It was only then that Meng Wantian realized the “true love” she thought she had found was actually just someone who saw Jiang Hezhou as his mortal enemy. His passionate pursuit of her had been nothing more than an absurd game of conquest.
By the time Meng Wantian woke from that dream, it was already too late.
So now, having returned in this life, no one knew how grateful and how much she cherished this second chance.
Since heaven had given her an opportunity to start over, she would treasure Jiang Hezhou properly in this life and make up for the regrets she’d left behind in her previous one.
As for the fiancée her roommate had mentioned earlier…
Although Meng Wantian had never met that girl in her previous life, from what others had described, it wasn’t hard to tell that she was selfish, vain, flashy, and mercenary.
Such a person was completely unworthy of Jiang Hezhou, and naturally wouldn’t last with him. Their ending would surely be the same as in the previous life.
So in her view, what she had said earlier wasn’t wrong at all.
·
In the end, Jiang Hezhou selected four pieces of lingerie that fit within his aesthetic preferences for Chu Luyu.
They were all light-colored styles with low saturation.
Two had a simple, clean cut—his usual aesthetic style. The other two were ones he thought would suit her better—softer, sweeter, and more adorable.
Chu Luyu sneaked a peek while he was paying.
Not bad—if the fabric quality was decent, she would probably actually wear these four pieces.
The task was finally done. On the way back, Chu Luyu pretended to sleep the entire ride, playing dead.
Once they got home, she didn’t bother checking Jiang Hezhou’s reaction. She kicked off her shoes, took off her jacket, and ducked straight into her room, planning to stay there until dinner.
Toward evening, Chen Mian called, asking why she wasn’t home yet.
Only then did Chu Luyu remember that she hadn’t told her family she had come back with the male lead.
When Chen Mian heard on the other end that she was already back at the apartment with Jiang Hezhou, he kept calling her a hopeless love-brain—said she’d forgotten all about her brother now that she had a man, that she’d promised to play a five-man match with his friends tonight, and then turned around and stood them up.
Chu Luyu thought to herself that even if she didn’t go back, it wouldn’t stop her from playing games with him. So she soothed him a bit and made plans to meet in the game at nine.
At dinner time, Jiang Hezhou knocked on Chu Luyu’s door.
“Had enough rest? If so, get ready—we’re going out to eat.”
Chu Luyu had been lying in bed bored. Hearing his voice, she slipped on her slippers and padded over to open the door.
“Why are we going out? Don’t you feel like cooking tonight?”
Jiang Hezhou stood there and paused visibly, as if caught off guard by the question. After a couple of seconds, he finally responded.
“The city bureau’s cafeteria is serving crispy meatballs and sweet and sour pork ribs tonight. The chef there makes those two dishes really well—I thought I’d take you to try them.” He added casually, as if it were an afterthought, “And I need to drop off a document for a colleague at the bureau, anyway.”
In truth, the second thing was really optional.
That document wasn’t particularly urgent, nor did it need to be hand-delivered by him. He’d just come up with a more plausible excuse to cover up the fact that he wanted to bring Chu Luyu to the city bureau.
After they’d returned this afternoon, for some reason, the image of Chu Luyu saying she was jealous kept replaying in his mind.
At the time, he’d only thought she was being adorably sweet and silly. But after settling down and reflecting on it, he belatedly realized—if she could get jealous over two strangers, could it also be a sign that she felt insecure?
This was Jiang Hezhou’s first time interacting with the opposite sex, and his first relationship. He was a complete novice on this path—green, uncertain, still figuring everything out.
So he looked up online how to increase a sense of security between engaged couples. A few of the answers and suggestions he found seemed useful.
【Keep each other updated on your whereabouts at all times. Introduce your partner to your social circles and close personal networks. Create surprises and romance regularly, so they feel your care and affection.】
Jiang Hezhou took that advice to heart. After thinking it over for a long time, he came up with the idea of taking Chu Luyu to the city bureau cafeteria.
The cafeteria wasn’t normally open to the public, but bureau employees could apply half a day in advance to bring family members in.
Chu Luyu was stunned.
Chu Luyu: 【Cuihua, what’s going on? Why is the male lead suddenly bringing me to his workplace? Was this in the original plot?】
System Cuihua: 【No, but later on when they went out, they did run into some of his police colleagues, and the original owner did something ridiculous that embarrassed him, which left a terrible impression of her on them.】
Chu Luyu: 【So what’s happening now? Why did he suddenly say he’s taking me to his workplace cafeteria?】
System Cuihua: 【Isn’t it obvious? The male lead didn’t feel like cooking tonight, and by coincidence, he had to deliver a document to a colleague, so he figured he’d drag you along to the cafeteria.】
Chu Luyu muttered to herself: Is that really it…
On the way to the city bureau, Jiang Hezhou’s phone kept buzzing with message notifications.
He guessed it was colleagues from the bureau who had heard he was bringing his fiancée to the cafeteria and were all asking about it. He didn’t think much of it and hadn’t replied.
Chu Luyu, sitting in the passenger seat, couldn’t help but remind him: “Why don’t you pull over for a second and see who’s messaging you? What if something important came up?”
Jiang Hezhou was about to say it was fine—if there were an emergency, the person would call instead of texting.
But the words caught in his throat.
He remembered the questions he’d looked up online about building a sense of security. After a moment’s thought, he replied: “You can check for me. The passcode is triple zero, one-two-three.”
He spoke in a calm, composed manner, both hands on the steering wheel, eyes fixed ahead.
Chu Luyu hesitated, pressing her soft pink lips together. “That’s not really appropriate, is it…”
Besides, how could the male lead be so quick to give her his phone passcode? Wasn’t he afraid that she, as the troublesome, vicious fiancée, might check up on him and pick a fight for no reason?
Thinking of that, she voiced her doubt directly: “And you’re just giving me your passcode like that? Aren’t you afraid I’ll check up on you?”
Her voice was soft, carrying her usual unconscious, spoiled sweetness.
Hearing her question, Jiang Hezhou paused briefly before replying: “About checking up on me… although I can say with certainty that I won’t have any messy relationships with other women, if you want to, you’re welcome to check anytime. I won’t change the passcode.”
In truth, the passcode he’d given her was intentional. He knew there was a popular idea online about being completely transparent with your partner about all communication devices—sharing your phone passcode so they could check in anytime, which was also a way to provide them with a sense of security.
Back when he first heard about this, he’d thought it was a boring waste of time. He didn’t understand why someone would need to gain security by constantly monitoring another person’s privacy and social connections.
Shouldn’t a sense of security be built on mutual understanding and trust in each other’s character?
But since most people said this method could increase a partner’s sense of security, he could try adjusting his own perspective and habits for Chu Luyu’s sake.
After all, they were going to spend their lives together.
Chu Luyu was initially surprised to hear his words.
But on second thought, all that remained was admiration.
Chu Luyu: 【Cuihua, even though I’ve said this a million times, I still have to say it—the male lead is such a good person. At this point, to him, I’m nothing more than a nominal fiancée who keeps annoying him. He clearly has no feelings for me, yet he still has such a strong sense of responsibility. Normally, no one likes being checked up on—everyone wants a bit of privacy. But he must have offered to do this out of a sense of duty toward our relationship.】
System Cuihua: 【Of course. If he wasn’t a decent person, would the scriptwriter have made him the male lead? But under these circumstances, you can actually take advantage of this. He already said you can check up on him, so just act according to the original owner’s personality and warn him a bit. Maybe you can earn some disgust points and make him dislike you even more!】
Chu Luyu thought the system had a point. She took a moment to psyche herself up, then turned to Jiang Hezhou with a fierce look.
“Since you said I can check up on you, I won’t hold back! And I’m warning you—I’m really good at catching mistresses! If I ever find any shady opposite-sex contact on your phone, I’ll make a huge scene and make sure the whole world condemns you as a scumbag!”
It was clearly an unreasonable and baseless claim, yet when she spoke, her eyes were wide and round, putting on a tough, angry act.
She looked like those adorable little animals that try to bare their teeth to scare others, but have no real attack power—soft and fluffy all over.
Just then, the traffic light turned red. Jiang Hezhou took in all her expressions, his eyes softening as he looked down. In a warm, steady voice, he simply replied: “Okay, I’ll remember that.”
·
When they arrived at the city bureau, Jiang Hezhou first took Chu Luyu to the security office to register and collect a temporary pass.
Security here was very strict. Once inside the main compound, Jiang Hezhou led her straight to the cafeteria, their figures fully visible under the surveillance cameras the entire time.
The cafeteria was on the third floor of the logistics building in the back. They took the stairs. By the time they reached the top, Chu Luyu was slightly out of breath, but Jiang Hezhou seemed completely unaffected—his breathing hadn’t changed at all.
Several people were already waiting at the cafeteria entrance—men and women alike, all in dark blue police uniforms, standing tall and sharp.
When they saw Jiang Hezhou leading Chu Luyu over, their eyes lit up and they crowded around.
“We sent you so many messages, and you didn’t reply to a single one!”
The first to speak was a female officer around forty. Her long hair was tied in a low ponytail at the back, her skin a healthy wheat tone, her features straight and heroic, with an air of righteousness between her brows.
She looked at Chu Luyu with a friendly smile. “So this is the sister-in-law? You’ve kept her hidden all this time—finally decided to bring her around for us to meet?”
Her tone was teasing but not off-putting. Jiang Hezhou responded with a warm, steady smile, his expression showing the closeness and ease of someone among old friends.
After speaking, the officer formally extended her hand toward Chu Luyu and introduced herself: “Hello, sister-in-law. I’m Yao Meng, deputy captain of the First Criminal Investigation Team at the city bureau. You can call me Sister Yao.”
Chu Luyu had always held a natural reverence for all law enforcement personnel in her real life. Now, facing such a warm and proactive greeting, she felt flattered and quickly reached out to shake hands in return.
“Hello, hello. My name is Chu Luyu. I’m… Jiang Hezhou’s fiancée.”
“We all know that. Xiao Jiang told us this afternoon that he was bringing his fiancée to the cafeteria for dinner. Everyone on the team who isn’t out on a case came over to put a face to the name.”
As Yao Meng’s words trailed off, a chorus of greetings rang out from behind her—
“Sister-in-law, I’m Xu Zhuang. Just call me Big Brother Zhuang.”
“Sister-in-law, I’m Wu Qifan. You can call me Brother Wu.”
“Sister-in-law…”
Chu Luyu exchanged greetings with seven or eight people in total. She was so dizzy from saying “hello” over and over that, aside from Yao Meng and Xu Zhuang, she couldn’t quite remember who was who or what their names were.
After the initial flurry of warmth and enthusiasm, everyone ushered the two of them into the cafeteria.
The cafeteria operated on a counter-service model—you had to grab a tray and line up at each station to get your food.
Jiang Hezhou leaned in and quietly instructed Chu Luyu: “Go wait over there with Sister Yao. I’ll line up with the others.”
Chu Luyu obediently nodded.
After Jiang Hezhou left, Chu Luyu followed Yao Meng to an empty long table nearby. People sat all around, and most of them seemed curious about her—everyone gave her a couple of glances as she passed by.
“Xiao Jiang has always been pretty well-known at the bureau. Today, when word got out that he was bringing his fiancée to dinner, there were way more people than usual eating here tonight.”
Chu Luyu wasn’t used to being the center of so much attention. Hearing Yao Meng say that, she felt a bit shy and gave a modest, demure smile. “Really?”
Yao Meng had been a criminal investigator for many years and was highly observant. She could usually gauge a person’s general character and temperament from subtle expressions and eye movements.
Now, looking at Chu Luyu, she only saw a girl who was both beautiful and innocent, with a kind face—a rare and genuinely good kid.
She felt happy for Jiang Hezhou. After all, he’d been single all these years, without anyone to share his warmth or his cold. Now that he had a little fiancée, when he came home from the autopsy room, there would finally be someone waiting for him with a light on.
Over at the counter, Jiang Hezhou and the others had already picked up their trays and were waiting in line.
His figure stood tall and straight like bamboo, lean and striking among the crowd of officers—noticeably exceptional. Compared to the others, he also carried a scholarly, intellectual air from his teaching work. The clash between his cool, resolute toughness and his gentle, refined composure somehow created an unexpectedly harmonious effect, making his silhouette all the more unforgettable.
Yao Meng, observing the direction of Chu Luyu’s gaze, smiled and looked over as well.
“Xiao Jiang is handsome, isn’t he?” Her tone was full of undisguised admiration. “When he first came to the bureau, a lot of the team members took one look at his pretty face and questioned his professional abilities. But after just two cases, he made everyone shut up.”
Chu Luyu recalled hearing about this in the original plot—mentioned by some side character.
Someone discussing the male lead’s career path had talked about how his looks were initially doubted when he first joined the police, but after handling two cases, he completely reversed everyone’s perception of him.
In the past, Chu Luyu might have thought these were just details the writer casually threw in to flesh out the character. But now, having spent a month with the male lead, having seen him stay awake for dozens of hours at a crime scene and watched him work in his study until nearly midnight every night, she felt genuinely convinced.
So when she heard others praising him, she couldn’t help but chime in: “He really is highly capable, and he works harder and more conscientiously than anyone else. Someone like that deserves every success he achieves.”
Yao Meng was pleased with what Chu Luyu said and replied, “Xiao Jiang is pretty lucky to have found a fiancée like you. When you two get married, I’ll definitely give you a big red envelope!”
Chu Luyu knew it was impossible that she and the male lead would ever actually get married, but she couldn’t help being moved by the kindness of others.
Chu Luyu: 【Cuihua, this sister is so nice—she said she’s going to give us a big red envelope!】
System Cuihua: 【And here you are thinking about red envelopes. Have you forgotten your current persona—the vicious, troublesome fiancée? Last time with the male lead’s students, there was a system task so you didn’t have to improvise. But this is a completely plot-detached side quest. Your original character setting is supposed to make the male lead and everyone around him despise you! Yet here you are farming favorability!】
Chu Luyu had completely forgotten about that and quickly said: 【Oh right, how did I forget?! So what do I do now?】
System Cuihua: 【Start causing trouble! When it’s time to eat, make a scene! Make trouble for the male lead! Make him annoyed, and make his police colleagues dislike you too!】
Chu Luyu hesitated: 【But there are so many of his close colleagues here today. If I go too far, it’ll be way too embarrassing for him…】
System Cuihua: 【That’s exactly the point—you need to trample his pride and humiliate him! This is a perfect chance to farm disgust points!】
Chu Luyu was torn.
Part of her felt it wasn’t right to do that to the male lead. But another part agreed with the system—today really was a great opportunity.
After all, she now knew they didn’t have to wait the full half year to separate. If the male lead became so disgusted with her that he couldn’t stand it anymore, wouldn’t they be able to end the engagement early?
With that thought, Chu Luyu steeled her resolve!
Time to cause trouble!
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