BDB Chapter 9

In the CEO novels from those years, almost every special assistant character possessed extraordinary skills and was proficient in all kinds of martial arts. Xiao Zhang was no exception.

He knew a lot, and if he spread out all his certificates and awards, they could cover a whole two-meter bed.

Of course, what was most useful at this moment was his ability to read lips.

If his skills hadn’t gotten rusty, just before the president left, he had told his wife not to hover around him when she had nothing to do.

How was it that after just one nap, only half a day had passed, and now the president was…

At that moment, Jiang Rao was in the mall, having a staring contest with her two bodyguards.

When people get stressed, they often do something crazy. For her, shopping was the best way to relieve the pressure caused by stress. However, although she had said she wanted to go to the mall, she hadn’t specified which one. Given her status, the two bodyguards had automatically assumed she wanted to go to the most high-end mall in the city. So, upon arriving, Jiang Rao realized that the only thing in the entire building she could bring herself to buy was a pair of earrings.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t afford the clothes priced at tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, but she didn’t dare buy them.

If she did, she would immediately go from being a little rich woman with three hundred thousand yuan to being penniless again.

That was an unnecessary expense.

So, after browsing for a while, she frowned slightly and said to the two men behind her, “What’s the difference between buying things here and what I get in City A? And then I have to go through all the trouble of shipping it back—it’s such a hassle.”

“Since we’re here, we should buy something unique, something City A doesn’t have. Don’t you think?”

Both bodyguards were the very definition of “steel straight man¹”. When they were younger, they might have enjoyed wandering around shopping malls and pestering their parents to buy a few boxes of toys. But once they grew into their bulky, rugged frames, they no longer had any inclination to shop actively.

To them, it was the same no matter where they shopped. The important thing was where their employer wanted to go.

They both nodded in agreement.

The vehicle set off again, but this time their destination wasn’t another high-end mall. Instead, Jiang Rao had just opened her GPS and, using a mobile network that was as slow as a turtle, had found a night market famous for its street food.

As they walked down the street, aside from the stalls selling various knick-knacks, the area was also filled with vendors selling barbecue, skewers, stir-fried noodles, and other street food.

The surroundings were filled with the vibrant, bustling atmosphere of everyday life.

Whether they were well-dressed white-collar workers or construction workers still covered in mud, everyone’s faces were glowing with life.

For the first time since entering the book, Jiang Rao felt something real.

Here, there was no mother like a parasitic vine, leeching off her daughter’s blood like a vampire; no bizarre employer who sought to arrange a substitute to marry her depressed daughter to avoid a broken engagement after the death of the male lead’s elder; no domineering CEO who spent his days torturing others emotionally and physically, yet whose power spanned across Europe, Asia, and Africa… Here, she was free from the plot, and it felt no different from the real world she had once lived in.

After stopping at about ten different stalls and leaving each one with bags full of goodies, she finally sat down at a skewer stand.

Although she had eaten this kind of food countless times before being pulled into this novel, she had to pretend to be curious and look around because the two bodyguards were still following her.

After a while, she picked up a basket and began placing her favorite ingredients inside.

After handing the basket to the vendor, she heard a girl sitting beside her, no older than sixteen or seventeen, nervously ask, “Are you Jiang Tang?”

Jiang Rao shook her head and smiled brightly at the girl. “No, I’m not.”

By now, she had sent the two bodyguards off to eat. Although they were sitting at a food stall just ahead of her, it was at least a hundred meters away, so she no longer needed to be cautious about what she said.

Her voice was naturally soft, and when she didn’t speak loudly, it was light and gentle.

It was like a feather brushing against a bare chest, tickling one’s heart without being annoying.

The girl’s face instantly flushed red. “S-sorry, I mistook you for someone else.”

This face really did look like Jiang Tang, but the girl had seen Jiang Tang’s interviews, and the way she spoke wasn’t anything like this.

The woman in front of her was far too skinny, nothing like how Jiang Tang appeared in the TV drama, where her arms seemed as thick as this person’s calves.

Women appreciated beauty more than men.

Although she quickly looked away, her peripheral vision couldn’t help but sneak glances at the person beside her. When she saw that the food had been cooked and placed in front of her, she couldn’t resist saying, “The condiments are over there. Mixing sesame sauce, beef sauce, and chili oil together, and adding some cilantro and oyster sauce, will make it taste even better.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman turned to face her and said, “Thank you.”

Her face flushed an even deeper red.

This person was just too good-looking! Even with heavy makeup, she was the most beautiful person she had ever seen in her life!

She wanted to befriend her but didn’t know how to approach it.

Thankfully, she wasn’t too shy, and after rambling through one awkward topic after another, they finally struck up a conversation.

Halfway through the meal, the sauce in her bowl had already run dry, and by this time, the girl sitting across from her had finished introducing all the delicious food and fun things to do in this street.

Jiang Rao nodded and said, “Ruan Nuo, thank you.”

Those simple words, spoken lightly and without any special meaning, brought Li Jueyan, who had just arrived from Yan Lake Coast, to a complete halt.

That voice…

The place was crowded and noisy, dirty and chaotic.

Yet above him, it felt like a firework had exploded, stunning him so much that he couldn’t recover for a long time.

He didn’t know how much time had passed before he stepped forward and grabbed her arm, “Jiang Tang.”

Jiang Rao had seriously underestimated the current popularity of the historical palace drama starring Jiang Tang.

In the short time she had been sitting at this street stall, no fewer than five people had come up to “recognize” her.

Each had their own approach: some screamed from a distance, some gently patted her on the shoulder, while others came in groups but were so nervous they didn’t know what to say…

But!

All of them had been turned away by her and the girl sitting next to her, Ruan Nuo.

However, when she heard the name “Jiang Tang” this time, Jiang Rao’s body stiffened.

She thought, could she really be this unlucky? In this era, urban planning was still terrible, and the slogans promoting the construction of a civilized city hadn’t been plastered everywhere yet. How could a domineering CEO possibly come to such a dirty and chaotic street, with some areas even tainted by the grime of urban villages?

And hadn’t he just told her not to hover around him? It was clear that he was annoyed with her. There was no way he could change his mind so quickly, right?

But when she saw the hand gripping her arm out of the corner of her eye, she could no longer deceive herself.

Those distinct knuckles, with a dragon ring on the index finger—who else could they belong to other than Li Jueyan?

No one was more arrogant than him, likening himself to a dragon among men!

There was no character in the world more unreasonable than the domineering CEO in novels!

Just as she was thinking this, Ruan Nuo, who was also getting annoyed by the constant interruptions, spoke up. “She’s not Jiang Tang. Please stop mistaking her. How could a big celebrity be eating street food here?”

“Not Jiang Tang?”

Li Jueyan repeated the words, savoring them.

Under the flickering incandescent light, a faint yellow glow reflected through her hair, casting a soft pink hue on her earlobes.

Her earlobes were small and cute, exactly like the ones in his dream.

He suddenly felt a strange sense of anticipation. “Then who are you, hmm?”

——

1. TL/N:
   -A man being too unromantic and straight (not sensitive enough) to catch the hints from a woman, like a piece of iron which is hard.
   -Quoted from Quora;
   “He might be a jock or a geek, either is fine, but would go extreme for both cases. So he would either be extremely outwardly masculine, rude, unsophisticated and aggressive. Or he would be extremely introverted, stuck-in-his-own world, emotionless and uncaring.
   These types of men would be into very typical male-interests. Whether it be sports and cars, or comics and games, it would be stereotypical interests that girls would show no interest in.
   Of course both of these types of men have trouble understanding the ladies. When the topic is something like art or fashion, they would immediately lose interest.” ↩︎