Chen Yiran’s birthday was on May 15th. When he was still abroad, Chen Xi and Li Linlin would follow his example and send him birthday gifts. After he returned to the country, it was basically handed over through Assistant Wu, because Chen Yiran was extremely busy in the first two years and had no time to celebrate his birthday.

Now that the domestic branch was gradually getting on track, this would be his first birthday celebration after returning to the country.

Li Linlin did not give him the building block figure. Instead, she and Chen Xi went to customize a perfume and also bought a tie to give it to him together.

On Chen Yiran’s birthday, Li Linlin went over with Li Shen and Yu Wan. Ever since Chen Xi moved out, the house hadn’t been so lively for a long time. Chen Zui and Zhen Tian even cooked a few dishes themselves.

At the long table, the two families sat on each side. Chen Xi specially arranged Li Linlin opposite Chen Yiran, hoping that the two of them could have some communication, but Li Linlin really didn’t say a word to him.

Chen Yiran had been approached by Li Shen concerning the matter of him rejecting Li Linlin so it wasn’t easy for him to show too much enthusiasm towards her, not to mention the incident in the bathroom—— Chen Yiran found that whenever he saw Li Linlin now, he would think of that day. In order to avoid embarrassment, he could only try to avoid eye contact with her.

Chen Xi felt that she looked very much like the eunuch from the phrase ‘the emperor isn’t worried, but his eunuch is’. 🙂

After dinner, Li Linlin went home with her parents. Chen Yiran stood on the balcony, looking at the night outside the window and it was unknown what he was thinking.

Chen Zui came over and stood next to him. “What happened between you and Linlin?”

Chen Yiran had no idea. They had been fine for so many years, but when did they start to become like this?

He didn’t speak. Chen Zui leaned his back against the balcony and glanced sideways at him. “The way you look now, you’re like a boy in the throes of puberty.”

Chen Yiran: “……”

“I saw you as an emotional expert when you were a child, it turns out it’s just a facade.” Chen Zui nodded and sighed. “That’s right, after all, you’re almost thirty but have never been in a relationship. You finally managed to get a blind date but she didn’t even take a liking to you.”

Chen Yiran: “……”

There’s no need for words of comfort at this time and hitting a person when he’s down.

“I just can’t figure out some things.” Chen Yiran said.

Chen Zui asked, “What is it that you can’t figure out? Tell me, I’ll listen.”

“……” Chen Yiran pursed his lips slightly and remained silent. Could it be that he would tell him that since that day in the bathroom, he would always dream of Linlin at night? Moreover, the atmosphere in his dream was always ambiguous.

Chen Zui scanned him for a few times and maid a meaningful sound. “Are you having spring dreams?”

“……” Chen Yiran sternly denied, “I don’t, can you not be so inappropriate?”

“No need to be embarrassed, it’s not a big deal. After all, you’ve been single all your life. It would be abnormal if you didn’t have that need at all.”

Chen Yiran: “……”

It’s really hard to imagine that this person was broadcasting news in a studio with a serious look. 🙂

“Did you switch to gossip news?” Chen Yiran looked at him and asked.

Chen Zui snorted coldly and said, “If Tiantian hasn’t asked me to come and talk to you because she’s worried, do you think I will bother?”

“……” Oh, that’s really ‘nice’ of you. “I’m going back.”

Chen Yiran grabbed his coat and was about to head home when Chen Zui asked him from behind, “You’re in love with someone?”

Chen Yiran’s steps paused and he looked back at Chen Zui. “How do you know that?”

Chen Zui spread his hands. “It’s too obvious.”

Chen Yiran: “……”

After he walked out of the door, Zhen Tian followed Chen Xi downstairs and asked Chen Zui curiously, “How is it? Have you asked Shanshan?”

Chen Zui answered, “No need to ask, you can tell by looking at him.”

“Is he in a relationship?”

“It’s more like unrequited love.”

Zhen Tian: “……”

That miserable?

Chen Xi also looked at his father gossipingly. “Is it Linlin? Is it Linlin?!”

Chen Zui thought for a while and said, “Based on the situation at the dinner table today, it should be.”

There weren’t a lot of women around Chen Yiran and many of them were even his employees.

“It’s just that if it’s really Linlin, Li Shen might not agree.”

“Why?” Chen Xi asked, “What’s wrong with Brother Yiran?”

Chen Zui said, “He’s a lot older, always busy with work, uninteresting, and have a poisonous mouth. Most importantly, he rejected Linlin.”

Chen Xi: “……”

No, whose mouth are you calling poisonous???

———pr

Two days after Chen Yiran’s birthday, the dating show 《Let’s Fall In Love》 that Li Linlin was participating in officially aired. Because of the good reputation of the first two seasons and the sufficient early publicity, the latest season attracted a lot of attention.

This show only had one popular artist, which was Li Linlin, but the viewership was impressive, not losing to other popular variety shows.

Li Linlin once again felt everyone’s enthusiasm for watching other people’s romance.

Because of the unofficial photos, Li Linlin and Du Yanwei’s CP was on fire a while ago, and this time the official episode was out. Everyone found more sugar to eat and it was so sweet that they squealed.

The program group set Du Yanwei as a warm man. He paid attention to Li Linlin’s emotions and help her cook the dishes while eating hot pot. The part where he locked himself in the room at night and practiced makeup was especially moving. The audience praised it as both funny and sweet.

Although he acted a bit silly in the escape room, relying solely on Li Linlin to pass the level, but the combination of a talented beautiful girl and a warm-hearted but silly boy made it even more shippable!

The program group launched a total of three CP’s. Not surprisingly, Li Linlin and Du Yanwei’s ‘Weifeng Linlin’ combination became extremely popular.

Chen Yiran also watched all the parts of Li Linlin and Du Yanwei, and only commented with a sneer.

That’s it? That’s a caring and warm man? Little girls were so gullible nowadays.

There were many GIF made by viewers on the Internet, all of which were ambiguous moments between Li Linlin and Du Yanwei posted everywhere. Chen Yiran’s brows furrowed and couldn’t be loosened.

In the past few days, the employees of Huachuang felt that their big boss was in a bad mood. Even more frightened were the senior executives who had to meet with Chen Yiran every day.

“Mr. Fu, you have the best relationship with President Chen, why don’t you go and ask him what’s wrong?”

“That’s right, that’s right. It’s not a solution to just keep going on like this.”

“I really can’t stand President Chen’s gaze. I want to wear a down jacket to the company tomorrow.”

Fu Angsi: “……”

That’s not necessary.

Fu Angsi didn’t directly go to Chen Yiran but grabbed Assistant Wu to ask him. “What’s wrong with President Chen these past days? Who offended him again?”

Assistant Wu looked back and forth before whispering to him, “I guess it’s because of Little Sister Linlin’s reality show.”

Fu Angsi came to a realization. “He hasn’t gotten over it yet?”

Assistant Wu said, “I’m afraid it will be difficult to get over. The show airs once a week.”

Fu Angsi: “……”

Don’t scare him, okay?

———pr

There was no special reaction from Li Linlin’s side. If anything, after this reality show aired, more shows were coming to find her. However, Li Linlin refused them all. She now had two shows in her hand and she thought it was enough. Her plan was still to develop in the direction of film and drama, and appearing in too many shows might affect the public’s perception of her.

While recording the new episode of 《Let’s Fall in Love》, Li Linlin and Du Yanwei started their second date.

The location was at Xingguang Park, where they went to visit the planetarium.

Li Linlin originally had little knowledge on astronomy, however, she had a good friend named Ning Le, who had a boyfriend named Lu Sheng. Lu Sheng was particularly fond of astronomy and Ning Le also studied a lot of astronomy-related things to cater to his hobby.

Li Linlin and Ning Le were both members of Imperial University’s Drama Club. She usually heard a lot from Ning Le and it was surprising that she actually remembered them all. Seeing that she knew a few things about astronomy, Du Yanwei looked at her in shock and admiration. “You even know this?”

Li Linlin said, “My schoolmate knows more. I heard her say some things and only remembered them. It’s all just superficial knowledge.”

The program director thought it’s fantastic. She liked Li Linlin’s casual humblebragging.

After the day’s recording, Li Linlin thought that the next thing to do was to go back to the hotel to sleep and then proceed with tomorrow’s schedule. Unexpectedly, the program group didn’t go the usual route and suddenly dropped a bombshell at the end.

“Here’s the thing, our show is already in its third season. This time we want to make some changes, so we’ve set up a segment that weren’t in the previous two seasons.”

Li Linlin felt that something was off when she heard what the director said. “What segment?”

The director grandly introduced, “This season we’re adding the concept of a challenger. That is, after your second date, if anyone wants to come and challenge, then your third date will be with the said person. Once the date is over, you can choose between your original partner and the challenger. Only one of them gets to continue on with you after that.”

The program group had told the managers about this news beforehand, but according to the agreement, the managers couldn’t tell their artists, so now both Li Linlin and Du Yanwei were a bit perplexed.

Du Yanwei asked, “The challengers are both male and female?”

“Yes.”

“Then if we choose the challenger, what will happen to the original partner?”

“Don’t worry about that, there will be new guest pairing up with them.”

Li Linlin didn’t expect that it would play out like this. She blinked and asked the director, “So with the newly paired guests, will there be another challenger? In that case, the cycle can continue indefinitely.”

“……” The director said, “There will only be one segment for a challenger.”

“Oh, okay then.” Li Linlin asked again, “Does that mean our challenger will come tomorrow?”

“If you have any challenger.” The director was tight-lipped.

Because of this sudden change, all three pairs of guests might not be able to sleep that night. Li Linlin went to see Wu Hui in the evening and asked her about the matter.

“They did inform us in advance. I think this segment is pretty good. How exciting.”

Li Linlin was silent for a moment. “Won’t it be embarrassing for the guest that didn’t get selected?”

“Since you’re on a dating show, you should be open to these kinds of thing, right? There are also rejected guests in other dating shows.” Wu Hui continued, “And if unfortunately they got rejected by their original partner, it’s already pretty good that the program group will assign them a new partner.”

Li Linlin thought about it and nodded. “Well, it’s all for show anyway.”

As long as the show had clicks and popularity, it’s not important whether the guests were embarrassed or not.

“Then do you know who will be the challengers tomorrow?” Li Linlin asked Wu Hui.

Wu Hui shook her head. “The program group didn’t tell me, but the people they selected must be high-quality guests, so don’t worry.”

Li Linlin saw that Wu Hui really didn’t know, so she didn’t ask anymore. Everything would be revealed by tomorrow anyway.

———pr

Early the next morning, she finished her styling and went to the hotel’s dining hall. The show’s staffs had already set up cameras and lights there. The director said that if there were any challengers, they would show up to have breakfast with them.

She and Du Yanwei were arranged in different places and couldn’t see each other. If there was a challenger on the other side, they wouldn’t know.

Li Linlin sat down and a waiter came over to serve her the prepared breakfast. It was rare for Li Linlin to be nervous, but fortunately it didn’t prevent her from eating.

After a while, she heard footsteps coming towards her. Holding the knife and fork in her hand, she raised her eyes.

She hadn’t misheard, someone was indeed coming over. He was dressed in a crisp high-end suit and his hair swayed as he walked, giving off the aura of a business elite.

Li Linlin almost dropped the cutlery in her hands. She had speculated last night about the identity of the challenger, but the other person had never appeared in her mind.

It was actually Chen Yiran!

Li Linlin almost thought she was hallucinating, but Chen Yiran walked directly across from her and pulled out a chair. “Good morning.”

Li Linlin: “……”

Has President Chen now been reduced to relying on shows to make a living? Was Huachuang Group going bankrupt?

“Let me introduce myself. My name is Chen Yiran and I’m the challenger for this episode.”

Li Linlin: “……”

When the waiter saw that a new guest had arrived, he served him breakfast as well. Chen Yiran nodded to him to express his gratitude, then picked up the knife and fork in front of him and started moving his hands.

The way he ate was so elegant that even the cameraman couldn’t help but zoom in to get a close-up shot of him. Celebrities might not be able to withstand such an extremely close shot, but Chen Yiran’s face was still impeccable under the camera lens.

Chen Yiran had been interviewed by magazines, but he rarely faces the camera in his line of work. Li Linlin thought that he wouldn’t be used to it with so many cameras around, but Chen Yiran behaved very naturally, as if those cameras and the surrounding staff didn’t exist.

Li Linlin thought to herself that President Chen was worthy of his name and his adaptability was something ordinary people couldn’t compare with.

“Aren’t you eating?” Chen Yiran raised his eyes to look at her. “Is the food not to your liking?”

“……” Li Linlin burried her head and ate in silence.

The director on the side wasn’t happy. “Linlin, don’t just focus on eating, communicate and interact with the male guest.”

She usually had a strong sense of variety and could come up with perfect lines from time to time. Why was she not talking now?!

It seemed that it’s still because President Chen’s aura was too strong.

“En……” Li Linlin reminded herself that this was work. Chen Yiran, the president of a multinational group, dared to come on the show, what should she be embarrassed about? “I’ve seen President Chen’s interview. You were on the cover of the magazine in that issue.”

Chen Yiran nodded slightly. “En, it’s just a small interview.”

Li Linlin: “……”

Good gracious, he’s even better her.

“President Chen is usually very busy with work, so how come you have time to participate in the show?”

“No matter how busy one is, they still have to find a partner.” Chen Yiran cut the bread on his plate into small pieces and replaced the messy one in front of Li Linlin.

Li Linlin coughed lightly and with subtle and polite smile, she said, “The breakfast here isn’t bad.”

“Mm.” Chen Yiran nodded. “This hotel is also owned by Huachuang.”

Li Linlin: “……”

Your taste is beyond the standard ah, President Chen!

For some reason, Li Linlin had a strong feeling that something wasn’t right with Chen Yiran today.

Although he still looked aloof and domineering, something about him was off!

“By the way, where do you want to go after breakfast? Do you have a plan for today’s date?” Chen Yiran asked her.

“……” Li Linlin did have a plan, but she couldn’t get the words out for a moment.

Something was really off with Chen Yiran.