For the entire year that followed, during Su Qianqian's busy intervals between filming, Gu Chengyu seemed determined to lay all the world's beauty before her.
He took her to see the sun-dappled, shimmering fjords, to witness the first rays of dawn atop majestic, pristine snow-capped peaks, to see the glaciers of Antarctica and the auroras of the Arctic, holding her under the starry sky as they waited for meteor showers to streak across the heavens.
He would book entire opera houses for private concerts just for her, take her diving into the deep sea to swim with whales, ride hot air balloons to overlook the African savannah...
He patiently accompanied her, experiencing every form of ultimate romance one by one.
In the lulls between those journeys, or during warm evenings at the Cloudtop apartment, he would also hold her in his arms and, seemingly casually, explain to her the principles of business competition, the treacherous dangers of unpredictable human hearts, and the key to maintaining a family legacy.
He explained things in simple terms, and Su Qianqian listened attentively. However, she was still quite young and had been sheltered too well. Much of the deeper meaning was lost on her; she would blink her clear, almond-shaped eyes, listening in a daze, understanding yet not fully grasping it.
Gu Chengyu didn't press her. He would just ruffle her hair and gradually, subtly impart these lessons by weaving the principles into the actual situations they encountered later.
Yet, for a whole year, he never mentioned the word "marriage" again.
He also never asked her if she wanted to have a child of their own.
He only often whispered in her ear: "Qianqian, can you like me just a little bit more?"
He always seemed so insecure.
Although Su Qianqian occasionally felt a flicker of doubt, she was immersed in his meticulous devotion and her increasingly busy acting career, and she didn't dwell on it deeply.
What no one knew was that, in private, Gu Chengyu had personally selected a young boy from among his father's various illegitimate children—a boy whose eyes held a tenacious, unyielding spirit—and brought him back to the Gu Corporation headquarters, keeping him by his side for personal tutelage.
Even fewer knew what kind of difficult negotiation he had with his parents, ultimately making Gu Zhenting and Madam Gu, who had always valued him highly, silently acquiesce to this unconventional arrangement.
The fantasy drama Su Qianqian starred in last year exploded in popularity as expected. Everyone, from street to alley, was talking about that resilient female goddess.
She won the Gold Award for Best Actress in a Television Series in one fell swoop, becoming the youngest actress in nearly a century in Country S to achieve this honor, her fame unmatched.
Everyone speculated that this newly crowned Best Actress would naturally venture into the film industry this year, scaling another peak.
However, her decline came so suddenly.
Just three days after her twentieth birthday, she collapsed, utterly weak.
The person who had been full of life the day before now felt her vitality rapidly draining away.
Gu Chengyu stayed by her bedside, holding her hand tightly, not leaving for a moment.
His usually cold, stern, and noble face was now etched only with profound helplessness.
He murmured over and over, like a plea or a final obsession: "Qianqian, could you... like me just a little bit more..."
Su Qianqian lay weakly in his arms, feeling the warmth from his chest. She raised a small hand to touch his face, her heart filled with reluctance.
She already liked him so much it ached in her chest.
She also felt that he loved her more, and deeper, than she loved him.
But why? Why wouldn't that favorability meter of his just reach full?
It seemed... she was really going to die.
But she was so unwilling, unwilling to leave the myriad wonders of the world he had shown her, and unwilling to leave this man who had spoiled her to the bone.
In her heart, she used her last bit of will to call out: [System? Am I... about to die?]
After a brief silence, that long-unheard childish, milky voice sounded, heavy with sorrow:
[Yes, Qianqian.]
By now, the system Qingyu didn't want to hide it from her anymore: [Actually, Gu Chengyu's favorability towards you has been full for a long, long time, even overflowing for ages...]
But, Qianqian, the transfer of the Fate's Chosen One's fortune requires recognition by the Heart-Knot Bond to be shared with you after the death calamity, truly sustaining your life force.
And the Heart-Knot Bond recognizes that love must be mutual, so it requires you to also like him very, very much.
[Your love value... is still missing that last little bit...]
Su Qianqian didn't know that as Qingyu said this, his little green bellyband was already stained with blood—a punishment from the rules of this small world.
But he didn't show the slightest hint of abnormality in front of her.
Originally, Su Qianqian shouldn't have been able to hear these words, but given her hopeless condition, the world consciousness turned a blind eye.
Su Qianqian only felt bewildered, wronged, and overwhelmed by helplessness.
She herself didn't know what more she could do to like him more.
Clearly, this was already the greatest liking she, having lived two lives, could possibly give.
She couldn't even imagine what a more intense emotion than this would look like.
Qingyu looked at the pink light band in Su Qianqian's consciousness sea, stubbornly stuck at 99%, and then at the green light band beside it, already full and even constantly emitting a green glow, desperately trying to fill the pink gap. He was frantic with anxiety but utterly powerless.
Just then, Gu Chengyu, who was holding her tightly, suddenly spoke, his voice terribly hoarse: "His name is Qingyu. He lives in a little green light sphere, a very cute little child."
"If there's a chance in the future, I'll take you to meet him."
Su Qianqian was startled. She looked up at him in surprise, her voice weak but still ethereally lovely:
"You know?"
Gu Chengyu lowered his head, kissed her forehead, his eyes filled with deep affection and bitterness: "I know."
“Since a year ago, I started to sense some of it. I know you come from a place called Blue Star, I know you came to conquer me, and I know you really want to live.”
He tightened his arms around her, his voice carrying a humble plea: "But Qianqian, your conquest mission was completed long ago. Can you let me try to win you over too?"
"Let me live in the deepest place in your heart, okay?"
Su Qianqian had so, so many questions. When did he find out?
How much does he know? Why can he hear the system's and her conversations?
But her strength was fading rapidly; even opening her mouth became difficult.
Her consciousness began to blur.
In the very end, she suddenly didn't want to ask anymore.
No matter what, these two years of time were already stolen luck for her.
To have met him, to have been cherished by him like this, she was happy, truly happy.
Using the last of her strength, she touched his handsome, noble features, looked into his pained eyes, and told him: "Gu Chengyu, I like you."
This was her most sincere words.
"I know." Gu Chengyu's eyes reddened, his voice choked.
Looking at her still-beautiful features and sensing her love, he suddenly wasn't afraid anymore.
Su Qianqian seemed to regain a little strength.
She didn't know it was an unknown energy from him, pouring out frantically into her body, yet like a stone sinking into the sea, it could only barely allow her to say a few more words to him.
She spoke haltingly, like a final farewell: "At the beginning, I really hated you, hated that you had so many women."
"Later on, I also held my nose and forced myself to like you, because I thought you were so formidable; if I didn't pay with my true feelings, you definitely wouldn't like me."
She gasped weakly, tears slipping down. "But later... I truly came to like you..."
"So much..."
"I want to live too, but I don't know... what counts as the favorability meter being full..."
"I understand." Gu Chengyu kissed away her tears, his heart feeling as if pierced by a knife.
"I know you tried your best. My Qianqian has already done so, so well..."
Just then, the arm Gu Chengyu was holding her with began to turn transparent, starting from the fingertips, gradually dissolving into fine particles of light that scattered into the air.
Su Qianqian hadn't yet grasped what was happening, staring blankly at his gradually vanishing wrist, his arm...
Gu Chengyu gazed at her deeply, as if to carve her image into the deepest part of his soul. He left his final words, filled with endless remorse and tenderness:
"I'm sorry, Qianqian... Gu Chengyu is a coward."
Because he was a coward, he couldn't bear to watch her die in his arms. He chose to close his eyes first.
Even though he knew that without his forceful intervention, she would only live a few seconds longer.
"Gu Chengyu—!" Su Qianqian mustered her last ounce of strength, screaming his name.
He completely dissipated before her eyes.
Grief surged in Su Qianqian's heart.
A few seconds later, her life force, now severed from his, snapped immediately.
She, too, finally closed those almond-shaped eyes he had cherished most.
