Xu Qingqing, carefree and unburdened, started playing video games again right after dinner. The moment she logged in, Zhou Chenyu caught her online.
Zhou Chenyu bombarded her with messages: "You ignore my texts but have time to play games?!"
Xu Qingqing found him baffling and replied with a single question mark. Wasn’t it normal for her not to reply? Why was he making such a big deal out of it?
Zhou Chenyu then remembered Xu Qingqing’s usual behavior. This young miss didn’t just act spoiled with her boyfriend—she treated all her friends the same way, frequently disappearing and ignoring messages for days or even weeks.
Even if you called her out face-to-face, she wouldn’t feel the slightest bit guilty. Instead, she’d confidently declare she just couldn’t be bothered to reply. If not for her privileged background and the people protecting her, she’d have been beaten up and stuffed in a sack long ago.
Zhou Chenyu sneered in frustration and typed, "I got roasted online by trolls for defending you—thousands of hate comments—and you didn’t even say a word, just hid like a coward."
The second he sent the message, he received a party invite.
Xu Qingqing pulled him into voice chat, sounding oddly excited. "Zhou Chenyu, you got flamed too?!"
Zhou Chenyu: "…Why do you sound so thrilled?"
Was this something to celebrate?!
Zhou Chenyu sighed. "I saw those people being ridiculous and stood up for you, only to get dogpiled with thousands of insults."
Xu Qingqing burst into laughter—so she wasn’t the only one humiliated! Fantastic!
She’d thought she was the sole unlucky one, but now she had a partner in misery! Zhou Chenyu truly was her best childhood friend.
Now, if anyone found out about this, they wouldn’t just laugh at her alone.
Zhou Chenyu was speechless. "You’re still laughing? I did this for who?"
Xu Qingqing realized she might be enjoying his misfortune a bit too much. She stifled her giggles and changed the subject. "Good bro! I’ll gift you a horse!" Her grandmother was about to buy a horse ranch, so she could just pick one out for Zhou Chenyu later.
She immediately started browsing horse photos online, researching bloodlines and breeds…
Considering their shared ordeal of being flamed, Xu Qingqing generously promised, "You can go pick one out yourself when the ranch is ready! Take whatever you want—even if it’s a horse I like, I’ll let you have it." She felt she was being incredibly righteous.
Zhou Chenyu hadn’t expected such generosity and grew intrigued. "Your family owns a horse ranch? How come I never knew, growing up with you? Where is it—domestic or overseas?"
He wanted to check his schedule and plan when to go select a horse.
Xu Qingqing hesitated. "Australia? England? I’m not sure. It’s not bought yet, but I’ll let you know once it is!"
Without another word, Zhou Chenyu left the party and promptly blocked Xu Qingqing.
Psycho!
Xu Qingqing: "…???"
She’d been counting on Zhou Chenyu to carry her in the game, but now that he was gone, she sulked on the couch alone.
Xu Qingqing loved gaming, but she was terrible at it—so bad that teammates would insult her ancestors eight generations back.
Though she believed she was trying her best, her teammates saw her as deliberately throwing the game.
She’d even learned a term for it: "inting" (intentional feeding). It meant someone purposely played poorly to lose.
Xu Qingqing swore she wasn’t doing it, but no one believed her. Nobody thought it was possible to be that bad naturally. Once, when someone in-game called her a grade-schooler, a teammate immediately defended actual kids, saying, "No elementary student is this bad."
That’s how awful Xu Qingqing was—even fifth-graders looked down on her.
So she always dragged Zhou Chenyu into games. He was skilled enough to carry her to victory, and he’d even argue with toxic players for her—the perfect teammate.
Xie Lianqing approached with a glass of milk. He handed it to her and sat down. "What’s wrong?"
Noticing her gloomy expression and the game on her screen, he offered, "Want me to play with you?"
He was supposed to be working, but Xu Qingqing had had a rough day. Though she hadn’t complained, Xie Lianqing felt sorry for her.
But Xu Qingqing seemed to have already forgotten the Twitter drama. At her boyfriend’s offer, she instantly perked up, forgetting all about Zhou Chenyu. "Really? Are you any good?"
Xie Lianqing had been swamped with work since returning to China and hadn’t had time to game with her, so she had no idea about his skill level.
He replied modestly, "Decent. I haven’t played much recently, so I might be rusty."
Xu Qingqing immediately lost interest, her tone dismissive. "Then I don’t want to play with you. You’ll tank my win rate." She’d finally reached Gold II—just a step away from Platinum!
Xie Lianqing: "…You have a win rate to protect?"
In the end, Xu Qingqing still invited Xie Lianqing to join her—but she distrusted his skills so much she insisted on playing unranked matches.
Fifteen minutes into the game…
Xu Qingqing, chased down and killed yet again, wailed in frustration before turning on Xie Lianqing. "Why are you so bad?!"
Xie Lianqing slowly looked up: "…???"
She blamed him without hesitation. "You’re so terrible, just sitting next to me ruins my gameplay!"
Even the random teammates couldn’t take it anymore. One spoke up, "Girl, you’re delusional. Your boyfriend’s score is 12/0/3. You’re 0/11/0. The entire team’s deaths combined don’t match yours."
Another added, "Just AFK in the fountain at this point. If you stopped feeding, we’d have won already."
Xu Qingqing fumed but stubbornly refused. "No! I won’t AFK! I’m participating, and I’m proud of it!"
Besides, if they lost, it was obviously Xie Lianqing’s fault—he couldn’t even carry his own girlfriend!
Her logic was flawless. Xie Lianqing, silent beside her, was so exasperated he almost laughed, his character ruthlessly slaughtering the enemy team on-screen.
Xu Qingqing glared at him. Xie Lianqing smoothly conceded, "Yes, my bad." Dealing with this high-maintenance young miss, CEO Xie had mastered the art of apologizing.
The teammates were stunned. "Dude, you’ve got the patience of a saint. Your girlfriend’s so spoiled. Let me tell you, you can’t spoil girls like this. When they throw tantrums, you gotta stand your ground—men can’t afford to lose face! And don’t just buy them whatever they want, or they’ll bankrupt you…"
He ranted passionately, dispensing unsolicited relationship advice until the voice chat fell silent—everyone was listening intently to this self-proclaimed love guru.
Xu Qingqing, idly running her short-legged character around under the tower, casually remarked, "Huh. With all that wisdom, I’m guessing you don’t have a girlfriend?"
The passionate teammate’s voice cut off as if strangled.
A minute later, the game announced he had disconnected.
Everyone: "…They felt that brutal burn."
After the game ended, Xu Qingqing finally had time to respond to the barrage of messages from her so-called friends. She wasn’t sure if her aunt had taken action yet, but she wanted to observe Bai Youlan and see if the progress bar above her head would change once the results came out.
Xu Qingqing had been dragged through the mud today and assumed her haters were laughing behind her back. But when she opened her messages, she realized that wasn’t the case at all!
Xie Lianqing had gone all out, buying a wave of trending hashtags. After the news broke, the internet was in an uproar.
Public opinion about Bai Youlan was divided. Some called her the daughter of a homewrecker, while others argued that her mother’s sins shouldn’t condemn her, saying she was just an unfortunate victim.
There were also those who pointed out that she was still the Xu family’s heiress. Even without Xu blood, Xu Changshan doted on her, and since he was the only son in the Xu family, the vast family fortune would eventually go to her and Xu Tianbao.
Meanwhile, Xu Qingqing’s Weibo had been scrubbed clean. The most vocal trolls who had led the charge against her either deleted their accounts or issued apologies after receiving legal notices—a far cry from their earlier bravado.
Xie Lianqing watched as his girlfriend, looking tense, gripped her phone and opened her messages. A few minutes later, she suddenly jumped up, bouncing around the house and laughing uncontrollably.
Seeing her happy again, Xie Lianqing felt his efforts had been worthwhile. Smiling, he reached out to pull her into his arms, ready to subtly fish for praise—
But the next second, Xu Qingqing exclaimed excitedly, “I need to call Bai Youlan!!”
Xie Lianqing: “……?”
He stared at his outstretched hand, utterly bewildered.
Xu Qingqing had no time for Xie Lianqing. Since Bai Youlan’s interview video showed no anomalies, she guessed she could only see that strange system if they met face-to-face.
She quickly unblocked Bai Youlan and dialed her number. The first call went unanswered, but Xu Qingqing stubbornly tried several more times.
According to the gossip in the influencer group chats, Bai Youlan was currently filming a variety show.
Contestants were supposed to surrender their phones during recordings to avoid outside influence on the show’s dynamics. But Xu Qingqing refused to believe Bai Youlan didn’t have a phone. She flaunted her status as the Xu family’s heiress and had Xu Changshan backing her—if she didn’t even have that much privilege, she might as well quit the industry.
Sure enough, the call eventually connected.
Bai Youlan appeared on the screen. She seemed to be in the middle of filming, dressed in casual workout clothes, her face slightly pale as if she’d just been pulled out of the gym. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead.
When she saw it was Xu Qingqing, Bai Youlan’s expression froze for a split second. “Qingqing?” Xu Qingqing had blocked her ages ago—she never expected her to reach out first.
But Bai Youlan recovered quickly. After a brief pause, she softened her expression and said gently, “Qingqing, there’s been a misunderstanding between us.” The production crew and cameras nearby immediately zoomed in, sensing drama.
A juicy scoop—family feud in the wealthy elite!
Xu Qingqing ignored her. Her eyes were fixed on the bold text floating above Bai Youlan’s head:
[Beautiful Life System: Binding in Progress]
[Acquired Luck Points: 36/100]
[Mission Progress: 50/100]
[Reward: Inherit Billions, Achieve a Beautiful Life]
While Bai Youlan continued her performance, Xu Qingqing confirmed the text and finally spoke her first words of the night: “Your makeup looks terrible today.”
“And is that a pimple on your face?”
The next second, the call ended abruptly, leaving Bai Youlan stunned.
Xu Qingqing hadn’t said a single word beyond that, as if she’d only called to condescendingly critique Bai Youlan’s appearance.
With cameras still rolling, Bai Youlan seethed internally but forced herself to maintain her gentle facade. Biting her lip, she tried calling back—
Only to find she’d been blocked again.
Bai Youlan: “……DAMN IT!!”
