Chapter 112
“Calm down, calm down, Iris.” Larine never thought she would be the one telling someone else to calm down, but Iris’s happy mood was influencing her so much that in the end, the two girls happily hugged each other and chatted for a full fifteen minutes without caring about anyone else.
Jacob's inner conflict stemmed from his father. After this ordeal, Shu Qida reflected on his parenting methods and, upon returning to Malaysia, softened his attitude towards Shu Ziming considerably. "Even our mother temporarily put aside her grudges and encouraged my brother. The family's care finally helped Jacob pull himself together," Shu Zili said with deep emotion. Seeing her brother getting better day by day made her happier than anyone else. "I originally wanted to stay with him for a while longer, but he asked me to return to Hong Kong to continue my work, while he decided to stay in Malaysia for the time being to use his recovery time to learn something new."
Jacob wants to study? Iris could hardly hide her surprise. She'd known him for so many years, and aside from when he was pursuing girls, she'd never seen him pick up a textbook. Larine knew her brother's character well, but perhaps such a drastic change could truly help someone grow. She said hopefully, "I don't know how long Jacob can hold on this time, but I believe he'll gradually improve, and I'll always support him!"
A smile graced the girl's face, bathed in sunlight. Xie Jiaxing glanced at her unintentionally and suddenly noticed Shu Zili's beauty. He knew she was a beauty in many people's eyes, but he had never truly appreciated it until now, and this sudden realization made his heart skip a beat.
"You're smitten, aren't you?" Derek bluntly pointed out. He glanced at Xie Jiaxing's eyes and knew instantly he was head over heels in love. So, he stood by, ready to stir things up at any moment, with a spectator's attitude. The person in question, however, didn't seem to hear him clearly and only asked, bewildered, what he had said. Derek smiled: "I meant, what were you and Miss Shu talking about just now? You seemed quite animated."
“Oh,” Xie Jiaxing replied honestly, without suspecting anything. “We were talking about activities at the nursing home. The nursing home is planning a fun event in conjunction with an orphanage. They sent an email to Larine, and Larine decided to help with the planning free of charge. So we came here today to get a preliminary understanding and to inspect the venue.”
Derek's quick comment: "She's actually a pretty nice person."
Xie Jiaxing nodded in agreement.
Derek then pressed on: "Then you two are quite destined for each other."
A question mark slowly appeared above Xie Jiaxing's head, and then he felt ants crawling up his ears. He heard Derek add, "What a coincidence that we met, it must be fate."
"This..." Xie Jiaxing tried his best not to stammer, "I often come here to see my godmother, so it's not surprising that we ran into each other."
“That’s true.” Derek chuckled inwardly, thinking this man wasn’t completely stupid after all. He gently raised his hand and let him go. The rumors he’d heard today were enough to sway Iris, the little matchmaker. Once the latter became obsessed with cosplaying Cupid, the tasks Zhuang Zhuoyuan had assigned her would be easily completed, and he could freely extricate himself from the chaotic web of love affairs woven by various red threads.
Iris, with her keen eye, had already spotted all of Derek's little tricks. With one of them in the picture, she didn't need to gossip with Larine any longer. She simply mentioned casually that there was a meteor shower in the second half of the month and wondered if Larine was interested in going.
"Aren't you going to be all lovey-dovey with your Ah Yuan BB? What would I do there? I'd be more dazzling than a shooting star." Larine decisively refused to be a third wheel, and besides, the next two weeks was such a long time away, she wasn't even sure if she'd be free then.
Iris pretended to complain: "He's still calling himself Ah Yuan 'baby'. He's a complete 'pigeon spirit' now. I don't even know what kind of job he does. After being transferred to a different department, he's busier than when he was in Flying Tigers. Even my mom was surprised that he can't come home for dinner on time anymore."
“Then I’ll keep you company,” Larine said softly, but her actions were very generous. In just a few seconds, she showed Iris her latest schedule. “'Only for Iris,' I’ve cleared my schedule for this evening to spend all my time with you, okay?”
"Thank you, my sweetheart!" Iris was both happy and a little embarrassed, but she had to say, "Honey, if my husband is free that day..."
“Then I’ll keep Tangyuan company.” Larine had already anticipated that Mrs. Zhuang would prioritize romance over friendship, but fortunately, she was good at finding her own fun and was never afraid of being alone. But Iris was destined to disappoint her today: “Tangyuan is too young; this activity is not suitable for him.”
Larine feigned anger: "Hey, Iris, that's very disrespectful of you."
“If it were me, I would have said even harsher things, Larine. You can totally yell at me, after all, I’m such a bad friend!” Iris seemed even angrier than Larine, but her wide, angry eyes quickly curved into crescents. Larine was amused by her and went straight to the point: “So, what exactly do you want?”
Without turning her head, but only gesturing with her eyes, Larine then looked at Xie Jiaxing, remembering that he did indeed have a hobby of stargazing. Iris asked for her opinion: "How about inviting Ah Xing? With him, a professional, we can have a lot of fun whether my husband is here or not."
Larine picked up her phone again, pretending to delete the scheduled appointment: "I forgot Derek was here. I think he could totally replace me and keep you company. He's a bodyguard and a good friend too."
Iris feigned ignorance: "Adding Derek is no problem, it's just a pity that he and Huihui have absolutely no chance." She pretended to be deep in thought, trying to change the subject. Larine wasn't buying it, criticizing her for playing matchmaker again. Iris instantly felt wronged: "You mentioned last time that we should let things take their course, so I gave up. It was only when I saw you two chatting so happily that my matchmaking instincts kicked in again. Even Derek said that Ah Xing seems to like you."
How could Derek's words be interpreted accurately? Larine completely expressed her dissatisfaction: "Iris, this is the last time. I want to make it clear that I can accompany you, but you can't go on dates with random people."
"Okokok!" Iris quickly reassured the other person. She wanted to do something good and didn't want to lose a friend because of this. The topic returned to the party, and everything became natural and harmonious again. Iris thought about the results of her previous matchmaking attempts and realized that her husband's evaluation of her was quite accurate. She had an eye for pairing up couples, but not the ability to force marriages. In novels, she could do whatever she wanted, but in the real world, she'd better give up.
On the way back, there were plenty of sighs and lamentations. Derek grew annoyed, thinking that given Zhou's current energy and state of mind, the best course of action was for him to lock himself in his small apartment and work on his manuscript. So, without saying goodbye, he stepped on the gas and drove straight to the residential area. He had originally planned to drive directly to the office building of Xinghe Entertainment, since there were many people there and Iris wouldn't throw a tantrum in front of everyone. However, considering the little devil's ability to play pranks behind people's backs, he decided to downplay the joke at the last minute.
There was no way to rush the manuscript; it wasn't like she had a story framework in mind. Writing in broad daylight left her completely devoid of inspiration. But going upstairs to check on the hourly worker's work was alright. Iris got out of the car without hesitation, and soon after turning the corner past the flowerbed, she bumped into Lamy—her number one fan of romance novels—sitting on a lounge chair.
Iris felt a pang of guilt and greeted him stiffly, "Sister-in-law, bring Joe down to play."
Lamy and Mom's youngest son, a little over six months older than their son Tangyuan, is now very lively, able to talk and run around. Lamy called him over, and the little guy called out "Auntie" in his sweet, babyish voice, which melted Iris's heart. She always carries toys to soothe the child in her bag; whenever little Joe calls, she pulls out a little duck maracas for him. The two families exchange toys and baby supplies quite often, but no one but Iris can consistently come up with something new. Lamy smiled and said, "Do you know how Grace described you to Joe? Auntie Christmas."
"That would be my honor." Iris liked the title. Santa Claus only comes out once a year, but she can surprise people every day.
The two chatted for a while until Derek returned from the parking lot, interrupting their parenting discussion. Lamy noticed a stack of autographed photos in Derek's hand, and before she could even glance at them, he handed them all over: "The young lady mentioned last time that Sister Lamy wanted some autographed photos to give to her friends, so these are for you."
Iris glanced at him, thinking to herself that this guy had learned all of Zhang Zhanchao's tricks, but she played along, her smile widening as she turned back, nodding like a chick pecking at rice: "If you need more, just tell me." She had thought Derek had evolved from hanging out with Zhang's assistant for so long, but the next second she realized how wicked he was. He had taken such a thick stack of autographed photos from her, praising Lamy so highly, all to elicit that casual question: "By the way, Iris, are you here to work? Am I bothering you?"
Derek was prepared and answered before Iris could: "Lamy guessed right. Miss is here today to write a script. StarHub is preparing to film a TV series in mainland China and they need to use Miss's script, so she is now turning the novel into a screenplay."
"Really? Really?" Lamy's eyes lit up as soon as she heard that, and she pulled Derek to ask more: "Which one is it? When will it air? I'll ask my friends to support it."
"The filming date hasn't even been set yet. I'll let you know as soon as I have news," Iris said, forcing a smile, and quickly told the genuinely excited Lamy and the feigningly excited Derek to calm down. She never expected Derek to betray her; she began to suspect he was a spy sent by StarHub to urge her to submit her manuscript. Ah, ah, so all that preparation was for her to make a fool of herself. Iris almost wanted to applaud. This whole thing would have been a waste not to create a villainous character based on Derek.
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