Taming the Simp

"That's my classmate, Ling Yun. He came over today as a guest for dinner."

Jiang Yingqing rushed to answer, deliberately emphasizing "classmate" and "guest."

"Classmate?" Chen Xuanyu's tense nerves relaxed slightly, and his sense of superiority returned to his face.

He sized Ling Yun up, curled his lips into a supposedly friendly smile, and walked into the dining room.

"So you're Yingqing's classmate. Hello, my name is Chen Xuanyu, and I'm Yingxue's friend. Since you're Yingqing's classmate, I'll call you Brother Ling Yun. You don't mind, do you?"

Ling Yun looked up at this "classic" uninvited guest and found it rather amusing.

The hostility was as obvious as a searchlight. Was he even too lazy to pretend?

To think he could still encounter such a "pure" plot NPC in this day and age. Truly... nostalgic.

His expression remained unchanged as he merely nodded lightly. "Suit yourself."

Under Jiang Mingyuan and Mother Jiang's invitation, Chen Xuanyu acted as if he were at home and added a seat for himself. It happened to be beside Jiang Yingxue.

Throughout the meal, he tried his best to ignore Ling Yun's presence and began searching for all kinds of topics to strike up a conversation with Jiang Yingxue.

"Yingxue, I heard a Michelin restaurant just opened in the east of the city..."

"Mm."

"Are your parents doing well? My father mentioned them a few days ago..."

"They're fine."

"Have you been busy with work lately? You seem..."

"I'm fine."

No matter what Chen Xuanyu said, Jiang Yingxue's responses never exceeded three words, and her gaze rarely fell on him.

Yet even these miserly responses seemed to satisfy Chen Xuanyu. His face held an almost devout anticipation and an imperceptible hint of ingratiation.

This guy... Even Feiyangyang would have handed him a cigarette and called him senior.

While savoring the crabmeat Mother Jiang had put in his bowl, Ling Yun watched this live-action documentary about a simp with great interest.

Jiang Yingqing leaned close to Ling Yun and rapidly explained in a lowered voice.

"Chen Xuanyu's father and my dad are old friends and business partners. He and my sister can barely be considered childhood friends. He's been pestering my sister since they were kids, chasing after her. She's rejected him countless times, but he still won't give up. His skin is even thicker than a city wall!"

Her tone was full of disdain.

Perhaps because he felt that Jiang Yingxue was simply too difficult to win over, or because he wanted to display his superiority before this newly appeared "potential rival," Chen Xuanyu finally turned the conversation toward Ling Yun.

He cleared his throat and said in the tone of an elder showing concern for a junior, "Brother Ling Yun, you're still in school, right? High school or college? Take it from me: at your age, studying is the most important thing! Study hard, get into a good university, and after you graduate..."

He paused, then revealed a smile as if bestowing a favor. "You can come to me—or my father's company. Arranging a respectable job for you won't be a problem. Young man, your future matters!"

The moment he said this, the dining table fell silent.

Jiang Yingqing was so angry that she nearly snapped her chopsticks.

Jiang Mingyuan and Mother Jiang frowned slightly.

Jiang Yingxue abruptly turned her head. Her icy gaze stabbed toward Chen Xuanyu like something tangible, and displeasure was clearly written across the face that had shown little expression all along.

Her voice was not loud, but its chilling tone brooked no argument and rang clearly in everyone's ears:

"Chen Xuanyu, you're worrying about far too much."

"Ling Yun is my boss."

Those words struck Chen Xuanyu's head like a thunderbolt! The smile on his face froze completely, and the color drained from it, leaving him looking extremely ugly.

He stared at Jiang Yingxue in disbelief, then at the calm Ling Yun. His fingers tightened around his wineglass until his knuckles turned white.

Boss?! Jiang Yingxue... had actually spoken to him in such a long sentence and such a cold tone for the sake of defending this man?!

And the content... was actually for another man!

The immense shock and humiliation instantly overwhelmed Chen Xuanyu.

"Oh, is that so? Then you're really impressive, Brother Ling Yun. You haven't even graduated from high school, yet you've already found a job."

"I wonder what kind of work it is that can make Yingxue work for you."

Chen Feiyu's heart lurched when he heard that Jiang Yingxue worked for Ling Yun. The trace of superiority on his face became difficult to maintain.

His family's total assets amounted to only around five hundred million, making them slightly inferior to the Jiang Family.

If you think this book is good, remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't have trouble finding it next time.

What if this kid came from some low-key aristocratic family...

The last time he had accidentally offended the young master of the Wang Family at an auction, his father had found out and locked him up for three months, freezing all his cards. He did not want to experience that again.

With that thought, his tone unconsciously became probing.

"I stream myself playing games online. Sister Yingxue works as my editor."

Seeing that he could once again pretend to be weak while actually being strong, Ling Yun immediately made his job sound perfectly ordinary, his eyes clear and innocent.

"Oh, so you're a game streamer!"

Chen Feiyu's tense nerves instantly relaxed, and a hint of imperceptible contempt even curled at the corner of his lips.

"That kind of work has no future and doesn't make much money. Take it from me: study hard. Once you graduate, I'll find you a more reliable job. Sit in an office with air conditioning. Isn't that better than staring at a computer?"

He recovered his condescending superiority and began "offering advice" in a solemn, earnest tone.

Ling Yun chuckled inwardly. The groundwork was complete. It was time to show off.

Just as he was about to slap Chen Feiyu in the face with the truth, his phone suddenly rang.

[Two hundred million yuan has been deposited into Alipay.]

"Sorry, I forgot to set Alipay to silent."

Ling Yun really wanted to give Douyin a like. This was simply a stroke of genius.

It had directly elevated showing off to the realm of returning to simplicity.

"How is that possible?!"

The ease on Chen Feiyu's face instantly froze, replaced by incredulous shock. Even his voice changed pitch.

"Didn't you say you were a game streamer? How could you possibly have so much money?!"

He suspected that he had misheard.

Everyone from the Jiang Family also turned toward Ling Yun in unison, their eyes filled with astonishment.

"Why would I lie to you? I really do play games. What just arrived was my signing fee."

Chen Feiyu's head went "buzz," as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer, leaving his mind blank.

His entire family group was valued at only five hundred million. This one contract was worth nearly half of his family's entire fortune.

"Xiao Yun, wasn't the signing fee you showed me a few days ago five million?"

Jiang Mingyuan was also somewhat curious after hearing this.

Seeing that Jiang Mingyuan was the one asking, Ling Yun simply told him the details.

"Young people are truly formidable! Truly formidable!

"At this rate, it won't take many years before my old bones' fortune is caught up to by you."

After hearing everything, Jiang Mingyuan praised him sincerely, and the admiration in his eyes grew even stronger.

Beside him, Chen Feiyu was utterly silenced, his face burning.

He quickly adjusted his expression. The arrogance from earlier vanished without a trace, and his tone became incomparably respectful.

"B-Brother Yun! I was blind and failed to recognize Mount Tai! The people I admire most are young talents like you, who built such a great foundation from nothing at such a young age! From now on... from now on, I'll call you Brother Yun!"

His "traditional special ability" activated instantly, and he fawned with smooth perfection, lowering his posture as far as possible.

Compared to saving face, he was more afraid of offending Ling Yun. If his father found out, the consequences would absolutely be worse than last time.

Ling Yun had not expected Chen Feiyu to change faces so quickly.

Ling Yun had thought Chen Feiyu would grow resentful and secretly cause trouble for him.

When that happened, he would let Chen Feiyu taste his Storm Blade Domain.

Then, after killing the younger one, the older one would come. At that point, he would uproot the entire Chen Family.

Sure enough, he had read too many novels in his previous life. There were not that many idiots in reality.

Seeing Chen Feiyu's nearly obsequious respect, Ling Yun decided not to hold it against him.

After all, aside from running his mouth, Chen Feiyu had not actually done anything heinous. He could not possibly kill him just because he had failed to show off, right?

Although he was a cultivator, deep down he was still a young man from a modern society governed by the rule of law. As for murderous intent? He really did not have any.

The bigger reason, perhaps, was that Chen Feiyu had not genuinely angered him. From the beginning, Ling Yun had merely treated him as entertainment.

If someone truly angered him, then... sorry, but they would still have to die.

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