But…
What does this mission have to do with being spoiled and willful?
【Mission 10: Have a little argument with the male lead in front of everyone, and give the puppy a kick.】
Tang Zhen blinked. “Wait… who’s the puppy?”
000 explained patiently: 【Zhen, that’s the companion robot they’re just starting to develop.】
Tang Zhen frowned. “Why do I have to kick it? It’s so cute!”
【Because that’s what the second female lead does—she’s spoiled. She does whatever she wants, without thinking.】
Tang Zhen’s head throbbed. “Okay… but why argue with the male lead?”
【Because he’s going to be busy again soon. This companion robot can be used to help autistic children, or lonely elders—basically, he’s going to put a lot of time and effort into it.】
【If he spends time with the puppy, he won’t have time for the second female lead.】
【Of course, she’ll be unhappy and throw a little tantrum.】
【So this mission… makes perfect sense.】
In the original plot, the second female lead and the male lead didn’t spend much time together. He was busy chasing his ideals and ambitions, devoting most of his time to academics and work.
Meanwhile, she had all the free time in the world.
In college, she didn’t care about grades. Aside from classes, she watched dramas, shopped, and spent free time on romance.
But he was too busy.
Their schedules were fundamentally incompatible.
One lazy, thinking about trivial things all day; the other busy, running from one task to the next. Even if the second female lead’s personality wasn’t a problem, the split was inevitable.
And in the original story, the second female lead had been unhappy about it.
This tension was exactly what gradually weakened their relationship.
Tang Zhen hesitated at the mission—not because she feared affecting her relationship with Ren Yanjing, but because she had never argued with anyone. She didn’t like arguing.
She believed arguing solved nothing.
Perhaps sensing her reluctance, 000 tempted her: 【Zhen, completing this mission earns you 2 life points too.】
Tang Zhen blinked. “Wait… didn’t each mission used to give just one life point?”
【It did. But as missions get harder, rewards get better. Later on, there will even be other bonus points. In short, doing more missions is always a good idea!】
Tang Zhen glanced at Ren Yanjing, then at the puppy, torn.
The system comforted her: 【Don’t worry, Zhen. Once you and the male lead break up, you’ll never have to interact with them again.】
【So just go boldly and complete the mission! Why resist life points?】
Everyone here was a limited appearance—every time they showed up, it was a one-time thing.
The puppy was just a robot dog; a gentle kick wouldn’t hurt it.
Tang Zhen was convinced.
Coincidentally, Ren Yanjing and Zhang Mian finished their conversation and walked over.
Gathering her courage, Tang Zhen tried to start the argument, but her anger fizzled out almost immediately, like a balloon punctured by a pin.
She really sucked at arguing!
Could she even complete this mission?
000 kept cheering her on: 【Zhen, as long as you speak, you’ve won! It doesn’t have to be a full-blown fight—just a little quarrel, a small one!】
A small quarrel—low volume should be fine, right?
“Ren Yanjing.”
Finally, Tang Zhen spoke.
“Mm?” Ren Yanjing looked down at her. If he hadn’t been paying attention, he might have missed that soft little call entirely.
“Puppy… will you spend all your time with it?”
Ren Yanjing leaned closer. “Worried I won’t have time for you?”
Tang Zhen protested. “Yes! You’ve been so busy before, not contacting me for days, even forgetting I existed!”
Ren Yanjing cleared his throat. “That was an accident.”
Tang Zhen didn’t look at him, focusing on completing the mission. “And in the future? You’ll get busier, won’t you?”
In the original novel, that was the way it went. For him to succeed, he had to work hard. How much time could he spend with her?
Ren Yanjing replied, “Busy, yes—but not so busy that I can’t spend time with you.”
Tang Zhen blinked.
Was that the right response?
【Zhen, keep going!】
She bit her lip. “Then… how much time will you spend with me every day?”
Ren Yanjing looked down at her. She stared at her toes, unable to lift her head, even her hair whorls looking irresistibly cute.
Her voice was soft, sweet—every word sounded like gentle coaxing.
Ren Yanjing leaned in closer. “Then… how much do you want me to spend with you each day?”
Tang Zhen silently repeated in her mind: “Argue, argue.”
If this was an argument, she had to ask for an impossible duration. If he couldn’t meet it, she could quarrel.
Without hesitation, she said, “Five hours.”
Five hours?
So clingy…
Ren Yanjing didn’t want to, but he couldn’t resist a tiny smirk. “Five hours… might be a little hard…”
A little hard meant he couldn’t do it.
Finally, she could quarrel.
Tang Zhen’s words poured out. “Ren Yanjing, you’re not sincere at all! Other couples stick together every day, and you can’t even spend five hours a day with me?”
“I’m not going to listen to you anymore.”
【Kick the puppy! Kick it!】
Tang Zhen gritted her teeth, darted past Ren Yanjing, and swung her foot at the puppy.
The puppy was still in development—it couldn’t fully interact yet, but it could respond a little.
Seeing her coming, it lifted its mechanical paw to greet her. Tang Zhen’s foot collided with it, and…
She tripped over the puppy’s mechanical leg.
Good news: the puppy got kicked, mission complete.
Bad news: the puppy was fine—she wasn’t.
Tang Zhen tumbled to the floor.
Ren Yanjing rushed over, scooping her up, while the teammates flailed around, trying to help.
“Is she okay?”
“Is she hurt?”
“Jing, put her on the chair.”
He placed her on a chair and crouched, looking up at her.
Having just fallen, she was likely in pain. Her eyes and nose were red, her gaze watery, eyelashes dotted with tears. Her delicate, fair face looked pitiful and adorable, impossible not to want to pinch and kiss.
Clumsy. Even walking couldn’t go right—she fell inside the lab.
Ren Yanjing gently squeezed her fingers. “Did you hurt yourself anywhere?”
Tang Zhen, frustrated—this mission was hard, she struggled, and now her hand was hurt—showed him her palm.
“My palm hurts.”
Her skin was pale, delicate, and small. Now her palm was red with a few scrapes.
Zhang Mian immediately said, “I’ll get the first aid kit.”
Once it arrived, Ren Yanjing blew on her palm, disinfected it, and applied bandages. Tang Zhen endured silently, biting back the pain.
Afterwards, Ren Yanjing kissed each fingertip—from thumb to pinky and back.
“Does it still hurt?”
Tang Zhen shook her head.
Why did the male lead react so differently than she expected?
They’d just argued!
And she had kicked the puppy, scheming like a proper second female lead. Surely someone noticed, right?
Zhang Mian crouched to look at the puppy, speaking seriously, “Puppy, what’s going on? Why did you trip sister-in-law?”
The puppy’s mechanical face looked blank.
Weak, helpless, pitiful.
Robert chimed in, in a mechanical voice, “Puppy, you should apologize.”
Zhang Mian nodded firmly. “Yes! Puppy, apologize to sister-in-law. She fell and hurt her hand badly. What should you do?”
The puppy couldn’t speak yet. It barked three times at Tang Zhen, attempting an apology.
Tang Zhen: ???
She was the one who kicked it, got tripped, and in the end… the puppy was apologizing.
Was this right?!