After Becoming Explosively Popular for Writing a Story, I Was Targeted by my Crush - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: It Seems He Has Been Staring at Him for a Very Long Time (Revised): “Having Passed the Seven-Year Itch, It’s Hard to Separate.”

“Ding Ding Ding!”

Gu Yanchen’s brow furrowed slightly. He pulled his hand out from under the blanket and reached for the phone on the nightstand. Just as his fingertips touched the cold screen, the vibrations came one after another.

On the screen, it was 6:00 AM, and 27 unread messages were jumping nonstop.

He stared for two seconds before remembering that after answering Shen Zexing’s call last night, he forgot to turn his phone back to “Do Not Disturb” mode, causing the “Even if you are born with a golden spoon, you still have to grind” group chat to collectively go crazy like madmen.

Sliding it open, messages popped up one by one:

Shen Zexing: Did you guys watch the newly updated chapter last night? It’s over, after I finished watching, I really want to fall in love… it’s too fragrant/spicy. @Gu Yanchen did you watch it or not?

Duan Yan: It’s over, I fell into it too, almost couldn’t hold myself back… @Gu Yanchen did you watch it or not?

Jian Yusheng: I just woke up, I reviewed it twice last night, and even threw two mines to the author, @Gu Yanchen did you watch it or not?

Gu Yanchen stared at the neat row of “@” tags, and directly flung two words back: Didn’t watch.

He smoothly muted the message notifications for the group chat, stood up, and walked into the bathroom.

He turned the water on to the maximum. In the depths of his mind, the sound of those people flooding the screen echoed, and even the book title floated up along with it, 《He is going crazy in my crush novel》? Just because the male lead is surnamed Gu and has a cleanliness obsession, he is very similar to him?

Truly, absurd.

There are plenty of people with cleanliness obsessions, and in those dog-blood (melodramatic) CEO novels his mother loves to read most, eight out of ten characters are surnamed Gu. As for this novel title, one look tells it’s a twisted, unrequited secret crush script. If you truly like someone, what are you doing messing around with a secret crush? Just go for it directly.

Novels? He has no interest. Falling in love? Even more impossible. The two things he dislikes the most: wasting time, and love-brains (fools for love).

Woken up by the group chat messages, Gu Yanchen arrived at the company half an hour earlier than usual. When he walked to the elevator entrance, he happened to run into Shen Yi. After yesterday’s incident, Shen Yi had already become the textbook definition of a love-brain in his mind.

“President Gu, morning!” Seeing him arrive, Shen Yi intentionally stood straight as a pen, but his dark circles were very heavy, making him look like he hadn’t slept much all night.

“Morning.”

“Thank you very much for stepping in yesterday, President Gu. Fanfan woke up early at five in the morning to make this cake, saying only this way could guarantee a fresh texture. He also specially adjusted the coffee sweetness to the kind you like most. He told me I must, must deliver it to you personally.” Shen Yi knew President Gu usually didn’t accept things of unknown origin, but he could only steel his nerves and give it a try.

Gu Yanchen cast a glance at that milk-white paper bag. The gold-stamped French letters were smooth and elegant, and the light blue ribbon was intentionally tied loosely. Just looking at the packaging, one could tell the gift-giver had spent thought on it; what was rare was that the taste wasn’t bad either.

It was just that this special thought, Shen Yi, this love-brain, failed to see it.

He originally didn’t want to manage his lower employees’ private matters, but Shen Yi had stayed at Liefeng for seven years after all, and aside from this time, he hadn’t made any major mistakes. Better give him a reminder.

“Let’s get on the elevator together!” Gu Yanchen glanced at Shen Yi. Seeing him slow-pokingly come up, he then closed the elevator door.

At this moment inside the elevator, it was weirdly quiet.

“You and your boyfriend, how many years have you been talking (dating)?”

“Almost eight years.” Shen Yi’s expression blanked for a moment, obviously not expecting Gu Yanchen to suddenly pry into his private relationship.

Just happened to pass the seven-year itch, hard to separate.

“Is your boyfriend popular?”

“Too popular.” In the tone of Shen Yi’s speech, there was even a bit of pride, “A lot of people chase him. I chased him for many years before finally chasing him into my hands.”

—And he’s a simp who reverse-chased/posted himself to him, even harder to separate.

“Has a third party ever appeared between you two? For example, before this, has he ever hooked up with anyone else?”

“How is that possible? He is absolutely not that kind of person. If we really break up, it won’t be because of a third party, but because I didn’t do well enough.”

Gu Yanchen finished listening to this standard “licking dog” (simp) speech and fell completely silent.

At this moment, the elevator door opened with a “ding.” He completely didn’t want to talk to this “licking dog” in front of him anymore. Even if he told Shen Yi right now that “your boyfriend wants to seduce me,” this love-brain would only blame himself for not managing his person well.

But he never expected in his wildest dreams that before he could walk two steps, a milk-white paper bag was forcefully stuffed into his hands.

“President Gu, please, you must eat it. Fanfan worked very hard to make it!” Shen Yi spoke extremely fast, and after finishing, he pulled his legs and ran.

If being a love-brain is a disease, Gu Yanchen felt that Shen Yi was already in the late stages, past all cure.

“A… choo!” At this moment, Shen Yi, sitting at his workstation, let out a loud sneeze. Without even thinking he knew he must have made President Gu unhappy, but he had no other choice.

Heaven is big, Earth is big, but Fanfan is the biggest.

Shen Yi: Fanfan, your cake and coffee have already risked death to be delivered to him for you.

……

Ji Xingfan was currently curled up in bed sleeping a return-nap (sleeping in). His fingertips were still clutching a body pillow, his eyelashes trembling slightly, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly.

In the dream, he stepped barefoot on roses, placing a ring onto Gu Yanchen’s ring finger.

“Fanfan, what are you doing?”

He smiled and tilted his face up, lightly spitting out words: “Gu Yanchen, having worn my ring, you are my person now. You can only look at me alone, and no one can snatch you away from my side.”

In the next second, he was tightly pulled into the other’s embrace. On his body was the cold fragrance he was familiar with, and his lips slowly approached him… Just at this moment—

“Ding-dong!” An abrupt prompt sound pierced through his dreamscape.

Ji Xingfan woke up with a frown, rolled over with some annoyance, and his fingertips subconsciously reached for the phone under his pillow. His throat was dry, his eyes blurry, carrying that little bit of regret of not being able to kiss Gu Yanchen.

Shen Yi: Fanfan, your cake and coffee have already risked death to be delivered to him for you.

“Oh.” He let out a light laugh, slowly climbed out of bed, and his fingertips operated nimbly on the screen.

Fanfan: Done well. Reward you with a mouthful of sweetness. Transfer: 1000 RMB (The other party has returned the transfer)

Shen Yi: Fanfan, thank you yesterday for letting me send an email to President Gu. But, how did you know President Gu’s email?

On an afternoon nine years ago, he had once been in the library, pretending to casually sit next to Gu Yanchen. At that time, Gu Yanchen was replying to a business cooperation email. The page was clean and neat, and he saw his email address “gyc_official” at a single glance—even the naming was cold to the point of being rigid.

It was also from that day on that he gained a new habit: opening the login page of that email at a fixed time every day, entering different combinations attempting to crack it. Later, of course, it failed, but the email address, along with Gu Yanchen’s hand turning the page that day, his slightly furrowed brow, and the line of his nose bridge, were all carved into his heart together.

However, how could he possibly tell Shen Yi these things.

He immediately got up and out of bed, cleanly and neatly took off his oversized pajamas, and put on a gray-blue MBL hoodie. The hem of the clothes hung loosely on his hip bone, yet failed to hide the thinness and public flare brought out by the youth’s skeleton.

In front of the mirror, he lowered his head to put on black stud earrings, and dabbed a bit of perfume behind his ears and on his collarbone. Beautiful as he was, he no longer showed the gentle, obedient, and compliant appearance of last night.

“Tmall Genie.” His voice was low and raspy, “Play Coldplay’s Yellow.”

“Okay, master.”

When the music sounded, Ji Xingfan had already pounced back onto the bed, using both hands and feet to embrace Gu Yanchen’s human-shaped body pillow, burying his face into it to rub fiercely twice.

“Tsk…” He narrowed his eyes, like a cat that had just woken up.

“Gu Yanchen, the way you beat people up last night was truly handsome.”

“Not even catching your breath when hitting someone, your physical strength is truly good!” As he spoke, he buried his face into the pillow again.

“Physical strength is truly good. Sorry master, temporarily unable to find this song, continuing to loop Yellow for you.” (Tmall Genie)

“……”

“But, will you eat the cake I made?” He rolled over, lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, talking to himself, “Did you drink the coffee? Did you see that card of mine? Did you feel that I understand you very well?”

“Or, have you already begun to notice me?”

Ji Xingfan guessed he wouldn’t easily eat it, nor drink it, but what did it matter? He rolled over again, laughing lowly: “Gu Yanchen, it’s been nine years, I am back. We will meet again very soon!”

……

Gu Yanchen finished eating the cake, finished drinking the coffee, and also saw the card he had pressed underneath.

He originally just wanted to see how much scheming was hidden inside here, but after opening the white packaging bag, he discovered it was an Opera cake. He originally wanted to take a shallow taste, but the texture and temperature upon entering the mouth were too familiar. He blanked for a moment, yet his knife and fork didn’t stop, while memory peeled open a gap in the deep depths.

Back when Gu Yanchen was in university, the street behind the school once opened a viral French dessert shop. The shop manager was a Frenchman who could speak Chinese. He often went to that shop to order food. Later, that manager divorced and returned to Paris, and from then on, he never ate such an authentic flavor again.

Why did the texture he made taste exactly the same as the manager Jacques’s?

Gu Yanchen expressionlessly picked up the coffee on the table and took a tentative sip; the flavor of the syrup was too obvious.

Why would he know that he actually secretly indulged in sweets?

Gu Yanchen pinched up the card on the table. The front was printed with a row of beautiful script: MS Dessert Shop, with the shop address and RED (Xiaohongshu) account noted below.

He quickly clicked open the RED App, and entered: MS Dessert.

The search results jumped out instantly. The very first account recommended on the page was a shop homepage verified as “MS Dessert Studio.” The follower count had already soared to nearly two hundred thousand, almost a meteoric-level viral influencer hit.

Gu Yanchen casually clicked into it, and a pinned note immediately jumped before his eyes: Girlfriend, boyfriend unhappy? Bring him to MS Dessert Shop! No. 89 Wenyue Street, Dongcheng Per Capita Handsome Guy Staff / Decoration So Beautiful It Makes One Cry / Fall in Love at One Mouthful of Dessert Recommended: Opera, Red Velvet Heartbeat Puff, White Peach Oolong Frozen Cheese

User Comments: Looking good and can even make cakes, where did this all-around male god come from? I went for the desserts, but ended up dazed and fainted by how handsome the staff members are one by one

Slightly scrolling down a page, full screens of graphic notes covered the earth and blotted out the sky, and there were even photos of business hours posted by bloggers. The decoration style went for a luxury wind, the interior filled with exquisite dessert models and dried flower decorations, looking exactly like the set of a French romance movie.

One look and it was known: the manager’s aesthetic was extremely good.

And among the pictures with the highest hot comments, there appeared a youth wearing a white shirt and tied with an apron. The roses were very passionate, the candlelight very warm, and the person beautiful beyond reason.

It’s him?

Gu Yanchen’s gaze halted. The person in the photo had clear-cut contours, the corners of his mouth tilted slightly, and the light hit the side of his slender neck, a tear mole at the corner of his eye flickering into view. His movement of lowering his head to arrange the cake carried a sense of focus, meticulous as if he were handling a piece of artwork.

He stared at his photo, unconsciously tapping the desktop.

This person knows his taste, flavor, and preferences. Thinking carefully to this point made him feel a chill—it was as if he had already been staring at him for a very long time. The most laughable thing was that he actually hadn’t discovered it.

But, what on earth was his purpose?

Plotting for his money? He should be very rich himself. Plotting for his commercial intelligence? Shouldn’t be either, Shen Yi has already become his licking dog.

Then what does he want to do?

This feeling of being unable to control the whole situation made him feel very uncomfortable. He urgently wanted to understand this person’s information.

Gu Yanchen looked toward the business card in his hand, extended his phone’s WeChat QR code scanning function. After scanning, the official account of “MS Dessert Shop” appeared. After two seconds, the page jumped out a brief prompt:

This official account has migrated. If you need to receive updates, please add the private WeChat of shop manager Ji Xingfan: ms_dessert_owner

“Heh.” Gu Yanchen suddenly let out a light laugh. “To actually even use this move.”

He slowly fetched his spare phone from the drawer and re-scanned this QR code. For a full two minutes, the prompt about the official account migration did not appear again.

“It seems there are loopholes too.”

The QR code in this card was completely prepared for him alone.

Gu Yanchen entered “ms_dessert_owner” into “Add Friends,” and the page jumped out a profile picture of a cat holding a cream puff.

A friend addition request has been sent.

Almost at the exact same second the request was sent, a prompt sound came from the phone.

The screen lit up:

ms_dessert_owner has approved your friend request 

The other party is typing…