Chapter 22: The Not-So-Good Protagonist Top

Chapter 22: The Not-So-Good Protagonist Top

After completely leaving the Zhou family behind, Shi Ling and Ji Mingxiu watched an extremely procedural movie together.

Overall, the experience was just average, nothing particularly good. The movie wasn’t terrible, and it didn’t invoke any strong desire to criticize it, but at the same time, it didn’t deliver any stunning moments either. In fact, it was so dull that it became boring by the end.

Shi Ling yawned listlessly, leaning back in the cinema seat. Ever since his two roommates, who had early morning flights, woke him up, the sleepiness he had lost earlier now decided to return, making him feel drowsy.

He even found himself thinking that this movie might be worse than the one Zhou Su acted in.

The café owner’s daughter’s taste in idol pursuit might not have been that great either, which probably explained why her idol ended up having a scandal.

However, the fact that the movie was still being shown, and during the National Day holiday season no less, meant that even if the café owner’s daughter’s idol did have a scandal, it wasn’t a severe one—at least it didn’t cross any lines.

Sitting in his seat, Shi Ling let his mind wander. Without realizing it, his attention shifted away from the big screen and onto Ji Mingxiu, who was sitting next to him.

The movie continued to play, the lights in the cinema were all off, and the only light came from the screen in front, barely illuminating a silhouette.

Shi Ling blinked, catching a glimpse of Ji Mingxiu’s upper body silhouette.

He hadn’t noticed it in their previous encounters, but his future boss had quite an impressive figure. Even just a silhouette revealed that this was a man with a very good physique.

Tsk, this movie is even less interesting than my boss.

Perhaps because Shi Ling’s gaze was too blatant, Ji Mingxiu turned his head slightly and asked, “Why are you looking at me?”

Shi Ling shrank into his seat, not moving an inch: “The movie is really just so-so, so I had to find something interesting in the cinema.”

Ji Mingxiu: ……

This was a difficult comment to respond to.

In their previous encounters, he had always found Shi Ling to be a person with a strong sense of boundaries, but also someone who kept his distance. He hadn’t expected that once they got to know each other better, Shi Ling would turn out to be like this.

Quite interesting.

Ji Mingxiu lightly curled his lips and looked at Shi Ling: “You’re quite good-looking too. Instead of looking at me, why don’t you look at yourself?”

Shi Ling spread his hands: “I can’t see myself, can I?”

Ji Mingxiu had nothing to say to that and tried to shift his attention back to the movie. But as Shi Ling had said, the movie was indeed quite boring.

After a while, Ji Mingxiu gave up and leaned back in his seat as well. However, having been the heir of the Ji family for a considerable amount of time, even when relaxing, he didn’t let go completely, only appearing more relaxed than before.

Shi Ling was very satisfied: “This position looks even better than before.”

Ji Mingxiu fell silent for a moment before taking the popcorn bucket that had been between them and stuffing it into Shi Ling’s arms: “Shut up.”

He needed to give Shi Ling something to do so he would stop talking.

——

By the time the movie was over, it was already quite late.

Looking at the time, Shi Ling decided to treat Ji Mingxiu to dinner: “Mr. Ji has helped me so much, and there’s not much else I can do to repay you, so let me buy you a meal!”

Upon hearing this, Ji Mingxiu nodded and quietly sent a message to his second uncle, informing him that the cake for his niece would be delayed.

Since they were already in a mall, they simply picked a nearby restaurant.

Shi Ling and Ji Mingxiu found a seat, ordered their food, and handed the menu back to the waiter.

The restaurant served the dishes extremely quickly, and soon all the dishes they ordered were on the table.

Ji Mingxiu took out a napkin, wiped the table, and after looking at Shi Ling for a while, asked: “Shi Ling, has someone been causing you trouble recently?”

Shi Ling was momentarily confused by Ji Mingxiu’s sudden question: “Who’s causing me trouble? Besides Zhou Su and his family, who else would bother me?”

From his experience of being in this novel world for so long, although Zhou Su himself wouldn’t show up in front of him, anyone who wanted to cause trouble for him was mostly related to Zhou Su. Either it was someone from the Zhou family, or it was one of Zhou Su’s admirers.

Thinking of this, Shi Ling became curious: “Is your cousin still pursuing Zhou Su?”

Ji Mingxiu knew exactly who Shi Ling was talking about and smiled: “He’s still pursuing him. This morning, he said he was going to the Zhou family to find him, but when he got there, he was told Zhou Su had gone out, and he had left with Jiang Yulin and Zhong Shao.”

Shi Ling nodded knowingly: “Yes, the three of them came to find me in the middle of the day, which delayed my lunch.”

Although he had left the house late that day anyway.

Hearing this, Ji Mingxiu’s expression darkened: “Zhong Shao was there too?”

Shi Ling thought back and finally said: “I’m not entirely sure, but apart from Zhou Su and Jiang Yulin, there was indeed another person. I don’t know who that person was, so it’s just my guess that it might have been Zhong Shao.”

Upon careful reflection, no one had mentioned that stranger’s identity, but he had instinctively assumed that person was the main protagonist top, Zhong Shao.

Ji Mingxiu said: “It was probably him. I accidentally learned that Zhong Shao has been investigating you, and it seems he’s been investigating quite thoroughly.”

Hearing this, Shi Ling paused in his chopstick movements for a moment before continuing to place food in his bowl.

He couldn’t quite understand: “Zhong Shao? Investigating me?”

Ji Mingxiu nodded: “I only found out about this by chance, but I think you need to be prepared. Zhong Shao is….”

He hesitated for a moment before deciding to be honest with Shi Ling: “Zhong Shao has some abilities. Otherwise, he couldn’t have stabilized the Zhong family in just a few short years and taken full control of it. However, at the same time, his methods aren’t entirely above board.”

Ji Mingxiu gave Shi Ling a special warning: “Since he’s already started investigating you, it means he’s taken notice of you. No matter what his reasons are for investigating you, you need to be careful around him in the future.”

He was somewhat worried about Shi Ling.

Even though Shi Ling had always appeared mature before, decisive when needed, and even held his own against the old master of the Zhou family, he might not be able to handle the underhanded tactics that Zhong Shao might use.

No matter how capable Shi Ling was, he was still just a college student who had only recently come of age and had not yet truly experienced how dark and dirty the tricks of these seasoned societal veterans could be.

In response to Ji Mingxiu's warning, Shi Ling nodded seriously, "I understand. Thank you, Mr. Ji."

Although he had not directly confronted Zhong Shao yet, Shi Ling knew about the tactics Zhong Shao had used in the original storyline.

Using threats and inducements to isolate the original protagonist from his classmates and teachers. Anyone who would resort to such methods was clearly not a good person.

Although Zhong Shao's tactics didn't seem to have caused any serious consequences for the original protagonist, who later graduated smoothly but then disappeared without a trace, the lack of severe consequences didn't mean such behavior was acceptable.

In any case, after learning about this, Shi Ling definitely had no intention of getting involved with Zhong Shao.

Seeing that Shi Ling had taken his words to heart, Ji Mingxiu felt oddly pleased and even had the mood to joke with Shi Ling, "What if I'm lying to you? Maybe I have a personal grudge with Zhong Shao, and that's why I don't want you to have much contact with him?"

Shi Ling replied earnestly, "Even if it's because of a personal grudge between you and him that you're telling me this, I still wouldn't bother with him."

"After all, you've already helped me so much, and there's a high chance that you'll become my boss soon. Naturally, I'd stand on the boss's side. Besides, the family of the person he's pursuing happens to be someone I'm not on good terms with."

Shi Ling said with a smile to Ji Mingxiu, "We're naturally on the same side."

Ji Mingxiu: !

He quietly lowered his head and picked some food with his chopsticks, "In any case, if you encounter Zhong Shao in the future, be careful."

After a moment of thought, he added, "If you really can't handle it on your own, you can also let me know."

"After all, as you said, there's a good chance I'll become your boss soon, and helping employees solve problems is also part of a boss's duty."

That being said, Shi Ling still felt something was off about it.

If Zhong Shao really came to cause trouble and then Ji Mingxiu, as his boss, helped solve the problem, it would feel like the boss was getting involved in something too personal.

Strictly speaking, Zhong Shao should be a problem brought by the Zhou family and wasn't really related to work.

But Shi Ling didn't overthink it.

Perhaps, as Ji Mingxiu himself said, they had a personal feud?

Shi Ling soon put everything related to Zhong Shao out of his mind and focused on eating.

After the meal, Ji Mingxiu personally drove Shi Ling back to Jing University. Before leaving, he reiterated to Shi Ling, "If you encounter any problems, give me a message."

Standing at the school gate, Shi Ling waved at the departing car and let his mind wander.

If nothing else, Ji Mingxiu had been a bit too good to him.

It was unclear whether Ji Mingxiu truly had a deep hatred for Zhong Shao or if he was just a genuinely nice person.