Chapter 4
Edward Quan ·
“Click.”
Gu Junheng pressed me against the door from behind.
His long, elegant fingers slowly turned the lock.
The feeling of a beast watching me made cold sweat break out across my back.
【System! Is this part of the plot too?!】
【I’m going to die in his hands!】
The system fanned itself and whistled, looking utterly unbothered.
【Relax, Host. The system just checked Gu Junheng’s affection level toward you.】
【It’s 100. He won’t threaten your life.】
【No, I…】
Gu Junheng swept me up in his arms, cutting off my conversation with the system.
“Why did you run?”
He rested his forehead against mine and whispered, “Didn’t you say you liked me best?”
For a moment, our breaths mingled.
The frantic beat of my heart betrayed what I truly felt.
Shen Nian liked Gu Junheng.
“That’s right.”
“I like you best.”
Gu Junheng’s lips were softer than I’d imagined.
Amid our hazy, lingering kisses, I bit him and laughed under my breath. “That’s what you get for spanking me… Ah!”
He hadn’t just spanked me. Now he’d given me an extra squeeze.
I hurt so much I bit his lip, and he carried me to the bed.
The curtains were drawn, leaving the room dim. I couldn’t tell whether it was day or night.
I fell into a deep sleep, never realizing that the system, crunching sunflower seeds as it watched the whole thing, was leisurely adding one last line.
【Corruption level: 96.】
【Host, keep up the good work.】
【And give me two more episodes while you’re at it, brat. Gu may look skinny, but he’s packing.】
7
At daybreak, I quietly left the apartment complex.
The time, place, and characters’ feelings had all diverged from the original story.
But at least I’d completed its most important plot point.
Next, Gu Junheng and Jiang Zhixue should go abroad together for graduate school, while the Shen family went bankrupt.
Shen Nian’s father would be taken in for questioning by the police and eventually die in prison.
Shen Nian would sink into the mud, never to recover.
I took a deep breath of the early morning air.
【System, stop gossiping.】
【Is this world going to follow the plot now?】
For once, the system dropped its usual flippant attitude.
【Yes, Host.】
【The role of Shen Nian that you’re playing has reached its final stage, but it’s also the hardest one.】
【Can you do it?】
【Of course.】
A dedicated actor would keep going until the curtain fell.
Besides…
I smiled faintly.
【I’ve already achieved what I came to this world for.】
The system froze.
【?】
【Your purpose? What purpose?】
【Host, weren’t you…】
I didn’t answer. I left the system fuming in my head.
8
News of the Shen family’s bankruptcy spread quickly through society.
Even the university I hadn’t visited in ages had heard about it.
It was graduation season, and I had to return to collect Shen Nian’s diploma and bachelor’s degree.
I ran into a classmate as soon as I passed through the gates.
“Oh? Isn’t this the young lady of the Shen family? Didn’t you come to school in your five-million-yuan sports car today?”
Shen Nian thought the dorms were beneath her. Her driver used to bring her to school every day in the fanciest car.
With her arrogant, show-off ways, it was no wonder her classmates disliked her.
But I didn’t care. I nodded easily.
“I sold the car to pay off debts.”
“Ha! You’re paying off debts now? Who knows how much of ordinary people’s money the Shen family swallowed. One outfit you’re wearing must cost tens of thousands. Why not sell that and pay off some debt?”
The student strode up and shoved me as she spoke.
I lost my balance, crashed into the flower bed behind me, and fell into the bushes.
My arm was immediately scratched in several places, and blood welled from the cuts.
“Hey… You can insult me all you want, but shoving me is too much.”
“Bloodsucker like you would be better off dead!”
After saying that, the girl who’d pushed me stormed off, all bluster.
I brushed the dirt from my skirt. The deeper scratches on my arm had begun to bleed, but I paid them no mind and went straight to the lecture hall to find my homeroom teacher.
“The class monitor picked up everyone’s diplomas. Go to the classroom and get yours.”
The teacher had never been particularly kind to me, but seeing me in such a sorry state, she didn’t say anything harsh.
Instead, she took two tissues from her desk and told me to go to the infirmary to have my arm bandaged.
“Thank you, Teacher.”
I bowed slightly as I took them, cleaned my wound, and was about to leave the office.
“Wait.”
The homeroom teacher called me back.
“What are you going to do now?”
She rose from behind her desk and hesitantly reached out to me.
“I remember you don’t have any internship experience, and now your family…”
“I know things are difficult for you, but please don’t do anything rash…”
I thanked her and left the office without a backward glance.
That concern had come too late.
And I didn’t need it anyway.
Following the homeroom teacher’s message, I found the classroom. Quite a few people were still inside.
The moment I walked in, the whole class fell silent.
Everyone’s eyes settled on me, looking so thoroughly down on my luck.
I looked at the class monitor.
“My diploma and bachelor’s degree, please. Thank you.”
The class monitor said nothing and lowered her head to look for the papers.
But the vice class monitor couldn’t hold her tongue.
“Someone as stupid as you actually came to collect a diploma? Why didn’t the school make you repeat a year?”
She gave a scornful snort.
Fair enough.
Shen Nian had ranked at the bottom of the class all year.
I ignored her and reached for my diploma.
The vice class monitor still wouldn’t let it go. She put her hand over the certificate so I couldn’t take it.
“Hey! Are you listening? Have you no shame?”
“I’m talking to you. What makes you think you deserve to graduate?”
I looked up.
“The fact that the school approved my graduation and issued me a diploma.”
“If you have a problem with that, go talk to our academic advisor.”
“Don’t stand here making trouble for a stranger you’ll never see again.”
“You!”
The vice class monitor’s face flushed, then paled at my words. Her friends hurried over to pull her back, telling her not to pick a fight with me.