Chapter 28 Does Yun Qingqing like him?!
Yun Qingqing was so angry at the shameless father of the protagonist that she almost fell backward halfway through the movie.
She pushed open the door to the media room, intending to go to the restroom for some fresh air.
Just as she turned the corner of the stairs, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure standing quietly in the shadows at the corner of the stairs below.
Holy crap!!!
Yun Qingqing was startled and blurted out a phrase from the national treasure.
By the light of the home theater, Yun could clearly see the man's beautifully shaped jawline and slightly pale face.
It's Gu Xubai.
He seemed to have just finished a phone call; the light from his phone screen was dimming from between his fingers, making his expression somewhat ambiguous.
Hearing the noise, Gu Xubai turned his head slightly and looked at her.
"Oh, it's Xu Bai! You startled me," Yun greeted him with a smile. "Just got back from the company?"
"Hmm." Gu Xubai's voice was a little hoarse. "Did I disturb your movie?"
Yun waved her hand calmly: "No, no, I just came out to use the restroom."
She finished her pleasantries with an air of composure, and as soon as she was out of Gu Xubai's sight, she sprinted into the bathroom at top speed, closing the door with a lingering sense of dread.
"Tong'er, you saw it too, right? Gu Xubai's expression just now was so scary, it scared me to death!"
System: [...] You were quite composed just now.
After washing her hands, Yun gently adjusted her expression in front of the mirror and walked back to the media room.
Gu Xubai was still standing there, his gaze fixed on the heavy night outside the window, his pale face looking particularly lifeless.
Yun Qingqing's gaze inadvertently swept over his hand pressed against his upper abdomen, and she casually asked, "Um... Gu Xubai, have you had dinner?"
Gu Xubai replied indifferently, "No."
"Oh, Mingyan and I got a lot of food from 'Cuihua Xuan' tonight. Their dim sum is pretty good too. The shrimp dumplings and custard buns should still be warm," Yun said, pointing towards the kitchen. "Would you like some to tide you over?"
Gu Xubai was about to refuse, but before he could speak, he felt another sharp pain in his stomach.
The words that were about to come out were: "Okay."
And so, Yun Qingqing and Gu Xubai ended up sitting at the same dining table inexplicably.
Yun would occasionally serve him some food with serving chopsticks, her gaze kind and gentle.
The system automatically understood her intention: [Host, are you trying to influence the future villain by feeding him, attempting to make him experience the beauty and goodness of humanity?]
"Ah? Not entirely." Yun Qingqing gave a simple and unpretentious smile. "Mingyan said that she didn't want to eat these dishes if they were left overnight. The food at 'Cuihuaxuan' is so expensive, it would be such a waste to throw it away. It's good that someone can help solve this problem."
system:【……】
It turns out it wasn't the will to survive that triggered it, but rather a damned possessiveness towards money.
Watching Gu Xubai eat slowly and methodically, Yun Qingqing did not forget her goal of using truth to influence the villain.
She picked up her phone and fiddled with it for a while, then very naturally handed it to Gu Xubai. Her WeChat QR code was on the screen.
"Gu Xubai, let's add each other as friends? It'll be convenient to let you know on WeChat if anything happens in the future," Yun Qingqing said.
Gu Xubai gave a noncommittal "hmm," picked up his phone, and scanned the QR code.
After a soft "beep," the scan result popped up.
A friend request popped up on Gu Xubai's phone screen. When he saw the profile picture and nickname that appeared, his eyelids twitched involuntarily.
The other person's profile picture was a fluttering five-star red flag against a background of blindingly bright golden light. Coupled with the personal signature, "Abiding by laws and regulations, being honest and friendly, and building a harmonious society together," Gu Xubai was momentarily dazed, thinking he had accidentally scanned the QR code of some community propaganda cadre.
Gu Xubai looked up with a troubled expression, and asked as if to confirm, "...Is this the one who says 'A happy life is about harmony'?"
"Yes, it's me." Yun nodded lightly, quite at ease with her online persona. "What's wrong?"
“…It’s nothing.” Gu Xubai lowered his head and added the friend.
Just as the notification popped up that the addition was successful, Gu Mingyan's voice came from upstairs: "Qingqing—! Did you fall into the toilet? The movie is about to start at a crucial point!"
"Coming, coming!" Yun responded softly, then her fingers moved across the screen in a flurry of motion.
Gu Xubai's phone immediately started vibrating continuously.
He looked down and saw that 【Happy Life, Harmony is Precious】, with her radiant profile picture, was pushing a whole bunch of article links.
—"Learning, Understanding, Abiding by, and Using the Law: Building a Solid Foundation for a Happy Life"
—《Mental Health Guide: How to Relieve Stress and Embrace a Sunny Life》
—From "Bedtime Reading: What is the Profound Meaning of the Word 'Harmony' in the Ancient Wisdom of Self-Cultivation, Family Management, State Governance, and World Peace?"
Gu Xubai: "..."
He stared at the rows of headlines and fell into a strange and perplexing silence.
Just then, the assistant called.
"Mr. Gu, is your stomach still hurting? Would you like me to bring you some stomach medicine?" the assistant asked.
Gu Xubai followed his words and tried to understand.
I don't know if it was because I ate something in my stomach, or because Yun gently diverted my attention, but the dull pain in my stomach that had lasted for half the night had mostly subsided.
"My stomach doesn't hurt anymore." He paused, a rare hesitation in his voice, "It's just..."
The assistant immediately tensed up: "What? Is there anything else that's bothering you?"
Gu Xubai rubbed his temples and asked, "If... a girl you're not very familiar with asks if you've eaten, adds you on WeChat, and then sends you a bunch of random messages, what does that mean?"
"What else could it mean? She's most likely interested in you." The assistant's eyes gleamed with gossip. "Mr. Gu, is she a girl from your school?"
"no."
Looking at the righteous tweets, Gu Xubai felt that something was wrong with his assistant's judgment. "But the content she posted was quite strange."
The assistant asked, "What did she post?"
Gu Xubai read aloud the titles of those tweets.
"Hey, I have experience with this! Maybe he just doesn't know what to talk about with you, so he's just making small talk." The assistant pushed up his glasses and analyzed the situation logically. "If I'm not mistaken, the next step should be to give you a gift."
Gu Xubai asked, "Why do you know so much about this? Have you ever been pursued like this?"
The assistant paused for two seconds, then his voice suddenly carried a hint of world-weariness: "No, but that's what I did when I was someone's lapdog."
Gu Xubai: "..."
At this moment, Yun Qingqing was unaware that this misunderstanding was far too great.
In the home theater, Gu Mingyan stared intently at the movie screen, occasionally letting out a soft gasp.
While watching the movie, Yun Qingqing opened a food delivery platform and searched for books related to "morality and law," working up a sweat in the process.
She was sweating profusely mainly from exhaustion, because she had to calculate the best value for money among a bunch of colorful covers.
"This book is cheap, but it only has about twenty pages. That makes each page cost a dollar. Do you think I'm a sucker?"
"This one looks alright, but the total price divided by the number of pages makes the price per page higher than the previous one, so it's not worth it."
The system had never seen anyone calculate the price per book before, and its electronic brain buzzed: [Host, you're practically a wealthy person now, is it really necessary to calculate such a small difference of a few dollars?]
“What do you know?” Yun said without looking up. “As long as we’re out of poverty, we can’t stop making money. If you don’t want to be a beast of burden, you need to have some bargaining chips.”
The system thought for a moment and summarized: 【They're terrified of being poor.】
Yun Qingqing: "..."
The next morning, as dawn was breaking.
Yun Qingqing got up early, her hair still a little messy from sleeping, and stood guard on the only way from the living room to the entrance hall.
Sure enough, not long after, Gu Xubai, wearing a clean white shirt, came down the spiral staircase.
The young man, with his usual indifference in his eyes, was adjusting his cuffs as he walked out.
"Gu Xubai!" Yun Qingqing quickly called out.
Gu Xubai paused slightly, turned his head, and seemed somewhat surprised to see her at this time.
"Um?"
"Good morning," Yun Qingqing said, making conversation by taking two steps forward. "Going to the company so early?"
"There's a business negotiation today," Gu Xubai explained briefly.
His gaze swept over her hands behind her back, and he suddenly remembered what his assistant had said last night.
Gu Xubai paused for a moment, then asked bluntly, "Do you have something to give me?"
"Huh?!" Yun was taken aback. He had guessed that?
She was originally planning to lay the groundwork a bit!
However, now that she had been exposed, she was too lazy to beat around the bush and immediately took out what she had hidden behind her back.
"Here, this is for you!"
Gu Xubai looked down.
What comes into view is a book with a very simple, even somewhat rustic, cover design. At the very center of the book are neat, large Song typeface characters—
Civic Morality and Legal Knowledge (Latest Revised Edition)
Gu Xubai: "..."
Yun Qingqing enthusiastically introduced the book, saying, "I think this book is excellent and very educational! It talks about many principles of obeying the law, being honest and trustworthy, and being united and friendly. After reading it, I felt that my whole being was elevated and my soul was cleansed!"
She spoke at length about her insights from reading the book, from the spirit of the rule of law to civic morality, becoming more and more engrossed in her speech, and almost began reciting the core socialist values.
As she was talking, she gradually stopped.
Hmm, something's not right.
"System," Yun gently tapped the system, puzzled, "Why do I feel like Gu Xubai is looking at me strangely?"
The system was puzzled too: [A villain's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea; I have no idea.]
What use are you!
Unable to get any outside help, Yun Qingqing could only pretend not to see Gu Xubai's strange look and brace herself to add a few proverbs of truth, goodness and beauty, such as "Be kind to others, and even if blessings do not arrive, misfortune will have already gone far away," and "The spirit of the rule of law is an essential quality of modern citizens."
Gu Xubai listened quietly to her, his gaze fixed on Yun Qingqing's face, which was full of sincerity and enthusiasm.
He truly hadn't expected that Gu Mingyan's friend would harbor such feelings for him.
In Gu Xubai's limited memory, Yun Qingqing was a very low-key but intelligent girl.
When she appears on variety shows, she seems to be quiet most of the time, observing, and occasionally saying a few words, but she always manages to appropriately help Gu Mingyan, that brainless girl, out of a predicament.
Gu Xubai has always been extremely indifferent to matters of the heart, even somewhat averse to them.
His mother's failed love affair and his early exposure to the cruel struggles of the adult world during his youth made him accustomed to handling all interpersonal relationships with reason and distance, including those feelings of affection, whether overt or covert.
His usual approach is to cut off any potential developments clearly, directly, and without reservation, so as not to waste each other's time and create unnecessary trouble.
The words of refusal were almost on the tip of my tongue.
He had even figured out the simplest and most straightforward way to refuse Yun Qingqing's gift.
However……
Gu Xubai's gaze swept over her bright, expectant eyes, and he reached out and took the book as if possessed.
"Thanks."
Yun Qingqing's face instantly broke into a big, satisfied smile: "You're welcome! Hope your work goes well!"
Gu Xubai took the book in his hand, nodded slightly to her, and then turned and walked towards the entrance.
Only after his figure disappeared outside the door did Yun Qingqing turn around happily, feeling that the red scarf on her chest was even brighter.
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Author's note: Gu Xubai: She seems to like me.
Yun Qingqing: Saving wayward youth.
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