Chapter 24 – An Zao’s Wife

After sending Chen Jiangchen away, An Zao naturally nodded at Yan Dun. “Let’s go together.”

Yan Dun quickly agreed.

The two walked side by side toward the parking lot. An Zao casually said, “That kid Jiangchen seems pretty clingy toward you. He’s not causing you trouble, is he?”

Yan Dun didn’t understand why An Zao suddenly brought this up. Assuming it was just casual conversation, he replied naturally, “How could he be troublesome? Young Master Cousin may be young, but he’s actually very sensible.”

An Zao nodded and added, “That kid can’t sit still and doesn’t want to study. If he comes looking for you again, ignore him.”

Hearing this, Yan Dun found it a little funny. He hadn’t expected An Zao to be so old-fashioned at such a young age—strictly supervising his younger cousin and even telling his secretary not to play with him so he’d focus on studying.

Yan Dun laughed. “Boss Zao really worries about the Young Master Cousin. Forget cousins—even real brothers might not care this much.”

An Zao sighed and said, “As far as I’m concerned, I treat that child like my own younger brother.”

That reminded Yan Dun that Chen Jiangchen had lost his parents young and had been raised by the An family. Thanks to Old Madam An’s affection, he was treated like a legitimate young master of the household.

Old Madam An herself was a legendary powerhouse, though people also called her a “solitary star of misfortune.” Her parents died early. She married, and her husband died. She had children, and they died too—along with their spouses. Yet she alone lived a long life in robust health.

Everyone said Old Madam An carried ill fate in her destiny. Only Yan Dun understood there was no such thing as a cursed star—it was just another bizarre setting of the CEO-novel world.

Old Madam An had a son and a daughter. The son was the father of An Zao and An Chi, while the daughter was Chen Jiangchen’s mother. Since the tyrant-CEO world required CEOs to lose their parents early, Old Madam An had to outlive her children. And because she herself was a female CEO protagonist, her own parents had also died young. Furthermore, because she possessed the “CEO constitution,” she was extraordinarily healthy despite her age. With her physique, forget killing a tiger—even Wu Song wouldn’t stand a chance against her!

All these absurd settings combined to create the illusion that she was cursed and doomed to bring death to her loved ones.

The illusion was so convincing that even Old Madam An herself believed it.

As a result, although she adored her grandsons and grandson-in-law, she tried not to live with them. What she didn’t realize was that her grandsons all possessed CEO protagonist destinies—they couldn’t be “killed off.” Still, this “free-range parenting” effectively pushed the eldest, An Zao, into the role of head of the family. As the saying went, “the eldest brother is like a father.” An Zao was deeply attached to both An Chi and Chen Jiangchen, while also maintaining the authority of a family patriarch in their eyes.

These memories had been implanted into An Zao’s mind, so he genuinely cared for Chen Jiangchen and An Chi.

But once that concern conflicted with Yan Dun, it suddenly became very insubstantial.

Just as the two were about to get into the car, they saw Xiao Qi already waiting nearby.

Because An Zao had become close to Yan Dun, Xiao Qi felt a sense of crisis and became especially attentive toward An Zao. He had proactively come to drive An Zao home after work.

Smiling, Xiao Qi said, “Chairman An, perfect timing. I already warmed up the car.”

An Zao nodded, every inch the tyrant CEO, and lifted his long legs into the car. Yan Dun got in as well. Though Xiao Qi and Yan Dun held a subtle hostility toward each other, they maintained a harmonious facade.

Xiao Qi smiled and exchanged pleasantries with Yan Dun before asking, “Where does Xiao Yan live?”

An Zao answered, “We’re not taking Yan home yet. It’s getting late, so I’m taking Yan Dun to dinner first.”

“You two are going to eat?” Xiao Qi asked, with a faint note of expectation in his voice.

Yan Dun, being polite, picked up on that expectation and said, “Secretary Qi, would you like to join us?”

Xiao Qi smiled faintly. “Wouldn’t that be inappropriate? Chairman An only invited you. Tagging along would be awkward.”

An Zao nodded. “It would indeed be inappropriate. Xiao Qi, just drop us off at the restaurant entrance.”

“…”

Xiao Qi: Damn it, I’m so pissed.

When the car arrived at the restaurant, rain had just started falling. Xiao Qi immediately moved to hold an umbrella for An Zao. But Yan Dun, apparently harboring “a desire to compete for favor,” beat him to it and pulled an umbrella from his bag.

“Secretary Qi, don’t trouble yourself or get out of the car,” Yan Dun said. “I’ll hold the umbrella for Chairman An.”

Xiao Qi became even angrier, though he maintained his smile.

Yan Dun held up a black umbrella, tilting it as much as possible toward An Zao to keep him from getting wet. An Zao, however, didn’t put on airs as the boss. Thoughtfully, he adjusted the umbrella handle back toward Yan Dun and said gently, “You shouldn’t get wet either.”

The warmth in his voice made people’s hearts flutter.

Yan Dun felt flattered and quickly pushed the umbrella back toward An Zao again. “I’m fine. Better not let you get wet.”

An Zao smiled—a very handsome smile—and then reached out, wrapping his hand around Yan Dun’s hand gripping the umbrella. The warmth of his palm made Yan Dun freeze for a moment.

With that neither-light-nor-heavy grip, An Zao shifted the umbrella handle back toward Yan Dun’s side again. This time, he said nothing, only smiled.

Once they entered the restaurant, An Zao let go as if nothing had happened. Yan Dun secretly scolded himself for overreacting. Why was his heart racing just because their hands touched?

──── ୨୧ ────

Celebrity Office Workers entered its third team PK challenge, which was also the point in the script where “Group A loses twice in a row, morale collapses, and Chen Jiangchen steps up in a crisis to lead the team to victory.”

An Chi announced the task:

“This time, we need to promote the game Idiot vs Dumbass…”

Because An Zao and Yan Dun had recently joined as mentors, the director also arranged lines for them. After An Chi announced the task, An Zao explained the judging criteria while Yan Dun nodded, smiled, and encouraged everyone.

After the announcement, the production team said, “Now it’s time to choose the team leader…”

The members of Group A all looked hesitant, so Chen Jiangchen stood up and said, “May I nominate myself?”

Wearing a student-style white hoodie, he raised his hand. Sunlight shone on his beautiful smiling face, making him look exactly like the handsome school prince answering questions in class. Whether he succeeded or not didn’t matter—this single shot alone was enough to establish him as a heartthrob. A beauty attack straight to the heart.

Fans later turned the moment into filtered GIFs and promotional edits used to attract new fans.

Unexpectedly, though the production team heavily promoted Chen Jiangchen, pushed his character setup, and gave him tons of “beauty-shot” scenes, his existing fanbase was already large, so he didn’t gain explosive popularity—only better public favorability.

Meanwhile, Bai Lisu and Hong Xiaohua, despite having lots of screentime, were mocked by netizens for their obvious catfights.

Ironically, the people who gained the most fans were An Zao and Yan Dun, who had never even planned to debut as celebrities.

Perhaps fandom really was a case of “flowers planted intentionally fail to bloom, while willows planted accidentally grow lush.”

Yan Zao had already attracted appearance fans thanks to his aura and looks. Once his tyrant-CEO identity was revealed, the dramatic twist immediately shot to the top of trending searches. With the “tall, rich, handsome” trifecta fully occupied, he gained fans explosively.

Netizens everywhere started calling him husband:

⤷ Who would’ve guessed the handsome guy with only three minutes of screentime per episode was actually the sugar daddy investor?!

⤷ I’m revealing my secret identity too—actually, I’m An Zao’s wife.

⤷ An Zao’s wife is obviously me.

⤷ So many people claiming to be An Zao’s wife? I got so mad that An Zao had to coax me for ages before I calmed down.

⤷ You guys can have An Zao. I’ll take An Chi instead.