Perhaps Pei Huaishe had cried too bitterly, for a fleeting moment, Gu Minghe thought he was weeping because he didn’t want a divorce.
Yet Gu Minghe quickly dismissed the notion.
He had forced Pei Huaishe into marriage in the past; now that the marriage was annulled, Pei Huaishe ought to be shedding tears of joy.
Sure enough, after crying, Pei Huaishe rubbed his swollen, tear-reddened eyes and told Gu Minghe, “Starting today, I am no longer your husband. Whatever I do is my own freedom, and you have no right to interfere anymore. I’m leaving tomorrow, so take good care of your injuries.”
“Leaving tomorrow?”
Gu Minghe’s hands tightened around the railings beside the hospital bed. “So soon? Can’t you wait until my wounds have healed before leaving?”
“I can’t.”
Pei Huaishe’s tone was absolute.
In his mind, 029 was already urging him; he could no longer afford to drag things out.
Even though his heart was filled with reluctance, Pei Huaishe forced himself to put on a cold expression in front of Gu Minghe.
The light in Gu Minghe’s eyes dimmed bit by bit.
He smiled bitterly. “In such a rush to leave, are you eager to go see Gu Yanchen?”
Pei Huaishe’s lips quivered slightly. Just as he was about to say something, the words died on his tongue, restrained by a mysterious force that muffled his voice so that no one could hear.
Concealing the pain in his eyes and trying his best to make his tone sound less sorrowful, he shifted topics instead: “No, don’t let your imagination run wild. I have… very important matters to attend to.”
Leaving the hospital and returning to the hotel, Pei Huaishe collapsed limply onto the bed, feeling completely numb and hollow.
He raised a hand to cover his eyes, tears escaping between his fingers to dampen his dark sideburns. It felt as though a gaping hole had been torn open in his heart, one that could never be patched up again.
He had originally wanted to tell Gu Minghe the truth—at least if he knew the truth, Gu Minghe wouldn’t be so heartbroken and grieving, nor would he hate him. But the world consciousness had sensed his intent and prevented him from speaking the truth.
The two of them could only part ways with this layer of misunderstanding standing between them. In the end, he had still hurt the person who loved him most.
【Host, pull yourself together. Only by completing the main storyline quests quickly can you and Gu Minghe welcome a turning point.】
Seeing him so distressed, 029 hurriedly stepped in to comfort him.
“I know.”
Pei Huaishe replied listlessly.
He knew what he had to do, yet he simply couldn’t muster up any energy. Deep down he repelled it entirely, yet he had to force himself to go through with it anyway.
Not caring whether Pei Huaishe wanted to hear it or not, 029 immediately began laying out the tasks.
【Now the system will outline the upcoming tasks for the host:】
【Task: Tailor your movements to tail Gu Yanchen on a business trip, and get photographed by paparazzi at 2:00 AM knocking on Gu Yanchen’s hotel room door, sparking public controversy. Reward: 50 points.】
【Task: Go to the Gu Corporation, pose as the president’s spouse, and throw yourself into Gu Yanchen’s arms in front of the corporate employees, causing a misunderstanding among the staff. Reward: 50 points.】
【Task: Deliberately speak with green-tea undertones in front of Su Jin, implying an unusual relationship between yourself and Gu Yanchen to provoke Su Jin’s jealousy. Reward: 100 points.】
【Task: At the charity banquet, the host spikes Gu Yanchen’s drink, but Su Jin accidentally drinks it instead, leading to a passionate night between Su Jin and Gu Yanchen. Embarrassed, Su Jin flees back to his own room. The host then goes in to pick up the pieces, causing Gu Yanchen to mistakenly believe the person from last night was the host. The next day, the host emerges from Gu Yanchen’s room and is spotted by Su Jin, creating a misunderstanding between Su Jin and Gu Yanchen regarding the relationship between the host and Gu Yanchen. Completing this task grants a reward of 1,000 points.】
Listing out the series of tasks, completing all of them would directly net him five thousand points.
Especially that final task, which alone offered a reward of one thousand points upon completion.
Pulling himself together, Pei Huaishe booked a plane ticket back to Lanshi for the following day, preparing to dive into the work.
Over the next month, Pei Huaishe truly became a household name.
His figure made an appearance on the trending search headlines every single day.
It invariably revolved around the explosive love triangle between him, Gu Yanchen, and Su Jin, sparking an all-out wave of national gossip.
Wherever Gu Yanchen went, Pei Huaishe was sure to follow.
He would fake illness and intentionally stumble into Gu Yanchen’s arms.
He would gaze at Gu Yanchen with lingering, affectionate eyes.
He would brazenly enter and exit Gu Yanchen’s hotel room in the dead of night as if no one else existed.
He would send ambiguous text messages to Gu Yanchen at three o’clock in the morning.
He would wedge himself deliberately between Su Jin and Gu Yanchen whenever they were talking, shattering any romantic ambiance between them.
His various behaviors were the spitting image of a manipulative “homewrecking green tea.”
Every single time he trended on search results, he would get torn to shreds by Gu-Su couple fans. Gradually, apart from the hardcore shippers, ordinary bystanders also grew thoroughly annoyed with him.
Anyone with eyes could see that Gu Yanchen was keeping his distance from him and ignoring his seduction attempts, yet Pei Huaishe still clung shamelessly like plaster—anyone could tell he was shamelessly chasing after him.
Moreover, because Pei Huaishe was an internet celebrity, netizens naturally held a degree of prejudice against influencers, viewing them as low-class and unrefined. They slammed him for having a plastic surgery face and filters heavy enough to make his own mother unable to recognize him, while also blasting him for clinging to Gu Yanchen and Su Jin every single day for clout out of a desperate desire for fame. For a time, Pei Huaishe became a public enemy that everyone wanted to beat up.
With online public opinion escalating in intensity, after yet another instance where Pei Huaishe demanded that Gu Yanchen drive him home, Gu Yanchen finally reached the limit of his patience and called Gu Minghe right in front of him.
Pei Huaishe tried to stop him, but it was already too late.
“Gu Minghe, hasn’t your leg injury healed even after a month?” Gu Yanchen’s tone was thoroughly unpolite.
Gu Minghe fell silent for a second on the other end of the line before asking, “Is Xiaoxue with you?”
“Yes.”
Looking at Pei Huaishe, who had buried his head deep inside the office desk and curled up like a little quail right across from him, Gu Yanchen said coldly, “Did you and Xiaoxue have a fight? You used to be attached at the hip—why are you paying him zero attention even after separating for a month?”
Thinking it over, Gu Yanchen attributed Pei Huaishe’s various abnormal behaviors over the past month to a falling out with Gu Minghe.
“No, we didn’t fight.”
Gu Minghe’s tone was calm.
“Didn’t fight? Then you guys.” Gu Yanchen clearly didn’t believe it.
The next second, Gu Minghe dropped a heavy bombshell directly.
“We divorced.”
Gu Yanchen massaged the bridge of his nose. “When did this happen?”
“A month ago.”
No wonder.
Hanging up the phone, Gu Yanchen looked at Pei Huaishe, who was still playing the turtle hiding in its shell. “Xiaoxue, you should have told me and Mom and Dad about your divorce with Minghe sooner. After all, marriage isn’t child’s play. As for using me as a tool to make Minghe jealous, you should have consulted me first. You sprang this so abruptly on me that I was completely caught off guard.”
“No, I.”
Gu Yanchen seemed to have misunderstood.
After pondering for a moment, Pei Huaishe decided against explaining further and simply let him keep the misunderstanding.
“Big Brother, I’m sorry. I used you.”
Gu Yanchen shook his head with a helpless expression. “I really must owe it to the two of you in a past life.”
Pei Huaishe lowered his head, wearing the picture of a repentant sinner acknowledging his faults.
“You know about the charity banquet last time? You came out of my room in the morning and were spotted by Su Jin. Now he misunderstands what’s going on between the two of us,” Gu Yanchen frowned.
That night, he had somehow been spiked with an aphrodisiac, resulting in a passionate encounter with Su Jin.
From that day onward, he began to face his true feelings for Su Jin, realizing he didn’t just view him as a friend, he wanted to take things a step further.
Yet Pei Huaishe, half-asleep in the middle of the night, had wandered into his room and slept on his sofa the entire night.
When he left the next morning in disarrayed clothing, he happened to run right into Su Jin.
Given the endless scandals circulating between him and Pei Huaishe during this period, running into this situation made it impossible for him to wash himself clean even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
Su Jin had turned around and walked away with reddened eyes right then and there, even blocking his contact info and refusing to talk to him to this day.
Gu Yanchen had a terrible headache.
Pei Huaishe nervously picked at his fingers, silently offering an internal apology to Gu Yanchen and Su Jin, though he still had no choice but to keep acting this way.
Through a month of unremitting effort, he had already accumulated five thousand points.
He asked 029 mentally, “What is the next task?”
【The host’s next task is to participate in a dating reality show. This is also your final task.】
【Due to harboring misunderstandings and doubts about the relationship between the host and Gu Yanchen, Su Jin in his anger chooses to participate in a dating reality show. Gu Yanchen follows him onto the show to pursue his wife. Upon learning of this, the host persistently clings on, following them onto the reality show to continue entangling himself with Gu Yanchen, vainly attempting to win Gu Yanchen over through the show. In the end, this provokes nationwide disgust, leading to total mockery across the entire web. It is precisely this reality show that causes the host to ultimately suffer a crushing defeat.】
【As long as the host completes this dating show task, you will receive the remaining five thousand points, which can be exchanged for the item needed to reverse the plot.】
There was only one final task left.
Pei Huaishe let out a quiet sigh of relief. It was almost over, once this task was completed, he could start fresh with Gu Minghe.
Perhaps because he finally saw a glimmer of hope, Pei Huaishe cast aside the sorrow he had worn for days, his pretty face blooming with a few genuine smiles.
Gu Yanchen waved a hand in front of his eyes. “What are you daydreaming about?”
Biting his lip, Pei Huaishe said, “Big Brother, I want to help you explain things too, but Brother Su Jin probably doesn’t want to see me right now anyway. I won’t go make him unhappy. Oh right, I have things to do, so I won’t be joining you for dinner tonight. I’m heading out.”
Gu Yanchen: “…”
Wait, he hadn’t even agreed to have dinner with Pei Huaishe in the first place.
Pei Huaishe planned to get some good rest for a period of time before heading to the dating show.
For now, he would temporarily stop harassing Gu Yanchen.
The deep autumn night wind blew quite chilly.
Aiming purely for aesthetics, Pei Huaishe had dressed very thinly, wearing only a lightweight long-sleeved shirt. The wind whistled straight through his clothes against his skin, causing him to shiver uncontrollably from the cold.
Ever since the divorce, lacking Gu Minghe by his side, Pei Huaishe had grown incapable of taking care of himself.
In the past, even when Gu Minghe went on distant trips, he would organize everything around him immaculately so that Pei Huaishe only needed to follow along obediently. Now, however, he had to handle every single thing on his own.
Not wanting to worry his mother, he hadn’t mentioned the divorce to his family, and naturally, he hadn’t moved back home either.
Instead, he had moved into the small commercial apartment his mother had bought him before his marriage.
On the day of the divorce, he had refused Gu Minghe’s offer of a clean break with zero assets; the two of them had simply carried out a standard property division, with Pei Huaishe taking only what rightfully belonged to him and nothing more.
Even so, the portion of assets belonging to Gu Minghe under a standard division remained quite substantial.
Yet Pei Huaishe couldn’t bear to spend it. He locked everything related to Gu Minghe away in a safe, living solely off the money he earned himself, which made his daily life somewhat constrained.
Coupled with his depressed mood and forcing himself every day to do things he disliked, Pei Huaishe had lost a tremendous amount of weight.
His frame was naturally delicate to begin with; wasting away like this made him look as though a gust of wind could blow him over. His complexion grew increasingly pale, making him appear utterly fragile.
Pei Huaishe had managed himself very poorly. Returning home that night, he pulled the quilt over his head and fell straight into a deep sleep.
When he woke up the next day, his face was burning red and hot, he was unmistakably running a fever.
Getting up, Pei Huaishe took a fever-reducing pill and went back to sleep. By the time he woke up in the afternoon, he had received an invitation letter from the production team of the dating reality show Let’s Fall in Love!.