A Gentle Disaster

Forced into the role of director Gu, under actor Jiang's gaze full of curiosity, the agonizing first lesson of "pre-job training" began.

He held Shen Yu's photo in his hand, feeling that the thin paper weighed a thousand pounds.

“Um... his name is Shen Yu,” Gu Yan's voice was as soft as a mosquito's hum, “he has a... gentle personality, never speaks loudly, always smiling, and is nice to everyone.”

“Gentle?” Jiang Lin rubbed his chin, repeated thoughtfully, then nodded and typed two words into his phone memo: [Topic 1: Gentle].

His serious and earnest look made it seem like some national-level key research project.

Gu Yan's eyelids twitched beside him, and a very ominous feeling rose in his heart.

This premonition was perfectly fulfilled the next morning.

The next day, Gu Yan was woken up by a burst of “ear-piercing magic sound.”

“Yan Yan~ time to get up and have breakfast~”

A voice he had never heard before, cloyingly sweet, enough to give a normal person diabetes on the spot, came from the living room.

Gu Yan shot up from the bed with a start.

With his hair a complete mess, he rushed out of the bedroom and saw a scene so horrifying he would never forget it.

There was Jiang Lin—the domineering CEO who usually walked with a gust of wind and had a gaze that could freeze a polar bear to death—now wearing a... pink apron printed with little bear patterns... holding a plate of slightly burnt toast, with an extremely stiff smile that he had practiced in front of the mirror all morning, thinking it was very “gentle.”

Seeing Gu Yan come out, he even deliberately winked and continued in that syrupy voice: “Good morning~ I made you a loving breakfast~ Come and try it~”

Gu Yan: “...”

He felt that his eyes and ears had suffered unprecedented spiritual pollution.

He silently retreated into the bedroom, closed the door, and tremblingly pulled out his phone to send a message to his good friend Lin Mu:

> **Gu Yan:** Help! I suspect my boyfriend has been possessed!

> **Lin Mu:** ?

> **Gu Yan:** Today he wore a pink bear apron and spoke to me in a syrupy voice!

> **Lin Mu:** ... Are you sure you're not having some weird dream?

> **Gu Yan:** I'm very sure! I'm hiding in the bedroom now, afraid to go out! I'm scared he'll pull out a magic wand and punish me in the name of the moon!

Lin Mu was silent for a long time, then sent a thoughtful question mark.

> **Lin Mu:** Is he... trying some new game?

Gu Yan angrily typed: [He said it's to imitate my first love!]

After this message was sent, Lin Mu went read but didn't reply. Gu Yan guessed that he probably needed some time to digest this too absurd information.

The “gentle” disaster wasn't limited to home.

That afternoon, Gu Yan accompanied Jiang Lin to the company to deliver a document. As soon as they entered the company, all employees saw Jiang Lin and instantly fell silent like mice seeing a cat, burying themselves in work.

Then Jiang Lin cleared his throat, and using his syrupy voice he had practiced all day, smiled at the receptionist and said, “Everyone has worked ha~rd~ Keep it up~”

The receptionist dropped her folder with a “slap,” her face full of terror that screamed “Who am I, where am I, has the boss been possessed?”

Even scarier was in the meeting room.

A project manager was about to face Jiang Lin's storm of fury because of a mistake in the plan. But Jiang Lin just “gently” looked at him and said in that syrupy sweet voice, “It's okay~ This mistake isn't entirely your fault~ Pay more attention next time, okay~”

The battle-hardened project manager burst into tears on the spot.

For real—he cried with snot and tears streaming down, sobbing and saying, “Mr. Jiang, please don't be like this, I'm scared! Just scold me! I beg you!”

The whole meeting room fell into dead silence.

Gu Yan was beside himself, holding back laughter until he was almost injured. He pinched his thigh hard to stop himself from laughing out loud.

He finally understood that some things really couldn't be learned.

Making a domineering CEO play the gentle first love—this wasn't role-play; this was a horror movie!

That night when they got home, Gu Yan couldn't hold it in any longer.

He pulled aside Jiang Lin, who was still insisting on speaking in a syrupy voice, and seriously proposed a “course adjustment request.”

“Jiang Lin,” he said earnestly, “I think the 'gentle' topic might be a bit too difficult for you. Can we... can we skip it for now?”

Jiang Lin blinked his innocent big eyes: “Really? But I think I did very well today~”

Gu Yan: “...”

He took a deep breath and decided to tell the truth: “No, you didn't do well! You scared your subordinates to tears today! He thought you were going to fire him!”

Jiang Lin was stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting this result.

He was silent for a while, then quietly opened his phone memo, put a bright red cross after [Topic 1: Gentle], and typed a small line of notes next to it:

[Failed. Reason: Target population's psychological resilience too low.]

Gu Yan looked at that note and was speechless again.

He felt that communicating with this person, Jiang Lin, really required a strong heart.