At five in the morning, Zhong Ziyan sprang out of bed with boundless energy. She moved with the grace of an elf as she washed up, left her room, and grabbed a pack of whole wheat toast from the kitchen—all without disturbing Wei Hanyan or the newly appointed, somewhat peculiar assistant Hua Shuangshuang.
Then, Zhong Ziyan headed straight for the game room, picked up the controller, and guided the on-screen character into a massive alien maze while nibbling on a slice of toast.
As an infinite-level powerhouse with enhanced reflexes and absolute control over every combat detail, her micro-management skills were second to none. What would make ordinary players rage-quit and throw their controllers, she cleared in a single attempt.
Playing the game felt as effortless as controlling the protagonist with her mind.
Originally, this single-player game required at least two hundred hours of slow exploration, rich with content. But Zhong Ziyan’s skills were too advanced, and she was solely focused on progression. After grinding for over ten hours the day before, she had already completed the most critical parts of the main storyline, charging straight toward the final boss at the center of the map.
She bulldozed her way through the dark, demonic castle, unwilling to even let go of the controller long enough to eat more than the first slice of toast.
After locating and defeating the boss, Zhong Ziyan finally rescued the imprisoned princess.
The princess, named Zel○a, turned to her with a teary smile and asked, "Do you... remember me?"
The music swelled, then faded—and just like that, the game abruptly ended.
Zhong Ziyan, who had planned to leisurely explore the rest of the map later, was stunned. That’s it? That’s it?! Why did I even bother saving the princess??
A sudden emptiness washed over her. She tossed the controller aside, placed the entire bag of toast on her lap, and slowly munched on a slice with her left hand while her right hand opened Weibo, typing out a post letter by letter.
Wei Hanyun, in the middle of a board meeting, heard a notification chime from his laptop. Though everyone noticed the sound, no one dared to comment.
He gestured for the speaker to continue, then lightly swiped the touchpad to open the notification.
[Still Trying to Spend Money Today: I regret killing Ganon. I regret saving the princess. Can’t even reload now. I feel so empty. Games are evil.]
Though the post was just published, it already had dozens of comments.
Wei Hanyun skimmed through them and spotted a familiar username at the top.
[GamerGurl: Rich lady’s grinding hard! But don’t be sad—there’s DLC with extra items, levels, and higher difficulty! [As long as you play Zel○a, we’re BFFs.jpg]]
Zhong Ziyan didn’t reply, seemingly too heartbroken to recover.
Wei Hanyun lowered his gaze in thought, then typed a message to Fang Nan, who was sitting beside the stenographer: [When will Bach’s handwritten score arrive? Also, have someone bid on that gold-inlaid pearl celestial globe from yesterday’s auction catalog.]
Fang Nan glanced at the screen and thought, "...I knew he was a bit obsessed with Ziyan, but I didn’t expect even the boss to lose his composure."
Obsession with Ziyan is hazardous to health, Fang Nan concluded solemnly.
Maintaining his elite demeanor, he typed back: [The former is expected to arrive via international courier in three days. The latter will be handled immediately.]
Almost the instant the message was sent, Wei Hanyun’s laptop chimed again with the same notification.
This time, everyone remained composed, and the speaker didn’t even pause.
But Wei Hanyun’s expression, far from easing, turned slightly colder as he studied the screen.
Fang Nan: "?" Sensing trouble, he discreetly pulled out his phone under the table and checked Zhong Ziyan’s Weibo to see what fresh disaster the troublemaker had caused.
[Still Trying to Spend Money Today: Whatever, switching games. [Pic]]
The photo was hastily taken, mostly showing another game cartridge. The cover featured a white-haired, stern-faced man, with the title: The Wit○her 3.
Fang Nan shuddered in awe: "...Madam, still gaming? Do you realize your allowance might get cut off?"
After a moment’s thought, he muted his phone and texted Zhong Ziyan.
Having weathered countless storms at Wei Hanyun’s side, Fang Nan wasn’t fazed. His mind rapidly formulated an emergency plan.
He quickly typed: "Since you left, the boss hasn’t had much appetite."
Before hitting send, he reconsidered Zhong Ziyan’s unpredictable logic and cautiously added: "But he told me not to tell you. Please keep it between us."
Seeing the "read" receipt, Fang Nan straightened up and placed his phone on the table, subtly observing Wei Hanyun’s reaction.
About thirty seconds later, Wei Hanyun’s phone vibrated.
—Worth noting: during meetings, he usually handed his phone to Fang Nan. This time, however, he not only kept it on him but had placed it beside his laptop, screen up.
Fang Nan, through his non-prescription glasses, clearly saw "Zhong Ziyan" flash on the screen.
Wei Hanyun stared at the phone for several seconds before signaling a pause in the meeting and answering, "Morning."
Fang Nan was the first to rise, gesturing for everyone to leave the conference room temporarily.
The stenographer silently muted the video call’s microphone before exiting.
"Good morning," Zhong Ziyan greeted, phone wedged between her ear and shoulder as she fought monsters on-screen. "How’s the weather in H City? Hanyan said it’s scorching."
"Bearable," Wei Hanyun replied with restrained politeness.
His gaze lingered on her latest Weibo post.
"A few days ago, I learned a chilled dessert soup recipe from the chef here. Perfect for summer heat."
Wei Hanyun’s expression softened slightly.
Then Zhong Ziyan added, "I sent the recipe to the head chef at Tingshan. You can try it when he makes it."
Wei Hanyun: "..." He seemed to ponder something, closed her Weibo page, then reopened it.
"Busy?" Zhong Ziyan hesitated at his silence. "I’ll hang up. Go back to work."
The subtext was likely "Go back to making money." Wei Hanyun mused.
"Your return date is approaching?" His tone was leisurely, utterly composed.
"Three more days," Zhong Ziyan replied dutifully. "I’ll bring Hanyan straight to Tingshan by car."
Meaning: No need to pick us up.
"Alright," Wei Hanyun acknowledged calmly. "Travel safely."
"Don’t worry, Hanyan won’t get hurt." Zhong Ziyan paused. "I’ll hang up now—oh, pink or red?"
It was a random, out-of-context remark, but Wei Hanyun answered without hesitation: "Red."
...
Outside the conference room, Fang Nan wasn’t idle either. With practiced ease, he switched to a convincingly crafted alt account on Weibo and left a comment under Zhong Ziyan’s post.
[YouCan'tSeeMe: Rich sis, aren’t you bringing your hubby along on your vacation? Won’t he be bored all alone?]
Then Fang Nan immediately called Yu Qianshan, instructing him to hire trolls to upvote the comment to the top.
Yu Qianshan’s inner reaction was "Are you out of your mind?" but his mouth obediently replied, "On it."
Yu Qianshan’s efficiency was nothing short of impressive. Within minutes, Fang Nan’s disguised comment rocketed to the top of the replies.
But things didn’t go as planned. Among the replies to his comment, one gained likes even faster than his own.
[WhyBeSadWhenYouCanExpand: Who needs a hubby when you’ve got games? [dog emoji]]
What followed was the internet’s favorite pastime—copy-paste meme replies.
[Who needs a hubby when you’ve got a private jet? [dog emoji]]
[Who needs a hubby when you’ve got a private island? [dog emoji]]
[Girls’ trip with your besties is the best—who needs a hubby? [dog emoji]]
Fang Nan: "..." One phone call and I’ll have all your accounts banned!
Fortunately, Fang Nan and Yu Qianshan’s efforts weren’t in vain. Zhong Ziyan was sensitive enough to the "hubby" topic that she soon replied to Fang Nan’s comment, attaching a photo of two small but vibrantly colored coral pieces cupped in her palm—one a deep fiery red, the other a soft pink with faint white cloud-like patterns.
[StillFiguringOutHowToSpendMoney: He’s busy, so probably not bored. But I think I should bring him back a souvenir. [photo]]
With that reassurance, Fang Nan switched back to his main account, relieved.
Soon after, Wei Hanyun called everyone back to resume the interrupted meeting, and Fang Nan let out a sigh of relief.
But he missed the new reply that quickly popped up under his alt account’s comment.
[AnZhiFeelsExhausted: ? Am I hallucinating, or is that actually deep-sea coral harvested from depths of 1,000 meters? Staged photo?]
...
When they returned to H City from Claude Island, Wei Hanyan was reluctant to leave, but after the warning call from her mother the night before, she didn’t dare suggest extending the trip.
Without sounding conceited, Wei Hanyan was pretty sure Zhong Ziyan would’ve agreed if she had proposed it.
But then Wei Hanyan’s name would’ve been etched into Wei Hanyun’s blacklist with a bold, permanent marker.
"I won’t stay—heading straight back to Yan Capital," Wei Hanyan declared, her survival instincts kicking in as she made a beeline for home base. "Auntie, please apologize to Uncle for me—oh, and thank you for the coral you gave me! It’s absolutely adorable!"
Zhong Ziyan waved her off and gave Hua Shuangshuang a ride before heading straight back to Tingshan. To her surprise, Wei Hanyun was unexpectedly home.
"Not busy today. Could handle things from home," Wei Hanyun explained.
Zhong Ziyan didn’t overthink it. She pulled a paper box from her backpack and handed it to him. "Souvenir."
Wei Hanyun already knew it contained a fiery-red Aka coral—an extremely valuable piece, though he had no idea how Zhong Ziyan had obtained it on that island.
He accepted the box with a smile but didn’t open it immediately. Instead, he said, "I actually got you something too."
Following his gaze, Zhong Ziyan turned and immediately froze, her eyes glued to the golden, globe-like ornament in the corner of the living room.
Its stand was much taller than a typical globe’s, coiled with several dragons crafted from gold. A closer look at the spherical top revealed it was meticulously inlaid with pearls of varying sizes in an intricate pattern.
"I thought you might like it," Wei Hanyun remarked casually.
