When Gu Ran saw her few fake girlfriends, she briefly wondered if they had installed some sort of GPS tracker on her, as they seemed to run into her no matter where she hid.
The fake girlfriends, frustrated by the slow elevator, had opted for the stairs. Swearing under their breaths, they pushed open the fire escape door, only to see a couple kissing intimately inside. They all mentally cursed them as "that shameless pair," until the couple turned their heads.
"..."
For a moment, both parties were speechless. Gu Ran finally greeted her girlfriends and then, before they could fully react, pulled Ji Shiyu away as if fleeing.
Someone nudged the girl next to her: "Didn't you just say your uncle was meeting with people from Xinbo today? Why is Ji Shiyu still here?"
The nudged girl shook her head, coming back to her senses: "I don't know either."
The girlfriends stared in the direction Gu Ran had disappeared, recalling the scene they had witnessed upon entering, and took a deep sip of their bubble tea.
After this incident, Gu Ran was practically deified in their minds, radiating an aura of mastery. The girlfriends silently berated themselves for being blind before and now even wanted to humbly ask her if she would consider offering classes in the future.
Everyone knew what kind of person Ji Shiyu was. The difficulty level of reeling him in for a weekend date at the mall instead of working overtime, and then sneaking into a stairwell to kiss, was so high that probably no one else in the world could pull it off.
...
Gu Ran finally couldn't see the girlfriends anymore when she looked back and let out a sigh of relief. Then, thinking about what had just happened, she felt a headache coming on.
Ji Shiyu couldn't quite grasp Gu Ran's minor worries and simply said, "Let's go eat."
Gu Ran hugged the Stitch plushie, giving Ji Shiyu a look full of quiet grievance. "Okay."
Aside from the interlude of running into the fake girlfriends, the date could be considered a success.
It was a very standard date: eating together, then watching a movie together.
Gu Ran fell asleep halfway through the movie, still holding the popcorn bucket. She woke up when the sound effects during the final boss fight became too loud.
Gu Ran glanced at Ji Shiyu beside her.
The man was sitting upright, but his eyelids were firmly shut.
The movie wasn't very good.
On the armrest, his left hand still held her right hand.
Gu Ran wiggled her fingers, trying to slip her hand out of his grasp.
Ji Shiyu suddenly woke up.
He tightened his grip on her hand, turned his head, and asked softly, "What's wrong?"
Feeling the warmth of his palm, Gu Ran answered quietly, "Nothing."
"I want to eat some popcorn."
With him holding her hand like this, she couldn't eat.
"Alright." Only then did Ji Shiyu let go.
Gu Ran ate two pieces of buttered popcorn, thought for a moment, then picked up another and held it to Ji Shiyu's lips.
Ji Shiyu lowered his head and ate it.
Back home, Gu Ran placed the Stitch plushie in the very center of her doll display shelf, the so-called C-position.
She looked at it from left and right, finally took out her phone to snap a picture, and posted it on her social media feed.
The first like came from "The Cleaner."
After a while, more likes and comments piled up. Besides the fake girlfriends they had run into at the mall, some asked if she had gone to the theme park today and bought the Stitch there.
Gu Ran replied that it was won from a claw machine.
Then the comments were all "Gu Ran you're amazing," "You actually managed to win that?", "The master is so skilled."
Gu Ran wasn't sure whether she should explain that it wasn't her who won it, but Ji Shiyu. However, explaining would likely expose the fact that they had gone on a date today.
Among those praising her as "the master" were several mutual friends she shared with Ji Shiyu, and Ji Shiyu would see them.
While Gu Ran was tangled in her thoughts, planning to go out and explain to Ji Shiyu that she hadn't meant to steal his credit, she saw him busy with his laptop after stepping out. Her study was for livestreaming, which he usually avoided, so he had simply set up his computer on the dining table.
Gu Ran didn't disturb him and retreated to her room.
She suddenly remembered that when they were heading out earlier, she had seen Xu Hui contacting Ji Shiyu about some last-minute meeting.
Ji Shiyu had said not to bother and pulled her out on the date instead.
He canceled it just like that, so it probably wasn't a very important meeting.
Gu Ran thought for a bit, then opened her messaging app and found Xu Hui in her contacts.
Gu Ran first sent an emoji, then asked: [What was the meeting about today?]
Xu Hui replied quickly, sending Gu Ran a string of meeting names and background information she didn't quite understand.
It was with a client from the UK. Due to the time difference, the British side wanted to reschedule the meeting to this afternoon, but Ji Shiyu had refused.
Gu Ran typed an "Oh," then asked: [So when did you reschedule it to?]
Looking at Gu Ran's message, Xu Hui felt she might not fully grasp the situation, so he sent a long paragraph explaining that in such cases, there was no rescheduling; refusing was equivalent to terminating the cooperation.
Gu Ran bit her lip at the words "terminating the cooperation," her heart suddenly in her throat. She asked: [If the cooperation ends, will there be losses for you?]
[How much?]
Xu Hui gave Gu Ran a rough, conservative estimate.
Gu Ran stared at the number Xu Hui sent, her mouth slightly agape, suddenly speechless.
Upon learning that today's date had essentially cost that much money, Gu Ran felt completely at a loss. Seeing that Gu Ran seemed unaware, Xu Hui decided to call her and brief her on some other matters.
Given the scale of Xinbo, at Ji Shiyu's level, it wasn't about him arbitrarily doing what he wanted. The sheer size of the company compelled him to do certain things. A regular nine-to-five job with stable holidays was unrealistic for him. When busy, his schedule could flip day and night, filled with social engagements and flying all over the world.
Over the past six months or so, Ji Shiyu had turned down numerous engagements and events, big and small. Sometimes, when he couldn't refuse, he would work late into the night. Those two days he went to the western province as a lucky audience member to record a show were originally supposed to be spent flying to Japan.
Xu Hui didn't mean to pressure Gu Ran with all this—after all, it was all Ji Shiyu's choice—but he felt Gu Ran should know about Ji Shiyu's voluntary sacrifices. She ought to know.
The call ended, and Gu Ran hung up in a daze.
She looked at the ended call screen on her phone, silent.
The clock turned back to that day, starting from when she barged into his office and brought up marriage.
Gu Ran pressed her lips together.
Actually, it wasn't wrong. A Ji family wedding, starting from the guest list, was destined to be anything but simple. He truly didn't have the energy to organize a wedding at this time.
As for just getting the marriage certificate without a ceremony, the older generation in their circles traditionally placed immense importance on rituals. A girl with only a certificate and no public ceremony would be talked about behind her back.
Gu Ran took another deep breath and looked towards where Ji Shiyu was outside her room.
Her phone vibrated.
Gu Ran looked down. Ji Shiyu had sent her a message.
Perhaps because someone under her Stitch plushie post had asked if she bought it at the theme park, Ji Shiyu was asking if she wanted to go to the theme park tomorrow.
Gu Ran was silent for a moment, then replied: [I don't want to go.]
After a while, Ji Shiyu came and knocked on the door.
Gu Ran stuffed her phone under the pillow. "Come in."
Ji Shiyu saw Gu Ran sitting on the bed, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Really not going?"
Gu Ran: "Really don't want to."
Ji Shiyu: "Why?"
Gu Ran puffed out her cheeks: "No reason."
She looked at Ji Shiyu and stretched out her arms.
Ji Shiyu walked over.
Gu Ran clambered onto him using both hands and feet, and Ji Shiyu had to hold her by the hips to keep her from falling.
Gu Ran draped her arms over Ji Shiyu's shoulders, squinted her eyes as she looked at the man's face, and said, "We just had a date today, and you want to go out again tomorrow? You sure think pretty highly of yourself."
Ji Shiyu: "..."
Gu Ran: "How about this? I'll give you one dating opportunity per week from now on... no, once every two weeks."
Ji Shiyu's expression turned somewhat complicated upon hearing this. "That strict, huh?"
"Hah," Gu Ran said proudly, "You know how popular I am now. People who want to date me have to line up. It's pretty good that I'm letting you be first in line."
Ji Shiyu could only let out a low laugh in the end. "Honored."
...
The "Century Couple" shippers recently felt utterly drained from their countdown.
They thought that photo of them huddling together for warmth would be a time machine straight to a happy ending, but then Gu Ran's like on a comment saying "just a pretty girl's personal heating tool, that's all" sent everyone crashing back to reality.
Not just on Weibo, but even during Gu Ran's daily live streams on Cat's Paw, there were always people tearfully asking in the comments how much longer she was going to keep him waiting, whether they could see the happy ending within their lifetime, and claims like "I have a friend with cancer whose final wish is to see the Century Couple get their happy ending."
Gu Ran could now very calmly ignore those bullet comments asking when the happy ending was coming.
Because it was the end of the year, she was holding a giveaway during her live stream.
She was giving away the dolls displayed on the shelf of her streaming background wall, all of which she had won from claw machines. The lucky fan could choose which one they wanted.
Before the draw, Gu Ran carefully put away the LinaBell doll. Except for that one, all the others could be given away.
Gu Ran conducted the draws one by one. The lucky winners could join a voice call in the live stream and choose which plushie they wanted online.
"Is it this one?"
"This one?"
The live stream was buzzing with excitement. Gu Ran was standing in front of the shelf, pointing at each one and asking the lucky fan which plushie they wanted.
Ji Shiyu had just finished a business dinner. He took out his phone to see what Gu Ran was doing tonight.
Gu Ran was doing a giveaway. She had already drawn a few winners and was continuing with the next round.
Gu Ran sat back in her seat. "Ahem, starting the next round right away, everyone! Be quick with your clicks, go for it!"
A giveaway prompt popped up on Ji Shiyu's phone.
He tapped the "Click to Participate" button in the middle.
After a few seconds of a progress bar spinning, the prompt changed to a smiling face:
"Congratulations! You've won."
The winner's ID was, as usual, posted by the moderator on the live stream's public screen.
Fourth Round Giveaway Winner: wdlpml
Same old recipe, same familiar flavor.
Everyone: "..."
Gu Ran: "..."
The regular fans had nothing left to say about this phenomenon and were powerless to comment, just urging in the bullet comments to hurry up and proceed with the routine.
Only the Century Couple shippers lurking in the live stream screamed, because the lucky winner was supposed to join a call with the streamer to choose a doll online:
[Ahhhhhh a voice call!]
[Century Couple, give us the happy ending!]
[I've hardly ever heard Boss Ji's voice, I really want to hear it, wuwuwu]
[He spoke during that "Our Little Cabin" live stream before, his deep voice was super dreamy!]
[Beauty Gu, I want to see the happy ending, please, I'm begging you, don't make me get on my knees and beg, wuwuwu]
...
The winning ID "wdlpml" was displayed on the top public screen.
Gu Ran had a headache over drawing Ji Shiyu again.
After all, this was her live stream. While her fans basically knew about Ji Shiyu's existence, that didn't mean they accepted or liked him. Doing a voice call in front of everyone now would be a bit awkward.
However, today's moderator seemed to be new and recently appointed, not knowing who this "wdlpml" was, and actually sent a voice call invitation directly.
Ji Shiyu looked at the "Accept voice call with streamer?" invitation on his phone.
He paused, then selected "No."
Amidst the shippers' screaming-chicken-like bullet comments, thinking sugar was about to rain down, the live stream public screen displayed: "wdlpml declined the voice call with the streamer."
Screaming chickens: ?
Gu Ran breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
Aside from the Century Couple shippers who didn't expect Ji Shiyu to actually decline the call and were now crying especially loudly, the regular fans in the stream were mostly frowning, chin in hand, thoughtful: Who would have thought that clueless guy could actually read the room?
Since this wdlpml declined the prize call, Gu Ran directly started the next round of the draw.
The fans in the live stream enthusiastically participated again.
...
After the live stream ended today, Gu Ran walked into the living room and saw Ji Shiyu, who was already home.
She said to him, "Thank you."
Ji Shiyu: "For what?"
For not accepting the call and avoiding the awkwardness, of course, Gu Ran thought to herself. She beckoned to Ji Shiyu. "Come here."
Ji Shiyu followed. "Hmm?"
Gu Ran led Ji Shiyu to her streaming room, then pointed at the dolls on the shelf. "Pick one."
"You won the prize in my live stream today. The gift is that you can choose any one you like from here."
"I'm a very fair person. I won't withhold your prize. Hurry up and pick."
Ji Shiyu listened to Gu Ran, looked at her full shelf of dolls, then turned his gaze back to Gu Ran. "Really any one? You're not tricking me?"
Gu Ran nodded, urging him on. "Why would I trick you? Hurry up and pick."
So Ji Shiyu reached out, wrapped his arm around Gu Ran's waist, looked at her and said, "Then I want this one."
