36. Block
Although Chen Ruowen would adamantly deny being someone who cared about appearances, Bai Jingyan was so certain of it that she began to doubt herself just a little.
“Is it possible I really do like good-looking people?”
She scrolled through her phone’s cloud photo album. Most of the photos she’d saved were of herself, with a few family pictures and some of Bai Jingyan. After reviewing them in chronological order, Chen Ruowen reached an unmistakably accurate conclusion.
“No wonder I like myself so much…”
She quickly flipped to the end of the album. When she reached the last row of new photos, her hand paused.
The photo showed an exceptionally handsome man wearing sunglasses and dragging a suitcase—an airport photo posted by Gao Tang in his social circle. Last time, Bai Jingyan had been curious about what Gao Tang looked like (Bai Jingyan: I wasn’t!), so Chen Ruowen had downloaded the picture.
Looking at it enlarged now, Gao Tang’s appearance was… not bad. Even under Chen Ruowen’s notoriously picky gaze, she couldn’t find a single flaw.
Chen Ruowen exited the album, opened WeChat, and found Gao Tang’s name in her contacts. She looked at his profile picture, which used the airport photo, chuckled softly, then opened his personal page and selected “Delete Friend.”
After finishing this, Chen Ruowen leapt onto her large bed, fished a tablet from beside her pillow, opened a streaming app, and dialed Assistant Pan’s number.
“Panpan, find me some movie resources.”
Mo-movie resources…?
Assistant Pan, diligently working at home, stole a furtive glance at his computer’s hard drive…
Cough, what am I thinking! There’s no way Miss would want those kinds of movies!
“Do you have titles or genres in mind?” he asked cautiously.
What he feared most was that Chen Ruowen would demand movies without knowing the titles. Last time, she’d heard about a foreign novel that was supposedly very good and tasked him with finding it.
But she hadn’t caught the novel’s title, nor the protagonist’s name, not even the main plot—only that it was a foreign novel, possibly featuring someone called Ruth or Louise, and it was quite famous.
He had no idea how much effort it took to track down that book… and nearly died from Chen Ruowen’s endless complaints along the way…
“Obviously, I do. Otherwise, what would I have you find?” she retorted.
Another complaint (ಥ_ಥ). Assistant Pan was crushed.
“Write this down.”
Chen Ruowen reminded him, not caring whether he was ready, and began listing titles.
“‘Super Squad,’ ‘Sword of Bloodshed,’ ‘The Mist,’ ‘Joker Nation,’ ‘Sin City’…”
She rattled off more than a dozen titles in one breath, leaving Assistant Pan questioning his life choices.
How could their young mistress like films like these? Either saving the world or exploring the depths of human nature. Based on his understanding of Chen Ruowen, she’d fall asleep at the mere sight of such movies.
“That’s all for now. If I think of more, I’ll add them. I want every series, delivered to my home before Saturday.”
Assistant Pan quickly jotted down Chen Ruowen’s requests, but upon reviewing the list of titles, he suddenly realized something.
“Miss, the third installment of ‘Super Squad’ only just premiered, so the discs aren’t out yet. I might…”
“Figure it out yourself,” Chen Ruowen interrupted without listening. “I only care that I can watch it at home by Saturday.”
Assistant Pan: (ಥ_ಥ) I really wish I could go back to Chairman Chen… Being Miss’s subordinate is so hard (┬_┬)
…
Gao Tang didn’t realize he’d been blocked by Chen Ruowen until nearly a month later.
By then, “No NG Tonight” had been officially announced. Gao Tang had waited a long time for a legitimate excuse to message Chen Ruowen and grow closer. He carefully crafted a flawless message for over half a month, sent it, and almost immediately received a reply.
Sorry, you are not friends with the recipient. Please send a verification request.
……
?????
Not friends? Was there a system malfunction?
Gao Tang instinctively wanted to call her to check, but his finger stopped just as it touched the call button.
No, there couldn’t be such a glitch, and he hadn’t seen any posts from Chen Ruowen for quite some time.
He quickly withdrew his hand and opened her social feed. Sure enough, all he saw was a long termination line.
She had blocked him.
But why?
Just days ago, when they met at school, Chen Ruowen had greeted him naturally. Perhaps he’d been blocked only recently?
Gao Tang stared at his phone screen and carefully recalled every recent interaction with Chen Ruowen, checking them one by one. At last, his gaze settled on her profile picture.
He quickly opened his contacts and found Bai Jingyan’s name. After thinking for a moment, he sent a “?” message.
“Ding!”
Bai Jingyan, hearing the notification, casually unlocked his screen. Seeing Gao Tang’s message, he replied with an identical “?”, puzzled. Just as he finished sending it, he looked up and saw Chen Ruowen quickly deposit a heap of greens into his bowl.
“Not this, and not these either.”
Bai Jingyan sighed helplessly.
“Don’t be picky. Last month, Dr. He said your nutrition was unbalanced and you needed more vegetables.”
Chen Ruowen asked, puzzled, “How do you know my medical report?”
Bai Jingyan naturally returned all the items Chen Ruowen had given him.
“Aunt Yang told me. She asked me to keep an eye on your meals at school.”
So that’s why Bai Jingyan’s meal choices for her had become increasingly unpalatable lately—someone had been secretly filing reports behind her back!
Irritated, Chen Ruowen took a bite of the greens, just as Bai Jingyan’s phone chimed again.
He unlocked the screen and saw Gao Tang’s latest reply.
“Why did Chen Ruowen delete me? Don’t tell me you had nothing to do with it.”
Deleted him?
Bai Jingyan looked at his phone screen and couldn’t help but chuckle. He set down his chopsticks, thought for a moment, and typed a reply.
“Probably because you’re ugly.”
Gao Tang, clutching his phone, nearly burst a blood vessel at the reply.
“That shameless brat!!”
……
“What are you laughing at?”
Chen Ruowen noticed Bai Jingyan’s unusual expression and cautiously leaned closer to his phone screen.
“Who are you messaging that’s making you laugh so much?”
“Did I laugh?” Bai Jingyan touched his face and locked his phone, placing it out of Chen Ruowen’s reach.
“My mom said I get half a day off this weekend.”
Chen Ruowen was surprised. “You get a break? Aunt Qi is suddenly being so lenient?”
Bai Jingyan nodded, looking at Chen Ruowen.
“So, where do you want to go this weekend? This time, I’ll let you decide.”