After that night passed, Shi Qing lived every day very fully.
The system watched and found it unbelievable.
Is this even human efficiency? How could Shi Qing be like a perpetual motion machine, more like a machine that never needs rest than the system itself?
Moreover, finishing so many tasks every day was one thing, but amid the busyness, she even managed to find time to enjoy all the nearby gourmet food and try out every entertainment option available.
The system was terrified, afraid something would go wrong—but during this period, nothing happened.
Shi Qing integrated quickly and was living in this world like a fish in water.
The system found itself rather useless—Shi Qing could live well even without it.
It tentatively asked her if it should go into standby/offline mode.
Shi Qing agreed.
She showed no reluctance whatsoever.
Although she didn’t care whether the system was by her side, no one likes to have a little widget sharing their perspective all the time; she was a person who valued privacy.
The system felt somewhat hurt. Before going offline, it repeatedly reminded Shi Qing:
“If anything happens, call me—I will appear immediately.”
It was referring to Shen Jiyuan.
After waiting for more than half a month, Shen Jiyuan still hadn’t suddenly come looking for her. It seemed that under the influence of the plot, before the story started, he would not appear out of nowhere.
But unexpected situations could still arise.
Shen Jiyuan’s social status and financial power far exceeded what the current Shi Qing could contend with.
If Shen Jiyuan acted rashly, Shi Qing might get hurt.
Shi Qing quickly promised the system that if she encountered an unmanageable situation, she would definitely ask for help.
Although she didn’t believe such a scene would appear.
Since that day, Shen Jiyuan had actually been looking for Shi Qing.
That day, after losing control and smashing the ceramic plate holding the toast to pieces, he felt dizzy repeatedly and finally understood what it meant to be so angry he nearly coughed up blood.
From childhood until now, Shen Jiyuan had never lost control of his emotions like that.
From a top student as a child to a powerful CEO now, Shen Jiyuan had always lived under others’ gaze, always the center of attention, receiving countless admiration and envy many times over what ordinary people experience.
However, Shen Jiyuan was never influenced by these gazes.
His prestigious family separated him from ordinary people. Whether others envied or admired him, they first had to look up to him. He had always been above the clouds.
Even when facing malice, it was wrapped in layers of words.
Like the competitors he met last night—they hated him, yet still smiled and flattered him, toasted him.
Shen Jiyuan was naturally emotionally cold and had severe cleanliness obsession.
He cared little for anyone outside his family, gave no emotional investment to others, had few friends, and preferred to be alone, working with eyes open and closed—where would emotional ups and downs come from?
His biggest trouble in life was pressure from his mother to marry.
Such emotional stability was hard not to call advanced arrogance.
Shen Jiyuan could not understand those who became hysterical over small matters. Sometimes when hearing his subordinates discuss a popular TV drama, he would briefly wonder:
Why do these people get so worked up over trivial things?
Wouldn’t they get tired?
Until now, when he was triggered into breaking down by a short line of words, gasping for breath, nearly fainting, he realized he could have such strong emotions too. He nearly lost consciousness.
But thinking about how fainting would cause staff to discover the mess in the room, Shen Jiyuan held his breath, forcing himself to move to the nearby leather sofa and sit down.
He sat in silence until sunset.
In the end, Shen Jiyuan calmed down.
He spent several days cleaning up the room.
Cleaning wasn’t difficult; the challenge was how to do it without drawing attention or leaving traces.
Shen Jiyuan had never done such a thing before but gritted his teeth and endured. The mental pressure he suffered was immense; he was almost sleepless, with only one thought in his mind—
No one must find out what happened to him.
Relying on this pride, he endured for days, finally erasing all traces in the room.
After cleaning, Shen Jiyuan left the hotel.
However, no sooner had he returned home than he fell ill.
His fever soared to nearly 40 degrees Celsius and wouldn’t subside. The family doctors were busy, but Shen Jiyuan locked his door, refusing medical exams or anyone coming near.
Lying in his soft bed, realizing he was burning up with a fever, consciousness blurry and breathing hot, only one thought circled in his hazy mind—
Absolutely no one must come near him!
If someone saw the still visible marks on his body—the bite marks on his chest beneath his shirt, the scratches on his back, the finger marks on his legs—he would rather die.
The family doctors had no choice but to treat him with the most basic methods.
Shen Jiyuan took medicine and administered his own injections and fluids. Thanks to his young and healthy body, after a week of fever, he recovered.
After that, he finally had the energy to look for Shi Qing.
He used his power, sending many people to investigate Shi Qing, but with insufficient information, they found nothing.
No matching records were found in the hotel check-in logs, and surveillance footage didn’t capture her.
The few people who drugged him were found but only nervously said they had arranged a woman in the banquet lounge but didn’t expect Shen Jiyuan to notice something wrong and leave immediately.
When pressed, they were even more confused than Shen Jiyuan, not understanding why their plan failed while Shen Jiyuan made such a big fuss.
Shen Jiyuan could ask no further, worried others might notice. He bit his teeth and swallowed it down.
Afterward, he dealt with everyone involved, driving their companies to bankruptcy.
The core culprit—the hateful woman—still left no trace.
What good would finding her do?
Shen Jiyuan recalled that night, the woman sitting on the edge of his bed, smiling at him. She wore a white shirt, her smooth black hair draped behind her, soft and gentle features under the light.
Her appearance was as graceful as a magnolia blossom, showing no signs of mental instability, yet what she later did to him…
Just thinking about it made Shen Jiyuan’s face grow pale again.
His family was prestigious, wealthy, and powerful—but so what?
The person he had to deal with was a true lunatic—
If he ruined her financially, what if she originally had no money? Sending her to a psychiatric hospital? She’d have to thank him then—what’s the difference between sending a madwoman to a mental hospital and sending her home?
This is a society ruled by law; he couldn’t really ruin someone’s life.
Was he supposed to call the police and say he was forced by a woman, asking them to arrest her?
The more Shen Jiyuan thought about it, the heavier his stomach felt.
The initial rage, furious enough to want mutual destruction, gradually faded, but the hatred only grew deeper.
For now, he couldn’t think of a way to handle it, so he left all investigations to his subordinates and set it aside himself.
Lying sick in bed, almost a month had passed by. The work backlog piled up like a mountain.
How to take revenge? He’d think about it later—
At least after the person was found. Thinking about it now was useless.
He didn’t want to hear about this matter or have the energy to think about it.
Every time he dwelled on it, it shattered his pride to the extreme pain.
Sometimes in the depths of his suffering, he even wondered if this was all an illusion.
Shen Jiyuan threw himself into work, finally feeling able to suppress the pain for the time being.
Time passed without a trace; Shi Qing’s whereabouts remained unknown, and life went on.
Recently, Shen Jiyuan increasingly preferred to stay in his office, barely going home.
His daily schedule was packed tightly.
First, reviewing contracts and signing them, then drafting the latest business plans, followed immediately by a shareholders’ meeting.
From yesterday until now, he had worked more than a dozen hours nonstop, hadn’t eaten lunch, and his stomach was protesting. When his secretary brought coffee, he sipped twice and frowned tightly.
The shareholders were still seated around the table. During his coffee break, the secretary quietly told him, “President, the matriarch has called more than a dozen times just now, asking you to return her call immediately.”
Shen Jiyuan clenched his coffee cup, took off his glasses, and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Whether it was from overwhelming stress or from going so long without food, he felt worse.
Seeing his weary expression, the shareholders stopped discussing and someone suggested taking a break. Shen Jiyuan silently agreed.
He didn’t leave the meeting room but sat silently at the table for a while before signaling his secretary to hand him his phone.
In recent years, his mother had been pressuring him to meet women for marriage, doing everything to urge him to quickly produce an heir.
Shen Jiyuan didn’t understand why his mother was so obsessed with having children, as if completing some kind of quota.
His mother said it was because he was too cold in his dealings and she feared he would remain single forever, besides, their family really had a huge fortune to inherit.
Shen Jiyuan remained silent.
He always obeyed his mother; any protest was silent—he really had no interest in marriage or children.
Now those dozen or so calls were probably again urging him to meet some lady.
Waiting for the call to connect, he felt the discomfort in his stomach worsening.
Before, he was just a bit impatient about his mother’s pressure, but now with so much accumulated stress and having to deal with these matters, Shen Jiyuan felt like a tightly stretched string, already hearing a buzzing sound.
He twisted his expensive watch to temporarily distract himself.
Every word and action of the president drew attention.
While waiting for the call, the shareholders appeared to rest but were all watching his expression closely.
The young CEO wore a tailored, obviously high-end black suit, his handsome face pale with a slight frown.
Thinking of his ruthless business tactics, the shareholders felt uneasy.
Had something serious happened? Why was his complexion suddenly so pale?
No one spoke in the meeting room; the silence was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Shen Jiyuan didn’t care and waited coldly for the call to connect.
But after about ten seconds, when his mother’s voice came through, just as he was about to speak, he suddenly felt a blockage in his chest and a wave of nausea surged up.
In front of many shareholders’ eyes, under everyone’s watchful gaze, he said nothing, bent forward painfully, and began dry heaving.