The question of what she could do in this world had been nagging at Chu Luyu for almost an entire night.
Actually, even without the whole cold-war situation between her mother and stepfather, Chu Luyu had already been thinking about what she wanted to do with her future here.
Since she was destined to stay and live in this world, once she finished her tasks, she would have her own independent life.
She couldn’t keep leeching off her family like the original owner had, draining her mother without a care. She definitely needed to have a career of her own.
It was just that she hadn’t felt any urgency about it before. But now, because of the situation with her mother and stepfather, she had to come up with a viable plan immediately.
Her original trade was drawing, and coincidentally, the original owner was also in that major, so she was destined to keep working in this field.
In her past life, she had been a webcomic artist, holed up at home all day, her schedule completely flipped.
It sounded like a decent life, but in truth, she had already grown somewhat tired of it.
Back then, she had occasionally thought about going out to find a job, but almost every industry related to art had been hit by AI. Under the wave of mass unemployment, she managed to get by fairly well thanks to her somewhat well-known artist account.
She was afraid that if she actually went out, she wouldn’t make any money, and her readers on the platform would leave because of updates stopping… So after going back and forth, she never had the courage to actually step out.
Now that she had transmigrated to another world, she didn’t have to worry too much about money or making a living. That meant she had a chance to start over.
She thought all night, and by the time dawn was approaching, she finally figured out what she could do.
Chu Luyu: 【Cuihua! I’ve got it! I can open an art interest class! Enroll elementary and middle school students, or adults who have no background in drawing but really want to learn!】
After all, back in her real-world college days, she had ranked first in her major every year, and her fundamentals were rock solid.
With her level of skill, teaching absolute beginners who were interested in art would be more than enough.
The next day, after finishing her meal, Chu Luyu got started on her plan without wasting a second.
She sorted through all the secondhand clothes, bags, and shoes she had packed up, then called a moving van to take everything directly to a luxury secondhand recycling store in the city center.
The appraiser at the store was a cool-looking, somewhat aloof young woman. When she saw Chu Luyu hauling bag after bag of stuff into the store, she looked slightly taken aback.
“You’re… Chu Luyu?”
Chu Luyu hadn’t expected to run into someone who knew the original owner while selling secondhand goods.
She gave an awkward smile after staring at the other woman for a moment. “Sorry, my memory’s not great—I can’t quite place who you are.”
The woman curled her lips, her cool face caught between a smirk and a smile, her gaze carrying a lazy, amused glint.
“Of course you don’t remember me. We’ve never met. I just know of you—one-sidedly.”
Back then, this girl had chased after Qi Mubai with such fiery determination that she’d shown up twice at their social gatherings to corner him. At the time, she’d been dressed like a Christmas tree, so it was hard not to remember her.
But her look this time was completely different from before. If it weren’t for her sharp eye and ability to tell the difference between makeup and bare-faced looks, she might not have recognized her at all.
Chu Luyu could tell the other woman was teasing her a bit, but there didn’t seem to be any ill intent.
Not wanting any unnecessary complications, she simply smiled and said, “I’m here to sell some things. If you have time right now, could you take a look and appraise them for me?”
Seeing that Chu Luyu was genuinely keeping things businesslike, the young woman set aside her idle curiosity, stood up, and began inspecting the authenticity of each bag and piece of clothing one by one.
Chu Luyu had brought so much that the woman spent nearly two hours sorting through everything before finishing the appraisal.
“Yep, they’re all authentic. But since you don’t have receipts or accessories for any of these, the price will be about 5% lower than our normal recycling rate. Is that acceptable?”
Chu Luyu didn’t have much of a frame of reference. She hesitated for a moment and asked, “Could you give me a rough estimate—how much would all of this sell for total?”
The woman added up everything she’d noted down on her paper, item by item, and finally announced a number: “878,000. I’ll round it up for you—880,000.”
Chu Luyu’s eyes lit up. That was close to the million she’d been hoping for—well within an acceptable range!
She nodded eagerly and happily accepted.
While signing the recycling agreement, Chu Luyu stood at the counter, writing her name page after page.
The woman watched from the side, quietly pulled out her phone, and secretly snapped a candid photo of her profile.
【Group Chat】 Xu Fengqing: [Photo]
【Group Chat】 Xu Fengqing: @Chen Zhou Your step-sister is at my shop. Did your dad divorce that auntie of yours? Why is she selling off all her luxury goods?
In the photo, the girl wore not a trace of makeup, yet her complexion remained luminous and fair.
The counter she stood at was close to the entrance, and the daylight streamed in in waves, hitting the other side of her body. From the angle of the shot, she seemed wrapped in a faint but striking halo of light.
Both her arms rested on the counter, her right hand holding a pen, her wrist slender and finely boned. Her long hair was tied up at the crown with a simple black elastic band, the ends cascading down, covering part of her fair, graceful nape.
Her face wasn’t clearly visible, but even just her silhouette was striking enough to leave a lasting impression.
The group was full of childhood friends who had all seen the original Chu Luyu before. Now, seeing this photo, they erupted.
【Group Chat】 A: This is Chen Zhou’s step-sister? No way??? I remember her looking nothing like this!
【Group Chat】 B: She looks as pure as a college student. Feels way too different from the person we’ve seen before. A-Qing, are you sure you got the right person?
Xu Fengqing couldn’t be bothered to entertain these bystanders. After the group had chatted for a while, Qi Mubai suddenly made an unexpected appearance.
【Group Chat】 Qi Mubai: Are you sure that’s Chen Zhou’s sister?
He almost never chatted idly in the group and rarely showed his face.
Now that he had also sent a message, Xu Fengqing raised an eyebrow with amusement.
She didn’t respond directly. Instead, she walked over to the counter and casually took a photo of the recycling agreement that Chu Luyu had signed.
【Chu Luyu】
Three very elegant characters—the strokes firm and steady, yet not lacking in delicacy.
After taking the photo, she tossed it into the group chat.
Qi Mubai didn’t say anything further, but Chen Zhou surfaced shortly after, as if he had just seen the messages.
【Group Chat】 Chen Zhou: I was in a meeting just now.
【Group Chat】 Chen Zhou: Ask her why she’s selling all that stuff. @Xu Fengqing
Xu Fengqing raised her eyebrows again, a little surprised.
She thought for a moment, then casually leaned against the counter and tilted her head to look at Chu Luyu.
“Little sister, why are you suddenly selling so many things? I remember these used to be your favorite styles. Aren’t you sad to let them all go?”
Hearing this, Chu Luyu’s pen paused.
She didn’t know this person beside her, but her words suggested she knew quite a bit about the original owner’s preferences.
Afraid of saying too much and making a mistake, she thought for a moment and gave the safest answer possible.
“My fiancé doesn’t really like the way I used to be. For his sake, I have to change my aesthetic a bit.”
With that, she flashed Xu Fengqing a smile, her almond-shaped eyes curving sweetly with a glossy shimmer—so pretty it was almost dazzling.
After she left, Xu Fengqing relayed her words verbatim into the group chat.
·
Jiang Hezhou had been busy these past few days.
Aside from going to work at the school every day on time, he had also taken on a task from the team to provide professional training for new officers.
Normally, this kind of work wouldn’t require him at all, but this time Jiang Hezhou had volunteered, and the team leaders were happy to have him do it.
He had just gotten off work today and took out his personal belongings, which he had locked in the locker earlier.
His phone showed 99+ new messages. After replying to a few work-related questions from colleagues, he finally clicked into the group chat with his childhood friends, which had the most messages.
While he was away, the group had already chatted a lot. The newest message at the bottom was from Li Yuebai asking, 【I wonder if Hezhou is off work yet.】
Scrolling back a couple more pages, it seemed they had been discussing topics related to him, with quite a few @ mentions in between.
Without a word, Jiang Hezhou scrolled the chat history all the way back to the very first message of the day and found that it had been sent by Zhang Jiting.
Zhang Jiting: 【[Image] @JiangHezhou @JiangHezhou @JiangHezhou】
Zhang Jiting: 【Look at what your little fiancée said.】
Ji Chen: 【Holy crap, this fiancée sister is truly devoted to Jiang Er. She’s even changing her aesthetic preferences for him!】
Li Yuebai: 【She’s kinda cute.】
Fiancée—
Those two words stirred something in Jiang Hezhou’s usually calm emotions.
Not knowing what they were talking about, he paused briefly before immediately tapping on the image at the top.
The picture was a screenshot of a chat log. He didn’t recognize most of the people in it—only Chen Zhou, whom he knew as Chu Luyu’s stepbrother.
【Group Chat】 Xu Fengqing: Your step-sister said her fiancé doesn’t really like her old look, so for his sake, she has to change her aesthetic~ @ChenZhou
There were also two teasing messages in the screenshot, but Jiang Hezhou didn’t look at them closely.
After a moment’s thought, he finally replied in the group chat.
Jiang Hezhou: 【Where did that screenshot come from?】
Zhang Jiting: 【Good heavens, you finally decided to show up?】
Zhang Jiting: 【There’s someone in that group I know. He knows I’m close with you, so he screenshotted it to gossip about you and your little fiancée.】
Jiang Hezhou paused for a moment.
The locker was in the police station corridor, which was silent at this hour. The motion-sensor lights only illuminated the small section around him. In his white coat, his figure was lean and tall, his head slightly bowed, the line of his jaw catching a faint glow from his phone screen.
His profile was truly striking—his jawline sharp as if carved by an artist’s blade.
After a moment, he replied in the group: 【Don’t say too much about us to others.】
Zhang Jiting: 【You think I’m stupid? I don’t even know that guy well—why would I spill anything about you?】
Zhang Jiting: 【But seriously, what’s the deal with you and that girl? Last time I got the impression you just saw her as a marriage prospect and didn’t really care much. But from her side, it seems like she’s already head over heels for you.】
Jiang Hezhou’s eyes darkened, and his expression grew unreadable. He didn’t reply further.
·
After receiving the 880,000 yuan transfer from selling her secondhand items, Chu Luyu immediately started looking for a suitable space to open her interest class.
Using online rental listings, she followed a real estate agent to two storefronts in good locations—close to two elementary and middle schools—but both were too far from where Jiang Hezhou lived.
She still had to keep doing her tasks for the next half year and would need to stay at the male lead’s place. The thought of commuting clear across the city from north to south made her exhausted just imagining it.
After much hesitation, she decided to keep looking.
That day, the agent took Chu Luyu to view another property near an elementary school. When they parted ways, she didn’t go straight home.
Because the school was just two blocks away, there were plenty of small eateries in the area. She hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and was starving by now, so she decided to find a small restaurant nearby and grab something to eat.
Suddenly, without any warning, a task notification sounded in her mind—
【Ding, new task. Wrap your arms around the male lead from behind, act like a couple in the honeymoon phase, and ask him if he’s missed you. Key line: “Big brother, it’s been so many days—have you missed me?”】
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