A twist of fate at the corner—that was exactly this moment.
The two girls hugged each other, crying and laughing with sheer surprise, like primates reverting to their ancestral ways.
The woman before her, with several ear studs and ear threads on her ear cartilage, all shimmering silver, cool and fierce—this was Lu Tao’s bestie, Fu Zhi.
They had grown up together, as close as two people sharing the same pair of pants. Their classmates affectionately called them “Cheese Peach.”
Lu Tao loved reading novels; Fu Zhi didn’t.
Recently, a wave of novels about besties transmigrating together had surged, and Lu Tao had made a pact with Fu Zhi that this would be their secret signal.
Lu Tao looked relieved. “See, you used to say I was overthinking it, saying how could something as absurd as book transmigration possibly exist in this world.”
At that moment, even Fu Zhi, a staunch materialist, fell into a mysterious silence. She suddenly caught sight of Lu Tao’s bloody hand, a flicker of anger leaking from her eyes before she quickly suppressed it. “Come on, let me take you to get that wound treated first.”
Fu Zhi took her to a nearby pharmacy, bought iodine and cotton swabs. “It’ll sting a bit. Bear with it.”
She lowered her gaze, using the iodine-soaked cotton swab to gently dab out the dirt from the wound bit by bit.
Lu Tao’s round little face contorted in pain, but watching her bestie handle it so carefully made her feel warm inside. She bit her lower lip to keep from worrying her.
Fu Zhi’s perpetually world-weary face stayed taut, even the tear mole under her eyelid seemed to shrink. After cleaning out the dirt, she carefully applied another layer of iodine, then put on a band-aid, pointing at the pattern. “Doraemon—your favorite.”
Lu Tao smiled, revealing her white teeth. She had a youthful, sweet look—round cheeks, like a little girl who’d stepped out of an anime.
Except her personality… was a stark contrast.
Fu Zhi pondered for a moment. “So what do we do now?”
Lu Tao answered without hesitation. “Run, of course. I don’t want to stay in the Lu family. I’m still young.”
In the book, Gu Xingzhi was just an NPC, a second male lead that Qiao Zhixing, the protagonist, could never win over.
Later, the male lead even got jealous because of him, launching a series of possessive love toward Qiao Zhixing.
Qiao Zhixing was locked in a huge cage by him, and only then did she say she didn’t really love him—that it was just because of a childhood engagement, and she’d admired this older brother figure from her youth, mistaking it for love.
Lu Tao had rolled her eyes when she read that part: No duh, who wouldn’t say that in that situation? Otherwise, she’d really lose her freedom.
She felt Qiao Zhixing truly loved Gu Xingzhi, or at least had loved him.
But he was twenty-eight, and for Lu Tao, who had just turned twenty, that age gap was a bit much.
Fu Zhi immediately made the call. “Fine, I’m getting a divorce anyway, so let’s do it together.”
“Why not make it today? Let’s hit the Civil Affairs Bureau now. The heir of the capital circle and my uncle getting divorced on the same day—that’s definitely front-page news. I’ve never been in the headlines before.”
Lu Tao was enthusiastically daydreaming when “ding”—her phone rang. She casually picked it up, glanced at it, and her pupils slightly contracted.
“Let’s go.” Fu Zhi tried to pull Lu Tao up, only to find her still sitting there in a daze.
She let go, but Lu Tao braced her hands on the table and shot to her feet.
Fu Zhi tilted her head, rubbing her temples in frustration. “Girl, what kind of stunt are you pulling now?”
Lu Tao’s round, youthful face held an expression more determined than joining the Party. “I’m not divorcing!”
Fu Zhi: “?”
She knew her bestie was fickle—liking one fictional character today, swooning over some idol tomorrow—but this was way too fast, right?
Even her previous “husbands” had a one-week validity period.
Fu Zhi flicked her hair. “What’s wrong with you now?”
Lu Tao showed Fu Zhi the text she’d just received. In her excitement, her skin was fair as snow, her cheeks flushed like March peach blossoms, and her eyes were sparkling with moisture.
There were other young men in the shop, sneaking glances at her, blushing involuntarily: So cute, like a little figurine~ I want to secretly take her home (/ □ )
“[Bank of Communications] 24/07/10 17:01 Your account ending 6341 received a UnionPay transfer of 10,000,000.00 yuan. Balance: 10,000,000.10 yuan. Transaction type: Income.”
The amount was staggering. Fu Zhi’s face was full of question marks. “Telecom fraud?”
“No, no.” Lu Tao could barely contain her grin. “I remember now—the book said Lu Tao and Gu Xingzhi are only married in name. Gu Xingzhi told Lu Tao that as long as she played the part of Mrs. Gu, his secretary’s office would transfer ten million to her every month.”
“?”
“Which means—we’re rich!” Lu Tao grabbed Fu Zhi and started hopping and bouncing.
Fu Zhi’s head throbbed even more. “Have you really thought this through?”
“Yes, I have a contract drawn up by the secretary. As long as I play the role of Mrs. Gu and show affection in public, I don’t need to fulfill any obligations.” Lu Tao thought smugly. “Anyway, work is work wherever I go. If I work for Gu Xingzhi for a year, I won’t have to pick through trash to support you anymore. We can finally achieve our three big dreams: early retirement, traveling the world, and who knows, maybe even score a high-IQ, gorgeous-looking kid!”
She clasped her hands together, lost in her beautiful fantasies, tilting her head with a goofy grin.
Where else could she find a job with this much pay, this little work, and this many benefits all at once?
Back when she and Fu Zhi graduated from university and joined the same e-commerce company, it was 996, on call at all times, and they only got paid peanuts at the end of the month.
Now all she had to do was be a good Mrs. Gu and she’d earn ten million a month. How delightful was that?
Ten million—she could be a nanny, a driver, the best actress! She’d be whatever they wanted her to be!
“Zhizhi, when the time comes, we’ll buy a huge ocean-view house, facing the sea with spring blossoms!”
“And we’ll travel the world, eat all the world’s delicacies, and stay in five-star hotels!”
Fu Zhi’s brow twitched… She really didn’t know whether to call this girl naive or just plain simple. “Ten million a month… being Mrs. Gu probably isn’t easy. Maybe he has some kind of… hidden ailment…”
Lu Tao beamed. “No problem, it’s ten million after all. I’d even take care of his mistress through her postpartum confinement!”
“If you don’t divorce him, then what about me?”
That question stumped Lu Tao too. She pulled out her phone and searched for information on both their husbands.
There was absolutely nothing about Gu Xingzhi online—not just his face, but not even his identity. The elites of Beijing’s upper circles all kept tight-lipped about him.
But there was plenty on Fu Zhi’s husband, Bai Yu. He’d just turned 22 when he got his marriage certificate.
A pair of peach-blossom eyes that looked at even a dog with deep affection, a loose cream-colored hoodie, full of youthful charm, with a sunny smile.
No wonder he’d been the campus heartthrob from kindergarten through university—he’d been the heartthrob all the way through.
After looking at the photo, Lu Tao said, “Hmm? Doesn’t he look a lot like the ideal type you drew before? Maybe you should take a look?”
Fu Zhi’s cold gaze fell on the phone screen, and suddenly a sharp, silver-blade-like light reflected in her eyes.
“Then I’m not divorcing either.” She curved her lips, tilted her head slightly, and cracked her wrist with a crisp pop of her knuckles. “This is getting interesting.”
Lu Tao shrank back a little—why did she feel a murderous aura coming off her best friend?
…
Following the address from her memory of the book, the two took a cab home together.
The moment Lu Tao got out of the car, she was stunned by the villa before her—this was the only villa complex in Beijing’s inner ring.
The Gu family and their close relatives all lived in the same area, but each had their own villa.
In the golden October, the osmanthus blossoms in the courtyard fell like rain, weaving together with the ginkgo leaves into a splendid golden carpet.
The plane trees stood tall and straight, lush and verdant, like sentinels on guard.
The villa looked like it had some years on it, but it was luxurious and dignified, steeped in historical heritage.
Lu Tao wouldn’t have dared to dream this big.
She lived at Beijing Mansion No. 07, and Fu Zhi was right next door at No. 08, just a wall apart.
Fu Zhi raised her hand and made a phone-calling gesture. “Call me if anything comes up.”
“Okay.”
“But don’t call in the middle of the night, or I’ll punch a little Lu Tao-shaped hole in you.”
“I know~”
Lu Tao knew Fu Zhi had terrible morning rage, mainly because she had trouble falling asleep.
Fu Zhi had a terrible stepmother who would find ways to wake her up every time she just fell asleep. Over time, she developed insomnia.
The stepmother also told her father she was disobedient. With a stepmother came a stepfather—her father cut off her allowance to make her sleep properly and even locked her in a cramped box to force her to sleep.
After parting with Fu Zhi, Lu Tao rummaged through her Chanel lambskin bag for a long time but couldn’t find her door card. She pouted pitifully.
Who would have thought that the mistress of this house didn’t even have a door card?
After a moment’s pause, she remembered—it seemed the original Lu Tao in the book had thrown it away herself. Right in front of the male lead, with a look of utmost chastity, she’d tossed the card into the sea. “Chi Yuan (male lead), even though I married Gu Xingzhi, my heart only belongs to you.”
What a ridiculous plot!
Lu Tao rubbed the goosebumps on her arms and, having no pride to speak of, pressed the doorbell—