Everything in the electronic dreamscape was almost perfectly recreated by the system in a one-to-one ratio with the plot world. What it had said earlier about this being akin to a parallel space was absolutely true.
The only difference was that the system couldn’t follow them into the dreamscape. So, strictly speaking, this was the first time Chu Luyu and the male lead were alone together since she’d transmigrated into this world.
The room was filled with bright, warm sunlight, radiating coziness. Chu Luyu propped herself up and sat there blankly for a couple of seconds. Jiang Hezhou looked at her, unable to resist leaning in to kiss her lips.
“What are you thinking about? Why the daze?”
When he spoke, his eyes were full of undisguised affection and love. He adored his girl so much. Every time he saw her, he could feel the overflowing love in his chest. He also loved being close to her. Before meeting her, he never imagined he could have such a strong physical desire for another person. He wanted their skin to touch at all times, their breaths to mingle, their bodies to share warmth constantly—only then would it feel like they truly, permanently belonged to each other.
With that thought, he couldn’t help but peck her cheek again, his thin lips gradually moving down until they reached the side of her neck. There, he couldn’t resist gently biting her soft skin.
Normally at times like this, the girl would shyly squirm away, ticklish and embarrassed. But today, something about her seemed different. It was as if she’d broken through some barrier—when she looked at him, the intense emotion and love in her eyes were no longer held back. Her apricot eyes carried a warm, rich tenderness.
“Jiang Hezhou, I really like you.”
As she spoke, she pushed herself up from under the covers and straddled him in two quick moves. The man instinctively reached out to support her lower back to keep her from slipping, but the girl seemed completely unafraid and unbothered. Once she was steady, she eagerly threw her arms around his neck and, like a little animal, urgently and affectionately pressed her lips to his.
Jiang Hezhou had never seen her this passionate before, and for a moment, he was stunned.
Chu Luyu didn’t seem to care whether he responded. She was pouring out all the pent-up enthusiasm she’d held back for so long. Her kisses were unskilled and messy, but chaotically endearing. Her small, soft tongue kept pushing insistently through the gaps between his lips. As she moved, her little hands couldn’t stop pressing against the back of his neck, trying to pull him even closer.
Jiang Hezhou relished her intense desire for closeness at this moment. Pushed to his limit by her, he couldn’t help but let out a low, husky groan from his throat—the kind of sound that made one weak in the knees.
“Baby, if you keep this up, you’re in danger today.” His voice was laced with a sexy, almost-uncontrollable roughness. Still being kissed by her, he took her small hand and guided it downward. “Feel that? It’s already going crazy for you.”
“Then so be it—I’m not afraid today.”
Chu Luyu had no intention of backing off. Before, bound by character roles and the plot, she’d never dared to initiate intimacy with the male lead outside of system tasks, always afraid that if she “tainted” him, she wouldn’t be able to face the female lead who was supposed to come later.
But now, in this dreamscape, she had none of those concerns. She was practically impatient—because truly becoming one with the one you love had to be something wonderful, something that made the soul tremble.
But Jiang Hezhou didn’t give her the chance to continue.
He timely caught her mischievous hands, though there was still a deep, unquenched desire in his eyes. He wouldn’t let her go further.
“No. We don’t have anything prepared at home. And I want our real first time to be after we’ve registered or after the wedding.” He kissed her neck with adoration and murmured softly, “Baby, can you hold on a little longer?”
Chu Luyu bit her lip, still trying to tempt him.
“But brother, I’m already wet.” She took his hand, trying to make him feel for himself. “Really, I’m not lying.”
Jiang Hezhou felt like this little tormentor was going to drive him crazy this early in the morning. He had no idea what had gotten into her today—why she was being so bold all of a sudden.
In the end, he stuck to his principles. Half an hour later, he held her in his arms against the headboard and wiped the glistening moisture from his lips with a tissue.
The girl in his arms had melted into a puddle, but her mouth still wouldn’t behave: “Jiang Hezhou, you’re not a real man.”
He wasn’t the least bit upset. Smiling, he lowered his head and kissed her cheek.
“I’m very confident in my physiological abilities and physical condition. So baby, that kind of provocation doesn’t work on me.”
Chu Luyu looked at him with resentful eyes. “Why do you have to be so rigid? Saving the first time for the wedding night—even if you wrote that in a novel today, everyone would call it cliché.”
Jiang Hezhou paused, his gaze dropping. “It’s not just that. We also don’t have the necessary supplies at home.”
“You mean condoms?” Chu Luyu said. “We can have them delivered.”
“That’s not all. There’s also the morning-after pill, nutritional supplements, and strong anti-inflammatory ointment… Those things need to be carefully selected—can’t just buy any random brand.”
Chu Luyu knew exactly what the anti-inflammatory ointment was for… Just thinking about it made her cheeks flush as she looked up. “Forget the last one—what about the first two? Why do we need calming pills and nutritional supplements?”
“Because I can be absolutely certain that at that moment, I will completely lose all self-control. I don’t know if the calming pills will help, but having some on hand is better than having none. As for the nutritional supplements—” He lowered his head, his thin lips brushing against the shell of her ear, sending electric tingles cascading through her entire body. “Baby, do you really think I’ll give you the time or opportunity to eat three square meals at a time like that?”
He had already rehearsed that day in his mind countless times.
In his vision, the curtains in the room would be drawn tightly shut. Maybe they’d leave a single dim lamp on. The sheets would be soaked, one after another. The floor would be littered with rubber wrappers and used tissues. She would beg him again and again, but he still wouldn’t let her go. A full day and night, then another night and day—by the time he was finally satisfied, perhaps several days would have passed.
Chu Luyu had never expected him to say something like that. She was completely stunned into silence.
Jiang Hezhou smiled, lowered his head to rest his forehead against hers, and said softly, “Baby, say what you said before again.”
“What did I say?” Chu Luyu asked.
“You said you really like me.”
Chu Luyu curved her lips into a smile, her apricot eyes crinkling into happy crescents like two beautiful little moons. “Jiang Hezhou, I really, really like you.”
The smile on Jiang Hezhou’s lips deepened. “How much?”
Without even thinking, Chu Luyu replied immediately: “So, so much. Out of everyone in the world, I like you the most.”
Completely satisfied, Jiang Hezhou held her close and lingered affectionately for a long time before picking her up and carrying her to the bathroom to wash up.
Chu Luyu was back in her “figurine” state—being taken care of in every way by him. He set her on the edge of the sink, her slender, fair legs swinging in the air, while he skillfully tied her hair into a ponytail.
He hadn’t been good at this at first—he’d never handled a woman’s long hair before, let alone learned how to tie it. But not long after being with Chu Luyu, he’d carefully observed how she usually managed her black tresses. Over time, after a few attempts, he gradually got the hang of it.
After helping the girl freshen up, Jiang Hezhou quickly tidied himself, then led her to the kitchen.
They had originally planned to spend the New Year at Chu Luyu’s family home, so the fridge was empty of fresh ingredients. Jiang Hezhou opened the refrigerator, took a look, and turned back to ask: “How about a simple breakfast for now? At noon, we can either go out shopping or have a restaurant deliver.”
“Sure!” Chu Luyu wasn’t picky. But as soon as she said that, she thought of something and quickly walked over. “I’ll make breakfast today! Fried eggs, sausages, toast—I can definitely handle that!”
Though she sounded confident, once she actually started cooking, almost everything went wrong.
Every egg and sausage came out charred black on one side. She’d also set the toaster to the wrong temperature, leaving the toast rock-hard. Chu Luyu looked despondently at her “masterpieces” scattered across the table and let out a deep, helpless sigh.
“Jiang Hezhou, what do I do? I think I wasted all the ingredients.”
Jiang Hezhou ruffled her hair without addressing her question. “You go wait over there for a bit. Let me make your breakfast first.”
He later brought out a beautifully plated Western-style breakfast—a perfectly cooked sunny-side-up egg, just the way she liked it, with a slightly runny yolk; sausages pan-fried to a light crisp, their savory aroma fully released, giving them a great texture; and toast brushed with butter and honey, carefully fried in a pan instead of thrown into the toaster.
Compared to what he presented, what Chu Luyu had made was practically a culinary disaster.
She glanced at the plate, puzzled. “Why is it all single portions? Where’s yours?”
Jiang Hezhou picked up the plate of blackened, charred food from the table and smiled. “I’ll eat this.”
Alarmed, Chu Luyu’s eyes went wide, and she stood up to stop him.
“No way! Those are all burnt and scorched—they’re not healthy! Don’t eat that!”
“It’s just once—it won’t do any real harm.”
Jiang Hezhou dodged her attempt to intervene, moved the plate aside, and sat down. But it seemed he’d been a bit overly optimistic. The moment he put that first bite into his mouth, Chu Luyu could clearly see the look of forced tolerance on his face.
“I told you not to eat it—it must taste awful, right? All blackened like that, it’s probably bitter.”
“Yeah, it’s not great. But it doesn’t matter—the taste can’t ruin my mood.” Jiang Hezhou smiled again, his eyes full of genuine tenderness. “Because this is the first time you’ve made something for me. No matter what it looks like, I’m happy eating it right now.”
Hearing that, Chu Luyu couldn’t bring herself to stop him anymore. She stared at him for a long moment, then leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.
After the meal, Chu Luyu asked Jiang Hezhou if there was anything he wanted to do together with her.
The man’s gaze suddenly turned meaningful. “Anything at all?”
She understood almost instantly and shot back fiercely: “Anything in the ‘mutual assistance’ category is off the table!”
He laughed, lifted her fingers to his lips for a kiss, thought for a moment, and said, “Then draw another picture of me—like the time you did at the Chen family’s place.”
Jiang Hezhou had always been fascinated by the way his girl looked at him with such focused attention. In that moment, it was as if he was the only person in the entire world who could fall into her line of sight—she only looked at him, only thought of him, with no room in her heart or eyes for anyone or anything else.
If he could have it his way, Jiang Hezhou would want her to see only him.
Since the request was so simple, of course Chu Luyu agreed.
There was some drawing paper at home that she’d brought back from her interest class, but the sheets were too large to fit on the easel. Without much thought, Chu Luyu picked up a craft knife to cut a piece to size. But as she moved, the blade accidentally nicked her finger—and in an instant, a large bead of blood welled up on her pale, delicate fingertip.
Jiang Hezhou had been watching her the whole time, so naturally he noticed the injury right away.
He strode over quickly, took one look at her finger without a word, told her not to move, and hurried off to find the first-aid kit.
He cleaned, applied medicine, and bandaged the wound. The entire time, his face remained tense, his expression cold with concern.
“No more drawing.”
“It’s fine—it’s only my left hand. It won’t affect my grip on the pen.”
“That’s still not okay.” Jiang Hezhou stood firm, his gaze fixed on her. “There’s no rush for the drawing. We can wait until your hand is completely healed. For the next few days, you’re not to do anything, and you can’t get it wet either. I took a closer look when I cleaned it—the cut is quite deep.”
Chu Luyu felt a little helpless. Seeing how insistent he was, she could only reply with a soft “Fine.”
Later, Jiang Hezhou truly made sure she stayed in a state of “doing nothing.” He fed her bite by bite, replied to all her messages for her, and even took care of her bath before bed. All she had to do was keep her injured hand raised high—everything else was taken care of.
After cleaning her up, Jiang Hezhou wrapped the girl in a towel and carried her back to bed. He’d planned to change her bandages after he’d washed up himself. But when he came out of the bathroom, he found she’d already fallen asleep.
He watched her helplessly for a moment, set down the towel he’d been using to dry his hair, and quietly went to retrieve the first-aid kit from outside.
The girl seemed to be sleeping soundly—she didn’t stir even when he gently lifted her arm. Carefully, Jiang Hezhou began to unwrap the bandage on her finger. But the next second, whatever he saw made his movements freeze.
He remained still for about ten seconds, showing no major reaction. Then, finally, he took out medicine and fresh gauze from the kit and re-bandaged the wound.
Throughout the entire process, Chu Luyu was fully aware of everything. She wasn’t asleep at all—she’d been pretending precisely because she was afraid that once Jiang Hezhou came out, he’d want to keep her up for a while. She needed to write the first page of the plot revision manual tonight, and if he stayed awake, she wouldn’t have a chance to put pen to paper.
Thankfully, Jiang Hezhou seemed to cooperate. After tending to her injury, he turned off the light, wrapped his arms around her from behind, and went to sleep.
Chu Luyu waited about ten or twenty minutes until the breathing behind her became completely even and steady, signaling he was deeply asleep. Then, carefully, she pushed his arm aside and tiptoed out of bed.
To avoid making any noise, she didn’t even dare put on slippers. Barefoot, step by step, she made her way out of the bedroom and into the living room.
Once outside, she felt much more at ease.
Still, she was careful not to make any loud sounds. After retrieving the hidden plot revision manual from the cabinet, she sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the coffee table with the booklet in hand.
There were only seven standard pages inside, each formatted like a proper script.
Scene, characters, time—every section had labels, and the rest were blank pages for her to fill in.
Now that the moment had truly come, the good mood she’d maintained all day suddenly grew heavy. Though she couldn’t see or feel it directly, she knew with certainty that once the first stroke fell today, “she” and “Jiang Hezhou” in the plot world would begin to change immediately.
“He” would follow the original storyline, gradually growing to dislike “her” because of the plot she was writing. “He” would slowly become disgusted, repulsed, and ultimately unable to bear it—breaking off the engagement.
Chu Luyu took a deep breath. It was nearly midnight—less than an hour left before the day ended. She had no more time to waste on processing her emotions. With that resolve, she finally made up her mind, picked up the fountain pen beside her, and gripped it tight—
[Upon first arriving at the male lead’s home, the female supporting character is overly picky about everything. The male lead does his best to accommodate and tolerate her, but she still doesn’t know when to be content. Later, during a one-sided confrontation, she accidentally spills cola all over the male lead’s autopsy report. This triggers their first major argument, and the male lead’s opinion of her drops significantly.]
Since there were only seven pages in the manual, Chu Luyu couldn’t detail every single scene or interaction. She could only sketch out the general state of their relationship and write down the key turning points.
She followed the same pattern every night after that.
During the day, she stayed glued to Jiang Hezhou’s side, and he didn’t question why she was suddenly so clingy. At night, after he fell asleep, she would quietly slip out and continue writing the revised plot for that day.
Page two: [The female supporting character unreasonably demands intimacy with the male lead. Feeling the pace is too fast, he refuses. She then comes up with all sorts of excuses to create opportunities. During a trip to a hot spring resort, she strips naked and demands he apply lotion on her body. After he firmly rejects her with harsh words, they part on bad terms.]
Page four: [The female supporting character forcibly moves into the male lead’s dormitory. That night…]
Page five: [The female supporting character feeds the male lead dumplings in the car and insists he watch a “video” with her to “learn” together…]
…
By the end of the sixth day, only one blank page remained in the manual. Chu Luyu stared at the page marked “7,” her heart heavy and dull with a single thought—
One more day, and she would have to say goodbye to Jiang Hezhou forever.
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