

As Lu Ming exited the hospital, he sent Luo Wen a voice message: "Keep an eye out for recent jewelry auctions, see if there are any high-quality rough stones, and also research well-known jewelry designers both domestically and internationally. Give it to me on Tuesday."

He had just driven his car to his front door when the second-floor window of the neighboring villa was suddenly flung open. The girl leaned out, resting her head on the windowsill, and looked in his direction, her eyes darting around.

Lu Ming glanced at her through the car window, his cold expression softening almost imperceptibly. He unbuckled his seatbelt, got out of the car, and Wen Chu waved at him, practically leaning half her body out the window, calling out, "I'm coming to your house for lunch!"

Did you read what I sent you?

Wen Chu raised her right hand, holding a stack of printed documents.

Seeing her like that, Lu Ming was truly alarmed. "Go back quickly, or you might fall and die."

At noon, the two sat facing each other to eat. While drinking soup and eating meat, Wen Chu complained, "Where did you send me so many? Are they reliable? I've been looking at them all morning, and my eyes are almost blind. I've only read ten pages."

"A whole morning?" Lu Ming scoffed, raising his left hand to glance at his watch. "You got up at 9:30, were still on the phone with me at 10, and then kept dawdling. It's 12:05 now, which is about two hours. Your morning is really short."

Wen Chu rolled her eyes. "I'll take that as a compliment on how fast I read."

"This competition is very tightly controlled, and more and more companies are signing up, and the number of people paying attention is also increasing. What I'm giving you is just what I've compiled and think is somewhat useful, not a reference answer. You should weigh it yourself and not take any chances."

"Of course I know. If you could beat the foreign aid Qi Siyan brought in with just this information, wouldn't anyone be able to be Baiyue's technical advisor?" Wen Chu said smugly, as Aunt Sun brought up a large bowl of freshly cooked braised crayfish.

"Wow! We're eating so well today!" Wen Chu couldn't help but swallow as she smelled the aroma, her eyes wide with delight.

Aunt Sun smiled and said, "These shrimp just arrived yesterday. They're big and very fresh. I even learned a new way to make them. Young master and young lady, please try them."

Wen Chu wiped away non-existent drool and stomped her feet excitedly, "Okay, okay, I'll try it, I'll try it! Thank you for your hard work, Auntie!"

Lu Ming hissed: "You weren't really a starving ghost reincarnated in your past life, were you?"

Wen Chu ignored her, excitedly put on plastic gloves, and eagerly reached out to grab it.

"Oh dear, it's hot, Miss!" Aunt Sun tried to stop her, but Wen Chu was already scalded and threw the shrimp back into the bowl, shaking her hands frantically. "Ugh, it's so hot!"

The splashed oil nearly landed on Lu Ming, but luckily he dodged behind him in time. He withdrew his outstretched hand, frowned, and said to Aunt Sun, "Get her a glass of ice water."

Wen Chu's hands were badly burned; her fingertips were red and numb. She took off her gloves with a frustrated expression and took the ice water that Aunt Sun handed her to warm her hands, her eyes still fixed on the pot of crayfish.

It smells so good, it really does smell good. She couldn't help but swallow again.

As she looked around, she shifted her gaze to Lu Ming.

Lu Ming slowly picked up a piece of food and put it in his mouth. Then he looked up and met her gaze. He couldn't stand the woman's pitiful eyes and couldn't help but ask, "Are you that greedy?"

"Sometimes I really wonder if there's something wrong with your taste buds. Otherwise, how could you remain unmoved by such temptations? How can you not have any craving for food? Your life is so meaningless." Wen Chu leaned forward, fanning the aroma of crayfish in front of him, and asked, "I want to know, when you're tired or in a bad mood, how do you recharge?"

"A good night's sleep will do the trick."

"But I haven't seen you sleep that much."

"With so much to do, who will take care of me while I sleep?"

Wen Chu sighed and began to flatter herself: "Don't you think you need someone to be with you? Hasn't my appearance just filled that void? Don't you feel like you've become more like a real person lately?"

Lu Ming glanced at her again: "You mean, I didn't seem like a human being before?"

"Of course not, it's just a bot." Wen Chu said directly what she was thinking.

Lu Ming interpreted this as the other person mocking him for being so routine and unproductive, like a machine. "If I'm so boring, why would you like me?"

"I do what I want, what's it to you? I just like challenges."

Lu Ming lowered his head and took a sip of soup, then looked up again, expressionless, and said, "Is that so? Then I'll make it a little more difficult for you?"

Wen Chu quickly waved her hand: "Then let's not! It's already at hell level, there's no way to go any higher." She picked up another bite of food and put it in her mouth. It tasted delicious, and she couldn't help but show a satisfied and happy expression.

She was chewing, her eyes still fixed on the bowl of lobsters. Then, her eyes darted around, and she leaned forward a little more, suddenly saying, "Hey, boyfriend."

Lu Ming paused in his actions, slowly raised his eyes, and scrutinized her: "What are you planning now?"

"Excuse me, shouldn't you peel some shrimp for your girlfriend?" Wen Chu blinked at him expectantly.

She suddenly remembered a guide she'd read before that said: Men are command-driven creatures; you should directly tell him what you want, and he'll most likely do it for you. If he really doesn't want to, then use a little coaxing and pleading, and he'll probably agree. And the more he does it, the more used he becomes; the more used he becomes, the more deeply it's ingrained; the more ingrained, the more important it seems.