When Chu Ge followed her into the bedroom, Qin Ruojing whispered again, "Close the door."
"Chu Ge, what's going on with you? You nearly scared me to death just now. Didn't we discuss everything before coming back? Why aren't you playing by the rules?"
Once the door was shut tightly with a gentle "thud," Qin Ruojing immediately regained her chairman demeanor. Sitting on the bed with her legs crossed, she said somewhat discontentedly.
Chu Ge shrugged and said, "I thought about it carefully and felt your plan was a bit unreliable. If it got into details, there'd be too many loopholes. Your dad is a criminal investigator with sharp eyes. Look how great the current situation is; after I said that, your parents completely believed it."
"Alright then, at least we're lucky it didn't fall through. Let's not mention this anymore. I have another question. While I was not home, you played six chess games with my dad and won all of them?"
Chu Ge nodded, "Yeah, that's what happened."
"Are you crazy? Other sons-in-law usually try to please their fathers-in-law. But you, you didn't leave my dad any face at all? Beating him six to zero, what were you thinking?"
Just bringing up this matter made Qin Ruojing angry again, and thinking about it now still gave her a fright.
Chu Ge curled his lips into a slight smile and said, "And what was the result? Didn't you notice your dad smiling so widely?"
Qin Ruojing was momentarily speechless, unable to fathom the situation. She immediately pursued further, "Don't keep me in suspense. Why?"
"You wouldn't understand a man's mind."
Watching Chu Ge's half-smirking, half-bragging smile, Qin Ruojing ground her teeth. But her curiosity finally outweighed her annoyance, and she asked nicely, "Alright, I'll admit I don't understand. Now I'm asking for your advice. Can you tell me?"
"Uh, it's not that easy to explain. By the way, you must have heard the saying 'A hero respects another hero,' right?"
Chu Ge's counter-question, being such inexplicable nonsense made Qin Ruojing feel slightly insulted. Her eye twitched as she squeezed out through her teeth, "Get! To! The! Point!"
Chu Ge lazily shrugged, "Come on, is that the attitude to have when asking someone a question? Clearly, you're the one asking me, yet you're so demanding about it. Why should I tell you?"
Qin Ruojing's face froze. She thought, does this guy have a problem? She hired him to act for her and had to pay him. How could he disrespect his employer like that and talk about attitudes? Wasn't he afraid she'd get angry and fire him right away, no longer needing his act?
But then, Qin Ruojing's eye suddenly twitched again. She realized she couldn't really fire Chu Ge. Otherwise, her mother's nagging would undoubtedly linger around her or, more likely, bombard her.
Qin Ruojing had no choice but to accept her fate, sigh, and force a smile that wasn't genuine at all.
"Chu Ge, could you please tell me what's going on? Can we talk about the main point now?"
Chu Ge proudly touched his nose, "What I said was the main point. To put it more simply, on a battlefield, if you were a warrior, would you respect a weak and incompetent enemy who persistently flatters you and grovels, or would you respect those who fight with all their might to the end? Or rather, those so strong that they earn your wholehearted respect?"
When Chu Ge said this, Qin Ruojing suddenly showed a look of realization on her face.
Being a company chairman, she was obviously no fool. But after all, she was a woman, making it hard to think in such terms immediately.
Qin Ruojing rolled her eyes at Chu Ge and said, "So, you're saying that when you were playing chess with my dad, you saw him as an enemy?"
Chu Ge nodded naturally, "Pretty much. As they say, the chessboard is like a battlefield. In this matter, your dad is the same. If I let him win and he found out, it would be an insult to him. But decisively and straightforwardly defeating him would earn his respect. In a certain sense, this quality is what truly defines a man."
After listening to Chu Ge's explanation, Qin Ruojing wanted to argue with him a bit more but found herself without any retort. She even felt a surge of excitement. Both the present Chu Ge and her father who had gone to bed suddenly seemed much more heroic to her.
However, the admiration in Qin Ruojing's heart and the softness on her face only lasted a few seconds before being ruined by Chu Ge's smug smile, which turned her mood into unjustifiable annoyance once more.
"Alright, I'll give it to you that your reasoning holds up for that matter. I do have one last question. What was going on during dinner? Why did you make me serve you rice?"
Chu Ge was speechless. Everything was fine just a moment ago. How did her mood change so fast? Truly, a woman's heart is as unpredictable as the depths of the ocean!
"Come on, we're supposed to be a couple. Even in acting, you have to invest yourself a bit, right? Don't you think this detail fits perfectly with a typical couple's behavior?"
Qin Ruojing was also speechless. Even though she knew Chu Ge was reasonable, she still felt a bit miffed.
Chu Ge waited for a while, but since Qin Ruojing didn't speak again, he finally had to bring up a very important question.
"So, how are we sleeping tonight?"
Regarding this issue, Qin Ruojing was quite troubled before, but when she found out from her mother that her sister had gone on a trip and wouldn't be home for a few days, all her worries were resolved.
Although she had already found the answer in her heart, Qin Ruojing didn't want to say it out loud so quickly. Just now, this guy had the nerve to ask his boss to serve him rice, so it would be a waste not to tease him a little with this great opportunity.
"How do you want to sleep?"
With a slight curl of her lips, Qin Ruojing propped her chin on one hand, looking gentle and charming. It was a stark contrast to her usual strong woman image at the company as Chairman Qin.
In this situation where a man and a woman were alone in a room, seeing Qin Ruojing's teasing expression and her little foot playfully swinging back and forth, Chu Ge couldn't help but feel a bit speechless. He couldn't help but recall the moment when he helped Qin Ruojing treat her sprained ankle, mischievously thinking, hey? Are you doing this on purpose to tease me?
If I had known you had this kind of mischievous side, I wouldn't have been so dedicated back then, hmph...
Though he thought so in his mind, Chu Ge said nothing more, choosing to maintain silence, and merely the corners of his mouth turned upwards in a smile.
Seeing Chu Ge's expression, neither too light nor too heavy, with a bit of a roguish smile, Qin Ruojing felt secretly both shy and annoyed. She always felt this guy wasn't thinking anything good, or why else would he smile so indecently?
But she also knew it was just a normal reaction. Who told her to deliberately be so enticing?
Thinking about it from another angle, perhaps it was a good thing. At least it proved her body was full of charm.
Without showing her inner embarrassment and a bit of pride on her face, Qin Ruojing struck an even more alluring pose, which further accentuated her good figure.
When she noticed the smile on Chu Ge's face becoming more helpless, she chuckled softly, "Hey, are you thinking, since we're pretending to be a couple, we have to sleep in the same room?"
"You're the boss, so of course, I listen to you. If you insist, and even give me a raise, I might consider it."
Hearing the first half of Chu Ge's sentence, Qin Ruojing thought it sounded quite reasonable, but when Chu Ge spoke the second half, despite Qin Ruojing's decent character, she had the urge to grab a pillow and throw it hard at him.
This bastard, after fooling my parents just now, immediately puts on airs!
With a deep breath, Qin Ruojing refrained from acting on her thoughts. However, she returned to a dignified sitting posture, with the seductive smile gone from her face.
"Dream on, this is my room. You'll sleep here tonight, and I'll sleep in my sister's room. If you want to take a shower, go ahead. If you don't, I'll go wash up."
Chu Ge smiled, "Alright, I'll go shower then. Good night, boss."
With that, Chu Ge pushed the door open and walked out.
The bathroom door was open with the lights on, and Qin's mother had already finished using it. Chu Ge moved a chair to the door, neatly arranged his clothes, wearing only underwear, and walked in.
When he closed the bathroom door and turned around, he saw a beautiful sight.
On a drying rack on the wall next to the water heater, there were several colorful silk scarves hanging. Judging by the style and material, they were clearly young girls' things.
Shifting his gaze away from the scarves, Chu Ge scratched his head, feeling a bit speechless. Women are so troublesome, with so many things for dressing up.
These scarves probably belong to Qin Ruojing's sister, right? He wondered, what would Qin Ruojing look like if she wore this type of scarf?
Chu Ge thought about it. She'd probably look quite pretty. Isn't there a saying, there's no ugly woman, only lazy ones? Moreover, Qin Ruojing has such a good foundation that wearing these scarves would make her quite alluring.
After glancing at the scarves a few times, Chu Ge adjusted the water temperature to cold and began to shower.
When the refreshing water splashed on his body, a sense of relief and relaxation spread throughout him.
After finishing his shower, Chu Ge suddenly paused, realizing a problem he and Qin Ruojing had both overlooked.
He hadn't brought any spare underwear, nor did he have a toothbrush, tooth paste, or towel. This... was a bit troubling.
Looking at the bathroom cabinet, there was an unopened toothbrush, resolving the toothbrush issue, but what about a towel?
Scratching his head, Chu Ge was in a dilemma. Should he go outside to ask Qin Ruojing for one? How could he go out there stark naked?