TMLSG -Chapter 37 Cheek-to-Cheek

Halfway through Tang Zhen and Ren Yanjing’s dinner with the two cousins, a charming and striking beauty suddenly walked over.

The woman confidently approached their table and greeted them.

“Ethan, long time no see.”

She spoke entirely in a foreign language. Fortunately, this sentence was simple enough that Tang Zhen barely understood it.

At first she didn’t react to who Ethan was, until 000 reminded her that it was the male lead’s English name.

Ren Yanli looked up and was immediately surprised.

“Sister Huihui.”

He hadn’t expected that the person they had mentioned earlier in the afternoon would suddenly appear in front of them.

Lu Hui pulled over a chair from the next table and began chatting with them in a foreign language. Most of the time she spoke to Ren Yanjing.

But Ren Yanjing rarely responded, and even when he did, it was only with short words.

The atmosphere was mostly kept alive by Ren Yanfu and Ren Yanli.

Halfway through the conversation, Lu Hui lazily asked, “Why hasn’t that lady said a word the entire time?”

Ren Yanjing wrapped a slice of roast duck for Tang Zhen and didn’t respond. Tang Zhen simply lowered her head and continued eating.

Her cheeks were puffed full of food like a little hamster. She looked adorable and didn’t even raise her head.

For a moment, the atmosphere became awkward.

After all, they had been friends for many years. Ren Yanli didn’t want Lu Hui to lose face, so he smiled and said to Tang Zhen, “Sister-in-law, Sister Huihui is calling you.”

Tang Zhen looked up in confusion.

“Calling me what?”

“Sister Huihui asked why you aren’t talking.”

Tang Zhen tilted her head.

“I can’t understand.”

“What?”

“Ah?”

The first line came from Lu Hui.

The second came from Ren Yanli.

Ren Yanfu suddenly burst out laughing.

“Sorry about that, sister-in-law. We neglected you earlier.”

Tang Zhen shook her head. The earrings on her ears sparkled under the light. Her black eyes, pale skin, red lips, and bright ruby earrings—paired with her innocent and sincere gaze—made her look like a classic “beautiful but clueless” type of girl.

Generously, she said, “It’s okay.”

Ren Yanli coughed lightly, feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Sister-in-law, was it because we were speaking too fast?”

Tang Zhen bit her lip before deciding to tell the truth.

“Even if you spoke slowly… I might not understand.”

Whether before transmigrating into the novel or after, her grades had always been average.

Her foreign language grades were average too.

The vocabulary they had used just now was quite advanced. She could only understand the simpler words.

Ren Yanfu teased, “A-Jing, that’s your fault. Why don’t you tutor your girlfriend properly in foreign languages?”

Ren Yanjing replied casually, “She doesn’t have to learn foreign languages well. Translation software works great these days.”

Tsk.

He was already protecting his girlfriend.

But his sister-in-law looked easy to fool and naturally lovable—no wonder people felt protective toward her.

Only then did Lu Hui properly look at Tang Zhen for the first time.

This time she didn’t speak in a foreign language.

“You’re very different from what I imagined.”

Tang Zhen asked curiously, “What did you imagine I’d be like?”

Definitely not this “beautiful but slightly silly” type.

The rest of the conversation remained relatively calm. After staying a little longer, Lu Hui left.

She had only come over to see what kind of person Ren Yanjing would fall for.

Now she knew.

After Lu Hui left, the atmosphere at the table relaxed again.

Ren Yanli apologized to Tang Zhen once more.

“I’m really sorry, sister-in-law. We didn’t consider that situation.”

Tang Zhen poked the bottom of her bowl with her chopsticks.

“It’s okay.”

She had tried studying hard, but the results had been minimal. There was nothing she could do about it.

After that, the conversation topics were all things Tang Zhen could participate in.

When dinner ended, the two groups went their separate ways.

After getting into the car, Ren Yanjing touched her cheek lightly with the back of his hand.

“You don’t need to take what happened earlier to heart.”

Tang Zhen looked puzzled.

“I didn’t take it to heart.”

From the very beginning, she had known her place.

She and the male lead were not people from the same world.

Not only could she not participate in conversations in foreign languages, she also didn’t understand things like the principles behind robot development.

Accepting her own shortcomings calmly… didn’t seem that difficult.

In the future, when they discussed more high-level topics, she probably still wouldn’t understand.

Ren Yanjing leaned closer and kissed her soft, fair cheek. “You don’t need to understand.”

000 immediately exploded with excitement.

【Ahhhhh! Sudden sweetness!】

【The male lead is actually giving out sugar on his own initiative!】

The male lead was really good.

Tang Zhen felt a tiny, tiny bit of affection for him.

But it was just that little bit. After all, if they were destined to break up sooner or later, there was no need to invest too much emotion—it wouldn’t be good for either of them.

Still! The fact that the male lead suddenly kissed her cheek made her feel a little uneasy.

“Sanquan… is the plot really okay?”

000 wasn’t entirely sure. 【It should be okay, I guess.】

After a short while, Tang Zhen received a new mission.

【Plot Debugging Task: In the lab, with other teammates watching, press your face close to the male lead’s face.】

This was a task designed to trigger the male lead’s annoyance toward the female supporting character.

For one, the lab was a workspace. The male lead didn’t like mixing personal feelings with work.

For another, he disliked showing too much intimacy with his partner in public, especially around people he knew well.

It made him feel uncomfortable.

He’d rather pull an all-nighter doing experiments than be cheek-to-cheek with his girlfriend in front of teammates.

He thought it looked too staged.

That’s exactly what he hated most.

Why did it have to happen in front of teammates? Why did it have to be at this exact moment?

【Xiao Zhen, if you finish this task and the male lead gets angry, it means the plot hasn’t broken.】

【The reward for this task is a small amount of exchange points.】

“Okay!”

Ren Yanjing had originally planned to take Tang Zhen back to her dorm directly, but she suddenly said she wanted to see his lab.

At this time, the teammates were still debugging Puppy’s data.

After notifying them in the group chat, he brought Tang Zhen to the lab for the second time.

By the second visit, everyone was already familiar with each other. After greeting them briefly, the teammates returned to their work.

Ren Yanjing set up a desk for Tang Zhen to play with Robert, while he went to discuss chip issues with Zhang Mian.

Tang Zhen took a few photos of Robert on her phone but quickly became distracted.

She was waiting for the right moment to complete the task.

She had to do it here, in front of teammates.

Honestly, it made her a little uncomfortable.

But as the female supporting character, she feared plot-triggered consequences above all.

Who knew what would happen if the plot broke?

Maybe nothing would happen.

Maybe the female supporting character would get “butterflied” immediately.

Fifty-fifty chance.

She couldn’t gamble.

Finally, after Ren Yanjing and Zhang Mian finished their discussion, Tang Zhen saw her opportunity.

As Ren Yanjing sat down at the computer to check the data, she suddenly pounced, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind and pressing her cheek against his.

The noise immediately drew the attention of the other teammates.

“Oh~~~”

“Hahaha!”

“Alright, alright, that’s on us.”

They were all under twenty, playful and mischievous. Seeing this, Shen Quanli shouted out in surprise, completely losing any semblance of a composed genius.

Ren Yanjing pinched the hand Tang Zhen had draped over him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Tang Zhen didn’t answer. Like a little cat, she rubbed her face against his cheek while silently asking 000, “Sanquan… is the male lead angry?”

At that moment, Tang Zhen’s phone on the desk lit up.

A new WeChat message popped up on the home screen.

“Auntie’s waist isn’t healed yet. Shall we go home together tomorrow?”

The sender was Zhou Xusi.

Three seconds later, the screen went dark again.

Tang Zhen and 000 were both focused on the male lead, so they completely ignored the message.

Only Ren Yanjing noticed.

000, hearing Tang Zhen’s question, let out a huge sigh of relief.

【The male lead got angry. Don’t worry, Zhen. The plot line is fine—it hasn’t broken!】