The CEO Lives Next Door

She truly deserved to be the female protagonist!

Even with a bumpy process, she always found a way to attract the CEO's attention!

Assistant Song silently withdrew his lunchbox and tried hard to shrink his presence so the male and female leads could communicate properly.

Sure enough, living up to expectations, Tang Ruan went straight head-on against the CEO. "President Lu, Assistant Song hasn't eaten lunch. It's bad for his stomach."

Lu Mingyu said, "The company sets aside time for people to eat. It was him using his spare time to do other things, so you can't blame anyone."

Tang Ruan said, "President Lu, Assistant Song has been by your side for so long. You should at least show some consideration for your history together."

Lu Mingyu said, "Since when is it anyone else's place to make decisions about my affairs?"

With that, he stopped looking at Tang Ruan, turned to Assistant Song, and said, "Assistant Song, come with me into the office."

Assistant Song silently followed Lu Mingyu into the office.

The executive office.

The atmosphere turned somewhat quiet.

Assistant Song felt anxious inside.

Calling me in at a time like this, he couldn't possibly be over-jealous and want to silence me, right?!

No way, it was just a meal, and you can't blame me for that! Who told you to be so cold and aloof to the female protagonist yourself!

As he thought about it, he suddenly smelled a fragrance in the air.

Assistant Song followed the scent and found an exquisite spread of food set out on a table to the side.

He had only eaten two bites of the food Tang Ruan brought earlier, and he was still hungry.

Smelling the aroma, he couldn't help swallowing hard.

"President Lu, do you have any business with me?" Assistant Song asked.

Lu Mingyu said, "I originally thought Assistant Song hadn't eaten at noon and must be miserably hungry, so I specially had someone make food and send it over. I just didn't expect to be making a fool of myself when Assistant Song had a little sister bringing him food."

Assistant Song: "?"

Why did that sound somewhat sarcastic?

Could it be that Lu Mingyu still had feelings for Tang Ruan in his heart, and all his previous actions were just playing hard to get?

Assistant Song hurriedly protested his innocence. "President Lu, Tang Ruan and I have absolutely not the slightest bit of relationship. She brought me food purely out of care between colleagues!"

"Care between colleagues? And she even cooks for you personally?" Lu Mingyu's cold words were full of distrust.

He was flustered!

As expected of a scumbag! He treated her coldly on the surface, but the moment she treated another man well in private, he started getting anxious!

"Miss Tang was just thanking me for smoothing things over last time," Assistant Song explained.

Lu Mingyu said, "What? Are you trying to say I'm overbearing?"

Assistant Song: "?"

Why did he see a bit of a petty, unreasonable young wife vibe on Lu Mingyu?

"Not at all," Assistant Song replied.

Lu Mingyu's brow relaxed, clearly very satisfied with his answer. "Don't go eating random things people send. It's not clean."

I'm not a three-year-old child, I don't need you telling me that?!

Outwardly, however, he was respectful. "Understood, President Lu."

Lu Mingyu stared right at him. "Surely you know what Tang Ruan did before?"

Uh...

The things Tang Ruan had done to the CEO were indeed a bit hard to put into words.

"Then aren't you afraid she might make a mistake and sprinkle rat poison in the food?" Lu Mingyu continued.

Assistant Song felt a jolt run through his powerful torso; he wanted to go to the restroom right now and stick his finger down his throat.

After all, the criminal record was right there.

Every single instance of Tang Ruan's 'didn't mean it' was a fatal blow to everyone else.

Holy shit! With this kind of brain-damaged behavior, Tang Ruan might actually do something like that! Oh mother, what if she really poisons me to death? There's probably female protagonist plot armor, so Tang Ruan won't have anything happen to her.

Seeing Assistant Song panic, the corners of Lu Mingyu's lips hooked up slightly, and he said with satisfaction, "Pay attention next time."

"Got it, President Lu," Assistant Song acknowledged.

Lu Mingyu generously relented. "You didn't eat at noon, and this food was just delivered. It's still hot. Let's eat together."

As he spoke, Lu Mingyu had already walked over to the table.

The dishes, full of color, aroma, and flavor, made Assistant Song's mouth water.

He nimbly took a seat and began to eat with great relish.

After finishing the meal, Assistant Song leaned back against the sofa with a sense of fulfillment and let out a thoroughly unrefined burp.

Truly satisfying.

"Compared to what Tang Ruan makes, which one tastes better?" Lu Mingyu asked suddenly.

Accepting favors makes you soft-handed, eating people's food makes you short-tongued.

Speak nicely to nice people, speak ghost-talk to ghosts.

Assistant Song nimbly buttered him up. "Naturally, President Lu's side tastes better."

He even has to compare things like this. Men, oh men!

After the meal, Assistant Song stepped out of the executive office. As soon as he walked out, he spotted Tang Ruan with red eyes.

What's wrong with this sister again?!

Who offended her?

Why was she wearing that aggrieved look once more?

Since she was standing right in front of him, Assistant Song couldn't just pretend not to see her either. He had to bite the bullet and ask, "Miss Tang, what's wrong?"

Tang Ruan bit her lip and put on her delicate, white-lotus persona again.

The first time, Assistant Song had found it breathtaking.

But she did this every single time, and even the angles were identical. Assistant Song was already numb to it.

"I'm sorry, Assistant Song, wuwuwu~" Before she had even said two sentences, she burst into tears.

Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he had died and she was weeping at his funeral!

"Miss Tang, if you have something to say, just spit it out," Assistant Song couldn't help interrupting her spellcasting.

Tang Ruan stopped crying, her body convulsing with sobs, her face full of forced endurance. "Assistant Song, it's my fault. I caused you to be reprimarded by President Lu."

???

When was he ever reprimarded by Lu Mingyu?

Seeing Tang Ruan misunderstand, Assistant Song explained, "President Lu didn't say anything to me."

Tang Ruan said, "Assistant Song, don't lie to me. Your eyes are all red. You must have been scolded to tears by President Lu just now."

Assistant Song: "..."

His eyes were red because of the spice.

Lu Mingyu didn't eat spicy food, but among today's dishes was a plate of spicy diced chicken—viciously spicy, viciously delicious! He had polished the whole thing off in one breath, so not only were his eyes a bit red, but his lips were red too.

If he opened his mouth now, he could probably still smell the flavor.

"You really misunderstood," Assistant Song attempted to explain.

Tang Ruan persisted, "Assistant Song, I never expected that you'd be afraid of making me sad and would bear all this alone."

This broad had quite a rich imagination...

"I'm fine, and I have work matters to attend to. Miss Tang, please head back," Assistant Song had no intention of explaining further.

He certainly couldn't tell her that the CEO was secretly cooking special meals for him.

Tang Ruan wore a look of hesitant reluctance, but in the end, she left.

Assistant Song returned to his workstation.

He finally dragged himself through to the end of the shift. Today didn't require overtime, so Assistant Song swiped his card and left right on the dot.

As soon as he went downstairs, he ran into Lu Mingyu.

Since they had already bumped into each other, he had to greet him. "President Lu, what a coincidence."

Lu Mingyu gave an aristocratic nod.

In the garage, while driving and waiting for a red light, he caught sight of Lu Mingyu's car right beside his own again.

Was it so spooky today? Why was he running into such coincidences with Lu Mingyu?

He made a turn, entered his residential complex, and found that Lu Mingyu's car had followed him in as well.

No way! Lu Mingyu couldn't possibly still want to live at his place tonight, could he?!

Arriving inside the complex, Assistant Song parked his car and didn't see Lu Mingyu, which finally allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

He took the elevator up to his front door, only to lay eyes on Lu Mingyu yet again.

The two stared at each other in blank dismay. Helpless, Assistant Song had no choice but to step forward and greet him. "President Lu, did you leave something at my place? Just let me know, and I'll bring it over to you."

Subtext: I don't want you living at my house!

Lu Mingyu pointed at the apartment directly across from his. "Just bought this place. Fully renovated. Came to take a look today."

Assistant Song choked.

Damn these heartless rich people!! Multi-million-dollar apartments, and he buys them just like that! Like buying Chinese cabbage! God damn it! I'll fight you rich folks to the death!!!

Wuwuwu! I'm so envious and jealous!

"How did you think of buying a place over here..." Assistant Song asked awkwardly.

Not living in those tens-of-millions-dollar grand villas, and instead running over to live in small apartment buildings with wage slaves like them.

This neighborhood was upscale, and its residents were basically start-up bosses or middle-to-senior corporate management.

The main draw was the prime location, but the apartments weren't built very large, so ultra-wealthy people like Lu Mingyu usually couldn't get used to living in them.

Lu Mingyu said, "It's close to the company here. Less than ten minutes' drive. I thought it was convenient, so I bought it."

This is the world of the rich. One word—'convenient'—and he buys an apartment!

Lu Mingyu's tone paused, and he added another sentence, "My health isn't great. Over the years, Assistant Song has had to go to too much trouble. Living nearby makes it convenient for you to come over, too."