The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: What If That Isn’t Malice Value? A New Week Begins Again…

A new week began again, and student Wen continued his life as a salaried worker.

As usual, he took the subway to the CBD towers. The Yueshang Tower he was going to was about two subway stops away from Guomao Tower, where Wen Zhijie’s company was located. Wearing headphones, Xiao Wen  sat quietly on the subway seat, praying not to run into any colleagues.

After smoothly arriving at the law firm and clocking in on time, Wen Zhimei let out a sigh of relief.

He opened his computer and started work. First, he filled out his work log from last Friday, then he began processing the litigation due diligence report that his supervisor had posted in the small team chat. This report had been completed by other interns last week, and now Shi Xuning  required everyone to work together to refine and revise it.

It wasn’t a particularly heavy workload, but it was a bit troublesome.

As one of the few and most experienced graduate students in the group, Wen Zhimei was entrusted with the important task of overall coordination.

…How is it that even an internship has group projects?

Xiao Wen roughly flipped through the report from one of the students. His first glance picked out five or six formatting errors, but format was a small issue; he could just fix it as he went. More fatally, the content was almost empty rhetoric, and the data was practically grabbed directly from “X-du” (a search engine, likely referring to Baidu).

It seems these young ones weren’t very serious about this.

Wen Zhimei’s fingers rapidly clicked on the trackpad. He frowned and scrolled to the very end of the document, getting a general sense of the situation.

Hmm, even the document naming convention was wrong.

Wen Zhimei scrolled up through the chat history and found that this document came from an intern under Li Zan. The only part that was somewhat acceptable was from the Alpha intern who had asked him for his WeChat last time.

What was his name again?

In the blink of an eye, Wen Zhimei almost couldn’t recall the person’s name.

He created a small group for the interns and immediately sent a file format specification.

Wen Zhimei: Everyone, please remember to pay attention to the format when writing documents in the future. Next, I will coordinate with the students responsible for each section individually, so please be prepared. Rose Rose

He had the strange feeling of transforming into a dean of discipline.

Xiao Wen hesitated for a moment as he typed out this line.

Pulled into the group and receiving the message, Qi Jianian nervously glanced towards Wen Zhimei’s workstation, attempting to gauge his current expression.

It’s over, my file was so trash I’m going to be called in for a talk by my male god.

The crestfallen young Alpha dispiritedly fiddled with his “academic garbage,” feeling a sense of shame that he himself could hardly bear to read. But—

But Lawyer Li Zan truly didn’t teach me anything. The rubbish he produced through sheer effort was written by finding templates online and trying to match them.

Qi Jianian gave himself a pep talk. He stood up calmly from his desk, using the excuse of getting water to head to the pantry. As he passed Wen Zhimei’s station, he secretly slowed down, trying to size up his expression.

Based on the gossip among the interns, he knew Wen Zhimei had already secured a long-term offer from Gu Yansheng’s team, making him different from their type of short-term intern.

The male god looks very calm.

His brow was relaxed, his eyes slightly curved, and his lips were also gently turned up, as if he was… smiling?

Mama, I think I’ve seen an angel.

The young Alpha felt like the gland on the back of his neck was about to become a whale’s blowhole, ready to spray a ton of pheromones at any moment.

Thank goodness for the great predecessors who invented the scent blocker patch.

Could it be that what I produced was not academic rubbish, but actually a highly insightful, high-quality document?!

Qi Jianian felt ready to go again.

He had the confidence to ask his male god out after work!

His steps instantly became light and quick. The young Alpha even wanted to hum a little tune to express his cheerful mood. He walked airily toward the pantry, happily looking around along the way.

This led him to spot Shi Xuning standing at the end of the corridor with a cold expression.

The intern, whose passive skill of “covert dodging” had been triggered, immediately turned and hid behind a corner, only revealing a pair of eyes to secretly observe Shi Xuning standing outside Gu Yansheng’s office.

He pulled out his phone and frantically alerted the intern group chat: “Latest location report on Lawyer Shi: outside Lawyer Gu’s office. Those taking a paid toilet break should prepare to return to their desks. Those slacking off reading novels or watching anime should pull up their files in the taskbar.”

Hmm, following Shi Xuning’s shortest route back to the main office, he’ll likely pass the restroom.

Qi Jianian, lurking and secretly observing, continued to update the location.

He saw the sunlight streaming in from the huge window at the end of the corridor. Shi Xuning, standing by the window, maintained an upright posture, side-on to the light. His gentle and refined face was shrouded in shadow from the backlighting.

Shi Xuning moved.

The Omega took a step towards Gu Yansheng’s office, then stopped again, turning his head to glance down the corridor.

Is Lawyer Shi looking for Lawyer Gu? It shouldn’t have anything to do with us interns, right?

Qi Jianian pondered for a while.

But Lawyer Shi is usually closer to Lawyer Li Zan. What could he possibly want with Lawyer Gu, who isn’t even on his team?

Considering the complicated relationship between Li Zan and Gu Yansheng, Qi Jianian felt that the matter was not simple.

The Alpha’s sharp instinct caught a whiff of gossip.

It seemed that after confirming no one was around, Shi Xuning pushed open the door to Gu Yansheng’s office and walked in expressionlessly.

Timing his return to the main office, Qi Jianian carried a full thermos of coffee, passing Wen Zhimei’s station again with a calm and collected demeanor. This time he was bolder, having already rehearsed a few lines to chat with his male god.

But just before he could open his mouth, the slightly smiling Wen Zhimei slowly let his smile fade and turned his gaze to him.

…?

Qi Jianian broke out in a cold sweat.

“You mentioned wanting to arrange a study session with me before?” Wen Zhimei raised an eyebrow, motioning for Qi Jianian to grab his laptop and join him in the small conference room next door. “Let’s discuss this due diligence report first.”

Wen Zhimei lightly sat down by the conference table. Seeing Qi Jianian standing nearby with a hangdog expression, he tilted his head in surprise: “Do you prefer to stand?”

Shaking his head and sitting down, student Qi cautiously scooted over bit by bit, until his knee was about to touch Wen Zhimei’s.

So close.

Xiao Wen’s slight frown of fleeting cleanliness was quickly dismissed. His attention was soon absorbed in helping the young student revise the report.

“Has Lawyer Li Zan looked at this report? What are his comments? Is it convenient for me to see the chat history?”

Wen Zhimei habitually asked about the supervising lawyer’s opinion. Before starting the revision, he had to at least ensure that he was aligned with his superior’s general direction, otherwise, it might be sent back for a complete overhaul.

“Lawyer Li Zan… didn’t say anything.” Qi Jianian rubbed his nose, choosing his words carefully and subtly. He absolutely could not let his male god think he was shirking responsibility!

He pulled up his chat history with Li Zan and handed it to Wen Zhimei.

Qi Jianian hadn’t lied. The report had indeed been sent to Li Zan after completion, and Li Zan—Li Zan had replied with a thumbs-up emoji.

Xiao Wen clearly saw that the chat between Qi Jianian and Li Zan was basically a one-way output from the former, with the latter occasionally replying with an emoji. As for the questions Qi Jianian asked, Li Zan hadn’t answered a single one. Whenever asked, the implied message was that lawyers had their own work to do, and for small matters like this, they should just search the internet themselves.

Simply incredible.

Wen Zhimei looked at Qi Jianian with a hint of sympathy.

As it turned out, student Qi was quite sharp. After Wen Zhimei pointed out a few key issues, he suddenly realized his mistakes. He re-examined his report with this new realization and was so ashamed he could barely contain himself.

“Thank you, Senior Xiao Wen. I will revise it carefully!” The spirited young Alpha called him “Senior” with a blush. He held his laptop with one hand and graciously opened the door for Wen Zhimei with the other. “I’ll communicate with the others first, so you don’t have to repeat yourself, okay?”

Wen Zhimei looked back at the handsome junior, calmly observing the slight trembling in his hands as he opened the door: “We’re all interns, there’s no need to be so… polite.”

He paused, choosing the word “polite.”

Did he really think I was the dean of discipline?

Wen Zhimei touched his own face, feeling he shouldn’t look that old and stern.

“Polite?” Qi Jianian seemed slightly surprised. He looked into Wen Zhimei’s close eyes: “Senior, I think you misunderstood. I don’t want to be polite with you at all.”

The tall Alpha slightly lowered his head to look at the Beta standing beside him. He seriously gazed at the other’s calm face and flashed a sunny, cheerful, and cloudless smile: “I just like Senior Xiao Wen, that’s all. That’s why I want to open the door for you, I want to add you on WeChat, and I want to stay with you after work.”

The progress bar increased.

Following Qi Jianian’s zero-frame straight-ball confession, the gray progress bar beside him shot up to sixty percent.

“Like me?” Wen Zhimei slowly blinked. He seemed very confused. He wanted to raise his hand and point to the Malice Value next to Qi Jianian, but remembering that he was the only one who could see it, he finally just slightly moved his finger.

“Yes!” Qi Jianian looked at Wen Zhimei with bright eyes. Although he couldn’t stop blushing, he still insisted on repeating: “I like Senior Xiao Wen. It should be very obvious, right? You only met me for the first time last week, but I—”

“I’ve seen you many times at Jing University. You often go to the library next to the Third Teaching Building, and occasionally to the Central Library next to the Fourth Cafeteria. Hmm, usually on Fridays, because the Fourth Cafeteria has new dishes on Fridays.”

You’re very famous at Jing University, you just don’t know it yourself.

Qi Jianian silently added the last sentence in his heart.

…

“Did I ever tell you that your eyes are beautiful?”

The cold-faced high school student withdrew his gaze from the tender twilight, repeating softly in a restrained and cautious voice that he himself couldn’t explain: “They really are beautiful.”

Wen Zhimei recalled Wei Xingjiang’s  smile, which was both relaxed and slightly painful.

Green, fervent, shy, and careful—it was indeed the smile an eighteen-year-old Alpha would wear. But at the same time, it was painful, bitter, confused, and lost—not like the smile an eighteen-year-old Alpha would wear.

Maintaining that smile, he told Wen Zhimei: “I like your eyes, and I like you.”

Unable to believe or willing to believe this, Wen Zhimei naturally wanted to think the other person was lying. He wanted to say, I can see your Malice Value, I can see what you’re thinking, I can see that you don’t like me at all.

But, but he couldn’t say it. Facing this eighteen-year-old Alpha, who was in the transition from boy to youth, the words of denial were stuck in his throat and absolutely refused to come out.

And now, looking at Qi Jianian, Wen Zhimei couldn’t help but recall Wei Xingjiang’s smile. He thought that the young man in front of him was indeed much more open than Wei Xingjiang. When confessing his feelings, he was so honest and joyful, as if eager to offer his heart for display.

Just like Gu Yansheng, who cautiously kissed him at nineteen. Just like Chen Que, who smiled and interlaced fingers with him at twenty-one. Just like Wei Yuzhi, who lowered his head to put an engagement ring on him at twenty-five.

Just like Wei Yuzhi, who told him he “really couldn’t help it” at twenty-seven.

An indescribable, deep light suddenly struck Wen Zhimei’s heart. At this moment, he understood that love and not-love could not be proven, nor was it determined by the one giving the love. Instead, it should be for the other party to experience, to feel, to carefully discern. And the shortcut of the Malice Value, which he had always relied on, was the perfect answer.

What if that wasn’t Malice Value?