The President is Being Shameless Again

“The aunty at home can only make some simple home-cooked dishes, and they taste so-so at best. You know I’m picky with my food, and to be honest, I don’t have much of an appetite when I eat every day,” Wei Zilin said.

The aunty was just about to sleep, and when she passed by Wei Zilin’s room, she overheard those words. Holding her shattered heart in her hands, she left sadly.

Mister, you clearly ate two bowls of rice today. Was that how much someone without much of an appetite ate?

“If you don’t mind, I can write down some recipes, including the ratios of that sweet-and-sour sauce you like so much. You can get your aunty to make it according to the recipes.” That was what Xu Moyan came up with after some thought.

“That’d be great, but even if the methods are the same, the taste will somehow vary according to the cook. It’s strange.” Wei Zilin paused and said, “I think Shen Zongyi and Zheng Yuntong are going on a date tomorrow, and Zheng Yuntong won’t eat at home tomorrow either. If you don’t mind, could I come over to your place and humbly ask for a meal?”

He could consider sparing Shen Zongyi from overtime these next few days. The latter was his trusted aide, and he was currently madly in love, so as his boss, Wei Zilin should support him.

That was just how considerate a man he was.

He phrased it very politely, and even humbly asked for a meal. On the other hand, Xu Moyan was more than happy to oblige. Although she would be nervous, she still treasured every moment she could spend with him, be it alone or in the company of others.

“Sure, and don’t be so humble about it. You said we’re friends, right? So you don’t have to be so polite about it,” Xu Moyan said with a smile, but in truth, her face was burning hot. “You can drop by whenever you want to eat. My doors will always be open for you.”

Wei Zilin laughed, and his mind wandered to less kid-friendly thoughts. To be honest, he wanted to visit her late at night, but he would probably scare her.

“Alright, then I’ll pick you up at your office tomorrow after work,” Wei Zilin said, pleased.

Xu Moyan was slightly shocked. She realized he would draw a lot of attention if he picked her up after work, but she still nodded her assent.

Just then, her bell rang, and Xu Moyan said, “I think Yuntong is back. She might’ve forgotten her keys, so I’ll go open the door for her.”

“If I remember correctly, your house has a peephole, right? Make sure it’s her before you open the door. It’s already so late, and you’re alone at home, so you should put your safety first.” Wei Zilin did not even try to hide his concern.

“Alright.” Xu Moyan nodded, stood up, and walked toward the door, still holding up her phone.

“Then go ahead and open the door, I’ll hang up for now. She just confirmed her relationship with Shen Zongyi today, so she probably has a ton of things to tell you. Don’t stay up too late chatting, though. You should sleep earlier.” Wei Zilin advised her carefully.

It might just be her, but it felt like Wei Zilin was nagging his girlfriend. “Don’t stay up too late chatting, sleep early.” His words did not sound distant at all; instead, it was vaguely intimate.

Either way, her heart was soaring.

“Yeah, you should sleep early too. Good night,” replied Xu Moyan.

Wei Zilin chuckled, his voice warm. “Good night.”

Xu Moyan was a little reluctant to hang up. After Wei Zilin’s side went quiet, Xu Moyan waited for a moment and was just about to hang up when she heard Wei Zilin chuckle again. “You still haven’t hung up?”

Xu Moyan’s brain burned up in an instant. “You... You’re still on the line?”

“I was waiting for you to hang up.” Wei Zilin said with a soft laugh, “I saw a news report somewhere that said the person hangs up first will make the other party feel neglected, whereas if you wait for them to hang out, the other person will feel all warm inside. That’s why I was waiting for you to hang up.”

“But I don’t want you to feel neglected either,” Xu Moyan said without thinking.

As soon as she said it, she felt embarrassed.

Wei Zilin did not seem to notice it, however, and he seemed to be in an even better mood than before. “Alright then, let’s hang up at the same time.”

“Okay,” Xu Moyan said softly. “So when I hang up, you’ll hang up too, alright?”

“Sure,” Wei Zilin replied.

Eventually, however, he still waited until after Xu Moyan hung up before he hung up with a smile.

What he did not mention was that when they hung up without any agreement beforehand, the person who hung up last might feel neglected. If both sides agreed on it, though, and since his heart was already decided, then waiting for her to hang up was like indulging her, and spoiling her. It made him feel extremely satisfied.

After Xu Moyan hung up, she stood frozen on the spot, staring dazedly at her phone. The way they both refused to hang up until they promised to do it at the same time sounded exactly like lovers in the height of their honeymoon days. It was completely irrational and sickly sweet. Even Wei Zilin retained no semblance of his usual bright and rational self.

The question was, how did it come to that?

The bell rang again, waking her from her thoughts.

Xu Moyan came back to the present and hurriedly went to the door. Bearing Wei Zilin’s advice in mind, she looked through the peephole and saw that it was indeed Zheng Yuntong. She was carrying two large bags, so rather than saying she did not bring her keys, it was more likely she could not spare a hand to reach into her bag for the keys.

Xu Moyan opened the door, feeling rather proud of herself, like a child who obeyed an adult and thought themselves pretty capable. She had the urge to send Wei Zilin a message, telling him that she had done as he said.

After she opened the door, Zheng Yuntong bounced in, carrying the chill from outside into the house. The cold breeze blew in through the door, and Xu Moyan shivered once, hastily closing the door.

While Zheng Yuntong changed her shoes, Xu Moyan hurriedly sent Wei Zilin a message on WeChat. “I did as you said and checked the peephole first. It was Yuntong coming home after all, so don’t worry.”

Almost immediately, Wei Zilin replied, “Okay.”

Xu Moyan secretly laughed, turning off her WeChat and returning to the present.

Zheng Yuntong had already changed into her slippers, and her eyes were so bright that Xu Moyan wondered if she would be able to sleep tonight. Her face was still red with joy and affection, and Xu Moyan could tell in an instant that the cold wind outside had nothing to do with her flush.

“Why did you suddenly come back with so many dolls?” Xu Moyan asked, surprised. “Did Shen Zongyi give you all of them? I didn’t think he’d be so... romantic, I guess? To think he could do something so befitting a young girl’s heart.”

“Nah, we went for a meal, and we didn’t know what to do after that.” Zheng Yuntong put the dolls down on the couch and scratched her head awkwardly. “You know I’ve got no experience with love, and all I know is the stuff I see on TV. None of it’s very practical anyway. We went to the movie theatre at a mall, but there wasn’t anything good showing, so I dragged him to the claw machines.”

When Zheng Yuntong got to that point, she looked at Xu Moyan with stars in her eyes. “Did you know? Shen Zongyi was amazing! He had never played this before, but once I explained how to do it, he got the hang of it in two tries! He caught everything he aimed at, so I ended up with a huge bag of them. It was also because the employee there couldn’t bear to watch anymore, and we only stopped because they begged us to play something else instead. The way I see it, he’s so smart and so good at everything! He can master something as soon as he understands it.”

Xu Moyan (TN: raws say Zheng Yuntong here) looked at the girl in front of her, who had fallen madly in love, and whose eyes were filled with nothing but awe and admiration for her boyfriend. Xu Moyan smiled but did not say anything, just listening as Zheng Yuntong went on and on, her face blindingly bright and very visibly over the moon.

As she continued to ramble, Zheng Yuntong was the first to feel awkward about it. Crossing her legs, she sat facing Xu Moyan on the couch, scratching her head and she gave a silly little chuckle. “Hehe.”

“Looks like Lin Chu and I underestimated your feelings for him. I didn’t think you’d be this crazy over Shen Zongyi.” Xu Moyan laughed as she teased Zheng Yuntong, pouring the latter a cup of water. “Have some water.”

She must be thirsty after saying so much.

Zheng Yuntong accepted the water basically. She really was chemistry, so she downed the entire cup at one go and even sighed loudly, satisfied. Only then did she fully recover.

“He’s... really wonderful. After we got together, I realized that he’s even better than I thought he would be. No matter what we do, he considers my well-being first and foremost. He’s always super considerate of me. I mean, you know me. I’m usually all rash and not very careful with things, so I tend to overlook a lot of things. But with him around, I’m not worried about anything at all. Besides, he doesn’t force any of his opinions on me. He may look stern, but no matter what he has planned, even if it’s for my sake, he won’t just stubbornly go along with it. Instead, he’ll always discuss it over with me first, and if it’s something that has to be done, he’ll still tell me ahead so that I can be mentally prepared. He never makes a decision without telling me first. In other words, he really respects me.” The better Shen Zongyi was, the more it showed that Guan Zexi was truly problematic.

Even if it were not for Shen Zongyi, there was no way she would have accepted Guan Zexi. In fact, she was very grateful that she had fallen for Shen Zongyi from the very start. She was also glad that Shen Zongyi actually liked a plain and unassuming girl like herself.

When she finished saying that, however, Zheng Yuntong remembered how, unlike noon that day, Shen Zongyi had not asked her for permission before kissing her in the car. Perhaps it was because she had muttered something like “Who even asks before kissing someone?” Maybe that had gotten to Shen Zongyi.

This time, Shen Zongyi did not say a thing at all before pinning her against the car window and kissing her quite forcefully. He did not hold back at all.

Thinking of the kiss they had stared downstairs earlier, Zheng Yuntong’s face burned and she clasped her hands to her cheeks. Her lips still felt numb and tingly.

It was only when Xu Moyan poked her twice that Zheng Yuntong recovered, her face beet-red from embarrassment.