This piece of news was perfectly normal in Ye Lan's eyes.
"What about this paper?"
Ren Yuanhao turned the front of the newspaper to her. On the leftmost vertical line, the characters 'Betting' were written!
"Miss Ye, you are so intelligent, you must know why I said you would lose, right?"
Ye Lan's brows furrowed, and she immediately realized what Ren Yuanhao meant.
"Are you saying that someone has set up a huge gambling match, and my chances of winning are very high, so many people have bet on my side? Those bookies will definitely come to the company to arrange for me to intentionally lose this match?"
"I told you, Miss Ye is a smart person." A flash of wisdom flickered in Ren Yuanhao's eyes.
As soon as he finished speaking, a secretary with a slim waist and long legs walked out from the brightly lit corridor. Seeing that Ye Lan had not left, she said coldly, "The boss wants to see you."
Ye Lan and Ren Yuanhao exchanged glances, their minds in sync, and they had already guessed the boss's intentions.
"Ren, Ren what?"
"Ren Yuanhao."
Ye Lan's gaze towards him changed slightly, but her tone remained that of a condescending queen: "Wait for me at the coffee shop next door..."
Ren Yuanhao waited in the opposite coffee shop for about half an hour. During this time, his phone received two text messages, one from Yang Lingxue and the other from Zhang Yingfang.
As he was looking down at his phone, Ye Lan sat down in front of him, visibly upset.
"What's wrong? The talk didn't go smoothly?"
"Yes, you guessed right. The boss wants me to lose by a move or two, but not too obviously." Ye Lan said, pouting, a stark contrast to her previous cold demeanor.
Ren Yuanhao suddenly burst out laughing when he heard this.
"What are you laughing at? Is it that funny?"
"It's not that it's funny, I just thought of a way to strike it rich." Ren Yuanhao pretended to be mysterious, put down his phone, and didn't look at Ye Lan, instead stirring his charcoal-roasted coffee.
"Hmph! I guessed it, you want to bet on me losing too!" Ye Lan continued to pout, her angry appearance actually incredibly cute.
"Don't be angry. If your partners and fans saw you making that face, your persona might crumble."
Unexpectedly, as soon as Ye Lan heard the word "persona," her expression suddenly froze.
"I actually hate this persona. I ask you, if you had to suppress your true nature, not for interest but for money, would you agree?"
Ren Yuanhao didn't understand the meaning behind her words. He thought about it, and when he worked at Lan Ni Taekwondo Hall, wasn't it also for money?
Interest, dreams—these simple words had long been cast aside. After all, in this world, most people worked to please for money. Who wasn't living with a mask on every day?
It's just that sometimes, when the mask is worn for too long, one starts to believe it's their true self. What their true nature is like, perhaps only in the dead of night, when the moonlight is dim and bright, will it suddenly awaken from the depths of their hearts.
"Ren Yuanhao?" Ye Lan waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"Sorry, I was a bit distracted. Your question reminded me of past events. Actually, the best choice is to transform your interest into a means of making money. You'll be happy doing it, and your wallet won't be so empty that you can't support yourself."
"That's too idealistic. I've heard that a person's life has at least three important choices that can determine their destiny. But the problem is, at the time, these choices might seem very, very small, so small that they are imperceptible. When you happily step through one door, another door is forever closed."
Ren Yuanhao chuckled, "Are you really just an e-sports queen? I think you could put on an old-fashioned professor's outfit, put on a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and go to university to start your career."
"You're mocking me."
"Absolutely not. I think what you said is very correct. However, from your tone, e-sports doesn't seem to be what you're most interested in. Do you regret it?"
"I love e-sports, but I don't want to use my e-sports career to pander to them!"
"I want to win every match with integrity!" Ye Lan immediately looked at Ren Yuanhao, "So, what do you think I should do in the match tonight?"
Ren Yuanhao spread his hands, "You've already said it yourself in your previous sentence, why are you asking me?"