The villain turns into the infatuated second male lead - Chapter 30

When Yin Zhiyi received the proposal sent by Lu Jingchuan, he also received a resignation letter. It seemed that Lu Jingchuan was keen on the jade pendant and had given him a week’s notice.

As the apocalypse drew nearer, Lu Jingchuan was anxious to stock up on supplies. He had already rented a warehouse nearby and was selling his house at below market price to quickly get cash.

From Yin Zhiyi’s perspective, a week’s handover time was essentially a countdown to the protagonist’s life. Having experienced the harshness of the apocalypse, he knew better than to be indecisive.

In fact, if he were in Lu Jingchuan’s position, he would not give anyone a chance to breathe in order to ensure the secret of the storage space didn’t leak. Every second would be dangerous.

“Too soft-hearted,” Yin Zhiyi mused as he fondled the jade pendant, his tone carrying a lazy reflection.

However, in his previous life, he might have worried about his own safety, but now even ten Lu Jingchuans would be of no concern.

Although he thought this way, he took leave for the following workdays to make the protagonist anxious and play with him.

On a weekend evening, with a cool breeze blowing, his sister, Qi Lingling, who couldn’t stand her suddenly homebound brother anymore, finally arranged to meet him.

“Why are you taking so long to park? Hurry up,” Qi Lingling urged, holding Zhao Zhiwei’s arm.

Yin Zhiyi put his phone back in his pocket, suppressing his smile. He complained in a tone similar to the original character’s: “I know, what’s so interesting to look at? It makes my head spin.”

“Your cars and watches aren’t that interesting either,” Qi Lingling retorted.

Yin Zhiyi raised an eyebrow but remained silent, following behind them. He planned to cover the costs when she saw something she liked.

He had spent a lot of time on parking not because of poor reversing skills but because the small-scale schemes he had instructed were starting to bear fruit.

Lu Jingchuan had almost downloaded all the loan applications he could find, borrowing nearly 300,000 in total and registering with Zhao Shunmei’s ID, accumulating a total of 600,000 yuan. All of this was funded by Yin Zhiyi’s little treasury.

In addition to the loans Yin Zhiyi had set up, other channels had also yielded a significant amount of money, bringing his debt to over a million yuan.

“Still too little,” Yin Zhiyi said with a hint of regret as he summarized in his memo.

With the luck of a chosen one, this amount of debt wouldn’t be enough to crush him. He needed to instruct his people to raise the limit and cut off any future ability to repay.

“To make you obediently cooperate with me, I’ve put in a lot of effort,” Yin Zhiyi quickly sent a few messages, his tone incredibly gentle.

“Today was a big haul!” Qi Lingling’s energetic voice pulled Yin Zhiyi back to reality.

“Heading back?” He glanced at them casually and started walking towards the exit.

Seeing her brother was not cooperating, Qi Lingling was left speechless. She thought he was tired from pursuing for three years, but it seemed he was genuinely determined to cut off all romantic ties.

“Zhiwei, should we continue to the third floor or head back?” She hoped her friend would decide.

However, her hopeful glance was met with empty air. Zhao Zhiwei’s gaze was fixed on a young man in the distance who was talking to a middle-aged man, his lean figure deeply imprinted in her eyes.

“Zhiwei?” Qi Lingling asked, shaking her friend’s hand, trying to bring her back to reality.

Yin Zhiyi noticed Zhao Zhiwei’s odd behavior and turned back to follow her gaze. He saw Lu Jingchuan handing a long list to the middle-aged man.

“Looks like it’s here after all,” Yin Zhiyi thought, piecing together clues from the original story and guessing that the protagonist might be here tonight for shopping, which was why he followed Qi Lingling’s strong insistence.

Three direct gazes landed on Lu Jingchuan, who, despite being engrossed, noticed something unusual. He turned his face in confusion and first saw Yin Zhiyi, his pupils narrowing.

He quickly composed himself and, after whispering a few words to the supermarket manager, walked over to Yin Zhiyi with a casual smile: “Manager, what a coincidence to see you here.”

“Indeed, it’s quite a coincidence. Perhaps it’s fate,” Yin Zhiyi shrugged and teased.

Although Lu Jingchuan disliked this seemingly useless rich second-generation, he had to find a chance to get close for the jade pendant. Despite his inner discomfort, he maintained a natural demeanor.

As he was about to speak, he noticed the two attractive women behind hun.

“Zhao Zhiwei…” his expression flickered briefly with complexity, then he showed surprise and called out her name.

Zhao Zhiwei’s face flushed red when finally noticed by her crush. She instinctively hid behind Qi Lingling and nervously said, “Yes, it’s me, Lu.”

“I didn’t expect you to know the manager,” Lu Jingchuan smiled warmly, his gaze subtly shifting between the two women.

In his previous life, Zhao Zhiwei had risked her life to deliver food and news about the military base to his family during a food shortage. Unfortunately, he had not repaid her kindness, and she was later cruelly killed by thugs. He felt guilty towards this college acquaintance.

He believed Qi Nian was not a good match, and with the apocalypse approaching, it would be best if Zhao Zhiwei could see the manager’s true colors to avoid falling for him.

“He’s my friend’s brother,” she quickly clarified to avoid misunderstandings, pointing at the confused Qi Lingling.

Qi Lingling wanted to correct her, saying this was her best friend and future sister-in-law, but she realized from the moment she saw Lu Jingchuan that he was likely the object of her friend’s five-year-long infatuation.

Hearing this, Lu Jingchuan relaxed a little. He pointed to the middle-aged man waiting not far away and said gently, “I have something else to do. Let’s get in touch next time and not disturb you.”

“Bye,” Zhao Zhiwei said reluctantly.

“See you next time,” Yin Zhiyi waved and did not stop the conversation between the main characters.

Currently, Lu Jingchuan felt no love for Zhao Zhiwei beyond guilt. All his focus was on the upcoming apocalypse in twenty days. The remaining energy allowed him to only care about Cheng Shule, and he was willing to endure the manager’s difficulties for two years of unrequited love.

Before leaving, he seemed to remember something and turned to Yin Zhiyi, asking, “Manager, will you be at the office on Monday?”

“Yes,” Yin Zhiyi replied lazily, his eyes still on his phone, working on increasing the protagonist’s debt.

“Then see you Monday,” he said with a smile, his eyes briefly cold.

Yin Zhiyi knew the protagonist’s intentions well but had already come up with another plan. He let hin have his way and followed Qi Lingling leisurely through the square, which was still bustling with people at nine in the evening.

“There are balloons over there!” she pointed at someone in a bear costume selling balloons, noticing they hadn’t sold much.

“How old are you, still playing with balloons,” he remarked, maintaining Qi Nian’s character.

“Just buy some for me and Zhiwei. We both want them,” Qi Lingling decided quickly, seeing her friend still immersed in the recent encounter, exuding a sweet atmosphere.

“Which ones do you want?” Yin Zhiyi glanced at her, trying to sound unwilling.

Given Qi Nian’s character, he wouldn’t normally enjoy such things, but he was indulgent with his only sister. He was merely grumbling, but his actions were already in motion.

“Uh… we both like them, so which one should we pick?” Qi Lingling hesitated, pointing at the balloons floating in the air.

Yin Zhiyi didn’t wait for her to decide. He turned and walked towards the balloon vendor in the bear costume, his expression shifting from the defiant Qi Nian to a gentler, more approachable demeanor, as he preferred not to constantly act.

Humming a tune and checking his messages, he approached the vendor.

“How much for all the balloons?” He asked with a gentle smile, his voice calm and warm.

The bear-costumed vendor seemed stunned. After a moment, she replied in a strange tone, “15 yuan each. For all of them, I’ll charge you 100.”

“Can I scan the code?” Yin he asked politely.

He had previously scanned the code but hadn’t entered the password before the unexpected incident.

The vendor, relieved by the large sale, was about to hand over the payment code when she noticed something. Suddenly, a scream came from behind.

“Let go of me!” A panicked male voice shouted.

“What are you trying to do?” Yin Zhiyi asked with interest, observing the bald man behind the bear costume, whose wrist he was gripping tightly. The man’s hand was clearly reaching towards the vendor’s chest.

“Ah—pervert!” The voice from inside the costume grew shrill as the woman realized what was happening. She quickly retreated behind Yin Zhiyi.

“I just wanted to buy balloons, no other intentions. Please let me go, I won’t buy them,” the bald man pleaded witha grim face.

“You’re fooling no one! You were clearly trying to grope, you pervert,” the vendor said angrily and kicked the man in the groin.

“Damn, it hurts so much…”

Yin Zhiyi watched with a slight smile as the man was eventually released. Continuing the argument would only lead to complications, and the vendor’s kick made it clear the man would not come out ahead even if he reported the incident.

“You don’t need to pay,” the vendor said, hiding the payment code nervously.

“I’ve already paid,” Yin Zhiyi tilted his head. He had scanned the code earlier but hadn’t input the password yet when the commotion occurred.

For some reason, the vendor seemed off, but since there was nothing else of importance aside from the protagonist, he set aside his strange feeling and continued to smile warmly.

“I’ll leave it as a gift. Next time, just give me a balloon,” he said.

“Okay.”

Watching him leave and rejoin the two girls, the vendor only took off her costume after he disappeared from view. She was left staring blankly, “Thank you…”

“Manager… so he’s actually such a gentle person?” Cheng Shule’s heart raced as she thought about the manager’s enchanting, serene eyes, which seemed to fill the night sky with stars.

“Shule?” A deep, pleasant male voice called out.

Cheng Shule was startled from her daydream. She instinctively reached for her costume’s headpiece but then remembered it wasn’t necessary.

She turned towards the voice and was pleasantly surprised, “Lu Jingchuan!”

Among the colleagues in the company, the person she was closest to was undoubtedly Lu Jingchuan. They had supported each other as new hires for two years, and for her, he was like a close friend.

Lu Jingchuan, surprised to recognize her, looked at her in the bear costume, and his thoughts were overwhelmed by a single idea.