After arriving home from the flower market, Xu Chenghao called for the nanny, and together, they set about planting the pepper seeds in the pots he had bought. When that task was completed, Xu Chenghao instructed the nanny to make sure to water the seeds daily. She listened carefully, nodding to indicate her understanding.
As for the little yellow duck, Xu Chenghao decided to place it in his room to personally tend to it.
Taking a shower after a busy day was the best way to relieve fatigue, so after placing the yellow duck on the bedside table, Xu Chenghao turned around and stepped into the bathroom for a shower. Lured in by the comfort, he decided to take his time and soak for a while…
But when he stepped out of the shower, Xu Chenghao found that the seedlings had already ripened.
“…”
Isn’t this a bit too fast?
Xu Chenghao picked up the yellow duck flower pot and looked at it.
A few minutes earlier, before he’d stepped into the bath, there was nothing in the flower pot. Now that he had picked it up again, Xu Chenghao could see a few clusters of lush pepper seedlings about 20 centimeters in length.
…It’s grown so well and looks so vibrant that it’s honestly disconcerting.
Xu Chenghao stretched out his index finger and tentatively touched the pepper seedlings — it seemed to be no different from the plants back on earth — and couldn’t help but marvel at the growth.
While he studied the plant, Xu Chenghao’s cell phone suddenly lit up, a pleasant and light piano ringtone sounding as it did.
After glancing at the phone, Xu Chenghao saw that the caller was the father of the original owner of his current body.
It would be his first time interacting with the original owner’s family, and so Xu Chenghao couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty.
Still, after a moment of hesitation, he accepted the call.
“Dad…”
“Why are you only answering the phone now?”
His father’s voice was steady and kind, straightforwardly revealing his concern for his son.
“…I’d been taking a shower.”
“Oh. Remember to blow dry your hair so you don’t catch a cold.”
“Yes… Well… What’s made you call so late?”
The line went silent for a while, following which his father slowly responded.
“The Ruan family came to visit today. Apparently, Ruan Chenxuan and Zhou Qian, the youngest daughter of the Zhou family, are going to get married. Their engagement banquet will be held on the 6th of June, and they were hoping that we would be able to attend.”
“Engagement banquet…?”
Xu Chenghao wondered in his heart.
What is going on? Aren’t the hero and heroine a couple? Why did the hero betray the heroine and get engaged to someone else?
His thoughts began to rapidly spin as he tried to recall the plot from before.
Zhou Qian… Zhou Qian…
A thought flashed through his mind as he came to a sudden realization, and everything was pieced together quickly after.
Indeed, there was a scene like this in the original story…
Zhou Qian was the first ‘cannon fodder’ female with a supporting role in “The Domineering President Falls in Love with Me”. She grew up spoiled and was very fond of the male lead, regarding him as the template for her future husband. She had always been looking forward to marrying the male lead through a marriage between their families.
Compared to the miserable little white flower, the eldest lady has all the qualification to enter Ruan’s family. The male protagonist’s family preferred to marry him to Zhou Qian as she was descended from a family who owned a joint-stock property. The marriage would not only help the male lead’s career but also serve as a means of bringing the two families closer to each other.
And a certain villain who liked to lurk in the dark aimed to take advantage of this; doing his best to persuade Zhou Qian herself to pursue the matter, while also making the male protagonist’s family pressure the male protagonist into getting engaged.
At the time, the novel had explained the villain’s reason for doing this – he had wanted the heroine to think that the hero had taken the initiative to abandon her and gotten engaged to another woman. When she was taunted by others and fell into despair because of this, he would appear like a knight in shining armor and lift her from its depths, making it so that she had no choice but to rely on him.
It was quite the sickening form of “love”.
“Chenghao? Chenghao, are you listening?”
As his father’s voice rang from the phone, Xu Chenghao remembered that he was still on a call.
“I’m here.”
He hurriedly responded.
At this, his father fell into long silence once again before speaking.
“Are you thinking about An Rouyu?”
It was no secret that Xu Chenghao liked An Rouyu. Everyone who knew him knew this story, after all, they had grown up together.
It wasn’t something that he could hide.
So when Ruan Chenxuan from the Ruan family suddenly snatched An Rouyu away in a high-profile way, and Xu Chenghao decided to let An Rouyu dissolve the engagement freely, he had been subjected to ridicule for quite a while.
There were those who had said he was incapable, and there were those who said he had just been infatuated.
Either way, him becoming the talking point in everyone’s mouths hadn’t been a good thing.
This time, Ruan Chenxuan had gotten engaged, so Xu Chenghao’s father was worried that his son would be overwhelmed and rush over to the heroine to comfort and protect her, and get hurt in the process.
Xu Chenghao sighed as he imagined his father’s thoughts.
“I’m sorry Dad, I won’t do it again in the future.”
He was the one who knew best what would happen if he touched the female lead again. So for the sake of his legs, he decided against snatching the villain’s chance to comfort the female lead.
With all of these thoughts running around in Xu Chenghao’s head, his words came out with a mix of guilt and seriousness.
His father didn’t know whether to believe it or not, however. And so, after deliberating for a while, he slowly responded.
“In that case, go to the banquet with us.”
Xu Chenghao honestly didn’t want to get in touch with the male and female protagonists, but as his father had spoken, Xu Chenghao feared that a refusal would be tantamount to disrespect.
Xu Chenghao helplessly placed a hand on his forehead as he responded.
“Alright, I’ll be home by then.”