The final number fixed on the information board was -64.
Chu Luyu blinked again and again, asking the system: “Cuihua, does this mean a negative value? Is the male lead’s current level of affection for me -64?”
System Cuihua: [If it’s negative, it’s no longer affection—this is aversion value! But damn, I can finally breathe easy now. It seems the male lead’s aversion toward you is still steadily increasing every day, just as the plot dictates! I was overthinking things earlier!]
Chu Luyu pouted, feeling a little sour inside. Although everything was developing as expected, seeing that aversion value still stung a bit.
Chu Luyu: [So he’s treating me well on the surface right now, but deep down he already despises me? Then the male lead’s acting is pretty good…]
System Cuihua: [What acting? Isn’t this just normal for the male lead? In the original plot, this is exactly his character—even though he was always annoyed by the original owner’s many bad behaviors, he still gave her the dignity befitting a fiancée. Everything he’s doing for you now is ultimately because he thinks it’s his duty as a fiancé. He wants to maintain this relationship, and his actions are just driven by his character setting. But inside, he’s definitely disgusted by you—after all, which of your previous tasks wasn’t off-putting?]
Hearing the system’s explanation, Chu Luyu’s eyes grew clear again.
She glanced over at the man beside her, who was still picking red beans out for her, and sighed inwardly: So some people really can separate responsibility from affection that clearly!
6
……
Meanwhile, the Time Travel Administration headquarters was in an uproar over the loss of a test program.
Administration leadership: “Have you traced the IP yet! Which system stole it!?”
Department head wiped his sweat: “The IP trace shows it’s from the Japan side, but we haven’t been able to pinpoint which specific system.”
Administration leadership: “Investigate immediately! This batch of test programs has data vulnerabilities—they can’t be used as references in missions at all!”
·
The group stayed at the hot spring villa until the afternoon, then prepared to return to the city.
Chu Luyu went back to her room to do a quick tidy-up. While waiting for her, Jiang Hezhou was pulled aside by a few of his brothers for a chat.
Ji Chen: “Before we met your little fiancée, we all thought she was as domineering and annoying as the rumors said. But after spending time with her this time, she’s actually really great—cute looking and cute personality.”
Li Yuebai: “She’s indeed nothing like the rumors. Why did people say she was bad in every way before?”
Zhang Jiting: “Could it be that someone spread those rumors on purpose? Someone jealous of little sister-in-law, and seeing that she doesn’t really run in social circles, just made things up.”
Jiang Hezhou was silent for a moment, thinking: Made up? Not necessarily.
After all, the first few times he met Chu Luyu, she really was no different from what others had described.
But after three months under the same roof, he had almost forgotten what she was like initially—he could only remember her coquettish and soft ways, how she’d act cute with him from time to time, occasionally coming up with those not-so-bright schemes to seduce him.
Zhang Jiting added: “At breakfast this morning, thanks to little sister-in-law for helping Xiao Yan out. When we got back, Xiao Yan apologized to me and told me to thank little sister-in-law properly—she even said she was adorable.”
Hearing his little fiancée being praised, Jiang Hezhou rarely wore a gentle expression.
“She really is adorable, and very kind.”
His brothers had actually been barely holding it together since morning. Now hearing Jiang Hezhou praise her so directly, they all looked thoroughly exasperated.
Ji Chen: “What’s this? Is our Second Master Jiang finally satisfied with this engagement now?”
Jiang Hezhou played dumb with a straight face: “When did I ever say I wasn’t satisfied?”
Ji Chen: “Tsk, keep pretending. You never said it outright, but when we were discussing your engagement in the group chat at first, you rarely chimed in—clearly you didn’t want to talk about it!”
Jiang Hezhou flatly denied it: “Not at all. It was always you guys spreading rumors. I never once said I was dissatisfied with this engagement.”
Zhang Jiting: “Get out of here! You never said it, but that’s exactly what you thought! We’ve known you for almost thirty years—you think we don’t know you!?”
Jiang Hezhou smiled and was about to fire back when his phone suddenly rang.
It was a graduate student under his supervision.
He stepped aside toward a quieter corner. “Shanjun.”
The voice on the other end was Huang Shanjun, who first addressed him as “Professor” before hesitating.
“Professor Jiang, are you and the missus at the hot spring villa?”
Jiang Hezhou was a bit surprised: “Are you here too?”
“Ah, no, not really…” Huang Shanjun’s voice was full of hesitation, as if debating whether to continue. After several seconds of pause, he finally spoke again: “Someone posted an anonymous thread on the school’s campus wall earlier, saying they ran into you and the missus at the hot spring villa. They said the missus seemed very… high-maintenance—not only did you have to take care of her at every meal, but she even bossily made you pick all the red beans out of a bowl of sweet soup. They said you looked really angry but couldn’t lash out in public, so you had to keep her pacified for now. Then that person also said you and the missus were arranged to be together by your families, that you don’t like her at all, that she has terrible character, and that she’s unworthy of you in every way.”
After hearing all this, Jiang Hezhou found it utterly absurd and felt a rare surge of anger.
“If I recall correctly, this campus wall is managed by the student council each year, right?” A pair of eyes behind his lenses flashed with an unprecedented harshness. Jiang Hezhou was genuinely furious, his voice as cold as ice shards. “Do you have the contact info for the student council admin? Phone or WeChat—either works. Send me a copy.”
After Huang Shanjun hung up, he immediately forwarded the student council president’s WeChat to Jiang Hezhou.
Then he left a message in the group chat with a few classmates.
Huang Shanjun: [I told Professor Jiang, and he’s definitely angry. He asked me to forward the student council contact—he’ll probably handle it personally.]
Feng Yiyi: [Of course Professor Jiang would be angry! I was furious when I saw it too! And that person was lying, saying they saw the missus on-site dressed all flashy with over-the-top clothes and makeup… Come on, our missus is a cute little fairy, okay? Who the hell were they even talking about!]
Zhang Qi: [Could it be someone who likes the professor who posted it intentionally? But that doesn’t seem right either—what they said was so detailed and specific, as if they really did run into the professor and his wife at the hot spring villa… Did the professor and the missus actually go there?]
Huang Shanjun: [Yes.]
Zhang Qi: [So that means the poster really did encounter the professor and the missus at the villa.]
Huang Shanjun: [So what if they did? Does running into them give them the right to fabricate and slander? Anyway, I don’t believe the missus is the kind of person that post described.]
Feng Yiyi: [Right! I don’t believe it either! Since Professor Jiang has already stepped up to defend his wife, let’s just wait and see how things unfold.]
About ten minutes later, Huang Shanjun received another message from Jiang Hezhou.
He first told Huang Shanjun that he had already notified the student council to delete the post, telling them not to worry. Then he added that he had just posted something on his Moments—if Huang Shanjun had time, he could take a screenshot and repost it on the campus wall.
Huang Shanjun cursed under his breath twice, then immediately went to Jiang Hezhou’s Moments after hanging up.
Huang Shanjun: [Holy shit! Holy shit! Professor Jiang just posted on Moments! I’ve known him for six years! He actually posted on Moments!]
Feng Yiyi: [I saw it—”Where My Heart Belongs”~~~~ Ooh, when an old flame finally ignites, it really burns bright!]
Zhang Qi: [Is that “burn” with an ‘s’ or without?]
Feng Yiyi: [?]
Zhang Qi: [Hehe.]
Two minutes later, on the Zhouhua University campus wall, an anonymous post was reviewed and published early.
The attached image was a screenshot of a Moments post, featuring a photo taken from someone else’s perspective.
Though the girl in the photo only showed her side profile, she still looked ethereal and beautiful—her cheeks soft and flushed, her eyelashes long and sweeping.
The angle completely conveyed the photographer’s intimacy and affection, and the caption below was equally solemn—
[“Where My Heart Belongs.”]
And the text on the attached image was written in a lively tone:
[I don’t know who was spreading rumors before about Professor Jiang from the Forensic Medicine department and his fiancée having a bad relationship. If their relationship were bad, could he have taken such an affectionate photo? If their relationship were bad, could he have written such a loving caption? PS: And stop slandering our missus’s looks and taste. Open your eyes wide—in this photo, our missus is stunning from every angle, absolutely top-tier, okay!]
Over on her side, Meng Wantian had been anxiously refreshing the campus wall interface.
A few minutes ago, the anonymous post she had put up was still there—she had no idea how it suddenly disappeared.
She thought it might be a program glitch and was hesitating over whether to repost another comment when the wall updated with the latest post.
After reading it, she shot up from her bed in shock.
One of her roommates was folding clothes just brought in from the balcony. Seeing her expression off, she asked with concern what was wrong.
Meng Wantian forced a smile and said, “Nothing, I just saw a scary post online and haven’t quite recovered.”
“There are a lot of those creepy posts online these days. They all sound so real.”
“Yeah…”
Suddenly, another roommate from the bunk diagonally across from her let out a surprised yelp.
“Holy crap! What kind of ultimate sweet story is this! I was bored and scrolling through our school’s wall when I saw someone trash-talking Professor Jiang from the Forensic Medicine department and his fiancée. I was just skimming it for fun at first, but then that anonymous post got taken down within minutes. And a little while later, students from their department came to show off their love for him! But looking at the photo posted here, she’s nothing like what that earlier anonymous post described—she’s actually really pretty and cute! Weren’t you guys saying earlier that some girls from next door who went to work at some villa ran into Professor Jiang and his fiancée too? What did they say?”
The roommate folding clothes below replied casually, as if she didn’t care much about the topic and was just gossiping.
“So at lunch, me and Tian Tian were eating with those girls from next door, and they started talking about Xiao Rui’s part-time job. We were just curious if there was any rich-people gossip, and Xiao Rui said she ran into Professor Jiang at that villa and saw his fiancée too.”
“So what did Xiao Rui say? I saw that earlier anonymous post saying Professor Jiang’s fiancée was vulgar and unbearable, and a total drama queen—she made him pick out red beans for her or something? Is that true?”
“The red bean thing is true—Xiao Rui said she personally heard the girl say that, and she looked like she’d throw a tantrum if Professor Jiang didn’t comply. But as for vulgar and unbearable… she didn’t mention that. Her exact words were that the missus was very, very pretty, but just too high-maintenance.”
“Huh? So that post was a mix of truth and lies?”
“Who knows. It’s none of our business anyway. Don’t overthink it.”
Meng Wantian listened to her roommates’ conversation, clutching her phone as she looked again at the Moments screenshot on the wall.
Actually, the earlier anonymous post was hers.
After lunch with the classmates from next door, she had heard about how Jiang Hezhou’s fiancée had made a scene at the villa. She was both angry and heartbroken at the time, and after stewing over it, she secretly posted an anonymous thread on the school wall.
But she had embellished that post. The classmate from next door had only talked about how demanding and spoiled the woman was—she never criticized her appearance or behavior.
All the extra descriptions were things Meng Wantian had written based on what she had heard about the woman in her previous life.
But what was going on now? Why was her post taken down and replaced by something that seemed like a defense post?
Based on what Meng Wantian knew about Jiang Hezhou from her previous life, there was no way he would have voluntarily posted something like this. It was most likely that woman forcing him to.
But even so, Meng Wantian was still furious.
Those people had no idea how that woman was tormenting Jiang Hezhou—they saw one Moments post and assumed they were a loving couple? And complimenting her looks… it was just one photo. For all they knew, she had spent hours on her styling and painstakingly posed for that shot.
What did that prove?
Meng Wantian felt like she was about to explode. She desperately wanted to rush over to Jiang Hezhou right now and take him away.
That woman didn’t deserve him—she really didn’t!
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