Chapter 46 – The Runaway Little Darling of the Overbearing CEO

Jian Mei had no idea what to expect when he was faced with a blackened screen.

But Lu Xingwang had said that nothing was wrong and it wasn’t good to pry, so he hesitated before speaking,”So, why did you video call me? Is there something wrong?”

It was only then that Lu Xingwang remembered his original intention, “Are you available now?”

Jian Mei replied, “I’m at home because there are no assignments from the teacher for the final exams, so I have nothing to do. I’m very convenient right now.”

Lu Xingwang agreed, hoping to end this commotion soon, and said, “I’ll send you an ID in a moment, add him as friend, and tell him it’s Lu Zhuang asked him to come to my location.”

Jian Mei was puzzled, “Why don’t you tell him yourself?”

Lu Xingwang paused and replied, “I can’t.”

This “can’t” was quite intriguing, but Jian Mei couldn’t figure out what was wrong. He knew that if a friend had difficulties, he would do his best to help within his abilities, so he said, “Alright, send it to me.”

Lu Xingwang was worried that he might be influenced negatively, so he reminded him, “Just keep it simple, don’t be too chatty with him.”

Jian Mei agreed, “Sure.”

The video call ended, and Jian Mei received the account that Lu Xingwang sent him. He copied the account and searched for it in the “Add Friends” section. With a simple search, he found an account named “Qingshan YiJiu” and promptly added the friend, who accepted after a short wait.

Zuo Qingshan sent him a question mark” ?”.

Jian Mei typed to him, “It’s Daz

Zhuang ge who asked me to add you.”

In inn, Zuo Qingshan hadn’t realized what was happening yet, as he had no idea who this DaZhuang ge was. So he replied, “You must have the wrong person.”

Jian Mei double-checked the account and responded, “No, I haven’t made a mistake.”

“DaZhuang ge asked you to go to his location , but he can’t send messages himself right now,” Jian Mei dutifully conveyed the message.

Finally, Zuo Qingshan understood who this “DaZhuang ge” was, it was the virtual identity he had created for His Highness. His Highness wanted to meet him? What could be the reason?

He immediately got up to prepare to head towards the military base, but this time he couldn’t alert too many people because it was meant to be a secret visit with Lu Xingwang. The presence couldn’t be too noticeable. Therefore, the local personnel were unaware of his arrival, and he had to change into different clothing to act inconspicuously.

“Oh, by the way,” halfway through his walk, Zuo Qingshan remembered and asked, “Who are you?”

Jian Mei replied, “I’m a friend of DaZhuang ge.”

Zuo Qingshan chuckled, and the straightforward general teased, “He has friends too?”

While this was a joke for Zuo Qingshan, it had quite an impact on Jian Mei. He was puzzled and messaged back, “Doesn’t DaZhuang ge have friends?”

Why did this person keep addressing His Highness as DaZhuang ge?

Even someone as dense as Zuo Qingshan could sense that something was amiss here. No one dared to call the prince their brother, so this might be someone in the camp who didn’t yet know Lu Xingwang’s identity. But all the new recruits should be in the elimination rounds, so how could anyone send him a message?

Suddenly, a dim light flickered in Zuo Qingshan’s not-so-bright mind, and he remembered a possibility. “You’re that kid, aren’t you?”

Jian Mei was taken aback and defensively typed, “What do you mean ‘that kid’? I’m not a kid; I’m already in the second year of junior high, and I’ll be 15 soon.”

…

The young general fell silent.

After some contemplation, he realized that he and His Highness were of similar age, so there wasn’t much to be surprised about.

Zuo Qingshan initially didn’t intend to say much, but now that he knew this was the same kid, he became more interested. As he walked outside, he messaged Jian Mei, asking, “Why do you call him DaZhuang ge?”

Jian Mei questioned in confusion, “Is that not allowed?”

Zuo Qingshan hesitated. If Lu Xingwang agreed, there might not be an issue. He said. ‘But he’s the youngest in the family, and he doesn’t have a younger brothers.’

But in the feudal mindset of Stan Star, even if someone was older or a close friend, you couldn’t use such familial terms unless you had a blood relationship. So Zuo Qingshan wanted to correct this, but Jian Mei and him were on different wavelengths. Jian Mei asked, “So, DaZhuang ge has brothers at home?”

?

This time, Zuo Qingshan was puzzled.

Their conversation seemed like they were baffling each other. Zuo Qingshan’s confusion lay in why someone would ask such a question. As a top ranked in the universe, the members of the Stan Star royal family should be aware of such knowledge, or perhaps, His Highness hadn’t disclosed his identity to this child?

This was the most likely possibility so far!

Zuo Qingshan had been oppressed by Lu Xingwang all this time, but now, he rolled his eyes a few times and sighed lightly. He messaged Jian Mei, saying, “Yes, but his life isn’t easy.”

As expected, Jian Mei asked, “Why?”

“His older brother isn’t kind to him,” Zuo Qingshan wasn’t lying. “And there’s a stepmother who’s even harsher, treating him like a thorn in her side every day.”

A half-joking remark felt like a heavy blow to Jian Mei’s heart.

He remembered that Lu Xingwang had mentioned his mother’s passing, but he hadn’t realized that DaZhuang ge’s situation was this pitiable. So, he had a stepmother, and he had an older brother. No wonder, even though they were the same age, DaZhuang ge couldn’t attend school. He realized how tough DaZhuang ge had it all along, and he never noticed!

Jian Mei felt really sorry for him and said, “He must be going through a lot.”

Zuo Qingshan thought he was going through a lot too, so he made a couple of casual remarks, “Many people in this world go through tough times. But don’t worry too much. Let me tell you, even though his family isn’t great, they’re actually quite wealthy, not just rich but extremely rich. So, he doesn’t have to worry about food and clothing.”

Jian Mei was bewildered. If he wasn’t lacking in money, why was he going through so much trouble not attending school?

When a person starts recalling details, their mind gradually becomes more enlightened. Jian Mei caught a glimmer of hope and asked, “You said DaZhuang ge has no friends, but aren’t you one?”

Zuo Qingshan hesitated for a moment and then replied, “Well, we work together, and if you want to call us friends, I guess you can. Actually, I think he’s not a bad person at heart. He’s just not very sociable most of the time.”

Zuo Qingshan always spoke without much thought. “I’ve always thought that someone like him doesn’t need friends. Even if he makes friends, it’s just to find some amusement. After all, for him, a lot of things come down to self-interest, or maybe he’s just bored and looking for some fun. I think, given his experiences and circumstances, he wouldn’t really make any genuine friends.”

Jian Mei fell into silence.

He was thinking, was he DaZhuang ge’s source of amusement when he was bored?

Zuo Qingshan was completely unaware that he had stirred up trouble and was caught up in Jian Mei’s musings. Their conversation ended when he was close to the base, and at the gate, he was stopped, “This is a military restricted area, no one is allowed to enter without permission!”

Zuo Qingshan showed his identification and put away his cheerful demeanor.He spoke, “Tell your commanding officer to come see me.”

The young soldier at the gate had never seen someone of such high rank before, and after staring at the identification for a few moments, he quickly said, “Please wait.”

Returning to the lounge, Zuo Qingshan called the battalion commander. The camp commander, who was still waiting outside the elimination round research facility, couldn’t believe his ears when he received the call, “Are you serious? Is it really Zuo Qingshan?”

The soldier replied, “The identification is authentic.”

The battalion commander muttered a curse and hurriedly told the others, “Get to work, deactivate the signal jammer and activate the divine power blocking system. Tidy up this place quickly. I’m going out to meet the visitor.”

The others had never seen the battalion commander like this and had no idea what had happened.

The battalion commander hurried outside, and when he saw Zuo Qingshan, his heart skipped a beat. There’s an old saying that goes “Nothing good happens without a reason,” and he had a feeling that the young general’s visit might not be for a friendly chat. Still, he tried to respond as politely as he could, “General, how can we help you today?”

Zuo Qingshan raised an eyebrow, “Can’t I come?”

The battalion commander trembled under the stern gaze and quickly said, “Of course, of course you can.”

“Take me to your elimination round site.” Zuo Qingshan said directly.

The battalion commander hesitated, “Do you want to watch the matches?”

Zuo Qingshan nodded faintly and gave the battalion commander a meaningful look, “I heard that the civilian admission rate here is particularly low, so I wanted to see for myself why that is. The civilians who get eliminated this time, I want to interview each one of them.”

The battalion commander was caught off guard by this move.

There had never been such a thing in previous years, especially considering there had never been a concept of civilian admission. Even if there were, it didn’t require this level of attention.

Seeing the battalion commander’s silence, Zuo Qingshan kicked him and said impatiently, “Did you hear me?”

The battalion commander, who had been so harsh in educating others in the morning, was now silent and dared not say a word. He reluctantly responded, “Yes, yes.”

There was no way to contain this secret, especially when Zuo Qingshan, who had come to find fault, was already full of pent-up frustration. He was angry with his subordinates for blatantly violating the new regulations he had issued, and he was angry with himself for thinking he had done a good job when in fact, there were numerous loopholes that could have been discovered with a bit more scrutiny.

Throughout the way, Zuo Qingshan was angrily shouting:

“Why do these two people still have other people’s guns?”

“Isn’t the burning mark on the ground a sign of Fire Divine Power? When did you activate the signal tower for blocking Divine Power?”

“Do you think I’m blind?”

“With this kind of treatment, who wouldn’t have a low acceptance rate?”

While Zuo Qingshan was scolding ,the new recruits who participated in the elimination round came out. The battalion commander was still considering how to defend the situation, but he caught a glimpse of Lu Xingwang, who had obtained two badges and emerged unscathed. A spark of inspiration crossed his mind, and he said, “General, you’ve misunderstood. Actually, our competition system is not entirely unreasonable. You see, there are those who can successfully complete the competition, aren’t there?”

Zuo Qingshan glanced at Lu Xingwang, who was not far away. When their eyes met, he almost burst out laughing but had to turn away, pretending not to have seen it.

The battalion commander thought Zuo Qingshan didn’t believe him, so he waved and said, “Come over here.”

Lu Xingwang paused and walked over in their direction.

“Explain to the general whether I mistreated you all and whether I’ve always upheld fairness and justice,” the battalion commander said while gesturing to Lu Xingwang, hinting for him to think carefully before speaking.

Lu Xingwang told the general, “What he said is correct.”

The battalion commander smiled smugly at Zuo Qingshan, “You heard that.”

“In dealing with the nobility, there has indeed been no mistreatment, fair and just,” Lu Xingwang calmly added, “In this regard, they have done well.”

The battalion commander’s expression changed, and he spoke harshly, “You’re tired of living, aren’t you?”

“General, don’t listen to his nonsense,” the battalion commander began to fabricate, “Many of the rules for the elimination rounds I set are fair, and it’s all to train these recruits. Look, even without his Divine Power, our Third Prince is still very formidable. I want these recruits to look up to him, so I increased the difficulty a bit. I believe that if the Third Prince himself were standing here today, he would approve of my idea.”

Silence enveloped the area.

Zuo Qingshan turned to Lu Xingwang and asked, “Do you agree?”

The battalion commander gradually widened his eyes, unable to believe his ears, as he turned to the shabby-looking recruit standing not far away. He heard that recruit, who stood straight as a rod, looking at him as if he were an ant, lightly opening his thin lips and saying, “I don’t agree.”

He watched as Lu Xingwang took a vial of potion to wash his face, revealing his original appearance. After calmly wiping his hands, he looked at himself and said, “It’s still a bit challenging.”

At that moment, the battalion commander’s heart was in turmoil.

On the other side

These past two days, Jian Mei felt a bit absent-minded.

He couldn’t help but keep replaying the words Zuo Qingshan had said to him in his mind. That DaZhuang ge was actually just bored and looking for some fun, not really prepared to make genuine friends. At first, Jian Mei didn’t think much of it, but upon closer reflection, he found Zuo Qingshan’s words not entirely without merit. After all, he knew almost nothing about DaZhuang ge.

If DaZhuang ge were really considering him a true friend, would he act this way?

Putting himself in DaZhuang ge’s shoes, he realized that he talked about everything every day, while DaZhuang ge rarely revealed anything about himself.

The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable Jian Mei felt. With this pent-up frustration, he went to school to collect his report card. Many students were quite happy as winter vacation was coming soon, and some even exchanged gifts. Jian Mei ran into Cai Zhenzhen in the corridor, who was giving away her cherished novels to her friends because she had too many and didn’t want to carry them back home.

Upon seeing Jian Mei, Cai Zhenzhen waved and greeted him, “Mei Mei.”

Jian Mei walked over and asked, “Zhenzhen, what are you doing?”

Cai Zhenzhen, holding the novels, replied, “Oh, nothing much. I’m giving away some novels to my friends.”

“Novels?” Jian Mei had only seen textbooks and hadn’t read many novels. His family’s library was full of medical books and classics, so he was curious, “What kind of novels are these?”

Cai Zhenzhen looked puzzled, “You haven’t read them?”

Jian Mei shook his head honestly.

Cai Zhenzhen smiled and opened a few books, saying, “Here these are novels.”

Jian Mei leaned over to see the contents on the book covers. Most of the titles were like this: “Demon Campus Idol, Don’t Kiss Me,’ ‘Your Highness, Please Go Easy on Me,’ ‘The Runaway Little Darling of the Overbearing CEO,’ ‘The Prince and My Sweet Kiss.”

Jian Mei’s eyes widened as if he had just entered a new world, “They seem really interesting.”

Cai Zhenzhen didn’t expect him to be unfamiliar with the novels. She immediately generously stacked several books and placed them in Jian Mei’s hands, saying, “They’re all for you!”

Jian Mei was surprised and asked, “Really?”

Cai Zhenzhen smiled and said, “Of course, but you have to be careful not to let your parents find out.”

She made it sound so mysterious, as if they were doing something mischievous. Jian Mei put the books in his small bag, and when he returned home and found his parents weren’t back yet, he went to his room. Due to the upcoming winter vacation, there was no need to do homework at night, so he decided to open one of the books, “The Runaway Little Darling of the Overbearing CEO”.

At first, he thought it might be an ordinary book, but he was captivated after reading a few chapters. As he delved further into the story, Jian Mei even had to use a tissue to wipe away his tears, especially after reading some dialogues that were deeply touching:

“You’re nothing more than a plaything of mine, thinking you could become someone close to me?”

“Heh, it’s just your wishful thinking.”

“Let me tell you the truth; I’ve never loved you.”

Tears streamed down Jian Mei’s face. Just as he was getting deeply emotional, his phone shook as he received a call from Lu Xingwang. It occurred to him that he hadn’t messaged DaZhuang ge much these past few days due to Zuo Qingshan’s words. Perhaps Lu Xingwang had noticed and decided to check on him. At this very moment, he was reading the part where the female lead made up her mind to leave the male lead, and the male lead suddenly felt uncomfortable because it was as if his plaything was leaving. For the first time, he called the female lead in a very rare scenario. Jian Mei was fully immersed in the story.

When he answered the call, Lu Xingwang asked, “How did your exams go?”

Jian Mei sniffled.

Lu Xingwang thought Jian Mei hadn’t performed well and his eyelashes trembled. Eventually, he said, “Do your best next time.”

Jian Mei wiped his nose with a tissue and closed the book, shedding a couple more tears.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Xingwang had just returned to the palace, bathed and changed, and was now looking through recent case files on his desk. He asked, “Why are you crying?”

Jian Mei replied softly, “It’s nothing.”

Lu Xingwang lightly furrowed his brows, then asked, “What happened in these past few days? Did something happen?”

He guessed it might be poor exam results or perhaps that Jian Mei was scolded by his parents. While thinking about how to console the child, he heard a faint response on the other end of the phone, “No……”

Lu Xingwang’s expression turned cold. He thought that Jian Mei had grown up and developed his own thoughts. It was normal to have few secrets.

“Since you don’t want to say, then forget it,” Lu Xingwang never forced him, “Rest early. I’ll hang up now.”

Jian Mei was taken aback, his voice still shaky, and he urgently said, “Wait, don’t hang up.”

Lu Xingwang paused and asked, “So what’s the matter then?”

Jian Mei bit his lip and replied, “It’s not about the exams.”

Lu Xingwang raised an eyebrow, “Then what is it?”

The quick witted young prince matched the time and suddenly adopted a stern tone, “Had someone said something to you?”

Jian Mei sensed that something was wrong with the tone and quickly said, “No, no.”

“I was just…” After hesitating multiple times, Jian Mei, like a child who couldn’t hold in the matter any longer, asked softly while holding the nearby book “The Runaway Little Darling of the Overbearing CEO,” ,”I was just thinking, do you really consider me a good friend, or do you see me as a source of fun and entertainment?”

There was a moment of silence from Lu Xingwang.

Jian Mei became extremely nervous and then heard the prince ask, “Where did you learn these new words from?”

“Ah?” Jian Mei didn’t expect to feel like he was being questioned by his parents. He was anxious, “I read them in novels.”

“…”

Lu Xingwang said, “What kind of novels?”

He was curious and wanted to take a look.

Translator’s Note-Guys don’t forget to support and comment your views(^-^)