Chapter 9 – Honest Little Yan

Yan Dun was immersed in his own mental world, which to outsiders just looked like he was spacing out. Mary Sue nudged him with her elbow and whispered, “Time to snap out of it.”

Only then did Yan Dun come back to his senses. Looking apologetic, he turned toward An Zao. Seeing that face, Yan Dun felt overwhelmed with emotion. The person before him was clearly the one he loved, yet he had to pretend they were strangers.

Yan Dun cleared his throat and said, “Director An, hello. I’m Young Master Chi’s secretary. My name is Yan Dun.”

“Yan Dun?” Only then did An Zao shift his gaze from Chen Jiangchen to Yan Dun. “Which ‘Yan’? Which ‘Dun’?”

“Yan as in swallow, and Dun as in heart radical,” Yan Dun explained. He raised a hand and gestured awkwardly in the air.

An Zao nodded seriously. “My knowledge is lacking—I’ve never seen that character before. Could you tell me what it means?”

Yan Dun’s heart skipped a beat. It felt exactly like the day they first met.

Naturally, their first meeting had been during his job interview.

After looking over his résumé, An Zao had said, “My knowledge is lacking—I’ve never seen this character before. How is it pronounced? Could you tell me what it means?”

The character “惇” (Dun) wasn’t exactly obscure, but it wasn’t common either, and many people didn’t recognize it. Still, whether teachers or bosses, few people would so frankly admit they didn’t know a character and then ask for its meaning.

That sense of déjà vu made Yan Dun dazed for a moment, and he replied with the exact same words as before:

“This ‘Dun’ means honesty and sincerity. So you can also call me ‘Honest Yan.’”

An Zao reacted exactly as he had back then: he gave a small laugh, then coughed lightly, covering his lips with a fist as though trying to hide an ill-timed smile.

Yan Dun’s heart beat much faster than it had back then:

Ahhhhh my Boss Zao looks so handsome when he smiles ahhhhh!!!

Back then, Yan Dun had introduced himself the same way—“You can also call me Honest Yan”—and An Zao had smiled the same way too.

The recreation of everything made Yan Dun feel as though a lifetime had passed, yet also filled him with a secret joy he couldn’t quite describe.

Still, Yan Dun had only started saying “You can call me Honest Yan” because he worried people wouldn’t remember his name. He’d said it to several coworkers, which resulted in people around the office calling him things like “Brother Honest,” “Honest Yan,” “Little Honest,” and “Honest Little Bro”…

Until An Zao officially banned it:

“Secretary Yan is Secretary Yan. Stop giving him weird nicknames.”

Yan Dun had actually been pretty grateful for that—

Until he discovered that in An Zao’s contacts list, he himself was saved as:

“Little Honest Yan.”

Heh. Look what I found?

A hypocritical boss pretending to be proper!

Yan Dun knocked on Customer Service-kun again in his head:

So can I actually pursue An Zao or not?

Customer Service-kun replied:

Character “An Zao” is not currently on the romance-target list. I’ll need to check on that, dear customer. Please wait a moment, dear customer.

One minute later—

Customer Service-kun returned:

Dear Customer, as long as you complete the main storyline tasks, you are allowed to pursue An Zao.

Yan Dun was overjoyed:

That’s great!

Customer Service-kun added:

However, because the character “An Zao” possesses a soul from the real world, your “universal protagonist charm halo” has no effect on him.

Yan Dun: “…Fine. I can accept reality.”

Honestly, if Yan Dun won An Zao’s affection purely because of a “protagonist halo,” it would be meaningless—almost despicable. Like using underhanded tricks to seduce someone.

Customer Service-kun continued:

Understood. Adding side quest: “Capture the Tyrannical CEO An Zao.”

Yan Dun heard the pleasant ding-dong of the system notification and asked:

Since this is a side quest, failing it won’t affect my resurrection, right?

Customer Service-kun replied:

Correct. This is only a side quest. Failure will not affect the judgment of the main quest.

Yan Dun: “Ohhh.”

Customer Service-kun added:

Additionally, the system has determined that this side quest has an extremely high difficulty rating.

Yan Dun: “…What does that mean? That the AI thinks I basically have no chance with An Zao?”

Customer Service-kun:

Mm, dear customer, based on your qualifications, without the protagonist halo, you would basically be unable to capture any tyrannical CEO.

Yan Dun: “……”

Customer Service-kun:

Because the side quest “Capture the Tyrannical CEO An Zao” has an extremely high difficulty level, completing it will reward you with a mysterious gift package.

Yan Dun’s crushed mood instantly brightened again:

Really? That’s not bad at all.

After analyzing things, Yan Dun realized that although pursuing An Zao would be difficult, failure carried no losses. But if he succeeded?

Not only would he win the beauty, he’d also get a mysterious reward package!

What could possibly be a better deal than that?

Yan Dun was already itching to charge into battle against An Zao.

But just as he rolled up his sleeves eagerly, he realized something:

After years of being single, he had absolutely no idea how to flirt with men.

Yan Dun: Uh… so how exactly am I supposed to pursue An Zao?

Customer Service-kun:

Would you like the system to activate the “AI Helps You Flirt” feature for the main quest?

Yan Dun:

There’s actually something that amazing?! Hurry and turn it on!

Customer Service-kun:

[AI Helps You Flirt] activated

And just like that, the AI came online.

Before Yan Dun even had time to react, he suddenly found a cup of coffee in his hand—

—and with lightning-fast speed, he splashed it all over An Zao.

An Zao, now drenched in coffee: ???

Yan Dun, who had just thrown coffee on the big boss they’d barely met: ???

This is the AI helping me flirt???

This is artificial stupidity helping me stay single, isn’t it???

Before Yan Dun could recover, his body had already started trembling tearfully.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

The moment he said it, Yan Dun nearly gagged from his own cringe. His mind was completely occupied with how to disable this idiotic “AI Helps You Flirt” feature. Too panicked to look at An Zao, afraid of seeing disgust on his face, he glanced around wildly and accidentally met Mary Sue’s eyes.

Her face clearly said:

Friend, I understand your pain.

Meanwhile, Chen Jiangchen chimed in from the side:

“Yes, Brother Yan definitely didn’t do it on purpose!”

Yan Dun was genuinely touched:

Last time I spilled coffee on you, and now I’ve spilled it on your cousin too, and you still think I didn’t mean it. Young Master Cousin, you are truly a kind-hearted youth!

Yan Dun mentally turned off the “AI Helps You Flirt” feature, regained control of his body, and immediately stopped trembling and tearing up. Returning to normal, he hurriedly wiped An Zao’s clothes with tissues while bowing apologetically.

“I’m really terribly sorry… such nice clothes too…”

Fortunately, An Zao wasn’t wearing a dress shirt, but a dark waterproof trench coat, so the coffee spill wasn’t too disastrous.

Yan Dun basically didn’t dare look at An Zao’s expression. After unloading an entire truckload of apologies, he fled the scene in embarrassment.

The next day, back at the company, Yan Dun looked pale as death.

I feel like my mission to capture An Zao may have died before it even began.

After preparing coffee and bringing it into An Chi’s office, Yan Dun discovered that An Zao was there too.

Startled, Yan Dun treated the coffee in his hand like a venomous snake and hastily set it down as far away as possible, terrified of accidentally splashing the tyrannical CEO again.

Seeing Yan Dun, An Chi patted his shoulder and turned to An Zao.

“Brother, you probably still haven’t met my secretary, right…?”

“I have,” An Zao replied with the same gentlemanly smile Yan Dun knew so well. “His name is Honest Yan, right?”