He opened a chat with a profile picture of a black silhouette.
【Hei Ye, check where Song Shuangzhi is.】
【At your sister’s place.】
Tan Siyan settled the bill at the teahouse, stepped out, got into his car, and floored the accelerator straight to Tan Siyin’s home.
Tan Siyin was on the balcony, hiding with her boyfriend while they kissed.
“Bro! Big brother! Damn!” The moment she saw who it was, she tried to hide her boyfriend. “My brother’s here to catch you! He might kill you! Hide!”
She quickly straightened her clothes. “Brother,” her voice turned sweet and ingratiating, “what brings you here?”
Tan Siyan acted as if he hadn’t heard her at all and walked straight into the bedroom.
Tan Siyin grabbed her boyfriend and ran.
Tan Siyan knocked on the door, but there was no response.
“Sorry.”
The door opened.
The slender young girl lay on the soft bed, her hair loose and scattered across her neck, shoulders, and collarbone.
Her long lashes trembled faintly.
Her sleeping posture was terrible. She hugged a plush toy, her nightdress bunched up at her waist, exposing her long, slender legs.
Tan Siyan averted his gaze, his movements stiff.
He knew she did not love him. He had married her only to protect her safety.
Once her father’s matter was resolved, she would likely divorce him.
He absolutely should not harbor any inappropriate or indulgent thoughts, especially when she was still so young.
And yet…
The desire he loathed pulsed like a heartbeat, growing louder and harder to ignore.
His tall figure moved closer, looming over her as he crouched down…
Those unusually delicate red lips looked like jelly, impossibly soft.
Even her breathing seemed to carry a sweet, sugary scent, brushing against his face and tightening every inch of his skin.
【Wake up! Wake up!!!】
【Is the male lead about to kiss you?!】
【Ahhh! Why is he getting so close! Male lead, snap out of it! Don’t you dare do anything improper to the heroine!】
The system jumped around frantically.
【Ah! He’s so handsome! Even more handsome up close!】
【Kiss, kiss! Our Zhibao is the most beautiful in the world, the sweetest in the universe! Way better than the heroine!!!】
Their breaths intertwined, their lashes almost clashing…
“Achoo!” Song Shuangzhi sniffled, turned over, and continued sleeping.
Tan Siyan snapped back to his senses instantly.
He stepped back abruptly, his back hitting the corner of the table. The sharp pain made his brows knit slightly.
He had never felt this flustered, this out of control.
His actions just now filled him with intense disgust toward himself, along with an urge to punish himself.
He picked up her eyebrow razor and dragged it across his palm, leaving a thin cut on his pale hand.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled the blanket over her properly.
He was just about to leave.
A message came from the orphanage director, thanking him for the snacks and saying the children loved them.
So the snacks he had asked his assistant to prepare, she hadn’t touched a single bite. The thick coconut milk tea she had insisted on, she hadn’t drunk either.
She probably didn’t like them at all.
What kind of husband didn’t even know his own wife’s preferences?
He looked at the phone lying on the bed, pressing into the wound on his palm, yet the pain seemed to disappear.
His fingers slid across her unlock screen. The password was ridiculously simple, 888888, not even a birthday he didn’t know.
【Close Payment Binding Successful.】
After tucking her in again, he murmured, “Sweet dreams. I’ll try to come back as soon as possible.”
The moment he left.
A line automatically appeared in Song Shuangzhi’s mind:【Hidden mission reward triggered: Home Fragment x1!】
Tan Siyan returned to The Hague, and the frequency of mission triggers finally decreased.
Song Shuangzhi went back to being a background extra who bought blind boxes, assembled Doubao, and sat in court listening to legal terms she couldn’t understand at all.
“Didn’t my brother say he’d spend the New Year at home?” Tan Siyin said. “Why did he leave after just two days?”
“No idea.”
Qin Chao smiled. “His French colleague’s wife ran off while pregnant. The guy cried and ran out of the courtroom to chase her, throwing the whole hearing into chaos.” He scooped up some rice. “Even the president of the International Court couldn’t control it, so they had to call him back urgently.”
He sighed. “There are fifteen judges at the International Court, and there are always vacancies. Now that that French colleague is on leave again, Tan Siyan won’t be back for at least a year or more!”
Tan Siyin let out a cold snort. “A scumbag whose wife will run away sooner or later!”
Qin Chao looked at Song Shuangzhi. “Did something good happen to you? You look so happy.”
“Huh? Not at all.” Song Shuangzhi rubbed her smiling face. “I’m just naturally cheerful~”
【You’re just happy the male lead left and the missions won’t trigger anymore!】
“Oh right, Brother Qin Chao,” Song Shuangzhi said, looking at his two-yuan meal of plain rice and a big steamed bun, “is today your high-carb day?”
Fitness enthusiasts seemed to have such a concept, eating carbs all day to build muscle.
“Hah!” At the mention of it, Qin Chao ground his teeth in frustration. “Some bastard used his wife to swindle six million from me overnight!”
He pressed his fingers to his philtrum. “I’m going to find his wife and beat her up!”
“Who is it? That’s awful.” Song Shuangzhi ran to the window and bought him two chicken drumsticks. “My treat.”
“Zhizhi,” Qin Chao said, “didn’t all your money go into blind boxes? Did you get that pure white Labubu you like?”
Song Shuangzhi waved her hand. “I can still afford to treat my brother to a meal!”
After all, she had just received eighteen million last night.
It nearly scared her to death.
Transferred by Tan Siyan, with the note: dividend, ninety percent for you, ten percent for me.
Didn’t understand it, accepted it anyway.
Far away in The Hague, Tan Siyan looked at the spending records on his phone and made a note:
She likes sweet and sour chicken drumsticks.
Buy them when he gets back.
The Song residence:
“Mom~” Song Shuangzhi ran home and threw herself into her mother’s arms. “You’ve lost weight again. Haven’t you been eating properly?”
“Silly girl, you’re the one who’s lost so much weight. Could it be that after marrying into the Tan family…”
Her mother hesitated.
“Tan Siyan treats me quite well, and he’s not even at home anyway.” This time, Song Shuangzhi came back mainly because—
“Mom, where’s my wedding ring?”
They had married without dating, without a ceremony, only registering their marriage, and the Tan family had sent over a pair of wedding rings.
Since they didn’t know when Tan Siyan would return to the country, both rings had been given to her.
Before marriage, she had lived at home, and when she moved to Litchi Bay, she hadn’t taken them with her. More importantly, she didn’t feel the need to wear them.
Who would have thought that this morning, after she got to work, Tan Siyan would message her, telling her to wear the ring.
“Ah… that…” Her mother hesitated for a moment. “I kept it safe for you! Wait here, I’ll go get it!”
“Thanks, Mom!”
Her older brother, Song Ting’an, glanced at her and followed their mother upstairs, while Song Shuangzhi stayed downstairs, nibbling on macadamia nuts like a little rabbit.
The system could be wrong sometimes. It said she was the fake daughter of the Song family and that there was a real daughter, that they had already found the real one, and that they would treat her badly and drive her out.
Nonsense!
Her mother treated her wonderfully!
Upstairs!
“You sold Zhizhi’s wedding ring,” Song Ting’an said coldly from behind their mother.
“What you have in your hand now is a fake.”
“Zhizhi doesn’t know better, so she won’t suspect anything. But Mom, do you think Tan Siyan won’t recognize it?”
“If Tan Siyan doesn’t, won’t the people around him?”
“Giving Tan Siyan a fake ring, how is Zhizhi supposed to face anyone in the future?”