An Yang’s expression once again fell into blankness.

He had only been with President Ye for half a month, and he had already lost count of how many times that expression had appeared on his face.

An Yang believed that President Ye was a good person—and he really was—but…

This relationship was a bit too messy!

An Yang thought in shock, and didn’t even notice the small commotion coming from other parts of the garden.

Those two over there also seemed to be immersed in their love-hate entanglement and didn’t hear it.

That President Qin was still talking about what happened half a year ago.

“…It’s kind of ridiculous now that I think about it. On Valentine’s Day night, I was even thinking of proposing to you the next morning. In the end, you disappeared. The ring was still there, but the only thing left on my phone was the message you sent saying we should break up.”

The blond man spoke with a playful expression on his face and didn’t shed a single tear.

But for some reason, An Yang felt that this President Qin seemed even more pitiful than those who had actually cried that day.

“…At that time, I didn’t even know whether I had done something wrong or if you just suddenly realized after Valentine’s Day that you didn’t love me anymore. I lay in bed thinking about it for a whole day, and your answer was that it was because I was my brother’s younger brother. And the person you hated most was my brother.”

The blond man gave a self-deprecating laugh as he spoke. He loosened his grip slightly on the person beneath him, but President Ye no longer looked like he intended to run away.

“And when we met again, you had become my sister-in-law. You had married the very person you said you hated the most, and then…”

“You kept refusing to see me.”

The blond man’s voice was steady—no choking, no trembling—but An Yang still heard the sound of a broken heart.

President Ye looked at the blond man in front of him, guilt flashing in his eyes. He said softly: “…I’m sorry. I just felt like we had broken up back then, and now that I’m married, I can’t betray your brother.”

“And what about betraying me?”

The blond man spoke calmly.

His clothes were flamboyant, but the calm look on his face at this moment made it seem like he might shatter in the next second.

That’s what An Yang thought as another small stir sounded again from the little garden.

“I only betrayed our relationship—and besides, you were the one who acquired Ye Group first. We’re even now.”

President Ye spoke, but he turned his head as he said it.

He didn’t dare to look at the blond man.

As if feeling a bit guilty.

“The acquisition of Ye Group back then… I was young and reckless. I wanted to keep you by my side. But I’ve already compensated you, and you’ve already forgiven me. However…”

“If we’re even, why can’t you look at me?”

The blond man seemed to have noticed something. He didn’t force President Ye to look at him, didn’t grab his face. Instead, he leaned down and spoke to him.

The beautiful man still didn’t turn his head, but his hands fidgeted nervously with his cufflinks.

“Wangxing, I was really heartbroken half a year ago.”

The blond man’s tone was plain—he didn’t try to sound pitiful, nor did he seek sympathy.

But even An Yang instinctively felt that President Ye ought to comfort him.

The beautiful man’s body suddenly trembled when he heard that, and in the end, he slowly turned his head to look at the blond man.

He looked at the man’s calm face and opened his mouth, seeming to want to say something, but hesitated.

In the end, the beautiful man pretended to glance at the time on his watch and said: “It’s almost time for the auction. Let’s go in first. We’ll find a time to talk after the banquet.”

As President Ye spoke, he tried to shake off the blond man’s hand, but the other man didn’t let go.

“Alright, let’s talk after the banquet. But are you sure you won’t give me a hug to make up for what you did half a year ago?”

President Ye’s eyes darted around, clearly not daring to look at him.

The blond man opened his arms and said,

“Baby, are you really going to be this heartless?”

President Ye hesitated for a moment but eventually still opened his arms and hugged the man in front of him.

The man slowly embraced him back, as if holding something precious he had lost and regained.

The scene was extremely heartwarming—just like a reunion after a breakup.

—If the blond man hadn’t suddenly turned his head while hugging him and kissed him while grabbing his face.

An Yang: “???”

Others in the garden: “???”

Smack—!

After being kissed for quite a while, the beautiful man finally reacted and slapped him hard.

But the moment he slapped him, he regretted it. Looking at the red cheek on the blond man’s face and his smug smile, President Ye stood frozen, shaking with anger—then hurriedly left for the banquet.

The blond man stayed where he was, licking the side of his cheek where he was hit, with a smile like a cat that had just stole a fish.

After savoring the moment, he casually glanced toward the little garden and then left.

Sheng Hai, who was glanced at: sweating profusely.jpg

Honestly, if Sheng Hai had known what he would witness out of curiosity, he would never have sneaked over to see who his boss was meeting in the garden.

What kind of twisted relationship was this?!

Sheng Hai wailed in his heart and only dared come out of the garden after a long while.

—Only to see Xu Feng and two of his friends awkwardly walking out from the other side of the garden too.

Sheng Hai: “…”So we’re all gossiping, but I’m the only one taking the risk?

Sighing at how gossip truly seemed to be a universal human trait, Sheng Hai sat down and couldn’t help but think about his boss’s relationship with his sister-in-law.

What he now knew was: half a year ago, his boss had experienced a sudden breakup initiated by President Ye. The reason wasn’t what he previously thought—that it was because of the acquisition of Ye Group.

Rather, it seemed that his boss had hidden the fact that he was Chairman Qin’s younger brother while dating President Ye, and when Ye found out, he broke up with him.

President Ye felt guilty about it and believed he had broken his boss’s heart.

As for this idea, Sheng Hai was sure: Yes, his boss was heartbroken, but only 30% of what he showed just now was real emotion. The rest was all acting.

His boss was definitely not the type to wallow in self-pity—you could tell just by the way he still took advantage of President Ye before leaving.

Sheng Hai truly felt his boss deserved the top spot in Qin family’s tabloid gossip. Just look at those tactics—one after another. Unless President Ye had nerves of steel, there was no way he could resist. And besides, his boss was shameless!

Sheng Hai sneaked a glance at his boss sitting next to him. He was grinning cheerfully, with his slapped red cheek still visible.

He didn’t look like someone who got slapped—instead, he looked like someone who just got kissed.

Sheng Hai couldn’t bear to look anymore and turned his head—only to see Chairman Qin in the front row and President Ye next to him, whose face was still flushed with anger.

Chairman Qin, seemingly clueless, appeared to be asking what had just happened. President Ye’s face immediately showed guilt.

Sheng Hai didn’t really pay attention to President Ye’s expression because he subconsciously looked at Chairman Qin’s head—

—And realized that Chairman Qin’s hair was still thick and black, showing no signs of a green hat (i.e., being cheated on).

“You checking if my brother has a green hat on?”

Just as Sheng Hai was studying Chairman Qin, his boss’s voice startled him half to death.

“Relax. My brother won’t care about something like this. And… who knows, maybe he already knew.”

The blond man deliberately dragged out his words, smiling meaningfully as he sat there.

Chairman Qin, sitting in front of him, seemed to notice the slightly red cheek of the blond man and instantly turned dark with rage.

Sheng Hai felt a bit more at ease after hearing that—but still asked nervously,

“Boss, are you sure your brother won’t destroy our whole company or have us dumped into the sea?”

Sheng Hai asked with a trembling voice, and the blond man grinned and replied,

“Of course not. This isn’t overseas. My brother is pretty law-abiding.”

Sheng Hai sighed in relief.

“But… my brother just won three aid project bids in Africa. So it’s very possible… that he’ll send us to Africa for the aid work.”

The breath Sheng Hai had just let out got caught in his throat again.

But seeing his boss’s cheeky grin, he knew he had been played again.

Sighing helplessly, Sheng Hai waited for the auction to begin.

—Though his attention kept drifting toward the front row.

After all, once you got a taste of juicy gossip, it was hard not to focus on the main characters.

And while Sheng Hai was looking, so were others.

Xu Feng’s worldview had been shaken. He had thought that President Qin had moved on, since there had been no news about him lately. Who would’ve thought he’d been saving it all for this banquet!

Liang Qing was also in a daze, his mind filled with the compensation Ye Group had received half a year ago.

It was a massive sum. Not much for the Ye family as real estate tycoons, but to Liang Qing, it was astronomical.

He was now considering something.

He had once mocked Yun Cheng for climbing up through shortcuts, but now… this path seemed kind of worth trying.

But…

Liang Qing looked at his own face, then at President Ye’s pretty profile.

He looked at his own figure, then at President Ye’s slender waist and long legs.

‘Forget it. I’m just not cut out for this business.’

Liang Qing thought.

He knew he didn’t have President Ye’s skills.

But next to Xu Feng, Yun Cheng was burning with ambition.

Although President Qin still seemed deeply attached to President Ye, if Yun Cheng exposed this to Chairman Qin, maybe Chairman Qin would become disappointed in Ye—or even furious?

If he got the outcome he wanted, even if he couldn’t become Chairman Qin’s partner, just a thank-you payout would be enough to leave Xu Feng and snag a better sugar daddy.

Yun Cheng’s eyes were already shining with that thought.

Of course, President Ye might be an obstacle. But seeing how indecisive Ye was in relationships…

If he teamed up with the Qin family’s prince and Chairman Qin, surely they could break them apart.

With that in mind, Yun Cheng looked at President Ye, who was chatting with President Qin, his eyes blazing with ambition.

President Ye didn’t know that someone behind him was ambitiously trying to take over his current position.

He was focused on mentally settling the current earnings with his system.

 

[Task Panel]

Name: [Ye Wangxing]

Gender: [Male]

Age: [24]

Current Role: [Chairman of Ye Group]

Attention Value: [11,684]

Mini World Currency: [1,925,635]

Gold (transferable to the real world): [1,800 g]

Main Quest: [Gain attention from the protagonist couple]

Progress: [53%]

Reward: [40,000 followers (already doubled)]

Side Quests:

Quest 1: [Sabotage the protagonist at the banquet by publicly supporting him while privately warning him to recognize his place]

Progress: [50%]

Reward: [800 Attention Value, 1,200,000 Mini World Currency, 800 g gold (transferable) (reward doubled)]

Quest 2: [Sabotage the protagonist confession at the concert]

Progress: [0%]

Reward: [1,000 Attention Value, 2,000,000 Mini World Currency, 1,000 g gold (transferable) (reward doubled)]

 

He had already completed the previous tasks—sabotaging the confession at the wedding and intervening when the protagonist was bullied by an assistant. All task rewards had been credited to Ye Wangxing’s account.

Yet Ye Wangxing still sat there, staring blankly at his small world account and gold balance.

“…This is 2 million! Even if my family sold all our houses, we couldn’t gather this much money.”

Even though Ye Wangxing was now Chairman of Ye Group and even the partner of Qin Group’s chairman, he didn’t truly feel like these resources belonged to him.

They were just the identity he had set in his small world. He could even assign 19 a “world’s richest man” identity if he wanted—though it would cost more Attention Value.

Only the money in his personal account was truly his.

Even though he hadn’t spent much of the small world task funds in his current world, it was still 2 million! Who could say no to 2 million?

The gold was even more exciting—1,800 g! Even if gold prices fell after a certain election, it was still worth over a million!

And this was only with the second world task halfway complete!

The remaining side tasks weren’t finished. If he completed everything perfectly…

Ye Wangxing, ignoring his image, counted the gold and task currency on his hands, almost losing his composure, but he tightly held No. 19 hand, eyes full of excitement.

System 19, noticing the alarm in Ye Wangxing’s CPU had been going off for a while, stayed calm. He naturally wrapped an arm around his host’s shoulder, patting his back gently, soothing him as best as he could without breaking character.

“Host, congratulations, but we’re still on a mission.”

19 calm voice helped Ye Wangxing settle temporarily.

Yes, he was still on a mission. If he didn’t complete the tasks in this world, he wouldn’t be able to take the money back, and his mission time would extend.

But…

Ye Wangxing held 19 hand tightly, using it to forcibly calm himself.

Forgive him—he really hadn’t seen this much money before.

‘I need to focus quickly.’

Ye Wangxing forced his attention onto the protagonist couple.

[The earlier script has already released the news. Later, according to the fate line, the male protagonist will argue with his “white moonlight.” When he realizes he isn’t as he imagined, he will turn and bump into An Yang. This time he won’t ignore him but will realize what An Yang said in front of Yun Cheng.]

After mentally reviewing the plot, Ye Wangxing felt considerably calmer—the kind of enraging plot had suppressed his earlier excitement.

[We need to insert the plot when Xu Feng and Yun Cheng are arguing.]

Ye Wangxing discussed the insertion point and gradually calmed down. No. 19 occasionally offered advice.

[…By the way, 19, how difficult do you think the upcoming plot is? Do we need to adjust the lines? The previous scenes were awkward enough.]

Ye Wangxing asked earnestly.

“Host, I’m the system. If you temporarily disable the emotion simulation module, you won’t perceive awkwardness at all.”

19 said calmly.

“If you feel awkward, just say so. It’s fine.”

Ye Wangxing, caught, thought: […Can I really just say it was the shock from modeling the protagonist’s face?]

Fine, the intelligent fridge didn’t understand anyway.

Ye Wangxing shook his head, ultimately not changing the script.

While he was lost in thought, he didn’t realize his hand was still holding 19. To others, it looked like President Ye and Chairman Qin were holding hands while watching the auction start on stage.

Before the auction began, President Ye’s eyes shone brightly as he looked at Chairman Qin, seemingly whispering something that made Qin’s expression soften.

And he never let go of President Ye’s hand.

Divine couple.

Many people admired them, feeling that the four-character description fit perfectly.

Of course, some curious onlookers glanced toward the other two Qin family members.

But one of them had a playful smile on his face, and the other had kept a sullen expression since entering, revealing nothing about his thoughts.

Only a few people who knew the truth twisted their faces in frustration—it felt like they had just witnessed a huge scandal but were trapped from speaking, an unbearable sensation.

Fortunately, the auction finally began.

However, just when they thought they could calm down temporarily…

“…This ‘Emperor Green No-Event Plaque,’ also known as the ‘Cuiyun Lingrui Plaque,’ starts at 2.4 million, and each bid must increase by at least 50,000. Let’s begin.”

“3 million.”

As soon as the auctioneer spoke, the heir of the Qin Group, sitting next to his uncle, raised his paddle and immediately bid a price far beyond most people’s expectations.

“3.5 million.”

His uncle didn’t want to be outdone, raising the bid to 3.5 million.

Ahead, Chairman Qin also raised his paddle before President Ye beside him could react.

“4 million.”

The other attendees were puzzled, unsure what was happening with this family. Only a few who knew the truth watched in shock, seeing them treat money as if it meant nothing. The next several lots followed the same pattern.

Others soon noticed a pattern: only the jewelry that President Ye could bring, or ornaments displayed at the company, attracted competition from the three men.

Many attendees cast flirtatious glances at President Ye, making him uncomfortable. Finally, he couldn’t help but smack Chairman Qin’s arm in front of everyone, and Chairman Qin obediently stopped.

He then took out his phone, tapping on it as if sending messages to someone. Curious onlookers observed that the Qin heir and his uncle quickly checked their phones and, seeing the messages, calmly put their paddles down, withdrawing from the auction.

The onlookers’ expressions showed understanding, recalling prior rumors about wealthy families, it seemed those rumors weren’t entirely false.

They exchanged knowing looks, and the entire charity auction was filled with the scent of gossip.

This atmosphere persisted until the auction ended.

The second young master of the Xu family bought a luxury watch for the man beside him, who wasn’t his partner, and only his family noticed.

Xu Feng felt a bit guilty. Previously, whenever his family saw him buy gifts for Yun Cheng, they would accuse Yun Cheng of greed. Even if Yun Cheng refused, his family would say he was being manipulative.

Normally, this would make Xu Feng argue with his family.

Fortunately, today his family seemed to consider the setting and caused no scene.

Xu Feng breathed a sigh of relief, quickly leading Yun Cheng away to avoid embarrassment in front of his parents, unaware that the Qin family had noticed their escape route.

The Xu family watched Xu Feng leave, disappointed.

Nearby, An Yang’s parents wore similar expressions and said: “It’s our son’s fault for being useless—he couldn’t secure Xu Feng’s heart. Please forgive us, in-laws.”

By the end, their tone carried a hint of flattery.

Naturally, the Xu family didn’t say anything harsh, they knew whether the problem lay with their child or another’s.

But they thoroughly looked down on the An family.

This attitude subtly emerged in the conversation with An Yang’s parents. When the Xu family was present, An’s parents said nothing. But once they turned away, their expressions twisted.

They didn’t blame their style—they just thought An Yang hadn’t properly courted the Xu family, instead letting Xu Feng slip away.

“Your son is useless! He can’t even attract a man, what good is he? Worthless!”

An’s father shouted in anger, and An’s mother didn’t hold back either.

“Your son is worthless! It’s your An family genes—cheating and raising a mistress. Isn’t it normal he can’t attract a man? I told you to send him to a training class, but you refused! You even schemed to wait a few years, then divorce and have a child! I’m done!”

She spat and continued: “With your investment skills, the company will never recover in this life! You can only crawl at the Xu family’s doorstep like a dog! You’re as useless as your son—worthless! Your son can at least be sold, but you old fool can’t even be sold!”

An’s parents argued while walking away, their words growing increasingly vulgar, yet all aimed at An Yang.

When they finally saw An Yang, they froze for a moment, then erupted into a storm of insults.

“Where have you been? You can’t even keep a man!”

“You follow your worthless father and can’t handle a small task. What use are you?”

“Useless!”

An Yang stood quietly, watching the enraged couple, his hands trembling slightly. Memories of countless past scoldings surfaced. He knew this was wrong, it shouldn’t happen, but…

He couldn’t move. He was completely immobilized.

At that moment, a voice called from afar.

“An Yang, haven’t you found President Ye and Chairman Qin yet?”

An’s parents watched helplessly as the most untouchable assistant at the banquet, Cui, turned and took their son away without asking about their relationship. He hurriedly nodded at them and led An Yang off.

As they walked, Cui said: “Still can’t find them here? Go check the second floor while I contact the staff.”

He paused briefly and glanced back.

“Oh, and next time you see them, call security.”

“Although President Ye doesn’t mind, they’re still embarrassing enough.”

 

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