Chapter 42: Pt.1

When other people got angry, their faces would flush red. Xu Chuanchuan was the opposite. Rather than turning red, her face would turn white when she got mad. The corners of her mouth would tremble as well.

When Xu Chuanchuan looked at Murong Shi's nonchalant behavior, she indeed had the urge to curse. However, as nobody had ever taught her the skills for this, she could only open and close her mouth repeatedly like a fish, unable to say even one harsh word.

Then, Xu Chuanchuan clenched her teeth and glared at Murong Shi.

However, Murong Shi remained unfazed.

In Murong Shi's opinion, Xu Chuanchuan was like a rabbit driven into a corner. Although this rabbit wished to bite the enemy cornering her, she was too weak. Her gaze did not look frightening, and her voice did not sound threatening. Rather than threatening others, her pathetic look only made others feel pity for her.

"Why don't you have a seat first?"

How can this person be so calm? Taking a deep breath, Xu Chuanchuan kept her gaze on Murong Shi. Then, in a trembling voice, she demanded, "How can you be like this?"

Stunned, Murong Shi asked, "Be like what?"

Stamping her feet, Xu Chuanchuan said in vexation, "You weren't even drunk that day!"

"How do you know I wasn't drunk?" Murong Shi asked teasingly.

How can a drunk person be as energetic as you were?!

Xu Chuanchuan found herself unable to speak momentarily. After calming down, she said in a low tone, "Regardless of whether you were drunk or not, that doesn't give you the right to mess around."

Murong Shi silently pushed the mug a little further away from herself. Then, she said, "I already apologized to you for that."

"Who smiles when apologizing? You weren't sincere at all," Xu Chuanchuan said in chagrin.

As if thinking about something, Murong Shi quietly stared at Xu Chuanchuan for several seconds. Then, she suddenly stood up.

Xu Chuanchuan grew alert at this sight. However, what happened next left her dumbfounded.

Retracting the mirth on her face, Murong Shi suddenly executed a standard ninety-degree bow and solemnly said, "I'm sorry."

Xu Chuanchuan: "..."

"I shouldn't have asked to drink with you. I also shouldn't have taken advantage of you after eating your food. I'm deeply sorry for my actions. Please forgive me."

Xu Chuanchuan: "..."

"Do you think this is sincere enough?"

Xu Chuanchuan had already gotten used to Murong Shi's powerful and imposing appearance. However, this was the first time she had seen the other party being so submissive, and she was so surprised that she didn't know how to react.

In the end, Xu Chuanchuan chose to stomach her grievances and forgive Murong Shi. Then, after muttering an "Excuse me," she turned around to leave. After all, now that Murong Shi had gone to such an extent, what else could she say?

"Wait." Murong Shi stopped Xu Chuanchuan. "Since you're already here, let me make it clear once and for all."

Confused, Xu Chuanchuan asked, "Make what clear?"

Murong Shi circled her desk and approached Xu Chuanchuan.

Xu Chuanchuan instinctively thought to back away when she saw this, but she suddenly felt that doing so would only make her look weak. So, she straightened her back and stood her ground.

Murong Shi wanted to laugh when she saw Xu Chuanchuan's actions. However, when she moved closer to Xu Chuanchuan, she noticed that the latter's eyes had reddened slightly. They also appeared faintly watery. Stunned by this discovery, Murong Shi asked, "You're...crying?"

Looking away, Xu Chuanchuan said, "I'm not."

When Murong Shi looked at Xu Chuanchuan's pale lips, she hesitated to speak.

Murong Shi honestly didn't know what had been going on with herself that night. She had originally been in a bad mood already. To make matters worse, Xu Chuanchuan had been incessantly yapping away beside her. So, when she saw Xu Chuanchuan's small mouth opening and closing repeatedly, she lost control of herself momentarily.

The moment Murong Shi saw Xu Chuanchuan running away, she immediately regretted her actions and thought that she should say something. However, no matter how long she waited, Xu Chuanchuan did not come out of her room.

Initially, Murong Shi thought that if the two of them set that matter aside and did not bring it up, it would just go away eventually. However, never did she expect Xu Chuanchuan to come to her and confront her about the matter. Fortunately, although Murong Shi also felt embarrassed to have that incident brought up again, she was much better at hiding her embarrassment than Xu Chuanchuan.

Looking down, Murong Shi took notice of Xu Chuanchuan's legs. Currently, the other party had her toes taut. Whether Xu Chuanchuan was doing so out of anger or anxiety, Murong Shi did not know. Then, Murong Shi moved her gaze upward and noticed Xu Chuanchuan's tightly clenched fists hanging at her sides.

Taking a step forward, Murong Shi asked softly, "Are you that aggrieved?"

Xu Chuanchuan looked up. Then, blinking her eyes, she said, "Will you not feel aggrieved if someone suddenly forces a kiss on you?"

After pondering in silence for a moment, Murong Shi said, "That depends on who the other party is."

"What… What do you mean?"

"It's nothing. Don't think too much about it."

Xu Chuanchuan lowered her head in shame.

Letting out an inaudible sigh, Murong Shi said, "I thought you wouldn't care."

With a look of consternation on her face, Xu Chuanchuan asked, "On what basis?"

"Do you really want me to say it?"

"G-Go on…" Xu Chuanchuan said, her voice starting to tremble again.

Murong Shi fixed her gaze on Xu Chuanchuan's lips. Then, after sorting out the words in her mind, she said, "Although I took the initiative at the time, based on your reaction, it didn't seem like you hated it at all."

Xu Chuanchuan's face instantly turned beet red. Then, taking a step back, she denied, "Nonsense!"

"If you hated it, you wouldn't have stuck your tongue out."

Boom.

Xu Chuanchuan felt as if something had just exploded in front of her as her mind went blank. Then, she stammered, "T-That's because… That's because you stuck yours out first!"

After saying that, Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but wish she could die of shame and anger on the spot.

Heavens! Can someone save my intelligence?! What the hell did I just say?!

Sporting an ambiguous smile, Murong Shi said, "If you think that you suffered a loss, I'll give you a chance to kiss me back as well."

"What did you say?" For a moment, Xu Chuanchuan couldn't help but doubt if her ears were working properly.

However, when Xu Chuanchuan saw Murong Shi moving her face closer, she couldn't help but be stunned. When she finally realized what Murong Shi meant, she fled.

"Ah! Who is it?!"

When Xu Chuanchuan rushed out of the door, she crashed into the Business Department's assistant, who had come to find Murong Shi.

"Sorry, sorry," Xu Chuanchuan hurriedly apologized before fleeing the area.

After returning to her desk in the Engineering Department, Xu Chuanchuan could not calm her rapidly beating heart for a long time. Her face also looked as red as a tomato. When her colleagues asked her about her face, she randomly lied, "It's too hot."

Even though Xu Chuanchuan still had a lot of work that needed to be done, she couldn't calm down no matter what. Never in her life did she feel so much regret at doing something. Thinking back to how she acted in Murong Shi's office, Xu Chuanchuan felt that she had been incredibly foolish. She had gone to confront Murong Shi and seek an explanation, yet she ended up getting teased by Murong Shi instead. Her exit from the office was even a disgraceful escape…

Should I just resign?

…

Xu Chuanchuan felt incredibly aggrieved. After getting off work in the evening, she went straight back to her dormitory without having dinner first. Then, she threw herself onto the bed and messaged Ange.

Xu Chuanchuan: "I'm going to resign."

Ange: "Again?"

Xu Chuanchuan: "I'm serious this time."

Ange: "Why? Don't tell me it's because of your boss's daughter again? What did she do to you this time?"

Xu Chuanchuan: …

Must you be such a good fortune-teller?

Xu Chuanchuan: "She bullied me."

Ange: "How did she bully you? Did she ask you to write her another bootlicking essay?"

It's something much worse…

Forget it. I better not say it. Something this embarrassing should be kept hidden forever.

It had already been a few days since Xu Chuanchuan had written anything. When she suddenly recalled that she had ignored her novel's comment section for several days now, she quickly opened up her jjwxc application. Then, when she saw the words of support and encouragement her readers had left for her, her heart finally received some comfort.

While browsing through the comment section, Xu Chuanchuan suddenly came across a familiar ID. And when she saw a certain word in this ID, her mood turned sour again.

Two days ago, Passerby Shi had given her five Deep-water Torpedoes accompanied with a comment saying: "I'm thanking you on behalf of a friend."

Confused by this message, Xu Chuanchuan took a screenshot of it and switched to her QQ messenger. She then tapped on a certain someone's avatar.

I Love Malatang: "What do you mean by this? [Image]"

Roughly an hour later, Passerby Shi replied: "My friend read your book and liked it a lot. But she doesn't have a reader account, so she asked me to send you a few Deep-waters on her behalf."

I Love Malatang: "Oh."

Passerby Shi: "They said you were in a bad mood for the past few days."

I Love Malatang: "Who said so?"

Passerby Shi: "The girls in the group. They say you haven't shown yourself for two days now. Everyone's making all sorts of guesses on the reason. Are you alright?"

Xu Chuanchuan was surprised that this tsundere tycoon would be concerned about her. But, of course, she couldn't tell the other party the truth, so she replied: "Thank you, but I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little depressed because I've been suffering writer's block these past few days."

Passerby Shi: "Lacking inspiration?"

I Love Malatang: "Something like that. But I feel motivated after seeing your five Deep-waters, so I'll start writing in a moment."

Passerby Shi: "Good luck."

When Xu Chuanchuan browsed the comment section and saw the donation, she inwardly exclaimed at how wealthy this capricious tycoon was while simultaneously thinking to herself, Both of them have "Shi" in their names, yet why is there such a vast difference between their personalities?

For the first time, Xu Chuanchuan found that Passerby Shi had quite a cute personality.