Chapter 4 - Ahhhh
Perhaps it was because the suited men’s expressions were too cold, causing the atmosphere to somewhat solidify. Only the middle-aged man lying on the ground let out a clear sound of pain. Seconds passed and just as Li Zhao thought that these strong men were doubting him, they bent over to pick up the middle-aged man lying on the ground and thanked him.
They didn’t go far carrying the man. Li Zhao saw someone’s feet slip and the head of the middle-aged man hit the wall, making a thud. This time, the middle-aged man didn’t make a sound because he had fainted.
A rich person’s bodyguards were so tough? Li Zhao couldn’t help sucking in a breath and took two steps back, hitting the waiter.
“I was scared to death.” Li Zhao rubbed his temple. He had drunk a few glasses of wine so his brain was a bit dizzy. He patted the waiter on the shoulder. “Quick, let’s hurry.”
The man looked at the shoulder that was touched and after a moment of silence, followed behind Li Zhao.
“Fortunately, they didn’t find anything wrong. I was afraid I couldn’t beat the three of them.” Li Zhao sighed with relief and whispered, “If someone asks you about this, you must insist that you don’t know anything. Understood?”
The man stared at him for two seconds before nodding slowly.
“That’s right.” LI Zhao gave a pleased smile. “We came here to make a living. This time, we must pretend to be stupid and thick-skinned. We can’t worry about being too shameful.”
The man listened in silence. He went to a private room with Li Zhao and laughter emerged from the half-closed door.
“You wait outside for me. I’ll say goodbye to my friends and then accompany you to see the boss.” Li Zhao finished speaking and saw the man staring at him blankly. He didn’t seem to understand why Li Zhao wanted to accompany him to see the boss.
“Have you ever seen a crime drama?” Li Zhao covered his mouth and whispered to the man. “If the suspect doesn’t want to be discovered, he needs an alibi.”
The man’s eyes trembled slightly.
“Do you understand?” Li Zhao winked slyly. “I am the proof that you weren’t present.”
The man didn’t seem to react so the drunk Li Zhao directly said, “In any case, don’t worry. Wait for me here and I’ll come back right away.”
The man saw him stride into the box and spoke to several people sitting in the main seats. He poured a few glasses of wine for them before walking out. The laughing people behind him didn’t seem to care about his early departure. They were mostly surrounding another young man.
“Let’s go.” Li Zhao wiped the wine stains smudging the corner of his mouth with a paper towel. “I’ll take you to say hello to the boss and say you helped me a lot. Isn’t it useful to have a customer personally praising you?”
The man looked at him with slightly red cheeks, untied his vest and put it on his arm, revealing a straight waist. “It’s fine, I won’t be here tomorrow.”
Li Zhao’s footsteps paused. He shook his dizzy brain and turned to look at the man’s face and waist. “It is okay to resign. You look good and will suffer if you meet some immortal bastards.”
After pressing open the elevator, Li Zhao leaned against the elevator wall to try and sober up. He saw that the man was silent and his mood didn’t look good. “This type of thing is bad but don’t mind it. It isn’t your fault. It is the fault of those stinky and shameless people.”
The man looked up at Li Zhao and suddenly said, “A good-looking face will face harmful things?”
The elevator door opened and the air-conditioning of the hotel lobby entered, giving Li Zhao a chill. He turned back to look at the man. “What did you say?”
The man looked at Li Zhao’s red face and watery eyes before the man’s eyelids slightly drooped. “What is your name?” His slender fingers casually undid the first two buttons of his shirt, revealing a white neck.
Seeing this scene, Li Zhao smiled. “You don’t seem like a hotel waiter. You are more like the hotel’s owner.”
This person was white and elegant, with well-proportioned and delicate hands that were well-maintained. It was easy to see that his family situation was excellent at first glance. He probably came here to work because he wanted to experience life
“You helped me and I’ll treat you to dinner.” Seeing that Li Zhao was about to bump into the revolving door, the man reached out and guided him out of the hotel.
“Dinner?” Li Zhao looked up at the sky and found that the moon was extraordinarily round tonight. He looked around and found a noodle store across the street, causing him to reach for the man’s shoulder. “Come on, I’ll treat you to dinner.”
The man looked at the hand on his shoulder and was dragged away stiffly by Li Zhao.
“I’ve just found that you’re a bit taller than me?” Li Zhao compared his height to the man and found that he was a few centimeters shorter. This made him hum twice.
There were no other guests in the noodle hall. The boss was cleaning the floor with a mop while the boss’ wife was helping her children with homework. Once she saw that a guest came, the boss’ wife took the child back to the kitchen while the boss put the mop aside and greeted them warmly.
Li Zhao had a belly full of wine and his stomach was a bit uncomfortable. He asked for two bowls of beef noodle soup and two side dishes. He broke open the disposable chopsticks and handed it to the man.
“Thank you.” The man took the chopsticks and Li Zhao found that this person’s hand was whiter than the disposable chopsticks.
Once the noodles and side dishes were served, the boss placed two plastic-wrapped mooncakes on their table. “Come and eat a mooncake. I’m wishing you two handsome men a happy Mid-Autumn Festival.”
The mooncakes were only the size of two thumbs and were mass-produced items sold in the supermarket. Li Zhao only just realized that today was the Mid-Autumn Festival.
He opened it and took a bite. “Five Nuts Mooncake?”
He looked at the mooncake in front of the man and saw the words ‘egg yolk’ on the packaging. He might not be a picky eater but he had to admit that a mooncake with egg yolk filling was better than the five nuts filling.
After eating the mooncake, Li Zhao bowed his head to eat noodles. His eating style wasn’t ugly and he ate in an appetizing manner. It was as if this beef noodle soup with a few pieces of vegetables was the most delicious thing in the world.
The man stared at him for a long while before picking up a steaming noodle with his chopsticks. The noodles weren’t chewy enough and the leaves weren’t strong enough. The beef slices weren’t the most tender part of the cow and the poor vinegar quality gave it a faint sour taste. The man only ate a bit with his chopsticks and he didn’t want to continue. Then he saw Li Zhao seriously eating the noodles and hesitated a moment before picking up a few more noodles.
“My name is… Yan Ting.” The man placed his chopsticks on the bowl in a graceful manner. “How about you?”
“Me?” Li Zhao drank the noodle soup cleanly and his cheeks were red. “Li Zhao.”
“Zhao (morning)?” The man held out his finger and drew a character on the table. (TL: Zhao but a different character from the one used in MC’s name)
“It is this Zhao (bright/clear).” Li Zhao learned from the man and wrote his name. “My primary school language teacher said my name is particularly good. It means light in the darkness, representing hope.” (TL: Li in Li Zhao means black/dark)
There was a bright light in LI Zhao’s drunken eyes.
Hope?
The corner of Yan Ting’s eyes slightly drooped. “The name is very good.” He wanted to say more but Li Zhao’s phone rang.
“I’m in the noodle store opposite the hotel.” Li Zhao heard Zhang Xiaoyuan’s anxious inquiry and quickly explained. “Don’t worry, I didn’t get too drunk.”
“Drunk people love to say that they aren’t drunk.”
Yan Ting, “…”
A drunk person, how could he prove he wasn’t drunk?
“My friend is coming to pick me up.” Li Zhao took out his mobile phone to pay, asked the boss for a piece of paper and wrote down his phone number before handing it to Yan Ting. “If the hotel still wants to find you then I’ll be a witness for you.”
Yan Ting looked at this torn crookedly and slightly asymmetrical paper and reached out for it.
“Bye bye.” Li Zhao decided to walk in a straight line to prove he wasn’t drunk. Before he could take two steps, he hit the dining bench next to him.
“I’m fine.” Li Zhao looked back at Yan Ting. “Goodbye, I wish you a happy Mid-Autumn Festival and blessings for your entire family.”
Yan Ting accompanied Li Zhao to the street and after a while, he saw someone coming this way.
“Zhao ah, you went to have a snack.” Zhang Xiaoyuan ran over to hold Li Zhao and whispered, “Those dog things really aren’t human. They know you are a bad drinker and deliberately poured wine for you.”
Did they see that Song Yu didn’t like his family’s Li Zhao so they were deliberately difficult to Zhao Zhao in front of Song Yu’s face?
“Dogs certainly aren’t human.” Li Zhao laughed. “Brother Xiaoyuan, you are really bad at swearing.”
“You can do it if you want.”
“I was a good student in high school.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have an all-round development of my morality, intellectual, physical fitness and aesthetic sense. I never swear.”
After a long time, when Li Zhao’s figure was no longer visible, a black car stopped in front of Yan Ting.
“Sir, things have been handled. Are you going home to rest now?” The man in the suit quickly stepped out of the car and bent over to open the door for Yan Ting.
Yan Ting sat in the car only to remember that he was still holding the note Li Zhao gave him and the unopened mooncake in his hand. He threw the mooncake aside and took out delicate hand scissors. He cut the wrong corners of the paper until it became symmetrical. He looked at the name and mobile phone number on the note and whispered the name, “Li Zhao…”
Two months later, the weather had gradually entered winter. Li Zhao’s first network drama ‘Overbearing Female President’s Sweet Love’ was launched on the Green Pepper Video Internet platform. Apart from the spontaneous publicity of the main crew members, there was almost no publicity.
Everyone knew that it would be silently broadcasted online like many small-cost network dramas. No one would pay attention to it, let alone discuss it. Even the main crew didn’t take the drama to heart. For example, if her agent hadn’t reminded her then the drama’s female star would’ve even forgotten to post on her Weibo on the day of the broadcast.
The thing that they didn’t expect was for a clip of the drama to suddenly go viral online. The title of the clip was: In the face of such a beauty, who doesn’t want to be an overbearing female president?