Chapter 2

I had known for a long time that Qi Shiyan was rich.

Otherwise, I would never have approached him deliberately.

We met in an online game.

Only two kinds of people played that game.

One kind could drop millions without blinking.

The other took boosting jobs and farmed gear for money.

Qi Shiyan was the former. I was the latter.

The first time I saw him in-game, I knew he was no ordinary man.

His divine gear alone had to cost eight figures.

One look was all it took.

I immediately began drawing close to him.

We ran dungeons together every day. I sent him good-morning and good-night messages and fussed over his every need.

One night, after he opened his heart and told me about the pain of his broken family, I firmly established myself as a gentle and caring older woman.

The gloomy, affection-starved young man soon lay firmly in the palm of my hand.

Perhaps he feared that everyone who approached him wanted something.

Qi Shiyan presented himself as an ordinary college student from a poor family, with middling grades and an average face.

He often asked me in a pitiful tone, “Jiejie, does someone as ordinary as me really deserve your love?

“I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed when you see me in real life.

“Then you’ll abandon me forever.”

I rolled my eyes at the fortune in divine gear covering his avatar.

For a rich guy, spending ten million in a game was probably no different from an ordinary person spending a thousand. No wonder he hadn’t noticed the enormous hole in his disguise.

At the same time, I fed him sweet words.

“How could I?

“To me, you’re the most special puppy in the world.

“How could I bear to abandon you?”

Qi Shiyan seemed determined to play his poverty act to the bitter end. He was astonishingly stingy.

The milk tea he ordered came from off-brand shops, and his gifts were usually 9.9-yuan bargains with free shipping from PDD.

But his words were sweet, he carried me through the game, and every now and then he sent me a scandalously seductive photo of his abs.

So, for a while, I genuinely liked him.

Then, one day, while hurrying to a part-time job, I crashed my electric scooter into a roadside barrier.

I fractured my right leg, and a kind stranger took me to the hospital.

Scans, admission, and follow-up treatment would cost more than twenty thousand yuan.

I truly couldn’t afford it.

So I took a photo of myself in the hospital and pitifully messaged Qi Shiyan.

“Baby, can you lend me some money?

“I’ll pay you back as soon as I recover!”

His answer was silence.

For an entire month, he didn’t reply.

Fortunately, I found another fish in that time, and he paid my hospital bill.

Otherwise, I might have been disabled for life.

Only after I had fully recovered and left the hospital did Qi Shiyan resume sending me good-morning and good-night messages and sharing his day as though nothing had happened.

What a bastard.

Why not wait until I was dead and come pay his respects at my grave?

I wanted to dump him then.

I simply couldn’t find the right opportunity.

A rich man like him wasn’t someone I could casually offend.

If I dropped him without warning and he retaliated, the loss would outweigh the gain.

So I played along while shifting my attention to the other fish in my pond.

Perhaps he sensed me growing cold.

Qi Shiyan’s possessiveness exploded.

Lately, he had pestered me every day, asking to meet in person.

Absolutely not.

An online romance was one thing.

It couldn’t interfere with my real life.

Just as I wondered how to put him off, my roommate Jiang Sibing stepped forward.

She took the rotten thing off my hands.

Perfect.

If she could pry money out of Qi Shiyan, that was her talent.

I never begrudged anyone their gains or losses.

At least I had pocketed a very real hundred thousand yuan.

When Jiang Sibing saw that she couldn’t provoke me, she stopped showing off.

“By the way, Shiyan wants to meet me in person.

“He asked me to bring my roommates too. He wants to buy everyone dinner and get to know you all.”

She glanced at me and drawled, “Shen Jingshi, you’re free the day after tomorrow, aren’t you?”

[Aaaaah! Are we finally getting the face-slapping scene I’ve been waiting for?]

[The supporting woman thinks the male lead is plain. When she sees how incredibly handsome our Qi is in real life, won’t she break down on the spot?]

[But what if she regrets it and tries to steal him back from baby girl?]

[What is there to fear? The male lead has obviously fallen for baby girl. Even after learning the truth, he’ll choose her without hesitation!]

[If the supporting woman dares make trouble, he’ll protect his wife and smash her head in!]