“My God! I really never expected her to actually…” Fang Baiwei took a deep sip of her milk tea. It was obvious that she still hadn’t fully recovered from the shock. “What on earth was she thinking?”
Mu Yue gently stirred her orange tea and smiled. “Normal people really can’t understand it.”
Fang Baiwei’s expression was incredibly complicated. “She’s only eighteen. She hasn’t even graduated from high school, and she still has to repeat her senior year and take the college entrance exam…”
Mu Yue’s hand paused. She reminded her, “Don’t pity her. This was her own choice.”
“Of course. How could I possibly sympathize with her?” Fang Baiwei hurriedly said. “It’s just… I can’t quite describe how I feel.”
After all, Fang Surou had treated her that way in her previous life. Her experiences had been so painful that Fang Baiwei could never bring herself to soften toward her or forgive her. She would never forgive Fang Surou.
It was just that—
“She enjoyed more than a decade of resources from the Fang family. She attended good schools and learned all kinds of useful things. Aside from relying on others, she should have had other options. Yet she chose this path.” Mu Yue put her feelings into words for her.
“Because that’s the way she was taught to think from childhood. She was spoiled as she grew up. Her view of herself—or rather, her position in the Fang family—was that of a pet.”
Fang Baiwei’s hand rested on her cup, and she froze.
A pet…?
She carefully thought back over Fang Surou’s behavior in both her previous and present lives after returning to the Fang family. The more she thought about it, the colder and more horrified she felt. A fine layer of goosebumps even rose along her arms.
In a trembling voice, she said, “I suddenly feel incredibly lucky that I wasn’t raised in the Fang family. I don’t want to become as pitiful as she is.”
Yes. A pet.
To Fang Surou, Fang Baiwei was another pet that its owner had brought home from outside—one with a superior bloodline. Fang Surou’s hostility toward Fang Baiwei was a fight for attention, a defense of her territory.
She had already been kept in captivity for many years. She had no experience or ability to survive in the wild, so she had never considered living outside. Whenever she encountered a problem she couldn’t solve, she would anxiously search for a new owner to protect her. In her mind, she could survive only by relying on someone else.
Of course, not all parents who treated their daughters like princesses raised them to think this way. Most of them simply wanted their daughters to live carefree, happy lives, like Lin Xiaoxiao’s family. But that was too idealistic.
Society was a jungle. If parents lacked the ability to protect their princess forever, then sooner or later, that princess—with no survival skills—would be devoured by the beasts. So there was nothing wrong with being a princess, but one must remember not to discard one’s blade merely because one was a princess.
After figuring this out, Fang Baiwei suddenly understood what Mu Yue had told her at the airport that day. She smiled again and said to Mu Yue, “My next goal is to break away from the Fang family! I’m an adult now, anyway!”
Mu Yue supported her and said, “The sooner you get out, the better.”
Fang Baiwei nodded solemnly. Then she said regretfully, “It’s a shame I didn’t record it at the time. Otherwise, I could have shown you what happened…”
The Fang family had still been in complete chaos that day. None of them had the time to nitpick Fang Baiwei or look for fault with her. Those had been the easiest and most comfortable days she had ever spent in the Fang household. What made her even happier was that she had added Mu Yue as a friend.
Fang Baiwei had no friends, and she desperately longed for emotional connections. Every day, she racked her brains for topics to chat about with Mu Yue. Take the clash between Yu Qingqing and Fang Surou, for example. Mu Yue wanted the inside scoop, so Fang Baiwei had even gone to the hospital to act as a “frontline reporter,” taking several photos of the situation there for her.
The Yu family had absolutely no desire to let Fang Suxuan come over, but what could they do? Yu Qingqing wanted him there!
The moment she saw Fang Suxuan, she immediately seemed much better. For a while, the Yu family even suspected that Fang Suxuan had put some kind of spell on their daughter.
After Fang Suxuan arrived, he naturally explained what had happened that day to Yu Qingqing. The photo had been completely taken out of context, and the person who had posted it had deleted it so quickly precisely because they knew it was a rumor and were afraid of being sued.
After hearing him out, Yu Qingqing thought he made perfect sense—and believed him.
Just like that. She believed him that easily.
Fang Baiwei had been dealt another blow when she heard about it. She had no idea how many times she would have fallen into traps because of Yu Qingqing if Mu Yue hadn’t intervened.
Still, Yu Qingqing wasn’t completely unconcerned. She didn’t leave the hospital right away. Instead, she continued staying there even after she had fully recovered, because she thoroughly enjoyed being looked after by Fang Suxuan. She also demanded that Fang Suxuan come to keep her company every day as soon as he got off work.
With all his time spent at the hospital with her, her Brother Xuan had no time to look after Fang Surou.
To preserve his engagement, Fang Suxuan naturally agreed. The Yu family’s reaction was terrible, but his daily visits at least helped ease the tension between the two families and improve the Yu family’s attitude toward him.
The Yu couple were truly at their wits’ end. Rationally, they knew they absolutely couldn’t allow Fang Suxuan to keep associating with their precious daughter. But whenever Yu Qingqing threw a tantrum, they were helpless. They were still discussing what exactly they should do.
Before they could come to any conclusion, however, Fang Surou had already grown impatient.
Her dear big brother had been nowhere to be seen for several days. She wanted to go to the hospital and intercept him, but that would be far too brazen and might result in the Yu family beating her up. She didn’t want to get hit. If it were only Yu Qingqing, she wouldn’t be afraid—at most, she would take two slaps, then play the victim to her dear big brother afterward. But members of the Yu family were there to protect her.
She was frantic with worry, and that was how the events of that night came about.
Early the next morning, Fang Baiwei was woken by her mother’s scream. Rubbing her eyes, she hurried over and saw Fang Surou lying on her dear big brother’s bed. Neither of them was wearing any clothes, and there were numerous marks on their bodies. Fang Surou was crying pitifully.
Yet the mother who had always doted on Fang Surou didn’t even let her put on her clothes. She dragged her straight off the bed and slapped her several times, cursing her as a “bitch.”
Their father, who had always seemed capable of controlling everything, looked as though the sky had fallen. He pointed at Fang Surou and her dear big brother and shouted abuse at them.
The second brother had come over to watch the spectacle as well. He laughed so hard he nearly doubled over, taking pure delight in their misfortune. His expression was almost manic.
Whenever Fang Baiwei recalled that scene, it felt like a distorted, mottled oil painting—so abstract that she couldn’t understand it at all.
“So how did your dear big brother react?” Mu Yue asked, barely managing to suppress her laughter.
Fang Baiwei thought carefully, then shook her head. “I don’t know.” She really didn’t seem to remember. Most of the memorable details had been focused on everyone else. Her dear big brother had simply been sitting on the bed, frowning as he rubbed his temples, looking as though he had an unbearable headache.
Mu Yue wore a teasing look on her face. "Hmph, men."
"Those fake dad and fake mom of theirs sure see eye to eye. They're planning to send Fang Surou abroad, far away from everything here."
Mu Yue knew immediately that they were trying to act like nothing had ever happened.
Fang Baiwei said, "They also warned us that no one is allowed to leak this matter, especially not to let the Yu family find out about it."
What's the use of only warning Fang Baiwei and her second brother? Would Fang Surou obediently go abroad?
The answer was no. This time bomb would definitely be set off by Fang Surou, and when that happened, the Fang parents would be furious, and she might not be able to bear the brunt of their anger. Then what would she do?
She would do the thing she was best at: shift all the blame onto Fang Baiwei.
Thinking of this, Mu Yue said, "From now on, don't do anything at all. Delete that surveillance picture you took in the amusement park before, erase all your post-browsing history, and get rid of my contact information and our chat records too—wipe everything completely clean."
Fang Baiwei panicked the second she heard that. "Why? Mu Yue, do you hate me now?"
Mu Yue looked at the girl, amused. "I haven't finished talking yet. Buy a new phone, use it to add me on your social media, and don't write your name in the note. When Fang Surou does something later and tries to frame you, you can hand over your old phone to them openly and let them check it. Don't format the old phone, and keep using it normally. That way, they probably won't be thorough enough to do data recovery on it."
Hearing this, Fang Baiwei let out a sigh of relief, then her face slowly turned red. "I thought..."
Mu Yue took a sip of her tea, spotted the person who just walked in the door, and said to Fang Baiwei, "Alright, the person here to pick me up is here. I'm heading out now."
"Okay." Fang Baiwei responded first, then turned to glance at the entrance and saw Cheng Zimin. She sized him up carefully from head to toe, subconsciously trying to find flaws in him.
Sensing her scrutiny, Cheng Zimin looked over too. Their eyes met, and both of them narrowed their eyes slightly.
Cheng Zimin walked over. "I hope I didn't interrupt you two. If you two aren't done chatting, I can just be a wallflower. I don't mind at all."
Mu Yue looked at him, feeling completely confused. What was he rambling about all of a sudden?
"Didn't you say you wanted to go rafting? Aren't we going anymore?"
Cheng Zimin immediately broke into a bright smile. "Of course we're going. Absolutely. What about Miss Fang..."
"You two go have fun. I'll head home soon anyway." Fang Baiwei smiled politely too.
Mu Yue nodded, waved goodbye to Fang Baiwei, and left the milk tea shop. She didn't notice that behind her, Cheng Zimin was raising his eyebrows proudly while Fang Baiwei was inwardly cursing that vixen.
During the tense, pre-storm period for the Fang family, Mu Yue accepted an invitation from Lin Xiaoxiao and her family, and had a wonderful meal with the father and daughter at an old restaurant that the Lin family used to frequent. Every dish they ordered tasted absolutely divine, and everyone left the meal feeling perfectly happy.
Lin Xiaoxiao's college admission results had come out the day before the meal, and she had gotten into the university she had applied for. Both father and daughter were over the moon, and when they found out that Mu Yue would be leaving for City A soon, Lin Xiaoxiao burst into tears unwillingly. Mu Yue, helpless, took her for a drive around City H after the meal, took countless photos, and only then managed to send Lin Xiaoxiao back home.
As college admission results came out in batches one after another, many restaurants started hosting graduation banquets.
Both Cheng Zimin's and Lin Xiaoxiao's families held their own banquets. The Fang family, however, didn't even have time to throw one for Fang Baiwei, and even if they did, they probably wouldn't have thought of her. Mu Yue didn't attend any of the banquets. Instead, she went to a familiar-sounding mountain in City H to hike and enjoy the scenery. She was planning to leave City H in the next few days.
The mountain had fresh air, cool temperatures, and even the mosquito problem could be easily solved with her special perks. Mu Yue was quite enjoying herself. Plus, all her base stats had been boosted, so climbing the mountain didn't tire her out at all—she only felt the thrill of reaching the peak and taking in the unique view.
Her main quest of getting into University A as a top student was completed, and she had long received the 500 points from the Top Student reward. Adding the points from her recent spending and her previous balance, Mu Yue's points now added up to 925, and she still had over 30 million in her bank account.
Since there wasn't anything she particularly wanted to buy right now, Mu Yue only raised her Appearance stat to 85, and stored the remaining 800+ points for later.
She had also drawn some nice rewards from her recent check-ins. The most valuable one was a 5000-point character card: the Undefeated Lawyer, whose title and name were both Quan Sheng. No matter the country's laws, once the character card was read, the user could master them proficiently. Once the character was summoned, they would never lose a single case. If they ever lost a case, all the points spent on the card would be fully refunded.
This card had an extremely arrogant description: [A man who plays with the law in the palm of his hand. To him, the law is nothing more than a plaything.]
When the card appeared, the Villain System clapped its bear paws excitedly. "That's amazing! Now the host can be a much better outlaw!"
Comeback and Tycoon immediately followed suit, clapping along mindlessly. Top Student, who had already cleared the game but didn't want to be left out, could only close his eyes and follow along, abandoning his conscience.
Mu Yue... Mu Yue was left speechless.
Mu Yue hadn't used the lawyer card yet. There was no need to bring it out until the situation called for it. Besides, she didn't have her own house yet, so it would be inconvenient to have another person to take care of.
This lawyer card must have used up a lot of her luck. All the other things she drew after that were small gadgets, most worth between 50,000 and 300,000 yuan. She didn't draw any points or cash. Apart from those, there was one rather interesting limited-time buff called "Forest Princess".
After activating this buff, her animal affinity would be maxed out, and she could communicate with animals without any barriers, for a total of five hours. Mu Yue thought it sounded like a lot of fun. At first, she wanted to test it out at a cat café or dog café, but soon realized that there might be too many animals there. If they all swarmed to her, it would easily make other people jealous, and someone might even film her and post the video online.
She hated drawing too much attention, so she gave up on that idea. Later, she saw videos of national nature reserves and the African savannah online, and felt a little tempted. She decided to pick a time to go there and experience the buff.
Mu Yue climbed up to the halfway point of the mountain, enjoying the breeze for a while, then suddenly got the idea to ask the system to open the tracking feature.
What was that male lead up to right now?
The scene appeared in front of Mu Yue. The male lead was still recuperating, staying in a sanatorium with a nice view. He was talking to several burly women in suits—these women were clearly not Wang Jian's type, and they looked more like bodyguards.
Mu Yue burst out laughing. It seemed like the male lead's psychological shadow and trauma were really severe. In the past, his bodyguards would definitely have been big, tall men.
Even though Wang Jian had pressed charges against Fang Suyi, the lack of concrete evidence to prove that Fang Suyi had drugged and raped him, coupled with the fact that Wang Jian himself had been a willing participant with no sign of resistance throughout the incident, and no traces of the drug were found in his system afterward, resulted in the rape and drugging allegations being dropped for good.
As for the other individual, there was solid proof that he was carrying illegal drugs, and with Ye Luling's father also pushing for retaliation, that person was successfully sent to prison, where all the standard "prison perks" were properly arranged for him.
But obviously, Wang Jian was far from satisfied with this outcome. Fang Suyi was still walking around unharmed—other than his reputation being tarnished a little, he had suffered no real losses at all. Wang Jian had his people keep a tight watch on Fang Suyi, determined to pin some kind of charge on him to get him locked up. He even planned to have his own contacts in the prison arrange for Fang Suyi to face constant sexual assault behind bars, just to satisfy his burning grudge. No wonder they say the protagonist always has it going for him.
Look at Fang Suyi, that secondary villain character—he simply doesn't have enough clout. While Wang Jian's side had everything all prepared, Fang Suyi was still cooped up at home throwing tantrums all day long.
Right after Wang Jian finished giving his orders and the burly women who had been with him left, a pretty, playful young nurse walked into the room. Wang Jian perked up immediately and started flirting with her. The nurse's cheeks flushed bright red, and she bantered and played along with him for quite a while.
Just as the scene was getting more and more heated, about to cross into restricted territory, Wang Jian's expression suddenly froze. The nurse glanced down at the space between his legs, her face showing a mix of awkwardness and faint disdain. And right at that very moment, his underling, completely oblivious to how inappropriate the timing was, walked in carrying a huge bag.
Printed on the bag's packaging were the words "XX Brand Adult Diapers".
"Hahaha..." Mu Yue was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face. Sure enough, watching a comedy when you're already in a good mood only makes the joy twice as strong.
The nurse had already made up an excuse and hurried out of the room. Wang Jian's face was dark with unmasked fury. Mu Yue glanced at the nurse's name tag and noticed she wasn't any of the female leads that appeared in the novel—most likely just a random side character the male lead had been casually flirting with.
It was obvious the male lead hadn't recovered yet; his injuries must have been pretty severe. Come to think of it, many women who go through that kind of traumatic incident end up with long-lasting, hard-to-heal physical injuries and all sorts of complications, so why would it be any different for him?
If she wasn't so far away, Mu Yue would have even loved to slip the male lead some laxatives to grind some experience for her Poison Master title, and also earn some points off him—killing two birds with one stone. She had unfortunately missed out on all the events at the Fang family this time around, and everything had been handled perfectly by Fang Surou on her own.
The only problem was that items or buffs like laxatives had a range limit; they wouldn't work if you were too far from the target.
But then Mu Yue had a sudden thought: So what if it's far away? I've got all the time in the world now!
Right! She was rich and had nothing but free time now! Why wait around? If she kept putting it off, the male lead might fully recover thanks to his protagonist's halo, and the satisfaction of pulling the laxative prank on him would be way lessened. Even though the male lead hadn't messed with her yet, the Villain System didn't need a reason to act anyway.
Mu Yue's mind was made up in an instant. She quickly searched online to see what fun places were in or around the city the male lead was staying in, and found there were tons of amazing tourist destinations and wellness resorts there. They had the freshest wild mushrooms, and she could even hire a local guide to take her into the mountains to pick mushrooms herself.
Perfect, absolutely perfect.
Mu Yue immediately drew up a plan. She told Qianqian to go check out a warehouse that could store her furniture and luggage, and to give proper notice to end the lease on Luo Feiyang's apartment. Once she got to City A and found a new place to stay, she could just have all her furniture and luggage shipped over there. Then she asked Qianqian to book a plane ticket to City D, for tomorrow.
After arranging all that, Mu Yue took a deep breath of the crisp mountain air, feeling completely relaxed and at peace.
Mu Yue took out her phone to snap a few photos of the beautiful scenery in front of her, then kept hiking up the mountain. It wasn't a very tall mountain, but when she reached the peak, she suddenly realized why the mountain's name sounded so familiar. It wasn't a famous well-known mountain from her original world, but a setting that had appeared in several of the novels she'd read.
In the novel with the white moonlight female lead, the white moonlight and the overbearing CEO had come hiking here, and it was right at the top of this mountain that they had confirmed their relationship. Later, after the white moonlight returned from abroad, she invited the overbearing CEO back to this mountain again, and that was when the white moonlight fell and falsely accused the female lead of pushing her. That incident was what caused the overbearing CEO and the female lead to break up emotionally.
Mu Yue raised an eyebrow and took a few more photos. Well, that counts as checking off a famous scene location on her list.
There was a little incident on the way down the mountain: Mu Yue ran into that small food vlogger she had met earlier in the VIP lounge at the airport.
Chu Xiaoshi was absolutely thrilled to see Mu Yue. She wasn't filming that day, and the reason she was in the area was that this was her hometown.
The mountain was a scenic tourist spot, and there were villages nearby too, though the roads in the villages weren't nearly as well-paved as the ones in the tourist area. Most people who had a bit of ambition had set up farm stay inns near the scenic zone, and the only ones still living deep in the mountains were a handful of elderly people. Chu Xiaoshi's grandparents were exactly those kind of elders.
"Look over there! That's my grandparents' house!" Chu Xiaoshi pointed toward a direction. Mu Yue looked over, but all she could see were trees after trees. You had to look really closely to catch a tiny glimpse of the roof peeking out between the branches.
"Ugh, I've tried to persuade them for ages to come live in the city with us, but they just won't budge. They're already so old, but they still love wandering around deep in the mountains all the time. Every time I bring it up, they brag about how once they ran into a lost hiker while wandering the hills—if it weren't for them, that hiker would have had to spend the whole night out there like a wild man..." Though Chu Xiaoshi sounded like she was grumbling, you could tell she was secretly proud of how helpful her grandparents were.
Mu Yue froze the second she heard that, looking up at the mountain peak, then down at the foot of the mountain and the surrounding area. There's no way it could be that much of a coincidence, right?
In that white moonlight novel, after the white moonlight slipped and fell off the mountain, the overbearing CEO told his secretary to scour every inch of the area to find her, and in the end it was an elderly couple who had taken her to the hospital. The overbearing CEO had given them a huge sum of money as a thank-you reward.
Mu Yue said, "The air in the mountains is fresh, and it's quiet and peaceful here, way more free than the city. Moderate exercise is good for the body too. Maybe for elderly people, this place really is better."
Silly girl, don't let your grandparents miss out on that chance to get rich.
Chu Xiaoshi nodded. "That makes sense." She didn't dwell on the thought much. It was obvious that her family had tried to convince the elders before, and in the end they had just let the elders do what they wanted.
After chatting for a little while longer, Chu Xiaoshi was so excited when she found out Mu Yue was a new student at University A. "Aaaaaah! You're my junior schoolmate! I go to University A too! Oh my gosh, this is such amazing fate!"
Before they parted ways, she kept telling Mu Yue, "Make sure you contact me when the new semester starts for registration! I'll show you to your dorm, and be your personal guide around University A!"
Mu Yue exchanged contact information with Chu Xiaoshi, said goodbye to her future senior schoolmate, and headed back to City H.
The next day, Mu Yue took her bodyguards and luggage and flew to City D.
While she was at the airport, she also received a bunch of practical tips from Chu Xiaoshi. A University has a rule that all first-year students are required to live on campus, and second-year students can apply for off-campus accommodation. The military training program lasts for three weeks, which is longer than that of many other universities. The registration day for the new semester also falls earlier, so it's crucial to prepare plenty of sun protection gear and other essentials.
Mu Yue hadn't looked up these details herself yet. Even though Qianqian would have told her about them in advance, having a senior like Chu Xiaoshi made all the information much more specific.
On top of the school-related advice, Chu Xiaoshi also knew a thing or two about the tourist spots and local delicacies in D City. She laid everything out in great detail, from which scenic spots had common pitfalls to avoid to which street foods were better left unattempted.
Mu Yue wasn't sure if Chu Xiaoshi was naturally this talkative, or if she was still trying to express her gratitude for what had happened that day at the airport. She thanked Chu Xiaoshi, then embarked on her journey in D City.
First on her itinerary was to take a stroll around the sanatorium where the male lead was staying, to bring him some warmth. She wanted to make him feel the beauty of life, help him grasp the true meaning of existence, and stop his mind from being filled with nothing but lewd nonsense.
She was fully convinced that with her help, the male lead's soul would be elevated to a higher plane.
