【Dog Thing】: ?
【Dog Thing】: 【Sending location share】
Huang Chuying saw this and giggled with a knowing smile, her face beaming with delight: "Oh my, I'm going out to take care of some business."
Chu Yao watched her brimming with spring breeze, her smile quite smug and suggestive, and inexplicably found herself blushing. She had never felt… that Chu Ying could be so alluring.
It was just, hard to describe—her smile was somehow inexplicably seductive, enough to make one's heart race and face flush.
Chu Yao seemed to want to say something but held back.
Huang Chuying winked at her: "Oho, our little Chu Yao is blushing like this? Dazzled by me?"
She even half-tucked a strand of hair by her temple, wearing an expression of profound, unspoken meaning, with a mysterious smile, and struck a pose on the bed.
Chu Yao: ?
Is this polite?
Chu Yao watched her twisting around over there and couldn't bear to look, her expression one of speechless exasperation: "Get lost. Do you have to be this narcissistic?"
Huang Chuying chuckled: "No appreciation for beauty. Our little A'Yao just doesn't get it yet. When there's something good to eat, it won't even be your turn."
She tapped Chu Yao's forehead with an air of frustration over wasted potential.
Chu Yao covered her head and immediately distanced herself: "Politely decline, politely decline. You should hurry up and go—don't keep people waiting."
Huang Chuying clicked her tongue and rose lazily: "That's his good fortune. Others would beg for it and still not get it."
"Alright, I won't chat with you anymore. I'm off."
She stretched languidly and changed into a dark long dress that hugged her figure down to her calves, her silhouette graceful and exceptionally alluring.
With one hand, she gathered her long hair behind her ear, her large, bright ink-black eyes like a pair of grapes.
Huang Chuying spun as if dancing, her steps light against the floor, her skirt swirling open like a flower in bloom.
She leisurely spread her arms wide, her posture relaxed: "How do I look?"
The flush on Chu Yao's face had long since subsided. She sat at the edge of the bed and looked seriously for two seconds: "Very pretty."
Huang Chuying's eyes held a smile: "You sure know how to talk. I like it."
The moment she received two compliments, Huang Chuying immediately became smug. Chu Yao truly didn't want to look at her anymore—even one more second was too much. She waved a hand dismissively, shooing her away: "Go on, go on. Off you go."
Huang Chuying hummed: "Heartless."
With little mincing steps, humming a tune, and carrying her handbag, she left happily.
From beyond the door came her parting question.
"Really not going to miss me?"
Chu Yao didn't bother answering. She patted her bottom and stood up, grabbed a nightgown and towel from the balcony, and carried her underwear and bra into the bathroom.
The hot water washed away the emotions of the day. Chu Yao thought of nothing, letting her mind go blank. After applying body wash, rinsing clean, and drying off with the towel, she put on her nightgown and walked out.
Her roommates still hadn't returned.
Chu Yao climbed onto her bed. Just as she settled in, Zhou Wenshi sent her a message.
【Male Lead】: Arrived?
The message showed it was sent 40 minutes ago.
Zhou Wenshi sat in his dorm chair, a tablet at his side, the stylus resting on the desk. The screen displayed several lines of code, the cursor blinking.
【Yao】: Yeah, just finished showering. Didn't see it.
He suddenly paused. Two seconds later, he lowered his gaze and typed in the chat box: Any plans tonight?
Chu Yao received the message and found it odd: No, why?
Zhou Wenshi: Want to play a game?
Chu Yao: ?
Chu Yao: You really like playing games?
Chu Yao was astonished. The male lead had actually taken a liking to gaming? She'd never heard of him enjoying these kinds of games. She remembered that he never touched any games, and even later when he started his business, it had nothing to do with gaming.
【Male Lead】: Because our brief intersection was in a game.
Chu Yao suddenly fell silent. A few seconds later, she typed: …Why do you feel more direct all of a sudden?
【Male Lead】: Is that a bad thing?
Chu Yao: It's not a question of good or bad…
It was—this was so unlike the male lead. Shouldn't he be aloof and detached, ignoring everyone and everything completely?
That was the conventional development, not like this.
Chu Yao stared at the chat history from the male lead on her screen, scrolling further and further back until she began to question her own sanity.
He wasn't silent at all, nor was he passive. In front of her, he showed absolutely no awareness of being cold and distant.
Instead, he was… very proactive. Proactive to a fault!
It dawned on Chu Yao belatedly, and she was startled: I feel like this isn't you [shocked]
Zhou Wenshi could picture it through that shocked cat meme—the girl on the other side of the screen, her slightly lighter-than-black pupils widening just a touch in surprise.
Her eyes, under the sunlight, had a thin layer of light resting on the surface of her irises, making them look warm.
That warmth had been passed on to him, face to face.
If they curved into crescent moons, they'd be sparkling inside, like a clever little cat.
Her lips were lightly tinted, like flowing honey.
Zhou Wenshi couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever be fortunate enough to taste that drop of honey.
Would it be as sweet as he imagined?
Thinking this, he suddenly felt a bit of heat rise within him.
Zhou Wenshi tried to compose himself with an unnatural calm. Fortunately, she didn't know.
Even his fingertips felt hot now. He brought his lips close to the phone and pressed the voice message button.
Zhou Wenshi: [4s]
Chu Yao received the voice message and let out an "Eh?" before tapping the voice-to-text option.
Zhou Wenshi: [4s]
[What do you think I'm like, in your eyes?]
Chu Yao found it strange—it wasn't the kind of question the male lead would ask, but it was also very normal-person of him.
But if she had tapped to listen, she would have discovered that this voice message contained the same breathing sound she'd heard last time—actually… it sounded more like a low pant.
She felt a little odd about it, but her typing speed didn't slow down.
Chu Yao: Why did you suddenly send a voice message? Wouldn't text have been fine?
Chu Yao: In my eyes…
Chu Yao: Hmm… Good question. I don't even know what you're like either.
She wanted to fire off a whole string of descriptors—cold and aloof, an untouchable flower, A-University's heartthrob, the most handsome guy—all at once. But then she thought better of it. Did Zhou Wenshi not already know all this about himself? He even browsed the campus forum himself.
If anything, he probably knew more comprehensively than she did.
And on second thought, sending that over would seem pretty dismissive.
She thought seriously for a few seconds, from her first meeting with Zhou Wenshi, to him walking her back to her dorm after dinner. Throughout it all, he had been courteous and polite, though not exactly warm.
When she'd looked back, she could still see his calm, watching gaze.
He stood under a tree as tall as three stories, his eyes fixed on her direction the whole time. Even from a distance, she could still make out his clear features beneath the tree, radiating an air of leisurely ease.
Alone under that tree, he became a scene painted in ink-wash tones.
Set apart from ordinary people.
Chu Yao realized she could still remember that he never once looked away.
She'd turned back twice, and he was still there both times.
That was… strange, too.
Chu Yao: Doesn't your neck get tired standing under the tree? I have no idea how long you were standing there.
Only after Chu Yao's figure had completely disappeared from view did Zhou Wenshi finally withdraw his gaze and walk away from the female dormitory building, step by step.
He: I was thinking about when you'd tell me you'd made it back to your dorm.
He noticed the girl on the other end didn't reply immediately. It seemed like she was hesitating, perhaps also thinking about how to respond.
He waited for the answer to this difficult question.
The next second, a new line loaded in the chat.
【Yao】: [confused cat]
【Yao】: Are you… a kid who never grew up?
Zhou Wenshi was taken aback.
[Chu Yao]: [2s]
He put on the wired earphones, stroked the screen, and pressed play on this 2-second voice message. In the quiet surroundings, the girl's warm breath carried through her voice—light, teasing, with a smile in it.
[Chu Yao]: "So homesick, huh… little one~"
His heart skipped a beat, almost imperceptibly.
Especially at the end—"little one."
It sounded incredibly intimate, like an affectionate nickname.
He thought back to that one second he'd heard at noon—after hearing him laugh, her breathing had suddenly gone flustered, as if the warm, cozy warmth of her body had traveled all the way to his ear.
He felt his ears grow hot, very warm.
In that instant, he was infected by her warmth.
Not just his ears, but also… the side of his neck, his chest—as if it had rolled down and settled onto him.
An overwhelmingly intense sensation.
Zhou Wenshi had never felt anything like it—like a wave crashing down, slamming into him without warning.
Caught off guard, there was no way to dodge.
Zhou Wenshi felt like she was "getting back" at him.
"Getting back" at him for sending her a voice message, so she had to send one too, to laugh at him.
Vindictive.
Retaliating on the spot. Not waiting a single second, not even willing to turn the page.
Which was to say—she didn't know this wasn't really "revenge." Though, in a way, it had succeeded as revenge.
Zhou Wenshi closed his eyes, outwardly calm.
The dorm door burst open with a bang as Chen Ping stormed in, his footsteps heavy.
"I'm going to fight that bastard to the death today! He's dead for sure!"
He slammed his palm against the door, bang bang bang.
Feng Yao trailed behind him, clicking his tongue in disdain: "So vindictive, Ping-ge."
Zhou Wenshi: "…"
He opened his eyes coldly: "Are you two pearl birds?"
Chen Ping: "What the hell is that?"
Feng Yao snorted with laughter: "He's saying you're noisy. Tsk tsk tsk—our handsome big shot really has standards for insults. Ordinary people can't even understand them…"
His laughter cut off abruptly as realization dawned: "Wait, you're insulting me too?!"
Feng Yao said incredulously: "Someone at my level of handsome has to be insulted too?"
Chen Ping struck without mercy: "Laughing my ass off. You're a dime a dozen on the street. Who gave you the confidence to call yourself handsome in front of Zhou the handsome? Can't you see that face that needs no introduction?"
Now he remembered the essay Feng Jicai wrote, "The Pearl Birds." How nice! A friend gave me a pair of pearl birds.
Netizens had assumed they were such well-behaved little birds.
Until one day, someone uploaded a recording of pearl bird calls and discovered they were incredibly noisy.
From then on, the phrase took on a new meaning.
So noisy—a friend gave me a pair of pearl birds!
Friend: I suspect you're trying to assassinate me 🙂
Feng Yao actually found it somewhat reasonable, but he wouldn't lose face even if he lost the argument. He stiffened his neck: "Setting that aside."
Chen Ping: "You've got some nerve."
Feng Yao felt he could no longer endure it. A cross vein popped on his forehead, and he went straight for a chokehold.
Chen Ping let out a cold laugh: "This is men for you! Changing faces like the weather!"
Zhou Wenshi listened to the scuffle behind him. His brain told him he could ignore the noise; reality told him it was hard to ignore the continuous bang bang bang.
He kept a cold face as the moment of heart-fluttering passion was extinguished.
Or rather, from the moment they walked in, his heart had died.
Zhou Wenshi's already indifferent face turned cold enough to freeze someone.
He took off his earphones, pressed them onto the desk, and went straight for two-on-one—pinning one down with each hand.
Dorm 703, girls' building.
Chu Yao didn't see a reply from Zhou Wenshi, and her mood lifted. See—her reply had been brilliant indeed.
She rendered the male lead speechless.
Clearly, she was quite formidable.
Chu Yao thought smugly—few men could tolerate being called "kid," so breaking up should be right around the corner, right?!
Brilliant, just brilliant.
Chu Yao thought, how could there be a Task-bearer as clever and capable as her?
She grinned and praised herself: "Baby, you're amazing!"
After laughing, she flopped onto the quilt, hugging it and rolling back and forth, murmuring softly.
"Whose quilt is this so soft?"
"Oh, it's my precious blankie. Kisses for blankie."
She couldn't help burying her face in the quilt, giggling in muffled bursts, sinking entirely into its softness.
The quilt she'd brought from the system was truly comfortable.
When it came to quality of life, Chu Yao never shortchanged herself.
She'd always choose the best over the second-rate—she wasn't about to lower her living standards just because she was on a mission.
Otherwise, why would she work so hard at her tasks?
Wasn't it all so she could enjoy life to the fullest at every moment?
She'd also stocked her home with a full set of bedding. She had many quilts just like this one, able to swap them out whenever she pleased.
Chu Yao turned over, lying on her back atop the quilt, thinking about what she'd do after the breakup.
Seemed like… there wasn't much she could do. She pondered—mainly, what she was doing now was already what she wanted to do.
That was studying.
Taking different specialized courses at university, learning all sorts of new things—Chu Yao loved it.
It could be said that once she got past this hurdle of the male lead, she could do anything she wanted in this world for the rest of her life.
In other words, after completing this job, she'd happily gain 72 years of vacation.
Completely free.
Tasks involving the male lead always paid the highest.
Especially the female lead tasks.
There were so many plot points to go through—crying and laughing at the drop of a hat, emotions swinging wildly in short spans—the mental distress compensation was very high.
Around nine figures.
Chu Yao felt it was too exhausting; she couldn't handle it.
Being a background character was much better—limited interaction with the male lead, some with zero contact from start to finish.
After completion, she'd easily pocket several hundred thousand.
Great.
Even as a passerby, the pay plus mental distress compensation reached a million.
Chu Yao's savings were still fairly substantial. Compared to her seniors who measured assets in trillions, she only had a few hundred million or so.
Before coming to this world, she'd exchanged for ten million.
She felt that was enough.
Chu Yao couldn't imagine how anyone could spend ten million.
As long as she was a bit frugal, she could live very comfortably for the rest of her life.
The more Chu Yao thought about it, the brighter her future seemed. She was already looking forward to a life without the male lead.
She wished time would fly, that tomorrow would bring the breakup scene, so she'd never have to see him again.
Chu Yao cheered: "Yay!"
Even though his face was stunning, compared to the freedom ahead, it could be let go.
She could just look at photos to relieve stress from time to time.
"My babies—your queen has returned—here—I—come—"
Jiang Yuncheng pushed open the dorm door, spreading her arms wide to her roommates, only to find no one welcoming her.
Jiang Yuncheng: "…"
Jiang Yuncheng said with grievance: "Where's my family?"
Chu Yao poked her head out from the top bunk: "Here, here~"
Cheng Yunxiu combed the ends of her hair, stroking her carefully maintained long locks, and said softly: "Oh."
Jiang Yuncheng: "Yunxiu baby is so cold."
Yunxiu baby was so cold she didn't even make a sound, showing her what true coldness looked like.
Jiang Yuncheng: "…" S-so there was still a little bit of love just now?
Her resentful gaze made Chu Yao burst out laughing: "Pfft—"
Jiang Yuncheng: "…" She puffed out her cheeks.
Chu Yao: "Hahahahaha—"