When Shen Qingyao woke up, she found herself lying on a strange bed. Startled, she quickly sat up, pulling the covers with a swift motion. As she carefully looked around, a faint sense of familiarity slowly emerged.
Recalling what she had done before, she suddenly covered her face with both hands, belatedly feeling embarrassed. How could those awkward words have come from her!
[Host, what are you doing?] The system’s young voice timely interrupted Shen Qingyao’s self-reflection on her awkwardness.
She coughed as if to disguise her embarrassment and regained a normal expression. “Nothing, just rubbing my face.” The strongest social-phobia sufferer was adept at concealing her embarrassment and pretending to be socially confident.
[Host, what are your plans next?] the system asked.
Shen Qingyao was puzzled. What did it mean by her plans? “Aren’t I supposed to follow your arrangements? Isn’t the goal to capture Lu Zhao?”
The system fell silent. Was it asking about this? Clearly, it was asking about the strategy! The system suddenly realized that this host, who disguised herself with a facade of active work, was even more difficult to handle than those lazy hosts who did nothing.
Before they could continue discussing future plans, Shen Qingyao’s door was suddenly pushed open.
A maid dressed in blue, Shen Qingyao’s personal maid Cui Qiao, entered. Seeing that Shen Qingyao was awake, Cui Qiao ran over with a pleasantly surprised expression. “Miss, you’re awake! This is great!”
Shen Qingyao looked at Cui Qiao slowly, forcing a professional fake smile. However, after observing Shen Qingyao’s expression, Cui Qiao suddenly froze in place.
The former Miss never smiled at me like this, Cuiqiao thought.
The Miss’s once lively features had lost their color due to prolonged depression and gloom. Now, seeing her smile, she seemed exceptionally lively.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Qingyao asked the maid, who had suddenly stopped moving.
Cui Qiao shook her head, joyfully saying, “It’s nothing. I’m just happy to see Miss happy!”
Cui Qiao walked over, put down the medicine bowl she was holding, and her eyes sparkled. “Miss looks so good now, truly lively and full of spirit in the midst of joy.”
“Huh?” Shen Qingyao tilted her head. What did she look like now? What joy? What spirit?
Cui Qiao chuckled and explained, “Miss didn’t you already know! Young Master Lu has agreed to marry you!”
Indeed, he had agreed. Shen Qingyao thought of the sudden increase of five points of the ‘blackening’ value and couldn’t be completely happy.
Cui Qiao helped Shen Qingyao lean back, picked up the medicine, stirred it, and brought it to Shen Qingyao’s lips.
The bitter taste of the medicine made Shen Qingyao frown. She cursed the system silently, forgetting that the plot of a weak and sickly character would inevitably involve endless doses of Chinese medicine. She swallowed the bitter ‘calamity’ down.
“Why are you still so afraid of taking medicine, Miss?”
Shen Qingyao stuck out her tongue and looked back. How could anyone not be afraid of this stuff?
Amused by her expression, Cui Qiao reassured her with a smile, “Don’t worry, Miss. There’s a surprise waiting for you after you finish the medicine!”
“What surprise?” Did a genius doctor develop a special medicine for heart disease?
Cui Qiao suddenly winked at Shen Qingyao, lowering her voice, “Young Master Lu is here to see you, he’s right outside.”
“…*Cough, cough*!” Shen Qingyao couldn’t catch her breath in one breath, almost choking to death on the spot. Can this be called a pleasant surprise? This is clearly a shock!
“Miss! Miss, slow down! Why are you so excited…” Cui Qiao hurriedly came up to help Shen Qingyaou catch her breath. Shen Qingyao looked at Cui Qiao with teary eyes, feeling wronged. She had to pretend to be happy.
Just a wall away, two people stood outside the courtyard, both with upright figures and extraordinary temperament. Apart from Lu Zhao, surprisingly, someone else came.
After pushing Cuiqiao away, Shen Qingyao quietly lifted the window to look. The person opposite Lu Zhao was dressed in a dark blue wide-sleeved robe. The hair was neatly tied with a set of green jade crowns. Below that, long eyebrows, slender eyes, high nose, and thin lips. Unlike Lu Zhao’s cold and distant gentleness, this person’s warmth was like the gentle sunshine in spring, exuding a scholarly elegance. He was Shen Qingyao’s elder brother, Shen Yushu.
But at this moment, the expressions of these two people were not good.
Shen Yushu had a dark and handsome face, full of anger. His eyes were scrutinizing, staring at Lu Zhao angrily, “You dare to come?”
Lu Zhao raised his eyebrows with a smile and asked back, “Why wouldn’t I dare? It’s only natural for me to come and see Yaoyao, isn’t it?”
“Natural?” Shen Yushu gritted his teeth, thinking about how he had been deceived by Lu Zhao for more than ten years, believing in his nonsense about not loving power or women. He often invited Lu Zhao to the mansion to socialize, but instead of appreciating it, Lu Zhao actually hung around Ah Li and now came to harm Yaoyao??
“Natural, is it. I didn’t know that Young Master Lu values our Yaoyao so much.”
Lu Zhao’s expression remained unchanged, but his voice had already turned colder. He calmly said, “Of course.”
These two stable words somehow touched Shen Yushu. He suddenly grabbed Lu Zhao’s collar, speaking unfriendly, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to! If you don’t want to marry Ah Li, that’s fine, but if you want to use Yaoyao as a shield, pretend to marry her and make a show to provoke Ah Li, humiliating my Shen family and hurting Yaoyao’s sincere heart, I won’t let you off easily!”
Upon hearing this, both Shen Qingyao and the system made a stifled sound. So, this was Lu Zhao’s idea! When Shen Qingyao thought about forcing Lu Zhao into marriage, she never expected him to agree. She just wanted to take advantage of Shen Qingli’s affection for her little sister to make Shen QIngli hesitate. As long as the engagement wasn’t decided so quickly, and it’s delayed until the female lead entered the palace, it was enough.
No wonder he agreed to marry Shen QIngyao so readily; it turned out he was having a quarrel with the female lead!
“Shen Yushu!” Lu Zhao scolded from outside the window, pulling Shen Yushu away. He gently adjusted his crumpled clothes, and the smile on his face had disappeared. Shen Qingyao thought, this is probably called getting angry out of embarrassment.
“Miss! Why are you standing by the window! Be careful not to catch a cold!” Shen Qingyao was so fascinated by the scene that she was suddenly called back to her senses by a cry. It was Cui Qiao, whom she had sent to find something in the outer room. This shout was not only startling to Shen Qingyao but also successfully alarmed the two outside.
They both looked stunned, then turned their heads simultaneously.
Shen Qingyao was caught red-handed eavesdropping at the corner of the wall, she panicked, and with a thud, she closed the window. Using both hands and feet, she quickly escaped back to the bed. The sound of hurried footsteps came from outside, and it was Shen Yushu rushing in.
“Yao… Yaoyao, are you awake?” At this moment, he was also in a panic, silently scolding himself for not holding back. How could he have spoken so recklessly in front of Yaoyao’s room? What if she heard those words? Who knows how sad and upset she might be!
Shen Qingyao felt a bit guilty, huddled in the quilt, forcing a smile and awkwardly calling out, “Elder Brother.”
Shen Yushu interpreted her appearance as a forced smile, and his heart softened. He reached out and patted Shen Qingyao’s head, saying, “Yaoyao, don’t overthink it. Just be happy. As for other matters, Elder Brother will handle them for you.”
Shen Qingyao was puzzled. What other matters? Elder Brother, your current demeanor makes me think you want to assassinate Lu Zhao…
But assassination was impossible. Shen Yushu just thought to himself that after going out, he must warn Lu Zhao and make Lu Zhao, even if pretending, show a good attitude towards Yao Yao!
Shen Qingyao nodded, not daring to ask more. The two didn’t talk long before she looked up and saw Lu Zhao entering the room. The White Moonlight didn’t seem to be in a good mood now, with a serious face, lost in thought.
Perhaps he was embarrassed, after all, what could be more embarrassing than secretly plotting against your fiancée, and being caught in the act by the fiancée herself?
“Why did you come in!” Shen Yushu turned around abruptly. This was Yaoyao’s boudoir! Boudoir!
Lu Zhao didn’t speak, and with a cold gaze, he looked over. Shen Qingyao suddenly realized that even during the time she tried to snatch the engagement, Lu Zhao never showed such a cold expression. When he didn’t smile, he really exuded the aura of an ancient ice-cold male lead, naturally lowering the temperature.
“Elder Brother.” Shen Qingyao couldn’t help but reach out and pull Shen Yushu’s clothes.
She said inwardly, Calm down, Elder Brother, he’s the second male lead! The second male lead who might turn dark! Not someone we, the background supporting roles, can compare to! Be careful, I’m afraid that if you provoke Lu Zhao, his blackening value might rise again, and that won’t be good!
As she thought se, she discreetly glanced at Lu Zhao’s head again. It’s still at 5, that’s good.
“If Elder Brother still has things to attend to, you can go first, don’t mind me…” she whispered, wishing to dismiss one person.
Shen Yushu turned aside. He understood his sister’s intention to drive him away. His eyes swept back and forth between the bed where Shen Qingyao lay and Lu Zhao standing at the door. He thought, forget it, let them talk. So he spoke gently, “Alright, then Elder Brother will leave first. You… have a good chat and rest early.”
Shen Qingyao naturally agreed. Shen Yushu walked away, passing by Lu Zhao. He still found Lu Zhao displeasing to the eye, glared at Lu Zhao, snorted lightly, and left with a sweep of his sleeves.
Cui Qiao was originally in the room. Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, she wisely slipped away quietly. She even thoughtfully closed the door for the two, Shen Qingyao and Lu Zhao.
…What are they doing? It seemed as if I wanted to do something that couldn’t be seen. Shen Qingyao rolled her eyes in her heart, sitting opposite the standing Lu Zhao, remaining silent.
[Host! As I said before, pay attention to the persona setting! Then, pursue him!] The system, having had its fill of drama, popped up to remind her.
Thinking of that toothache-inducing persona setting, Shen Qingyao sighed inwardly, “I know.”
She suddenly turned her head, no longer looking at Lu Zhao. After a while, she felt that the turn of her head wasn’t forceful enough, so she simply lay down, turned around, facing away from Lu Zhao. She might as well have written ‘I’m very sad’ on her body.
She vaguely heard the person behind her move, as if taking a few steps closer. In the end, it seemed like he stopped at the foot of her bed. Lu Zhao had been silent, just staring at her silently. His gaze was like a substance, making Shen Qingyao’s back feel cold. Suddenly, she felt that turning her back to this person was not a very sensible and proactive approach.
“Are you planning to leave me hanging like this?” After a while, Lu Zhao finally spoke, his tone returning to normal.
The young girl on the bed suddenly shook her shoulders, and a low sob emerged. She was actually crying.
Lu Zhao paused for a moment, seemingly unprepared for this situation. Hesitating for a moment, he reached out and patted Shen Qingyao’s shoulder with one hand, then quickly withdrew it. “Don’t cry.”
But Shen Qingyao was determined not to listen! Rebelliously, she thought to herself, crying even louder. Then, suddenly, she sat up, her tearful eyes staring at him accusingly, silently reproaching him.
“If you don’t want to marry me, then don’t. There’s no need to humiliate me like this… If by any chance I don’t die from illness in the future, won’t I be blocking in your way?” Shen Qingyao said, tears in her eyes, with a bitter smile. “Well, it’s impossible anyway. How can I live long with this body?”
The system watched in astonishment, [Host, the persona you’re playing is really something…]
“…Shut up!”
Shen Qingyao continued to act, “I know you don’t like me. You only agreed to the engagement to provoke Elder Sister. Now that your goal has been achieved, there’s no need to pretend with me any longer.”
Lu Zhao stared at her for a while. The hand that had touched her shoulder curled up under his sleeve, and then he inexplicably smiled, “Goal achieved? Where has it been achieved?”
Shen Qingyao widened her eyes, thinking, sure enough! He’s too lazy to even disguise it!
Before she could speak, Lu Zhao said, “Yaoyao, you used your life to force me into this engagement, and I haven’t regretted it. You’re not allowed to regret it either.” He still had a smile on his face, his voice gentle. To the people who didn’t know, it sounded like sweet nothings, but Shen Qingyao trembled. It was true that she was the one who asked for the marriage, but why did she feel like White Moonlight was more excited than her? Excited like a yandere1 boy.
Shen Qingyao was dumbfounded, a tear hanging on her face, not falling.
Lu Zhao sighed lightly, reached out to hold the girl’s face, and carefully wiped away her tears with his other hand. He spoke gently, “I’m not provoking anyone, and I’m not deceiving you. Don’t mention words like getting sick and dying in the future.”
The yandere boy returned to the appearance of gentle White Moonlight.
If only the blackening value didn’t change right after he finished speaking, Shen Qingyao sneered in her heart. The number now read [6].
…Wow, she just got a little moved, but now she’s depressed. It increases by one each day. Brother, your blackening is quite stable.
Shen Qingyao felt that her superb acting skills were being challenged. White Moonlight was acting even better than her! Clearly, his blackening value had increased, but he still managed to portray himself as if deeply in love with her!
“I lost!!” Shen Qingyao couldn’t accept it.
The system: [What?]
Shen Qingyao : “I can’t act better than him 😭!”
- someone who is lovesick, someone who has been driven to insanity by extreme obsession or love, thus resulting in abnormal behavior if not violence ↩︎