The moment he heard that, Lu Chengzhou broke out in a cold sweat on the spot.

Good lord.

How much did Lin Chen drink to end up like this?

If he'd had even one more peanut, he wouldn't be talking this crazy.

Who just gives away the heroine like that?

Even if Lin Chen dared to offer, Lu Chengzhou wouldn't dare take her.

In his eyes, a troublesome woman like the heroine was only something the male lead could handle. He definitely didn't want to get involved.

"No! Absolutely not!"

The words flew out of Lu Chengzhou's mouth.

"You absolutely can't give up on Su Qiaoman. And you absolutely can't marry Jiang Aiyu!"

Lin Chen, on the other end of the phone, froze for a moment.

"Why can't I marry Jiang Aiyu?" he asked instinctively.

But the second the question left his mouth, even Lin Chen got confused.

The alcohol had really hit him hard.

What he'd said a second ago was already getting blurry in his mind.

Hearing Lin Chen's question, Lu Chengzhou choked up for a second.

He couldn't exactly tell Lin Chen outright that he'd read the script, and the script said the two of them weren't a match, could he?

So after a brief thought, he decided to make up an excuse.

Time for a righteous speech.

"Is this kind of arranged marriage really what you, Lin Chen, should accept?"

"No! It isn't!"

"This is a new era now. We don't do that parents' orders and matchmaker nonsense anymore!"

"You need to bravely chase your own happiness. You need to be yourself, Brother Lin Chen!"

"You're the man who's going to inherit the Lin family business and become the richest man in Yi City!"

That passionate little speech left Lin Chen completely stunned.

Was Lu Chengzhou really thinking for his sake?

That actually warmed his heart.

After all, ever since this whole thing started, Lu Chengzhou really was the only one speaking up for him.

Lin Chen's nose stung.

A real brother.

Sure enough, only a true brother would think this much for him.

"Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't accept this kind of life..."

Hearing the crying edge in Lin Chen's voice over the phone, Lu Chengzhou's mouth twitched.

What was going on?

He felt like he'd just shattered the male lead's defenses.

At once, a bad feeling rose in his chest.

Lu Chengzhou wanted to quickly change the subject and hang up, but it was already too late.

The next second, Lin Chen suddenly burst into loud sobs.

"Brother, my heart hurts. I really don't want to be my dad's tool! Why do other people get to chase happiness, but I have to marry some expressionless woman who always orders me around? Waaaah..."

Lu Chengzhou was speechless.

At a time like this, nothing he said would probably help.

And judging by the way Lin Chen was talking, he was seriously drunk. By tomorrow morning, he'd probably remember none of this.

After quietly listening to Lin Chen's rant to the end, Lu Chengzhou hung up.

Now he understood the male lead's mindset a little better.

As long as the male lead wasn't planning to marry Jiang Aiyu, then the situation could still be saved.

Tricking the heroine into going back was only the first step.

The second step would be for him, the supporting male character, to step in and repair the relationship between the two of them.

Lu Chengzhou had planned it all out nicely.

But even so, he vaguely had a bad feeling.

Could things really go as smoothly as he imagined?

At the moment, the relationship progress between Lin Chen and Su Qiaoman seemed to be less than a tenth of what it was in the original story.

...

Nighttime was hard to get through.

Lu Chengzhou quickly put Lin Chen out of his mind. He opened his chat app and scrolled up and down.

As usual, his recent contacts list was dead quiet.

The only names there were Meng Wanyu and that flower-shop girl, Xu Qian.

The flower-shop girl's profile picture rarely lit up. Meng Wanyu, on the other hand, was often online.

But tonight, both of them were being unusually quiet.

As for Xu Qian, she almost never messaged him first.

Of course, Lu Chengzhou wouldn't message them first either.

As a supporting male character, the most important thing was to keep lowering his presence at all times.

Was flirting around really something a supporting male character should be doing?

Of course, if the flowers and grass came to bother him on their own, that was another matter...

After closing the chat app, he opened a job-hunting app to see if there were any new opportunities.

He browsed for a bit, and sure enough, he found one.

"Culinary tutoring instructor, home service, 100 per hour?"

That hourly rate obviously couldn't compare to what Meng Wanyu paid.

Still, something was better than nothing.

More importantly, the client's address just happened to be in the same residential complex where he lived now.

Very close.

That was exactly what Lu Chengzhou liked most.

He was never a hardworking person to begin with. If he could slack off by even one point, he definitely wouldn't settle for less.

So he immediately sent over an application.

What Lu Chengzhou didn't expect was that the other party replied very quickly.

He even checked the time on purpose.

It was already past three in the morning.

Did this employer not need sleep?

"If you're free right now, you can come over now," the employer said. "I'll count it as late-night overtime and pay you double."

Lu Chengzhou: "..."

Who could say no to double pay?

So he hurriedly got dressed, changed his shoes, and prepared to head off to work~

He had just reached the door and opened it.

At the exact same time, the neighbor across from him opened hers too.

Now that was some timing.

Lu Chengzhou smiled slightly and took the initiative to say, "Hello."

The other person nodded and replied with a "Hello" as well.

Then she watched him go downstairs.

More than ten minutes later,

her phone app gave a little ding.

She picked up her phone and glanced at the message.

Lu Chengzhou: Have you arrived yet? Or I can come find you myself.

Looking at that message,

Jiang Aiyu replied expressionlessly with a few words: I'm waiting for you at your door.

"What the hell?!"

Lu Chengzhou was startled by that.

How did everyone know where he lived?

Jiang Aiyu: On this app, I can see your personal information.

Lu Chengzhou replied guiltily: It shouldn't show the exact door number, right?

Jiang Aiyu: But it does show your ID photo.

Lu Chengzhou: ...

To be honest, Lu Chengzhou felt that he looked very different from his ID photo.

How had she recognized him from that explosively ugly photo alone?

Even if they were neighbors, that still shouldn't be possible!

With that question in mind, he headed back upstairs.

When he saw the neighbor across from him again, he habitually gave her another "Hello."

Jiang Aiyu folded her arms and looked him over with interest.

She suddenly got curious how long it would take for this guy to realize that she was his employer.

Lu Chengzhou sat down on the little stool by the door.

He looked at the pitch-black hallway.

Resting his chin in his hand,

he subconsciously didn't think of Jiang Aiyu as his employer.

After all, this neighbor didn't look like the type who was good at talking to people. She didn't seem like someone who'd need in-home tutoring.

Jiang Aiyu just watched him like that.

The two of them silently kept up this mutual understanding for a full three minutes.

"Hey."

In the end, Jiang Aiyu was the first to speak and break the silence.

Lu Chengzhou looked up at her.

"What is it?"