Chapter 30

Zang Ling said, “I understand. You can leave now.”

Yuan Haolang’s smug smile froze. He looked up at her and asked, “That’s it?”

Zang Ling didn’t even raise her eyebrows. “What else do you want? Do you want me to scold you before you leave? Are you a masochist or something?”

“You’re a woman, so I’ll let that slide,” Yuan Haolang said darkly. “But besides business matters, I came here today to get an explanation from you.”

“You and your lover ganged up to bully my girlfriend, and you don’t think you should show any remorse?”

Zang Ling chuckled. “She told you?”

Seeing her smile, Yuan Haolang was momentarily stunned. Then he raised his brows and said, “What? You jealous?”

“As long as you apologize to Xiao Meng, I’ll reluctantly agree to marry you.”

Zang Ling’s smile disappeared. “Get lost.”

“Han Lanmeng and Yan Feng spread false rumors within the company, which negatively affected the person involved. Considering this was her first offense, and that she was an accomplice, it’s already pretty generous that I didn’t fire her.”

Yuan Haolang didn’t believe it. “Who was involved? Xiao Meng hasn’t even been at your company for that long. She barely knows anyone. How could she possibly harm someone? Zang Ling, it’s fine if you don’t like me, but picking on a powerless woman like her, What does make you?”

Zang Ling was utterly speechless.

She took a deep breath and reminded herself, He’s got something wrong with his brain. You can’t look at him like he’s a normal human being.

“So, what exactly do you want?” she asked.

“I already told you. Apologize to Xiao Meng, then issue an internal statement within your company clarifying that Xiao Meng is innocent.”

“And get that so-called victim to apologize to her as well. None of this ends until Xiao Meng forgives you.”

Zang Ling’s gaze turned icy. “So, by your logic, unless she forgives us, we should basically die to prove our sincerity?”

She wanted to see what other ridiculous things could come out of this man’s mouth.

Yuan Haolang burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. “No need to die. That’s way too dramatic. If Xiao Meng won’t forgive you, then just keep begging until she does. But she’s a kind woman. There’s no way you won’t get her forgiveness.”

“Unless your apology isn’t sincere.”

Ha.

Zang Ling realized he was dead serious. She was speechless. She was only being nice, and he immediately tried to climb all over her.

“Yuan Haolang, do you not understand human language?”

“I don’t know what your girlfriend told you, but in this situation, she’s the one in the wrong. An apology from me? In your dream.”

Seeing Yuan Haolang still looking like he had more to say, Zang Ling calmly interrupted, “Seems like you’ve forgotten you came here to talk business. This is working hours, stop interfering with my job. If you insist on pursuing this matter further, then I’ll have no choice but to ask Elder Yuan if he shares your views.”

Yuan Haolang’s expression changed drastically.

His grandfather had already been somewhat displeased about his relationship with Xiaomeng.

If he found out that, during this crucial period of collaborating with Tianhai, Yuan Haolang had made things difficult for Zang Ling over a personal matter, his disappointment would only deepen.

Yuan Haolang recalled how much his grandfather valued that pair of illegitimate father and son. If he made a huge mistake here, his position as heir would probably be at risk.

His father had entrusted him with the Tianhai project this time precisely because he wanted him to achieve something impressive and earn his grandfather’s approval.

But was he supposed to just ignore what happened to Xiao Meng?

Thinking back to her aggrieved expression, Yuan Haolang felt a pang of heartache. He couldn’t do anything about Zang Ling, but could he really not do anything about the other person?

“Who’s the person involved?”

Zang Ling saw through his intentions immediately and bluntly ordered him to leave. “No comment. Now get out.”

Even though he didn’t get an answer, Yuan Haolang wasn’t discouraged. If he couldn’t get the answer from her, he could always find someone else to ask.

With anger written all over his face, he swung open the door, only to see Yan Wenshu just about to enter. He glared at him fiercely, then slammed his shoulder into him on purpose as he stormed off.

[What’s his problem?] The system grumbled unhappily.

[Does this male lead have anger issues or something? Host, you didn’t even offend him this time, why’s he acting like this?]

[I did offend him. Ever since he found out I’m with Zang Ling, I’ve offended him.]

Yan Wenshu calmly walked in, sat at his desk for a while, then got up to pour himself a cup of hot water and knocked on Zang Ling’s office door.

“Come in.”

Zang Ling didn’t even look up from her documents, until she heard the crisp sound of a cup being set down on the desk.

She looked up.

A brilliant smile naturally appeared on her face. “Yan Wenshu, you’re here!”

“Thank you. I happened to be thirsty.”

Zang Ling happily took a sip of hot water. Looking at her, Yan Wenshu finally spoke his first words since coming in.

“Just then… I saw Yuan Haolang.”

“Him? No idea what happened, but somehow he suddenly became the project manager. If I’d known earlier, I would’ve demanded the Yuan Family Corporation to change personnel.”

Zang Ling complained, “He doesn’t care about work stuff at all. Instead, he told me to apologize to his girlfriend, saying she’s innocent, and even wanted you to apologize too. Luckily, I didn’t tell him the person being slandered was you.”

Yan Wenshu secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That guy’s pretty stubborn. I’m afraid he won’t let this go so easily.”

“It’s fine. Yuan Haolang isn’t even considered the heir of the Yuan Family Corporation anymore. I have my ways of dealing with him.”

Yan Wenshu had found out what he wanted to know. After watching Zang Ling finish her water and chatting a little longer, he picked up his cup and was about to leave.

“Wenshu.” Zang Ling looked at him expectantly. “Aren’t you going to stay a bit longer?”

“I’d love to…” Yan Wenshu hesitated, “but there are still some things I haven’t taken care of yet. I’m afraid I won’t have time if I delay.”

Zang Ling understood and said regretfully, “Alright, then I’ll see you at lunch.”

Yan Wenshu gently closed the door behind him. As he turned around, deep in thought, his eyes grew contemplative. Things were different now compared to his past life. Back then, Yuan Haolang didn’t just become the project leader, he directly became the heir of Yuan Corporation. After that came the announcement of his engagement with Zang Ling…

His gaze flickered, the plot point about the arranged marriage had long since passed. It shouldn’t happen again.

But what Yan Wenshu didn’t expect was that from then on, Yuan Haolang started showing up at the company every single day. Even more, he kept hovering around Zang Ling all the time.

Every time he saw him walk into Zang Ling’s office, Yan Wenshu had this overwhelming urge to just kill him.

Things are different now.

Yan Wenshu realized this very clearly. The plot had gone off track.

Why wasn’t Yuan Haolang going after Han Lanmeng anymore? What was he doing sticking to Zang Ling all day? Even if it was for work, there was no way he needed to come this often.

If Zang Ling hadn’t eventually kicked Yuan Haolang out every time, Yan Wenshu would have suspected she was being controlled by the plot or something.

—–

“So annoying. Yuan Haolang’s like a stray dog — still coming back no matter how many times I chase him off.”

Zang Ling leaned against Yan Wenshu’s shoulder in frustration. She’d been harassed by Yuan Haolang nonstop this past week, and only the weekend gave her a bit of peace.

The two of them were watching a horror movie at Zang Ling’s place, hoping to relax a little, but as soon as Zang Ling thought about how tomorrow was Monday again, any good mood vanished.

Yan Wenshu kept his eyes on the movie and asked, “Do you think he still wants us to apologize?”

Zang Ling shook her head. “Who knows what crazy idea he’s got now. Every time he comes, he talks about random nonsense. At first, I thought he was here for the project, but after listening for a while, I had no clue what he was going on about. It was a total waste of my time. I’m not his trash can. He can’t just dump whatever garbage thoughts he has on me.”

“Didn’t I tell you to lock the door after that? Next time you see him, don’t even open it.”

Yan Wenshu responded with an “okay,” then casually added, “Why not have the Yuan Corporation send someone else?”

Zang Ling nodded in agreement. “Yeah, and ask them to send his rival.”

Yan Wenshu lowered his head with a small laugh. The system whispered to him,
[Host, when things are this out of the ordinary, something is definitely up. You have to get to the bottom of this.]

[The male lead is even ignoring the female lead. He must be scheming something. Be careful.]

Yan Wenshu already had his suspicions. He sighed and said, “Han Lanmeng came to see me a few days ago too. Maybe they had a fight, and she just wanted someone to talk to.”

“You talked to her?”

“Nope. I walked away the second I saw her. I even asked Sister Xia to pile more work on her, so she won’t have time to bother me anymore.”

Zang Ling’s eyes curved into a smile. “Yan Wenshu, you’re so smart. I’ve made up my mind too. Yuan Haolang is coming again tomorrow, so I’ll make sure he has a memory that he’ll never forget for the rest of his life.”

The corners of Yan Wenshu’s lips slowly lifted, but just then, the doorbell suddenly rang. He was about to get up and check when Zang Ling pressed him back down and said seriously, “I’ll go. You sit and rest. It’s your day off, so take it easy.”

Yan Wenshu was speechless. She still remembered what he’d said before. He couldn’t win against her stubbornness, so he let her go.

Yan Wenshu thought she would be back soon, but after waiting for a long while, there was still no sign of her. His gaze shifted to the projection screen. The movie had just reached its most thrilling part, where the ghost was about to discover the protagonist hiding under the bed.

After a moment, he got up and went out.

Through the smart lock’s camera, Zang Ling saw the person standing outside the door. “Yuan Haolang, what are you doing here?”

On the monitor, Yuan Haolang was holding a bouquet of flowers and smiling. “I’ve moved next door to you. We’re neighbors now. I just wanted to drop by and say hi.”

Zang Ling remained unmoved. “Not interested. Get lost.”

Yuan Haolang said, “I have something very important to tell you face-to-face. If you don’t listen today, you’ll absolutely regret it tomorrow.”

“Didn’t you just say you came by as a neighbor?”

Yuan Haolang earnestly replied, “Seeing my neighbor is true, but that’s just secondary. The main reason is that I want to tell you this personally.”

Zang Ling wasn’t swayed in the slightest. She sneered. “What else could be so important? I’ve already heard this excuse from you hundreds of times.”

“This time it’s real.”

“You can say it without coming inside.”

Just then, Zang Ling heard Yan Wenshu’s voice. Turning around, she saw he had already come up beside her.

Yan Wenshu looked at the monitor, staring at the roses in Yuan Haolang’s hands. His gaze darkened faintly with a hint of murderous intent. A man who already had a girlfriend was standing there holding roses for Zang Ling.

There was no way he believed this man didn’t have ulterior motives.

Zang Ling thought Yan Wenshu’s suggestion was excellent. She smiled at him, then turned back to Yuan Haolang coldly and said, “Just say it from out there. I can hear you perfectly fine.”

Yuan Haolang’s forced smile was barely holding up anymore. Gritting his teeth, he spat out, “That guy who just spoke, he’s your little lover, isn’t he? You two are living together?!”

Zang Ling replied coolly, “What’s it got to do with you?”

Yuan Haolang hadn’t expected Zang Ling to be such an unrestrained woman, living with a man before marriage!

In his heart, he gave Zang Ling a giant red X.

If it weren’t for the fact that he needed her right now, he wouldn’t have bothered coming to see a woman like her.

“Fine! I’ll say it, but don’t blame me if you regret it later.”