The next morning, Shen Yuan woke up very early.
Outside the window, the sky was a pale gray. The rain had already stopped, and from the alley came the sound of a breakfast cart’s wheels rolling through puddles.
She sat up on the sofa, the thick quilt draped over her.
This texture and warmth—neither could have come from the thin blanket she had taken out of the cabinet last night.
Shen Yuan froze for a moment, then turned her head toward the tightly shut bedroom door.
No light seeped through the crack beneath it. The apartment was unnaturally quiet.
She rose quietly, moving on light feet.
Sure enough, on the shoe rack by the entrance, Xu Anran’s pair of sneakers was gone.
He had already left.
There was no note left on the dining table, only a breakfast that was still warm—soy milk and pork buns from Old Wang’s shop downstairs.
Shen Yuan stared at the breakfast, her throat tightening.
She didn’t flatter herself into thinking this was some kind of gesture of goodwill.
Xu Anran was just that kind of person.
His kindness and sense of responsibility were carved into his bones. Even if he now loathed her to the extreme, he wouldn’t let that disgust strip away his most basic decency.
He was simply used to taking care of people.
Even if the person he was taking care of was a burden he no longer wanted to see.
And she—she couldn’t keep taking advantage of that habit with a clear conscience.
Shen Yuan ate the breakfast in silence, carefully folded the packaging, and tossed it into the trash.
Then she began dealing with the mess the original owner had left behind.
She pulled open the drawer of the bedside table. It was stuffed with a thick stack of shopping receipts.
Records of purchases of various luxury cosmetics, along with several credit card bills that were clearly overdue.
Next to the bills was a pile of printed phone screenshots—all records of transfers Xu Anran had sent her.
She went through them one by one.
The amounts ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand. Not staggering, but every single one made her fingers go stiff with pressure.
Shen Yuan found a notebook and, date by date, wrote them all down.
“Lipstick, 320 yuan.”
“Dress, 890 yuan.”
“Bag, 2,600 yuan.”
When she reached the end, she used her phone’s calculator to add them up.
The number that appeared on the screen had already exceeded 30,000.
Shen Yuan stared at that number, her temples throbbing with pain.
In her previous life, though she had lived in poverty, she had never so brazenly squandered another person’s hard-earned money.
She knew better than anyone that Xu Anran stood for over ten hours a day at the car shop, bending over to pitch to customers of every temperament, and at night he braved wind and rain to deliver food deliveries.
That money—he had earned it one order at a time.
It was bought with sweat in the sweltering repair bay.
How could the original owner have spent it so guiltlessly?
Shen Yuan closed the notebook and continued rummaging through the drawer.
At the very bottom, tucked away, was a pink folder.
On the outside, cute cartoon stickers were pasted, making it look innocent and harmless.
When Shen Yuan opened it, her fingertips went cold.
What the folder held was not bills, nor some girlish secret.
It was a collection of plans that chilled her to the bone.
The first page had a title highlighted in pink fluorescent marker.
【Precise Ovulation Tracking and Pregnancy Preparation Guide.】
Below it was a printed chart, meticulously recording each month’s cycle, with several special dates circled in red pen.
The second page.
【Xu Anran’s Recent Return Schedule and Emotional Analysis.】
In crooked handwriting, it read: “Monday—tired, not a good time to talk,” “Wednesday—rainy, low mood, can play the victim,” “Friday—payday, in a good mood, good for making requests.”
The third page.
【Thirty-Six Stratagems for Softening a Man’s Heart.】
Page Four.
【How to Make Him Feel Guilty and Take Responsibility After Pregnancy.】
At the very end of the folder were a few printed pages from the internet, so-called “successful stories of women who climbed their way up.”
Each headline was more glaring than the last.
Shen Yuan’s stomach churned, her fingers clenching the edge of the folder.
She almost wanted to snap it shut and throw everything away.
But she stopped herself.
She could no longer afford to hold any illusions about the original body.
Nor could she afford not to know exactly how far Xu Anran had nearly been schemed against.
He thought he was only bound to a woman he didn’t love because of a life-saving debt.
But the original body didn’t just want his money.
She wanted his body, his life.
She even planned to use a carefully calculated pregnancy to trap him forever in this rented room.
Shen Yuan pulled the papers out of the folder, her face expressionless.
The sound of tearing paper was especially harsh in the quiet room.
She tore slowly, and with force.
Her phone vibrated at that moment.
A name flashed on the screen.
Chen Lu.
【Xiao Yuan, how did it go last night? Did it work?】
【Did you get that man Xu Anran in the bag?】
Shen Yuan stared at the message, her brows knitting tighter and tighter.
Before she could reply, a second message popped up.
【I’m telling you, stop hesitating. If you don’t make your move tonight, it’ll be too late.】
【Didn’t you already buy everything?】
【Listen to me, just slip him the drug. Men are all the same—sleep with them once and they’ll behave. After that, whatever you say goes.】
Slip him the drug.
Shen Yuan’s fingertips turned white from the pressure.
The original body had actually prepared something that crossed every bottom line?
She set down her phone and searched through every drawer and cabinet.
Finally, at the very bottom of the vanity, inside a jewelry box, she found it.
A tiny transparent sealed bag.
Inside were a few small white pills, with no label or instructions.
All the color drained from Shen Yuan’s face.
She grabbed the bag, wrapped it tightly in several layers of tissue, and rushed into the bathroom.
With a whoosh.
She pressed the flush, watching the package get swept away by the water until it disappeared.
When the sound of water stopped, she gripped the cold sink, her chest heaving violently.
The woman in the mirror was pale, but her eyes were cold and clear.
She couldn’t wait any longer.
This Chen Lu was no friend at all.
She was the one pushing the original body toward the abyss.
Someone like that had to be cut off immediately.
Shen Yuan dried her hands, picked up her phone, and typed a line.
【Don’t send me messages like this anymore.】
The message went through.
Chen Lu replied almost instantly, her tone full of the shock and mockery of someone who felt insulted.
【Shen Yuan, what do you mean? Who are you trying to play pure with?】
【Wasn’t it you crying and begging me for advice last week?】
【Now that you’ve bought the stuff and made the plan, you’re telling me this?】
Shen Yuan stared at the words, her fingertip hovering over the screen.
Right.
Before, it was “her” who said those things, “her” who did those things.
But now, standing here, was Shen Yuan.
She typed back, word by word.
【I’ve changed my mind.】
After that reply was sent, Chen Lu exploded.
A string of long voice messages popped up one after another—just looking at their length was enough to make your scalp tingle.
Shen Yuan didn’t open a single one.
She long-pressed Chen Lu’s profile picture and deleted all their chat history.
After doing all that, she gathered the shredded paper scraps and the pink folder, stuffing everything into a black trash bag and tying the opening tightly shut.
By the time she finished cleaning up, the sky outside the window was already bright with daylight—it was nearly noon.
She picked up the bag of trash, about to head out and toss it, when the doorbell suddenly rang.
It rang again and again, urgent and rude.
Shen Yuan stopped in her tracks.
Whoever was outside clearly had no patience—after pressing the doorbell a few times, they started pounding on the door.
“Shen Yuan.”
“Open up.”
“I know you’re home. Don’t play dead with me.”
It was Chen Lu’s voice.
Shen Yuan gripped the cold door handle and closed her eyes.
Some troubles couldn’t be avoided just by deleting a friend.
What was meant to come would always come.
She pulled the door open.
Standing outside was a young woman with big, bouncy curls, wearing makeup that was both delicate and sharp, her eyes carrying the shrewdness of a worldly opportunist.
The moment the door opened, Chen Lu tried to sidestep her way inside.
Shen Yuan didn’t budge.
She blocked the doorway with her body, refusing to let Chen Lu in.
Chen Lu was stopped short, and her expression immediately soured.
She craned her neck to peer inside, her eyes darting back and forth between the modest living room and the closed bedroom door.
“Where’s Xu Anran?”
She raised an eyebrow and asked, her tone taking it for granted.
Shen Yuan looked at her.
“He went to work.”
“Work?”
Chen Lu let out a scoff, her voice dripping with contempt. “What a diligent old workhorse. Too bad—all that effort wasted on you.”
“And you, you’ve got such a top-tier man all to yourself, yet after half a year, you still haven’t gotten him into bed. How embarrassing.”
Shen Yuan’s expression turned cold.
But Chen Lu didn’t notice at all. Instead, she lowered her voice and leaned in mysteriously.
The moment she opened her mouth, she said the exact words Shen Yuan found most revolting.
“Cut the useless talk.”
Chen Lu’s eyes were gleaming with intensity, full of gossip and excitement.
“Come on, tell me the truth—did you or didn’t you sleep with Xu Anran last night?”