Li Ruoyao whipped her head around, staring at her in shock.
Mrs. Li was a gorgeous woman. Even in her forties, she still dressed impeccably. "Did you think you hid it well?"
Panicking, Li Ruoyao stammered, "Mom, you..." She nervously glanced around, terrified someone might have overheard.
"Relax, there's no one else here," Mrs. Li said. "But since when did you have such terrible taste? How can Zhou Ye ever compare to Zhou Congli? Of course, I don't care about any of that. You can play around however you like, but on your wedding night, you must be clean. Do you understand?"
Li Ruoyao's face paled inch by inch. "Mom."
"Take a trip to South Korea before the wedding and get a minor surgery done." Mrs. Li patted her shoulder and swayed her hips gracefully as she headed upstairs.
Left alone in the living room, Li Ruoyao's expression fluctuated, an overwhelming sense of humiliation washing over her.
***
The other night, Lin Zhi had threatened Zhou Ye with calling the police, but she hadn't acted on it yet. She planned to first send the original host's mother on a trip to take shelter. This would keep her out of the crossfire when the campus confession page scandal inevitably blew up, preventing the tragedy written in the original plot.
She dialed the number. A gentle female voice came through the line. "My precious Zhizhi."
An image of a woman with curved, smiling eyes surfaced in Lin Zhi's mind, and a fleeting smile touched her own eyes. "Mom, what are you doing right now?"
"Listening to my precious girl, of course," Lin Yiyun replied. "I'm having fun in Dali."
A second later, the unmistakable notification sound of an Alipay transfer rang out in the background.
Lin Zhi paused. "...Ms. Lin. Confess and you'll be granted leniency; resist and you'll be punished severely."
Caught red-handed, Lin Yiyun quickly moved to a quieter spot. Her voice turned distressed. "Zhizhi, Mom really doesn't want to go traveling. Just let me stay home and look after the shop. Every day I don't earn money is a day my heart aches."
"No!" Lin Zhi said, feigning displeasure. "Ms. Lin, you promised me a couple of days ago that you'd go on a trip, and now you're backing out. If you break your promises like this, I'm..."
She had brought this up to Lin Yiyun two days ago. Her mother had agreed on the surface but hadn't actually gone anywhere. It was a good thing she decided to check in again.
"Alright, alright, I'll go!" Afraid of a lecture, Lin Yiyun muttered a quiet complaint. "You're so fierce, I don't even know who the mother is anymore. Fine, fine, Mom promises to pack up and leave in the next couple of days with your Aunt Lili. Is that okay?"
Lin Zhi's voice carried a smile. "That's more like it. Make sure you take lots of pictures. I'll be checking."
"...Fine!" Lin Yiyun agreed. "Oh, right, sweetie. Don't forget to rest while you're working hard at your internship. And what about that boyfriend you mentioned last time? How are things going? Mom still hasn't seen a picture of him."
Lin Zhi immediately recalled that the original host had told her mother about getting a boyfriend at university. She had planned to send a picture of him when she took her graduation photos—never expecting that he would turn out to be a scumbag. The tragedy struck before graduation, leading to a miserable end for both mother and daughter.
She smiled. "Mom, when it's time to take graduation photos, I'll take one with him and send it to you."
Lin Yiyun was instantly delighted. "Then Mom will be waiting."
After hanging up, Lin Zhi held her phone, a soft smile lingering on her lips. Lin Yiyun was a truly wonderful mother.
Raising her daughter all alone, she had worked tirelessly without ever complaining about her lot in life. She ran a small convenience store to put her daughter through University A. Despite her own failed marriage, she never discouraged her daughter from dating, instead always encouraging her to find her own happiness.
It was just a pity that the original host, like her mother, had misjudged the man she loved...
With one issue resolved, Lin Zhi's thoughts drifted back to the campus confession page. She asked the system if it could help track down the person who posted the photos.
System 6 replied, "Host, I can only provide assistance once per world. You already used it up last time."
"...Can't I deduct points for it?" Lin Zhi asked.
"I'm afraid not," System 6 stated.
Lin Zhi was speechless. Fine.
She would just have to figure out a way herself. Turning around, she went back to the office to continue working. Her workload had significantly decreased lately. Sister Mei no longer went out of her way to make things difficult for her, opting instead to ignore her completely.
She guessed Zhou Congli had given some sort of instruction, but she didn't take the initiative to ask. She decided to give him the cold shoulder for a little while longer.
At noon, she headed to the cafeteria for lunch. To her surprise, there were several new varieties of after-meal fruits and desserts today—all of which she had eaten while in C City. Her colleagues were excitedly chatting about the company's new perks and benefits.
In a rather good mood, she loaded some onto her plate, found a seat, and started to enjoy the treats.
Since she hadn't eaten much actual food earlier, she inevitably ended up eating quite a few portions of the desserts.
"Some people act like they've never seen anything good in their entire lives. They look ready to devour the whole lot," Sister Mei commented in a passive-aggressive tone.
The others instinctively glanced at Lin Zhi. They all knew Sister Mei had always disliked her. She had suddenly backed off and stopped bothering Lin Zhi over the past few days, yet here she was, stirring up trouble again.
Lin Zhi gave her a brief glance without bothering to retort. She simply stood up, put away her tray, and headed for the door.
Sister Mei's face turned green with anger. However, recalling how the supervisor had recently asked if she was deliberately targeting Lin Zhi, she was forced to swallow her rage. Even so, she felt incredibly stifled, convinced that the girl was just relying on her pretty face to leech off men.
Meanwhile, Assistant Zhang had been watching from the corner.
He frowned. He already had a poor impression of the shoehorn-faced Sister Mei. Walking straight over to her, he said, "The company provided these for everyone to enjoy. It doesn't matter if someone eats a lot or a little. Watch what you say in the future!"
Seeing that it was the CEO's Special Assistant, Sister Mei's face instantly drained of color. "I-I'm sorry, Special Assistant Zhang. I was wrong. I definitely won't say things like that again."
Assistant Zhang shot her a sweeping glance and turned to leave. After all, it wouldn't do to blow such a minor incident out of proportion.
He exited the cafeteria and caught up with Lin Zhi.
Hearing Assistant Zhang call her name, Lin Zhi stopped. She was slightly surprised. "Assistant Zhang, you're back from C City?"
Assistant Zhang nodded. "Yes. I took a day off yesterday and came back to work today." Recalling the incident in the cafeteria, he added, "You don't need to mind what happened just now. I've already spoken to that woman.
"But, does she have some sort of grudge against you? Is she deliberately targeting you?"
He figured that since she was the CEO's younger brother's girlfriend, it was his duty to ask about it after seeing her get bullied.
Lin Zhi smiled. "She's the superior who sent me on that business trip."
Assistant Zhang looked enlightened. "So it was her!" It seemed he needed to have a little chat with the head of the finance department.
Lin Zhi nodded. "She's just all talk now, though. She doesn't dare actually do anything to me." She looked at him. "Did the CEO help me out?"
"It's just..."
Lin Zhi pursed her lips. "I've already broken up with Zhou Ye. You guys don't need to do this anymore."
Assistant Zhang's brain instantly short-circuited. "Broken up?"
Lin Zhi nodded. "Mhm. It's been a few days. I have no ties to Zhou Ye anymore. I'm very grateful to the CEO for helping me out so many times for his brother's sake. Assistant Zhang, please thank the CEO for me."
Assistant Zhang babbled incoherently. "B-But..."
Lin Zhi offered him a polite smile. "It's almost time to clock in, so I'll be heading back to work. Goodbye, Assistant Zhang." She turned and walked away.
Assistant Zhang stared blankly at her retreating figure. A second later, he whipped around and bolted upstairs.
Oh no. This was bad—this was very, very bad.