“No, no. I think 31424441 is even better…”
“System, which one do you think is better?”
【…Keep messing around and I’ll turn you into an electrically shocked mantis shrimp!】
Su Youtian: “QAQ”
Taking a deep breath, she said,
“Fine, I’ll choose number three.”
With that, she tremblingly extended a finger toward Yuan Wei’s face.
Strangely enough, she had touched Yuan Wei’s face earlier and felt nothing in particular. But now that the System had assigned it as a task, she was incredibly nervous.
Because she had a very bad feeling about this.
Yuan Wei’s head rested against the wall.
Under the lights, the lines of his face appeared even sharper. The gentle and restrained boy had finally grown into a cold and mature man.
Carefully moving closer, Su Youtian noticed a crease between his brows, the kind formed by habitual frowning.
Looking at his tightly pressed lips, her heart trembled.
She could not help wanting to smooth away that crease.
The instant her fingertip touched the space between his brows, a sharp pain shot through her wrist.
Startled, she looked up and met Yuan Wei’s eyes.
[I freaking knew this would happen…]
Yuan Wei frowned. With a sweep of his arm, he knocked her to the floor.
Her elbow slammed against the ground with a loud thud.
Burying her head, she sucked in a sharp breath.
Rubbing his forehead, Yuan Wei took a deep breath.
“I’ve told you before. Stop trying to get close to me.”
Su Youtian sat up and rubbed her elbow, keeping her head lowered without saying anything.
The System first chuckled twice.
Then it could not stop itself from laughing.
Finally, it broke into the cackling laughter of a full-fledged villain.
【Hehehehehehe! I’ve finally waited for this day! Su Youtian, you’ve finally been abused by the male lead! I’ve waited three years for this day! Three whole years!】
After laughing, it started crying.
【Three years! It took me three years to finally make you suffer! Do you know how hard that was? Am I even still a proper Troublemaking System?】
Su Youtian was speechless.
Taking a deep breath, she looked up at Yuan Wei.
“Do you really hate me that much?”
She wanted to know.
Did Yuan Wei truly hate Sheng Xia this much?
Was he really capable, like Sheng Xia, of simply stopping loving someone and feeling disgusted even at the sight of them?
Although she had prepared herself for the answer, seeing Yuan Wei like this still left her confused.
Could feelings really be discarded so completely?
The light fell across Yuan Wei’s face.
Tilting his head back, he slowly exhaled, as if expelling every trace of stale air from his chest.
His Adam’s apple bobbed.
Picking up the jacket from the floor, he slowly rose to his feet.
His complexion was still pale, but in Su Youtian’s eyes, it looked like a layer of frost covering ice.
Those light-colored eyes were lowered slightly, as though even sparing her a glance was too much effort.
Instead of answering her question, he said:
“I’ve had the company suspend your activities for now. Get lost.”
After speaking, he adjusted his sleeve.
Every trace of emotion vanished from his face in an instant.
His thin lips pressed together, and he became that stern, unsmiling CEO once more.
Su Youtian froze.
Lowering her head, she scratched at the floor with her fingers and muttered under her breath:
“Who cares about those stupid events anyway? I have to fake-smile every day. I’d be happy not to do them anymore! If I’d known this was going to happen, I would’ve picked number one and kissed you to death!”
Yuan Wei frowned and shot her a glance.
The look made her panic, and she immediately shut her mouth.
Hurriedly, she pleaded:
“I won’t dare do it again… I’ll definitely stay far, far away from you in the future!”
That was, of course, if there were no more tasks.
Yuan Wei withdrew his gaze and turned to leave.
Su Youtian staggered to her feet and cautiously followed him back to the private room.
His steps were still somewhat unsteady.
Yet the instant he stepped inside, his back straightened completely, upright as a spear.
For a moment, his figure overlapped with that of the poor young man working on the construction site three years ago.
No matter what circumstances he found himself in, he would always present his strongest side to the world.
Qian Liyuan had drunk a little too much.
Seeing Yuan Wei return, he spoke with a thick tongue:
“I say, you brat… where’d you run off to?”
Yuan Wei replied,
“It’s getting late. I should be leaving.”
Qian Liyuan grabbed onto his clothes and refused to let go.
“Come on! It’s still early. Why are you sneaking off already? We’re going singing afterward!”
Yuan Wei said, “I have work tomorrow. Put everything on my tab, I’m leaving first.”
Only then did Qian Liyuan helplessly reply,
“Fine, fine. You’re a big CEO now. I can’t keep you here. Go ahead.”
Yuan Wei nodded and turned to leave.
The people around him tried to persuade him to stay, but with a simple wave of his hand, the men immediately stopped pressing the issue.
Stretching her neck to look, Su Youtian noticed cold sweat covering Yuan Wei’s forehead. Clenching her fists, she was just about to chase after him when someone suddenly grabbed her.
She nearly stumbled.
Turning around, she saw Gan Wenwen staring at her with a frown.
“What are you trying to do?”
Before Su Youtian could answer, Gan Wenwen angrily continued,
“You’re going after Yuan Wei, aren’t you?!”
Su Youtian blankly nodded.
Gan Wenwen immediately tightened her grip on Su Youtian’s wrist and sneered.
“I advise you to give up. From the day you abandoned him, there was never any possibility for the two of you. Sheng Xia, if you have even a shred of conscience left, stop bothering him again and again. If you keep pushing your luck, don’t blame me for exposing everything you’ve done!”
Instantly, the room fell completely silent.
Everyone turned to look.
For a moment, it was so quiet that a pin drop could have been heard.
Su Youtian’s mind went blank.
Looking at Gan Wenwen’s furious face, she did not know why these words suddenly slipped out:
“That’s between Yuan Wei and me.”
Gan Wenwen froze.
Just as she was about to mock her, Su Youtian shook off her hand.
“I know you’re concerned about him, but the Yuan Wei of today isn’t the same Yuan Wei from three years ago. He has his own company, his own career. He can stand on his own. A tiny ant like me could be crushed with a single step from him. You don’t need to protect him like a mother hen.”
Gan Wenwen was rendered speechless.
Taking her belongings, Su Youtian turned and walked out.
Once outside the hotel, the cold night wind cleared her head considerably.
The System said:
【I’m seeing you in a new light.】
Su Youtian took a deep breath.
“My words may have been a bit harsh. Gan Wenwen genuinely wants what’s best for Yuan Wei.”
The reason she had become so emotional was partly because she had placed herself in Sheng Xia’s position.
She was not feeling wronged for Sheng Xia.
She was feeling wronged for herself.
She had followed the System’s instructions and dumped Yuan Wei, all the while believing she was the innocent party.
Yet by assuming Sheng Xia’s identity and enjoying Yuan Wei’s affection, she also had to bear Yuan Wei’s anger.
Perhaps that was a kind of fairness.
Sighing, she looked ahead.
Yuan Wei had not called for a car.
With both hands in his pockets, he walked slowly along the roadside. The evening breeze lifted his neatly styled short hair. From behind, he looked like a mass of black flames.
Hugging her arms around herself, Su Youtian quietly followed behind him.
Cars passed by on either side, and the changing lights flickered across Yuan Wei’s face.
She saw loneliness there.
Although Yuan Wei had returned to his true family, that household was filled with schemes and internal conflicts.
She could easily imagine how difficult the past three years had been for him, how he had fought to secure his footing and eventually claim the position of CEO.
In this world, aside from Gan Wenwen and her husband, there were probably very few people who genuinely stood on his side.
Pressing her lips together, Su Youtian carefully trailed behind him.
After walking for a while, Yuan Wei stopped.
His slender figure stretched together with his shadow in the streetlights.
Su Youtian watched as he sat down on the edge of a flower bed beside the road.
Quickly, she hid behind a tree.
Squinting, she saw Yuan Wei pull a necklace out from beneath his collar.
Something was hanging from it.
Su Youtian’s heart skipped a beat.
“Can you scan what he’s wearing around his neck?” she asked the System.
“It’s a ring,” the System replied.
A sharp sound escaped Su Youtian’s throat.
“Ah…”
She asked nothing further.
Holding the ring in his hand, Yuan Wei rested his forehead against his fist and sat silently by the roadside for ten full minutes.
Then he tucked the ring back inside his shirt.
When he stood up again, it was as though the wind had carried away every trace of emotion from his face.
Not a single ripple remained.
The light suddenly flashed across Su Youtian’s eyes, bringing her back to her senses.
Only then did she realize she had scraped bark off the tree trunk with her fingernails.
She hurriedly blew on the damaged spot.
Yuan Wei slipped his hands back into his pockets and continued walking.
Su Youtian quickly followed.
Stopping and starting the entire way, she trailed him for nearly forty minutes and never once saw him stop to rest.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead and breathing heavily, she watched him arrive at the entrance of a villa community.
Carefully staying hidden, she saw him open the gate.
A yellow blur suddenly shot out.
Startled, Su Youtian exclaimed,
“What was that?”
The System replied:
【That would be Yuan Tuotuo, who was abandoned by its mother for three years and had no choice but to live a luxurious life with its wealthy father.】
Su Youtian: “……”
Tuotuo was overjoyed to see Yuan Wei.
It had grown considerably larger. When it pounced onto him, it nearly pulled off his belt.
Yuan Wei rubbed the dog’s head and led it inside.
Su Youtian had long known that Tuotuo was living with Yuan Wei.
During the three years she spent as an orange cat, she had not simply eaten and waited for death. Occasionally, she would think about her dog son as well.
The System had told her that Tuotuo was with Yuan Wei, but when she asked why the dog, originally left at Sheng Xia’s mother’s house, had ended up with Yuan Wei, the System refused to explain further.
Su Youtian vaguely understood the reason.
But at this point, as long as Tuotuo was living well, she no longer wanted to pry into it.
Watching the lights on the second floor of the villa come on, she could hear cheerful barking drifting down from upstairs.
She stood there looking up until the lights eventually went out.
Only then did she turn around.
The System said:
【It’s very late. Go home.】
Su Youtian shook her head.
“Not yet. Nighttime is when true degeneration begins.”
System: 【?】
Putting on a serious expression, Su Youtian declared:
“I think it’s not too late for me to find my second spring.”
System: 【……】
That night, the bar blazed with colorful lights.
On the stage, a seductive woman performed an alluring pole dance.
Wearing oversized sunglasses, Su Youtian howled along with the male patrons below like a wolf.
A bottle of beer dangled from her hand.
Between hiccups, she kept pouring more alcohol into her mouth.
“System, ‘whether you’re happy or not, you’ve still got to drink’ is absolutely right!”
The System said, 【Everyone around you is staring at you. I suggest you go home immediately.】
Su Youtian’s face was bright red. She let out a drunken hiccup and grumbled, clearly dissatisfied with the System nagging like an old housewife.
“Who cares! I finally got out! I spent three years as a cat. Can’t I indulge myself just once?”
After saying that, she aggressively poured more beer into her mouth.
The System threatened her.
“If you don’t go home right now, I’ll shock you.”
Su Youtian waved a hand dismissively.
“Go ahead. Maybe a little electricity will help me break into a dance routine on the spot and outshine that woman on stage.”
Grinding its teeth, the System said,
“Don’t force me to issue a task against you. When that happens, Yuan Wei might skin you alive, pull out your tendons, ruin your reputation, and leave you homeless!”
The moment she heard Yuan Wei’s name, Su Youtian immediately stood up straight like an elementary school student.
Casually tossing aside her bottle, she declared,
“Yes, sir! Following orders, sir!”
The System had barely begun to relax when it saw Su Youtian staggering toward the exit. She flagged down a taxi and climbed in.
“Driver, take me to XX Villa District!”
The System froze.
“Why are you going to see Yuan Wei?”
Su Youtian waved her hand again. Her head swayed with the motion of the car. Squinting, she was already growing a little fuzzy-headed.
The System sighed.
Seeing that she was no longer causing a drunken scene, it decided to let her do as she pleased.
When she arrived at the villa district, Su Youtian found Yuan Wei’s front gate and furiously pressed the doorbell.
A moment later, Yuan Wei opened the door.
He had changed into sleepwear and still carried traces of moisture from a shower. His collar hung slightly open, revealing elegant collarbones.
Staring at her coolly, he asked,
“What are you doing here?”
Then he caught the scent of alcohol on her and immediately frowned, taking a step back.
Squinting at him, Su Youtian seemed to recognize who he was.
Her face crumpled.
Her mouth drooped.
Then she threw herself at him.
“Yuan Wei! Can’t you stop tormenting me…”
Wailing loudly with her mouth wide open, she sprayed alcohol-scented breath directly into his face.
Yuan Wei’s brows knitted together as he moved to push her away in disgust.
Crying the entire time, Su Youtian grabbed one of his large hands and pressed it against her chest.
“For the sake of my 36D boobs, QAQ!”