Striving for Perfection

Chapter 297

Gu Ran sat up in bed feeling refreshed. He turned sideways to look at the girl pretending to be asleep beside him.

His well-defined fingers gently pinched her perky nose.

Deprived of air, Ye Zhenzhen frowned her delicate brows in dissatisfaction.

After slapping away the mischievous hand, she slowly opened her watery eyes.

"Rest a bit more. I will go make breakfast."

Gu Ran leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead, casually grabbing a shirt and pulling it on.

Listening to his slightly husky morning voice, the absurd scenes from last night flooded the girl's mind, bringing a blush to her fair cheeks.

The aloof girl's tsundere nature flared up. Biting her rosy lower lip, she forced herself to sit up from the covers.

"Who said I need to rest? I am full of energy right now. Cleaning up this little mess is a piece of cake."

As she spoke, she tried to scoot toward the edge of the bed to prove her words.

Gu Ran stood by the bed, looking down at her slender, slightly trembling legs.

One handsome eyebrow arched slightly.

He did not stop her verbally. Instead, he played along, pressing her back onto the edge of the mattress, his dark eyes brimming with teasing laughter.

"Since you are still so lively, it must mean I cut corners last night and did not serve you well."

He propped his arms on either side of the girl, his warm breath spraying entirely against the crook of her neck.

"In the spirit of professional excellence, I must properly check for omissions and make up for my shortcomings."

As soon as Gu Ran finished speaking, he climbed back into bed, grabbed the thick cotton quilt, and completely covered both of their heads.

Ye Zhenzhen finally realized she had played with fire.

Trapped in the dark, enclosed space, she shrank back deep into the covers like a startled marmot, using both her hands and feet.

In the darkness, there was only the sound of their rapid, intertwining breaths. She could even feel his burning hot body constantly closing in.

"Gu Ran, you big pervert, let me go! Even a donkey on a production team would not dare work like you do!"

She softened her voice and begged frantically, trying to awaken the last shred of conscience in this hungry wolf.

Seeing that the hard way would not work, she quickly switched to a pitiful tone.

"Gu Ran~ We have not even had breakfast yet. Exercising on an empty stomach will cause low blood sugar~"

Gu Ran was not buying it. He whispered softly against the girl's burning ear.

"You will not be doing the moving, so you will be fine."

Then, giving her no chance to resist, he gently took her round, cute earlobe into his mouth.

Ye Zhenzhen felt an indescribable, tingling numbness shoot straight up her spine to the top of her head.

Just as she opened her mouth to scold him, two warm lips accurately sealed away all her words.

Outside the window, the autumn wind swept up a few withered, yellow leaves, sending them spiraling in the air before they tangled and fell into the river.

Inside the room, the girl's initially fierce protests gradually melted into a pool of spring water, surrendering under his gentle yet domineering assault.

.......

The sky darkened without them noticing, and the bedroom was filled with the rich, appetizing aroma of century egg and lean meat porridge.

Ye Zhenzhen was lured awake by the smell of food.

Just as she tried to prop up her upper body, a wave of soreness hit her, making her hiss softly in pain.

In her heart, she frantically drew circles, cursing the culprit who did not know how to be tender to a woman.

She felt that even the phrase walking out while holding onto the wall was not enough to describe her miserable plight right now.

"Dog," the girl cursed inwardly.

The bedroom door was pushed open from the outside, and Gu Ran strode in carrying a wooden tray laden with food.

Looking at the young man's freakish energy, like he had charged for five minutes and could talk for two hours, Ye Zhenzhen was so jealous she nearly crushed her back teeth.

Not only had this guy cleaned up the battlefield completely, but he also had the leisure to simmer a pot of perfectly cooked porridge.

On top of that, he had prepared several light, refreshing side dishes.

They were neatly arranged in white porcelain dishes, looking incredibly appetizing.

Out of spite, she grabbed a soft pillow next to her and threw it straight at Gu Ran's face.

Someone had been observing since he walked in. Seeing him enter, the girl on the bed rolled her glass-bead-like eyes.

It was obvious she was plotting something. Sure enough, seeing the hidden weapon flying at him, Gu Ran tilted his head slightly and dodged it smoothly.

He carried the food to the bed and steadily set up the small bed table.

Watching Ye Zhenzhen clutch the blanket and shrink toward the headboard with a face full of vigilance, Gu Ran put down the soup spoon, smiled brightly, and leaned in, deliberately drawing out his words.

"It seems you are not hungry yet. Why do we not first..."

The smile in his eyes deepened; seeing the girl's panicked look put him in a great mood.

Terrified, Ye Zhenzhen swung her small hand and tightly covered his mouth, stopping him from spitting out any more shameless words.

"Gu Ran, you dog, shut up! Even an old sow knows how to spell the word restraint!"

She scolded through gritted teeth, her face flushed red, declaring that for the sake of his health, they absolutely had to eat first.

Gu Ran smoothly pulled down the small hand covering his mouth, held it in his palm, and gently kneaded it, looking innocently at the puffy-cheeked girl.

"I was going to say that if you are not hungry, we can go for a walk by the river. Once we burn some energy, you will naturally feel hungry."

He sighed, feigning grievance.

"You really wronged me."

Ye Zhenzhen was left speechless by his ability to turn black into white. Humiliated and furious, she gritted her teeth.

"Gu! Dog! Ran!"

As soon as she spoke, her stomach let out a timely rumble.

Ye Zhenzhen's small face instantly turned beet red.

"Alright, alright, I will not tease you anymore. Let us eat first."

Knowing when to stop, Gu Ran ceased his teasing. He picked up the spoon, blew on the hot porridge to cool it, and fed it to her mouth bite by bite.

The warm, soft texture spread through her mouth, instantly soothing the slight discomfort in her stomach.

Watching the young man's attentive movements, the resentment in Ye Zhenzhen's heart dissipated significantly without her realizing it.

As he fed her, he reported to her in a gentle voice.

"By the way, there is something important at the company tonight that needs handling. Go to sleep after you eat; you do not need to wait up for me."

The blushing girl swallowed her food and let out a cold snort, saying one thing but meaning another.

"Do not flatter yourself. Who wants to wait for you~"

Realizing her tone might have been a bit stiff, she cleared her throat, softened her voice, and asked.

"You are in such a rush, is it serious?"

Gu Ran chuckled and reached out to ruffle the soft hair on top of her head.

"The tipping feature for MicroChat's official accounts is about to go online for testing. I have to go back and personally keep an eye on the backend data."

After explaining patiently, he carried the empty bowl into the kitchen.

Once she was fed and hydrated, Gu Ran half-carried, half-coaxed Ye Zhenzhen to the bathroom to wash up.

Then he tucked her back into bed, carefully securing the corners of the blanket.

Gu Ran said softly, "Go to sleep."

Ye Zhenzhen was indeed tired. Under the young man's gaze, she slowly closed her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering slightly.

Before long, the girl's chest was rising and falling gently. Seeing that she was fast asleep, Gu Ran quietly backed out of the room.

Closing the bedroom door, he pulled his phone out of his pants pocket and unlocked the screen.

The WeChat interface was flooded with over a dozen unread messages from Li Sinan, all of which were bug reports regarding the launch of the new feature.

He quickly scanned the text, his fingers flying across the screen as he replied that he would be right there.

Then, he grabbed his car keys from the entryway and strode out of the apartment.

......

The next morning, sunlight spilled across the entire room.

Ye Zhenzhen woke up from her sleep. Touching the cold sheets beside her, she realized Gu Ran hadn't come home all night.

She picked up her phone from the nightstand, and a message Gu Ran had sent half an hour ago popped up on the screen.

[Silly Bear: I've already bought the pan-fried pork buns from your favorite place. I'll be back at the apartment soon to pick you up for class.]

Looking at the words on the screen, the corners of Ye Zhenzhen's lips couldn't help but curl upward.

Her fingertips tapped rapidly on the screen. Looking at her reply, the young woman set the phone down with satisfaction.

She threw off the covers, got up, and walked into the bathroom. Looking at her rosy-cheeked reflection in the mirror, she began to wash up and get dressed with care.

On the other side, Gu Ran's phone vibrated slightly. He looked at the message on the screen.

[Dr. Ye: Received.]

The young man smirked. This girl must have been a stubbornly prideful monster in her past life.

Half an hour later, a black Audi pulled up smoothly in front of the apartment building.

Ye Zhenzhen jogged out of the building's entrance, a bright smile on her face.

......

The two soon settled into their busy campus lives.

Gu Ran occasionally had to find time to go to the company to handle technical issues. The hectic pace drastically shrank the amount of time they could see each other during the day.

Whenever night fell and Gu Ran joyfully asked to sleep together,

he would be ruthlessly brushed off by Ye Zhenzhen, who used her heavy medical coursework or feeling unwell as excuses.

Looking at the tightly shut door of the second bedroom, Gu Ran scratched his head in frustration.

He had no choice but to hug his pillow and sigh heavily all alone in the guest room.

Time flew by in their busyness. After several rounds of beta testing, the tipping feature for MicroChat official accounts was officially launched to the entire internet.

The rollout of this feature was like a bomb dropped into deep water.

It instantly detonated the creative passion of countless grassroots content creators.

Those originally obscure grassroots influencers, relying on their high-quality articles,

earned an enviably lucrative amount of tipping income in just a few days.

In contrast, Penguin WeChat's daily active user data plummeted, crashing straight through to an all-time historical low.

In Shencheng, inside the Penguin headquarters building.

Liang Dong sat in the corner of the conference room, his face ashen, facing the massive crisis of being kicked out by the board of directors at any moment.

Meanwhile, the boys' dormitory at Qinglin University was a completely different, bustling scene.

Because Gu Ran had moved out rather suddenly, the university decided to keep his bed in the dorm, allowing him to return whenever he wanted.

Gu Ran would occasionally return to the dorm to hang out with the guys.

Sitting in front of the computer, he looked at the constantly soaring financial reports in the backend.

He told the three of them that he planned to issue a massive year-end bonus to the entire company.

Hearing this, Zhang Qi and Qin Zhaoyang howled with envy.

They immediately pounced on Gu Ran, hugging his thighs and refusing to let go, both declaring that they wanted to follow Boss Gu to live the high life.

To celebrate this major milestone victory,

GR Company rented out a hall in the most luxurious hotel downtown to host a grand celebration banquet.

Wearing an extremely ill-fitting, cheap professional suit, Su Wan carried a heavy tea tray as she weaved through the clinking glasses of the banquet hall.

Looking at the high-spirited young founder on stage, she felt a complex mix of emotions.

Gu Ran stood under the spotlight, holding a microphone.

He deliberately raised his voice, going on and on about the spirit of hard work and the theory of overtime being a blessing, displaying his mastery of making grand promises to absolute perfection.

"Every all-nighter we pull right now is laying the foundation for the new era of the mobile internet."

"This kind of blessing to change the lifestyles of hundreds of millions of people is an opportunity others could only beg for."

He spoke with assurance on stage, his every gesture carrying a natural leadership charisma.

Standing in the corner, Su Wan's mouth twitched as she listened, feeling that this capitalist brainwashing rhetoric was utterly tacky.

She looked at the radiant young man on stage.

Recalling the tedious work she had been doing at the grassroots level recently, she surprisingly felt that it had been the most grounded period of her career.

When she saw the gleaming light in the eyes of the young employees around her,

she realized that her own long-dormant heart was also beginning to race with passion.

The celebration banquet came to a close amidst laughter and cheer, and the employees left in groups of twos and threes.

On the street, two figures leaned against each other side by side.

Gu Ran pressed most of his body weight onto Ye Zhenzhen, and the two walked unsteadily.

"Sister, I drank too much today. My head is spinning so badly I can't walk. Can you carry me back on your back?"

He closed his eyes and started acting shamelessly, his arms tightly wrapping around the young woman's slender waist, refusing to let go.

Ye Zhenzhen had long seen through his clumsy little trick.

This guy had clearly been drinking watered-down tea at the table earlier; he didn't look the least bit drunk.

Exasperated, she reached out with two fingers, accurately pinching the ticklish spot on Gu Ran's waist, and gave it a hard twist.

Gu Ran hissed softly in pain, his previously limp body instantly stiffening up.

"Hiss, you've got quite a grip."

As his voice fell, he looked at the young woman's beautiful face, glowing with a rosy hue from holding back her laughter.

A bold idea naturally arose in his mind.

Under the cover of the streetlamp's dim yellow halo, Gu Ran extended his long arm, firmly pinning the young woman beside him against the cold lamppost.

He lowered his head and accurately captured those rosy lips, kissing her deeply with a hint of alcohol on his breath.

After a long while, Gu Ran rested against her smooth forehead, panting softly.

The young woman blushed and scolded him in a low voice, "Hooligan, we're still outside!"

"Sister, this is an exclusive perk for the boss's wife. Others couldn't get it even if they begged~"

Ye Zhenzhen's face flushed completely red from his shameless remarks, and she muttered softly,

"Scoundrel..."

The young woman's hands, hanging by her sides, slowly lifted to tightly hug the young man's broad, solid back.

The early winter night breeze blew through the street corner with a biting chill, but it could not dispel the constantly heating, fiery bond between the two of them, stretching and deepening infinitely into the long night.

......