ATLT Chapter 14

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Having been at his job for some time, Zhang Linghao found that working wasn’t as difficult as he had imagined.

To make his commute easier, Chu Yi canceled his old lease and rented an apartment near Zhang Linghao’s company. Although work kept him busy, the fact that they couldn’t spend long hours together every day made them cherish their time even more. After work and on weekends, they either stayed in bed all day or went out on dates, enjoying life to the fullest.

Chu Yi started a new short-video series teaching his followers how to make healthy and nutritious bento meals. Unexpectedly, a handsome guy teaching cooking turned out to be more appealing than one showing off abs—his follower count skyrocketed, surpassing three million in no time.

One day, a colleague of Zhang Linghao brought a beautifully prepared lunch to work and proudly showed it off, saying they had learned it from a popular cooking influencer. The colleague even held up their phone to show everyone how handsome the influencer was, gushing over him. Zhang Linghao pretended to go along with the excitement and took a glance—he almost burst out laughing. The influencer everyone was swooning over was none other than his own Chu Yi.

The colleague eagerly shared some of their lunch with everyone. Zhang Linghao joined in the fun, using a toothpick to pick up a piece of grilled chicken breast and putting it into his mouth. Hmm... it was okay, but not as good as the original.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to keep quiet about it—after all, every night when he got home, he got to eat meals like this, freshly made with love.

Meanwhile, Zhang Linghao’s father had received the verdict of his disciplinary inspection. It wasn’t too severe—just removal from his position. Zhang Linghao secretly breathed a sigh of relief and made a trip home to bring his father back. Together with Zhang Lingrui, who was on winter break, they took their father for a health check-up. Seeing that his father’s health was fine, Zhang Linghao finally felt at ease.

He signed his father, stepmother, and younger brother up for a tour group so they could relax, using work as an excuse to avoid going with them.

His father had always known that Zhang Linghao had many interests and was somewhat unconventional. Seeing that his son had sold his luxury car, sent his younger brother to study in Beijing, arranged a stable life for Aunt Fang, and even moved to Shanghai for a job, he felt a mix of emotions. In the end, he decided to turn a blind eye to his eldest son’s personal life.

Since Zhang Linghao was clearly not going to settle down and start a family, their father placed all his hopes on Zhang Lingrui. He expected him to pursue a PhD after his undergraduate studies and, at the same time, pressured him to find a girlfriend and get married before finishing his doctorate.

Zhang Lingrui wailed in their small three-person group chat:

"Brother, I’ve sacrificed so much for your happiness!"

Before Zhang Linghao could reply, Chu Yi sent a large red envelope, with the note: "Xiao Rui’s Love Fund."

Zhang Lingrui happily accepted it:

"Yi-ge, you’re my real brother! For you, I’ll do my best to win over my goddess!"

Zhang Linghao finally spoke up:

"Since when did you have a goddess?"

Zhang Lingrui:

"I told you ages ago!!! I even asked you for advice, but you ignored me!!!"

Zhang Linghao scrolled up in the chat history and found that, indeed, not long ago, Lingrui had been talking about how he had fallen for a top student at his university and had asked his two older brothers for advice on how to win her over. He must have been busy with work at the time and had selectively ignored his little brother’s plea for help. On the other hand, Chu Yi had earnestly offered a few suggestions: make her homemade bento lunches, pick her up after night classes, and work out to build muscle and give her a sense of security.

Amused, Zhang Linghao asked in the group chat:

"Did you follow your Yi-ge’s advice? Did it work?"

Zhang Lingrui:

"I’ve been picking her up from night classes, I’m working out, but the homemade bento... well, I kind of blew up the kitchen. Total failure."

Zhang Linghao:

"After all that effort, she’s still not interested?"

Zhang Lingrui:

"She saw my final grades and said I didn’t score well enough. She told me she’d only consider dating me if I win a scholarship. T_T"

Zhang Linghao:

"Wait… your grades aren’t good?"

Zhang Lingrui:

"Brother, my goddess already secured a direct PhD admission at our university…"

Zhang Linghao:

"So you’re dating an older girl?"

Zhang Lingrui:

"What’s wrong with that? You got a problem?"

Zhang Linghao:

"Hmm, just feels like you’re not good enough for her…"

Zhang Lingrui:

"You’re not my real brother. Blocking you."

Zhang Linghao:

"Hahaha, dream big, little bro! You got this!"

That night, Chu Yi asked Zhang Linghao a little hesitantly, "Your little brother and his soon-to-be girlfriend are both top students, and you’re a returnee from overseas. I never even went to college... Do I seem out of place in your family?"

Zhang Linghao hugged him and kissed him. "What’s so great about being a top student? Having cooking skills, eight-pack abs, and three million followers—that’s what’s truly impressive."

Chu Yi laughed. "Your worldview is so skewed, but it’s kind of cute."

Zhang Linghao smirked. "My worldview follows my heart, totally natural."

One Morning at the Office

One morning at the office, Zhang Linghao overheard a few colleagues gossiping while discussing work:

Colleague A: "What a pity! With looks like that, he should've just relied on his face to make a living. Why switch careers?"

Colleague B: "I heard he switched to being a photographer. Maybe there’s still a chance for us to work with him in the future."

Colleague A: "Even if he's a photographer now, he could still model on the side, right? No need to give it up completely."

Colleague C: "You guys don’t know? I heard his dad is a famous real estate developer in Hangzhou. He probably just went home to inherit the family business—doesn’t need to earn small change like this."

Colleague D: "I heard he quit modeling because his boyfriend didn’t like him showing his face. Have you seen his boyfriend? Last year, during the shoot, he was there with him the whole time. Super handsome—apparently, he’s a football coach."

Colleague B: "Wait, what? Doesn’t like him showing his face? What’s going on—can gay guys have toxic masculinity too?"

Colleague A: "This has nothing to do with toxic masculinity! If my boyfriend were that handsome, I wouldn’t want him making a living off his looks either—I’d be afraid people would try to steal him!"

…

Zhang Linghao wasn’t sure who they were talking about, but as he listened, he thought to himself: If I weren’t so confident in Chu Yi, I wouldn’t want him relying on his looks either. He really is too much of a magnet for admirers.

Before long, he was called into a meeting, where he finally learned what was going on. The company was launching its new season’s ad campaign, and the advertising agency had submitted a proposal—but they had replaced a male model the company had been using for years.

This model had done well in the past, even landing several high-profile campaigns over the last couple of years, making a name for himself in the industry. So, when the team noticed his absence from the new model list, they asked the agency to bring him back.

However, the agency responded that the model had already retired from the industry and couldn’t be hired back, no matter how much they offered. That morning’s gossip had been about this very situation.

Zhang Linghao’s mind started turning. He casually asked, "Are we still looking for more models for this shoot?"

Colleague: "Yeah. It’s a group shot, and we’ve shortlisted a few names from the agency, but we still need more. We asked them to recommend additional candidates."

Zhang Linghao: "Do they have to be professional models? Or is just looking good enough?"

One colleague joked, "Linghao, are you volunteering? I think you’d be great."

Zhang Linghao chuckled. "Not me, but I have a friend who’s an influencer. He’s got the looks and the physique, and he’s about the same height as a model. I think he might be a good fit."

Colleague: "An influencer, huh? A lot of them use filters and editing tricks…"

Zhang Linghao: "Not him. He never uses beauty filters in his live streams or videos."

That piqued everyone’s interest. "No filters in this day and age? Seriously?!"

Zhang Linghao kept up the intrigue. "First, tell me—does someone like that meet our selection criteria? If he does, I’ll show you his videos. If not, forget I mentioned it."

The project lead spoke up. "The ad agency has to do a formal evaluation. It’s not just about looks—it also depends on his rate."

Zhang Linghao: "If I send his profile to the agency, that’s not considered favoritism, right?"

Project Lead: "It’s just a resource recommendation. Totally fine."

So, Zhang Linghao compiled a simple PowerPoint using videos and photos from Chu Yi’s social media and sent it to the ad agency handling the campaign.

A recommendation from the “client” was naturally taken seriously, and Chu Yi’s striking looks—plus his built-in audience—made him a strong candidate. The agency quickly reached out to him. Since Zhang Linghao had already given Chu Yi a heads-up, Chu Yi dutifully consulted his manager about whether he could take on the job and had the manager negotiate the rate with the agency.

After some back-and-forth discussions, Chu Yi actually landed a small role in Zhang Linghao’s company’s new commercial.

Of course, this meant that Zhang Linghao’s secret didn’t last long. His colleagues soon discovered that the handsome cooking influencer was actually his “friend.”

Some observant colleagues even suspected that they were more than just friends. But since Zhang Linghao neither confirmed nor denied it, no one dared to ask directly—they could only gossip among themselves in private.

Zhang Linghao was very pleased. This was exactly the kind of ambiguous yet obvious effect he wanted.

The ultimate way to show off your relationship? Never admit it—but make sure everyone knows. That way, people get the message: He's taken. No chance for anyone else.

In moments like this, Zhang Linghao felt like a true genius in the art of love.

T/N: Please give support on my ko-fi page, thank you💮💮💮