The Chestnut Girl - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was very noisy outside the private room.

So all I heard was “-head over heels-my wife-a luxury flat-”

Liang Suting really did love to show off.

So this was how childish he was in front of his friends.

I composed myself and pushed the door open. Liang Suting whipped around, a hint of panic in his eyes. “Lingling? Did you just hear-”

I knew he was afraid I would be shy if I heard his confession, so I simply pretended I knew nothing. “Hm? Hear what?”

He was silent for two seconds. “Nothing.”

His friend’s gaze moved between us with a very complicated look before finally landing on Liang Suting, who had instinctively stood up to pull out a chair for me and then poured me a cup of hot tea. The friend gave two dry laughs. “I suddenly remembered I have something to do. I’ll get going first.”

I was a little surprised. “Didn’t we say we’d go look at the new project together this afternoon?”

He clutched his cheek. “Ate too much sugar. My tooth hurts.”

Liang Suting frowned as he watched him leave. “What project did you arrange to see with him?”

I answered casually, “Oh, he mentioned before that he wanted to invest in one of our foundation’s projects. It happens to be under my lab.”

He lifted his chin arrogantly. “So there comes a day when Miss Jiang needs to find someone to invest in her, too.”

I smiled. “That’s right. Our research fund is a little short right now.”

Liang Suting snorted. “So you have times when you’re short on money now.”

I smiled without saying anything.

Crying poor in front of investors was an innate talent of scientific researchers.

But he had clearly misunderstood the meaning of my smile. He gave me a deliberately careless glance. “Say something nice, and I can go see that project he isn’t going to.”

I held him back. “No need.”

He immediately got anxious. “Why won’t you let me go? Why can he go but I can’t?”

I took a sip of tea. “That project doesn’t have much of a future. Don’t throw money around.”

He froze for a moment, probably not expecting that answer. “Oh.”

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and he turned his head away, looking a little awkward. “So you care about me that much. Honestly, what am I going to do with you?”

I glanced at him. “We’ve known each other for so many years.”

The curve of his lips was almost impossible to suppress. “Then is there anywhere else you need money? It just so happens I have a sum I can’t spend.”

I lowered my eyes. “Actually, I have a small research project of my own. It’s pretty niche, so it’s not easy to apply for funding-”

Liang Suting’s voice was urgent. “I’ll sponsor you! How much funding do you need?”

I gave him a number.

He let out a long breath. “Such a small amount of money, and it’s worth you lowering yourself over it? I’ll have my secretary handle it tomorrow.”

As if a huge weight had finally been lifted from his chest, he looked at me with raised brows, proud and triumphant. “How do you feel right now?”

Me? I felt great!

He looked at me expectantly. “Do you feel really unwilling? Do you think I’m especially arrogant? Do you feel stifled inside?”

Liang Suting was great in every way. It was just that every now and then, he would suddenly fall into some role-play scenario he had invented for himself.

He seemed to really like the whole domineering CEO forcing love on someone act.

Every time he gave me a gift, he liked to put on this performance.

Although I didn’t understand it, as his girlfriend who was about to get engaged to him, I decided to play along.

Seeing that after delivering his ruthless line, he instead sat gloomily off to the side, I leaned my head on his shoulder and delivered my lines in a flat, wooden voice.

“Oh my God, I can only accept this enormous sum of money in grievance and spend it however I want. Ah, this is truly infuriating.”