Chapter 232 The Third Day of Entering a Restricted Novel

Chapter 232: Day Three of Transmigrating into an Adult Novel

Chu Chen stared at An Yi's hand for a full three seconds, his eyelashes fluttering slightly, before he seemed to suddenly break free from some complicated train of thought and understand the basic social cue of a handshake.

He clumsily shifted the laptop bag he was cradling in his arms to his left hand, nearly dropping it in the process, then extended his right hand to grasp An Yi's.

His palm was slightly cool, his fingers strong, and you could feel the thin calluses on his fingertips and the base of his thumb from long hours of operating instruments and writing.

But the handshake lasted a bit too long, and after grasping it, he seemed to forget to let go. He didn't proceed with any follow-up pleasantries, just looked down slightly at An Yi, who was right there, as if checking something.

Then, with a tone that was both puzzled and as if a light bulb went off, and with extreme seriousness, he uttered his first words of the meeting: "You... you look different from your photo."

He paused, then added, firmly: "Better looking."

An Yi: "..."

Secretary Zhang: "..."

What was this? Flirting with their boss?

An Yi was momentarily taken aback by the overly direct, completely out of place in a business meeting, almost childlike compliment.

He discreetly withdrew his hand with a bit of effort, the cool sensation of his fingers lingering. "Thank you."

An Yi smiled. "Dr. Chu is also... quite unique. Please, have a seat. Let's talk about the collaboration."

He guided Chu Chen to sit at the conference table.

Chu Chen sat down as instructed.

An Yi didn't take offense and began to briefly introduce the An Group's positioning in the materials field, their resource advantages, and expectations for this industry-academia collaboration, following the planned agenda.

The fact that Chu Chen was here today already indicated that preliminary discussions had reached a basic understanding; this meeting was more about establishing a cooperative tone and personal rapport.

Chu Chen listened, occasionally nodding.

An Yi paused after a section to give the other time to digest and respond.

A few seconds later, Chu Chen suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed on An Yi, a look of belated embarrassment on his face. "Ah! I'm sorry, was that a bit rude just now?"

He paused, looked very seriously at An Yi, and said with sincere, almost naive honesty: "I apologize, I was just stating the truth."

An Yi smiled slightly, this time with a hint of genuine helplessness. "Huh?"

He struggled to keep up with the sudden change of subject.

Seeing that An Yi didn't seem to understand, Chu Chen immediately explained earnestly: "I mean, you in person are really so much better looking than your profile photo."

He even gestured with his hands to illustrate his point.

An Yi: "..."

What the hell?

An Yi found it both amusing and exasperating. "Thank you?"

He maintained his smile, just nodding slightly out of politeness.

Chu Chen: "You're welcome."

An Yi: "..."

The meeting wrapped up in a slightly odd but overall smooth atmosphere.

Both parties reached a preliminary consensus on the basic framework of the cooperation.

An Yi could tell that Chu Chen was genuinely interested in the collaboration.

"So, for the specific details and contract terms, I'll have our legal and project teams follow up with Dr. Chu's team later." An Yi concluded, his tone gentle.

Chu Chen nodded in agreement.

Then, as if something suddenly occurred to him, he looked up again, his gaze refocusing on An Yi's face, and asked very seriously: "If I encounter problems in the future, can I contact you directly?"

He paused, then added, with pure sincerity: "Communicating with you... I find it very pleasant."

He seemed completely unaware of any potential impropriety.

An Yi: "..."

What was with this guy? His thought process was like an alien's.

Looking at Chu Chen's clear, almost see-through eyes, and considering the long-term cooperation ahead, he couldn't always rely on intermediaries.

"Of course." An Yi smiled, took a personal business card from the inner pocket of his suit jacket – it only had a name and a direct number – and handed it over.

"If there are important issues, or if you encounter something... well, that requires direct communication, feel free to contact me directly." He chose his words carefully.

Chu Chen took the card, looked down at it, silently recited the name and number, then looked up at An Yi again, as if performing facial recognition and associating the data.

He tucked the card into an outer compartment of his laptop bag, then nodded solemnly. "Okay."

Secretary Zhang saw Chu Chen out, who kept looking back every few steps. An Yi sat alone in the empty meeting room, staring at the bustling cityscape outside the window, frowning, puzzled.

This whole day's experience... was so weird!

Just then, the comment section rang in his ears again. It was a real-time broadcast of the "action" between You Shou and the second male lead, Cheng Yuhang. The language was explicit and the scenes intense, leaving An Yi, who had just calmed down, speechless again.

An Yi with a blank expression picked up his now-lukewarm coffee, took a sip, and felt the sudden urge to suggest to those two:

Why are you still going at it? Do you really have that much stamina?

Take a break! It's bad for your health.

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An Yi's life seemed to be forcibly divided into two unrelated streams.

One stream was his normal life.

The other stream was... the mental pollution of the comment section's real-time broadcast about You Shou and his harem, which would abruptly ring in his ears at any moment.

Those comments, full of specific symbols, onomatopoeic words, and fanatical tones, were like irregular attacks of tinnitus, forcibly invading his consciousness, reporting the "intense battle" happening on the other side, which was impossible to understand with normal logic.

At first, An Yi felt uncomfortable with the overly explicit descriptions, but as time passed, his heart was unmoved.

Haha, he'd gotten used to it.

Now, even when hearing broadcasts full of "ah ah ah" and "oh oh oh," his heart could remain as calm as a still pond. He could even listen to the "live broadcast" while working and living with an unchanged expression.

He had matured.

An Yi's face showed a relieved smile.

He thought somewhat self-deprecatingly that after the trials of this world, no matter where he transmigrated in the future, nothing would ever shock him again.

Of course, he might have jinxed himself; if he actually encountered something more absurd, forget he said it.

Additionally, the cooperation project with Chu Chen launched even more smoothly than expected.

This was mainly due to Chu Chen's astonishingly strong execution skills in his professional field.

Once he entered his familiar research area, that young man who usually seemed a bit scatterbrained and slow to react would instantly switch gears, becoming clear-thinking, logically rigorous, and demandingly strict—almost perverse—driving the project forward with exceptional efficiency.