As Chu Luyu had expected, her message sank like a stone—no reply, no echo.
The system was still gloating: [Told you the male lead wouldn’t bother with you. He’s definitely furious right now. Probably even the text you sent is making him sick.]
Chu Luyu lay sprawled across the big bed, letting out a long, hopeless sigh. She clutched her phone, still waiting stubbornly, but there was indeed no movement from the other end.
Chu Luyu: [If the male lead decides to ignore me for good after today, how am I supposed to do the missions later on…]
System Cuihua: [Just do them shamelessly. The original owner didn’t get any good treatment here either. After she teased him, he was angry for a long time. Later, she had to drag herself back groveling, and the male lead ended up hiding in the team’s dormitory for two whole weeks just to avoid her.]
Chu Luyu caught the key point: [So what you’re saying is, I might not have to do any missions for the next two weeks?]
System Cuihua: [According to the plot, yes.]
Chu Luyu suddenly felt less hopeless. After all, time heals everything—whether it healed the male lead or not, she definitely wouldn’t feel as burdened two weeks from now.
The villa’s courtyard echoed with the sound of a car pulling in. Curiosity piqued, Chu Luyu craned her neck to look outside.
System Cuihua: [Your stepbrother is back.]
Chu Luyu wasn’t particularly curious about this character. She just let out an “Ah” and burrowed back under the covers.
—
The next morning, Chu Luyu was called down for breakfast.
As she came down the stairs, she spotted an unfamiliar man not far from the landing.
He was on the phone at that moment. Morning light spilled over him, bathing his figure in a warm glow, giving even his black shirt a soft warmth.
Hearing movement on the stairs, he kept his phone to his ear but tilted his head slightly, his gaze shifting toward Chu Luyu.
She saw a very handsome face.
Not as striking as Jiang Hezhou’s—the kind of refined, aristocratic beauty that made you stop and stare—but still clear-featured, scholarly, and gentle.
When their eyes met, he instinctively broke into a smile, a soft, warm light shining deep in his eyes.
“The dining room is all set. Go eat first.”
His tone was familiar, as if they were truly close.
It took Chu Luyu two seconds to realize this was probably the original owner’s stepbrother.
She smiled back, nodded at him, and said: “Big Brother.”
At the table, Chu Fanyin specifically mentioned Chen Zhou to Chu Luyu, saying that since he’d come back, he’d been asking about her, concerned about her health.
Chu Luyu thanked him, and he gave a casual smile in return before asking naturally: “How are things going with that second son of the Jiang family?”
Asking about her and the male lead?
Chu Luyu thought for a moment and gave the standard answer: “Pretty good.”
“Is that so?” For some reason, Chen Zhou’s voice carried a hint of something meaningful.
After breakfast, Chen Mian reluctantly left for school. Chu Luyu assumed Chen Zhou would head to work too, but surprisingly, he went back to his room and didn’t come out again.
She chatted with Chu Fanyin for a while, then also returned to her room.
She thought again about how Jiang Hezhou hadn’t responded all night and unconsciously checked her phone.
Unsurprisingly—still empty. Not even a punctuation mark in reply.
Chu Luyu resignedly sighed, looked around the room, and decided to find something to do.
She’d already planned to sell the original owner’s old clothes, bags, and shoes to cover her daily expenses, instead of continuing to bleed the family dry.
Now that she was back home, she might as well start sorting them out.
The original owner really had way too much stuff—at least several hundred items of clothing, and none of them cheap. Bags and shoes were the same. A conservative estimate: selling them all would net at least a few hundred thousand yuan.
Chu Luyu felt a jolt of excitement. In the real world, she’d toil away drawing for a whole month and only make a little over ten thousand. A few hundred thousand would take her years of saving without eating or drinking.
Suddenly, a knock came at her door.
Chu Luyu opened it and found Chen Zhou standing outside.
“Big Brother.” Since she’d already felt his kindness earlier, she wasn’t particularly guarded around him.
Chen Zhou walked in carrying a fruit platter. Seeing the clothes and bags piled on the floor, he looked puzzled.
“What are you doing?”
Chu Luyu said: “Ah, I was just thinking of sorting through the clothes, bags, and shoes I don’t wear anymore and selling them secondhand in the next few days.”
Chen Zhou clearly hadn’t expected that. He looked at her with some surprise. “Are you short on money?”
Without a second thought, he pulled out his phone and transferred 100,000 yuan directly to Chu Luyu’s WeChat.
She was startled by the amount. She didn’t accept it and sent it back.
“Big Brother, I’m not short on money, really…”
She thought for a moment, choosing her words carefully, then said to him: “I know I’ve been a real mess before and caused you all so much trouble. Lately, I’ve come to realize some things and understand just how awful I used to be. I’m determined to change. So these clothes and bags—I probably won’t need them anymore. That’s why I’m planning to sell them.”
A flicker of something unusual passed through Chen Zhou’s eyes, but he quickly masked it.
He looked at her deeply, as if genuinely concerned and sympathetic.
“Xiaoyu, I’ve told you before—we’re family. We’ll always accept and understand you no matter what. You don’t have to force yourself to change. The way you were before was fine.”
Chu Luyu felt he was just comforting her. What normal person would tolerate a stepsister who could fly off the handle like a maniac at any moment?
She shook her head firmly and said to Chen Zhou: “Big Brother, I really do intend to change. I won’t be like before anymore.”
Chen Zhou gazed at her for two long seconds, then finally smiled.
“Alright then. I’ll be watching.”
—
Chu Luyu busied herself for most of the day and finally packed up everything she planned to sell.
At some point, Chu Fanyin had come in and learned about her plan. After listening with wide-eyed astonishment to her daughter’s talk of change, she was so moved her eyes reddened again.
“I knew my Xiao Bao was a good child. I always knew…”
By evening, after a shower and finally getting into bed, there was still no word from Jiang Hezhou.
By now, she’d accepted reality. She planned to wait two weeks, then shamelessly seek out the male lead, just like the original owner had.
Still, she couldn’t help feeling a little bitter and complained to the system.
Chu Luyu: [The male lead’s being a bit petty. I apologized, and he’s really going to just ignore me?]
System Cuihua: [Have you forgotten his character? He’s such a straight-laced, proper, restrained type. You suddenly grabbed his privates, and the fact that he didn’t blow up at you in public is already a sign of good temper.]
Chu Luyu could no longer hear the word “privates” without blushing.
Chu Luyu: [Forget it, forget it. I won’t think about it anymore. Anyway, I’ve got less than half a year left with him before we part ways. After that, he’ll have nothing to do with me.]
System Cuihua: [Exactly. By then, he and the female lead will be all lovey-dovey, continuing their healing plot. And you’ll be happy with your family, starting a new life outside the storyline—without the male lead!]
Chu Luyu felt encouraged: [Yeah! A new life without the male lead!]
But then, hearing the system suddenly mention the female lead sparked her gossipy curiosity.
Chu Luyu: [While I’m with the male lead, what’s the female lead up to?]
System Cuihua: [Who knows? The female lead isn’t in the main plot right now, so I have no idea what she’s doing. But most likely, she’s just going to school like normal. She’ll meet the male lead around the time she graduates from college. She studied nursing, and since she couldn’t find a hospital to sign with after graduation and didn’t have much money, she’ll temporarily apply to be a housekeeper at the male lead’s place.]
Chu Luyu: [I see.]
…
At a nursing dormitory at Zhouhua Medical University.
Meng Wantian, sleeping on the top bunk, seemed to have been having a long, deeply uncomfortable dream.
She lay there, clutching the blanket with both hands, her brows tightly furrowed.
Suddenly, her eyes flew open. She sat up abruptly, clutching the blanket, gasping for air.
The surroundings were both familiar and unfamiliar to her. She looked around hesitantly, and only one thought remained in her mind—
Had she been reborn?
Leave a Reply