Did they really turn against each other that easily?
Mu Yue was a little taken aback. Though this was exactly what she had planned, she had only expected the male lead and the underling to fall out. She never thought the female lead would end up turning on the male lead too.
But this just went to show that the male lead's protagonist halo had definitely been reduced further. Before meeting the male lead in person, the female lead's character hadn't been warped, so she was thinking far more rationally.
She might not have believed every word the Little Fatty said, but the male lead's appearance was already highly suspicious. In the original story, she had already started to suspect he had ill intentions, and now that suspicion had only been confirmed. With no Little Fatty there to speak up for him, the female lead would definitely add the male lead to her list of people who needed to be taught a lesson. Given the male lead's petty, grudge-holding nature that made him remember every slight, of course the two would end up bitter enemies.
Mu Yue was still lost in thought, wondering if the protagonist halo had been just a little less diminished, would there have been a chance that the female lead, after clashing with him again and again, would end up falling for him through that old "enemies to lovers" trope?
Mu Yue made a disgusted sound. That cringey plotline was exactly the kind of thing you'd find in a classic harem novel.
She pushed those annoying thoughts aside to focus on something fun, like the new points she'd just earned. Adding to her existing balance, Mu Yue's points now came to 4552, and over the past two days, her daily check-in rewards had netted her dozens more points.
She had already claimed the cheapest portable storage space available. Now that she had more points, she had more options to choose from. After browsing for a while, she narrowed it down to two choices: one was a 10-cubic-meter space with no special features, priced at 4000 points, and the other was a 10-cubic-meter space priced at 6000 points.
The two spaces were the same size, basically mini storage units, but the first one had a daily limit on how many times she could access it, while the second one had no such restriction at all.
Mu Yue naturally preferred the second one. The rental space she was using right now still had time left on its lease, and she could save up a bit more points. When the rental period ended, she'd see how many points she was short of. If she couldn't pay the full amount upfront, she could always pay in installments.
When she arrived at the airport in Country C, Mu Yue wandered around the surrounding area for about an hour before Cheng Zimin showed up.
Following her plan, Mu Yue signed up for diving lessons. Her stat boosts had significantly improved her learning ability, and with her high health stat, she picked up scuba diving very quickly. Once she reached a certain level of proficiency, the Academic Ace System issued her another reward of learning points.
After that, Mu Yue finally got to dig into the seafood buffet she had been looking forward to for so long!
Exploring all kinds of underwater scenery, tasting the flavors of different sea creatures, with a good-looking boyfriend by her side who knew exactly how to keep her happy - it was pure bliss.
This trip had been incredibly relaxing for Mu Yue, far more comfortable than her days in City D where she had to constantly scheme to stir up trouble.
But right as the trip was about to end, Cheng Zimin started acting much more clingy. He wanted to stick to her side almost every second, and kept asking for kisses and hugs all day long.
Once or twice, that kind of affection was cute, but after days of it, Mu Yue started to get a little annoyed. She was a cold, unemotional person by nature, and it was very hard for her to develop real feelings for anyone. The person she would always love most was herself.
The only reason she had stayed in a relationship with Cheng Zimin was that he was good-looking, knew how to read the room, and was a nice distraction when she was bored.
She didn't want to stir up any unpleasant drama right as the trip was wrapping up, so when Cheng Zimin showed up all dolled up again, practically presenting himself on a platter for her to "appreciate", Mu Yue turned him down straightforwardly, and asked him directly, "What have you been up to lately?"
This guy didn't seem like the type to be completely ruled by his hormones.
Cheng Zimin gave her a strained smile, his voice low. "I just got a little greedy. I wanted to see if I could find a way to make this last a little longer."
Mu Yue frowned. Why was he being so mopey? It felt like she was watching a cliché drama character trying to use their body to cling onto a partner.
And besides, she was sure she had never given Cheng Zimin the impression that if he slept with her, she would owe him commitment.
"Tell me the truth," she said.
Cheng Zimin's smile faded completely. He was silent for a moment, then took a soft breath, and was as honest as he had been from the very start. "My parents are... very tacky artists. They want me to tie you down, to get you to agree to an engagement with me."
Huh? Mu Yue stared at him in complete shock. That was the last reason she had expected.
She barely ever socialized with the so-called wealthy circles in City H. The only outings she had gone to with Cheng Zimin were a few casual hangouts with his friends, nothing fancy at all - no high-society galas, no fancy race tracks. Logically, she shouldn't have stood out that much.
As far as Mu Yue was concerned, there were tons of rich people in City H, and she was just one of them. What's more, the "family business" she was supposedly from was clearly not based in City H. Even if people wanted to get close to her, pushing for an engagement was way too aggressive.
Of course, she had never paid any attention to the fact that the moment her two luxury cars appeared in City H, people who were paying attention had already started to take notice of her.
Mu Yue went quiet for a second, thinking to herself that Cheng Zimin's description of his parents was spot on. They really were tacky artists - they didn't even bother putting on a pretense of being aloof and refined.
But now she understood why Cheng Zimin had been acting so strange.
Cheng Zimin didn't say another word. He just looked at her, almost as if he was holding out for a tiny sliver of hope. Mu Yue curled her lips into a smile, and said the words he had been expecting. "I'm sorry."
"I knew you'd say that," Cheng Zimin said, and it felt like a weight had lifted off his chest. "I was the one being greedy."
He had known perfectly well that telling Mu Yue what his parents were planning would definitely lead to a breakup. But if he said nothing, and let someone else tell her, or let Mu Yue see his parents' ugly schemes firsthand, it would have tainted all the good memories from their time together. The ending would still be the same - no, it would have been far messier. It was better to be honest, just like he had been at the start. At least this way, the image he left in Mu Yue's mind wasn't an ugly one.
On the way back, Mu Yue didn't take the same flight as Cheng Zimin. Her destination was completely different from his. If they were going to break up, she might as well cut things off cleanly.
Come to think of it, Cheng Zimin was a lot like the Fang sisters. He was a polished, carefully curated piece of art packaged by his parents, ready to be sold off for a good price at any moment. But compared to the Fang sisters, Cheng Zimin at least had his wits about him. Maybe one day he'd break free of that gilded cage, or maybe he'd choose to keep going along with his parents' plans - but none of that had anything to do with Mu Yue anymore.
Shaking off the last of her lingering thoughts, Mu Yue lay back in her first-class bed and started counting her money.
Even though she had spent the whole month just traveling and having fun, she had kept up her routine of claiming her daily check-in rewards and doing the daily draw. On top of the points from check-ins and lucky draws, her savings had now piled up to 45 million. She hadn't found anything worth spending that money on while she was abroad, so she had just let it sit and accumulate.
It was a good thing she hadn't splurged recklessly. The very same day she broke up with Cheng Zimin, she drew a grand prize: a Premium 5x Multiplier Card. The card had a glowing, deep purple rarity, and it worked on any amount of money under 100 million.
Mu Yue had just spent tens of millions, and her total sum had ballooned to over 200 million. This sum of money was more than enough for Mu Yue to buy a top-tier luxury penthouse in City A. Once she spent the money, she would earn both points and Tycoon experience points. What a thrill!
Two days before she decided to head back, she had already notified Qianqian to go to City A in advance to look at properties, both rentals and for sale. In just a few days, she would own her very first home in this world.
Mu Yue had already used up her points before, and when the space rent came due, she still hadn't saved up enough points, so she put down 3000 as a down payment and paid the rest in installments. She currently had 1888 points left, which was a pretty lucky number.
Mu Yue rummaged through the bits and pieces she had drawn from gacha that month, and found the limited-time Forest Princess aura she had drawn earlier. She had originally planned to use it on the underling out in the deep mountains, but then she came up with a scheme that would make both the male lead and the underling miserable, so she set it aside. Now that she had fished it out again, she thought of the national park and the African savanna.
Ah well, she would go there on the next long vacation. After buying a house in City A and resting for a few days, she would also have to report to school.
Among the items she drew from the gacha, there was a plush 8-piece bedding set that Mu Yue adored. It was ultra-fluffy, worth a guaranteed minimum of 50,000, and it was so cute and soft that Mu Yue definitely planned to use it that winter. She had four fluffy furballs to keep her company in the winter, but there was nothing she could do — University A required all first-year students to live on campus for a full year, so the furballs would only be able to sleep with her when she was at home.
There was also a million-dollar antique gown. This dress wove together retro flair and romance, heavily crafted and luxuriously opulent, a perfect example of maximalist design. It was embroidered with over a thousand roses, and every petal on the flowers at the bust and waist, as well as the entire hem, was dotted with diamonds. Wearing it felt like draping herself in a magnificent oil painting, dazzling and dreamlike.
Mu Yue couldn't think of any occasion to wear this gown for now, so she just treated it as a collection piece. That's right, she would even need to set aside a separate room for gowns like this. Sometimes just looking at pretty dresses without wearing them could lift one's mood.
Other high-value items included a gold-inlaid jade hair ornament set, so extravagant that Mu Yue had no idea how to pair it with daily outfits — perfect, she had found another gap in her staff: a stylist. There was also a box of Australian white pearls, all over 15mm in size, twenty in total, and a Huanghuali wood chaise lounge.
The rest were props and abstract products. The props had both positive and negative effects. For example, there was a stack of very practical constant temperature talismans, a wild mix of technology and metaphysics, ten talismans in a stack, each lasting only one day. They were also sold in the points mall. Similar items included constant temperature clothing and auras, priced according to their effects and durability.
As for the abstract products, all of them were tied to eerie things. They ranged from a blood-stained hanging rope to a brick from the edge of a well where a ghost had drowned, and a wobbly glass table that could barely stand. The glass on the table was neither firm nor sturdy, shaking at the slightest touch, like it was about to fall and chop off someone's feet at any second.
The table made Mu Yue feel so unsafe that she returned it the second she pulled it out. She kept the other eerie products though — there might be some lucky person who would be happy to be her test subject.
Speaking of lucky people, Mu Yue couldn't help but think of the male lead, and she clicked to check his tracking status. Sigh, the male lead was still recuperating. Last week he was almost fully recovered, every pore on his face screaming that he wanted to go out and have fun, but then someone beat him up, and he was back to bedridden.
This time, he wouldn't be running wild for at least a month.
She wasn't sure if that rough tactic was done by the Shi family's female lead, but for a playboy male lead or an overpowered hero, having enemies was completely normal. His aura had weakened, so the enemies that never dared to come for him before were now coming after him — that made perfect sense.
It was a little disappointing that the male lead couldn't try out those fresh, ghostly items right now. When she had time later, she would bring them over for him to test out.
After taking stock of all her assets and checking in on the male lead, Mu Yue closed her eyes contentedly to rest.
When she arrived in City A, she rested at a hotel for two days to adjust to the new environment, then started going to view properties. Mu Yue always worked fast, and within a few days she had settled on a 688-square-meter penthouse, one unit per floor, priced at 180 million.
Tycoon excitedly set off fireworks, yelling "Yes! I finally leveled up to level 2! The host can now claim 1 million every day!"
And then —
"Hurry up, host! Spin the lucky wheel for a gacha!"
The fox, who had been following along all this time and almost forgotten its own identity, screamed in excitement when it saw where the pointer finally landed. Its turn had finally come, hadn't it?
On the day she went to report to school, Mu Yue stepped out of her Maybach wearing a pair of sunglasses. Her assistant and bodyguards helped carry her luggage, while she simply held up an umbrella, walking calmly past a crowd of onlookers with shocked faces, who were muttering things like "Holy crap that's over the top" and "Here comes the rich young lady, everyone get out of the way." She then headed in to complete her registration.
She didn't even take off her sunglasses when she met senior schoolmates, senior sisters, and even her counselor. They all thought this Junior Mu was a little too arrogant.
But that wasn't the truth at all.
[Love at First Sight Eyes]: For the next week, anyone you gaze at for more than three seconds will fall in love with you at first sight. (After the week ends, the effect will permanently decrease by 80%.)
As bad luck would have it, the day of registration was the very last day of the effect. What made Mu Yue even more flustered was that there was no countermeasure item available in the mall!
Sorry, she didn't want to play the arrogant rich girl persona on her very first day either, but life was full of unexpected twists.
