When the Villainous Boss Acts as the Protagonist (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 38

Shen Ci’s body stiffened abruptly, and the lingering charm in the room dissipated instantly into the non-stop ringing of the doorbell.

Shen Ci instinctively looked back at Chu Sicheng. Their eyes met, and his brow furrowed involuntarily. “Who is it?”

Shen Ci knew very well that the person ringing the bell was definitely not hotel staff. It was 9:26 PM; any staff member with the slightest experience wouldn’t be so blind as to disturb a guest in a VIP suite at this hour.

“Someone looking for trouble, probably,” Chu Sicheng said indifferently.

He originally didn’t want to pay any attention to the person outside, but the doorbell, receiving no response, didn’t have the sense to stop; instead, it began to ring even more frequently. The urgent frequency unconsciously affected the atmosphere in the bathroom, making both of them irritable.

“I’ll go take a look.”

Finally, Chu Sicheng withdrew his hand from the warm water, casually shook off the droplets, and stood up to walk out. However, before opening the bathroom door, he suddenly stopped. After thinking for a few seconds, he turned back, scooped the still-weak Shen Ci out of the water, draped a towel over his head, and then wrapped him tightly in a nearby bathrobe.

Shen Ci watched his movements and couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “Quite thoughtful?”

In fact, the moment Chu Sicheng came back to lift him from the tub, Shen Ci understood his intention. The boy was worried the person outside might recklessly burst in, so he was getting him sorted out in advance. This way, even if an accident happened, he wouldn’t be caught completely unprepared.

The boy’s mind was incredibly meticulous, and his way of handling things was as seasoned as a man’s, not at all like a youth who had just recently reached adulthood. Putting aside any fantastical or unrealistic thoughts, the only explanation was that the boy must have suffered a great deal during his upbringing.

Shen Ci thought of the data on his computer. After Chu Sicheng carried him to the innermost bedroom, tucked the phone into his hand to ensure everything was foolproof, and turned to open the door, Shen Ci lowered his head. While messaging his assistant to send the bodyguards up, he couldn’t resist adding a line:

[Prepare some more clothes and accessories that current university students like.]

It’s fine, Shen Ci thought. Everything the boy lacked before, he would make up for. With that in mind, Shen Ci sent another message:

[Also, study supplies. Send over one of those new laptops our company recently launched.]

At this moment, the assistant who received the message was like: (O o O)!!!

Still a university student?!

This student must have some serious skills to enchant his usually cold and abstinent boss to this degree! It seemed he had served the boss very well tonight. Should he ask the butler to prepare a few more tubes of ointment for tomorrow? While arranging the tasks Shen Ci had just assigned, the assistant’s mind was in a total brainstorm.

In his imagination, the student currently held in his boss’s palm should be lying nestled like a little bird by his boss’s side, using a high-pitched voice to say, “I want this, and I want that too.”

But in reality, Chu Sicheng—former Villain Department worker, currently a vibrant but poor university student—was leaning against the doorframe, watching Zhou Luoluo’s pretentious performance with a half-smile.

“I’m really sorry, Le’an.”

“It’s all my fault. It’s all because I had a sudden whim that night to help Brother Ze prepare dinner. I really didn’t know Brother Ze’s meals must be prepared by you. I definitely won’t enter the kitchen without permission in the future. Please forgive me, alright? Don’t be mad at me.”

Zhou Luoluo paused, glanced at Li Yanzhe, and continued:

“And don’t quarrel with Brother Ze anymore. Come back; we all miss you very much…”

When those last words were spoken, Chu Sicheng saw Li Yanzhe’s expression change noticeably. His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing and did not contradict Zhou Luoluo’s words. It was as if he really did miss Song Le’an.

Seeing this, Chu Sicheng let out a soft laugh.

His current appearance belonged to the “sunny puppy” type. With his round eyes, even when not smiling, simply staring at someone with that moist gaze would give them the feeling that they were his entire world. Not to mention that he was now smiling at Li Yanzhe; his round puppy eyes curved slightly, and his dark pupils sparkled as if he were truly moved by Zhou Luoluo’s words.

A puppy that ran away would still be lured back by a small piece of biscuit after a brief moment of rebellion.

This was the first thought that arose in Li Yanzhe’s mind upon seeing Chu Sicheng smile at him. It was arrogant to the extreme.

However, to his surprise, while Chu Sicheng did smile at him, the words he drawled out next were:

“I’m not coming back.”

Zhou Luoluo, who had been worried the boy might actually return, froze.

Chu Sicheng continued: “If you’re willing to be someone’s chef and nanny, then go ahead and do it.”

“But leave me out of it,” Chu Sicheng looked at Li Yanzhe and curled his lips. “I don’t have that hobby.”

“!!!”

Zhou Luoluo instinctively widened his eyes, as if seeing the boy before him for the first time, his gaze constantly scanning the other. He suspected “Song Le’an” had taken the wrong medicine. After all, whether in his past life or the Song Le’an he saw since his rebirth, the boy was always cautious when facing Li Yanzhe, thinking he hid it well while his adoration was actually overflowing.

Even if Li Yanzhe never gave him a kind look, he was like a little sun always revolving around the man. He couldn’t be driven away by blows or insults; anyone could see he sincerely liked Li Yanzhe.

But now, Zhou Luoluo instinctively rubbed his eyes. When he looked at the boy again, he only read impatience and mockery in his gaze.

Impatience? Toward Li Yanzhe?

Song Le’an is impatient with Li Yanzhe?!

This was a scene Zhou Luoluo wouldn’t even have dreamed of before today. After all, given how Li Yanzhe and Song Le’an used to interact, it was only the former who detested and was impatient with the latter.

In fact, it wasn’t just Zhou Luoluo; even Li Yanzhe thought so. In Li Yanzhe’s plan, coming here today with Zhou Luoluo to bow his head and apologize was already giving Song Le’an a lot of face. If the other were sensible, he should have obediently walked down the stairs Li Yanzhe provided. Instead, the boy not only didn’t come down but kicked the stairs over!

How could Li Yanzhe endure this!

If circumstances permitted, he even wanted to grab the boy’s shoulders and pin him fiercely against the wall to ask what on earth he wanted! Unfortunately, Li Yanzhe still couldn’t stand up, so his fingers tightened and released. Finally, he could only grip the armrests of his wheelchair tightly and bark at Chu Sicheng:

“Song Le’an, haven’t you had enough of this tantrum?!”

Because of the boy’s disappearance these past few days, Li Yanzhe hadn’t rested well for a long time. Coupled with a recent flare-up of his stomach ailment, his mental state looked quite poor.

In contrast, the boy leaning against the door was the picture of contentment. There was no trace of dark circles under his eyes; his whole face was radiant, and he radiated boundless vitality from head to toe. He looked infinitely better than when he was by Li Yanzhe’s side.

So, during the time he was missing, he hadn’t thought of Li Yanzhe at all. Truly an ungrateful white-eyed wolf that could never be tamed!

Li Yanzhe clenched his teeth and took deep breaths to stop himself from exploding completely. He exhaled and tried to make his voice sound gentler:

“You’ve disappeared for so many days and watched me look for you for so long. Your anger should be gone by now, shouldn’t it?”

“Now Luoluo has apologized to you too. Stop throwing a fit and come back with me.”

Chu Sicheng tilted his head upon hearing this. “Go back to do what?”

“Go back—”

Li Yanzhe stuttered slightly. To be honest, he hadn’t thought through exactly what he wanted the boy to do once he returned. His mind was currently consumed with making Song Le’an abandon Shen Ci and return to him, so he could feign kindness and then ruthlessly discard the boy once he fell in love again.

This way, he wouldn’t just be getting revenge for Song Le’an finding a new benefactor behind his back, but also indirectly winning a round against Shen Ci. In the future, he could use this to humiliate that haughty Shen family heir at various gatherings. After all, a canary who didn’t want Shen Ci ended up begging to return to Li Yanzhe.

Just imagining this made Li Yanzhe so satisfied his lips curled up. But unfortunately, though his script was written, the actor before him was not cooperating at all and was even tactlessly asking questions.

Li Yanzhe pursed his lips and tried hard to adjust his facial expression, giving Chu Sicheng a stiff smile:

“Nothing specific. Just come back. As long as you come back with me, you can do whatever you want afterward.”

Chu Sicheng raised an eyebrow. “I can do whatever I want?”

Li Yanzhe thought his attitude had finally softened. His eyes lit up, and he nodded immediately. “Anything!”

“Is that so?” Chu Sicheng smiled. Then, under Li Yanzhe’s triumphant gaze, he said softly:

“Is it okay if I don’t attend a single day of class and still get my graduation certificate?”

“…”

The curve that had risen on Li Yanzhe’s face along with Chu Sicheng’s smile froze.

Chu Sicheng continued: “The counselor called me this afternoon. They said my continuous absence these past few days is so egregious that the department has to consider whether to process my withdrawal from the university.”

“Missing a few classes, I can understand the processing method of needing to retake them this semester. But a direct withdrawal.” Chu Sicheng curled his lips at Li Yanzhe. “President Li, isn’t that a bit too cruel?”

“…”

“By then, my studies will be gone. I’ll only have a high school diploma. I won’t be able to do many jobs; I’ll only be able to serve plates and wash dishes in a restaurant, earning one or two thousand yuan a month. But that’s not even the most tragic part.”

Amidst Li Yanzhe’s darkening face, Chu Sicheng continued: “The most tragic part is that on the night I finally get my salary a month later, just as I step out of the restaurant, I’ll run into my alcoholic and gambling father. He will cry and beg me for money. Two steps further, there is my mother who always needs money, and two younger siblings in school. They all need money. Everyone wants more than two thousand, but I only have one thousand.”

“So what can I do?” Chu Sicheng asked. “Who can give it to me then? Will you give it to me, President Li?”

He will… right?

Li Yanzhe moved his lips, wanting to speak, but Chu Sicheng spoke the truest answer in his heart before he could.

“You won’t.”

The smile on Li Yanzhe’s face vanished completely, but Chu Sicheng’s voice did not stop because of his expression.

He said, “How could you give it? Because all of this—isn’t it all caused by your hand, President Li?”

Pressing the school, bringing his alcoholic father from his hometown… just because Song Le’an started to resist him and became disobedient, he started using these “small matters” to punish him. This is exactly what Li Yanzhe did in the later stages of the original story. Even after the “pursuing the wife in a crematorium” phase, it ended hastily with just a sentence: “I didn’t mean it; I was just too in love with you and didn’t want to leave you.”

But what about Song Le’an? The blow of being expelled, the suffocation and despair of having a scumbag father clinging to his legs in the street crying for money while passers-by pointed… those memories wouldn’t vanish just because he returned to Li Yanzhe’s side. Furthermore, in the end, Li Yanzhe never let him go back to school. A student who worked hard to get into Jingda and could have had an infinite future ended up as a qualified canary. How ridiculous.

Chu Sicheng licked his lips, the mockery in his gaze toward Li Yanzhe growing sharper. “President Li, ask your own conscience. Do you want me to go back really just because you found you can’t live without me?”

“…”

“Is it really not because you want to get revenge on me? Not because you don’t want to lose to Shen Ci?”

“!!!”

The moment his well-hidden little thoughts were pierced, Li Yanzhe admitted he was a bit flustered. But as a CEO in control of a large group, after a brief moment of panic, he soon calmed down and said without changing his expression:

“No.”

“Really?”

Facing a clearly unconvinced Chu Sicheng, Li Yanzhe said coldly: “Is there any need for me to lie to you?”

“Then why are you so obsessed with making me go back?”

“…Because I realized I can’t live without you,” Li Yanzhe closed his eyes and managed to say.

“Can’t live without me…” Chu Sicheng looked up at Zhou Luoluo, whose face behind Li Yanzhe had suddenly turned pale. He felt quite pleased to hear the sound of the progress bar rising.

Well, tormenting anyone is still tormenting. But that didn’t mean Chu Sicheng would let Li Yanzhe off.

With eyelashes drooping, amidst Li Yanzhe’s self-proclaimed affectionate gaze, Chu Sicheng curled his lips and said softly: “But a few days ago, didn’t you just say we were only in a contract relationship?” He even thoughtfully helped Li Yanzhe recall the scene. “It was the day Zhou Luoluo was holding back tears, trying to hide his burned hand behind his back, only to be pulled forcefully into your arms by the powerful you.”

Chu Sicheng smiled slightly. “President Li, you should remember, right?”

“…”

“So, just a contract relationship. I’m just one of your employees. Now that I want to resign and don’t even want N+1 compensation, what reason do you have to refuse?”

“Don’t you talk about feelings at all?!”

“What feelings are there between us?”

“Then why did you send me meals before, learn massage for me, and stay with me to get through my psychological trauma?!”

“Money,” Chu Sicheng said as a matter of course. “You pay, I work. What else could it be for?”

“Didn’t we get involved in the first place because of money?”

“…”

The logic was so sound he actually couldn’t refute it. But Li Yanzhe still didn’t plan to give up. “You dare say you didn’t like me at all?”

“What worker likes their boss?”

“…”

Li Yanzhe was about to explode with rage. However, just then, he suddenly saw a gap open in the room door behind Chu Sicheng, which had been tightly closed. In the dark gap, a white figure seemed to sway slightly.

Almost instinctively, Li Yanzhe spoke with the determination to drag the boy down to hell with him:

“So you mean you’re only with Shen Ci for money right now too? You don’t like him!”

“After all, you ‘don’t like your boss’!”

The man’s words were powerful, as if intentionally provoking Chu Sicheng. He followed up with:

“Otherwise, I can only assume that your previous claim of not liking me was just stubbornness.”

It must be said that Li Yanzhe played this move brilliantly. If Chu Sicheng admitted it, he would anger Shen Ci behind him. If he didn’t admit it, it would show he truly liked Li Yanzhe before, which would still plant a thorn in Shen Ci’s heart. Both forward and backward lead to a dead end.

Li Yanzhe sneered, feeling he had finally won a round against the boy. He wanted the other to know that changing benefactors wasn’t that easy!

Looking at Li Yanzhe’s triumphant gaze, Chu Sicheng couldn’t help but laugh. He didn’t need to guess to know that Shen Ci was definitely listening behind him; Li Yanzhe’s question was also aimed at Shen Ci. The man wanted to drive a wedge between him and Shen Ci so he would lose his new benefactor. What exactly gave a person like this the right to be the protagonist’s official partner?

A heart that torments the protagonist to the end?

Chu Sicheng twitched the corner of his mouth; he no longer had the patience to tangle with him. He wanted to take direct action. After all, after so much mental torment, it was time for some physical torment.

However, just as he straightened up to act, a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. Then, a cool voice with a hint of raspiness rang out from behind him:

“Does this have anything to do with you?”

Shen Ci lowered his eyes and gave Li Yanzhe a cold, indifferent look.

“Even if he is with me for money, what’s the problem? I have money, and he wants money. Doesn’t that just prove we are a perfect match?”

“The fact that you can’t accept this only shows you don’t have enough money.”

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