Chapter 117 From the first time...
Wen Chu was still a little incredulous, so she asked a few questions that only Lu Ming from that world knew, and finally found that he could answer them all.
She was utterly shocked.
It turns out they've always been in the same world; it's just that each other's memories of reality have been temporarily blocked.
Her guess was right.
"Do you remember the day I confessed my feelings to you? I suddenly fainted. Actually, it was because I remembered my real-life memories. I wanted to tell you, but the system erased my memories again. I'm sorry for disappointing you so much and ruining everything," Lu Ming said apologetically.
After waking up, he remembered all the memories that had been partially erased by the system during the process. Only then did he clearly realize how many disappointments Wen Chu had experienced during this experience.
The thought of him repeatedly and coldly severing ties, yet the woman still forced a smile and continued to like him, made Lu Ming's heart tremble. He was anxious and heartbroken, fearing that she still wouldn't forgive him.
Hearing the words "confessing my feelings to you" from her boss made Wen Chu's ears burn. She took a breath and tried to remain calm, saying, "Then why didn't you tell me this morning? And why did you pretend to be so serious?" She reached out as if to punch him, but then suddenly felt awkward and ultimately stopped in mid-air.
Lu Ming took her hand and boldly held it in his palm: "It was clearly you who acted like nothing was wrong... How could I... dare to say anything..."
Wen Chu pulled her hand back: "How could I dare say that? I don't know who you are..."
The person in front of her was ultimately different from Lu Ming in terms of life experience, and they had also had a superior-subordinate relationship for two or three years. Wen Chu always felt that this wasn't something that could be easily resolved by simply talking things out, and they could immediately return to their previous relationship.
But clearly, during the day their relationship was still the proper, uncompromising superior-subordinate one she knew, yet now they were kissing in the train carriage, and her lips were even slightly swollen... The drastic change made Wen Chu want to go out in the rain to calm down.
Here, she was ultimately not some pampered young lady; the other party…
"Can I ask you a personal question? It might be a little offensive." Wen Chu glanced at the person cautiously.
"Um."
"Are you really... a bastard?"
Lu Ming shook his head: "No, but my dad does have three sons, and I'm the youngest."
"Oh." It seems the system discovered that the other person's real identity was going too smoothly, so it added a pitiful background for them.
As if realizing something, Lu Ming added, "However, apart from that, my experience hasn't been altered too much; it's roughly as you know it."
"Oh, you mean you did have a crush on someone back in college?" Wen Chu tilted her head and said, "Could he be coming back from abroad soon?"
Lu Ming's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly explained, "There's no such thing as a white moonlight. Wen Xue... is indeed a girl I met in my freshman year. I had a bit of a crush on her back then, but before we could develop a relationship, I realized it wasn't a good match, so I cut my losses in time. To be honest, we're really not close at all."
Wen Chu frowned slightly: "Is it really from real life?"
Lu Ming was truly frightened and said nervously, "This happened ten years ago... If it weren't for the system, I would have almost forgotten about this person. Don't overthink it... There really is no connection whatsoever, they can't be reborn."
Wen Chu glanced at him sideways: "Who's overthinking it? I don't care at all, okay?"
Wen Chu leaned back into the passenger seat and looked out the window. The rain had suddenly stopped, and the remaining raindrops on the window slowly dripped down to the windowsill.
"I'm not going any further, I should go back now," she said suddenly.
"You..." There were still so many things left to say, why are you leaving already...?
Lu Ming was about to say something to persuade her to stay, but after glancing at his watch, he changed his mind and said, "Well... it's late, can I stay at your place for the night?"
Wen Chu's eyes widened slightly: "Is this something a proper man, a proper boss, would say?"
Don't you know whether I'm upright or not?
“…I don’t know.” Wen Chu turned her head away.
"I won't do anything, really. It takes an hour and a half to get from your house to mine." Lu Ming had no choice but to feign pitifulness.
"So far?"
"Um."
Then why did you always give me gifts before?
Wen Chu softened her stance: "There's only one bed in my house, so you can only sleep on the sofa if you go up there."
Lu Ming's eyes shone with a light that showed he could endure any hardship: "I don't mind."
-
Wen Chu placed a last-minute order for a set of men's pajamas and also brought a blanket for someone to put on the sofa.
After taking a shower, Lu Ming came out, drying his hair, and glanced at the sofa: "Really... you want me to sleep on the sofa?"
The man's pajamas were half-open at the collar, as if on purpose, but he was undeniably well-endowed; the system hadn't lied to her.
Wen Chu could only deliberately avoid looking at people, even though she had already touched them all in that world.
"What else? Where do you want to sleep? You can sleep on the floor. I'm going to bed." She finished speaking and was about to go back to her room, but before she had taken a few steps, Lu Ming hugged her from behind.
"What are you doing?" Wen Chu's face flushed again, and she pushed him away, trying to leave. "You just said you were being proper! You wouldn't do anything!"
They backed away and slumped onto the sofa, with Wen Chu sitting between their legs.
"Wen Chu." The man's pleasant and deep voice rang in Wen Chu's ears.
A jolt of electricity ran down Wen Chu's spine. She quickly turned her head away, making sure the person's mouth was away from her ear: "What are you doing!"
"What exactly do you think of me?" Lu Ming's tone became serious. He didn't want to wait any longer. He had already made up his mind that if Wen Chu still refused to accept him, it didn't matter; he could pester her relentlessly. After all, he had mastered this tactic quite well.
Wen Chu remained silent for a while; she had been thinking about this question while taking a shower.
Her voice lowered: "Now, you are not some pitiful illegitimate child, and I am not some rich heiress. Our social status, how we met, and our experiences are all different from those over there. What you like may not be the me in front of you. I think... perhaps we need to think about this more carefully."
The person behind me fell silent.
Wen Chu's heart tightened even more.
The other party must have agreed with what she said.
That's fine too; they might not be a good match.
Lu Ming gave a bitter smile: "Wen Chu, when will you finally realize that the reason I was able to like you in that world is because I already liked you?"
Wen Chu paused again, looking completely bewildered: "Huh?"
Lu Ming said helplessly, "I've liked you for a long time, can't you even tell?"
"Huh? When did this happen?"
"From the very first time I met you. Otherwise, why would I spend a high price to recruit a newcomer like you who has only recently entered the workforce to Baiyue?"
"Isn't it because I'm capable, because you have good taste???"
Lu Ming coughed and said, "You are indeed capable, that's one reason, but before you fully demonstrate your irreplaceable value, I had many more prudent options. The real reason is that I was very busy at the time, and if I wanted to see you every day, this was the only way. Also, I heard that your previous company didn't treat you well, the development prospects were too poor, and it was a waste of your talent. I really didn't want you to waste your time there."
"I thought... after you came to Baiyue and spent so much time together, you would at least treat me a little differently, or at least notice that I treated you a little differently. I didn't want to scare you, afraid that you would overthink things, become frightened, misunderstand me, and then distance yourself from me. But in the end, I realized that I was overthinking it. You're just so single-minded; you not only don't overthink, you don't even want to..."
"Later, I wondered if it was because in your heart, we were just too incompatible, completely impossible, so no matter what I did, you couldn't receive any information from me. Or perhaps, I made a mistake from the beginning; I shouldn't have made our relationship a superior-subordinate one, to the point that you completely excluded me from your considerations."
"Before this system came along, I had been thinking about how to express my feelings without causing you any trouble. I didn't want to be too abrupt and wanted you to accept me gradually, but I really couldn't wait any longer."
The amount of information was overwhelming, and Wen Chu's mind was completely confused.
She met Lu Ming at an industry conference. She was giving a presentation on behalf of her former company, promoting their company's philosophy and new products. However, because she added a few novel elements to her PowerPoint presentation, which she thought would make the products more appealing, she was scolded by the director, who told her not to be presumptuous and think she was being clever.
After being rebuked, she sat alone in a corner, looking gloomy and frustrated. Lu Ming walked over, dressed in a sharp suit, with two or three people around him introducing themselves. Suddenly, he stopped in front of her and said he was interested in the innovative element she had just mentioned, asking if it was really feasible. Seeing that he was busy, the others who had been trying to curry favor with him could only leave awkwardly.
Wen Chu recognized him; after all, almost everyone at the meeting knew him, and some even went to great lengths to find out his preferences. She thought the other party was trying to find an excuse to get rid of those who came seeking cooperation, but she still mustered her spirits and explained to him. After listening, the other party nodded and even asked her for a printed brochure in a very professional manner.
At that moment, she thought to herself that there are differences between people. Why did her boss always brag and put on airs, acting like everyone owed him money, while the person in front of her was serious, mature, gentle, gentlemanly, and... very handsome? He was truly young and promising.
She glanced at it briefly and thought there would be no further developments, but to her surprise, she received a call from Lu Ming's assistant not long after, who said he hoped to have a further conversation with her and hoped that she could join Baiyue.
She couldn't stand her assistant always politely coming over to ask her how she was considering it, and the salary offered kept increasing. So after hesitating for a while, she decided to switch jobs to Baiyue.
After visiting Baiyue, she felt that the local people's care and concern were indeed very good.
Lu Ming would often treat everyone to coffee, milk tea, meals, and entertainment. He was generally easy to get along with in private and would occasionally crack jokes. Sometimes she would say things without thinking, but he wouldn't get angry.
This seemingly aloof and demanding boss is actually quite approachable in private. He drives his employees home in the rain, orders takeout for them if they work late, secretly transfers their compensation to his car when he's on business trips, allows them to eat strong-smelling food in his car, and when he hears employees complaining about him, his first reaction isn't anger but rather to correct his behavior. He always gives them gifts on their birthdays, and when he's in a bad mood, he'll act as a bartender to cheer them up...
She thought to herself, "Isn't this wonderful?"
But now she realizes that the other party doesn't treat all employees this way, it's just her.
Wen Chu recalled some seemingly ordinary events that had occurred in the past two years, and combined them with Lu Ming's pursuit of her in that world, and finally realized the truth.
So this guy was secretly pursuing her...
A huge uproar erupted in her heart, but she retorted, "What normal person would think that the boss has a crush on them? Besides... I thought you were a good person, treating everyone the same..." Her voice grew softer and softer as she spoke, becoming less and less confident.
"Who else have you ever seen me treat like this?"
Wen Chu straightened up and opened her mouth, then immediately deflated: "I haven't noticed..."
Lu Ming nodded with a wry smile, a hint of unexpected disappointment flashing in his eyes: "I know you don't care about me. It seems like your life revolves only around work."
"No... well, not really..." Wen Chu defended herself, "I know you're good to me, that's why I work hard. I thought you had high hopes for me, so I had to work harder and harder to live up to your expectations and the salary you pay me, right?"
After she finished speaking, the two fell silent.
It seems like they all put in their best effort, but nobody got the short end of the stick...
Wen Chu thought to herself, what about all the overtime she'd worked for others these past few years? In men's eyes, she'd become nothing more than a workaholic who only knew how to work…
She then thought of another point: "The coffee you made for me over there was copied from mine, wasn't it? How did you know my coffee-drinking habits?"
“I saw Xiao Chen make this for you by chance before, and I remembered it. I found it was pretty good, so I’ve been drinking it ever since.”
"You're such a boss! How could you copy my homework! Xiao Chen actually betrayed me like that!" Wen Chu said this, but she was secretly surprised. It turned out that Lu Ming had been silently watching her for a long time without her noticing.
Lu Ming: "I've fallen into self-doubt many times. Sometimes I think you might really be quite naive and haven't thought about these things. Other times, I think you shouldn't be so oblivious. Luo Wen clearly noticed that I treat you differently. I wonder if this is your way of rejecting me. So I've never decided whether to reveal my hand or not."
"Now it seems that it really was the first one. But I wasn't wrong, it's because you didn't have any feelings for me that you couldn't sense it."
Wen Chu felt a pang of guilt and soft-heartedness at the person's dejected tone, as if she were some heartless man who had wronged them for a long time. But then she snapped back to reality and shoved the person away, saying, "Stop playing the victim! You green tea b*tch!"
Lu Ming swayed slightly from her push, a faint smile flashing across his lips. He then hugged her tighter, nuzzling his forehead against the back of her neck, and said, "I'm really miserable. And if you still don't like me now, I'm really miserable."
"Can't you detect how much I like you? I'm not lying to you."
"You know that too?" Wen Chu felt even more embarrassed, recalling the scene of her blatantly lying and being glib in that world. She originally thought it was a one-woman show, so she acted freely, but she didn't expect that the NPCs she was acting with throughout were all real people.
"If your concern is simply whether he and I are the same, and whether my feelings for you are the same, then I want to say that there is no difference. If there is any difference between him and me, then the only difference is that the me in front of you will absolutely not reject you, and I feel that I like you more. I have liked you for longer, so you should choose me more."
Wen Chu scratched her head, her heart fluttering at the casually uttered sweet words: "Then tell me, what do you like about me?"
Without thinking, Lu Ming said, "Your liveliness and cheerfulness, your optimistic and positive attitude, the expression when you speak, your smile, your kindness, your wisdom, your temper, your little tantrums, your carefree and heartless nature, and your strong desire for revenge..."
"Stop, stop, stop! The more you say it, the more incorrect the parts of speech become!" Wen Chu turned around and glared at him.
Lu Ming took her hand and kissed it reverently, his eyes full of sincerity: "What I wanted to say is that I love every aspect of you. The first time I saw you, when I saw you speaking so intently on stage, my heart skipped a beat for no reason. The more I got to know you, the more I liked you, and I couldn't help but observe your expressions, the way you speak, your preferences, your tastes, your lifestyle..."
"Stop, stop, stop... I understand, please stop talking." Wen Chu's heart was pounding like a drum, and the spot on the back of her hand where she had been kissed felt burning hot, its presence extremely noticeable. She pulled her hand back and turned her back to avoid meeting his dark eyes.
"Okay, I won't say anything more. So, isn't it your turn to speak?"
"What... what did I say?" Wen Chu asked, fiddling with Lu Ming's fingers with a wandering gaze.
Lu Ming took a deep breath and finally asked the question that had troubled him for two worlds: "Do you like me or not?"
Having been forced by the system to complete so many tasks and ponder so much in that world, Wen Chu was clearly no longer so simple-minded.
She turned slightly to look at Lu Ming's face.
The other party was anxiously awaiting her reply.
In the few seconds she hesitated, the man took her hand again and gently pecked her palm, as if trying to please her, beg her, and coax her into saying what he wanted to hear.
Wen Chu's tense and uneasy heart relaxed, and then she let it melt away like water.
Actually, there's no need to hesitate at all.
When she realized that the other person was Lu Ming, her soaring heart rate already said it all.
After a while, she mustered up her courage and bit the man's lips, muttering, "I need to feel it more carefully."
Lu Ming's eyes flickered, and he said "okay" in a hoarse voice.
Then he held the back of her head and kissed her deeply. Wen Chu's hands gradually climbed up the man's neck, and the soft sofa instantly transformed into a warm bed where love grew wildly.
The sounds of kissing, enough to make anyone blush and their heart race, echoed throughout the living room, interspersed with soft moans of passion and rapid breathing. The more they kissed, the more confused they became, yet the more lucid they grew.
Reason is confused, while desire is clear-headed.
The night is late, but it's still long.
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