The Young man in Online Romance (19): 

Time flew by, and a month had passed.

The treatment Gu Juntian received had undergone a drastic change.

At first, the officials were a little wary of him, but after a month, that wariness had completely vanished.

It was impossible that Gu Juntian had been planted by someone to steal secrets.

In just one month, Gu Juntian had already produced many results more valuable than their classified information. No country would send such a treasure to steal secrets.

Now the only thing troubling them was that Gu Juntian didn’t take scientific research very seriously.

He was preoccupied with losing weight, falling in love, and playing games. Although he did work diligently for a few hours each day, the total time he spent working was actually quite little.

But no one at the institute dared to pressure him.

Think about his past—according to what they found out, he had been obsessed with games, didn’t study at all, and certainly didn’t do research.

When he was a child, Gu Juntian was extremely smart, almost always scoring full marks in science. But in middle school, he started to hate studying, and his grades plummeted.

According to professional analysis, his aversion to studying might have been caused by being forced to study every day, which triggered his rebelliousness.

For someone like him, they definitely couldn’t force him to do research—otherwise, if he rebelled again and stopped doing research, what would they do?

After thinking it over, they decided to go along with whatever Gu Juntian wanted.

He had no bad habits, just liked to play games occasionally, which wasn’t a big deal.

Right now, they only had one concern—

Gu Juntian was very fond of Zhou Qinghao, but Zhou Qinghao had hidden some things from him…

To the officials, Gu Juntian was definitely more important. So after some consideration, they decided to reveal some information about Zhou Qinghao to him, to prevent him from being deceived too badly.

The one tasked with this job was Team Leader Zhang, the first to have contact with Gu Juntian.

Now, Zhang and his men had become Gu Juntian’s security detail, responsible for his safety.

When Zhang found Gu Juntian, he was leisurely eating his diet meal.

The nutritionist hired by the state was indeed great!

The meals prepared by the nutritionist were not only nutritious but also delicious.

For example, today he was eating delicious curry.

The curry was rich in flavor with many spices, and it contained tomatoes, onions, broccoli, potatoes, beef, and other ingredients, making it extremely nutritious.

Since no oil was used during cooking, the calorie count was low.

Even without rice, Gu Juntian was satisfied. Seeing Zhang, he asked, “Team Leader Zhang, has my bonus been approved?”

“It’s been approved,” Zhang replied.

“Then transfer the money to Zhou Qinghao,” Gu Juntian said.

The state’s payment speed, due to multiple approval processes, was not as fast as Qida Technology’s.

The results he had produced a month ago were only now being paid for!

Gu Juntian had already decided that in the future, he wouldn’t hand over results too early.

Instead, when he had an idea for research, he would first start a project and request funding.

Once the funding came in, then he would deliver the results.

This way, the money would arrive much faster.

Zhang didn’t know his thoughts and asked, “Mr. Gu, you really want to give the money to Zhou Qinghao?”

“Yes, I’m giving it to him,” Gu Juntian replied. “You’d better assign a few more people to protect him. If anything happens to him, I’ll have no mood for research.”

Zhang was helpless. “Mr. Gu…” Zhou Qinghao probably didn’t need their protection—after all, he was the Zhou family’s heir…

But if he said that, would Gu Juntian be upset?

Before Zhang could speak, Gu Juntian added, “Oh, I have another favor to ask you.”

“What is it?” Zhang asked.

“Help me set up a company, just an empty shell,” Gu Juntian said.

Zhang was puzzled.

Gu Juntian explained, “Eight months ago, when I was pursuing Zhou Qinghao, I told some lies to make him like me—I said I owned a company, that I was a top programmer, and that I was rich… now I need to cover those lies.”

Zhang was stunned.

“I originally just wanted to play games comfortably,” Gu Juntian continued. “But to back up my lies, I started learning programming and making money.”

After speaking, having finished his meal, he opened his chat with President Wang. “President Wang, I’m free now, so I can help you upgrade the game ‘Cultivation.’ But I have a small request.”

Zhou Qinghao replied, “Feel free to say it, master.”

“Can Qida publicly say that I started working with you two years ago?”

“Of course, master. Any other requests?”

“One month from now, I’ll attend your offline event. Can you accompany me when I appear and introduce me as a well-known programmer who has been cooperating with Qida for years and owns a company…”

Since the world outside didn’t know much about these things, with President Wang backing him up, it should work.

Zhou Qinghao: “…” This story sounded oddly familiar.

Gu Juntian sent another message: “President Wang, here’s the thing—before, I bragged a lot in front of my boyfriend, dug myself a hole, and now I need to fill it.”

So that’s what “filling the hole” meant?

Zhou Qinghao was speechless.

Team Leader Zhang, who had originally planned to tell Gu Juntian about Zhou Qinghao, suddenly felt unnecessary.

Turns out Gu Juntian had also lied to Zhou Qinghao… Well, then, never mind.

Better to let the couple sort it out themselves—if he intervened, it might just make things awkward.

It was dinner for Gu Juntian, and after eating he could rest.

With free time, he logged into his “Cultivation” account and topped up one million.

Although the money he recently earned had been given to Zhou Qinghao, he still had the money he had earned earlier, plus what Zhou Qinghao had given him.

Since the original owner had spent so much on Little Lamb, he definitely had to spend a bit on Zhou Qinghao too.

Gu Juntian had no idea he had almost learned Zhou Qinghao’s true identity.

After topping up, he returned to his room to play games. Over the next month, he produced two more research results and made great progress with his weight loss.

By the time the “Cultivation” offline event was about to take place, under professional guidance, his weight had dropped to under 160 pounds.

His figure wasn’t perfect, but with the right clothes, no one would notice.

As for his face… he was already the most handsome person in the institute!

Gu Juntian felt he was now presentable.

Of course, to make a stunning entrance, he asked President Wang to find him a styling team and arrange a luxury car.

In the past month, he had not only upgraded “Cultivation” for President Wang, but also upgraded Wang’s new game “Counter-Terrorism” and helped facilitate cooperation between Wang and the state.

With that much contribution, he felt his requests were reasonable.

President Wang readily agreed.

Gu Juntian was looking forward to the event, and so was Qida Technology—and Zhou Qinghao.

He wondered how Gu Juntian would react upon learning his identity.

Over the past two months, Zhou Qinghao had thought about coming clean, but not knowing how to say it, he simply didn’t.

He spent money to book the best styling team so they could work on him first, then on Gu Juntian.

As for the car Gu Juntian wanted… he applied to Elder Zhou, who personally helped buy a limited-edition luxury car for him.

Once the car was bought, Elder Zhou had it registered under Gu Juntian’s name, and said to Zhou Qinghao, “Ah Qing, a person’s looks will inevitably fade with age. Don’t focus too much on appearances.”

He didn’t want his grandson to treat Gu Juntian badly just because he wasn’t good-looking.

“Don’t worry, Grandpa, I’ve always valued inner qualities,” Zhou Qinghao said. Lately, he had been looking at Gu Juntian’s photos from time to time, already mentally prepared.

Hearing that, Elder Zhou was reassured.

This event was planned by Zhou Qinghao.

Qida Technology had recently acquired some new technology, gained cooperation with the state, and was developing rapidly, so he made the event a grand one.

As a result, Zhou Qinghao was extremely busy.

Gu Juntian, on the other hand, was more relaxed. He arrived a day early at the hotel arranged by Qida Technology to prepare for the entry ceremony the next morning.

Sleeping early and applying a face mask… thanks to his light diet recently, when he woke up the next morning, his skin was in excellent condition!

For the “Cultivation” event, regular guests entered at 9:30 a.m., and VIPs at 10:00 a.m. He was a VIP, so he just had to be ready before 10.

At 8 a.m., his styling team arrived.

The clothes had already been prepared by the state; the team was mainly responsible for his hair and makeup.

They had just finished styling Zhou Qinghao.

At that time, Zhou Qinghao had instructed them repeatedly to do their best for Gu Juntian and, if the clothes didn’t fit, to buy new ones immediately.

From the way Zhou Qinghao spoke, they thought Gu Juntian might not be very good-looking, but when they saw him in person… he was a strikingly handsome man, just like Zhou Qinghao!

Not only that, but his status was extraordinary—he even had several impressive-looking bodyguards with him!

The team didn’t dare say much and carefully worked on his styling and makeup.

They styled him based on a game character’s look.

Gu Juntian already bore a seventy-percent resemblance to that character, and with their effort, the resemblance rose to ninety percent.

He looked absolutely stunning!

Gu Juntian looked in the mirror and thought he was handsome too.

Finally, he could confidently go meet Zhou Qinghao!