After Becoming a Spare Tire, I Was Targeted by the Villain and the Male Lead at the Same Time

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Xu Chenghao abruptly stopped his raised foot and raised his voice, saying, “What did you just say???”

Jing Yicheng remained calm: “I’m your new neighbor.
Please take care of me.”

Xu Chenghao’s face was numb: “Don’t tell me you live upstairs.”

Jing Yicheng was unapologetic and replied, “Yes.”

Xu Chenghao: “…”

Well, he had nothing to say.

Xu Chenghao restrained the urge to roll his eyes and walked into the elevator with the little yellow duck in his arms, no longer interested in expressing his opinions.

With that annoying pest named Ruan Chenxuan in front of him, having one more Jing Yicheng didn’t make much of a difference to him.
It’s said that when there are many lice, they don’t bite1The idiom “when there are many lice, they don’t bite” means when there are numerous problems or difficulties, they become less significant or bothersome individually.
It implies that when faced with a multitude of challenges or annoyances, each individual problem seems less important or troublesome compared to the overall situation.
In the context of the conversation, Xu Chenghao is expressing his indifference towards having one more person like Jing Yicheng around, as he already considers Ruan Chenxuan to be a bothersome presence.!

Xu Chenghao thought in resignation, “Anyway, they can still play Landlord, and it would be even better if they bring the female lead back.
We can all play Mahjong together!”

Jing Yicheng looked at him sideways, but before he could speak, the elevator made a ding sound and opened again.

Ruan Chenxuan walked in as usual and was about to say, “Good morning, President Xu,” but his smile froze on his face as he looked at the other person in the elevator, quite surprised.
He said, “President Jing?”

Jing Yicheng gave him a cold glance, standing motionless in the center of the elevator, and replied, “President Ruan.”

“…”

The atmosphere became even more awkward with the presence of the three individuals.
It was more awkward than when it was just Xu Chenghao and Ruan Chenxuan.

Xu Chenghao stood on the left, studying his chili seedlings; Jing Yicheng stood expressionless in the middle, unmoving; Ruan Chenxuan was probably the one with the most normal reaction.
He looked at the other two people with a puzzled expression, unable to understand why these two suddenly appeared together in the elevator.

…It was still morning, after all.

Could their relationship have become so good that they could spend the night together?

Ruan Chenxuan pondered in his mind how good their relationship could be, and suddenly a thought flashed through his mind – if Jing Yicheng had a good relationship with Xu Chenghao and often came to the residential area, then he should have encountered An Rouyu that day!

Could it be that Jing Yicheng met An Rouyu and came to find Xu Chenghao first, taking the opportunity to hide her away?!

This idea was entirely plausible! After all, Jing Yicheng was once his love rival and had openly pursued An Rouyu.
Moreover, the most important thing was that he didn’t care about An Rouyu’s feelings – as seen in the incident at the airport when he tried to take her away.
Even if An Rouyu didn’t want to go, he would forcefully take her away.

So… it was entirely possible for him to take advantage of the situation and capture An Rouyu.

This could also explain why An Rouyu disappeared after coming to the residential area, while Xu Chenghao confidently claimed that he had nothing to do with An Rouyu.

Ruan Chenxuan was now in a state of being suspicious of everyone he encountered.
Whenever an idea crosses his mind, he immediately grabs onto it, unwilling to let go of any tiny bit of evidence.

While contemplating the arrangement of investigation clues in his mind, Ruan Chenxuan glanced at Xu Chenghao and pursed his lips slightly.
If this incident was really orchestrated by Jing Yicheng, does Xu Chenghao know about it? Could he also be kept in the dark?

A crisp sound of a bell brought Ruan Chenxuan’s thoughts back instantly.
The elevator door in front of them slowly opened, and Xu Chenghao, who had been under scrutiny, was the first to step out, leaving them behind in an instant.

“President Xu!”

“President Xu!”

The voices called out one after another, like a duet.
Xu Chenghao stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at them.
“What’s the matter?”

Ruan Chenxuan and Jing Yicheng exchanged a glance, then quickly looked away from each other.
Ruan Chenxuan spoke first, “President Xu, when do you have time? I would like to talk to you.”

Xu Chenghao’s expression instantly darkened, and he said displeasedly, “What do you want to do again?”

Ruan Chenxuan replied, “Please rest assured, Mr.
Xu.
I won’t suspect you anymore after the chili incident.
This time it’s about something else.”

Xu Chenghao looked at him suspiciously: “Then make an appointment.
If I have time, I will meet with President Ruan.”

“Okay, looking forward to meeting with President Xu for discussions,” Ruan Chenxuan replied, nodding and giving Jing Yicheng a meaningful smile before leaving.

Jing Yicheng’s already indifferent expression turned even colder.
He seemed like a moving iceberg emanating a chilling aura as if he wanted to freeze everything around him into tiny pieces.

Xu Chenghao tilted his head and asked, “And what about you? What do you want to talk to me about?”

Jing Yicheng approached and said, “I want to ask if you’re willing to ride with me.”

Xu Chenghao declined: “No need, I’ll drive there myself.”

Jing Yicheng remained unfazed: “Oh, I meant I want a ride.”

Xu Chenghao: “…”

Can someone please tell him what’s going on with Jing Yicheng? What has gotten into him?!

Moving upstairs to live, he didn’t say much about it, considering the possibility that the other party intentionally wanted to oppose the male protagonist or was concerned about their close relationship and came to monitor him.

But what’s the deal with this shameless request for a ride? Does this big brother really think he’s the director of an agricultural machinery research institute? Has he become so obsessed with his role that he’s forgotten his true identity?! He’s a highly protected figure, like a giant panda! And this is just an ordinary, fragile car.
What if something happens?!

The point is, what will happen to him if something goes wrong? He is innocent!

Xu Chenghao roared internally, but on the surface, he had to drive calmly—after all, he currently didn’t know the other party’s true identity.

Suddenly, he felt like he was digging a hole for himself again.

So frustrating.

Fortunately, the worrying situation did not occur.
Xu Chenghao smoothly entered the company’s underground parking lot with a panda-like figure.
Pretending to be visually impaired, he ignored the escort vehicles behind him and carefully parked the car in reverse.
He then began to unbuckle his seatbelt.

Jing Yicheng followed suit, unbuckling his seatbelt: “Thank you, President Xu, for the ride.
But I will still trouble you tonight.”

Xu Chenghao raised the hand of the little yellow duck in disbelief and said, “Where is your driver?”

Jing Yicheng remained unfazed: “He’s out on business.”

Xu Chenghao: “When will he be back?”

Jing Yicheng thought for a moment and didn’t make any firm statements, saying, “At least not today.”

Xu Chenghao pressed on, “Do you only have one driver?”

Jing Yicheng shamelessly declared, “Yes, he’s the only one I trust.”

Xu Chenghao countered, “But do you trust me?”

Jing Yicheng calmly responded, “If you don’t even trust your friends, then they can’t be called friends.”

Xu Chenghao chuckled and asked, “If you trust me, why did you move upstairs to live?”

After circling around, the conversation successfully returned to the original question.
Jing Yicheng answered calmly, without panicking, “I’m just being cautious of Ruan Chenxuan.”

Xu Chenghao didn’t believe it: “Then you should buy a house downstairs from him.”

Jing Yicheng provided a logical explanation, “The one downstairs is not for sale.”

All the questions were skillfully deflected by Jing Yicheng’s composed manner.
Xu Chenghao had nothing to say and could only open the car door, get out, and use it as an opportunity to end the conversation.

Jing Yicheng raised the corners of his lips and smiled briefly, then followed suit and opened the car door to get out.

As Xu Chenghao locked the car and turned to leave, he noticed that Jing Yicheng seemed to have discovered something and gestured in a certain direction with his eyes.

Turning to look, Xu Chenghao saw Li Nian huddled in the car, acting sneaky and peering at them from the steering wheel.
He looked like a paparazzo on a stakeout, utterly despicable.

Xu Chenghao: “…”

How embarrassing.

Xu Chenghao was speechless for two seconds.
He quickly took out his phone and snapped an unflattering photo of Li Nian, then turned around and walked towards the elevator.
As a side note, he also created a tremendously ugly meme of Li Nian’s expression—SecretlyObserving.jpg.
Jing Yicheng was taller than Xu Chenghao.
He silently observed Xu Chenghao’s process of making expressions, then turned around and took out his phone.
Searching through the photos and videos sent to him by his subordinates, he silently processed the expressions into reaction images.

So, while Xu Chenghao enthusiastically created reaction images for Li Nian, he didn’t know that there was someone behind him working hard for him.

Xu Chenghao: [Nian-ge, what are you looking at.jpg] [Nian-ge, not panicked at all.jpg] [Nian-ge, looks like he wants to hit someone.jpg]

Jing Yicheng: [President Xu, feeling disgusted.jpg] [President Xu, speechless.jpg] [President Xu, not selling cuteness, only selling chili peppers.jpg]

Xu Chenghao sent them to Li Nian, and Jing Yicheng hesitated for a moment before choosing to save them — they would definitely come in handy later.

And so, the day began with the production of reaction images.

Xu Chenghao was busy, and the weight of his work felt like a heavy burden on his shoulders.
Already exhausted and with a headache, it was extremely annoying when someone else came to disturb him, just like a fly!

— But unfortunately, some people were oblivious and insisted on being annoying.

Jiang Lao Ye (Grandpa Jiang) called.

Although Li Nian had warned him before that if Jiang Changming (Jiang Lao Ye’s grandson) couldn’t handle things, he would seek help from his family, Xu Chenghao was still very speechless when he received a call from Grandpa Jiang.

First, Jiang Changming was just too incompetent.
Wasn’t seeking help from family something only children did? As a grown man, if he had the confidence to raise prices, he should also bear the responsibility and risks.
Just wanting to enjoy the benefits was nothing but a joke!

Second, Grandpa Jiang was also formidable.
Despite his old age, he still intervenes in the competition among younger generations.
He’s completely an overindulgent parent.

Especially when Grandpa Jiang showed no shame and started reproaching him in an elder’s tone, Xu Chenghao couldn’t help but feel annoyed: “Does President Xu really have such a big ego that I have to contact you personally?”

Xu Chenghao placed his phone on the table and turned on the speaker mode.
He casually leaned back on the chair and asked, “Hey, Grandpa Jiang, why are you so angry?”

Old Master Jiang snorted coldly and said, “I heard that the Jiang Corporation couldn’t reach President Xu, so I came here personally to ask what’s going on!”

Xu Chenghao chuckled: “Grandpa Jiang, you’re joking.
I haven’t received a single call or appointment from Chang Ming, so how could we not be in contact?”

Regarding the project, the Jiang family was originally in the wrong.
After a quiet moment, Old Master Jiang immediately calmed down his anger and said, “This is also Chang Ming’s fault for not handling things properly.
Since he took office, he has been learning to deal with company affairs, which caused a delay in meeting with President Xu.
I apologize for that.”

Xu Chenghao: “Grandpa Jiang, you’re being too harsh.”

Old Master Jiang said, “So, what does President Xu plan to do? If you have time, we can meet and discuss the cooperation.”

Xu Chenghao almost burst into laughter but cleared his throat and pretended to be serious: “I’m truly sorry, Grandpa Jiang.
Your project’s price exceeds the company’s budget by 40%, and the risk is too high without a guarantee of returns.
Therefore, we can only temporarily give up on the cooperation.”

Old Master Jiang said, “That’s alright.
As long as President Xu is willing to cooperate with us, we can bring the price down to the original amount, as we agreed before.
I believe President Xu wouldn’t make things difficult for this old man, right?”

 

1The idiom “when there are many lice, they don’t bite” means when there are numerous problems or difficulties, they become less significant or bothersome individually.
It implies that when faced with a multitude of challenges or annoyances, each individual problem seems less important or troublesome compared to the overall situation.
In the context of the conversation, Xu Chenghao is expressing his indifference towards having one more person like Jing Yicheng around, as he already considers Ruan Chenxuan to be a bothersome presence.