Getting Outsmarted By The CEO

Chapter 26.1 (TL: Bara Chou)

Gu Jue had read many books in his twenty-some years of life, but rarely were they romantic fiction works, much less ones written in a female voice.

Before he confessed his feelings to Ruan An’an, he studied a forum where women complained about love and relationships, to better understand the female psyche.
He certainly was shocked by how sensitive women can be as he went through the various posts.

They exaggerated the smallest things, making mountains out of anthills.
Anonymous “sisters” would provide all sorts of advice, and in the end, the OP usually concludes in tears with “I f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g̲ knew it, he doesn’t love me anymore.”

Gu Jue felt astonished at the time but thought that, since it seemed like women and men had different ways of thinking, it would be a good learning experience.

Sometimes when he was browsing the forum in his spare time, he would come across confession posts about unrequited love.
The posts were all delicately written and excessively sappy.

Even though technically Gu Jue also had an unrequited love back in the day… only because he was too young, slow, and dumb to realize his feelings back then.

He did not agree with unrequited love now. If you like someone, why would you hide it instead of showing it? Do you expect the love to blossom while hidden in your heart?

He had never anticipated…

His girlfriend, whom he had longed for years, had secretly crushed on some uguy back in high school.

Gu Jue closed the browser tab and cleared his history, but the search results – especially the “all my future loves will resemble you” – could not be cleared from his mind.

His rational mind told him not to dwell on this, but it was like a lump in his throat— unable to swallow and hurts to try.

Gu Jue glanced down at his little girlfriend who spoke only truths after she drank.

Her eyes were shut.
The angle he was looking from made her slightly curved lashes cast a fan-shaped shadow under her eyes, looking even longer and more refined.
Her lips were lightly parted, but the sound of breathing that came out was masked by the hum of the car.

Ruan An’an had been settled since she fell asleep, not squirming or anything.
Her head stayed neatly on his shoulder and her arms still circled around his.
Oh, how docile she was in her sleep.

Gu Jue wore very little.
He could feel the warmth radiating from her body through the thin layer of clothes, warming up the side that she was leaning against.

He moved away his gaze and considered rolling down the window to get some air.
Then, he realized she might catch a cold from the wind, and lowered his arm mid-action.

Nothing was feeling right, like an unfound fire, burning his insides along with the alcohol.

As the cab approached the university area, there was significantly less breaking, and their speed had become steadier.

With the last step on the breaks, they had arrived at the gates of University C.
Ruan An’an’s head slipped forward from the inertia, stirring her to open her eyes.
Before she could react, her chin fell into a cool palm.

Gu Jue had one hand under her chin and his other hand righted her body.
He quickly paid the driver and turned back to ask her, “Can you walk on your own?”

Ruan An’an rubbed her eyes, finally realizing that she had fallen asleep in the cab.
She nodded and followed him out of the car.

“Cool” was no longer a suitable word to describe the temperature of this late autumn evening.
So, when Ruan An’an stepped out of the warmth of the cab, she greeted the chilly breeze with a shiver.

“Too cold?” Gu Jue noticed her shivers.
He held her by her hand, “Come, I’ll take you back to your dorm.”

Ruan An’an nodded.

The chilly breeze helped her wake up.
After a bit, it dawned on her how much more she was wearing than him, layers and all.
He must’ve been freezing in just his hoodie.

“Gu Jue, aren’t you cold?” Ruan An’an tugged his hand, letting her thoughts guide her words, “Wear more next time.
See, if you feel cold now, I can’t even offer my coat because you don’t fit.
Would it kill you to wear more…”

The couple strolled along the school roads.
Ruan An’an’s ramblings entered his ears with the evening breeze.
In the end, she had completely run off-topic.
“… Oh, I know! You must be wearing less to look cool! Believe me, even if you make yourself into a ball, you’d still look great!”

Gu Jue turned to see a serious expression on her face.
He let a chuckle out and squeezed her warm and soft hand.

“Not cold.” He said, “I’m not cold.”

Gu Jue added to himself, just a bit cold in my heart.

Thanks to the alcohol, Ruan An’an was energized throughout the journey.
She talked on, becoming more animated the more she talked.
Gu Jue had planned to ask her a few more questions while she was unable to lie.
But now, he was quiet, downhearted, and walked as if he was mute.

By the time they reached the graduate dorms, Ruan An’an had talked her mouth dry.
Good thing that, even though she was running her mouth while being incapable of lying, at least she didn’t spill her secrets.
Nothing along the lines of “Actually, I lied and have never lived in these dorms.”

Gu Jue stood still, not yet letting go of her hand.

Ruan An’an was taken aback when she looked up at him.

Gu Jue’s expression seemed out of the ordinary.
Putting the lack of a smile aside, his eyes were hidden in the shadow, and the straight lines of his nose, lips, and jawline added a sharpness to him.

It was different… from the usual him.

Ruan An’an was still trying to figure it out, when his lips suddenly curled into a smile, “Why are you staring at me? Am I good-looking?”

Ruan An’an didn’t want to admit, but she couldn’t lie either.
“Yes…” She blinked twice, unable to hold her tongue, “I don’t think I told you before.
You’re probably the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen.”

It was Gu Jue’s turn to be taken aback.

Her eyes were wide, to the point of being round.
Maybe it was the streetlamps, but they seemed extra bright and clear.

Gu Jue lifted his hand to touch her cheek.
His fingers lingered on her chin, rubbing.
After a while, he lowered his head to land a kiss on her clean and warm eyes.

Ruan An’an closed her eyes the moment his lips met her eyelid.
Then, she heard his voice.

“A goodnight kiss.”

Ruan An’an stepped into the dormitory building, passed the halls, and made a turn into the elevator lobby.

She was about to call for the elevator when she felt compelled to look behind her.

There were no rooms on the first floor of the graduate dorms and had large windows that gave a full view of the outside.
Ruan An’an easily made out Gu Jue’s silhouette.
He was standing still, unmoving.

Even with her vision slightly blurred from the alcohol, she could tell with good certainty that he was looking in her direction.

The moment Ruan An’an saw him, something clicked, and she thought… he seemed unhappy.

She contemplated for a bit and took back the hand that was about to press the elevator button.
She started at a slightly quickened pace, but once she reached the doors, she began running and soon arrived in front of Gu Jue.
She was so fast that she couldn’t stop herself and crashed into his arms.

Good thing he had steady legs and caught her without taking even a step back.

Under the lamplight, his expression told of surprise.

“Why did you come back out?”

Ruan An’an didn’t know either, but her intuition told her, Gu Jue was in a bad mood.
She just thought… even without knowing why, she had to go comfort him.

“Gu Jue,” she tilted her head and asked bluntly, “You’re not happy, are you?”

Gu Jue’s expression stiffened, “… Yes, I am.” More than not happy.

“But something feels wrong.
You weren’t like this when we first got onto the car…”

Gu Jue clenched his teeth, “… really.” I’m about to burst with anger.

Ruan An’an looked up at him, unable to see any indication of something wrong that he was hiding.
Her brain was mottled, interfering with her ability to read expressions.
In the end, she gestured to him with her finger, “Come here, lower your head.”

Just now, she asked, and he answered—once out loud, once to himself.
Now, his body immediately executed her simple command without his brain.

He saw the young lady get on her tiptoes as he lowered his head.

Feeling something drawing close, he reflexively closed his eyes.
The next second, he felt a moist and soft sensation imprinted on his eyelid.

Ruan An’an grabbed his hand after the kiss.

“I gave you a goodnight kiss too.” She smiled and shook his wiggled his fingers, “Don’t be unhappy, okay?”

Since they were already back at school, Ruan An’an planned to sleep in Yin Yuan’s room.
After all, it was late and she drank.

Ruan An’an decided her effort to cheer her boyfriend up was successful and hummed her way up.

The graduate dorms were much better than the dorms for undergrads.
Yin Yuan also applied for a single room, which had even better conditions.
Both the spaciousness and the amenities were a tier above the rest, something resembling a high-end condo.
Of course, the rent also reflected this.

It was over half an hour of drive from the university to the Yin Estate, so Yin Yuan lived here out of convenience.

In these past two months, Ruan An’an had frequented the room for naps.
Naturally, she had a set of keys and easily found her way.

As she was taking off her shoes, she heard Yin Yuan shout, “AHHHH This instance is too hard—!”

“…?”

Ruan An’an followed the sound and found Yin Yuan on the living room couch with her laptop.

She had pajamas on and hair in a bun.
She was aggressively staring at the screen and typing away aggressively.
Likely complaining to someone.

Yin Yuan had heard the door.
She knew that Ruan An’an was the only other person with keys, so she asked without lifting her head, “How come you’re here?”

Yin Yuan had her A/C on, making her room a comfortable temperature.
Ruan An’an took off her jacket as she answered, “I drank during the class gathering.
My boyfriend brought me back to school, and I don’t want to drag myself back home… darling, let me sleep over tonight please.”

Yin Yuan agreed, “Sure.
Go shower.
You know where the pajamas are.”

Ruan An’an found it amusing that she had not gotten much attention during this whole exchange, “What are you playing? You finished your programming?”

“A game, ‘6 Realms’,” Yin Yuan tsked, “I’m really impressed with the young Mr.
Gu.
This game is so addictive.
I’ve been playing less than 2 weeks and already put in almost 100 grand.”

Ruan An’an laughed, “Don’t be silly, 100 grand is nothing to you.”

The pair bantered a bit, but sleepiness was claiming Ruan An’an, so she left without watching her friend play.
It wasn’t until the next morning that she saw the game interface of 6 Realms.

Yin Yuan was in the kitchen, frying up some eggs for them both.
“Ruan Ruan? Can you check if my game disconnected?”

“Ok, I’ll go check.” Ruan An’an left for the living room.

When she reached the computer screen, she was stunned.

After playing a few online games, Ruan An’an knew at a glance that the game was put on auto-grinding.
It was just… the location was especially scenic.

It was in a sea of flowers.
All the monsters were cute too, being flower fairies and grass fairies.
The graphics were high-def and well-rendered, with a bit of 3D effect too.
The monster models were beautiful, and the character models were even more so.

On the screen, there were 2 characters, a man and a woman.
The man sat on the ground, stroking a guqin, looking like a saint in his pure white clothes.
The woman danced through the flowers with her word, her white dress floating about.
Their clothes were clearly a matching set.

It was extremely dazzling when the characters released their skills.
The effects weren’t blinding.
Instead, they looked well-designed.
Painful too, judging from the numbers popping up.

From the map to the skill effects, everything looked crisp and clean.

Ruan An’an began to understand why this game was so popular and widespread.
Even as someone who’d never played, the scene in front of her made her hand itch.

Just as she was about to return with her mission completed, she glanced at the characters’ IDs.

Woman – [Yin&Yuan] Man – [Dawn&Dusk]

Ruan An’an: …

As she ate breakfast, the two IDs stayed glaring in her mind.

On her last bite, she blurted out, “I saw the one that… uh, you teamed up with…”

Yin Yuan looked up, “Hm?”

Ruan An’an studied her expressions, “The ‘dawn’ in his ID…”

Yin Yuan grabbed the knife beside her, lightly casting her eyes over, “What about it?”

“…” Ruan An’an shut herself up, “no, no, no, nothing.”

Yin Yuan tossed the knife aside, “You and Jiang Yi are too sensitive… I met this guy by chance.
He’s a well-known god in the game and has been playing for a long time…” She paused, adding emphasis, “Most importantly, his personality is completely different from Xue Zhao.”
TL/N: Xue Zhao’s “Zhao” is the character for “dawn”

Ruan An’an may have overthought it a little.

When she tried to rope some answers from Gu Jue, in the “there is no pure friendship between a guy and a girl, if there is, then one of them is being dumb” story, the girl who had realized her first crush was Yin Yuan, and her dumb childhood friend was Xue Zhao.

“… We’re not oversensitive.
We’re just scared of you falling in again.” Ruan An’an released her breath, “I mean, it’s good if you really forgot about that idiot.
He isn’t worth all the pearls of grief you dropped during high school.
Not worth it at all.”

Yin Yuan raised an eyebrow, “I totally forgot about him until you mentioned it.
I don’t have time to date in real life, so all I can do is a lighthearted internet romance with some game god.”

Ruan An’an gave her a seal of approval, “Brilliant!”

It was Monday, after all, and they both had morning classes.
So, without further ado, they cleaned up the table and headed their separate ways out of the dorm.