The night passed in happiness, and Shen Yin, rarely, woke up late.
He still held Song Tan in his arms.
At this moment, she was encircled in his embrace, and with a slight movement from him, the two were pressed closely together.
But as soon as he made a move, Song Tan woke up.
“You’re awake?” Song Tan’s eyes still carried the dazed look of sleep.
“Mm.” Shen Yin didn’t get up, just lay there watching her.
“Aren’t you getting up?”
Shen Yin said, “I can accompany you for a while longer.”
Song Tan murmured an “Oh” and then hugged Shen Yin’s waist.
Shen Yin’s body tensed slightly.
“Let’s hug a little longer then.”
In fact, Song Tan wasn’t used to having someone beside her when she slept, so she woke up several times intermittently after Shen Yin fell asleep.
So now, she was still a bit sleep-deprived.
But when she was awake, she quite liked snuggling into Shen Yin’s embrace.
There was a feeling of being enveloped in warmth, very comfortable.
But while Song Tan was comfortable, Shen Yin was…
“Ah…” Song Tan lifted her head from his embrace, though her tone was surprised, the playful glint in her eyes was unmistakable.
Shen Yin : “… ” This feeling of wanting to move but not being able to move was simply both crazy and terrible.
Unfortunately, Song Tan in his arms was extremely naughty; she even said, “Can you use the tone of a domineering CEO and say: ‘Woman, you’re playing with fire.'”
Shen Yin : “… ” She really was playing with fire.
“Say it.”
Song Tan was writing a novel about a domineering CEO, so she was seeking some inspiration from Shen Yin.
“You… have read too many popular novels.”
There were several brightly colored novels on Song Tan’s bookshelf, all about domineering CEOs… and little wives and such.
At that time, he thought Song Tan deliberately placed them there to confuse him, but what he didn’t expect was that she actually read them.
Could a person really say such things?
But Song Tan looked at him expectantly.
He rolled over, propped himself up on his elbow, hooked her chin with one hand, and lifted it slightly.
“Woman, you’re playing with fire.”
Well… it was quite domineering.
But… Song Tan couldn’t help but burst into laughter directly.
It wasn’t that Shen Yin was funny, but it was hilarious to hear that phrase spoken aloud.
She laughed without much restraint, while Shen Yin above her looked at her somewhat helplessly.
Too teasing.
The little enchantress was really too teasing him.
If this is her conspiracy, then he should congratulate her on succeeding.
There were indeed moments when he truly wanted to stay in this bed with her for the rest of his life.
But ultimately, he still had to face reality.
Fu Ling had called him several times already.
The Huo family couldn’t sit still; they wanted to negotiate with him.
After leaving them hanging for so long, it was time to have a chat.
He turned around and kissed Song Tan lightly on her forehead, nose, and lips. “Be good, stay home, read, eat, and wait for me to come back.”
“Okay.”
Song Tan didn’t ask him about the company or the matters concerning the Huo family.
She knew they were on the same side, on the same boat.
“Shen Yin.” When Shen Yin was dressed and about to leave, Song Tan called out to him again.
Shen Yin turned around to look at her, waiting for her to continue.
“Jiayou!”
Shen Yin chuckled softly. “Okay.”
Compared to the tender affection between Shen Yin and Song Tan, the Huo family seemed to be in the midst of a storm.
Old Master lingered on his sickbed, sometimes lucid, sometimes confused.
Even when he was lucid, his speech was disjointed and unclear.
The most condemned person was naturally Huo Yanlin.
If it weren’t for Huo Yanlin, Old Master Huo wouldn’t be like this, and the Huo family wouldn’t have ended up like this.
Huo Yanlin’s face was dark.
“Can everything that has happened be entirely blamed on me?”
If it weren’t for their greed and mutual protection back then, and also…
Aunt.
“Was Aunt’s death really unrelated to you?”
Huo Yanlin stared at them and continued, “If you’re really related, considering Shen Yin’s vengeful nature, none of you can escape.”
Shen Yin’s revenge now was aimed at what happened back then.
Huo Yanlin sneered, “I was young back then, I didn’t participate, but Uncles… Whether you were involved or not, only you know.”
After Huo Yanlin finished speaking, he no longer looked at them.
If they couldn’t reach an agreement with Shen Yin today, let alone Huo’s company, the entire Huo family might collapse.
[007, the original plot has changed too much now, right?]
Since her intervention, the trajectory of this world has already changed, no longer following the original plot’s development.
So the current system can only observe the events that have already occurred; it’s powerless to predict future plot developments.
[The current plot has deviated significantly from the original.]
Song Tan nodded satisfactorily.
[What does Host want to ask?]
The original plot mainly focused on the relationship between Huo Yanlin and Su Ran. However, the current plot has become quite tangled.
Huo Yanlin is busy with matters concerning the Huo family, feeling overwhelmed.
As for their romantic relationship now?
Forget about it.
So, it’s unlikely that the current plot will primarily revolve around the romance between the male and female leads.
Then, what will be the focus?
[007, you’re now a retired old fogey, let me teach you.]
007 : […] You called me a child just yesterday, women’s hearts are truly unpredictable.
[All along, we’ve been living within our own storylines.]
She’s repeatedly thrown back into the original plotline and tortured because the system deems this world revolves around Huo Yanlin and Su Ran.
This is their subjective assessment; everyone and everything must revolve around them.
But these supporting characters are also living, breathing individuals with flesh and thoughts.
How could they live their entire lives centered around others?
They live for themselves.
[I do, as does Shen Yin.]
The system keeps nagging her about them, the supporting character and the big villain.
[We all live for ourselves, but I’m quite thankful to you all for letting me repeat the storyline over and over again.]
Though it’s twisted, I’ve gained quite a lot from it.
For example… in the original plot, she was ordered by Old Master Huo to stay in the southern courtyard, and her medicine was taken away by the servants. She fell ill and fainted on the ground. But when she finally woke up, she found herself lying in bed, covered with a blanket.
Shen Yin had the same blanket.
For example… in the original plot, Huo Yanlin played tricks on her, making her sit by the river in the cold wind for two hours. When she returned to the room, there was a pot of tea on the table.
She remembered the tea was just the right temperature. With one sip, it warmed her frozen body.
She didn’t remember much about the tea set, but when she saw the tea set that Shen Yin casually took out yesterday, those details she had overlooked came back to her mind.
In the original plot, Shen Yin indeed had little presence.
Like air.
But upon careful recollection, she realized he seemed to have appeared in many places and times.
And he provided her with the only warmth she had back then.
Of course, she knew that Shen Yin at that time didn’t do those things because he liked her.
Perhaps… he pitied her, or maybe he was inherently kind-hearted, quietly doing good deeds without anyone noticing.
If it weren’t for her repeating the original plot many times, she might not have noticed that there was such a person who, when she suffered betrayal and scheming, gave her a trace of warmth.
[So, 007, we’re not villains, not supporting roles, just two people who want to live well.]
Song Tan rarely spoke sincerely to 007.
It’s a system that only analyzes data and occasionally gets fooled by her, causing errors in its operations.
So, Song Tan rarely tells it anything from her heart.
But now, even though it’s just a system, she wants it to know that she and Shen Yin are two independent individuals.
What they want to do is because they genuinely want to do it.
As for the outcome…
The outcome is unknown.
Before reaching the final conclusion, who knows what the outcome will be?
System 007 fell silent.
Or rather, what Song Tab said was somewhat beyond the scope of the system’s calculations, almost burning out its CPU.
Song Tan didn’t care about the small system’s CPU; after all, it wouldn’t break.
But…
[Little Seven, think about it. You work seven days a week, 24 hours a day. With this workload, when you retire, shouldn’t you get some benefits?]
At this point, 007 changed its tone.
[Host, are you trying to come up with some crooked idea?]
Every time Song Tan tries to deceive it, she first confuses its CPU and then tricks it.
Several times, it almost got punished by the main system.
Although it’s retired now, the main system won’t assign it any tasks anymore, but its behavior still needs to comply with the system’s operational manual.
[Little Seven, I just want to fight for reasonable benefits for you.
[Look at this reward pool, it’s a territory we both conquered together. We didn’t give it up, but it’s gone.]
Saying this, the system interrupted her : [This is impossible. Due to the time-space alteration, the reward pool cannot be used across different time-space.]
Song Tan knew it was a rigid system.
[But Little Seven, we can apply for an employee internal discount on the products here, right?]
Seeing 007 still calculating her words, she continued, [Little Seven, if I live longer, it means you live longer too, right?]
007 thought what she said made sense and began to fill out the internal employee discount application form.
Song Tan smiled and continued reading her book.
The exam is in a couple of days, she hoped everything would go smoothly.
Huo Yanlin never imagined that one day he and Shen Yin would sit on both sides of the long table and discuss the future of the Huo family.
In his understanding, Shen Yin should be the least noticeable person in the Huo family.
After all, he’s not surnamed Huo.
Over the years, Huo Yanlin has gotten used to ignoring him.
Now, he just casually sits in the chair, still dressed the same way, but something is different.
His eyes have changed.
Huo Yanlin unexpectedly had the thought of avoiding his gaze.
“Shen Yin, since you’ve sat down here, it means you don’t want us to end up in a dead end together.”
Since he doesn’t want things to end badly, all the Huo family needs to do is fulfill his demands.
“What kind of demands do you have? Shares? Money? Or something else, just say it.”
Huo Yanlin straightened his back, trying to appear more imposing.
But compared to Shen Yin’s casualness, there was a feeling of struggling to maintain composure.
Huo Yanlin was indeed struggling.
Because he couldn’t see through Shen Yin, this person was too deeply hidden.
For so many years in the Huo family, they had unexpectedly failed to notice, even foolishly thinking they had Shen Yin firmly in their grasp.
Talking to Shen Yin now, Huo Yanlin really didn’t have much confidence.
“Shen Yin.” Huo Yanlin called him once again.
“Can you be the head of the Huo family?” Shen Yin looked at him.
A quite calm look, but Huo Yanlin felt like he was being seen through.
“I can.” Huo Yanlin said with a forced voice.
“You are not currently the head of the Huo family, and the one sitting in the position of the Huo’s company’s president is not you. Your conditions are not enough to sit here and talk with me.”
Shen Yin’s voice didn’t carry much emotion, but Huo Yanlin felt a sense of being looked down upon.
“Shen Yin, what other cards do you have in your hand? A recording? It’s been over a decade since the incident. If you really had something in your hands, would you still be lingering in the Huo family?” The more Huo Yanlin thought about it, the more he felt this way. It was the old folks in the Huo family who were worried and frightened, thinking that whatever Shen Yin had in his hands could destroy the entire Huo family.
If he really had something, he would have brought it out long ago, so why wait until now?
Seeing this, Shen Yin stood up.
“In that case, let’s not talk anymore.”
With that said, Shen Yin really just walked away.
The moment Shen Yin stepped out of the door, a piece of news immediately surged onto the hot search rankings.
Author’s note:
Shen Yin : What a bullsh*t, I’d better go home and accompany my wife.