[…it means he likes you to the extreme!]
All those strange feelings from before, and the reason things had developed in such a bizarre direction—now finally had an answer.
Chu Luyu finally understood why she had always felt such a strong sense of dissonance from the male lead. Clearly, every move he made, every moment he spent with her, had shown intense and obvious affection, yet the so-called “disgust value” hanging above his head had remained stubbornly high.
Every time the system explained it to her, Chu Luyu found it strange, but sometimes she had no choice but to believe it.
After all, in the original plot, the male lead was supposed to be disgusted and annoyed by the female supporting character, with his disgust value climbing higher and higher. So time and again, even if something felt wrong and she had her doubts, after the system said a few words, she would stop overthinking it.
But now!
Chu Luyu: [Cuihua, you’re just a tiny bit unreliable, wuwuwu.]
System Cuihua: [Oh my god, don’t even mention it. I cursed myself the whole way back. This time I really screwed you over.]
Chu Luyu: [It’s okay, it’s okay. The story isn’t over yet—there’s still a chance to fix things!]
But even though she comforted the system with lighthearted words, there was still a heavy weight lodged in her heart.
She had never imagined that after faithfully completing all those inhuman tasks, the end result would be maxing out the male lead’s affection for her.
Perhaps a month ago, hearing this would have made her happy.
Because back then, she still held naive fantasies—believing that if the storyline could change, then maybe the fates of some plot points could also be altered.
But the sudden divorce between her mother and stepfather had been a wake-up call. It turned out that once the plot had set an ending, no matter how much you changed the development along the way, you could never truly alter the final outcome.
Knowing that the ending was unchangeable, and then suddenly discovering that the male lead—who was supposed to love the female lead—had instead maxed out his affection for her, the female supporting character…
What a terrifying, catastrophic bug!
And then thinking back to what the system had said before—that if she didn’t complete tasks or failed them, she would likely face the risk of being killed off by the plot.
That made the current situation even more tense.
Chu Luyu: [Cuihua, have you ever encountered this kind of situation before? Or heard other systems mention it?]
System Cuihua: [I’ve never run into it myself, but I’ve heard another system talk about it once.]
Chu Luyu: [And what happened to that world in the end?]
The system was silent for a very long time before finally replying: [I don’t know how that world ended, but… the host who failed that mission was erased.]
Now it was Chu Luyu’s turn to fall silent.
After a long pause, she spoke again, her voice already tinged with tears: [Am I destined to be killed off by the plot? With the male lead like this now, it’s not likely he’ll suddenly turn around and fall for the female lead anytime soon. But if he doesn’t love the female lead, and the male and female leads can’t be together, then won’t I… won’t I die?]
Chu Luyu did like the male lead. She admitted to herself that she had completely fallen for him. But that fondness, that flutter in her heart, wasn’t yet enough for her to risk her life.
This was a life she had fought so hard to get back—she was supposed to start her new life from here. But now everything was a mess, everything was ruined!
The moment she thought of that, she became utterly devastated. No matter how the system tried to comfort her, she couldn’t hear it anymore. All she could do was cover her face and silently let the tears fall.
Over on Jiang Hezhou’s side, with his lost treasure back in his arms again, he slept very soundly that night.
But perhaps because his emotions had been under forced suppression for so many days, just before dawn, he suddenly had a dream—
In the dream, his little girl had run away behind his back. He led a group of bodyguards and cornered her in a small hotel near the airport.
Every meter downstairs, a guard stood stationed. No one could escape through the front door or the side entrance—he’d even sent men to watch the rooftop.
Later, he got her room number. After knocking unhurriedly, there was no response from inside.
Jiang Hezhou lost patience and ordered his men to break down the door. When the door panel was kicked in, he saw the girl was indeed inside.
She seemed very scared, crying and backing away at the sight of him. Even in the dream, Jiang Hezhou still felt a pang of heartache at her tears, but the moment he thought of her attempt to escape, he hardened his heart.
Jiang Hezhou later took her to a villa, where he had long ago ordered a golden cage to be built. The cage was lined with soft, fine white blankets, and in the corner stood a small table with a vase of fresh flowers.
He held her firmly from behind, her wrists pinned against the small of her back by one of his large hands. With his free hand, he reached around to the front and gripped her chin.
“Baby, do you like this big room? How about we live here from now on?”
As he spoke, he kissed the back of her neck, the shell of her ear. The girl in his arms was trembling with fear, but he pretended not to notice.
His kisses wandered from behind to the front. When he reached her lips this time, he didn’t kiss her forcefully. Instead, he took his time, tracing the line of her lips with the tip of his tongue, circling round and round, before finally slipping inside to entwine with her soft, sweet tongue.
Later, he clung to her, murmuring in an obsessed tone between kisses: “We’ll do everything we love to do here. You’ll climax countless times, just like before. Maybe our baby will be born here too—”
The girl was completely terrified, sobbing and trembling uncontrollably. Watching her reaction, he finally pulled back slightly, narrowed his eyes, and looked down at her.
“Scared?”
She nodded while crying.
“Then will you run again?”
She shook her head: “No… no more running.”
Jiang Hezhou was satisfied. Smiling, he kissed her lips again and praised, “Good girl.”
When he woke up, Jiang Hezhou hadn’t yet fully peeled himself away from the emotions in the dream. The little girl in his arms was sleeping soundly, though her eyelids were a bit swollen, as if she had been crying.
For a moment, he was dazed, thinking of her in the dream—the one who had been caught after trying to run, crying in a shattered, pitiful mess.
Had the girl in his arms cried because he had brought her back and she couldn’t leave?
But even if that was the case, he wouldn’t let go. In this lifetime, he would never let her leave him. If they lived, they would live together; if they died, they would die together.
Thinking of this, Jiang Hezhou’s dark eyes grew deeper.
The girl was curled up in his arms, her small face pale and fair, her lashes resting against the edges of her eyelids like two trembling butterfly wings.
He couldn’t help but lower his head and slowly kiss her lips.
At first, he only kissed her lightly. The girl, disturbed in her sleep, whimpered uncomfortably, and he coaxed her softly, telling her to be good. But as the kiss deepened, he found it harder to restrain himself. That intense, maddening desire to possess more of her only grew with every moment of intimacy.
So he kissed her deeper with each passing second, held her tighter with every moment.
At first, Chu Luyu could still drift in and out of sleep, but as the suffocating pressure on her body increased and breathing became harder, she finally opened her eyes in discomfort.
Before her was Jiang Hezhou’s face, magnified several times—strikingly handsome, his eyes lightly closed, his lashes thick and dark. Perhaps sensing she had woken, he slowly lifted his eyelids.
Their eyes met, but his movements didn’t stop. If anything, they grew more unrestrained. She felt scorched by the overwhelming heat radiating from him, her body growing weaker. When she reached out to push him away, her small hands had no strength at all.
Fortunately, seeing her so pitiful, he finally let her go.
But before Chu Luyu could even catch her breath, she heard his voice from above: “Take your time, then get up. After breakfast, we’re going to the civil affairs bureau.”
Chu Luyu snapped fully awake in an instant. The system, which had been hovering in suspense, was equally shocked.
System Cuihua: [Oh my god, babe! The male lead is taking you to the civil affairs bureau—he’s going to get you to register the marriage! Holy crap, you can’t agree to this!]
Chu Luyu: […Do you think I don’t know I can’t agree? But the real question is, is this something I even have a say in right now?]
Seeing the man beside her already throwing off the covers and preparing to get out of bed, Chu Luyu panicked and grabbed his arm.
His forearm looked fair and slender, but when she touched it, the muscle beneath her palm was surprisingly solid.
Her hand was small—even gripping as tightly as she could, she could only encircle half of his forearm. Her hand instinctively slid down until she reached his wrist.
“Jiang Hezhou, let’s talk.”
The man turned back and happened to catch the sight of the girl propping herself up on one elbow, clutching the blanket around her. Her lips still bore the marks of his kisses, looking exquisitely rosy.
Jiang Hezhou felt like he must be sick. Why else would he, every time he saw her, be unable to resist the urge to get close to her? He felt like those lips of hers should forever be held between his own, and those beautiful almond-shaped eyes of hers should reflect only him.
At this moment, he was almost certain what she wanted to say to him.
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