The CEO’s Substitute Wife Is A Genius
Chapter 111 Two Men Vying to Offer Their Services

Chapter 111: Chapter 111 Two Men Vying to Offer Their Services

"Try it," Jiang Man said as she pulled out a chair and sat down at the dining table.

Her cooking skills were not great, so she seldom cooked.

However, after what happened last night, she decided to show some kindness and make a full table of loving breakfast to comfort him.

Lu Xingzhou was pleasantly surprised and quite astonished at why Jiang Man had suddenly decided to prepare such an elaborate table for him.

The presentation looked mediocre, and he guessed that it probably wouldn’t taste very good, but it shouldn’t be too terrible either.

He picked up his chopsticks, "Then I’ll try this crepe first."

After taking a bite, his handsome face instantly contorted.

His features twisted slightly, and his eyebrows furrowed for a moment.

But not wanting to disappoint Jiang Man, he quickly pretended to be calm and slowly chewed and swallowed the whole piece.

"Try the New Orleans-style chicken wings," Jiang Man pointed out.

This was what she considered her proudest dish, and although the taste couldn’t compare to KFC’s, it wasn’t bad either.

Lu Xingzhou glanced at the color of the chicken wings, which looked quite decent.

With high hopes, he took a piece and put it into his mouth.

After just one bite, his tongue was overwhelmed by an unbearable saltiness.

He quickly rinsed his mouth with milk, but even after drinking a whole cup, the salty taste persisted.

"Maybe we should cancel Wen Jingya’s trip to Africa?"

Jiang Man watched the man eating, speaking indifferently.

Lu Xingzhou raised his eyebrows in surprise, wondering if she knew something.

On second thought, the possibility that his second aunt or aunt had told her was higher.

"Well, with all this commotion, consider it a lesson for her. She won’t dare to mess with you again in the future."

"Hmm," Jiang Man responded with a lift of her eyebrows.

She picked up her chopsticks, eager to try her own masterpiece.

She first picked up a New Orleans-style chicken wing.

After taking a bite and chewing, she immediately spit it out.

Grabbing some juice, she took a big gulp, agitation evident, "How can it be so salty? How could you eat it?"

Disbelieving, she tried a piece of the crepe.

Her eyebrows almost fell off from the sourness, and she squinted her eyes, biting her lips tightly.

"So sour!"

She then tried the other dishes, and either one ingredient was too much, or another too little.

In short, despite the lavish spread, not a single item was appetizing.

"Stop eating, stop eating," Jiang Man set down her chopsticks.

Lu Xingzhou, however, seemed to be enjoying himself, taking another piece of the crepe loaded with lemon and kiwi.

Jiang Man’s eyes widened, "Don’t you find it sour?"

"Pretty sour," Lu Xingzhou chewed slowly.

"Then why keep eating?" Jiang Man gave him a disparaging look, thinking his brain must have gone bad.

"You made it," Lu Xingzhou’s gaze met hers, his eyes tender, "It would be a shame to waste it."

"..." Jiang Man was at a loss for words.

She watched the man in front of her calmly eating the unpalatable food.

She couldn’t understand why he was doing this.

It definitely wasn’t because he hated wasting food, or because throwing it away would be a pity—that was just a pretentious excuse.

Lu Xingzhou, the spoiled young master, was accustomed to meals with eight dishes and one soup, and she had never heard him complain about waste.

"I won’t cook next time," she said, annoyed that her good intentions had fallen short, "I’m not eating, I’m going to school."

Her irritation was evident, and her mood clearly not good.

Lu Xingzhou didn’t understand why she had suddenly become upset.

He responded, "Next time, I’ll cook for you."

Jiang Man didn’t say anything; she picked up her phone and headed towards the entrance.

When she changed her shoes and went out, she noticed that Wu Yingfan had driven the car to the gate and was leaning against the luxury vehicle, eating a lollipop.

As Jiang Man approached, he handed her a pineapple-flavored one.

"Had breakfast?" he asked casually.

"Didn’t have any." Jiang Man unwrapped the lollipop and popped it into her mouth, a hint of irritation between her brows.

Wu Yingfan was surprised, "Why didn’t you eat? You have low blood sugar; you must have breakfast!"

The Lu Family definitely wouldn’t let Jiang Man skimp on food; the only explanation was that Jiang Man herself didn’t want to eat.

"Your husband’s family made breakfast that bad?"

"No, I cooked myself this morning, but the food was so bad I couldn’t swallow any of it," she replied.

"What?" Wu Yingfan thought he was hearing a tall tale, "Jiang Man, the sun hasn’t risen from the west, and you actually cooked breakfast yourself?"

"Last night Lu Xingzhou drank too much, and his ’child bride’ swallowed sleeping pills in an attempt to kill herself, nearly dying. I figured he was in a bad mood, so I made breakfast to cheer him up. Instead, it was so awful it soured my own mood."

"Ah?" Wu Yingfan was even more astonished.

Jiang Man actually cooked to cheer up a man?

"Don’t tell me, Jiang Man, you’ve fallen for Lu Xingzhou?"

"Bullshit, I’m single," Jiang Man glared at him, her voice flat and tinged with annoyance, "Are you annoying or not? Are you driving me to school or not?"

"Of course, I will," Wu Yingfan hurriedly got into the car.

Sitting in the driver’s seat, he was still wondering.

They say the best way to capture a man’s heart is through his stomach.

Jiang Man made breakfast for her husband and still claims not to like him; what a stubborn denial.

But Lu Xingzhou can be considered a quality man, barely suitable for Jiang Man.

"Oh, right," the car started moving slowly, Wu Yingfan turned on the phone placed on the central console, "An agent from Rolling Stone Records contacted me, said someone wants to buy a song, you have to write both the lyrics and music, for this amount."

He raised his right thumb and index finger.

"Eight million?" Jiang Man reclined in the passenger seat, glancing at him lazily.

"Right," Wu Yingfan nodded.

In the world of songwriting, if you’re relatively well-known, a song could be priced anywhere between 100 to 800 million. The same goes for lyrics.

"If they want both lyrics and music, the price should be double," Jiang Man closed her eyes to nap, her posture signaling she was not up for negotiation.

The research institute had given her a salary that was enough for her to live on domestically for a year, so she was not short of money at the moment. Additionally, with Wu Yingfan, a walking wallet at her disposal, she wrote songs based on her mood, not money.

"Got it, I’ll talk to them," Wu Yingfan conceded and stopped disturbing her rest.

Several minutes later, the car arrived at the Northern Conservatory.

Today the university was starting military training, and the entry level examinations for freshmen would take place during the military training period.

This meant that Jiang Man would be busy this month and wouldn’t be able to go to the research institute.

Major Xia had already been informed and told her to focus on the school for now; everything at the research institute was proceeding smoothly and successfully.

Jiang Man first went to the women’s dormitory; Zhang Ziqi went early in the morning to collect the military training uniforms.

When she entered the dormitory, all three girls had already changed their clothes.

Zhang Ziqi looked excited, while Mao Lili had a bitter look on her face.

"Do you think our instructor will be handsome? I heard they’re all young soldiers!"

Zhang Ziqi’s mind was filled with dreams of finding sweet love during her university years.

Mao Lili shook her head, not very enthusiastic, "I’m worried I’ll get tanned and ruin my painstakingly maintained fair skin."

Wen Rui didn’t speak, sitting obediently and quietly in her spot, hugging an Oxford dictionary, memorizing words.

The counselors said the baseline test would be similar to the college entrance exams, but those who excelled in English would be placed in the ’elite class’ and taught by specialized foreign teachers.

For those studying music like them, seeking better development meant going to overseas music universities, which naturally required higher English proficiency.

Zhang Ziqi and Mao Lili didn’t have such lofty ambitions.

Mao Lili was thinking about becoming a music teacher at an elementary or middle school after graduation.

Zhang Ziqi wanted to go to a bar or some local bands to practice first and later become a music radio host.

Only Wen Rui had grand ambitions, she wanted to study abroad and become a well-known musician.

"Jiang Man, you’re here? I got your clothes ready."

Seeing Jiang Man enter the dormitory, Zhang Ziqi immediately offered the camouflage uniform with eagerness.

Mao Lili immediately went to close the door of the dormitory.

Jiang Man went straight to change clothes under her bed.

In September, the temperature difference in the North City was quite large, so she wore a short sleeve undershirt inside and long pants with a coat outside.

When she took off her clothes, Zhang Ziqi’s eyes were fixated on her.

Jiang Man usually wore loose and baggy clothes that completely hid her good figure, leading them to believe that Jiang Man had no figure at all.

But the moment she took off her coat and was left in a tight, cropped short-sleeve shirt, her stunning figure had nowhere to hide.

"Wow! Jiang Man, I didn’t expect you to be so shapely!"

When Jiang Man also took off her pants, the perfect S-curve almost made Zhang Ziqi cry with envy.

Being a girl herself, she really envied those long and slender legs that were also very white.

The waist was very thin, seemingly only as wide as an A4 sheet of paper.

As for the chest... it looked to be a B cup, but because she was slender, a B cup was just right on her, neither too big nor too small, very shapely.

Although Mao Lili was a C cup, she was a bit chubby, and whatever she wore seemed bulky.

Zhang Ziqi was flat-chested and envied shapely girls the most in her life.

"We’re all girls, what’s there to look at?" Jiang Man couldn’t understand why Zhang Ziqi loved staring at her so much.

It wasn’t just Zhang Ziqi; Mao Lili also looked at her, and even Wen Rui, who was focused on memorizing vocabulary, was distracted.

It was undeniable that Jiang Man was truly a beauty, both in face and figure.

When she put on the camouflage uniform, her good figure was once again concealed by the loose and baggy clothes.

"Jiang Man, why don’t you show off your figure? Don’t you know how noisy the girls from the classical dance class are? They wear belly-baring clothes all day and aren’t afraid of catching a cold or having diarrhea."

"Pfft, Qiqi, your words are so poisonous," Mao Lili couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Jiang Man had no interest in beautifying herself and crossed her hands in her pockets, "Aren’t we leaving? Didn’t we say to meet at the playground at nine?"

"Oh dear, yes, yes, we’re going to be late!"

Suddenly, the three girls panicked.

Jiang Man walked calmly and leisurely.

By the time they reached the field, over a thousand new students had gathered together, crowding and bustling.

The four found their class and, under the leadership of their class monitor Lu Qingsong, quickly formed up.

In their Classical Music Department, the ratio of male to female students was about even, with 9 girls to 11 boys.

Jiang Man was the most unique among them and naturally the center of attention.

"Have you heard? There will be some special members joining the instructors."

"What does special members mean?"

"You know, like special forces who have fought on battlefields, War Wolves, Eagles, and the like."

"Seriously? They’re coming to give us military training? Please no, we’re so frail, we can’t take the hardship."

Some girls were already complaining.

Jiang Man was actually quite interested.

If real War Wolf special forces came to teach them, then this military training would be worthwhile; otherwise, she felt it was a waste of time.

"They’re coming, the instructors are coming!"

Suddenly, "A Little Soldier’s Chant" played on the field.

Hearing such stirring music, the crowd of thousands instantly quieted down, stood properly, and awaited their instructors.

Zhang Ziqi stood next to Jiang Man, craning her neck.

Finally, their instructors arrived.

Tall and burly, a good six foot plus, with dark skin and a buzz cut.

Yet even such a hairstyle couldn’t hide the strong scent of male hormones emanating from him.

"Attention!"

With his loud shout, all the students from the Music Department’s Class 01 held their heads high, chests puffed out, and stood rigidly straight.

...

After a whole day of training, the girls were all complaining bitterly.

Apart from a one-and-a-half-hour break at noon, the rest of the time was spent either standing or running.

In the evening, they had to do marching exercises, and everyone had to gather to learn military songs, saying that on the last day of the parade, they had to outperform every other platoon in singing the military songs.

In the end, their class spent a whole evening discussing and decided to choose "Me and My Motherland" to sing.

"So tired."

By the time the meeting was over, it was past ten o’clock at night.

Jiang Man didn’t want to bother, so she planned to make do in the dormitory during the military training period.

After all, Wu Yingfan had prepared everything for her at the beginning of the school year, which was convenient as she lacked nothing.

The three girls were all excited about her staying over.

Zhang Ziqi got her hot water, and Mao Lili made her bed.

Wen Rui didn’t know what to do, so she just followed Jiang Man around, ready to be dispatched at any time.

"That’s enough, that’s enough, no need to fuss over me, let’s wash up and sleep."

Everyone was quite tired that day, and she didn’t want to be treated specially.

By the time she had washed up and climbed into bed, she found that Lu Xingzhou had sent her several text messages.

[What would you like for breakfast tomorrow?]

[Your dorm room is 402, right?]

[Have you gone to sleep?]

Jiang Man frowned, wondering why he hadn’t just called her if it was important instead of sending several text messages.

[I’ll eat breakfast with my roommates, whatever the school is selling, and yes, it’s room 402. About to go to sleep.]

She replied matter-of-factly.

He replied almost instantly: [Good night.]

???

Jiang Man felt that Lu Xingzhou had been acting weird lately, showing more and more concern for her, making them seem like a real married couple.

She flopped onto her pillow, ready to wear her sleep mask and go to bed.

That’s when a call came in.

The phone number was one she had stored just a few days ago, labeled Knight Brother.

"Hello?" Since it was a bunk bed, she could only take the call on her bed.

"It’s me." Nan Juefeng’s warm voice came through the receiver, "The school has invited me to give a speech. Are you free tomorrow? Let me treat you to a casual meal."

"I’m free at noon, we’ve started military training."

"Okay, I’ll contact you then."

"Okay." Jiang Man agreed readily.

Just as she was about to hang up, he added, "What time do you get up in the morning, and what would you like for breakfast? I can have someone deliver it."

"???" Jiang Man was filled with question marks.

What’s going on? Was it now a trend to deliver breakfast to people?

"Brother Feng, we get up at no fixed time, for breakfast time..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Zhang Ziqi came in holding her washbasin, having just taken a bath, "Shall we go for breakfast at eight? If we finish by half-past eight, it’s just the right time to assemble."

"Shh!" Mao Lili gave her a look.

It was only then that Zhang Ziqi noticed Jiang Man on her phone, presumably talking to her brother-in-law.

"Ah, sorry brother-in-law, carry on, carry on~"

Hearing the term ’brother-in-law’, Nan Juefeng’s mood instantly improved, "All right, little Man, I’ll have someone deliver breakfast to you at eight-thirty tomorrow morning."