Chapter 63 Two-in-One (Bonus for 100 Nutrient Solutions)

Chapter 63: Two-in-One (Bonus Chapter for 100+ Nutrient Solutions)

"Miss Lin? Which Miss Lin? Why should he meet her?"

"Bao, is your mom trying to set you up? Isn't it a bit too early? You just turned eighteen."

As soon as the system heard about someone around Yan Zhoubai’s age, from a family with good relations with the Yan family, its radar immediately activated.

"Well, maybe it’s not that early. Families like the Yan family usually arrange marriage alliances early."

"Arranged marriage? No way! I want to save money."

Yan Zhoubai currently had absolutely no interest in marriage.

"Bao, it’s not about whether you want to get married or not. An arranged marriage means you don’t get to choose your partner—they choose for you, and it might be someone you don’t like," the system explained, feeling its little host had missed the point.

Bai Rong looked at Yan Zhoubai’s absent-minded expression and the hamburger crumbs at the corner of his mouth, sighed softly, and continued:

"Her name is Lin Qihua. She studied design abroad. You two played together when you were little, but you were both too young to remember."

"!"

"What’s wrong?"

Upon hearing the name Lin Qihua, the system suddenly became agitated as if given an adrenaline shot.

"If it’s Lin Qihua, then it doesn't concern you."

"Lin Qihua is the fiancée of the protagonist in the original plot. They eventually got married. Before the marriage, he used this connection to access many of the Lin family’s resources. The Lin family’s support was a key reason he eventually defeated Yan Anxuan and gained control of the Yan family."

The system hadn’t expected such a pivotal plot character to appear at this moment, and in such a casual way.

If the system hadn’t mentioned it, Yan Zhoubai would have almost forgotten that in the original plot, the one who eventually took over the Yan family wasn’t his older brother but Bu Qiran.

Back then, he was still at Cangru Temple and hadn’t interacted with Bu Qiran, nor did he know how annoying he was, so he didn’t care who ended up taking over the Yan family.

After all, both of them were Yan Ren and Bai Rong’s biological sons, so it definitely wouldn’t be him.

But now it was different. Now he absolutely didn’t want Bu Qiran to take over.

His older brother worked diligently all day, with both ability and intelligence. Since graduating, he had been working at the Yan Group, and everyone had seen his capabilities and achievements. How could Bu Qiran, just because he was the protagonist, snatch his older brother’s rightful position?

"Mom, are we all going together?" Yan Zhoubai asked.

Bai Rong smiled, as if puzzled by why Yan Zhoubai would ask such a question.

"Of course we’re all going. Your dad and I, your brother, and Ran Ran are also going. Miss Lin will be staying in the country to develop her career from now on. Since we’ll be seeing each other often, we should all have a meal together and have a proper chat."

Sure enough, Yan Zhoubai knew it—Bu Qiran was going too.

So this dinner, or rather, the welcome banquet for Miss Lin, was clearly an arranged meeting for her and Bu Qiran.

"System, I’m going to disrupt Bu Qiran’s matchmaking with Miss Lin."

As if making a major decision, Yan Zhoubai declared firmly to the system.

"I support you. If this marriage falls through, the protagonist will lose a major advantage, which is good for us cannon-fodder villains. Besides, if your older brother takes over the Yan family, it’ll be much better for us than if Bu Qiran does. We have to help your brother."

Yan Zhoubai and the system were in complete agreement.

The dinner venue was chosen by Bai Rong—a restaurant known for its exceptional local cuisine, famous for its fresh, fragrant, spicy, and numbing flavors.

Yan Zhoubai went with Bai Rong, so they arrived the earliest.

After arriving, Bai Rong busied herself with ordering dishes and drinks. Yan Zhoubai wanted to help, but Bai Rong told him to sit down, telling him to just sit and wait.

Yan Zhoubai sat alone in the large private room, looking a bit like a poor little thing with nothing to do. Bored, he sent a message to Zhan Jiayu:

Xiao Baichuan: Brother, are you busy right now?

Zhan Jiayu wasn’t particularly busy. He was in a car on his way to have dinner with a business partner to discuss some deals.

When Yan Zhoubai’s message popped up on his phone screen, Zhan Jiayu sincerely wished he didn’t recognize the words "Brother."

The term was so awkward—it felt like it could kill any romantic vibe instantly.

Zhan: Don’t call me Brother. Just use my name.

Zhan Jiayu had to emphasize it again.

Xiao Baichuan: Oh, okay.

Zhan: Not busy right now. How about you? How’s your rest at home after the exams?

Xiao Baichuan: Awesome.gif

Xiao Baichuan: Not having to study is great, hehe.

Xiao Baichuan: Let me tell you, my mom is arranging a matchmaking for Yan Qiran.

Xiao Baichuan: I’m waiting for everyone to arrive so we can eat together.

Zhan: Oh? How do you know it’s a matchmaking dinner?

Arranged matchmaking for Bu Qiran? This genuinely piqued Zhan Jiayu’s interest.

The incident where he wore women's clothing last time made him realize that Bu Qiran, the so-called protagonist in the system’s terms, had developed some special interest in Yan Zhoubai.

That day, he didn't see the cross-dressing video of Yan Zhoubai that Bu Qiran took on his account. That very night, he had someone get a hacker to investigate all traces of that account.

There were two possibilities: either Bu Qiran hadn’t posted the video, or he had posted it and deleted it for some reason.

The feedback from Chen Chu the next day confirmed the latter.

He even obtained all the data Bu Qiran had deleted—the video, the comments under it, and even all the private messages received by that account during that period.

Xiao Baichuan: My mom said so. She specifically mentioned that Miss Lin is around our age, just returned from abroad, and will be developing her career domestically.

Xiao Baichuan: Isn’t that the classic beginning for a matchmaking dinner?

Xiao Baichuan: That’s how it always happens in TV dramas.

Zhan: Miss Lin? Which Miss Lin?

Xiao Baichuan: I’m not really sure.

Xiao Baichuan: My mom said their family has good relations with ours. I only know they’re involved in the energy industry.

Xiao Baichuan: She's called Lin Qihua.

Lin Qihua? Zhan Jiayu felt like he had heard this name somewhere before.

"Host, Lin Qihua is, to some extent, the female lead of the original storyline. She is the protagonist's fiancée, a business marriage arrangement. It is through this marriage that the protagonist, with the help of the Lin family, manages to oust his elder brother, Yan Anxuan, from his stable position as the heir of the Yan family."

Zhan Jiayu's system hadn't appeared for a long time, ever since he accepted that his villain boss host had fallen for a cannon fodder character. But it still provided him with basic information when necessary.

After learning this, Zhan Jiayu was genuinely amused. It seemed he wouldn't have to lift a finger himself—Bu Qiran's fated match had arrived on her own! There was no need for him to bother finding a match for Bu Qiran through the Yan family.

Zhan: So it's very likely then.

Xiao Baichuan: Right, right?

Xiao Baichuan: Eating melon.gif

Xiao Baichuan: I can't wait to see what's going to happen at the dinner table.

The "eating melon" emoji sent by Yan Zhoubai was an adorable kitten looking up, with a watermelon photoshopped onto its mouth.

Zhan Jiayu thought Yan Zhoubai now incredibly resembled that little kitten from the emoji. His eyes lit up whenever he hears gossip, unaware that others' eyes lit up just as much when they saw him.

Zhan: Which restaurant are you at?

Zhan Jiayu asked casually, but it turned out to be a coincidence—the restaurant he was heading to for his business meeting was the same one.

Xiao Baichuan: Wow, no way, what a coincidence!

Zhan Jiayu smiled slightly as he loosened his tight tie. His fingers flew across the screen as he replied.

Zhan: Quite a coincidence.

Zhan: I'll be passing by T Dessert Shop later. How about I bring you a small cake?

Zhan: I remember you said you liked it when we were playing in Jiang City last time.

Xiao Baichuan: Sure!

Xiao Baichuan: Happy.gif

Yan Zhoubai hadn't expected that a casual chat with Zhan Jiayu because he was bored would earn him a T Dessert Shop cake.

Their cakes are so delicious!

Zhan Jiayu spun his phone in his hand and looked up at Chen Chu, who was driving. "You can pause that matter we discussed earlier—about finding a suitable girlfriend for the Yan family's legitimate young master."

"Understood."

Chen Chu didn't know why the task was suddenly canceled, but he agreed nonetheless.

Over a month ago, his boss had suddenly asked him to look into an account's data. When he saw it was an account of a male influencer who wore women's clothing, his worldview was kind of shattered.

He wondered if his boss was into that sort of thing? But wasn't he pursuing the Yan family's young master?

Well, it couldn't really be called pursuing. The Yan family's young master was remarkably unaware. To be precise, his boss was slowly cooking the frog.

And when he found out that the account belonged to Yan Qiran, the legitimate young master of the Yan family who had grown up outside, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

So, his long hair really was due to some unusual preference.

The data his boss asked him to retrieve was for a deleted video. He only glanced at it—it was consistent with the account's overall style, but it was clear that the person in the video wasn't the Yan family's young master.

At the time, he didn't understand why, but after handing over the data, his boss began paying close attention to the Yan family's legitimate young master.

That legitimate young master of the Yan family, having grown up outside, certainly had a knack for mingling with all sorts of people.

But he was indeed capable. Upon investigation, it turned out that within just a few months of arriving in Jing City, he had built a huge network of connections, all thanks to those friends.

Then, his boss started having him undermine this legitimate young master of the Yan family. At the same time, he was to check if there were any suitable young women from prominent families in Jing City who could be introduced to Yan Qiran.

Chen Chu really had no idea what his boss was trying to achieve, but once assigned the task, he did as he was told. Until just now, when his boss said the task could be put on hold.

"Boss, did something happen?"

If the task was canceled, he needed a reason, right? When a project gets canceled halfway, the worker deserves an explanation, doesn't he?

So that's how it was. Chen Chu actually felt relieved. Finding a suitable marriage partner for Yan Qiran wasn't the hard part; the difficulty lay in his boss's requirement that the match be accepted by the Yan family without leaving any traces and actually introduced to Yan Qiran.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have worked on it for so long. Now, he finally didn't have to do it anymore.

"Stop by T Dessert Shop when we pass it later. I need to buy a small cake," Zhan Jiayu said.

"Understood."

Chen Chu acknowledged, but he felt that his boss's tendency to act on impulse had noticeably increased lately. For employees like him, this was very bad news.

When Zhan Jiayu found out that Bu Qiran had posted the video only to delete it later, he sneered and said, "He's still too young and impatient. Wanted to show off but ended up failing."

If he had successfully persuaded Yan Zhoubai into wearing women's clothing and taken videos and photos, he would guarantee that no third person in the world would ever know about it.

It would belong solely to him—something to savor late at night but never to share with others.

After obtaining the data and understanding the whole story, he had actually wanted to kill Bu Qiran.

He truly could not forgive Bu Qiran for posting the video of Yan Zhoubai in women's clothing. If it weren't for the system stopping him, saying the protagonist couldn't be killed so easily, he would have ordered Chen Chu to take action long ago.

If violent means weren't an option, then he would resort to more indirect approaches.

Whatever Bu Qiran wanted to do, he would make sure he failed. Whatever Bu Qiran didn't want, he would force upon him.

Come to think of it, having a fiancée with status was a good thing, wasn't it? After all, wasn't he still thinking about competing with his biological brother for the family inheritance?

...

The moment Yan Zhoubai laid eyes on Lin Qihua, he felt she was completely different from what he had imagined.

From what the system said, in the original plot, Bu Qiran was the domineering male lead, and his official fiancée should have been a gentle, beautiful woman willing to use her family's resources to help the male lead reach the peak of his life—the ideal wife and mother.

That's how it was always written in online novels, and the system had said it should be like that.

But the Lin Qihua Yan Zhoubai met was at least 175 cm tall, and with high heels, she seemed even taller than him.

She was indeed very beautiful, wearing a gray satin slip dress with such a great figure she looked like a model. But she didn't seem to Yan Zhoubai to be the gentle type at all; instead, she had a noticeable sharpness about her.

When Lin Qihua entered the private room, Yan Zhoubai stood up to greet her, and their eyes met.

That one glance contained an assessment of him and an absolute self-confidence. The moment she entered, she naturally became the center of attention.

"System, I think things might get interesting. This Miss Lin seems like a person with a strong personality. It would definitely be interesting to see her go up against Bu Qiran."

After that one glance at Lin Qihua, Yan Zhoubai’s inner gossipmonger awakened, and he couldn’t help but converse with the system in his mind.

"Indeed, this Miss Lin is quite different from what I imagined."

The system agreed, then added as if remembering something: "But we can’t let them hit it off. Aren’t we here today to sabotage their potential marriage alliance?"

"Oh, right."

Yan Zhoubai had almost forgotten his real mission. He quickly offered Lin Qihua a smile he hadn’t given earlier.

He had been too focused on watching the potential drama, thinking it had nothing to do with him, so he had only nodded at her. Now he hurried to make up for it with a smile.

He needed to build a good relationship with this Miss Lin so that when he bad-mouthed Bu Qiran later, she would be more likely to believe him, right?

Lin Qihua was well aware of the purpose of this dinner, but no one could force her to do anything, not even her parents.

She had lived abroad for years because she wanted to, and she had returned to the country because she felt like it. As for today’s dinner, which had ulterior motives, she had agreed to come simply because it suited her.

She had only learned about the situation with the real and fake young masters of the Yan family a couple of days after returning to the country, and she found it quite amusing. Having left the country early, she had little acquaintance with the young masters and ladies of Jing City’s elite families, but she had a vague memory of Yan Zhoubai.

She was two years older than Yan Zhoubai. He didn’t remember playing together as children, but she vaguely recalled a little kid.

The reason she remembered was simple: Yan Zhoubai had a stutter. He was the only stuttering young master she knew as a child.

She hadn’t expected him to grow up looking just as porcelain-doll pretty as he did as a child, though he didn't seem too bright. What was with him grinning foolishly at her?

The Lin couple had barely sat down with Lin Qihua for two minutes when Yan Ren and Yan Anxuan arrived. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, everyone took their seats.

Yan Zhoubai glanced around and suddenly thought that his elder brother and Miss Lin weren’t that far apart in age. His brother was only a few years older. If his brother could end up with Miss Lin, wouldn’t that mean the Lin family’s resources would go to his brother instead? Then Bu Qiran wouldn’t be able to compete with him.

"Buddy, I think your idea is genius. We should try to play matchmaker here," the system affirmed Yan Zhoubai’s suggestion.

"I think so too, but I’ve never set anyone up before. How should we go about this? Let me think it over carefully."

Yan Zhoubai sank into contemplation.

The Lin family indeed had a good relationship with the Yan family. The Lin couple chatted casually with Yan Ren and Bai Rong, without resorting to empty formalities.

After Yan Anxuan entered, Lin Qihua also sized him up, her gaze made no attempt to hide her scrutiny—this was just how she usually looked at people. She had no ulterior motives; she was simply observing, openly and without hiding anything.

She also had some impression of Yan Anxuan. He was about six years older than her, so they hadn’t played together as children. She only knew that the Yan family had an eldest young master.

She had heard he was accomplished at a young age, but he was completely not her type. She could tell from the first glance, and she believed he felt the same.

Lin Qihua guessed correctly. Yan Anxuan’s first impression of her was nothing special, though he faintly sensed they might be kindred spirits. Because of that, he wouldn’t have any romantic interest in her either.

After all, he didn’t like people who were too similar to himself. Fortunately, his parents intended to match her with Bu Qiran.

Logically, as the elder brother, he should marry before his younger brother, but his parents were probably too eager to compensate Bu Qiran.

They found him a well-connected and powerful marriage alliance so he could firmly establish himself in Jing City in the future.

His mother had even given him a heads-up about this, worried he might feel uncomfortable.

Why would he feel uncomfortable? The Yan family wasn’t passing down a throne. How could finding Bu Qiran a well-connected and powerful marriage partner threaten his position?

Who would take over the Yan family’s business depended on capability. If Bu Qiran had what it took, Yan Anxuan would willingly step aside and serve as his deputy.

The conversation in the private room was quite harmonious, partly due to social niceties and partly because they were waiting for Bu Qiran. As one of the main characters of today’s dinner, he was late.

Yan Zhoubai had seen Bai Rong message him several times to hurry him along, but there was still no sign of him.

Yan Zhoubai was both quietly delighted and hoping Bu Qiran would arrive soon.

He was pleased because Bu Qiran’s tardiness would definitely leave a bad impression on Miss Lin and the Lin couple, which would help him later in sabotaging the marriage alliance.

He wanted Bu Qiran to arrive soon because, in his absence, the conversation had shifted to focus on him.

As a background character, he absolutely did not want to become the center of attention—unless there was truly nothing else to talk about.

Yan Zhoubai didn’t want to listen to the Lin couple reminisce about his childhood stuttering. How was that any different from a public execution? Please, let it end soon.

Just as the Lin couple was about to bring up how Yan Zhoubai was clumsy as a child—how he once chased after Lin Qihua only to trip on flat ground—Bu Qiran finally arrived.

Yan Zhoubai was shocked to see Bu Qiran still wearing those underground, non-mainstream jackets, his hair disheveled.

Although people shouldn’t discriminate against others based on their clothing, wasn’t it a bit inappropriate to dress like this for such an occasion?

Yan Zhoubai instinctively glanced at the Lin couple’s reaction and immediately noticed that Mrs. Lin’s ever-present smile had frozen at the corners of her mouth.

Yan Zhoubai thought to himself that he might not even need to do anything—Bu Qiran seemed capable of sinking this match all on his own.

But when his gaze shifted to Lin Qihua, he clearly saw that she seemed quite interested in Bu Qiran. Her eyes even lit up a little.

Emergency! So Lin Qihua actually liked Bu Qiran’s type? Was the power of the original plot this strong?

"Sorry I’m late. There was something urgent I had to take care of. My apologies."

Bu Qiran started with an apology, his attitude seemed fine, but Yan Zhoubai felt he was just phoning it in.

With Bu Qiran’s usually slick and diplomatic skills, he could have handled his tardiness in a much better way to make the Lin family feel more at ease. But he didn’t. It seemed almost as if he was unwilling.

Yan Zhoubai saw dissatisfaction toward Bu Qiran on Bai Rong’s face for the first time that evening.

Well, now there's a first!

Yan Zhoubai pulled out his phone and started messaging Zhan Jiayu again. He thought it was a shame not to share such a juicy situation with someone.

Xiao Baichuan: I met Miss Lin. She’s so beautiful, really tall, like a model. Anyone who sees her would be smitten.

Xiao Baichuan: blushing.gif

Zhan Jiayu, who had just gotten out of the car carrying a small cake: ?

"Isn’t Miss Lin supposed to be set up with Bu Qiran? Did they introduce her to you instead?"

Author's note: The train was suspended, and my schedule was pushed back a day, so I had time to write a big chapter [throwing flowers].