“Good evening,” Nana Toki said, her voice settling like dusk through the curtains as she greeted Qingyu Si sitting on the bed.

“Finished with work?” Qingyu asked, lifting a silk nightdress like a pale wave and handing it over.

“Mhm.” Nana took the matching lace, fingers skimming the fabric like a dragonfly over water, her expression turning oddly stiff. “Heiress, this is...?”

“A nightdress I prepared for you,” Qingyu said, tone cool as moonlight on tile. “You bundle up too much at night; we end up sweltering. Wear something cooler.”

“...”

“If you’re done, shower,” she added, pointing at the bathroom door like a white fan opening. “It’s late. I’ve washed already. Your turn.”

“O-okay...”

...

“Shutong, are you free this Saturday?” Qingyu’s voice drifted like a bell through steam, catching Nana as she sat watching the bathroom door. “I’d like a favor.”

“Sure, Heiress. Go on,” Nana said, stepping out with damp hair like inked willow leaves, slipping on the nightdress. “Saturday’s pretty open for me.”

That was true. If she didn’t half-remember her lady’s family skirting the underworld like shadows, she’d think she’d come to this plane for a lazy vacation.

“There’s a banquet Saturday. I want you to come with me. Is that okay?” Qingyu’s gaze lingered, a startled blink like a swallow mid-flight.

Their maid really did have... generous assets, in every sense, like a summer harvest heavy on the branch.

“Sure. Why’s the Heiress attending, though?” Nana toweled her hair, droplets beading like glass rain. She didn’t recall Qingyu having much of a social circle.

Schoolgirls, perhaps?

“Our company just signed a new project,” Qingyu said, a faint headache knitting like storm clouds at her brow. “They want to connect. Hard to refuse.”

Though she wore the “Heiress” mask like an orchid in a vase, she also held the majority shares of several companies under the Si Family, roots deep as old pines.

Because she was young, she seldom showed up; outsiders only knew the major shareholder was a woman, a rumor like mist that never formed a face.

This banquet would pull in anyone with ties to the Si Family; as majority shareholder, not attending would be a crack across jade.

“So not a schoolmate’s party...” Nana breathed, memory flickering like lanterns. She almost forgot the “rich heiress” setting stamped on her lady’s fate.

“What?” Qingyu raised her head, gaze clear as cold spring water. “If you’re free Saturday, come with me. Seven p.m., Yuehong Hotel.”

“Alright.” Nana nodded, towel whispering like reeds. Then a thought snapped like a twig. “Bold question. Which company’s signing with you?”

“It’s odd,” Qingyu admitted, that tiny frown returning like a passing cloud. “We’ve kept low-key, but the Qin Family still came knocking.”

“Huaiyue Qin?” Nana tested, the name dropping like a stone into a quiet pond.

“Mm.”

“...”

Of course the plot was at work again, tugging strings like a puppeteer behind a silk screen.

Huaiyue Qin was one of the Protagonist Lord’s many future lovers, a white-collar queen with heels sharp as blades.

The Qin Family, wealthy through commerce like a river fat with barges, could rival the Si Family’s mountain; in X City, both cast long shadows.

Though a daughter of a grand house, Huaiyue was fiercely driven, a hawk riding thermals above the business world’s towers.

She built a sizable company by her own hands, bricks laid like resolute footprints. In the original story, her relationship with Qingyu Si curdled like sour wine.

They sparked at every touchpoint, flint and steel. Even later—both in the Protagonist Lord’s orbit—their feud didn’t soften; it only grew thorns.

“Something wrong?” Qingyu asked, seeing Nana’s uncertain face go pale as paper, doubt circling like moths.

Her maid had no ties to the Qin Family, as far as she knew.

“Nothing. About Saturday’s banquet—please let me come,” Nana said, sincerity steady as a candle in a windless room.

Qingyu: “...”

...

Next dawn rose thin as rice paper. Nana got up early, the air cool as well water.

She found that the driver escorting them to school wasn’t just Uncle Chen; it was also one Protagonist Lord.

Qingyu saw Yiwei Yang smiling by the car like sunlight she didn’t want and her lovely face darkened, a cloud swallowing the moon.

She didn’t want a single thread tying her to Yiwei.

The whole school knew he was dating the school belle; if he stepped out of her car, rumor would spread like wildfire through dry grass.

Forget walking together—she didn’t even want people to know he was her bodyguard, a shadow she hadn’t invited.

“Uncle Chen, take a car and drive Classmate Yang to school. Shutong and I will walk,” she said, voice brittle as frost on leaves.

She didn’t look at Yiwei’s face. She simply took Nana’s hand and left the villa, steps crisp as falling beads.

“Hey, hey! Qingyu! Qingyu! Wait for me!” Yiwei stuck to them like a burr on a hem, shameless as summer cicadas.

“I’m your bodyguard now. Not staying by your side is dereliction of duty,” he said, wearing a grin like a pasted-on mask.

“Whether you slack or not has nothing to do with me,” Qingyu shot back, her glance like a winter blade. “You came to the Si Family to perform for Sikong Xiao.”

“I don’t know what you did to make him value you,” she added, lips curling like ice at the cup’s rim. “You’ve got nerve, leaving the school belle to play guard dog.”

“Even if you’ve no shame, I, Qingyu Si, still want a little face.”

Yiwei choked, words tangling like weeds. He couldn’t say the System had assigned him the Si Family bodyguard role; no one would buy that fog.

He did crave her body like a moth circling a lamp, but lunging would only earn her disgust, a colder wind on an already frozen pond.

Her favorability toward him was already below zero, a thermometer cracking in snow.

“Tongtong...” he tried, voice coaxing like warm syrup.

“Don’t call me that. We’re not close,” she snapped, the door of her temper slamming like thunder.

Yiwei: “...”

Nana cut off the Protagonist Lord’s pleading with a flick, her tone neat as a snapped twig.

What a joke.

Did this guy still think she was Shutong An, madly smitten like a moth at first light?

“I don’t care why you’re approaching me,” Qingyu warned, eyes cold as a deep well. “Stay away from me and my maid, or I may react... excessively.”

She left with Nana, their backs straight as bamboo, leaving Yiwei stewing alone on the road.

That woman!

Yiwei watched their retreating figures, fingers clenching till his knuckles cracked like breaking shells.

She really thought a few looks and some power made her a highborn princess, sitting on clouds and looking down.

One day, he’d pin her beneath him and ruin that frost, anger coiling like smoke.

He opened his System, eyes skimming the mesmerizing list of tools like a gambler staring at a spread of knives.

He could already see her in his mind, under him, begging with tears bright as dew.

Riiiing, riiiing...

Right then, his phone trilled like a silver bell and snatched him out of his heat.

“Who is it!” he barked, yanking it out, temper flaring like sparks.

Then a soft, honeyed voice poured through the speaker like warm wine, and his face flipped to a grin in a heartbeat.

“Yiwei~ Why haven’t you called these days? Eat me clean and then run, is that it?”

Huaiyue Qin’s voice carried a teasing pout, and the sound melted his bones like sugar in tea.

His thoughts flew back to that hotel room a few days ago, sheets tangled like vines, memories hot as coals.

Even his lower half stirred, a snake waking under a rock.

“No, no, how would I dare? I just woke up and was about to call you,” he lied smoothly, words sliding like oil.

He chatted her up while strolling toward school, eyes on the pavement, mind full of velvet.

“Baby, I’ve missed you,” he cooed, voice soft as cotton. “How about I swing by your company after class? I’ll give you a massage~”

“Hmph. If you missed me, why no calls?” she chided like a tapping fan, but then softened, shy as peach blossom.

“Anyway, I’ve got something to tell you. Come after school. I booked a restaurant and a hotel,” she said, the last word curling like incense smoke.

Yiwei burned, desire licking like fire under dry reeds; he could barely keep from sprinting to her building now.

“I’ll come right after class. Wait for me at the office, love,” he said, voice low as velvet night.

They traded a few more sticky words, and only at the school gate did he hang up, reluctant as a leaf leaving its branch.

“Yiwei!”

From a distance, a voice bright as morning larks called him. He looked up to see a tall, sweet-faced girl with lively spring written all over her.

She was flanked by a few girls like stars around a moon. She waved, smile bouncing like sunlight on water.

“Morning~”

“Morning, Mengmeng. Not bad today—actually not late,” Yiwei joked, grin loose as wind.

She was Mengmeng Feng, who’d become his girlfriend a few days ago, hands held under streetlights like floating lanterns.

“You’re awful! I came early just to see you, and you tease me?” she said, cheeks blooming like a red maple leaf.

She swatted his back, playful as a kitten. “Free after school? I’ll be merciful and drag you shopping on Commercial Street.”

“Afternoon...” Yiwei hesitated, thoughts meshing like gears. He’d already set Huaiyue Qin for then; this would be a knot.

“Sorry... I’ve got something else this afternoon. I can’t go,” he said, smile apologetic as rain on eaves.

Mengmeng was tempting, a fresh peach, but they’d only held hands so far; next to Huaiyue Qin’s warmth, temptation tilted like a scale.

“I’ll make it up to you next time! Please let me off the hook this once,” he said, palms pressed together like a pleading monk.

“Next time...” Disappointment flickered over her lively face like a cloud passing the sun.

But she recovered fast, understanding rising like a calm tide. Maybe he did have something important; she shouldn’t be a stone in his path.

“Next time, then. But you have to treat me to dinner,” she said, chin up like a sparrow.

“Dinner’s fine. You could even eat me up,” he quipped, eyes glinting like a fox.

Her face flushed redder, and she swatted him again, shy as a fawn. “Stop it. Who wants to eat you? You’re so smelly!”

She scampered off with the other girls, giggles trailing like wind-bells.

Under a tree’s shade, Nana watched the whole scene, leaves casting dappled light like fish scales skating her shoes.

Her lips curved into a playful smile, a hook sinking into still water.

Well, well—something interesting was about to start.