Chapter 18: Frustration

Under Song Jingyao’s watchful eye, the male and female leads finally met successfully.

As he smiled carelessly, he also felt an inexplicably subtle emotion, though it was no more significant than an ant bite.

Song Jingyao attributed it to the fact that even a cold guy like Shen Xiuzhu had managed to get into a relationship before he did.

He couldn’t help feeling a little jealous.

He almost forgot the scene he was supposed to perform because of it.

It wasn’t until a waiter accidentally bumped into him, splashing red wine all over his body, that his chest suddenly turned icy cold.

His suit was soaked through.

Even his face had been splattered with wine, and the ends of his hair hung damply.

His previously impeccable appearance was completely ruined, leaving him looking utterly disheveled.

Song Jingyao stood there in a daze.

The cold had numbed him so thoroughly that he didn’t even react immediately.

The other rich young masters started cursing before he could.

“Are you blind? Can’t you even walk properly?”

“How did you even get this job? Because you’re stupid?”

“What’s the point of trembling? You haven’t even tried to fix anything. Tsk. If that’s your mental resilience, you should just quit already!”

Song Jingyao finally snapped back to reality.

Hearing those remarks, he wore an expression of utter despair.

You guys just stole all my lines! What am I supposed to say now?!

His mind raced, desperately searching for something else that sounded vicious and cruel.

No matter what, he had to embody the obnoxious cannon-fodder supporting character.

But before he could speak, someone grabbed his wrist.

His voice carried restrained anger.

“Your fever just went down. Come with me and change your clothes.”

Shen Xiuzhu was clearly in a bad mood.

As for the insignificant waiter, he couldn’t even be bothered to spare him a glance.

The only thing he cared about was whether the person he’d been carefully looking after was about to get sick again.

Everyone present took turns criticizing the waiter.

Not a single person spoke in his defense.

Had he apologized calmly and immediately done everything possible to remedy the situation for Song Jingyao, whom he’d accidentally drenched, people might even have thought better of him.

Instead, he simply stood there trembling, terrified that he couldn’t afford to compensate for such an expensive custom-made suit.

Looking like someone who had been wronged, he only made everyone around him dislike him even more.

Even the gentle, kindhearted heroine couldn’t help quietly saying, “Before this draws even more attention, you should clean up the wine and broken glass on the floor.”

Standing there shaking accomplished nothing.

This was his job.

Everyone present was an adult.

No one else had any obligation to pay for his mistake.

Having completely missed the best opportunity to throw a fit and instead becoming the unquestioned victim, Song Jingyao could only think:

I’m so tired…

Could you all stop taking my side so much?

He’s just a new waiter!

He only made a small mistake!

I’m supposed to be the one screaming at him! I’m supposed to be unreasonable! I’m supposed to abuse my status and bully people! Brothers, sisters, please let me properly fulfill my role as the cannon-fodder stepping stone, okay?!

His momentum had already passed.

Once your first burst of energy was gone, the second would naturally weaken.

Song Jingyao deflated.

Even his scolding lacked strength.

With a thoroughly unpleasant expression, he said disdainfully, “Didn’t you hear them? My custom-made suit is ruined because of you. Can your salary even afford to pay for it? Get lost. Don’t stand here and irritate me.”

Emphasizing how expensive his clothes were and looking down on someone of lower status was already the nastiest thing Song Jingyao could think of.

That’s how villains always did it on TV.

The waiter trembled before hurriedly running away.

Terrified that a rich young master like Song Jingyao would pursue the matter and leave him burdened with hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of debt, he had already decided to quit and flee.

If Song Jingyao had known, he probably would have kindly told him that those formal suits were practically disposable anyway.

No one wore the same banquet suit twice.

Even if compensation were demanded, it wouldn’t actually be for the suit itself.

It would be because the waiter had embarrassed Song Jingyao in public.

And that sort of loss couldn’t really be measured with money.

Thus, Song Jingyao’s rare spotlight scene came to an abrupt end.

It felt like he hadn’t even managed to do anything before Shen Xiuzhu escorted him to apologize to the Yang family and leave early.

After changing into the spare clothes kept in the car, Song Jingyao found the whole evening rather boring.

Turning toward Shen Xiuzhu, he suddenly asked, “Do you think Wen Lu is pretty?”

Shen Xiuzhu paused for a moment before frowning.

“Who?”

Song Jingyao was speechless.

“The girl standing beside Liang Jie just now.”

Keeping a blank expression, Shen Xiuzhu didn’t answer.

Instead, he asked, “You think she’s very pretty?”

“Yeah.”

Song Jingyao nodded.

“She has one of those first-love faces. What man wouldn’t like that?”

Except someone like him.

A gay man.

At those words, Shen Xiuzhu’s expression became noticeably darker.

The lighting inside the car wasn’t bright enough at night to make it obvious, though.

To Shen Xiuzhu, Song Jingyao had practically admitted that he was interested in Wen Lu.

How could he possibly not be upset?

The atmosphere inside the car immediately turned heavy.

Shen Xiuzhu fell silent.

Lowering his eyes, he began seriously considering every possible reason why that girl wasn’t suitable, just as he had always done in the past.

Completely oblivious, Song Jingyao subconsciously continued viewing Shen Xiuzhu as the novel’s unquestionably straight male lead.

To him, Shen Xiuzhu’s silence simply meant he was being secretly tsundere.

He hadn’t clearly realized his feelings for the heroine yet, but subconsciously, he was already honest with himself.

Tsk, tsk.

Song Jingyao curled his lips, pulled out his phone to entertain himself, and stopped asking questions.

No matter what he did, the red thread tying the male and female leads together was ridiculously thick.

They were destined to end up together.

It was only a matter of sooner or later.

Using his allergy as an excuse, Song Jingyao successfully secured a day’s leave and didn’t return to the office until the following day.

Unexpectedly, he ran into the heroine, Wen Lu, again.

She was discussing something about her internship registration with the receptionist.

The receptionist explained that registration had ended the previous day.

After listening for only a couple of sentences, Song Jingyao immediately understood what had happened.

As the heroine, Wen Lu was talented and kind, but there would always be people trying to make life difficult for her.

This was the scene where a classmate had stolen her internship position.

To make matters worse, that classmate even pretended to be innocent while showing off in the class group chat.

Wen Lu felt wronged but had no way to fight back.

At times like this, it was supposed to be the male lead’s grand entrance.

Song Jingyao stopped in an inconspicuous corner and watched.

Wen Lu explained the situation to the receptionist.

The receptionist responded politely.

Wen Lu looked hurt and unable to believe it.

The receptionist could only express helplessness.

Then…

The heroine turned around dejectedly and headed for the exit.

The heroine was…

Leaving!

Wait!

Where was the male lead?

Where was his scene?!

If the heroine never even entered the company, how were they supposed to develop that tooth-rottingly sweet romance?!

Song Jingyao froze in disbelief.

Looking around frantically, he still couldn’t find Shen Xiuzhu anywhere.

Seeing that the heroine was truly about to give up and leave, his head immediately began to ache.

Panicking, he quickly pulled out his phone and called Shen Xiuzhu, urging him to come downstairs immediately.

It was an emergency!

At the same time, he hurried after Wen Lu.

Asking what had happened, he quickly learned the whole story.

Then, invoking Shen Xiuzhu’s name, he promised that arrangements would be made for her.

Wen Lu couldn’t believe it.

Her eyes immediately reddened.

Looking at him gratefully, tears began to fall.

Song Jingyao became flustered.

Awkwardly, he said, “It’s okay. Shen Xiuzhu won’t let you suffer in silence. He hates this kind of underhanded trick. You’ll definitely get your internship here, so… don’t cry, okay?”

And so—

Shen Xiuzhu hurried downstairs from the upper floors.

The first thing he saw was that scene.

A young man and woman stood facing each other.

The woman was crying in grievance.

The man awkwardly tried to comfort her, obvious concern written all over his face.

They looked painfully well matched.

Shen Xiuzhu’s face turned cold instantly.

Striding forward, he grabbed Song Jingyao’s arm and pulled him far away from Wen Lu.

“What happened? This is your ’emergency’?”

Song Jingyao answered as though it were only natural.

“Her internship position was stolen by a classmate. She was supposed to work at your company. She’s your employee!”

The last sentence carried particular emphasis.

She’s also your heroine!

If you don’t hurry up, someone else is going to snatch her away!

Don’t forget she’s incredibly popular! Besides the male lead, there are the second and third male leads too! Plenty of readers even prefer the heroine ending up with the second male lead! You’re only the official love interest because the author favored you!

Song Jingyao’s inner thoughts were bursting with excitement.

His peach blossom eyes sparkled brightly.

To Shen Xiuzhu, however, that was simply proof of how much Song Jingyao cared about this girl.

Shen Xiuzhu asked coldly, “Do you care about her that much?”

Song Jingyao answered without thinking.

“Of course! She’s Wen Lu!”

The heroine!

The woman his cannon-fodder supporting role was supposed to secretly love!

He wanted to continue emphasizing just how important the heroine was, along with all her dazzling protagonist aura.

But under Shen Xiuzhu’s stern gaze—like that of a strict dean of discipline—his legs instantly went weak.

He obediently shut his mouth.

Wen Lu hadn’t heard their conversation.

After wiping away her tears and trying to hide how embarrassed she felt, she walked over to Shen Xiuzhu and sincerely thanked him.

Keeping his lips pressed together, Shen Xiuzhu replied calmly, “You’re welcome.”

Watching them, Song Jingyao sighed inwardly.

Ah…

The heroine really is different.

She managed to awaken Shen Xiuzhu’s secretly smitten side so quickly.

The woman he likes is standing right in front of him, crying so pitifully.

There’s no way he could actually be unmoved.

He really is good at hiding it.

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