Getting Outsmarted By The CEO

Gu Jue noticed Gu Ming had changed the group name in a flash. He chuckled as he massaged his nose bridge.

Gu Qizhong was known to be like dynamite — quick to anger and explode. Sometimes, Gu Jue even wondered if his dad and Xue Zhao were secretly father and son, with how similar their personalities were.

Gu Jue and Gu Ming, however, were nothing like that.

Gu Jue spoke very little as a child. He always spoke with intent. When he wanted to attack someone, his words alone were enough to destroy that person.

His personality formed in middle school and had not changed much since then. He was extremely vicious with his words, but due to him being talented and capable in every way, people could only choose to put up with him. That was also how he got the nickname Gu Dog.

His older brother, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. The elder son of the Gu family had been talking non-stop since he learned to speak, annoying everyone in the family. At first, it was their parents and the nannies, but he changed his target once Gu Jue was born.  Baby Gu Jue didn’t make much noise anyway, so he made quite a listener.

As Mrs. Gu always said, Gu Jue must have gained his distaste for talking due to Gu Ming.

The brothers differed in age only by 2 years. One was a spirited idiot, and the other was a deceptive beauty.

On the outside, the two sons of the Gu family seemed like model children, but only Mr. and Mrs. Gu knew how much of a headache they both were.

The elder son was supposed to be dependable and composed, but he was really a game addict. Gu Jue, on the other hand, had never been out of trouble. He became the head of delinquents at his middle and high schools, and only began to change for the better in university.

Instead of Gu Qizhong, it was Mrs. Gu who replied first.

[Mrs. Gu]: You’re not showing us her face? It’s your first love, you should show us what she looks like.

Before Gu Jue could formulate a reply,

[Gu Qizhong]: @[Mrs. Gu]? You believe this? Have you forgotten how this kid tricked us for all those years with his brother’s help?? Your son is skilled enough to photoshop that!!!

[Mrs. Gu]: … you’re in the living room, why used the phone?

[Mrs. Gu]: Come to the bedroom and yell to my face if you dare.

System message: Group member [Game Addict Gu Ming] changed the group name from “OMG President Gu is gonna yell at Gu Jue today!!!“ to “OMG President Gu is gonna get beaten up by his wife!!!”

Gu Jue: … Looks like he’s not home today.

[Gu Qizhong]: …

[Gu Qizhong]: @[Game Addict Gu Ming], where the hell are you? Huh?? I swear it’s your goal to visit every internet café in the States! Come the f̲u̲c̲k̲ home! RIGHT! NOW!!!

At this point, Gu Jue could not hold in his chuckles.

The target had moved away from him. He exited the app and noted the time. They could go line up now.

Before he moved, though, she asked him, “Gu Jue, what’s so funny?”

Gu Jue turned towards her.

She seemed to be done with her messages as well. She was looking at him with full attention. Her eyelashes were curled and her skin looked like porcelain. In the light, you could even see the cute fuzz on her face.

Gu Jue’s heart skipped a beat, thinking, as expected of Miss “cute back of the head”, her face is even f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g̲ cuter.

He turned off his screen and casually said, “oh, that was the parents who hired me as a tutor…” Making up lies on the spot. “They told me, the student had improved a lot on the recent test, so they’re giving me a raise.”

No on other than Gu Jue himself could tell when he was lying. He had good grades even when he was the School Boss. When he went to another school to fight, he told his teacher “I’m going to the convocational high school to tutor some people there, not to get into fights”. With that innocent face of his and his skillful deception, he would turn black into white, and no one would doubt him.

Ruan An’an was not an exception either.

She could tell that he was truly happy about something. Normally, his smiles were nice too, but this time, it seemed like a something good just happened and he wanted to celebrate with the world.

So, it’s a pay raise, huh.

Ever since attending Harvard, she had spent her winter and summer vacations doing unpaid work at the overseas subsidiary of the Lin Company to gain experience. Well, it was unpaid work on paper, but the secondary card that Grandpa Lin had given her was enough for anything and everything she wanted…

However, that still meant she had never experienced a pay raise before, nor the joy that came with it.

That didn’t stop her from being happy for Gu Jue and celebrating with him, though. If anything, she was happier for him. “That’s great! Congrats, Teacher Gu!”

Gu Jue looked at the girl whose eyes were filled with joy. Her voice sounded extra sweet when she called him “Teacher Gu”.

“Student Gu”, “Couch Gu”, and now “Teacher Gu”… his nicknames just kept multiplying.

When could he get endearments instead, though?

Gu Jue smiled with her. He stood up and said, “since I got a raise, let me treat you to something.”

Ruan An’an didn’t decline, and considered for a bit, “how about popcorn? After all, we just ate and I’m still full.”

In the cheery atmosphere created by the good news, the pair started towards the snack bar. “Do you mind if I ask… How much is your raise?” she asked out of curiosity.

“From…”

Gu Jue hadn’t looked into the market for tutors, so he didn’t dare to give too high of a number, “2k to 3k.”

Ruan An’an was shocked.

… 2000 to 3000!

That’s a raise of one whole thousand!

That’s 1k every month, and over 10k a year!

You could buy several bicycles with that!!!

So what if he is a poor university student? So what if he can’t afford to replace his phone screen?

He’s supporting himself. That’s Gu God for you!

“Wow! Amazing!” Ruan An’an was singing praises for him inwardly and didn’t forget to react outwardly either. She clapped for him. “You’re too good, Teacher Gu!”

Gu Jue didn’t reply to her overdramatic congratulations, and simply ordered popcorn from an attendant. He handed the bucket of popcorn he got to Ruan An’an. “Let’s go grab our tickets.”

The ticket machines were next to the snack bar. They had entered the ticket number already and were waiting for the tickets to print, when Ruan An’an heard an “oh, right” from Gu Jue.

The exclamation sounded deliberate – like the tone you hear from a student who skipped class to go to an internet café but explained the absence as “oversleeping due to staying up late studying”.

Ruan An’an slowly turned to look at him.

Gu Jue raised his eyebrows, “I just remembered, I forgot to mention… since the movie is so popular, all the good seats were sold out.”

“So…?”

“So,” Gu Jue blinked a few times, putting on an innocent face, “when I bought the tickets, only the loveseats in the last row were left.”

“…”

Sunday, downtown movie theater, top-grossing movie.

When those 3 elements intersect, shouldn’t loveseats be the first ones to sell out?

Only a video game NPC would believe that the “good seats” sold out before the loveseats did.

Mister, your name shall be Liar.

Ruan An’an ranted to herself about how bad of a lie that was, all the while walking happily alongside Gu Jue to their seats in the middle of the row.

Loveseats were a pair of seats with no armrests between them. It was so that couples could sneakily do stuff, especially with the dim lighting as well.

The commercials were playing loudly, and people kept passing by, so the pair didn’t talk much.

President Gu, on the other hand, wanted to talk.

It seemed that he had successfully calmed down his wife and realized that direct messages were a better place to talk than the group chat.

[Gu Qizhong]: Seriously though, your gramps called me yesterday, saying that there’s a girl in the Lin family who’s about your age, and that he wants you to meet her… idk where this girl came from, but we’re planning to expand in the domestic markets anyway, so it’ll be beneficial to have ties with the Lins.

[Gu Qizhong]: I know your gramps and Mr. Lin seem to be on bad terms, but I mean, they value each other as rivals. From the sounds of your gramps, this Lin girl is worth seeing, what do you think?

Oh, this s̲h̲i̲t̲ again. He sneered.

[gj]: What do I think?

He followed it with the picture of the stunning head.

The other side paused for a few seconds.

[Gu Qizhong]: I’m being serious. Stop it with the fake photo!!!

Gu Jue didn’t want to argue with him, so he opened his camera and started recording. From the commercials loudly playing in the background to the constantly changing brightness, it was clear that the setting was a movie theatre. The camera lens started out aiming at his leg, then he slowly rotated to show the long dress that Ruan An’an wore.

The popcorn that sat on Ruan An’an’s lap, as well as the slender hand that was grabbing popcorn, was also captured in the shot.

Gu Jue ended the recording and sent it.

[gj]: Dad, I don’t know what else I can do to make you believe me. You know how I’ve been skipping out at work? That’s to pursue her.

[gj]: It’s movie time with your daughter-in-law, I’m muting you.

After those two messages, he promptly muted the chat and turned off his screen.

Just then, Ruan An’an shifted the popcorn bucket and leaned over, “hey, Teacher Gu, want some?”

He turned to see a smiling face. “This was bought with your hard-earned money, you’re not gonna eat some?”

Somehow this was funny enough to her that her large round eyes had curved into crescent moons.

“Because it’s my hard-earned money…” He inched towards her, “that’s why I’m buying you food with it.”

“…”

OK, he won again.

Ruan An’an retreated and returned to munching on the popcorn.

Ten minutes later, the commercials were over.

All in all, the movie was worth the ticket price and the high ratings. Notably, the special effects and the amount of detail were impeccable. Both leading actors were top-tier in their performance and attractiveness. With their massive fanbases, the hype for the movie was real.

Even members of the main characters’ families were all actors that people could easily name.

The plotline went for a funny and heart-warming vibe, with only small misunderstandings that quickly got resolved. The audience would burst out in laughter from time to time and cheer when the main characters did anything intimate.

Ruan An’an wasn’t actually a big fan of romance movies, so her reactions were minimal.

She favored movies that were more exciting, be it mystery or thriller. The best were the ones that could send a chill down her spine.

However, her less-than-usual preferences would not be suitable for watching with Gu Jue today. Something more typical was better.

During high school, Ruan An’an and Yin Yuan often hung out at the Jiang Estate, since they had the most freedom there. The trio would watch movies in the private theatre.

Ruan An’an’s right to pick the movie had been revoked.

If she got to pick, the other two might not be able to make it through the movie without having ten heart attacks, all the while crying.

Therefore, she never once refuted their claim of her not having a maiden heart.

Stuff like movies and dramas all follow the same storyline. In the end, no matter what happened in the middle, the main characters would always end up together, defeating all evil with their love. How unrealistic.

After all, the “love story” she had witnessed went in the exact opposite direction as these movies, almost every step of the way.

In this true story, the woman passed away early, and the ending as of now was the man living happily with another woman and their daughter.

On the big screen, the main characters were arguing. The male lead recognized that he was never going to win the argument, so he ended it promptly by covering the female lead’s mouth with his.  The audience laughed again. She laughed along with the others while keeping the regular pace at which she was tossing popcorn into her mouth.

After the small dispute, the girl asked the guy a question that all girls in love would ask – before we started dating, what was your ideal type?

The loveseats were cleverly designed. There was nothing between the pair, but there was a large barrier between each pair, providing good privacy. However, the barriers could only block line-of-sight and not sounds.

Right after the character on-screen asked the question, Ruan An’an heard the couple beside her talk.

The girl: “Darling, before we dated, what was your ideal type?”

Ruan An’an was immediately more interested in this couple than the one on-screen.

The guy spoke without much thought, spilling the truth, “oh, I was really into innocent-looking girls. You know, the ones with long straight hair… black, not dyed, of course… and big eyes and a petite mouth… also short, nothing over 160cm.”

There was a long pause between the two.

Finally, the girl spoke, in a tone that sounded icy even to a bystander like Ruan An’an.

“Oh… so, being with someone who has colored, short, curly hair and small eyes, with a height of 170,” the girl paused, then spoke as if gritty her teeth. “You. Must. Be. So. Disappointed.”

Ruan An’an: …

She couldn’t bear to watch.

She could only imagine the effort the guy must put in to make up for this.

After this unexpected real-life drama, Ruan An’an felt inspired. She swallowed the popcorn that was in her mouth and scooted towards Gu Jue.

Then, she poked him, whispering, “Teacher Gu?”

Gu Jue had already noticed when she was moving but acted otherwise until he had been called upon. “What is it?” He whispered back.

Ruan An’an felt a little shy, asking something like this, “do you have an ideal type?” She explained in another way, in case he hadn’t heard of that word before, “like, what kind of girl do you like?”

Honestly, Ruan An’an was almost certain that he wouldn’t give a bad answer as the guy sitting beside them had.

After all, he was a flirt with great social skills.

Without thinking, Gu Jue pointed to the screen with his chin, “I think someone like the female lead would be great.”

Ruan An’an was stunned for a moment.

The female lead was known for her seductive beauty and her powerful aura, neither of which described Ruan An’an.

“Long wavy blonde hair, great figure, pretty, sexy…” Gu Jue could only think of so many descriptors, “I think that’s about it.”

Ruan An’an: ?

Didn’t he say he was pursuing me just last month?

And now this is his ideal type?

Is he dumb or is he fickle?

F̲u̲c̲k̲! Why does only “pretty” fit her?!

The shock had gotten to her head, and she forgot to consider the possibility that he was messing with her. In her state of confusion, her mind had already started considering whether she should perm the hair that she had kept natural for over 20 years.

Of course, that was just a passing thought.

Gu Jue felt the girl next to him fall silent.

The dim lights from the screen made it hard for him to see her face even with 20/20 vision, but when it became brighter, he could tell something was wrong.

She was facing the screen but didn’t appear to be focusing on the movie. Her eyes were unfocused, and her lips showed a tint of a frown.

Oh, how heartbroken she looked.

Gu Jue was taken aback, then his heart melted for her, mixed with a touch of bitterness.

He was used to spewing lies and tricking people, but he forgot that she didn’t know they were lies.

Ruan An’an wanted to dig a hole to hide in. She felt so embarrassed and disheartened. She decided to not talk to Gu Jue again until the end of the movie when she felt something cold on her face.

It was… his fingers.

She turned to find that he had suddenly moved closer.

Gu Jue’s fingers touched her face, seemingly not making any moves. They were cold and felts quite comfortable.

He looked at her with sincerity and whispered to her softly. “Don’t be mad. All that about blonds with wavy hair was just me joking around… that was all lies.”

Ruan An’an was about to snort at him in anger.

The next second, Gu Jue sprung 3 words on her. “I like you.”

Ruan An’an widened her eyes in surprise, her heart almost stopped.

The changing brightness in the theatre was reflected in his eyes, making them seem as if twinkling. He smiled and added:

“That line was real.”