Strawberry Pop Pop Pop chapter 98
The 26-year-old Gu Nuan had a bountiful year in both his career and love life. Not only did he officially take over the position of CEO at the Gu Corporation from Gu Yuanchen, but he also had a grand wedding with his alpha partner, who was four years older than him.
At the moment, he was on a honeymoon with Han Yang, on an island overseas. The sea breeze rustled, and Gu Nuan, wearing sunglasses, lay leisurely on a beach chair, sipping a coconut.
“Gulp, gulp.”
Gu Nuan couldn’t help but finish the coconut with just a few sips.
Han Yang approached from nearby, holding a sunscreen and gently reminded, “Xiao Nuan, it’s time to reapply sunscreen.”
Gu Nuan immediately lay down obediently, behaving like a docile fish, and even coquettishly said, “Brother, I want to eat ice cream, I want chocolate flavor, and I want mint flavor.” He pouted, and his tone was so cute that if the employees of the Gu Corporation saw or heard it, they would probably think they were hallucinating.
“After I’m done with this, I’ll go buy it for you.”
Han Yang, who was already 30 years old, had matured a lot and become more composed. He half-squatted down and pinched Gu Nuan’s cheek, still doting on him like a child. “What would you like for dinner? Let’s cook for ourselves today, and we can go buy ingredients later.”
They had come to this island for their honeymoon, so normally, booking a hotel would have sufficed. However, their spendthrift grandfather, Han Sen, insisted on buying them a small villa here a year in advance, claiming it was a wedding gift.
This decision left Gu Nuan speechless, but he was quite happy about it. Compared to the island’s hotels, the villa purchased by Han Sen was much more luxurious. The interior was decorated and arranged according to Gu Nuan’s preferences, even the chef they had hired for the villa had been specially trained by Han Sen a year in advance.
Gu Nuan enjoyed Han Yang’s sunscreen application service comfortably, and he said, “We’ve been eating seafood for a week. Today, I really want to eat your sweet tomatoes. I also want some blanched lettuce.”
“We don’t have lettuce here. How about stir-fried water spinach?”
“With shrimp sauce?”
“We’ll have to check if the convenience store has shrimp sauce. Anything else?”
Gu Nuan made a casual request, “Boiled large prawns? You can decide the rest, Chef Han, I’ll eat anything you make.” He took Han Yang’s hand and kissed it.
Seeing the wedding ring on Han Yang’s ring finger, Gu Nuan felt even happier.
“Brother, just thinking that it’s only been a week since our honeymoon makes me so happy. We still have a whole three weeks left.”
In fact, their decision to get married this year had stemmed from a misunderstanding at the beginning of the year. Ever since Han Yang won an award for a film two years ago, he had become a top actor in the industry. He was now referred to as “Han Movie Emperor” by everyone in the entertainment world. Han Yang’s fan base was also growing rapidly, to the point where Gu Nuan no longer needed to pretend to be a fan wherever they went for Han Yang’s shoots.
It seemed like Han Yang had become incredibly popular. However, this led Gu Nuan to realize that his own fan support was rather outdated and old-fashioned. It was Su Li who had to enlighten him, “You’re really behind the times. Seriously, you’re so out of touch, it’s embarrassing. You’re lucky that Han Yang doesn’t mind you…”
That’s when Gu Nuan realized that this was what people in the celebrity world called “out of touch.” Fortunately, after Han Yang’s popularity soared, his schedule became more manageable. Now, he only took one TV drama and one film each year, allowing him to plan his time more reasonably. Though he was still busy, he had more freedom with his time. For the two of them who were in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, having time to see each other was most important. Sometimes, when Gu Nuan was busy, Han Yang would come to the company to visit him. These visits usually happened during Gu Nuan’s late-night workdays.
Gu Nuan even had his secretary issue Han Yang a high-level employee access card that allowed him to open the CEO’s office door directly.
From that day on, rumors about Gu Nuan and Han Yang started circulating in the company. What made it strange was that the talk was not about their relationship but rather a rumor that a certain employee named Zen had started: “Our CEO Gu Nuan is not simple, you know. He looks like a delicate flower, but he’s more than meets the eye. Rich people are all the same~”
Others would nod, and Zen would lower his voice and say, “You know, he’s financially supporting Han Yang, that Han Movie Emperor, do you know?”
“Han Movie Emperor?”
“Yeah, I finally understand now. That’s why Han Yang got such great opportunities right after his debut, even before he was that famous.”
If CEO Gu Nuan were to hear this, he would definitely get angry.
Despite his young age, Gu Nuan had a high work efficiency and a rather hot temper. Just last week, a project went awry, and he fired over a dozen employees in a fit of anger.
Right now, the talkative Zen was one of the survivors from that project team.
However, his ability to stay on wasn’t due to making no mistakes or having good skills but rather because his uncle was Zhang, the driver for the Gu family. Gu Nuan respected Uncle Zhang and because of this, he decided to give Zen a chance.
Little did he know that this straightforward and narrow-minded Zen was quite the blabbermouth.
People chatting with Zen didn’t believe that Gu Nuan was the type to spend money recklessly. They whispered, “Zen, you wouldn’t be spreading rumors because CEO Gu was harsh on you last time due to the project and cut your annual bonus, would you? You might get yourself in trouble like this, be careful…”
“Tsk, do I need to spread rumors? This is the truth! Besides, my uncle has connections to the Gu family, and he won’t fire me! I’ll tell you, I’m very well informed about the Gu family.
He spoke passionately and added, “I get along well with you all, so I’m telling you this. Don’t tell anyone else!”
Little did he know that trouble was brewing.
The secretary heard all of these conversations.
She didn’t disturb them but stood quietly in a hidden spot, carefully recording everything they said. Then, she transcribed these recordings into detailed written content, indicating their department and positions. She compiled all this information into a complete report.
On that day, she sent this report to Gu Nuan’s office.
However, what she didn’t know was that Gu Nuan, who usually concentrated on his work, was not in his office that day. The secretary lightly knocked on the door of the office’s inner resting area, but Gu Nuan wasn’t there either.
She was puzzled and left the report on his desk before exiting the room.
Meanwhile, Gu Nuan was currently riding the elevator down. He had a stern expression, and his beautiful eyebrows seemed frozen in a cold, distant look, which intimidated everyone in the same elevator to silence. After all, they all knew that there was a recent project issue, and it had led to Gu Nuan working overtime for several days without returning home.
When the elevator doors opened, Gu Nuan almost rushed out.
At noon, at the front desk on the ground floor of the company, Han Yang, wearing a mask, patiently stood there waiting. He was holding a thermos flask, and his profile, against the light, almost made it hard for Gu Nuan to see clearly.
The receptionist spoke gently to Han Yang, “Sir, you can’t see Mr. Gu without an appointment. Waiting like this won’t help either…”
Han Yang understood her good intentions, “It’s okay, I’ve already sent him a message. I’ll wait a bit longer.”
The receptionist wanted to say more, but Gu Nuan had already quickly approached. He sounded somewhat rushed and even carried a hint of concern in his voice, which left the two receptionists stunned.
He said to Han Yang, “Why didn’t you just come up?”
Seeing him, Han Yang’s eyes finally held a hint of a smile. “I was in a hurry and forgot my access card. The receptionist said I needed an appointment to meet you, and your secretary’s phone went unanswered. Are you still this busy today?”
Han Yang looked at Gu Nuan’s exhausted face, feeling deeply concerned. He wanted to reach out and rub Gu Nuan’s cheek but hesitated because they were in the office. If he did that, Gu Nuan’s image as the CEO might be compromised.
So, Han Yang simply handed the beef stew he was holding to Gu Nuan. “I just made it. Drink it while it’s hot.”
Gu Nuan had been working tirelessly for days, and now that he saw Han Yang, he couldn’t take his eyes off him, filled with longing. “Have you been waiting for me for a long time? Why are you dressed so lightly, aren’t you cold?”
“I’m not cold. Your lobby has good heating.” Han Yang spoke through his mask, and his expression couldn’t be seen clearly.
The two receptionists listened to their conversation and were frightened to the point of not daring to make a sound. But it wasn’t their fault; both of them were new, and they hadn’t completed their probation period of three months. The person who supervised them happened to be on leave that day.
One of the receptionists stammered, “Sorry, Mr. Gu… We… We didn’t know that this gentleman knows you.”
Gu Nuan didn’t mind this at all; it was the receptionists’ job.
He nodded slightly and said, “It’s okay. You can go on with your work.”
After that, he heard Han Yang saying, “I’ll head back now.”
“Wait!”
Gu Nuan heard this and hurriedly grabbed Han Yang’s hand.
At 26 years old, and counting from the year he got together with Han Yang, they had been in a relationship for seven years. Now that Han Yang had successfully become a movie emperor through his hard work, Gu Nuan couldn’t keep his feelings to himself.
Besides, Gu Nuan probably didn’t want to hide it anymore. He stood here in the lobby, speaking openly to Han Yang, “You rarely come to see me during the day. Why not sit for a while?”
“I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“You’re mad at me.” Gu Nuan deliberately asked, “Because I haven’t gone home for a week, right?”
Han Yang smiled helplessly, “I dare not.” He looked around, and many people were curiously looking their way. After all, it was lunch break now and the lobby was bustling with people.
Han Yang quickly said, “Let’s go upstairs. I don’t have much to do today, so we can leave together later when you finish work.”
Gu Nuan finally smiled, and this smile left the two front desk girls completely stunned. They had been at the company for over two months and had never seen Mr. Gu smile, thinking he was genuinely an icy beauty. That day, they discovered that Mr. Gu’s smile was incredibly charming, to the point of being heart-melting.
It was sweet!
As Gu Nuan and Han Yang left, the entire lobby became lively, like a bustling market.
People started discussing the relationship between this alpha and Gu Nuan. Most believed that this was an alpha partner Gu Nuan had never publicly disclosed, the one that marked his neck.
The front desk girl who had been silent just now discreetly pulled the other front desk girl and whispered, “That alpha from earlier, he looks like Han Yang.”
“What?” The front desk girl was so shocked that even her rural accent came out. She immediately covered her mouth.
“You see his eyes! My sister is a big fan of his, and she has his posters all over our house. I couldn’t possibly be wrong.”
“So, you mean to say that Mr. Gu’s alpha is…”
“Yeah, it’s very likely. From now on, when we see him coming, we should be smart and let him pass right away!”
“Exactly, we can’t afford to make any more mistakes!”