Chapter 2
Xie Qingyao got up early.
As usual, he made breakfast, returned to the bedroom, and kissed my forehead.
“I have a meeting today. Get some more sleep.”
After we got together, he’d bought a spacious single-level apartment near campus.
It made living together convenient.
After graduation, we’d grown accustomed to it and never moved out.
Still bleary-eyed, I nodded and rolled over.
He quietly closed the door behind him.
I immediately got up, pulled on a sun-protection coat that covered me from head to toe, and followed him outside fully equipped.
He came across a little stray calico on the way.
He took a small bag of cat food from his pocket and poured it out in front of it.
Then he took a photo.
His message reached me.
[Baby, I met an adorable kitten on the way. Shall we get one too?]
Golden sunlight filtered through the trees onto Xie Qingyao’s sharply defined profile.
The little calico, delighted with its meal, rolled over to offer him its belly.
What a sweet scene!
My heart softened. I’d just typed “Sure.”
Then I heard Xie Qingyao’s cool voice.
As soon as he’d taken the photo, he stood up and put some distance between them.
“I’m a clean freak. Don’t expect me to pet you.”
Me: Huh?
In silence, I followed him a little farther.
On a slope, an elderly scrap collector was struggling to pull his tricycle cart uphill.
Xie Qingyao went around behind it to help.
I relaxed.
He was kind after all.
The next second, he beckoned over a bewildered passerby.
He pulled a few hundred yuan from his wallet.
“You. Help push him up.”
The man’s eyes lit up. “You got it!”
And another photo arrived on my phone.
[Poor old man. We should help whenever we can.]
Me: “…”
He really was two different people online and off!
Unwilling to give up, I tailed him all day.
One of Xie Qingyao’s friends was celebrating his birthday.
He asked whether I wanted to come.
I declined.
But secretly followed him anyway.
Once the waiter left, I pressed close to the private dining room door and listened.
Without me there, they’d surely tell the truth.
Voices drifted out.
“Qingyao, isn’t your girl coming?”
“No. She’s not interested in this sort of gathering. Hurry up and eat. I want to get home early and spend time with her.”
The room abruptly went quiet.
After a long while, someone cautiously asked,
“Qingyao, you haven’t actually fallen for Ruan Wu, have you?”
“You used to find her so annoying you wanted to leave the country.”
Xie Qingyao paused.
“What do you think?”
His voice was three parts mockery, three parts coldness, and four parts indifference.
I could practically picture him turning his wineglass, his lips curved in a sneer.
The other man sounded relieved.
“I knew it couldn’t be true. Qingyao moves at his own pace.”
His own pace?
So being with me really was all part of his plan.
My heart had hung in suspense. Now it finally gave up.
I couldn’t hear another thing.
I left in a daze.
When I got home, the system had returned too.
My eyes were lifeless, my expression blank.
“System, you were right. He really doesn’t love me.”
“But that makes no sense. Anyone would fall in love with me.”
The system held itself back, again and again.
Finally it snapped, broke character, and swore.
[Host, do you realize you’ve been pursuing the wrong damn person?]
[Xie Qingyao is just an extra with the exact same name!]
Me: What?
You mean an extra with an obscenely wealthy family, an angel’s face, and a model’s proportions?