My Beloved Concubine Only Wants to Eat Melons

Extra Chapter 17

(Reading note: The male lead is the Empress Dowager's biological son, now named Zhou Lan, and the female lead is now named Li Shu.)

The phone alarm had been ringing by her pillow for nearly a minute before Li Shu finally managed to open her eyes with difficulty.

The once four-person dormitory was now eerily quiet with just her remaining.

With graduation approaching, her roommates had all moved out, either for internships or full-time jobs. Only she remained, unable to attend interviews because she stayed up late writing novels, which led to her inability to wake up the next day.

It wasn't that she wanted to stay up late; mainly, it was because thousands of readers were online daily demanding updates. She couldn't bear to let them down, so she had no choice but to grit her teeth and keep writing.

Staying up until two or three in the morning had become the norm. The next day, after getting enough sleep, she would start thinking about the new chapter, and time passed day by day in this cycle of writing.

In the blink of an eye, it was already late May, with graduation coming next month.

Although her current writing income was decent, if she didn't find a proper job, her parents would likely force her to move back home.

Home itself wasn't scary; what was scary were all those neighbors and relatives!

It was bad enough that they constantly compared husbands and children, but since she turned twenty, these relatives had been competing to set her up on blind dates. If she really went home, she'd be driven crazy.

So she really wanted to find a job, but struggled to find the time.

Fortunately, Professor Qi from her department had recommended her for a position yesterday. The Huarui Group was establishing a media company and was currently hiring. She tried submitting her resume and surprisingly received an interview invitation quickly.

So, no matter how sleepy she was now, she had to go.

At 10 AM, in the conference room on the fifteenth floor of the Huarui Building, the new CEO Zhou Lan glanced at his watch, feeling slightly impatient.

He had already interviewed several candidates for the planning and publicity position but wasn't quite satisfied with any of them. He was even considering leaving.

Of course, it wasn't just him – everyone else in the conference room had started to zone out, and various thoughts began flooding into his ears.

[Tsk, who is that male celebrity who secretly got married, had two kids, and is now forcing his wife to quietly divorce him so he can pursue a rich woman? That author called Carefree Meatball is such a cliffhanger master!!! Are they trying to kill us with suspense!!!]

[It's only 10 AM, still 35 hours until Carefree's latest chapter, how am I going to survive this difficult day...]

[I'm so late to the party, why did I only discover this treasure of an author, Carefree Meatball, yesterday!!! Stayed up all night but still haven't caught up to the latest chapter, don't want to work, just want to read the novel!!!]

"..."

There were currently four people in the conference room, and except for him, the other three were all thinking about this Carefree Meatball...

Zhou Lan mentally frowned.

He knew that "Carefree Meatball" was currently a dark horse author ranking in the top ten bestsellers on a certain novel website. They had written a novel called "Let Me Tell You About My Years of Entertainment Industry Gossip," which was currently trending across the internet.

Come to think of it, he had glanced at that novel. While it wasn't particularly outstanding in terms of storytelling or literary merit, the subject matter was quite novel, focusing mainly on entertainment industry exposés. What was peculiar was that every story written would be followed by real cases being exposed online a few days later, with irrefutable evidence.

So many readers speculated that Carefree Meatball might be a famous paparazzi in the country.

But Zhou Lan had people investigate, and such speculation proved false. Even the paparazzi were currently searching everywhere for this author, wanting to know their true identity.

To be honest, Zhou Lan was quite curious too.

Just as his mind was wandering, the conference room door suddenly opened, and the next interviewee arrived.

He snapped back to attention and took a look. This time it was a young woman, probably no more than 24 years old.

Judging from her walk, she seemed uncomfortable in high heels – likely a fresh university graduate.

Tsk, her bangs were even sticking up a bit...

Clearly hadn't woken up early this morning.

He looked down at her resume again – sure enough, a fresh graduate from S University's Chinese Department, majoring in Chinese Language and Literature.

A fresh graduate...

Zhou Lan had almost no hope left.

Then he heard the HR manager say, "Please introduce yourself."

The girl then said, "My name is Li Shu, I'm 22 years old, studying Chinese Language and Literature at S University's Chinese Department, graduating with a bachelor's degree this year. Um... I saw your company was recruiting for the planning and publicity position, found it interesting, so I wanted to give it a try."

As she spoke, she was thinking to herself, [Is this okay to say? Well, that's what Baidu taught anyway.]

Zhou Lan: "..."

She needed Baidu to teach her?

Must be her first interview.

Beside him, HR continued, "Miss Li, do you have any previous experience in corporate planning?"

Zhou Lan looked up to see the girl pause for a second or two before saying, "...No."

Zhou Lan: "..."

Well, just like her blank resume, at least this girl was honest.

Just as he was thinking this, he heard the girl hurriedly add, "Wait, does writing promotional copy for a Taobao shop count? I did that for my roommate, and her business wasn't bad... I just forgot to put it on my resume."

This sparked some interest from HR, who then asked, "May I ask what kind of Taobao shop your roommate runs? What category of business?"

Zhou Lan also looked at her.

After all, many online shops now had considerable business. If she had managed to promote an online shop well during her student years, that would show some capability.

However, she replied, "Um, she mainly runs a service for picking up express deliveries, takeout food, cafeteria meals, and other errands."

HR: "..."

Zhou Lan: "..."

Had to admit, it did sound quite busy.

At this point, he had even less hope, but HR cleared their throat and continued trying, "So, besides this, Miss Li doesn't have any other work or internship experience?"

Li Shu: "Um... um..."

She was hesitating internally, wanting to ask "Does writing web novels count?" Ugh...

Zhou Lan: "???"

Writing web novels?

So she's also an online writer?

Just as he was surprised, he heard her mentally reject the idea, [No, if I mention it, they might ask for my pen name? They might even want to see what I write... No way, that would expose my identity! I absolutely can't let them know who I am.]

Zhou Lan quietly raised an eyebrow –

From her tone, her pen name seemed quite impressive?

Then, he heard her sighing her own name in her thoughts, [Li Shu, oh Li Shu, you must keep your identity tightly under wraps. Once exposed, forget about the paparazzi camping outside your door, all those scumbags and nasty women you've written about will come after you! Especially that recent scumbag Yang XX who secretly got married, had two kids, and is now forcing his original wife to divorce...]

Zhou Lan: "???"

Secretly married, two kids, forcing the original wife to divorce...

Yang XX???

How did this girl know?

Could she be... Carefree Meatball???

After being silently shocked for a while, Zhou Lan thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "Since Miss Li majored in Chinese Language and Literature, have you written anything during your four years in university?"

When he finished speaking, he saw the girl look toward him at the sound of his voice. She didn't immediately answer his question, but first exclaimed internally –

[This man... is so fucking handsome!!!]

Zhou Lan: "..."

Ahem, although he often heard such exclamations, since the previous interviewees today were all male, this girl was the first one.

And... her feelings were quite intense.

However, as a well-mannered man who had experienced the tumultuous world, he was very clear-headed and wouldn't be easily swayed by his own appearance.

But could this girl please remove those two words before "handsome" when expressing her admiration?

It doesn't sound very polite.

Of course, coming back to the main point, the most important issue now was her.

He really hadn't expected that this seemingly young girl in front of him would turn out to be Carefree Meatball, the author currently on everyone's lips who was causing such a stir in the entertainment industry?

Was she really... just a college student?

While he was pondering this, he heard the girl think to herself, [One minute, I want his complete information!]

Zhou Lan: "???"

Who was she talking to?

Before he could figure it out, the system in Yan Shu's mind had already started explaining, [Haven't I already dug up this guy's information for you? He's Zhou Lan, the precious son of Huarui Group's chairwoman Zhou Ruolan, remember?]

Li Shu couldn't help but exclaim "Holy crap!" upon hearing this. [You mean this is that Zhou Lan, the youngest CEO who ranked in the top ten of Asia's richest people list just last month?]

System: [That's right, it's young master Zhou himself, genuine and guaranteed.]

Zhou Lan, who had been quietly listening, found this somewhat strange.

He wasn't wearing any brand labels today, and no one had introduced him earlier. How did this girl suddenly recognize him?

Though come to think of it, he had attended some events before, so if she had seen any related news reports, it would make sense that she recognized him now.

However, the girl was still in shock.

Although Li Shu knew that Zhou Lan was the son of Huarui Group's chairwoman Zhou Ruolan, and that this young CEO was currently the face of Huarui Group, she never imagined that on her first interview, she would encounter the man himself.

His looks were seriously way beyond those self-proclaimed top celebrity actors who desperately bought trending topics on social media!

How could someone be both so wealthy and so handsome?

Being cautious, she double-checked with the system again, [Is this the same Zhou Lan who once weighed over 400 pounds because he went through a self-destructive phase of drinking sodas and eating junk food during his parents' divorce, but then lost over 200 pounds in anger when no girls liked him during puberty?]

System: [Yep, that's him. Looking at his appearance now, he's maintained his figure quite well over the years.]

Yan Shu: [...Indeed, just goes to show every chubby person is a potential stock worth investing in.]

Zhou Lan: "???"

What was going on??

How on earth did she know all of this?!!