In the office.

Zhou Rui still hasn't snapped out of her stupor. Sitting on the sofa with her eyes wide and mouth agape, her chest heaving up and down, she feels a suffocating tightness in her chest. The scene that just unfolded seemed as unreal as a dream. Lu Dapao had actually confessed to her. It was a staggering reversal of fortunes.

"How could this happen?" Zhou Rui frowned, a look of misery on her face.

She never would have thought that the bastard Lu Dapao would take a fancy to her. It was completely unexpected.

"Impossible." Zhou Rui gritted her teeth. "It must be a prank. They must be deliberately messing with me, these assholes."

Having figured it out, Zhou Rui immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Her heart felt less constricted. At least in Zhou Rui's view, as long as it wasn't true that Lu Dapao had fallen for her, all was good. Otherwise, she'd be doomed.

Truth be told, Lu Dapao was a man she simply could not bring herself to consider. He lacked any sense of refinement, let alone dress sense. He didn't have an ounce of charisma and was unkempt through and through. He was not at all her type. Even though they had grown up together, Lu Dapao had too many small, intolerable habits. She figured most girls would not take a second look at him. Not only did he scratch his butt, he'd pick his nose, and when he had nothing better to do, he'd scratch his ear. Sometimes she couldn't stand it and would remind him, but just a few minutes later, the guy would have completely forgotten.

Zhou Rui continuously reassured herself that this was all just a joke, definitely just a mean prank.

Outside the transportation market.

Lu Dapao sat alone on a pile of sand, smoking.

"Da Pao, are you, you, you, you slacking off here?" Huang Bo hurried over to him.

"What do you want?" Lu Dapao responded gruffly. "Can't a guy even get heartbroken?"

"Huh??" Huang Bo's eyes bulged. "Heartbroken? Where's the love affair?"

"Damn it!" Lu Dapao glared at Huang Bo and then turned and walked away.

Watching Lu Dapao leave behind a handful of roses, Huang Bo called out urgently: "Lu Dapao, your, your, your... your roses!"

"Just toss them away for me." Lu Dapao replied without looking back, striding away. He seemed genuinely heartbroken, as if he had suffered a major blow.

"Such beautiful roses, and he just throws them away?" Huang Bo, holding the roses, looked flabbergasted and muttered, "Such, such fresh flowers."

At that moment, Li Qiang and a few other brothers gathered around.

"Bozi, do you know why Lu Dapao got heartbroken?" Li Qiang grinned.

"Why, why, why?" Huang Bo asked, puzzled.

"He just confessed to Hot Pepper and got rejected." Li Qiang exaggerated his expression as he spoke.

"What?!" Huang Bo exclaimed in shock. "Hot, hot, Hot Pepper? Could it be… Zhou Rui?"

"That's right." Li Qiang nodded eagerly.

"Shit." Huang Bo was taken aback. "Has Lu Dapao gone mad? He, he actually went after Hot Pepper?"

"This guy, hahaha…" Li Qiang laughed with his mouth agape. "With Hot Pepper's fiery temper, she'd probably curse him to death."

"Yeah!" Huang Bo nodded.

"Guess what?" Li Qiang laughed slyly.

"What happened?" Huang Bo asked excitedly, as if someone else's pain was his pleasure.

"What else?" Li Qiang smirked. "The kid was basically courting death, got kicked out by Hot Pepper."

"Hahaha…" Huang Bo also burst into laughter.

Before long, a bunch of Changlin Factory brothers gathered around. Everyone eagerly inquired about the news.

It didn't take long for the news of Lu Dapao chasing after Hot Pepper to spread like wildfire. Many people gossiped about it as if it were a joke. Lu Dapao had no idea that Li Qiang could spread the word so quickly; by the time he went home to rest, the rumor was already causing quite a stir.

It was a little after four in the afternoon that same day.

Zhou Kai finally sobered up and found himself in a car. Opening his bloodshot eyes, he mumbled, "How did I end up here?"

"You were drunk!" Liu Cheng chuckled.

"I was drunk?" Zhou Kai furrowed his brow, wracking his brain to recall the scene of his drunkenness. At last, he remembered drinking the rice wine self-brewed by the villagers in Dragon Spring Village. He sighed and said, "Oh crap, is the rice wine really that strong?"

"Isn't it just?" Liu Cheng laughed. "You've been out for several hours."

"Let's go, check out the sand yard." Zhou Kai rose from his seat.

After lying down for several hours, he felt much better and more spirited. He sighed with relief and remarked, "Damn, I feel weak in the arms and legs."

"You'll feel better in a bit." Liu Cheng grinned.

The two drove towards the transportation market.

As soon as they reached the transportation market, they saw a group of juniors huddled together, whispering and not working. Zhou Kai immediately became furious.

"Shit, you bunch of calves, when I'm not around you start slacking off, is that it?" Zhou Kai cursed loudly.

"Bro Kai…" The crowd looked wronged.

"What's going on?" Zhou Kai stepped out of the car, hands on his hips. "What are you all huddled here discussing?"

"Discuss... Discuss..."

None of the underlings dared to speak out. At this time, Li Qiang hurried over from not far away.

"Kai, something big happened today." Li Qiang hastily said.

"What big thing?" Zhou Kai asked in confusion: "A big event and no one notifies me?"

"Hehe, aren't I about to tell you now?" Li Qiang grinned and laughed.

"Spit it out, what is it!" Zhou Kai asked.

"That... " Li Qiang swallowed his saliva and said, "That... Da Pao confessed to Little Hot Pepper and even gave her ninety-nine roses."

"Ah?!" Zhou Kai was so shocked his jaw almost dropped to the ground. He was stunned for quite a while before he finally asked, "Is... Is this true?"

"Of course, it's true." Li Qiang nodded hastily.

"And the result... what was the result?" Zhou Kai moved closer excitedly, full of curiosity about Lu Dapao's confession.

"Hehe, what else could it be!" Li Qiang, with an evil smile, said, "In the end, Little Hot Pepper kicked him out the door."

Pfft...

Zhou Kai immediately burst into laughter.

"I heard that she even scolded him severely, and the roses are still lying there." Li Qiang pointed to a bunch of wilted roses placed on the ground not so far away.

"Hahaha..." Zhou Kai laughed unrestrainedly, saying while laughing, "This kid, hahaha... is simply like a toad lusting after a swan's flesh. Little Hot Pepper is considered a beauty after all, and with her haughty and proud nature, wasn't Da Pao just asking for trouble?"

"That's what I said too." Li Qiang said with a grin.

This news had everyone in the transportation market laughing all afternoon.

Not until Lu Dapao himself arrived at the transportation market did everyone hurriedly stop discussing and tried to hold back their laughter. Still, everyone looked at Lu Dapao with strange expressions. When people saw Lu Dapao, they all curiously gazed at him.

Lu Dapao clearly felt people's strange expressions.

"What... what are you guys doing?" Lu Dapao frowned.

"Nothing... nothing!" Everyone shook their heads.

Lu Dapao looked puzzled as he stared at the group in front of him, feeling that there was something odd about them. He moved closer and asked, "Kai, what's going on?"

"Nothing, nothing at all!" Zhou Kai took a quick glance at Lu Dapao, his face turning red with the effort of holding back.

Zhou Kai hurriedly ran off, then burst into unrestrained laughter again.

Lu Dapao felt even more bewildered and hurried over, grabbing Zhou Kai's clothes, demanding, "You better tell me what's going on. Damn it, how come I feel like I'm the only one out of the loop while everyone else seems to know?"

"Hehe..." Zhou Kai grinned and then said, "Don't rush... it's about you."

"Of course, I know it's related to me." Lu Dapao stared at Zhou Kai.

"I heard... I heard you confessed to Little Hot Pepper?" Zhou Kai curiously asked.

Boom...

Lu Dapao was instantly dumbfounded, feeling as if a bolt had struck him from the clear sky, paralyzing him on the spot, unable to move.

"Come on, speak!" Zhou Kai said.

"Fuck, who told you?" Lu Dapao immediately countered.

"No... I... I also heard it from others." Zhou Kai said awkwardly.

"Damn it!" Lu Dapao roared with anger, shouting, "Li Qiang, you come out here. Li Qiang! Get out here!"

When Li Qiang heard this from not too far away, he was so scared that he immediately fled, not daring to stay, running off with his safety helmet.

Many saw this incident as a farce, and of course, even more saw it as a joke. Although this was Lu Dapao's first time in life, his awkward maiden attempt, no one understood nor comforted him. But then, who doesn't have a first time in their life? Who doesn't have an awkward first time?

In the office.

Lin Chuan was still laughing non-stop.

"And you're still laughing!" Zhou Rui glared at Lin Chuan and said, "Do you really think I'm a girl no one wants?"

"No, no, no." Lin Chuan quickly shook his head, saying, "How could that be, with your beauty? I guess the line of people chasing you must be at least a reinforced platoon, right?"

"Wrong, it's a reinforced company." Zhou Rui glared at Lin Chuan.

"Yes, yes, a reinforced company." Lin Chuan nodded repeatedly.

Zhou Rui still seemed unsatisfied, looking at Lin Chuan with annoyance, and then sat down beside him with a huff. Lin Chuan kept grinning while Zhou Rui had a belly full of complaints. After a long while, she said irritably, "It seems I should also get a boyfriend."

Zhou Rui's statement was obviously a way to test Lin Chuan, wanting to see his reaction. Zhou Rui was a very clever girl. After all, she had taken psychology courses, and she could discern a person's true inner thoughts from their initial reaction.

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