Chapter 23
Waking up the next morning, Zong Mo had complete amnesia. He only remembered that Ruan Chi wanted to give him New Year’s money and make him drink for it.
He couldn’t remember what happened afterwards. Ruan Chi opened his phone and pressed the play button to help him recall.
Zong Mo: …Okay, good.
As long as he didn’t say “the fiercest golden canary in history,” it was fine.
His hungover head was aching and throbbing. The incessant “I am a Big Fierce 1” right next to his ear made his headache even worse.
Zong Mo covered his ears.
Ruan Chi pulled his hands away and smiled. “Remember now? Want to say it again?”
Zong Mo: …
“Isn’t the recording enough, CEO Ruan?”
“Heh, there’s a video too.”
Zong Mo: ?
He hadn’t done anything last night but drink, yet he was exhausted.
He apologized to Ruan Chi, proving that he was absolutely not speaking the truth while drunk, and forcibly denied it despite the solid evidence. Then he stayed in bed and played dead.
The doorbell rang. Ruan Chi stopped bothering him and went downstairs to open it. When he came back, he was carrying two large paper bags.
Zong Mo asked, “Who was that?” Could it be Sister An Lan bringing him something?
Ruan Chi said, “My assistant.”
Zong Mo let out an “oh.” So CEO Ruan also had an assistant.
Having to work on the first day of the New Year. So hard.
“You’re coming with me to pay New Year’s visits today,” Ruan Chi said.
Zong Mo: ?
Ruan Chi didn’t care if he agreed or not and took the contents out of the bag. “Wear this.”
Zong Mo couldn’t accept it. Even if it was a thick sweater, a long wool skirt, a red scarf, and a gender-neutral white long down coat. The quality was excellent, visibly high-end and warm.
But, it was clearly women’s clothing.
“We’re going to the hospital to pay a New Year’s visit to my grandfather,” Ruan Chi said.
Zong Mo found it even more unacceptable.
He had to wear women’s clothing to pay a New Year’s visit to the legendary, mythical founder of the Ruan family?
“CEO Ruan, this, this isn’t appropriate, is it?” Zong Mo struggled to digest this overly ridiculous request. “Um, is it to have me cross-dress as a performance to make the old gentleman happy?”
But Ruan Chi said with a straight face, “My grandfather’s greatest wish is to see his grandson’s wife with his own eyes.”
He didn’t look like he was joking at all.
Zong Mo: “Me… grandson’s wife?”
“Mm.”
“Can’t you find a young girl to play the part?”
“I don’t want to deceive him.”
“Isn’t me wearing women’s clothing also deceiving him?”
This was really so ridiculous!
“CEO Ruan, I’m 188 cm tall?”
“It’s fine. His eyesight is poor. He won’t be able to see clearly.”
…Is that any way to talk about your own grandfather?
Zong Mo didn’t expect that after changing into women’s clothing and going downstairs, there would be a makeup artist and a stylist waiting for him in the living room.
Zong Mo: …
Is CEO Ruan getting revenge on him for the cross-dressing during the kissing double scene?
The makeup artist didn’t put too much makeup on Zong Mo, but with eyeliner and a faint pink eyeshadow on his phoenix eyes, and his lips painted a little redder, plus the golden-brown wavy hair, he looked every bit like a glamorous vixen.
Bringing this kind of grandson’s wife to see his grandfather, isn’t that a bit inappropriate?
Wouldn’t it really worsen the old man’s condition?
The hospital where Old Master Ruan was staying was even more high-end than the one Zong Mo had stayed in in City T. There was no possibility of paparazzi breaking in. There weren’t many people along the way either; everyone was minding their own business.
Ruan Chi allowed Zong Mo to wear a mask and didn’t force him to take it off in the hospital room.
When Zong Mo arrived and took a look, he found that it didn’t really matter whether he took off the mask or not.
The old man had an oxygen mask on his face and several tubes inserted all over his body. There was no sign that he would suddenly wake up.
Ruan Chi sat down in the chair by the bed and said in a gentle voice, “Grandpa, I’m here.”
Zong Mo stood at the door, holding his breath. What if the beloved little grandson’s call really woke him up?
Unfortunately, and fortunately, it didn’t happen.
Zong Mo’s scalp tingled. He felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, not daring to breathe.
Fortunately, Ruan Chi didn’t stay for too long. After saying a few words, he stood up. “Let’s go.”
Zong Mo breathed a sigh of relief.
“We’ll come again next time,” Ruan Chi instructed.
“Do I have to…?”
“Mm.”
“Do I still have to… wear women’s clothing?”
“Of course. My grandfather could wake up at any time.”
Zong Mo: …
What could he do? He could only accept his own sponsor.
Returning home, the first thing Zong Mo did was change his clothes and remove his makeup.
But Ruan Chi wouldn’t let him go, calling out to stop him, “Wait, what’s the rush?”
He had to find a way to handle his sponsor daddy. Zong Mo pressed himself against him, putting on a delicate voice in an attempt to disgust him, “CEO Ruan, do you want to do it like this? Hmm~ It’s not like I’m against it.”
It’s fine. He couldn’t see himself anyway, so his own eyes wouldn’t be offended!
Ruan Chi just sneered.
“Don’t want to wear women’s clothing?” He hit the nail on the head.
Zong Mo: …
“But you have to get used to it,” Ruan Chi said, hooking his long hair with two fingers, unhurriedly. “The script requires it.”
On the second day of the New Year, Zong Mo happily received the script that the workers had rushed out with overtime.
Unfortunately, the final product was a printed copy, so he couldn’t see how many times it had been revised.
At least, from the jumbled and chaotic plot.
He could personally experience the bitterness and resignation of a screenwriter whose work was repeatedly rejected and rewritten by the client after working hard overtime.
Zong Mo: …
What he had in his hands now was a summary of the plot for each episode, not his own script, so he couldn’t tell who he was supposed to play.
But Ruan Chi had said he was the male lead, and the male lead of this drama was clearly Ruan Chi.
Rich, inhumanly rich. Handsome, unreasonably handsome.
Tailor-made, custom-designed.
Shen Shi, the beloved grandson of the richest man in City A, the number one entrepreneur in the country, and the sole heir.
Zong Mo: ?
The first half of the sentence was probably accurate, but he had searched online. Ruan Chi clearly had uncles, aunts, and cousins. The Ruan family was a large and prosperous clan.
In the script, there wasn’t even a shadow of them!
TV dramas are based on life but are higher than life. Fine. Without these messy people, it was more convenient for Shen Shi to unfold his “Long Aotian” script, the great male protagonist, beautiful on his own.
[T.N: Long Aotian is A popular trope in Chinese web novels for an overpowered, often arrogant, male protagonist who effortlessly succeeds at everything, defeats all enemies, and attracts all the women. It’s similar to the “Gary Stu” or “self-insert power fantasy” character type.]
Xingcheng Entertainment Company was one of the gifts his grandfather had given him as a package deal. The Shen family had started with industry and had once intended to enter the entertainment industry, but it hadn’t worked out, mainly because a large part of the huge cake of the entertainment industry had already been taken by the Gu family.
Such a fledgling entertainment company on the verge of bankruptcy should not have caught the eye of Young Master Shen.
But he, Young Master Shen, was just rebellious. Our Shen family is the best. What is that person surnamed Gu!? He, Shen Shi, from the moment he accepted this company, had set a grand ambition:
To defeat the number one in the country, and the Gu family’s most important enterprise—Xingyao Entertainment!
Xingyao Entertainment and Xingcheng Entertainment, starting with their company names, sounded very much like a copycat.
Wait a minute.
Zong Mo looked up and asked, “Is the Gu family’s prototype the Lu Bo family?”
Ruan Chi retorted, “You even know about the Lu Bo family?”
Zong Mo shut up and continued reading.
At first, the employees of Xingcheng Entertainment didn’t know that their owner was the famous Shen family and were ready to pack up and run at any time. Until the day before all employees were to be dismissed, a mysterious fund was suddenly injected, and Shen Shi made a grand entrance as the behind-the-scenes sponsor.
The employees cried and wailed, full of gratitude. Shen Shi was like a god descending.
The following plot was the kind of ridiculously exaggerated, leveling-up story with a cheat code that was turned on to the max.
First, Shen Shi bought a movie script from an unknown screenwriter, which had been rejected by other film and television companies countless times, until Shen Shi’s discerning eye recognized its value. Although Zong Mo felt this movie wouldn’t be a hit, if the great male protagonist Shen Shi said it would be a hit, then it would definitely be a hit.
Secondly, the reason this script had been rejected so many times was because the plot was bland and slow-paced. In a word, clichéd and boring. But, it left a lot of room for emotional expression. As long as the acting was in place, with a delicate and multi-layered performance, it would definitely be eye-catching!
But the problem was, Shen Shi didn’t have any suitable actors under him, not even a single qualified one.
Suppress first, then praise. The face-slapping was ready.
Shen Shi said, then let’s not rely on acting skills, but on looks to break through. This society was just that realistic.
He directly gathered the most good-looking bunch in the company. If they couldn’t act, he would teach them; if there was no director, he would direct.
A perfectly good drama was turned into a nonsensical slapstick comedy, and it just so happened to become a hit, a massive hit.
Zong Mo: Tsk, he also wanted to be a Long Aotian male protagonist for once.
The subsequent career line was all this kind of “suppress first, then praise, praise, praise” face-slapping plot with a huge cheat code.
As for the romance line, since he was already a Long Aotian, wasn’t it appropriate to have a harem?
The young Shen Shi parachuted into the high position of president of Xingcheng Entertainment. After displaying his thick cheat code… his outstanding abilities, the hearts of the people in the company began to stir. Those who had once looked down on him were now full of admiration for him, becoming his fanboys. Countless men and women threw themselves at him.
The female lead was a model named Su Mo. But she was definitely not a pure and harmless jasmine flower, but a scheming green tea!
[T.N: Green Tea : A popular Chinese internet slang term for a woman (or sometimes a man) who appears pure, innocent, and harmless on the surface but is actually manipulative, scheming, and calculating underneath.]
In order to get close to CEO Shen, she used every trick in the book. Twisting her ankle and falling on flat ground, spilling coffee, locking herself and the president in the empty company at night, pretending to be drunk and climbing into his bed, a thousand schemes.
CEO Shen saw through it all and was dismissive.
In fact, in a place no one knew, in the dead of night, CEO Shen thought of her to the bone, unable to sleep all night.
Zong Mo: …
“Wait, why? Is there a part of the plot missing here? Why does CEO Shen like Su Mo?”
Ruan Chi: “Mm, this part will be revealed later.”
CEO Shen had once caught a glimpse of a young girl at a cocktail party many years ago and became infatuated.
After inquiring about the girl’s identity, he completely gave up hope.
He never expected to meet again in this way many years later.
The young girl threw herself at him. He was moved, but the moment he touched her body, he instantly sobered up.
He was the sole heir of the Ruan family, the crown prince who was bound to carry on the family line.
He could not accept a man!
Her parents were desperate for a daughter. Su Mo was raised as a delicate girl since childhood, wearing dresses and growing her hair long. No one else knew, but she couldn’t escape CEO Shen’s eyes and ears.
This young girl named Su Mo was actually a man, and his real name was Su Mo.
Zong Mo: Wait.
He suddenly realized that his name was somewhat similar to Su Mo.
