My Virtual Girlfriend-Chapter 328: You Didn’t Keep Our Appointment

He Mengxue did not notice anything off about Chen Yan.

Her brows were deeply furrowed as she looked at Zhao Ying and asked, "I have a secret? What secret?"

Zhao Ying blinked and said, "I don’t know."

He Mengxue asked, "Then how did you find out?"

After speaking, she asked, "Did you hear it from someone?"

Zhao Ying’s head slowly turned and came to rest on Chen Yan and Qin Ming.

He Mengxue followed Zhao Ying’s gaze to Chen Yan and Qin Ming.

Her eyes lingered on Chen Yan for just a fraction of a second before firmly fixing on Qin Ming, her look filled with angry flames!

The ever-obliging Qin Ming, who was busy attending to Chen Yan, was completely bewildered.

Is this even my business?

I’m just here to take care of Brother Chen...

Moreover, I’m no longer reliant on the He family for development, so there’s no need for me to play tricks to alleviate the internal apprehensions they have towards me. So... it really wasn’t me!

At this time, Chen Yan was also somewhat nervous.

He truly feared that the scatterbrained Zhao Ying might blurt out his lies.

If those two compared notes, the grand plan to coax Zhao Ying into coming to work would surely fail!

Fortunately, things did not develop in that direction.

While He Mengxue was staring down Qin Ming, Zhao Ying spoke up again.

She looked at He Mengxue, her eyes sparkling, and said, "But you do have a secret."

She spread her arms, gesturing widely, and said, "And it’s a big secret at that!"

She looked at He Mengxue quizzically, "But aren’t you tired of carrying such a big secret?"

He Mengxue felt a tremor in her heart, then she glared fiercely at Zhao Ying and said, "You’re mistaken. I have no secrets."

After speaking, she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief from the table, tossed it onto her plate, and turned to Chen Yan, saying, "President Chen. I’m done eating, I’m feeling a bit unwell, I’ll take my leave first."

Having said that, the always elegant and meticulous He Mengxue abruptly rose and strode out of the private room.

She wasn’t fleeing in panic but leaving in indignation.

Chen Yan watched her swaying figure leave, then glanced at the somewhat dazed Zhao Ying, feeling a bit sentimental at the moment: Look at this... a match made in heaven... one thing conquers another.

After He Mengxue had left, there was no change in the atmosphere at the dining table, the three of them continued eating and drinking as if nothing had happened, even Qin Ming didn’t show any change.

After they finished their meal, Qin Ming obediently went down to pay with Chen Yan’s card, leaving only Zhao Ying and Chen Yan.

When they were alone, Zhao Ying turned to Chen Yan, blinked, and said as if to take credit, "How about it? I didn’t say it was you, that’s pretty loyal, right?"

Chen Yan: ...

"Thank you, Brother Ying."

Zhao Ying didn’t care and patted her flat chest, saying, "What’s the big deal, we’re buddies."

Then, she stretched out her arm and patted Chen Yan’s shoulder once more, "But you’re pretty loyal yourself. Initially, I thought you were fooling me. Turns out she really does have a secret!"

Chen Yan: ...

I didn’t know it was true either; had I known, I definitely wouldn’t have said it...

So, after thinking for a while, he tried to remedy the situation, "Meng Xue has a different temperament from us. Be wary of your conduct and avoid provoking her."

Zhao Ying confidently said, "No worries! I’m the master of measure!"

Chen Yan thought back to when Zhao Ying couldn’t return to her dorm and had punched through the dormitory supervisor’s door and felt... Hmm. Indeed, very measured.

While Chen Yan was thinking about how to further admonish Zhao Ying, Zhao Ying brought up another topic. She looked at Chen Yan, puzzled, and asked, "Oh right, I haven’t asked you, why didn’t you come looking for me the night before last?"

Chen Yan snapped out of his confusion, asking, "The night before last? What happened?"

Zhao Ying said, "I had an appointment to meet you at 2:50 AM downstairs in your building!"

Chen Yan was baffled, "What are you talking about? I don’t understand."

Zhao Ying smacked Chen Yan’s head five times, then pointed at her own head twice, "I’m saying, our meeting was set for 2:50 AM!"

Chen Yan: ??????

As Zhao Ying continued with her actions, Chen Yan indeed recalled the incident two days ago when Zhao Ying had patted his head after training in the Practice Room.

But... five head pats plus two nods equals 2:50? Wasn’t that a bit rash?

Who could have got that?

Even if a normal person found it odd, they’d probably guess the number 520, right?

Even if they were guessing the time, they’d probably guess 5:20 AM, right?

And moreover... since you came all the way to my building, why didn’t you just come up to find me?

After Chen Yan voiced this question, Zhao Ying replied with some accusation, "The security in your community wouldn’t let me in. They suspected I was a criminal..."

Chen Yan felt flooded with question marks again today, "Then how did you get in before?"

Zhao Ying, "It was Miss Lu Man who brought us in."

Through Zhao Ying’s explanation, Chen Yan came to know that Zhao Ying and Yu Qiao Qiao had never been able to enter his community. The few times they did, it was by tagging along with Lu Man...

As for how Lu Man could enter...

That was because Lu Man was a Celebrity, well-known to everyone. Furthermore, she was an artist publicly signed with Chen Yan’s company, so the guard let her through...

After hearing this, Chen Yan was speechless for a long time.

He thought, Brother Ying really is missing a screw, doing all sort of strange things...

While complaining, Chen Yan also became curious about what Zhao Ying wanted from him.

He asked, "What did you... want to find me for, exactly?"

Zhao Ying leaned in close to Chen Yan’s ear and whispered with a mysterious air, "Some things are meant to remain secret."

"Tonight at 2:50 AM, I’ll see you at the entrance of the community."

Chen Yan: ...

He haggled, "Can we make it at 10 PM? My mom said staying up late stunts growth."

Zhao Ying ignored Chen Yan...

...

In the afternoon, Chen Yan went to see He Mengxue specifically, apologizing on behalf of Zhao Ying.

However, it seemed like the midday incident hadn’t affected He Mengxue much, she waived it off saying it was all in the past, and then she started discussing the construction of the new company with Chen Yan.

Chen Yan didn’t have much to say about the new company; he handed it all over to her, advising her to recruit some professionals and start collecting projects. Once he reviewed them, he would have Qin Ming negotiate with the project leaders.

As for Zhao Ying... she was just a mascot.

After agreeing to Chen Yan’s proposals, He Mengxue also requested that Chen Yan, as the chairman, should be present at the company during its initial stages.

Chen Yan considered it:

The peak period for "Mudman Ultimate Elimination" had passed, and sales were starting to stabilize; he didn’t have many responsibilities.

Lu Man had gone to film a new variety show, and everything at the film company was moving forward with the Sunrise plan; there wasn’t much for him to assist with.

He agreed to it after a moment of thought.

Yet, after agreeing, the thought of spending day in and day out with He Mengxue and Zhao Ying, these two clashing personalities, gave him a headache.

Who knows what kind of trouble this pair might stir up...

...

After a busy day settling a range of issues for the new company, Chen Yan went home.

Busy for nearly half a month, Chen Yan could finally relax a bit.

Back at home, after tidying up, Chen Yan lay in bed feeling a bit bored.

He thought about it and opened the novel he used to read frequently, diving into the story.

Having not followed it for over half a month, the author, a housewife, had only posted a dozen Chapters or so—a little lackluster.

But since there wasn’t much else to read, Chen Yan settled down contentedly to read what was available.

The more he read, the stranger it seemed to him.

The writing style appeared to have changed from before, where the female protagonist used to center around the male lead with various speculations and investigations.

However, starting from the last half month, the protagonist suddenly developed a career drive, throwing herself into her work with scattered sparing interactions with the male lead. Moreover, those few plotlines felt contrived: lacking the fleshed-out, substantial feel of earlier Chapters, they seemed made up...

Chen Yan scratched his head, wondering what the author was doing recently.

Luckily, the author had talent. Even if it was about career, it was quite interesting and kept Chen Yan reading.

This way, he read until past 2 AM.

Only a few more minutes until his appointment with Zhao Ying.

Finishing the last updated Chapter, Chen Yan stretched lazily.

Leaving the novel app, Chen Yan suddenly remembered the author’s previous predicament with a net loan. He wondered if that had been resolved.

With that thought, he logged into his seldom-used alternate QQ account, wanting to check on the author’s current situation.

But just as he opened QQ, he received a string of messages.

Starting with the author’s, which read, "Hello. I checked out the stock, and it really did hit the upper limit as you said. It’s really surprising. I didn’t expect you to be such a master in the financial field."

Following that, probably because Chen Yan hadn’t responded, the author started asking if he was online, "Hello? Are you there? "Hello? Still around?"

Later, since there was no reply, the author kept asking if he was there every few days, continually asking for a long time.

The last time was just two days ago.

Chen Yan facepalmed, realizing he had been so busy lately that he had completely forgotten about the author.

With that, Chen Yan replied to the author, "Sorry, I’ve been a little busy these days. Haven’t been on QQ. Did you buy the stock? Is your difficulty overcome?"

After replying to the message, Chen Yan checked the time; it was already 2:40 AM.

He pocketed his phone, gathered his things, and went to keep his appointment with Zhao Ying.

He wanted to see what Zhao Ying wanted, dragging him out in the middle of the night twice...

...

Taking the elevator down, Chen Yan strolled through the community surrounded by greenery, heading toward the main gate.