Wife, please behave yourself.

Chapter 129 I'll go to your house again tonight

Back in school, An Zhaoran admitted that Liu Changcun was one of the most handsome boys in the class.

However, due to competition, I didn't really feel the impact of this.

Time has shed the naivety of the boy, and Liu Changcun has changed a lot since then. The years have made him more mature and added an indescribable charm.

Looking at Liu Changcun in front of him, his gaze fell on Liu's lips as he kept talking.

Judging from the beard sprouting on his chin, it seems that he was in too much of a hurry when he came to the station and did not shave off all the beard that had grown overnight.

"An Zhaoran?"

"Um……"

Offering a vague response, An Zhaoran's gaze slowly moved upwards, focusing on the other person's lips.

Their gazes met those of others who were also watching.

Her dazed eyes widened considerably.

An Zhaoran only truly came to her senses at this moment, as if she were sleepwalking in broad daylight. With her eyes blinking frequently, she became more and more awake than before.

She suddenly lowered her face, staring at the large male hand she was tightly holding with a surprised look.

Several seconds later, he suddenly seemed to be electrocuted and hurriedly let go.

If the two of them hadn't been sitting face-to-face in chairs, An Zhaoran would probably have taken a step back and jumped quite far away in that reaction.

There were only two people in the room in the lounge.

An Zhaoran panicked and hurriedly waved her hands, trying to explain incoherently.

However, Liu Changcun did not give her a chance to reorganize her words. Instead, after looking at her with a strange gaze for a moment, he changed the subject and asked a question.

Did you hear everything I just said?

"I heard."

He answered quickly and confidently.

However, her confidence didn't last long. When An Zhaoran realized that Liu Changcun was staring at her without saying a word, her head, which had been raised, drooped down as if she had done something wrong.

Her fingers were gripping the fabric of her clothes.

"Okay, I was spacing out just now..."

"I said so much, but you didn't listen to a single word."

"Don't be angry, I will listen carefully from now on."

Her downcast eyes timidly lifted, observing Liu Changcun before her. Seeing that he did not show any obvious disappointment, she felt a little relieved.

Or perhaps out of guilt, they frantically try to make amends.

He glanced around and quickly handed over the coffee he had on hand.

"Take a sip of coffee and say it again. I will really listen carefully."

"..."

Liu Changcun glanced at the other person and saw that there was only more than half a cup of coffee left. He didn't usually like drinking this stuff, but he surprisingly didn't refuse.

After pausing for a while, he finally reached out and took the cup.

I turned it halfway around and took a sip.

Perhaps because she hadn't slept well last night, An Zhaoran got a cup of coffee as soon as she arrived at the TV station this morning, hoping to reduce the swelling.

An Zhaoran smiled again after Liu Changcun finished drinking and put the cup down.

I was happy for only two seconds before I suddenly remembered something.

He raised his hand and pointed at the coffee in surprise.

"This is what I just drank!"

The woman's voice echoed in the lounge, a mixture of surprise and shyness. Seeing Liu Changcun's gaze, An Zhaoran did not choose to look away this time.

"I drank it and you drank it... Does that count as..."

"Not counting."

Interrupting her, Liu Changcun lightly touched the cup with his finger.

"I drank from the other side, so I didn't touch it."

"I wasn't wearing lipstick today, how did you know which side I was drinking?"

"I'm not blind, of course I see with my eyes."

"Oh……"

As her heightened emotions subsided, An Zhaoran responded somewhat inappropriately.

Hearing Liu Changcun start talking about his plans for the new program again, even though he had just promised not long ago that he would listen carefully.

But she was still lost in thought.

wrong.

An Zhaoran straightened up instantly, realizing something.

Looking at Liu Changcun, who was talking incessantly, I watched his mouth as he kept talking.

He knew which side he drank from, which means... he was paying attention to himself the whole time?

An Zhaoran was immediately delighted upon realizing this.

Overwhelmed with joy, she looked at Liu Changcun, who was still talking, with a smile in her eyes.

"I'll come to your place again tonight."

Hesitantly, An Zhaoran mustered her courage and asked.

He kept a close eye on Liu Changcun's expression, afraid of hearing words of rejection from him.

Surprisingly, Liu Changcun, who usually liked to argue with her, did not immediately refuse. Instead, he was stunned for a few seconds after being interrupted, and then nodded in agreement.

"Okay, I'll help you find a place after I'm done with this busy period."

"It's fine if you don't need to look for it."

"I hastily declined," An Zhaoran added with a smile.

"I shared a room with Wanqiu yesterday. She was like a little heated pillow at night. Even though the bed was a bit small, I felt very comfortable sleeping there."

"You really enjoy sharing a room with her?"

"I really like it! It looks so much like you, it's so cute!"

"I don't mind. It's good that you're sharing a room with her, which will avoid some unnecessary awkwardness."

"What awkward situation should we avoid?"

"A family of three, and she's the only girl, what do you mean by awkward?"

Looking at An Zhaoran, who was very talkative and dense, I recalled our first meeting in June, when he seemed aloof and difficult to communicate with.

This is completely different from the An Zhaoran of today.

She is completely unrelated to the aloof and cold image she portrays now.

The family consists of three men: Liu Changcun, the father, and Liu Songyan, the elder brother.

As the only woman in the family now, Liu Changcun understands the principle of avoiding suspicion when a woman grows up.

My child is not young anymore; he's already in sixth grade.

At 11 years old and just over 1.5 meters tall, he'll probably experience another growth spurt before he turns 13 or 14.

Although Liu Wanqiu usually seems rather childish, she is, in a way, a little adult.

Privacy must be protected, and besides, Liu Changcun doesn't quite understand much about women's physiology.

If An Zhaoran were to temporarily stay at her house, she could take this opportunity to help her daughter brush up on this knowledge.

As for education in this area... Lin Wanran clearly didn't pay much attention to it before.

“Recently, you should teach Wanqiu more about how a girl should clean her whole body properly.”

"OK~" Liu Changcun smiled and looked at An Zhaoran, who was making an OK sign, and then marked the proposal with his pen.

------------

Lin Wanran pushed open the door to Gu Nan's office.

He abandoned even the most basic composure he usually maintained and strode toward the figure in front of the desk.

Give me an explanation.

He opened his mouth and spoke in a cold tone.

Seeing the gaze that Gu Nanchao cast at her, Lin Wanran, who was always very conscious of her image in front of him, came to see him with a less-than-refined, even haggard, complexion.

She has been working overtime day and night recently, and has produced more than a dozen design drafts.

Although Wen Yunwei had no intention of competing with her, Lin Wanran still regarded her as her rival.

Deep down, she was unwilling to admit that her prized talent was utterly insignificant in front of Wen Yunwei.

They were competing fiercely, wanting to defeat their opponent head-on in this new bracelet design.

However, at this morning's meeting, the company ultimately adopted Wen Yunwei's design.

This was unacceptable to the confident Lin Wanran, who was even more unable to admit that she had been defeated by Wen Yunwei in her most proficient field of design.

She was not convinced.

Although she hadn't seen Wen Yunwei's manuscript yet, she had clearly seen the changes in Gu Nan's attitude during this period.

Since Wen Yunwei joined the company, she, who was once highly sought after, has suddenly lost her former glamour.

Not only was her private office taken away by Wen Yunwei, but the attention her works received also decreased significantly.

Lin Wanran didn't think she was inferior to Wen Yunwei in any way.

In terms of looks, she was no less attractive than her opponent, and in terms of figure... apart from being a bit bigger, Wen Yunwei didn't have anything particularly outstanding.

Or perhaps it was her affected, submissive demeanor that won Gu Nan's heart? That's why his attention to her plummeted, and he focused all his attention on Wen Yunwei instead.

In just over a month, Wen Yunwei was provided with a company vehicle, just like her.

She received a considerable amount of prize money because two of her jewelry designs were adopted.

As for Gu Nan's usual praise, it's countless.

Wen Yunwei has become the main character in the company.

Lin Wanran, on the contrary, became a supporting character.

Lin Wanran wanted to live the kind of life where she was the center of attention and envied by everyone.

It's not like now, where nobody cares, and it's not a life where I'm just a supporting character to Wen Yunwei.

The raised hand slammed heavily onto the desk.

Lin Wanran glared at Gu Nan with resentment, looking at the man's ordinary appearance and calm expression.

"Why was Wen Yunwei's design used instead of my work?"

"That's what you want to ask?"

Looking at Lin Wanran, who was confronting him with accusations, Gu Nan remained silent after listening to her words.

After a long while, he finally asked this question.

The disappointment in his eyes could no longer be concealed. Looking at Lin Wanran in front of his desk, he really couldn't understand how the company's most outstanding designer had become like this.

Gu Nan didn't care about the competition between Lin Wanran and Wen Yunwei.

In fact, he was quite happy to see this situation.

Competition leads to better works, and he values ​​his employees' abilities more than other trivial matters.

Wen Yunwei's work is indeed more in line with the theme of this new product, and Gu Nan was truly amazed by her talent in this area.

If Lin Wanran has a talent for design, then Wen Yunwei is on an even higher level.

Having worked in this industry for many years, this was the first time Gu Nan had seen a design that directly hit his sweet spot.

He couldn't find a single flaw in the manuscript that Wen Yunwei submitted.

Compared to her, Lin Wanran was certainly excellent, but compared to the even more outstanding Wen Yunwei, her work was like a flashlight shining in broad daylight.

There are no highlights.

With a sigh, Gu Nan looked at Lin Wanran in front of him.

After all, she was the designer he had personally recruited. Even if Lin Wanran had some issues with her character, he didn't want to say anything too harsh.

After a moment's hesitation, Gu Nan continued.

“If your work is better, I will not adopt Wen Yunwei’s design.”

So you mean her design is better than mine?

Haven't you seen her designs yet?

During the meeting this morning, Gu Nan had already prepared a final draft for everyone. Only when he heard Lin Wanran's question did he realize that she hadn't even looked at it.

Already disappointed, he was even more speechless and handed Wen Yunwei's work over from where he was.

After Lin Wanran took it, she leaned back and said.

"Take a good look and see why I adopted her work."

"..."

Lin Wanran looked away from Gu Nan and opened the book with a mixture of belief and doubt.

Her resentful expression changed as she looked at the final draft in her hand. Her jealousy surged uncontrollably like weeds after a rain.

He gripped the manuscript with increasing force, his fingertips even turning white from the strain.

The frequency of breathing also began to gradually increase.

Unable to accept the result, she even tried to nitpick, but no matter how critical she looked at it, she couldn't find any flaws in the manuscript.

Lin Wanran was clearly aware of this, and at the same time, she realized her failure.

Gu Nan didn't pay much attention to this; he just spoke up to comfort Lin Wanran out of kindness.

"You can communicate with Wen Yunwei more often to exchange design ideas, which will greatly improve your design thinking."

"..."

"Wen Yunwei is indeed a rare talent. If she hadn't joined the production team as a fashion consultant, our company might have missed out on a top jewelry designer like her."

"..."

"There's a saying that goes, 'Learning makes one progress,' and it seems your design doesn't quite meet that requirement..."

"Quit."

"what?"

Gu Nan kept urging Lin Wanran to learn from Wen Yunwei.

What seemed like well-intentioned advice, when it reached Lin Wanran's ears, was nothing short of tearing open her wounds and pouring a whole bag of salt on them.

He tossed Wen Yunwei's design draft onto his desk.

Lin Wanran looked at Gu Nan, who was standing in front of her, with rapid breathing.

She couldn't accept this outcome, and she couldn't accept the fact that the other party advised her to learn from Wen Yunwei.

Looking at Gu Nan in front of her, Lin Wanran suddenly felt very calm.

She divorced Liu Changcun, but was turned away by her own son...

She has nothing left to lose.

At the very least, we must preserve our last shred of self-respect.

"I quit!"

(End of this chapter)