Chapter 26 — A Light Smile

【 Master, Mr. Master didn't smile at all during dinner. Does that mean you're not cute anymore? 】

The holographic figure of 001 gave off the striking impression of a real, living person as it tilted its head and frowned, clearly worried about its Master.

Su Yanyi's eye twitched. Cute? She was never "cute" in the first place, so what was 001 talking about?

"You're cute, you go and make him laugh then," she said, convinced that there were problems with her System. She reckoned it was either defective or an unfinished product.

【 It won't count! Master, you have to put in your own effort, I'll support you from behind! 】001 brandished two small fists, once again playing cute. Su Yanyi felt a headache coming.

"What do you think I should do?" From childhood to adulthood, she'd learned many things, but making others laugh was not one of them. Would she have to continue to make a fool of herself then?

【 Master, maybe you should do what I do! 】001 suggested in a soft and serious voice.

"What you do? … Play cute?"

Playing cute was what Su Yanyi deemed as 001's trademark.

【 Yep, yep. Playing cute is normal. If you do it, Mr. Master will surely smile. 】001 nodded vigorously.

Su Yanyi fell silent; she was considering the feasibility of the idea.

Play cute? She didn't know how to do it, but she could always learn, right? Moreover, there was a ready-made example right in front of her.

And so, in the span of one night, Su Yanyi came up with a variety of different methods for learning how to play cute. Unfortunately, they all eventually fell to her cold iceberg countenance. Playing cute really wasn't an easy skill to learn. When she finally ran out of ideas, she gave up and decided to acquire external help instead.

…..

The next morning, as soon as Kang Zhong arrived at the company, he was called into the office by Su Yanyi.

"President Su, here are three suitable candidates for Sun Minyi's position. Please select one." Out of the few hundreds of people who had applied, only three remained after the elimination process.

Kang Zhong had their resumes compiled together for Su Yanyi to review.

Intelligence and ingenuity were essential qualities to have for the job. Formal education and experience were also indispensable, their looks had to be above average, and most importantly, they had to have a clean background and bear irrefutable loyalty.

Kang Zhong had elected three people while bearing these sky-high expectations in mind.

Su Yanyi looked over the resumes of each candidate. Because their job would be to serve as her personal assistant, all three candidates were women in their late twenties to early thirties. Two were already working for Resplendent Entertainment, while one was not.

Her attention fell on the one who was not working at Resplendent Entertainment, Pan Yan.

Twenty-nine, single, proficient in Japanese, Korean, Russian, and English. She possessed a master's degree and had experience working in other two large enterprises before.

…..

As impressive as Pan Yan's resume was, it was her name that had attracted Su Yanyi's attention. If Su Yanyi recalled correctly, Pan Yan was the woman who would later become Kang Zhong's wife.

Pan Yan was clever and virtuous and had accompanied Kang Zhong in taking care of Su Yanyi on the hospital bed.

"Her then, she's very suitable."

They were both people she trusted, so she didn't mind that her two personal assistants would become husband-and-wife in the future. The hard-working pair had enough tacit understanding of each other.

Kang Zhong was unfazed by Su Yanyi's choice; he had been optimistic about Pan Yan from the start.

"Pan Yan is indeed very suitable. She is a former classmate of mine, so I know her well too."

Su Yanyi shot him a profound glance. Former classmate to wife, huh. Not too surprising.

Switching gears, she took out a sheet of paper and said, "Here are some things that I need, send them to my house once you have them ready."

The paper contained the "external help" she'd thought up last night.

After taking the paper and looking over it, Kang Zhong froze in place. He couldn't resist a twitch in the corner of his lips and had to raise a hand to push his glasses up the ridge of his nose before he could regain his composure.

Then, he asked calmly, "President Su, are you sure this is the right paper?"

The response was a cold glance that left him shivering. He answered immediately, "Yes, I'll go right away."

Kang Zhong left, and Su Yanyi sat there massaging her temples. She had embarrassed herself again, hadn't she? However, Qin Jiran's smile was worth the sacrifice.

…..

That evening, Qin Jiran got off work early so he could return home to cook. He had called Su Yanyi to ask for her consent, which she had given with delight.

Judging from their interactions in the past few days, he confirmed that she did indeed enjoy his cooking. Since that was the case, he was willing to take some time out of his busy schedule to cook for her. Perhaps sitting together and sharing a meal was the greatest form of comfort for him.

As usual, he prepared a well-balanced meal consisting of four dishes and soup. They were all Su Yanyi's favorites. Finally, seeing that he still had some time left, he decided to try baking some biscuits. He'd picked up the recipe from the internet.

The biscuits weren't too hard to make, and they came out quite well. Each one was heart-shaped, and he placed them next to the dishes, making for a warm and elegant sight.

Immediately after coming home and changing her clothes, Su Yanyi saw the dishes ready on the table. Her gaze landed on the biscuits. The creamy scent they were emitting aroused her appetite, so she reached out to take a biscuit.

Delicious, as expected. Her eyes brightened up a bit, and she turned to ask Qin Jiran, "You made this?"

She had never looked at him like this before. Qin Jiran's expression suddenly turned a bit unnatural. He coughed lightly and replied, "I learned it online, just recently. I'm not sure if it tastes good or not, but if you like it, I'll learn more in the future."

"I like it!"

Maybe her past experience of only being able to eat through infusions during her vegetative days was too painful, because now Su Yanyi was very fond of actual food. The current her had a great preference for food, and this was especially the case for Qin Jiran's food.

Qin Jiran found the straightforward, frank, and bright-eyed Su Yanyi exceptionally cute. He was utterly powerless against her.

A light smile appeared on his face, and he spoke in a gentle tone that even he himself wasn't aware of using, "Okay, then I'll continue to learn for you."

Congratulations on accomplishing the task once!

+1 Point.

Progress: 6/10.

Please continue working hard!

Su Yanyi paid the System no heed. All of her attention was placed on Qin Jiran's face.

Unlike the other times when she missed catching his smiles, this time she saw it very clearly. His smile was faint yet still incomparably warm. It wasn't sarcastic, ridiculing, or amused at her expense. This smile was special.

Just one look was enough to draw others into its warmth and keep them immersed. The feeling was unforgettable.

VIN: HEART-shaped biscuits.

pls spare me, they're too qt.

RELEASE SCHEDULE: 5x a week until chapter 65. Sporadic for now.