Forcing Me to Be Reborn?!-Chapter 138 - 119: Did I Crash?

Chapter 138: Chapter 119: Did I Crash?

Inside the “Youu Come to Play” store, Cheng Zhu sat in the warehouse taking a break and texting Shen Qingning to invite her to dinner.

In his heart, Shen Qingning and Lin Lu were two girls with completely different personalities.

Shen Qingning was too reserved, and proud, like a white swan.

But actually, she was indeed smarter than Lin Lu.

For example, the little trick he used just now, if Lin Lu were the target, she probably wouldn’t have thought twice.

Yes, our Baby Lu is just naive! So easy to deceive!

But Shen Qingning was completely different.

She was a more clear-headed person, good at thinking.

“Lin Lu and I are now so close, Shen Qingning could probably guess that I know this little fool is going to Shanghai for a wedding today,” Cheng Zhu thought in the warehouse.

Yet, he still chose this approach—pretended he didn’t know Lin Lu was going to Shanghai, and then said, “How about this, I’ll treat you both to dinner tonight.”

In his opinion, letting a smart and clear-headed girl notice a hint of his ulterior motive was no big deal.

Or rather, he thought it was quite good.

He wanted her to know that he was scheming just to ask her out.

In his concept, this kind of pretentious girl actually really falls for this!

If she was really willing to engage with you, then even if she realized it was your trick, her heart would still race, feeling an atmosphere of flirtation spreading.

I know you have ulterior motives, but I still choose to respond accordingly.

If she wasn’t willing to engage with you, then whatever you do would be in vain! Then it wouldn’t matter.

“Moreover, sometimes you need to learn to expose something intentionally in front of a smart girl.”

“Use a form of self-exposure, to give her an illusion of ‘I just guessed it would be this way’.”

“To prevent her from thinking deeper, digging deeper, and then discovering… something even more incredible!”

Two best friends living and eating together, Cheng Zhu’s invitation carried a high risk of backfiring.

He wanted this little backfire!

Or rather, was this also his way of… testing Shen Qingning?

Contact between men and women does not have a progress bar like in games.

So constant mutual testing is necessary.

Of course, sadly, sometimes the result of the test is good, and then everything progresses naturally.

Sometimes the results are bad, unacceptable.

Well, I’ve given you this proud girl a step to descend, inviting you to dinner in a more natural way.

Whether you choose to step down is up to you.

In fact, when Shen Qingning received Cheng Zhu’s message, her eyelids slightly lowered.

“He probably knows that Lu Lu is not in Hang City today,” she quietly speculated.

Then, Shen Qingning found herself struggling.

This struggle made her somewhat dislike this side of herself.

She was the kind of person who, when in a bad mood, liked to be alone.

In fact, many clear-headed and smart people find it difficult to accept comforting and advice from others, preferring to process things on their own.

But when Cheng Zhu invited her to come hang out at the store, she was quite moved!

That was enough for her to start introspectively examining her own heart alone at home.

Now, he used this clumsy trick to invite her to dinner, and she was actually considering it.

Also, she clearly recognized that she wasn’t unwilling to interact with Cheng Zhu; it was just that she had never had dinner alone with an unrelated man, and she was finding it difficult to take that step.

Yet she was still a woman with a strong aura and an independent mindset.

This made her somewhat dislike her current self.

She picked up her phone, began to type: “Lu Lu went to Shanghai today; maybe let’s cancel, wait for her to return.”

Just before sending, she impulsively deleted the last few words, then planned to add them back, but ended up deleting them again, only informing Cheng Zhu that Lin Lu was not in Hang City today.

Cheng Zhu had been watching the chat box on his phone, seeing it show “typing” for a while, then disappear, and then display “typing” again.

“Silly little sister, really such a proud girl, aren’t you tired of always being so upright?” Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

He had already received part of the signal, looking at the words “Lu Lu went to Shanghai today,” he got part of the answer.

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

Therefore, he typed: “What about you?”

“What about me?” Shen Qingning stared at her phone, not replying for a moment, her heart beating somewhat faster.

Because she knew that what she was about to reply wasn’t just about a simple dinner.

But to figure out what she was really thinking.

This is why the more clear-headed people tend to live tiresomely, hence the phrase—ignorance is bliss.

Just then, she received a WeChat message from Shen Minglang.

“Ningning, I’ll be downstairs at your apartment at five to pick you up,” Shen Minglang informed.

Shen Qingning sighed in relief, having forgotten about that arrangement.

—Saved!

She quickly typed to Cheng Zhu: “I already have dinner plans with my brother tonight.”

But then she thought about how Cheng Zhu and Shen Minglang were close too; he could easily join them.

So, she quickly added: “We have some matters to discuss.”

Regarding the stepmother matter, the siblings indeed didn’t want others around when discussing it.

After typing these two messages, Shen Qingning suddenly chuckled self-derisively.

She had ultimately chosen to escape.

—Escaping might be shameful, but it’s effective.

Yet it was revealing for someone usually so imposing like her to choose to escape.

“I don’t mind further interactions with him, do I?”

…

…

Inside the “Youu Come to Play” store, Cheng Zhu looked at WeChat, frowning.

He didn’t really feel like he had made a tiny mistake.

Because based on his understanding of Shen Minglang, if the siblings really had something to discuss, this lover of excitement would probably have invited everyone.

He just didn’t expect someone to get there first, disrupting his plans!

“Oh well, great uncle-in-law, he’s family.”

Since there was no dinner party tonight, Cheng Zhu rode his pink electric scooter to the “Persistent Visit” studio.

After busying himself there for a while, he went to a nearby studio and ate a pot rice meal alone.

That night, he did not plan on going to “Youu Come to Play” or back to the dormitory.

Instead, he waited in the studio for Wang Anquan to arrive, and pulled in Wang Haitao, who had recently been promoted to deputy team leader, to hold a small three-person meeting.

Cheng Zhu was consciously training them; after all, for him, the QQ lingerie field was just one of the realms he intended to conquer.

Granted, this realm could bring many people happiness, a great responsibility!

But he couldn’t bury himself in it for a lifetime, deeply tilling only the QQ field.

From his recent activities, one could tell that he was already preemptively laying out other sectors.

“Brother Zhu, recently more stores are hopping on the trend of the grey backless sweaters,” Wang Anquan told him.

“It doesn’t matter, we aren’t competitors in the same race anymore, we’re now an internet-famous Taobao store,” Cheng Zhu didn’t care, after all, you couldn’t stop such copycat behavior.

His dismissive attitude, breezy and composed, made Wang Anquan think he was incredibly cool.

He imagined himself saying that line… forget it, with my face, it wouldn’t be nearly as stylish.

Wang Haitao then reported: “Mr. Cheng, lately many people have tried to reach you through customer service; they seem to be from internet celebrity companies and want to engage with you for deeper cooperation.”

Cheng Zhu smiled: “Interesting, they can’t find a way in, so they turn to our store’s customer service? That’s one way to do it.”

“No need to bother with those for now,” Cheng Zhu waved his hand.

Wang Haitao was a bit puzzled; if it were anyone else, seeing major internet celebrity companies wanting to partner deeply would probably be thrilled to the skies.

But the boss seemed utterly uninterested.

After working here for a while, Wang Haitao had come to realize that this young boss was actually inscrutable!

He probably had his own considerations.

Until ten at night, Cheng Zhu was still in the studio, although he had mostly wrapped up his tasks.

He aimlessly scrolled through his social media feed, seeing that Ye Zi had posted something two hours ago.

“Boss, can I come check in at your doll machine store, don’t worry, I’ll pretend not to know you and won’t disturb your college life.”

Clearly, this was a post visible only to Cheng Zhu.

“Ye Zi, what are you up to with this?” Cheng Zhu sipped his Coke, a bit amused and exasperated.

We aren’t even in a romantic relationship, and you’re already doing what old lovers do.

Prematurely registering your status, huh?!

Ridiculous, we’re just long-term strategic partners in the QQ lingerie world, not long-term strategic life partners.

What are you playing at!

But her every action hinted at a humble attitude as if she were very cautious.

—She wants to get closer to your world but is afraid you’d find her annoying.

After thinking a bit, Cheng Zhu sighed.

He knew Ye Zi wouldn’t take the initiative to message him, so he sent her a WeChat: “If you want to come, just come, let me know ahead of time in your social media, if I see it I’ll like it, but I might not be in the store.”

Ye Zi, as usual, was overjoyed, replying with her most commonly used sticker: “Copy that!”

“Don’t you have a variation of this sticker with two more words?” Cheng Zhu teased.

Ye Zi got the hint immediately, replying: “What are you saying, master, I don’t have one, but if my master likes, I can make a sticker myself using a selfie.”

Cheng Zhu felt she was being incorrigibly cheeky again, this Ye Zi really was uninhibitedly embracing her M side.

Making one with a selfie, showing a tongue-out pose?

The two continued their WeChat chatting, Cheng Zhu also indirectly learned that Shen Minglang’s bar business was declining again…

So much so that Ye Zi, the bartender, had time to chat leisurely.

Sometimes, nightspots don’t really mind staff using their phones, because you can’t tell whether they’re just playing or maintaining customer relations.

“Has business at my cousin’s bar gotten worse lately?” he decided to ask about his future brother-in-law.

“It’s not so good; he’s at the bar now, and he’s drunk quite a bit, seems to be cursing at people, I think he’s about to pass out,” frontline reporter Ye Zi sent the update.

This surprised Cheng Zhu, thinking about what Shen Qingning had told him that afternoon, wondering if the siblings had run into some trouble?

But his gut told him the problem likely lay with Shen Minglang!

Ye Zi knew that Cheng Zhu was good friends with Shen Minglang and very familiar with Shen Qingning.

At that moment, she watched Shen Qingning sitting at a table, cupping her chin with one hand and her cheeks faintly flushed, looking unrealistically beautiful, like a fairy descended to earth.

This cold girl naturally had very pale skin, the kind that looked dazzlingly white, which made her appear even more ethereal.

From the side, her incredibly long legs were overwhelmingly perfect, as if crafted by a goddess, flawless, surely killing all the so-called leg models on the internet.

This woman with looks, physique, and even wealth—what man wouldn’t be dumbfounded upon meeting her?

She guessed Cheng Zhu wouldn’t be an exception either.

Ye Zi felt inferior in the presence of such a girl, feeling utterly incomparable.

She lowered her head, fiddling with bartending tools in an empty glass; she hadn’t drunk much, but her gaze was even more hazy than Shen Qingning’s, her thoughts unclear.

After a while, she helpfully sent another message to Cheng Zhu: “Then… Boss, do you want to come over now?”