Chapter 80: The Pitiful Female Supporting Character from a Patriarchal Family in the 2000s (27)

Ai Xiaoling no longer found it strange to run into Su Yue in any setting.

After all, the other party was clearly here for Ye Zhou.

“What a coincidence.” Ai Xiaoling even curled her lips slightly and greeted her with a smile.

Su Yue was already thrown off.

Ever since she found out Ai Xiaoling had not left the city, she had been asking around about Ye Zhou. When she learned he had started a company locally and was hiring staff, she came immediately.

But Ai Xiaoling actually worked at this company too.

What could a junior high school graduate possibly know? She could even handle computers now?

“You two know each other?” Wang Dazhou took the chance to ask.

Su Yue nodded vaguely.

Li Zhao received a call and said to Wang Dazhou, “Send Miss Su off for me. I need to take care of something.”

Wang Dazhou walked Su Yue to the stairway. If he weren’t worried about seeming too eager, he would have walked her all the way downstairs. Lacking a topic, he took the initiative to bring up Ai Xiaoling. “You’re friends? She’s the person I admire most. Learns so quickly. Cost estimation and design drawing—she learned it all in just a few months.”

“She’s amazing.”

Su Yue was surprised. This was nothing like the Ai Xiaoling she remembered.

The Ai Xiaoling she recalled, at most, had a glib tongue. Whatever pride she had was long worn down by life.

To survive and climb the social ladder, Ai Xiaoling constantly inserted herself between Ye Zhou and her, stirring up trouble.

How could she possibly design anything?

Naturally, Su Yue didn’t believe it. But she was quickly slapped in the face the next day when she started work.

While she was assigned to print documents, Ai Xiaoling sat at her desk, her eyes focused on the screen, fingers moving quickly between the keyboard and mouse, her professionalism no less than Wang Dazhou and the others.

In contrast, Su Yue was the one who looked out of place.

Driven by her inner competitiveness, Su Yue became even more determined to win over Ye Zhou.

Especially when she saw how Wang Dazhou and the others constantly praised Ai Xiaoling, that was supposed to be the kind of attention only she deserved. It was infuriating.

During the lunch break, Ye Zhou came out of his office and said to Ai Xiaoling, “Time to eat.”

Without looking up, Ai Xiaoling continued typing, “I still have work. Can you bring me something back?”

“It won’t take that long.” Ye Zhou walked over and pulled her up.

Su Yue even heard him whisper gently, “Be good.”

Just like that, Ai Xiaoling was pulled up by Ye Zhou.

As Ye Zhou walked past Su Yue, she deliberately did not move aside. He glanced at her, his expression showing no unusual emotion, just nodding in acknowledgment as a greeting.

Ye Zhou and Ai Xiaoling left hand in hand, their actions intimate.

In the office, everyone started discussing how great their relationship was again.

“At first, I thought it was Ai Xiaoling chasing after Mr. Ye. Now I feel like it was Mr. Ye who fell for her and pursued her.”

“You’re just realizing that? Why else would Ye Zhou take her to every on-site visit?”

“Since they started dating, Mr. Ye smiles way more. Didn’t you see? Every time he walks out of the office, his eyes are glued to Ai Xiaoling. He’s clearly a man in love.”

……

Hearing all this, the jealousy in Su Yue’s heart grew uncontrollably.

Didn’t she have the heroine’s halo? Even in the original storyline, she was the one who pursued Ye Zhou first, but he never did these things for her.

Why?

Su Yue began using excuses like delivering contracts and documents to go in and out of Ye Zhou’s office.

Ye Zhou remained polite and courteous, spoke little, and aside from not knowing her and already being with Ai Xiaoling, showed no abnormal behavior.

Remembering that in this life’s storyline, she had to take the initiative to win Ye Zhou over, Su Yue began acting again.

After delivering documents, she would go back in, claiming she didn’t know how to fill them out.

She went back and forth several times.

She even made coffee for Ye Zhou.

Ai Xiaoling saw all of this clearly, but she ignored it and continued focusing on her work.

In the office, Su Yue deliberately asked Ye Zhou, “Mr. Ye, can you give me your contact information? If there is something I don’t understand, I can reach you at home.”

“It’s not convenient. I am getting married.” Ye Zhou rejected her without a second thought.

Su Yue looked embarrassed and forced an explanation, “Mr. Ye, you may have misunderstood what I meant.”

Ye Zhou said, “Whether it is a misunderstanding or not does not matter. I do not want anyone disturbing my current life.”

Su Yue could only leave awkwardly.

While Su Yue was still trying to find ways to create more chances to interact, she was suddenly informed that she had not passed the probation and did not need to come to work tomorrow.

Su Yue was stunned and could not react immediately.

Li Zhao felt a bit embarrassed, adjusted his glasses, and said to Su Yue, “We will pay you the salary for this week of probation. We are truly sorry.”

“Why?” Su Yue could not accept this result and pointed at Ai Xiaoling, “Is it because she did not want me to stay?”

She could not think of anyone else.

She got along well with everyone.

Why was she not qualified during the probation?

As soon as she opened her mouth, everyone looked toward Ai Xiaoling, also somewhat surprised.

Weren’t these two friends?

“Miss Su, I don’t recall offending you, right? You are throwing dirt on me for no reason because you think I am easy to bully?” Ai Xiaoling said sharply with a stern face.

She did not want to be unfairly slandered.

“Why am I not qualified?” Su Yue acted like she would not stop until she got an answer.

This was already her third task.

She had not completed her mission to win over Ye Zhou. Her luck value kept dropping, which would make it harder to succeed.

Li Zhao was troubled, and Ye Zhou came out of the office. When Su Yue saw him, she composed herself a bit and was about to ask him.

Ye Zhou said, “I think you are not very suitable for our company.”

Su Yue was hit like a sudden blow and stood there dazed.

She had expected everyone to reject her except Ye Zhou.

She was supposed to be the female lead of this world.

They were meant to be together.

“You are careless at work. You often make mistakes printing contracts. I am also not satisfied with how you handle documents. You might not be fit for this job. You can look for something else.” Ye Zhou said this slowly to Su Yue.

“Yes, there are many jobs outside. Our company has many tasks. Since you haven’t been in this field, it’s normal not to understand well.” Li Zhao tried to smooth things over.

Su Yue left, but she did not go far. She waited downstairs for Ye Zhou.

He happened to go out to deliver some documents and was stopped by her as soon as he left the building.

“Why?” Su Yue asked Ye Zhou again. “Others can learn, why won’t you let me learn? You just sent me away.”

She came here all for him.

And it was him sending her away.

“No reason.” Ye Zhou was expressionless.

“Who do you think you are? Do you know—”

“As a shareholder of the company, I have the right to decide who gets paid.” Ye Zhou interrupted her calmly. “Just consider that you have bad luck.”

Su Yue: “……”

Bad luck?

What kind of words were those?

Just as he turned to leave, Su Yue thought about her mission and ran after him, even trying to grab his arm.

This scene was seen clearly by Ai Xiaoling, who had come out onto the balcony for some fresh air.

She could not hear what they were saying.

It seemed like they were arguing. They were even pulling and struggling.

When Su Yue tried to grab Ye Zhou, he raised his hand, dodged her touch, frowned, and looked at her in displeased. “What exactly do you want?”

Su Yue said, “I just want a job.”

“No.” Ye Zhou denied her. His deep and sharp gaze looked at her, and his tone grew heavy. “You want to get close to me to achieve some purpose, right?”

Hearing this, Su Yue’s face changed drastically. She stood rooted in place, feeling even more flustered.

He saw through her?

Ye Zhou looked at her coldly, “No matter what your purpose is, I will not cooperate. Do not appear in my life again. I do not want any contact with you.”

With that, he left immediately.

Su Yue was left panicked in place, repeatedly calling out to the system, “Did he find out? What should I do?”

System: “Male lead favorability: -99”

System: “Warning, male lead favorability fluctuating abnormally, favorability: -99”

System: “Warning, warning, warning——”

Hearing this, Su Yue’s scalp tingled. Yesterday, Ye Zhou’s favorability was normal. Why did it suddenly become abnormal?

“What should I do? He won’t let me get close. Think of a solution quickly.”

System: “Host, please immediately increase male lead favorability to avoid mission failure. Host, please immediately increase male lead favorability——”

The unpleasant ending of their encounter was naturally noticed by Ai Xiaoling.

She saw Su Yue talking to herself and became curious.

But she pretended not to see and said nothing.

However, Ai Xiaoling brought up the matter of Su Yue stopping Ye Zhou downstairs.

“Why did you still fire her?” Ai Xiaoling was confused.

Ye Zhou was the least controlling and quite tolerant in the company. Firing Su Yue just after probation caught her off guard.

“Personal reasons.” He said.

“Personal reasons?” Ai Xiaoling was more puzzled.

Ye Zhou’s tone was calm. “I suddenly remembered today, her name is also Su Yue.”

“Huh?”

He looked up at her. “You said I have an ex-girlfriend named Su Yue and asked if I know her.”

“……”

“I don’t know her, nor any other Su Yue, but I do not want anyone to cause misunderstandings between us.”

Ai Xiaoling was suddenly speechless and did not know what to say.

Ye Zhou did not tell Ai Xiaoling that Su Yue’s approach might have other motives. He just said this person must not appear in their world anymore. Every time they met, he would warn her.

Since Su Yue left the company, Ai Xiaoling had really not seen her again.

This person seemed to suddenly appear in both of their worlds and then suddenly disappear, never to show up again.

Meanwhile, Ai Xiaoling and Ye Zhou’s wedding preparations were ongoing.

As the wedding drew closer, Ai Xiaoling gradually shifted from a natural, indifferent attitude to seriously acknowledging Su Yue.

They were getting married?

Su Yue was the female lead of this world, and Ai Xiaoling felt like she was just a supporting character.

Su Yue was going to marry Ye Zhou?

What Ai Xiaoling did not know was that ever since the system told Su Yue that Ye Zhou’s favorability was -99, Su Yue did not dare to appear again, afraid that her favorability would be completely lost and that she would fail the mission and be forced offline.

As a result, even though Su Yue did not appear, Ye Zhou inexplicably thought of her and, because he feared she would interfere with their wedding, his annoyance grew.

The favorability instantly dropped to -100.

Su Yue was hiding in her rented apartment, racking her brain trying to recover her favorability, when suddenly the system notified her that the mission had failed, and she died again abruptly, being pulled back into the system.

She did not even have time to curse a thousand times in her heart.

Soon, Ai Xiaoling also lost interest in paying attention to Su Yue.

She had been busy lately and had not had a proper date with Ye Zhou for a long time. On the weekend, he took her for a nearby trip to hike and play in the water.

When they returned to the hotel that day, the two could not wait to have an intense session on the sofa. While showering, Ai Xiaoling clung to Ye Zhou in the bathtub, and they continued to fool around.

When they got to bed, Ai Xiaoling seduced him and changed positions.

In the end, it was uncomfortable.

“My stomach hurts.” Ai Xiaoling grimaced, lying under him and started to fuss.

Ye Zhou wanted to stop, but she spread her legs to entangle him again, “Why stop halfway? I’m not happy!”

Fine.

Ye Zhou put his hands on both sides of her body and continued.

They fussed until midnight, and when he had food delivered from the restaurant for a late-night snack, Ai Xiaoling, who was quite hungry at first, suddenly rushed to the bathroom and kept dry heaving at the smell.

Ye Zhou hurried after her.

Ai Xiaoling was finally weakly supported by him, and Ye Zhou gave her a cup of warm water, frowning tightly.

He remembered that her appetite had been poor lately and, thinking of something, his mind became messy.

Ai Xiaoling recovered somewhat and recalled that her period had seemed to not come for a long time. Because of her busy work schedule, it had been irregular, and she could not remember the last time it came.

The two looked stiff, both unconsciously looking at her lower abdomen.