"Although my cheap former father acknowledged my identity, I feel like things aren't that simple."
Su Zhiyi curled a strand of hair around her slender fingers, her beautiful, fair face etched with worry.
"You think... Su Qinghuai and Song Lian's cooperation is really just business? I always feel like they've been sneaking around behind my back doing something I shouldn't see."
System 030 had spent the entire night digging through the database the night before.
Because it didn't have money to upgrade its system, its permissions were very low, but it still managed to find information about the business cooperation between the Su and Song families. It had already reported this to Su Zhiyi a while ago.
"But no matter how much I search, the cooperation between the Su and Song families is just business!" System 030 said truthfully. "If I dig deeper, it's just that the heads of the cooperation are Su Qinghuai and Song Lian, oh, and there's also a Xu family they're working with together."
"There really isn't anything abnormal!"
"Wait... maybe the reason I can't find anything is because my permission is too low. I don't have money to upgrade my system, so I can't check..."
Su Zhiyi sighed. "Su Qinghuai is okay, I guess. He's just been giving me the cold shoulder these past few days. I send him a message, and he just replies with an 'mm' and then goes silent. I don't know what he's so proud about."
"So annoying. I don't want to deal with him. I'm never sending him a message again. Spoiling a man will only bring bad luck for life."
"Si Yanjing... Si Yanjing, that guy—I never noticed how clingy he was before."
If the honeymoon phase meant couples always being lovey-dovey, then Si Yanjing truly embodied the term.
Not to mention how he stuck to her during class, but he also clung to her after class.
Si Yanjing was like a puppy with separation anxiety. If he didn't see her for half an hour, he'd start to worry. The moment he saw her, he’d want to kiss, hug, and stick close, never wanting to be apart.
This puppy, experiencing intimacy for the first time, was obedient to her every word when out of bed. She only had to ask, and he’d give her anything. She even suspected that if she asked for the stars in the sky, he would go and pluck them.
But in bed, he shed his obedient mask.
He licked her skin, merged with her intimately, entangled her tongue, and tangled with her with a ferocity that seemed to want to press her into his very flesh, leaving indelible marks that belonged only to him.
Even she found it hard to handle.
Su Zhiyi didn't want to talk about Si Yanjing anymore.
He loved her to death, obeyed her extremely well, and wasn't a threat to her.
She turned instead to the person who concerned her the most: "The one I can't figure out the most is Song Lian."
"Huh?" System 030 asked blankly. "What's wrong with Song Lian?"
"Doesn't he like me?" Su Zhiyi said. "His reaction wasn't what I expected."
She was too good at reading people. She knew that his current gentleness was all a facade. Beneath Song Lian's gentle surface lay his obsession.
Even Su Qinghuai had reacted so strongly...
She opened her phone almost by instinct.
Song Lian had sent her a message that morning, as usual—a morning greeting.
A morning greeting, an evening greeting, and well-measured small talk—that was the sum of their chat records for the past few days.
Unlike Su Qinghuai's sudden cold shoulder, Song Lian showed no sign of being different.
Quiet and still. Was he planning something?
As soon as she thought of Song Lian, he appeared.
Su Zhiyi was thinking about Song Lian when Song Lian himself walked in.
"Zhiyi, good afternoon." Song Lian walked over to her desk with a smile.
Su Qinghuai had been acting weird these past few days. He hadn't come to school since that day.
This was convenient for Si Yanjing, who didn't have to share a classroom with his "brother-in-law" who couldn't stand him and kept trying to block him from being with Su Zhiyi.
She had sent Si Yanjing off to buy her a drink from the school convenience store. She estimated he would be back soon.
There were still a few classmates in the classroom. They all knew about Su Zhiyi and Si Yanjing's engagement. When they saw Song Lian come to their classroom to talk to Su Zhiyi, they all turned their gazes to them, filled with curiosity and a desire for gossip.
At this sensitive juncture, Song Lian, as the "former fiancé," should have been keeping his distance.
He hadn't deliberately come to her classroom since that day. But today, of all days, he chose to come when Si Yanjing wasn't around.
That was hardly appropriate.
Knowing she was now engaged, Su Zhiyi realized that being too warm with Song Lian would only fuel rumors. So she was no longer as enthusiastic as before. She simply replied with a polite smile. "Good afternoon."
Song Lian started a casual topic. "Have you had lunch?"
Su Zhiyi answered, "Thank you for asking. I've already eaten."
Song Lian didn't keep his eyes fixed on Su Zhiyi. He naturally looked out the window.
The sunlight outside fell on his face, outlining his soft jawline, giving him a gentle and composed air.
"The weather is nice today."
"Want to go out for a walk?"
Su Zhiyi opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a less-than-harmonious voice.
"What does the weather have to do with my fiancée?"
Su Zhiyi closed her mouth and looked toward the classroom door along with Song Lian.