Chapter 242 The Thirteenth Day of Entering a Restricted Novel

Chapter 242: The Thirteenth Day of Entering the Restricted Novel

At noon, the two of them left the breathtaking starry world together.

An Yi took Chu Chen to a restaurant he had stumbled upon, where the dishes were really to his taste.

He deliberately avoided the one where he'd run into You Shou and Cheng Yuhang; though the food there was good, he would never set foot in it again.

The restaurant had an elegant atmosphere, and they chose a seat by the window. The waiter handed them the menu. Chu Chen quickly ordered two dishes, then set the menu down, placed his hands on his knees, sat up straight, and started staring at An Yi without blinking, especially focusing on every dish he ordered.

An Yi was amused by his intense expression. Putting down the menu, he asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Chu Chen pushed up his glasses, his gaze still locked on the menu beside An Yi, and said in a serious tone, "This is our first time eating together in a context that's neither work nor a chance encounter. I need to seize this chance to observe and record your taste preferences and dietary habits."

He paused to think, then added to clarify the source of his information: "This is a key requirement marked with three asterisks in the pursuit manual."

"Pursuit manual?" An Yi let out a questioning grunt.

What was that?

Only then did Chu Chen realize he had accidentally let it slip.

But he didn’t try to hide it. Instead, he nodded frankly and admitted, "Yes, the pursuit manual."

"I synthesized 375 highly upvoted online guides and the results of a survey conducted offline with different groups of people, then compiled, organized, and kept updating it into a guiding document."

Seeing An Yi’s slightly surprised expression, he further explained, "I've never been in a relationship. All the physical and emotional reactions I have when interacting with you, along with the corresponding social strategies I need to adopt, are entirely new and unknown territory for me."

"I’m not smart enough, and I often feel completely lost, so I had to seek external help."

An Yi was a bit stunned and asked hesitantly, "Help? You just said... a survey?"

"Yes," Chu Chen nodded firmly and began counting on his fingers, "To make sure the data was comprehensive and representative, my survey subjects included people online, my parents and relatives, my lab advisor and coworkers, and friends I can actually talk to..."

Seeing the mix of disbelief and speechlessness on An Yi’s face, he quickly explained, afraid An Yi might misunderstand, "Please don't be mad. In all my data collection, I strictly kept everything anonymous and never revealed your specific identity anywhere."

An Yi: "..."

He was at a loss for words.

Who could that possibly fool?

Given how Chu Chen has been acting around him lately, anyone who knows him even a little could probably guess the gist of it.

But... watching Chu Chen earnestly checking if he'd messed up, An Yi couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh and shake his head.

It was actually pretty cute.

After lunch, the two settled the bill and left. The light at the restaurant entrance was much brighter than inside, carrying the warmth of the afternoon.

----------

An Yi and Chu Chen were heading to the parking lot when a voice laced with shock and hesitation suddenly cut in: "An Yi?!"

The faint, warm smile left on An Yi's face from Chu Chen instantly disappeared.

He turned his eyes coldly and saw Jiang Lin standing a few steps away, his face a mix of scrutiny and barely concealed panic.

Jiang Lin clearly hadn’t expected to run into An Yi here. His eyes instinctively darted around, as if checking for any other familiar faces nearby.

An Yi didn’t acknowledge him. His eyes lingered on Jiang Lin’s face for a moment, clearly caught the deep dark circles under the other's eyes and the lingering, jittery anxiety of a startled bird in his brow.

It seemed the documents he had previously submitted through certain channels about the Jiang family had indeed caused the other party considerable trouble.

Jiang Lin looked at An Yi, his eyelid twitched uncontrollably.

He had been stressed out these past few days, not only completely unable to contact Wu Zhishang, as if the man had vanished into thin air.

What was even more alarming was that the Jiang family’s information channels at certain critical points seemed to have been cut off by an invisible hand, and the word from above had become murky.

This was definitely not a good sign.

He'd vaguely heard rumors that something big had happened to the Wu family, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t uncover the specifics, as if an invisible barrier had sealed off the truth.

All this loss of control made him restless and uneasy.

And the starting point of all these anomalies seemed to trace back to that night, when he lost his mind and went along with Wu Zhishang and tried to make a move on An Yi.

But... An Yi?

Did he have the power to simultaneously influence both the Wu and Jiang families?

Deep down, Jiang Lin didn’t want to believe it, but whenever he recalled that night—when he blocked An Yi’s path and met those calm and unruffled eyes, cold and seemingly all-seeing—a chill crept into his heart.

An Yi was different from the An Yi of before, who, though somewhat aloof, still followed the rules of the circle as CEO An.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had changed, but it was a fundamental, instinctively dangerous difference.

Ever since that night, he had often regretted it. He shouldn’t have provoked An Yi just to curry favor with Wu Zhishang!

Forcing down the panic in his heart, Jiang Lin pulled his facial muscles into an extremely stiff and awkward smile and stepped closer: "What a coincidence, I didn’t expect to run into you here."

His gaze involuntarily drifted to Chu Chen, who stood quietly beside An Yi, scrutinizing and guessing—who was this person?

He didn’t look like someone from their circle.

An Yi couldn’t even be bothered to feign politeness, directly ignoring his words and gaze.

Jiang Lin’s smile grew even more strained: "Come on, An Yi? We’ve been friends for so many years, after all... In the end, nothing happened to you, right?"

He tried to downplay the sordidness of that night with the phrase "nothing happened," his tone carrying a hint of pleading he himself didn’t fully realize.

An Yi didn’t even glance at him again. He just slightly turned his head, signaling to Chu Chen beside him, ready to leave.

Seeing this, Jiang Lin’s heart tightened. He instinctively stepped forward, licked his dry lips, and blocked An Yi’s path again, opening his mouth to speak: "An Yi, I..."

Before he could finish, Chu Chen, who had been standing quietly slightly behind and to the side of An Yi, suddenly frowned, stepped forward, and directly positioned himself in front of An Yi.

Chu Chen was much taller than Jiang Lin. Now, looking down slightly, he fixed Jiang Lin with a clearly displeased, almost condescending gaze and asked in a tone of pure bewilderment: "What do you want? Why are you blocking An Yi?"