"If you're used to eating high-end steaks and still prefer frozen meat from the supermarket, then consider it a mistake on my part."
...
"If there's a chance."
Wen Cheng took a sip of champagne. Her almond-shaped eyes, which usually looked well-behaved, were now softened by the makeup artist's subtle upward stroke at the outer corner of her eyes. The well-behaved look was gone, replaced by a sense of aloofness befitting a superior.
He also unconsciously imitated Wen Qi's usual behavior, always holding something in his hand, his gaze three parts looking at people and seven parts observing their hearts, and he would avoid saying a single unnecessary word.
Mr. Zhang suddenly felt a little intimidated by that gaze.
Why does it feel a bit like talking to Wen Qi? Mr. Zhang suddenly realized he might have underestimated Wen Cheng. Even though she's just a kitten raised by the Wen family, she has an extra prefix compared to other kittens; her lethality is far beyond that of an ordinary kitten.
Mr. Zhang chuckled and exchanged a few words with Wen Cheng before quickly leaving. His two silly kids clearly couldn't outwit Wen Cheng, so he slipped away.
One person left, but you can't get rid of them; they're still unwilling to give up and want to try.
"Chengcheng, my family just started an entertainment company, and we haven't recruited any new talent yet. Would you be interested in getting a credit there? Resources are absolutely guaranteed! Plus, you can date freely! Our company's PR capabilities are top-notch!"
"Chengcheng, we just bought a small island, and the renovations are finally finished. Would you like to bring your friends over for a visit? My son is in charge of the whole project, and he can be your tour guide!"
"Chengcheng, I heard you like playing games too. My son has several provincial server rankings!"
......
That evening, Wen Cheng received introductions from fifteen boys her age and eight girls.
"Uncle, I don't have that idea yet. Are arranged marriages still common these days?"
Tired of being talked to so much, Wen Cheng asked a question with an innocent expression, which immediately poured cold water on everyone around her.
"You're twenty-four already, you should start looking," someone else suggested, feigning concern.
Wen Cheng smiled slightly, "I'm afraid of romance."
"Fear, fear of love?"
“It’s an early symptom of fear of marriage,” Wen Cheng explained without batting an eye, adjusting the twenty or so business cards in her hands. “Uncle and Aunt, I’ll keep a business card in my room. Your relationship is so deep, I can barely hold it up.”
......
Having witnessed Wen Cheng's stubbornness, everyone could only turn their attention to Wen Yunyi, who was polite to everyone (and sarcastic), since the little green tea spoke more tactfully than the straightforward Cheng.
After Wen Cheng rested for a while and came down, everyone stopped insisting on handing her the name tag.
That's good.
Wen Cheng didn't actually want to spend his birthday like this. He wanted to go with Brother Qi to the place where they had eaten mutton before, to see the green grass there again, to see the magnificent sunset, and to see the flock of sheep running like white clouds.
Carrying her own birthday cake, Wen Cheng cut it into pieces, adding lots of milk chocolate that Wen Qi liked, and then searched around for someone.
If he had known this day would come, he would have installed a loudspeaker in the living room beforehand. At this moment, the loudspeaker should have announced: "Wen Qi, Wen Qi, your younger brother and boyfriend wants to eat cake with your favorite milk chocolate. You need to appear in front of your brother within five seconds, or your brother will cry."
As Wen Cheng was thinking, she actually amused herself first.
But as he laughed, he couldn't laugh anymore.
When his gaze fell on the balcony of his home, Wen Qi, dressed in a black suit, leaned against the railing. In the cold moonlight, his delicate features and fair skin were as beautiful as a painting. Unfortunately, Wen Qi was not with him, but with an equally beautiful girl.
The girl's face didn't show the usual infatuation and longing, but rather a more arrogant expression. She stared at Wen Qi unabashedly, and Wen Qi wasn't annoyed. His pale eyes revealed no specific emotion.
A gentle breeze blew in through the window, igniting a flame in Wen Cheng's heart.
Just as Wen Cheng was about to walk over, he was firmly pulled by a hand, and pulled out of Wen Qi's sight.
"Chengcheng, be good, don't go looking for your brother yet." The culprit lovingly stroked Wencheng's curly fur. Even if Wencheng's fur was sticking up, he didn't dare to explode at this moment because it was his mother who was pulling him.
"Why? That girl shouldn't be Qi-ge's girlfriend, right?" Wen Cheng said, displeased.
Wen Yin gave Wen Cheng a reproachful look. "Of course not! A few days ago, Mom invited Secretary Zhao to dinner and deliberately tried to get information out of him. Guess what? Secretary Zhao actually revealed that the person your brother likes might also come here tonight. But there are too many people here tonight, so I thought I'd use this method to lure out the person your brother likes. I don't believe that the person who has been pursuing him will be angry if he talks to another girl!"
Yes, I'm angry now.
Looking at the man in front of her, who was more handsome than she had ever imagined, Yu Wanran felt more impatient than anything else.
He's handsome, but he's old! She just received her graduate school acceptance letter this year, a vibrant 22-year-old, and her own mother is pushing her to chat with an old man?! What are they talking about, tea or health?
But she definitely couldn't say such things to this old man's face. Yes, she had just returned to China and didn't know much about the situation there. She only felt that everyone was praising him to the skies—a game designer who came from nowhere, a genius among geniuses, a born manager, the second miracle of the Wen family, and so on.
But even though she had heard these inspirational stories since she was a child, when she actually met the person in person, they were just characters from storybooks come to life.
If she had to chat with one of the Wen family's children, she would rather chat with Wen Cheng. They were about the same age, and she would definitely have more to talk about than this old man. Moreover, she was immediately drawn to Wen Cheng's looks in the recent promotional video he starred in. Although Wen Cheng might not be as good as this old man or his younger brother Wen Yunyi in many ways, she preferred a living, breathing person with a strong personality and charisma to a perfect tool.
"Don't misunderstand, my parents forced me to come. You should understand what's going on between us." Yu Wanran felt she had been relatively subtle in her words. She gently brushed the end of her hair with her slender hand, a gesture she unconsciously made when nervous.
Wen Qi's eyes remained completely expressionless. When he was a child, he would go to the zoo, and while other children would cry in fear when the monkeys pounced on them, he was the only one who wouldn't cry. In his view, monkey shows weren't worth his unnecessary emotional reaction.
"Hmm, the snacks today are quite good, you can..."
“I don’t want to taste it with you either. Ugh, why can’t you put it that way? Our hobbies and ideas are from completely different eras. You are, well, very capable, but I don’t need these things, you understand?” Yu Wanran was very anxious.
...
"Ugh, why hasn't that child shown up yet? Aren't you angry? I feel like that girl is getting a little closer to our A-Qi. He already has someone he likes, why doesn't he know to keep his distance?" Wen Yin was extremely dissatisfied. Could it be that Secretary Zhao was lying to her and that the child hadn't even come?
As time went on, Wenyi's curiosity about the child grew day by day.
"Won't you be unhappy?" Wen Yin asked, puzzled.
"Mom," Wen Cheng suddenly called out.
"What's wrong, little one? Are you bored here?" Wen Yin turned to look at Wen Cheng, only to find that Wen Cheng's face was almost expressionless.
Wen Cheng's expression remained unchanged: "Mom, have you ever thought that my little brother might also be unhappy?" Wen Cheng tilted her head slightly as she said this.
Wen Yin didn't react. Unhappy? What's wrong?
Wen Cheng handed the cake to Wen Yin and said softly, "Mom, could you please get my brother's cake for me?"
It was a cake piled high with milk chocolate.
With that, Wen Cheng walked towards the balcony without looking back, and Wen Yin couldn't stop her in time.
The closer Wen Cheng got, the more anxious she became, until she overheard a faint conversation between the two.
"How can you still not understand? To put it bluntly, you're twenty-seven and you've never had a boyfriend. Why is that?"
Wen Cheng: ? ? ?
Author's Note:
Good night
Chapter 110 Protecting!
This was absolutely the most shocking thing Wen Cheng had ever heard since she came to this world. Someone actually asked Wen Qi why he didn't have a girlfriend at the age of twenty-seven, and not in a tone that implied that others couldn't afford to date him. To put it more vividly, it was like a single son in his thirties coming home, opening the door, and finding the living room full of his aunts and uncles, all asking him with a look of utter disappointment why he couldn't find a wife even at over thirty, and whether there was something wrong with him.
In this situation, Wen Cheng was unsure whether he should continue. As he hesitated, the two people on the balcony looked over at the same time.
Wen Cheng had no choice but to bite the bullet and go up.
Yu Wanran's eyes suddenly lit up. "Wen Cheng, I saw your promotional video abroad! I loved your performance in it! Oh my god, my best friend would be so jealous if she knew I could talk to you. Can I take a picture with you?"
Yu Wanran's excited expression was a stark contrast to her earlier impatient demeanor.
Yu Wanran's change of attitude was so rapid that Wen Cheng couldn't even react.
At this moment, Wen Qi, who had been completely calm, suddenly straightened up, half-blocking Wen Cheng like a mother hen protecting her chicks, and a hint of ruthlessness appeared on his usually indifferent face.
Yu Wanran immediately felt offended!
"What does Mr. Wen mean by this?" Yu Wanran was not afraid of Wen Qi at all. Few people dared to challenge Wen Qi like this anymore. She just didn't understand why the old man's expression didn't change when she said such harsh words. Now that she had only said a few words to Wen Cheng, why was he looking at her like she was an enemy? The old man was being hypocritical!
She made up her mind: if her parents insisted on forcing her to be with an older man, she would go abroad! If they cut off her allowance, she would work on her own. The partner she wanted would have to be around the same age and share the same interests and aspirations. She didn't like those boring older men at all!
Wen Cheng stood behind Wen Qi. This was the first time he had ever seen Wen Qi so disdainful. But as surprised as he was, he didn't like the woman's tone or what she had said to Wen Qi.
Wen Cheng is usually slow and indecisive, preferring to lie down rather than sit, but when it comes to people and things she cares about, she always acts faster than she thinks.
Wen Cheng tugged at Wen Qi's sleeve, then nimbly stepped in front.
"Little girl, who are you picking and choosing with?"
Wen Cheng's docile exterior was like a thin sheet of paper torn in half, unleashing astonishing aggression and possessiveness. Like a leopard whose territory had been inadvertently violated, her entire body erupted in fury.
Yu Wanran couldn't say what she was thinking. The character in the promotional video was an act, but after immersing herself in it for a while, she started to believe that it really was Wen Cheng. So, facing this complete stranger, she felt such a strong sense of unease for the first time.
"I...I...what did I say? I just expressed that I have absolutely no interest in him," Yu Wanran said, feeling bewildered and innocent. "I know my parents pushed me here to introduce me to...you know, your brother, but I just wanted to say that's not what I meant. Wen Cheng, you should understand what I mean, right?"
Yu Wanran spoke in a tone that any person her age would understand; that's how she talked to others back in school, so normally Wen Cheng would be able to understand her.
Wen Cheng tilted her head. "Why should I understand your point of view? You don't think it's my brother who's been pestering you, do you?"
"Um," isn't that right?
Yu Wanran glanced at Wen Qi as if to confirm, but Wen Qi didn't look at her at all. His eyes were fixed on Wen Cheng beside him. There was a strange harmony between the two of them, and a terrible conclusion came to her mind.
Depend on!
No way!
"Wen Cheng, let's go," Wen Qi suddenly grabbed Wen Cheng's hand and pulled her away without giving her a chance to refuse.
Wen Cheng hadn't recovered from her outburst and was foolishly captured by Wen Qi without any resistance.
Yu Wanran looked at the two people's backs, feeling somewhat lost.
"Silly girl, look what you've done! I told you to talk to President Wen, and this is what you said?!" Her parents, who had been secretly watching from a distance, walked over, utterly exasperated.
"It's rare that Premier Wen is willing to stay here for so long!" The mother was so angry she almost vomited blood.
How come it's all her fault now? Yu Wanran's lips quickly turned down, her face darkening considerably. "It's all my fault? I already said I don't like his type. Impressive, huh? Impressive, how come you're still single at twenty-seven? Why should I be your tool for a transaction? Did you bring me into this world just for this? Then why did you even make me study? You might as well have let me stay home and play until I was eighteen and got married. Perfect, if it were that kind of thing, I wouldn't even know what an old man is!"
Yu Wanran's tearful accusations successfully attracted the attention of the surrounding crowd. Although they didn't gather like people at a market, their eyes were still drawn to Yu Wanran and her family.
The couple immediately wanted to disappear into the ground.
How could you say something like that!
"Ranran, come out with Mommy first!" Madam Yu said, her voice suppressed.
Yu Wanran shook off her hands without cooperating at all, glaring at her parents. It would be good if they made a scene. If they did, her parents, who cared about their reputation, wouldn't go so far as to give her away to an old man who had no interest in her!
At such an important birthday party for the host family, the Yu family didn't want to be the first to cause trouble and disrupt the atmosphere. However, they had a daughter who wasn't very bright. The couple tried to persuade her to leave by gentle persuasion, but Yu Wanran was unwilling to cooperate and was determined to make a scene for everyone to see.