As soon as Cheng Jixue turned the corner, he immediately dropped his pitiful act. He randomly found a study room and shredded the things he had been writing for a long time, then wearily pinched the bridge of his nose.
He couldn't delay any longer. Explaining things, like clarifying them, had a time limit. He was certain Zhang Chaohe hadn't completely given up on him yet, but if he dragged it out any longer, he might end up like a vegetable leaf discarded as seasonal clothing, permanently buried in some hidden corner...
Will it see the light of day again in a trash can?
Because of the goose's completely uncooperative attitude, Cheng Jixue could only try to find a roundabout way. He felt sorry for himself, as he hadn't wanted things to turn out this way!
Then he dialed Ji Boyang's number.
Ji Boyang now fully understands Ms. Zhao's strategy. He was already ashamed to face his second uncle, and now that his second uncle was calling and Zhang Yinshan was still by his side, he really didn't want to answer.
However, Zhang Yinshan looked at him with a half-smile, forcing him to answer the phone and put it on speakerphone.
"Hello?" Cheng Jixue greeted him in a detached tone.
"Second Uncle—" Ji Boyang said obsequiously, "What brings you to call me today?"
With such a sticky and disgusting tone, Ji Boyang didn't believe his second uncle wouldn't recognize it!
Cheng Jixue's voice was filled with exhaustion: "Nothing's wrong. Have you told the old man about your recent situation?"
"No." Ji Boyang thought to himself, how could I dare to say anything before we fight to the death? It's better to act first and ask my great-grandfather to spare my life!
His second uncle gave a thoughtful "hmm" and then began to ramble on about some seemingly useful but actually useless information.
Zhang Yinshan couldn't listen any longer. He grabbed a pen and paper from the table, wrote a note, and pushed it to Ji Boyang. Ji Boyang glanced at it, still deciding to betray his cause. He asked nervously, "Second Uncle, what are you doing?"
Cheng Jixue's tone became lighter, and she seemed quite happy: "I'm with your second aunt."
Zhang Yinshan's expression hardened, and he wrote another note of inquiry, pushing it towards Ji Boyang. Ji Boyang was torn—he didn't want to betray his second uncle, but these questions seemed like trivial routine inquiries; surely it would be alright…
"How did you follow along?" Ji Boyang asked curiously.
Ji Boyang's inner thoughts: Stop talking, stop talking, hang up the phone quickly and do what you need to do, I'm begging you!
However, his second uncle lost his usual vigilance and spoke so frankly, as if pouring out beans: "When we first got together, we downloaded a couples app. The app had a real-time location function. He didn't cancel the account, so I can still see his location."
Ji Boyang thought to himself, "This software is so intrusive! Isn't this a violation of citizens' right to privacy?" Meanwhile, Zhang Yinshan, who was next to him, had already turned and left with his phone, seemingly to go and tell his second aunt on him!
Ji Boyang was on the verge of tears: "Second Uncle, do you know that there was someone next to me just now..."
Who it is, everyone knows.
He had expected his second uncle to be furious, but instead, his second uncle simply chuckled.
"Oh dear, that's such a shame."
⚹
When Zhang Chaohe received the call from his older brother, he was driving to the nearest pet supply store. He felt he could no longer live in the house he used to live in, so he moved to a house in a location he preferred.
His things were easy to handle, but Caiye's were a different story. Today, he secretly and stealthily ran away ahead of time, not only to check out the newly selected house, but also to buy Caiye a new set of furniture.
Zhang Chaohe answered his older brother's call via the car's Bluetooth. Before he could even speak, he heard his brother's gloomy voice say, "You're being followed."
Zhang Chaohe whirled around to look at the cars behind him, trying to spot one with ill intentions, but failed. He wondered to himself, "Is the CEO position really that dangerous?" and asked, "Who is it?"
Zhang Yinshan inexplicably gritted his teeth: "Cheng Jixue."
Before Zhang Chaohe could even catch his breath, Zhang Yinshan had already explained in detail Ji Er's tracking tool—it was said that he obtained Zhang Chaohe's exact location through a couples' app.
Zhang Chaohe was utterly shocked! Had the software become this powerful? He had uninstalled it long ago just because it was new and exciting!
But he didn't say it aloud—although if he did, Zhang Yinshan would immediately realize the error, but Zhang Chaohe just scratched his head and said, "Ah, then just cancel the account!"
Zhang Chaohe parked his car in a parking lot near the shopping center, then opened his phone and reinstalled the app. Once the loading was complete, Zhang Chaohe immediately went to the user center to begin the account cancellation process.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Cheng Jixue's couples' app displayed the message "Your lover is online." Cheng Jixue slightly curled the corners of her lips and opened the real-time location map—Zhang Chaohe was near a shopping mall very close to the company.
He immediately set off for the location indicated by the software, and at the same time, he immediately asked his secretary to use his connections to access nearby security cameras, intending to intercept the goose from the outside...
He absolutely cannot fail this time!!
Zhang Chaohe, on the other hand, spent a long time trying to figure out that this stupid software required an approval period to cancel an account... Fearing that uninstalling it directly would cause the account cancellation to fail, he had no choice but to temporarily turn off his phone screen and go to the shopping mall to buy the items he needed.
Although the shopping mall wasn't too far from the company, it still took Cheng Jixue some time to get there. Fortunately, the account cancellation process was slow today; Zhang Chaohe had already left the shopping mall before the transaction was completed.
Zhang Chaohe stood at the entrance of Gate 1 for a while, glanced at the message, and then planned to cross the road to a designer brand store in the shopping mall across the street to buy another set of tableware that he was more used to.
However, while he was waiting for the traffic light, a child suddenly darted out from the crowd and ran straight onto the main road!
Not far from him, a large truck was heading straight for the child in the middle of the road!
Zhang Chaohe was startled... Amid the exclamations of the crowd, he didn't have time to think. He threw down the bag in his hand and rushed towards the child who was standing in the middle of the road like a flying arrow!
The child was thrown onto the delta in front of the lane by him, while Zhang Chaohe only had time to turn his head to look at the oncoming truck - the front of the truck was very clean and tidy, so the body that was hit should not have been covered with too much mud and dust.
Ah, even in his last moments, Zhang Chaohe had the mind to think: So this is how my life ends.
It seems he still couldn't escape the fate of being killed by a truck.
He hoped he wouldn't have to deal with this mess again in his next life. Zhang Chaohe closed his eyes as he thought this, bracing himself for a moment of excruciating pain—but the next moment, someone roughly grabbed his arm and pulled him back!
Zhang Chaohe had already assumed a posture to face death when he was suddenly pulled, causing him to stumble and almost fall into the other person's arms. A familiar, pleasant woody scent immediately enveloped him, like suddenly entering an oasis in a sweltering city—before Zhang Chaohe could open his eyes, he heard Cheng Jixue's almost out-of-control, furious roar: "Are you fucking crazy?!"
Zhang Chaohe was startled. He quickly opened his eyes and stared innocently at Cheng Jixue, whose face was pale. Cheng Jixue was terrified, trembling all over, with bloodshot eyes.
Zhang Chaohe stared blankly, "Huh? What are you doing here?"
Cheng Jixue took several breaths to catch his breath—he had just gotten out of the taxi when he saw Zhang Chaohe playing on his phone at a traffic light not far away. He lingered a few steps away, watching Zhang Chaohe's back for a while, planning to do something illegal and disorderly, following him to the underground parking garage and then forcefully making him hear the whole story…
Then he saw Zhang Chaohe rush out like a madman.
Then Zhang Chaohe pushed the child away.
Then Zhang Chaohe closed his eyes and stood in front of the car, seemingly intending not to move.
In that instant, Cheng Jixue truly felt what it meant to be utterly terrified. It was as if his body no longer belonged to him. Before his sluggish mind could make a clear and normal reaction, his body had already lunged forward before anything else could.
Fortunately, he grabbed Zhang Chaohe. The truck roared past, seemed to pause for a moment, but did not stop and immediately sped away. Kind passersby quickly came forward and brought the child, who had fallen in the delta area, back to safety.
Cheng Jixue gripped Zhang Chaohe's shoulders tightly, her voice filled with undisguised, suppressed madness: "What do you want to do?"
No one disturbed them. In the bustling, noisy street, it was as if a small vacuum had formed around them, and it seemed that neither the passing of the sun nor the changing of the wind could disturb them.
Zhang Chaohe finally came to his senses... At the same time, he also recalled the stupid way he had just struck a resolute and dignified pose while waiting to be hit by a car—he explained in a somewhat desperate voice, "In novels and TV dramas, the people who save others can't avoid it."
Isn't that how it's usually portrayed? The protagonist rushes to save people, and then inevitably gets hit by a truck because he can't dodge in time. Friends and family arrive at the scene and weep bitterly with the rescued person.
If he is destined to die under the wheels of a car, Zhang Chaohe would rather die gloriously as a heroic protagonist than leave this world as a villainous supporting character.
I'll always be the protagonist. Zhang Chaohe even had the leisure to secretly think: What cannon fodder? I'm not going to be one.
Cheng Jixue trembled with anger upon hearing his absurd reason: "Can't you dodge? You're so far away, you could have walked back and dodged in time!!"
"This isn't a novel, this isn't a TV series, this is your life!" he roared in a low voice.
Zhang Chaohe was stunned for a moment, and was about to refute him, but unexpectedly heard that Cheng Jixue's voice had a hint of crying.
"Do you hate me so much that you'd rather die?"
This time, Cheng Jixue's eyes finally reddened a little more naturally. It was a very ugly expression, as if he was about to cry. He was so grief-stricken and heartbroken, like a flower that had missed spring, withered and desperate.
Zhang Chaohe was genuinely frightened... Cheng Jixue's voice was filled with such suppressed emotion that he was terrified that she would suddenly throw him aside and then rush into the road to commit suicide.
So he unconsciously touched Cheng Jixue's hair—he didn't know why, but he did it, though he felt it wasn't because he was soft-hearted or for any other ridiculous reason.
"Ah...actually, it's not that serious, is it..."
Cheng Jixue's vision blurred with a sense of intense oxygen deprivation, as if dazzling fireworks were bursting open and sweeping away the world with a deafening roar. His fingers gripping Zhang Chaohe's shoulder tightened, and he lowered his head in near collapse, pleading, "Could you... could you give me a chance? I'll tell you anything."
"Don't let me leave alone, or at least don't let me leave with regrets."
A note from the author:
The actions highlighted at the end are all for the sake of the plot, dangerous! Do not imitate them! Do not imitate them! Do not imitate them!
That car is so old and fast, you really can't stop it unless you're a mutant who can punch the car away or fly faster than a fast silver (serious). Good kids, don't try this.
My darlings who I fed today!!
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 86
After their respective outbursts subsided, both sides were finally in the mood to sit down and talk calmly.
Zhang Chaohe had just sat down at the nearest coffee shop table with bags of pet supplies when a camera suddenly appeared next to him... along with a bunch of cell phones.
Zhang Chaohe:
I forgot that everyone is paying attention to me.
He and Ji Er argued for a long time—Cheng Jixue tried to push his luck and enter the house again, but Zhang Chaohe firmly refused to allow anyone surnamed Ji to step into the house; after much back and forth, they finally reached a consensus and decided to go to Xiangyuan to talk again.
Just as the two were bickering from the coffee shop to the car and then from the car to the brothel—basically Cheng Jixue was unilaterally being scolded and submissive—another piece of news appeared on the entertainment section's trending topics: "Rumors of Xiao Zhang's marital problems are false."
Back in his office, Assistant Chen, feeling betrayed, clutched his head in anguish: Is this the bloody lesson from the warnings of the past—not to interfere in the quarrels of young couples?
Meanwhile, Assistant Chen directed his men to repeat the gag maneuver, and Zhang Chaohe and Cheng Jixue had already arrived at Xiangyuan. Aunt Zhu personally came out to greet them. After walking a short distance, Zhang Chaohe suddenly turned back and cautiously asked Aunt Zhu, "Excuse me, the owner of Xiangyuan... could it be him?"
He pointed at Cheng Jixue.
Feeling guilty, Cheng Jixue clenched her fist and coughed.
Aunt Zhu smiled and teased, "Yes, that's right."
Zhang Chaohe sneered, his eyes flashing with daggers. Aunt Zhu quickly tried to cover for him: "But Duanduan has been feeling guilty about keeping it from you, so she specially asked me to prepare a VIP discount and a separate account for you. Now you can get the money back!"
Aunt Zhu: I've really sacrificed so much for my brat to date!
Zhang Chaohe: He sounds like a kind and gentle elder who can help you. He definitely has nothing to do with anyone!
Both of them turned their gazes to Cheng Jixue at the same time… Cheng Jixue finally realized—
Those who do not heed the advice of elders will suffer the consequences.
Furthermore, a person who does not plan for the future will surely have immediate worries.
The waitress handed Zhang Chaohe a discounted version of the "Mr. Zhang's Special" menu. Zhang Chaohe paused, then winked at the innocent-looking waitress: "Could I have another version?"
Just as the young woman was about to firmly insist that this was the only and only version, Aunt Zhu's permission came through her earpiece: "Give it to him."
So Zhang Chaohe finally got the official version of the menu—and he was not surprised to find that the cost of a whole table of food he used to eat was only enough for one dish and one soup...