Master, I Need Charging

Inside the VIP suite of a beauty salon, two young ladies could be seen lying prone on the massage beds, totally enjoying the aromatherapy session they were having.

One of the ladies commented with her eyes half-opened, “All men are cheap. Of course he ignores you when you look for him every day. You should have stayed away from him for a period of time! He’ll come looking for you after a few days!”

Shen Xinran glanced at her lazily. This woman, called Lin Xue, was considered one of her better friends in the entertainment industry. The latter was older than her by three years, and abound by gossips. In fact, her friend had been surrounded by rumors not long after she had made her debut.

“I’ve already endured a few days of not calling him…” She told her friend with a melancholic face. “As of now, he hasn’t looked for me, not even a text message.”

Turning her face side-way to look at her, Lin Xue asked curiously, “Didn’t you mention that you had lost his robot? Has he called you regarding that?”

“He did… Actually, it was his secretary who called me,” she answered with a resigned tone.

“So he has a secretary for a shield. Well, this is tricky… Who is this mysterious brother whom you’ve been talking about all the time? He is a handful, for sure. I have yet to meet a man who rejects a woman who gives herself willingly. Tsk tsk tsk…” She asked in wonderment; then, as an idea struck her suddenly, she asked, “Let me ask you, this brother of yours… is his secretary very pretty?”

The young actress could tell what the older one was hinting at and quickly shook her head. “Don’t let your imagination run wild. That’s impossible. His secretaries, whether male or female, are all married.”

Her friend was stunned for a while before she reacted with sudden agitation. “I know who this fella is now! It’s Chen Yuheng from RK, right?! Oh my god, it’s Chen Yuheng…!”

“Oh, gosh! Can you be quiet?!” She was so perturbed that she almost jumped up to cover her friend’s mouth with her two hands.

Chuckling, the other actress turned around and consoled her, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

Still, she did lower her volume. After that, she also turned her head to look at the beautician behind her and warned, “You’d better seal your lips unless you want to lose your job, understand?”

The girl behind her knew what was at stake here. “Rest assured, Miss Shen and Miss Lin. We know the rules here.”

Lin Xue nodded in satisfaction and continued where they had just left. “I really didn’t expect him to be the one. I still remember that he was sued for sexual discrimination a few years ago for rejecting a female secretary. It was all over the Internet at that time. Finally, that VP by the name of Pei… Pei… something stepped in to mediate. The company even recruited a few female assistants as a symbolic gesture to stop the gossip. In the end, everyone found out that all his female assistants were married…”

Her young friend merely sneered. “Those women were not interested in work in the first place. They only wanted to seduce him with their provocative dressing every day. As assistants, not only did they fail to do their part, they added to his problems! My brother was kind enough not to charge them with sexual harassment! None of them passed their probation in the end. He was so irritated by the whole event that he stopped recruiting female secretaries. He did not expect a reporter, who had nothing better to do, to dub him as a workplace sexist…”

The older one could not stop her guffaws. “Your brother is too naive. Has he ever considered that a male secretary can be gay as well? Ha ha ha ha…”

“Pfft!” One of the beauticians could not hold back her chortle and burst out laughing. The other one managed to swallow her laughter.

Shen Xinran was not upset. Strangely, she wore an adoring expression on her face as she retorted, “My brother is a simple-minded man. Such thoughts don’t cross his mind at all.”

Her savvy friend could see that the starlet was hopelessly in love with the man as she teased, “I haven’t come across such a man. Someone who can be irritated by a proactive lady, and who doesn’t advance when the girl retreats… Xinran, you have an uphill battle, indeed! But then again, he’s the CEO of RK Corporation… definitely a diamond-level bachelor. He’s worth the trouble, for sure!”

Saying that, she dropped her voice to a whisper out of the blue and added, “You should dig some info out of his secretaries, like finding out his hobbies, especially… if he’s seeing another girl now.”

Hooking her lips into a proud smile, the other lady replied, “My brother is not interested in those casual relationships. His only female friend, Pei Lijun, was his classmate from university, and she has left RK as well.”

“Oh… he’s rather decent, then. All the more reason for you to grab hold of an opportunity. But… why are you addressing him as your brother?” From what she knew, the Shen family only had her young friend as their only precious offspring. It was only after her father, Shen Yao, remarried and got a young son subsequently. So she knew Shen Xinran only had a younger brother. When did she ever have an older brother? Or, could it be that the CEO of RK Corporation had blood relations with the Shens?

The other lady was obviously not keen to explain as she gave an ambiguous reply, “I have addressed him as brother since I was a kid.”

Her friend knew better than to pursue the matter so she returned a nonchalant smile.

Although both of them were thespians, she knew very well that she was not in the same league as the young lady. Shen Xinran was a true blue missy who had her family fortune to back her up. As for her, she needed to ensure that she made full use of her youth to find ways for a retirement fund in her old age.

After their aromatherapy session, Lin Xue stretched out her four limbs comfortably and said, “Do you want to go upstairs?” Beaming broadly at her friend, she added quietly, “The special treatment at this store is especially soothing, do you want to try?”

Disgust instantly flashed across Shen Xinran’s eyes but she only replied with a smile, “You go ahead, I’m going for manicure later.”

The masseur helped Lin Xue with her bathrobe and led her out of the room. The young actress let out a disdainful snort as she watched her friend departing.

This woman sure needs a man every day.

“Miss Shen, let me escort you to the second floor for your manicure.”

“It’s not necessary. Let me sit here for a while. I’ll go there by myself.”

As she sat on the rattan armchair inside the VIP suite, she mindlessly swiped through the text messages on her phone. There was still no call or message from the man.

A customer service assistant walked over and served her a cup of flower tea at just the right temperature. She picked up the cup and took small sips as she swiped the screen.

Suddenly, a headline grabbed her attention. Caught unexpected, her finger clicked on the news without thinking.

From the plentiful images and captions captured on screen, one could tell that this was the usual entertainment gossip. To her, though, it was earth-shattering news instead!

The cup in her hand instantaneously slid through her fingers and smashed on the floor, breaking into a few pieces…

…

In the early morning hours, Gu Anbao sat on the sofa to charge her battery by herself.

Although Chen Yuheng had told her that a single charge could last up to half a month. She still insisted on making sure she was charged every night. She wanted to ensure that she was always on full-battery mode every single second of the day!

She had been so scared when she landed in low-battery mode that she was not going to let it happen again.

Then, she had lost her mobility, and the power to move; even a few stray cats took this chance to flash their sneering fangs at her…

Now that she was not wearing the cat ears, would she still invite animosity from the strays?

Just as she was deep in thought, the phone rang suddenly and almost caused her to fall from the sofa in fright!

I’m too timid…

But, then again, this is too early to have a call, right…

She looked at the clock on the wall, it was only ten minutes past six.

The groggy man flipped over and ran his fingers to grab the mobile on the table. His fingers grappled on the table for some time before he finally found the phone and took it to his ear…

“You rascal! Why didn’t you bring your girlfriend back home for me to have a look?! Are you trying to rebel now?!” The bellowing of an old man could be heard from the other end of the line.