Extra Chapter 20
Li Shu could hardly believe her ears. "Mr. Zhou, what did you say? You want to sleep here?"
The man leaning on the sofa looked at her weakly, "I can't leave right now."
After thinking for a moment, she suggested, "Should I call an ambulance to take you to the hospital?"
But the man declined, "It's probably not serious enough for the hospital, and that might cause news headlines."
Li Shu: "..."
Afraid of making headlines, so he wants to stay here?
Finding it hard to understand, she continued, "But... this is just a small rundown apartment that rents for about a thousand yuan a month..."
Before she could finish, the man sincerely said, "I don't mind."
Li Shu: "..."
She wasn't worried about him minding.
Her concern was that besides a small open kitchen and a tiny bathroom, it was just one large room. The bed and sofa were only separated by a sheer curtain - how would they manage sleeping arrangements?
As if reading her mind, he added, "It's fine, I'll take the sofa."
Li Shu: "..."
How could she let a CEO worth hundreds of billions sleep on her sofa while she took the bed?
That wouldn't sit right with her conscience.
After some thought, she suggested, "How about you take my bed, and I'll find a hotel room."
But the man weakly replied, "Your apartment isn't very secure, and I'm not feeling well. What if something happens while I'm here alone?"
He glanced at her and added in a soft voice, "Are you that opposed to my staying?"
Li Shu: "It's not that I'm opposed... it's just... a single man and woman staying together..."
The man actually gave a light chuckle and said, "In my condition, I doubt I could do anything."
Li Shu: "...I'm more worried about what I might do..."
After all, having such a handsome man lying weakly before her...
She froze after speaking, realizing she'd accidentally said her thoughts out loud.
Zhou Lan chuckled again, followed by a light cough, "Well, we're both single anyway..."
Li Shu: "..."
Why did his words suddenly create such an ambiguous atmosphere, making her blush?
No, no, she had to stop talking. If this continued, who knows what might happen.
But the problem was, she hadn't finished her chapter update yet!
Her readers were more important! No longer bothering with politeness, since the bed, wardrobe, and computer desk were inside, she told the weakened man who refused to go to the hospital on her sofa, "Then I'll have to trouble you to make do with the sofa for tonight. I still have some schoolwork to finish."
Zhou Lan made a sound of agreement, but reminded her, "Don't stay up too late, get some rest early."
Li Shu quickly nodded, "Alright, and please let me know if you feel unwell again."
She grabbed a blanket to cover him, then hurried to turn on her computer.
At midnight, after Li Shu had finally finished her update and gone to bed, Zhou Lan lay on the sofa, unable to sleep.
His headache was long gone, but his mind was filled with memories of their past life.
He remembered their reluctant parting in their previous life, when she said if there was a next life, she would marry him again.
Unexpectedly, they had truly reunited in this life.
Thank heavens.
But there was still one problem - how to make her remember?
He had taken a hit to remember, but for her... he definitely couldn't bear to let that happen to her.
Well, perhaps it was up to fate.
Besides... even if she couldn't remember now, it didn't matter, as long as he remembered.
Early the next morning, Li Shu woke up before her alarm. She saw that Zhou Lan was already up, with the blanket she had given him neatly folded on the sofa.
She quickly asked, "Mr. Zhou, are you feeling better?"
Zhou Lan made an affirmative sound, "Yes. I'll drive you to the company first, then go home to change clothes."
Li Shu breathed a sigh of relief, agreed, and after getting ready, they left together.
Fortunately, where she had gotten out of the car last night was a legal parking zone, and Zhou Lan's car was still safely parked by the roadside overnight.
She opened the car door and got in, unaware that someone was hiding in the roadside bushes, taking several photos of her at the perfect moment.
After arriving at the company, Zhou Lan headed home while she took the elevator up to her floor, turned on her computer, and got busy. Soon after, Zhou Lan arrived.
She stood up and greeted him as "Mr. Zhou," noticing he was freshly dressed, his hair still slightly damp, emanating a faint fragrance from his recent shower.
For a moment, she couldn't help but let her mind wander...
Zhou Lan, who secretly noticed this: "..."
Was she developing feelings for him?
Well, it seems good looks do have their uses.
Zhou Lan had a morning meeting and left his office after grabbing some documents. With nothing urgent to do, Li Shu finished her work and continued writing her new chapter.
As the morning passed and lunch approached, her system suddenly chimed with a notification: [You're about to become famous.]
Li Shu: [What???]
What did that cryptic message mean?
System: [Check the trending topics.]
Li Shu quickly grabbed her phone to look, and as soon as she opened Weibo's trending page, a headline jumped out at her: "Huarui Group's Young Master's Girlfriend Appears"
Huarui Group's Young Master?
Were they talking about Chubby Zhou?
He... had a girlfriend?
In that moment, Li Shu felt a chill in her heart and instinctively clicked on the headline.
She first saw several similar photos showing a young couple walking to a luxury car, getting in, and driving away.
The man was clearly her boss, Chubby Zhou, and as for the woman...
Li Shu looked down at her outfit today and was shocked to realize it was her!
[What's going on???]
System: [Last night when Zhou Lan drove you home with your phone, he parked by the roadside, right? Some paparazzi happened to see it, and they waited all night to finally catch you two coming out of the building and getting in the car.]
Li Shu: "..."
The paparazzi had been waiting there since last night?
This would be impossible to explain away now.
She quickly checked her phone again and saw the headline: "Zhou Lan, the diamond bachelor and new CEO of Huarui Group, ranking in Asia's top ten richest, spent the night at an apartment and left early next morning with a young woman, suggesting cohabitation."
Li Shu: "..."
Looking further, the comments section had exploded with users asking who she was and why such a wealthy billionaire would spend the night in such an ordinary apartment building.
...
Turning off her phone screen, Li Shu felt extremely nervous.
She regretted not bringing a change of clothes this morning - now that her colleagues had seen the trending topic, wouldn't they realize she was the one who "spent the night" with the boss?
System: [It's too late, they've already figured it out. Check the latest top comment.]
What?
Li Shu was startled and quickly reopened her phone. Sure enough, there was a new top comment saying, [Hey, doesn't this girl's outfit look like Huarui's new CEO secretary?]
The replies below were all trying to dig up information about her role as the CEO's secretary.
Li Shu: "..."
This was...
Feeling an indescribable panic, she quietly closed Weibo and clicked on her latest chapter posted this morning, only to find readers already asking if she had any gossip about Huarui's CEO Zhou Lan and wanting to know who his rumored girlfriend was.
Li Shu: "..."
Great.
Talk about karma - who would have thought that after writing so much gossip about others, one day she'd be writing about herself?
But she was just an ordinary person, she couldn't handle this much attention!!!
Suddenly, an idea struck her - wait, what about her boss, Chubby Zhou? He was the male lead after all! With his wealth, surely he would pay to suppress the trending topic?
At the very least, he should clarify things with the media?
Just as she was thinking this, she heard the elevator ding, and the male lead in question walked in while on the phone, making occasional sounds of agreement.
Unlike his usual work calls, his attitude seemed relaxed, and he even had a smile on his face.
Most notably, as he passed by her desk, Li Shu faintly heard a woman's voice on the other end of the call.
Hmm... who could he be talking to?
Just then, he finished his call and looked at her, asking, "Any plans for the morning?"
His lips still curved in a slight smile, his mood seemingly quite good.
Li Shu suddenly felt an inexplicable complexity in her heart. After thinking for a moment, she simply nodded and said, "There is indeed something..."
Zhou Lan stopped and looked at her, "What is it?"
Li Shu cleared her throat and said, "Please don't get angry first, but... I was photographed by paparazzi this morning while riding in your car, and they also know about you staying at my place last night... It's already trending on social media."
After she finished speaking, she was feeling anxious, but to her surprise, the man simply responded with a calm "Oh, I already knew about that."
Li Shu: "??? When did you find out?"
Why wasn't he surprised?
Zhou Lan showed her his phone and said, "My mother just called to tell me."
What, his mother?
So that means the Chairwoman knows too???
Li Shu was so shocked that she started stammering, "Then, then, then Chairwoman Zhou must be very angry?"
But Zhou Lan said, "Not at all. My mother just told me that I need to take responsibility for you."
Li Shu's eyes widened, "What, what, what responsibility?"
If anyone should take responsibility, shouldn't it be her? After all, she was the one who caused him to get hit by that light bulb...
But then, unexpectedly, the man in front of her smiled and said, "I told my mother I want to marry you."
What???
Li Shu was completely stunned, looking at him in disbelief, "Why do you want to marry me?"
He smiled at her and said, "Because I like you."
What???
Li Shu was dumbfounded again.
From the time she came to Huarui Media for her interview, they hadn't known each other for even a week, and he's saying he likes her?
Is this how rich people express their feelings, so abruptly?
However, something flickered in her mind, like a scene where he had said similar words before.
It was the same face, but his appearance seemed somewhat different...
What was going on?
Had she dreamed about this?
While Li Shu was puzzled, the man beside her spoke up, "Don't doubt it. Everything I'm saying is true. I really like you, and I really want to marry you, if you're willing."
Li Shu: "..."
She suddenly didn't dare to speak, even suspecting if this was some kind of romance scam―
The man in front of her, one of the ten wealthiest men in Asia, actually wanted to marry her???
Although she was indeed quite pretty, and many boys had confessed to her since she was young, but this was Chubby Zhou!!!
Weren't rich people like him supposed to be interested in models and actresses?
Or at least arrange some kind of family alliance marriage?
Why did he like her?
To be safe, she quietly confirmed with her internal system again, [This is really Zhou Lan, right? Not someone impersonating him to scam me?]
Zhou Lan, who silently heard this: "..."
Zhou Lan didn't rush her for an answer. After his confession, he went to deal with the trending topic.
Soon enough, the trending topic disappeared.
Li Shu felt slightly relieved, but still couldn't calm down.
To be honest, just as a person, Zhou Lan was indeed her ideal type, and she had made up her mind to have a relationship this year.
But she really hadn't expected to end up with her boss!
Being wealthy wasn't a problem, but he was perhaps a bit too wealthy!
And he wanted to marry her right away...
It was too sudden.
How could a billionaire be so innocent in love?
This was too absurd!
...
What Li Shu hadn't expected was that something even more absurd was about to happen. At the end of the workday, their group's chairwoman, Chubby Zhou's mother, Zhou Ruolan, suddenly appeared in the office and cordially invited her to dinner.
Li Shu couldn't refuse and had to go along.
Initially, she felt quite uncertain, but to her surprise, Madam Zhou was extremely kind and friendly towards her.
Her words were also very sincere―
"As long as it's true love between you two, I have no objections. Zhou Lan has been independent since he was young. I was busy with business before and couldn't take care of him much, so he learned to cook and do laundry by himself. Later, he spent a few years abroad and took good care of himself. In recent years, he's been busy with work and hasn't had any scandals. You're the first girl he's ever admitted to liking. His lifestyle should be acceptable, but if you find out you've been deceived, come to me first, and I'll definitely teach him a lesson. Being my child, above all else, means being honest. In my life, I despise nothing more than dishonest men."
These words filled Li Shu with respect, and she wanted to nod in agreement― with such principles, no wonder she became the chairwoman, she was practically her idol!
However, before she could say anything, Madam Zhou continued, "As for the wedding, we can invite your family here for the ceremony, or we can hold it in your hometown. Either way is fine, it's mainly up to you two."
Li Shu: "..."
They were already discussing the wedding?
Although she really liked Madam Zhou, some things needed to be clarified first...
But before she could speak, her phone suddenly rang in her bag.
Li Shu took it out and saw it was one of her mother's friends from her hometown, Aunt Zhang.
While she was hesitating whether to answer, Zhou Ruolan smiled and said, "Go ahead and answer it, we can continue our conversation later. I specially came back today, so I'm in no hurry to leave."
Li Shu could only nod and say "excuse me" before walking outside the private room to answer the call, "Hello, Aunt Zhang."
"Hello, Li Shu. I'm not calling for anything special, just that your mother asked me to keep an eye out for job opportunities for you a while back, and our unit just started accepting applications for civil service positions. I wanted to remind you, would you like to come back and apply?"
Li Shu quickly responded politely, "Thank you, Aunt Zhang, but I've already found a job here, so I won't be coming back."
Aunt Zhang immediately replied, "Oh, you found a job? Is it a state-owned enterprise or a private company? I hear private companies there are very demanding. You're so young, what if you don't have time to find a partner? Besides, being in a strange city, you never really know people. I think you should come back."
Before Li Shu could respond, Aunt Zhang continued, "Oh, remember my nephew I told you about? He bought another house this year, a big three-bedroom, over 120 square meters, with a garage! And he has a stable job. Why don't you come back and meet him..."
On this end of the phone, Li Shu wanted to roll her eyes.
This nephew of Aunt Zhang only had a high school education and got a job as a driver at some company through connections a few years ago. Never mind his salary, but most importantly, he had already been divorced once due to domestic violence, though they thought people didn't know about it.
How little must Aunt Zhang think of her to try to set her up with someone like that?
On the other end of the phone, Aunt Zhang was still enthusiastically praising her abusive nephew, but Li Shu had lost patience and interrupted, "Thank you for your kindness, Aunt Zhang, but I'm actually seeing someone, and we'll probably get married this year or next."
There was a pause on the other end, "You're seeing someone? Who is it? Why haven't your parents mentioned anything?"
Li Shu: "Oh, no one special, just my boss. Nothing much, just a Fortune 500 company CEO."
