Chapter 36

“Yes!” Wen Jiu heard herself answer without hesitation.
In the book, Lin Yu’s ending had been miserable. But the real Lin Yu standing in front of her didn’t look like any lovestruck fool trailing after a man. She was proactive, driven, and already running her own studio.
The young lady, the White Moonlight Young Lady, and the everyone-loves-her Young Lady had all already jumped off the original plot rails. There was no reason Lin Yu couldn’t also live her own life.
Wen Jiu believed in her.
“But I can only put in 1.9 million. Is that okay?”
Aside from trusting her, Wen Jiu also had to pay back the original body’s debt of gratitude.
With 1.9 million gone, she’d be left with 5,277.54 yuan in liquid cash.
“If that’s not enough, I can… sell an apartment?” Wen Jiu still had two properties. “One in Beicheng and one in Haishi. Together they’re worth about twenty million.”
She said it like it was no big deal, but inside she was howling.
Going back to being dirt-poor overnight, she really felt like curling up and crying into her knees.
“Wen Jiu, did you… hit the jackpot or something?” Lin Yu tilted her head, not entirely convinced.
When she’d walked away with the Su family’s five million, she’d finished her degree, earned some more, and only then come back with enough to open a studio and hire people.
Her own place was still rented. Every spare cent went back into the studio. If you told her to drop twenty million on buying property, she simply wouldn’t have that kind of spare cash.
“…”
“Good friends gave it to me,” Wen Jiu muttered. Two young ladies, to be exact.
“…Do your friends need more friends?” Lin Yu blurted out.
Wen Jiu’s eyes suddenly lit up. She looked straight at Lin Yu. “Aside from me, someone else will invest tomorrow too.”
“And it won’t be a small amount.”
“You’re bringing in another investor?” Lin Yu asked.
“You’ll see tomorrow.” Wen Jiu smiled mysteriously.
She was absolutely going to let this “cultivation-type” young lady experience the joy of instant overnight riches.
She left the 1.9 million and signed an equity investment agreement, but in the end didn’t sell her apartments.
She’d been dead set on selling at least one, but Lin Yu stopped her. “Didn’t you just say another investor is coming tomorrow? I believe you. It’s not easy to own property, don’t sell if you don’t have to.”
Over lunch, the two of them ate together, and Wen Jiu casually asked where Lin Yu rented and how much her rent was.
“If you want a decent place in Haishi, it’s expensive. Over seven thousand a month.”
“I’ll only charge you a thousand. You can move into my place. I’m basically always in Beicheng anyway; I don’t use the Haishi apartment.”
The previous night, Su Yaoyao had already had Su Heng’s assistant handle the transfer procedures. By the end of the week, Lin Yu could move in.
Wen Jiu had specifically checked the address. It was very close to the commercial district where Lin Yu’s studio was.
“Seriously?” Lin Yu didn’t bother being modest. “Is this that mythical falling meat pie from the sky?”
“It’s real, it’s real. And the meat pie isn’t poisoned,” Wen Jiu said, worried she might hesitate. “We may not have seen each other for a few years, but I never forgot how you helped me escape Nancheng.”
Afraid Wen Jiu might change her mind, Lin Yu dragged her to print out a rental contract on the spot.
At the same time, Su Heng’s assistant worked fast. Before Su Yaoyao and Lin Yu’s meeting the next day, he’d already delivered the deed to Wen Jiu.
All that was left was for Lin Yu to move in sometime that week. The door was a pin-code lock, the upscale community had its own property management, and all utilities were handled there. Wen Jiu didn’t need to worry about anything else.
“You’re heading out?” the young lady asked Wen Jiu and Su Yaoyao.
“Yao Yao, we’re going to see Lin Yu. Do you want to come?” Su Yaoyao invited enthusiastically.
She was getting closer and closer to the two of them. Now when she got excited, she didn’t blush as hard as she used to.
“Since you invited me, I’ll come keep an eye on things, just in case someone bullies you and you don’t even know how to fight back.” From the upstairs landing, the young lady lowered her eyes and looked down at them, then descended with lazy grace, one hand on the banister.
Once she reached the first floor, she stretched out her hand, and Wen Jiu instantly knew to go over and take it.
What she didn’t expect was that someone else moved even faster than she did.
“Yao Yao’s so nice. She’s clearly coming to support me, but she still had to make up an excuse.” Su Yaoyao said it with pure, sincere warmth.
The young lady’s pretty, lively face went stiff. “Shut up.”
Su Yaoyao clapped both hands over her mouth, leaving only a pair of wide eyes showing. She carefully turned to look at Wen Jiu, blinking rapidly, using her gaze to ask: Did I say something wrong?
Wen Jiu couldn’t hold back a laugh, which immediately earned her a glare from the young lady. “You shut up too.”
Wen Jiu had to think of every sad thing she could to force her smile back down.
So the young lady’s natural nemesis wasn’t Chu Yan after all, it was Su Yaoyao.
By the time they arrived, Lin Yu was already waiting.
It was the first time Su Yaoyao and Lin Yu met in person. Both of them were awkward yet expectant, with too many subtle emotions in between to clearly name.
“You’re… Lin Yu?” Su Yaoyao took the initiative to speak first. Wen Jiu and the young lady sat at the table next to them.
Lin Yu, in contrast, was much more naturally friendly. “I’m Lin Yu. Hello, Su Yaoyao.”
“Did they… treat you badly too, giving you that name?” Su Yaoyao had clearly thought about this a long time before finally managing to say it. The second the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
It felt like she’d nervously done something wrong.
That was way too hurtful, wasn’t it?
Wen Jiu poured water for the young lady, not worried about the table next to them at all.
After seeing Lin Yu yesterday, she already knew Lin Yu wasn’t the type to get hung up on semantics and slights. She was open-minded and bright.
Sure enough, Lin Yu’s clear voice floated over from the next table, so bright and sunny it was contagious, like a rising morning sun.
“They say the ‘Yu’ in my name is the ‘extra’ in ‘superfluous’. Su Tan’s said that too. But I treat them all like they’re talking out of their ass. It’s my name, I get to decide what it means. I say it’s the ‘yu’ in ‘having surplus year after year’, a symbol of spiritual abundance and future wealth. Obviously a good sign.
I don’t know why you wanted to see me, but I can tell you this clearly: I don’t hate you, and I don’t think you stole the rich life that was ‘supposed’ to be mine.
You’re Su Yaoyao, I’m Lin Yu. We don’t need to pay for the Su family’s mistakes. I’m going to build a huge game company and live better and better on my own terms.”
Wen Jiu was sitting with her back to them. The moment those words drifted over, she had a familiar, ominous feeling.
So, Lin Yu went on, “are you willing to become one of my shareholders? We’re not a full company yet, just a small studio. But my goal is to go public.”
Wen Jiu: she knew it.
She really had planned to drag Su Yaoyao in as an investor for Lin Yu, but apparently she didn’t need to lift a finger, Lin Yu took care of the whole pitch herself.
Su Yaoyao stared at her, dazed but obviously delighted.
“I knew you were a really good girl. I’ve never believed anything my younger brother said. I’ve always liked you and really looked forward to meeting you.”
Pulled along by Lin Yu’s pace, Su Yaoyao, who was basically facing a stranger, was suddenly talking a lot.
“I’d love to invest in you.”
“I don’t know how much game development costs… can I start by investing a hundred million?”
Back to them, Wen Jiu: ?!?
All of a sudden yesterday’s 1.9 million replayed in her mind.
Originally that had sounded pretty bold. Now, compared to this hundred million, it felt like comparing a roadside food stall to a five-star restaurant. The gap was brutal and deeply embarrassing.
Thank goodness you couldn’t rewind time. If she had to go back to yesterday with this knowledge, she’d probably dig a hole and bury herself on the spot.
“Great, great, let’s sign the contract.” Lin Yu didn’t care whether she’d regret it later. First you get the money, then you think. She reacted so fast she abandoned both coffee and cake, urgently tugging Su Yaoyao to her feet. “Boss, come with me to the studio, we can sign everything there.”
The studio was in another office building just across the street.
“Let’s go up together,” the young lady said, picking up her bag. “I’ll invest a hundred million too.”
If there was one thing the young lady wasn’t short of, it was money.
The Su siblings shared one set of parents. Father Su and Mother Su had a shallow marriage and valued benefits over feelings. They’d cut the connection between Yaoyao and the Su Group early; she had no claim to future dividends. All the assets she currently owned and all the fixed properties in her name were thanks to Su Heng quietly building her portfolio for the past ten years.
With a hundred million going out to Lin Yu, Yaoyao’s remaining liquid cash was actually not that much. Unless she did what Wen Jiu would do, sell off islands, yachts, houses, and so on, to refill the coffers. In that case, she could easily pull together another hundred million.
But Qin Yao was built differently. She had an older brother who doted on his younger sister, parents who openly favored their daughter, and grandparents on both sides who adored their granddaughters. Everyone’s life goal was to pile the best of everything in front of her.
The young lady lacked neither love nor money.
She had money to burn.
Wen Jiu watched with wide-open eyes as Lin Yu secured two hundred million. Her gaze stayed glued to the scene, so envious she felt like tears were about to leak right out of the corners of her mouth.
The young lady noticed and flicked her on the head. “Useless.”
“This hundred million is me investing for you. If her company really does go public and turn a profit, you won’t ever have to work again.”
“What? This hundred million is for me? In my name?”
The young lady clammed up again, hiding her merit and her name.
She scooted aside a bit. “Come sign. Put your name down.”
Now it was Lin Yu’s turn to be jealous.
So yesterday when Wen Jiu said a friend had given her two apartments, that “friend” was actually this Qin Yao standing in front of her.
Not only gifting apartments, but throwing in a hundred million on top?!
If Lin Yu didn’t have a decent temperament, she’d already be on her knees, sliding across the floor begging Qin Yao to take her on.
With a friend like that, she wouldn’t have to work herself this hard.
Back to reality: Lin Yu carefully put away the contract, complete with signatures and red thumbprints. The young lady’s lawyers stepped back to stand with the bodyguards.
Both sides were very satisfied with how the day had gone.
On the way back, Wen Jiu was still floating in the aftershock of that “hundred million” surprise.
She cupped her face and stared at the young lady openly.
Now she finally understood why, in so many novels, the little sidekicks clung to the female supporting lead no matter what, sticking around even when she went off the rails. With this level of devotion from her young lady, she would do anything Qin Yao asked.
Thank goodness her own young lady was a decent citizen in everything except her slightly immoral approach to chasing Chu Yan.
With so much joy and such a ridiculous fortune suddenly landing on her head, Wen Jiu was practically squirming in her seat. She felt like bursting into song.
The young lady gave her a mildly disgusted side-eye. “Wen Jiu, if you’re itching that much, go take a shower.”
She wasn’t itchy at all, but the second she got out of the car she ran to shower anyway.
She dashed upstairs, calling out as she went, “I’m going to shower!”
Her smile was so wide her eyes almost disappeared; her whole person looked like she was soaking in a sea of happiness.
With matters in Haishi wrapped up, the young lady decided she wasn’t staying any longer. They’d head back to Beicheng tomorrow.
“Stay a few more days,” Su Yaoyao pleaded.
The young lady put on a pair of sunglasses that covered half her face and declined with cool arrogance. “No. I’m going back to see my husband. I haven’t seen him in six days.”
That finally jogged Wen Jiu’s memory, oh right, the young lady had a male lead husband named Chu Yan.
The three of them had been having so much fun out here that she’d almost forgotten he existed.
“You can ask Wen Jiu. See if she wants to stay. If she’s not in a hurry to go back and see her boyfriend, she’ll probably stay with you,” the young lady said, neatly tossing the problem at Wen Jiu.
“…”
“I can ask him to come over,” Wen Jiu said, meeting Yaoyao’s hopeful gaze.
In fact, the very day she’d returned to the country, Shen Xingzhou had wanted to fly to Haishi, but Wen Jiu had stopped him.
Shen Xingzhou was obediently waiting in Beicheng.
Yaoyao thought for a moment. “Then I’ll just go back to Beicheng with you. I’d feel bad if Wen Jiu had to drag her boyfriend over here just for me.”
In the end, though, Yaoyao didn’t manage to leave with them, because Su Tan came back.
The young lady went back to Beicheng first; Wen Jiu stayed behind.
Su Tan was a walking time bomb. If they didn’t defuse him, Wen Jiu was afraid Yaoyao would slip back into her old state.
“Jiujiu, my younger brother came to find me,” Yaoyao said, running down from upstairs, clutching her tablet. The screen still showed the open page of a chapter she’d just published.
“Don’t be scared. I’ll pull someone over to help,” Wen Jiu said.
“Who?” Yaoyao asked.
“Ji Yujing.”
Use what you have. If you could use someone as a decoy, you should.
Every time Wen Jiu scammed Ji Yujing, he swore that next time he definitely wouldn’t fall for it. And every time, he stepped straight into the trap again.
Ring, ring,
“Hello, who is it?”
“Young master, it’s Wen Jiu.”
The moment she called, the instant he picked up, pure muscle memory told him something was off.
He hadn’t even had time to hang up,
Wen Jiu’s lazy voice drawled from the other end, unhurried as always: “Young master, we never really got to talk about it after the engagement was dissolved, but we both know you’re chasing Lin Yu.”
That night at the hotel, Su Heng had spelled it out clearly enough.
Ji Yujing, who’d been about to hang up, froze mid-motion.
“What are you scheming this time?” He remembered very clearly how he’d been tricked into playing lackey for Wen Jiu before, and how he’d even ended up paying for the privilege.
“Lin Yu and I grew up next door to each other and were in the same class. She skipped a grade, we’re super close.”
“And right now, Su Yaoyao and I are the biggest shareholders in Lin Yu’s studio. Whatever we say, Lin Yu will at least take into consideration.”
“If I tell Lin Yu how you used to chase after Sister Yue Ling and even managed to drag your own older brother into the mess, what do you think she’ll think of you?”
Ji Yujing clenched his molars so hard he nearly cracked a tooth. “Wen Jiu, do you have some sort of illness?!”
“So, young master, are you still planning to hang up?” Wen Jiu was having a great time teasing him.
“What do you want?” he snapped.
“I’m not trying to do anything bad, young master,” Wen Jiu said, dropping the teasing before she really did get blocked.
She got to the point. “I need you to come over and help protect Su Yaoyao. Of course, I’ll explain everything to Lin Yu and tell her I was the one who asked you to come.
As for chasing Lin Yu, I’ll help you,” Wen Jiu said. “But the initiative is still in her hands. Whether she accepts you or not isn’t something I can decide. However…I can help you find out what kind of boys Lin Yu likes.”
Ji Yujing, who couldn’t even get Lin Yu to agree to a date, blurted out without thinking, “I agree. Wen Jiu, I’ll trust you one more time. Don’t screw me over again.”
“You really make it sound like I’ve ever screwed you over,” Wen Jiu said.
Ji Yujing now understood perfectly what Wen Jiu wanted, so he dropped all the threatening posturing and went straight to dangling the carrot.
“Wen Jiu, if I actually end up with Lin Yu, I’ll send you a huge red envelope.”
Wen Jiu hadn’t brought that up at all. But since Ji little young master was so eager to dig his own hole, of course she’d help him bury it.
Casually, as if in passing, she mentioned, “The matchmaker red envelope the young lady gave me was a full one million. From her own pocket.”
“Qin Yao?” Ji Yujing was stunned.
“Yep.”
He didn’t live under Chu Yan and Qin Yao’s bed, so he had no idea how it had happened. In his mind, Qin Yao managing to catch Chu Yan had to be at least partly thanks to Wen Jiu working behind the scenes.
After all, Wen Jiu had been an employee at the Chu Group’s headquarters, rumor had it she’d even been in Chu Yan’s own office.
“All right then, I’ll give you two million when the time comes!” the young master declared grandly.
Wen Jiu’s eyes turned a little, not feeling guilty in the slightest. “Then I really hope I get to collect that two-million red envelope, little young master.”
While Ji Yujing was on his way over to the villa, Wen Jiu soothed Su Yaoyao and got her back to writing. “Don’t worry. Just focus on your story. Leave everything else to me.”
Coming from Wen Jiu, those words were like a tranquilizer shot; they smoothed out all of Yaoyao’s anxiety.
Su Yaoyao’s typing speed was something Wen Jiu had never even imagined.
“You didn’t just finish your outline, you’ve already posted ten thousand words, the first three chapters, in a single day?” Wen Jiu yelped.
Yaoyao shyly scratched the back of her head. Under the glow of the monitor, the teardrop mole beneath the corner of her eye looked even brighter, pure and tempting all at once. “Is that… very impressive?”
“Of course it is!” Wen Jiu thought about how long it took her to write an 800-word essay, half an hour, easy.
“How many words can you write in an hour?”
“I haven’t timed it, but about six thousand, I guess.”
Wen Jiu stuck a big thumbs-up in the air. “You were born for this job. With that speed, there’s no way you won’t make it.”
Given that Wen Jiu herself could manage about forty-five characters a minute, just typing chatting nonsense, Yaoyao was practically an octopus.
She could probably handle ten WeChat chats at once without ever falling behind.
Both Su Tan and Ji Yujing were on their way; it wasn’t clear who would show up first.
While they waited, Wen Jiu pinged Lin Yu on WeChat.
Wen Jiu: Lin Yu, I’m helping Ji Yujing pursue you.
Lin Yu replied in a second: What’d he give you?
The moment they met, their vibes had matched; turns out their brains ran on the same track, too.
Lin Yu wasn’t mad, just curious.
Wen Jiu: He said if he actually gets together with you, he’ll give me a two-million red envelope.
Wen Jiu: I’ll help him ask what type of guy you like, and if you’ve got any preference for “plot progression.” Also… how do you see Ji Yujing?
Lin Yu: He’s pretty handsome. In terms of looks, not bad. But he’s too dumb. I’m a sapiosexual.
Wen Jiu: … Yeah, valid.
Wen Jiu: Guess I’m not getting that two million.
Lin Yu: If this were two days ago, I would’ve totally dated him and split that two million fifty-fifty with you. But now that my studio’s received a massive investment, all I want is to build up my career.
Lin Yu: We already had projects lined up, and now that the money’s here, we can launch them all.
Lin Yu: I’m not dating for at least a year. I’m making my game first.
Wen Jiu: Wow, go Lin Yu!
Compared to the future of the “raising-type” young lady’s career, the young master’s two million really wasn’t worth much.
Maybe because she and Lin Yu kept mentioning Ji Yujing in chat, the man himself arrived at the villa very quickly.
“Wen Jiu,” the young master called from outside.
She hurried over to let him in.
Just then, the sleek roar of a sports car drifted up the drive, Su Tan had arrived too.
He hadn’t even gotten out when he shouted over at them. “Didn’t you already get rejected by Yaoyao? What are you doing here?”
Just like Su Heng, whenever he saw Ji Yujing, he turned snippy.
“Is Yaoyao inside? I’m here to take her home.” That last line was directed at Wen Jiu.
Maybe he’d heard about how close Su Yaoyao and Wen Jiu had gotten on his way over; his tone toward her was noticeably softer.
“Tell him Yaoyao isn’t going with him,” Wen Jiu muttered, pinching Ji Yujing’s arm.
The young master had surprisingly solid muscles; it almost hurt her fingers.
“Su Yaoyao isn’t going,” Ji Yujing said, face stiff as a dead fish, mechanically repeating her words.
He’d never witnessed it himself, but he’d heard all the rumors: that the Su brothers were in love with Su Yaoyao. Rumors in rich circles were always half true and half fake; with one Su family in Haishi and the other in Beicheng, who knew what got added along the way. He’d never believed it.
But seeing it now… Su Tan really did seem different toward Yaoyao. And he had to admit, this gloomy kid looked eerily like his own past self-chasing after Sister Yue Ling.
Except Su Tan was way worse off. Ji Yujing at least had been well-behaved and obedient in front of Yue Ling.
It was like suddenly spotting a fellow fool on the same sinking ship, except he himself had long since seen through his own feelings and stopped pestering Yue Ling.
He glanced sideways and, with an almost sympathetic air, told this late-arriving kindred spirit, “Bro, I get you. Chasing after an older sister isn’t embarrassing. But charging in like this? You’re even worse than I was. How do you expect to get her that way?
Bro, I’m not trying to be mean, but at eighteen you’re still way too impulsive. You need to mature your mindset and behavior.”
Wen Jiu hadn’t expected Ji Yujing to be quite this good at attracting hatred.
Only when she replayed his words in her head did she realize he was comparing Su Tan to his past self.
Put that way… they really were two halves of the same mess.
Su Tan, impulsive as any teenager, lunged forward and punched him. “You already got dumped, and you’re still thinking about my Older sister.”
You could hear the real anger in his voice, he didn’t even call her “Yaoyao,” but used the “older sister” he hadn’t said in a long time.
Ji Yujing hadn’t defended himself in time and had no chance to block his face. Knocked backward into the grass, he lay there staring up at Wen Jiu with wide eyes.
You tricked me here just to get punched again.
Only after taking another hit did young master Ji finally think to explain himself. “I like someone else, okay?! Not Su Yaoyao.”
“I just think you’re a lot like I used to be. I used to chase after an Older sister from a family that’s close to ours, and it wasn’t Yaoyao either, it was the Yue family’s daughter from Beicheng.”
Boys at eighteen were all impulse and zero ability to accept their own mistakes.
Still pinning Ji Yujing to the grass, Su Tan demanded, “Then why are you here?”
Ji Yujing looked over at Wen Jiu. Su Tan followed his gaze and lifted his eyes too. The teen’s sharp gaze narrowed, as if his stare could harden into a knife.
Onlooker Wen Jiu: “…”