After Yu Hekun's car had completely disappeared, she stood there for a long while, even doing a set of stretches before slowly ambling back towards the villa.
This feeling of having nothing to do all day was actually Jian Youyou's favorite. Unfortunately, this world wasn't her world. Counting the time, she had to find an opportunity to climb into his bed within the next few days. Otherwise, once day broke in the real world and her alarm went off, Jian Youyou would have to return.
Disappearing inexplicously then could easily arouse suspicion. Moreover, she still hadn't quite figured out the timing of her disappearances, as she hadn't traveled between worlds many times yet. All she knew for now was that one hour in the real world equaled a full day in this book world. However, the exact moment of exiting and entering the world was still tricky to pin down.
If it happened to be at a highly inappropriate moment, or even right in front of Yu Hekun, that would be real trouble.
So, that very night, Jian Youyou prepared to attempt the bed-climbing again. After sneaking out of her room, she first went downstairs for some milk, checked around to make sure there was no sign of Yu Mingzhong, and even crept to his door to listen. Hearing no sound, a look of disdain crossed her face.
She had said it, hadn't she? Was Yu Mingzhong, at his age, really going to stay up all night just to watch her?
However, Jian Youyou's smugness came to an abrupt halt when the door handle turned but the door didn't budge.
She quietly applied more force, but after bumping against it twice, the door remained utterly immovable.
Damn it!
Yu Hekun had actually locked his door!
Why would a grown man lock his door to sleep?
Jian Youyou suddenly remembered Yu Mingzhong's hints, both overt and subtle, during the day, telling Yu Hekun there were mice in the villa and that he should lock his door well at night.
Jian Youyou gritted her teeth in frustration, but there was nothing she could do if the door wouldn't open. She paced in the hallway a couple of times, unable to swallow her anger. She ran to Yu Mingzhong's door, gave it a solid kick, and then dashed back to her room at lightning speed.
Yu Mingzhong indeed hadn't been watching Jian Youyou that night. After his words during the day, he was certain Yu Hekun would lock his door, as Yu Hekun loathed all creepy crawlies and rodents.
But he truly hadn't expected Jian Youyou to pull something like this—akin to "if I have a grudge against you, I'll secretly throw a brick through your window."
The sound of the kick jolted Yu Mingzhong awake, sitting up sharply in bed. He was a chronically light sleeper with poor sleep quality to begin with. Startled like that, it didn't even occur to him that it might be Jian Youyou. He got up and opened his door, only to find the hallway completely empty.
Once back in bed, Yu Mingzhong couldn't fall asleep again no matter what. Meanwhile, Jian Youyou, having successfully gotten her revenge, returned to her room and quickly drifted off.
The next day, Yu Mingzhong looked rather worse for wear. After two consecutive nights of poor sleep, his fatigue was very evident. Even Yu Hekun couldn't ignore it and couldn't help asking, "Still jet-lagged? Or did the little mice disturb you again last night?"
Jian Youyou, who was drinking porridge, choked a little at this. She barely managed to suppress a laugh, only to look up and meet Yu Mingzhong's thoughtful gaze.
Fortunately, the villa wasn't so perverse as to have surveillance cameras installed—after all, it was a private home. So, Jian Youyou felt emboldened, meeting Yu Mingzhong's eyes calmly and even adding with feigned concern, "Big Brother, are there mice in your room? How terrifying. I'm most afraid of mice."
As she spoke, she turned to Yu Hekun with a coquettish tone. Yu Hekun was quite susceptible to this and softly agreed, "I really hate mice too."
The incident became an unsolved mystery. Yu Mingzhong vaguely suspected Jian Youyou, but whether in business or matters of the heart, all his opponents had been of a highly sophisticated caliber. He had probably never encountered someone like Jian Youyou, who employed such elementary school-level tactics, so it took him a moment to connect the dots.
However, that night, Jian Youyou once again failed to successfully enter Yu Hekun's room. And Yu Mingzhong, already sleep-deprived for two nights, had just drifted off when he heard two loud bangs on his door. Startled into a full-body jolt, even if he hadn't figured it out before, he certainly knew what was happening now.
Utterly weary, Yu Mingzhong opened his door. Sure enough, there was no sign of Jian Youyou outside. He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling both exasperated and amused as he glanced in the direction of Jian Youyou's room. But in the dead of night, he couldn't very well go knock on her door to confront her. He hadn't caught her in the act, and even if he had, what could he really do about something like this?
Yu Mingzhong had never in his life encountered such a childish form of retaliation.
He could only return to his room and try to summon sleep again, and, unsurprisingly, slept poorly once more. The next morning, the dark circles under his eyes seemed heavy enough to reach his feet.
Yu Hekun, no longer needing IV drips for the past couple of days, was planning to go to the office today. Seeing Yu Mingzhong's state, he said, "Rest at home. If you really can't shake the jet lag, you should just go back."
After saying this, and following an elaborate, lingering farewell from Jian Youyou, Yu Hekun made it to the villa's main gate.
Their gazes locked in the air. It was just going to work, yet it felt like a life-or-death parting. Jian Youyou, getting into her role, tugged at Yu Hekun's sleeve, putting on a deeply reluctant act. "Brother Kun, are you sure your leg, your eyes, and your back are really okay?"
The main issue was that she couldn't get into Yu Hekun's room herself. She needed to find a way to make Yu Hekun let her into his bed soon. While she could return to her own world when Yu Hekun wasn't home, if she didn't complete this part of the plot, she couldn't take the money with her. Wouldn't that mean this whole trip was for nothing?
Hearing her question, Yu Hekun nodded. "I'm fine. If you get bored at home, go shopping."
Yu Hekun made to get into the car, but after putting one foot in, he stepped back down and walked over to Jian Youyou. Concerned, he said to her, "If my brother says anything unpleasant to you, don't take it to heart. You don't need to mind him. He'll be leaving soon anyway."
Jian Youyou nodded. "Don't worry, Brother Kun. Besides you, I don't care about anyone else."
This statement was actually true. She said it with genuine feeling, and Yu Hekun listened, his cheeks flushing pink.
The morning sunlight was gentle at this hour. Jian Youyou looked up at him, her long hair loosely cascading, her small face fair and clear. She wasn't wearing any makeup at the moment, her features soft and delicate, bearing hardly any resemblance to Huo Jiaoyue.
Yet, looking at Jian Youyou like this, Yu Hekun found her particularly pleasing to the eye. He even felt an urge to lean down and kiss her cheek. But with security at the gate and the driver in the car, Yu Hekun ultimately felt too shy.
He even had an impulse to ask Jian Youyou if she'd like to come to the company with him.
After all, Jian Youyou was very well-behaved. She could sit quietly by his side all day; even taking her to the office wouldn't be...
The moment Yu Hekun became aware of this thought, he was shocked at himself. So much so that he gave Jian Youyou a push—a bit too forceful, causing her to stumble.
"You should go back inside," Yu Hekun said, stopping her just in time, but he quickly released her arm. "I'm heading to the office."
With that, he hurriedly got into the car and didn't dare glance in the rearview mirror the whole way.
Jian Youyou, however, was already used to his erratic behavior. As usual, she basked in the morning sun outside for a while, did some stretches, and then slowly made her way back into the villa.
But as soon as she opened the door to the living room, she saw Yu Mingzhong, who should have been catching up on sleep, fully dressed and looking freshly groomed. He appeared much more alert than he had been during breakfast and was now sitting on the sofa sipping a cup of tea. The moment Jian Youyou entered and their eyes met, she instantly knew—Yu Mingzhong was waiting for her.
This was the first time the two had been alone together in three days. Yu Mingzhong gave Jian Youyou a gentle, refined smile, pushed his glasses up, and gestured to the sofa beside him. "Come have a seat."
You tell me to sit and I just sit? What about my dignity?
Jian Youyou screamed internally, yet she obediently walked over and sat down on the sofa.
She did feel a little guilty, after all. Kicking someone's door in the middle of the night wasn't exactly something to be proud of.
But she wasn't afraid of Yu Mingzhong. In fact, in this world, apart from Yu Hekun, Jian Youyou didn't really care about anyone else.
She had carefully consulted the Book: only the money Yu Hekun gave her could be taken away, and only the plot developments involving Yu Hekun counted towards her being able to take that money.
As for everyone other than Yu Hekun, in Jian Youyou's eyes, they weren't even proper characters—just lines of text at best.
So, sitting next to Yu Mingzhong, she didn't need to act all delicate and demure like she did in front of Yu Hekun. She relaxed completely, slouching casually against the sofa, and turned her head to look at Yu Mingzhong, asking directly, "You guessed right, it was me who kicked the door. So what, brother? Are you looking for payback?"
Yu Mingzhong held his teacup. He had dressed formally and waited here specifically, giving his opponent basic respect, but he truly hadn't expected Jian Youyou to not even bother pretending in front of him.
And payback?
Him, a grown man, seeking payback from a young girl?
Yu Mingzhong held the teacup, his expression nearly cracking.
After a moment, he cleared his throat, simply put the cup down, and got straight to the point. "Miss Jian, forgive my bluntness, but you and my brother are not a good match."
Jian Youyou shifted her posture but remained just as unrefined. She slumped sideways on the sofa, looking at Yu Mingzhong out of the corner of her eye. "Then who would be a good match for me?"
Yu Mingzhong could hardly stand her attitude. In all his years at the negotiation table, dealing with countless people, men and women alike, no one had ever been as irreverent as Jian Youyou.
So his face turned cold, and he commanded her, "Sit up properly!"
Jian Youyou immediately sat up ramrod straight and even bowed slightly to Yu Mingzhong. "You got it, brother! Go ahead, speak!"
Yu Mingzhong now thought Jian Youyou and his brother were actually quite well-matched.
Two childish goofs, exactly alike.
Jian Youyou stared at Yu Mingzhong with wide, round eyes, her gaze so intense it made him lose his train of thought mid-sentence.
The two stared at each other in this bizarre atmosphere for a long moment. Finally, Yu Mingzhong took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had never worried about women's affairs himself; he never thought at his age he'd be dealing with his brother's romantic entanglements.
Originally, he had prepared many tactful, face-saving phrases. In Yu Mingzhong's life, even when driving someone to bankruptcy and potential ruin, he could still make his words sound beautiful and handle matters flawlessly, even earning gratitude.
Unfortunately today, his usual style was thrown off by the irritability from three consecutive days of poor rest and, Jian Youyou's utterly disrespectful attitude. After rubbing his temples a few times, he put his glasses back on. The gentle warmth usually on his face vanished completely, replaced by cold indifference in his beautiful peach-blossom eyes, devoid of any trace of sentiment.
"Since Miss Jian is being so forthright, I'll be direct as well," Yu Mingzhong said. "I presume Miss Jian has some understanding of the Yu family's business. Out of courtesy, I have also gained some understanding of your family background."
Yu Mingzhong tilted his chin up slightly, a haughty expression on his face, but before he could fully settle into his imposing demeanor, Jian Youyou threw him off again.
"My understanding of the Yu family is very superficial. I only know Brother Kun gave me a card I can use freely," Jian Youyou said with an innocent look, batting her big eyes. Without makeup, her plain features didn't make this expression cute; her eyes held an indifference colder than Yu Mingzhong's.
"You investigated my whole family, just say you investigated my whole family. What's with 'gained some understanding'? You probably even know how much I spent on ice pops at lunch when I was a kid," Jian Youyou leaned forward, propping her chin on her hands in a flower-like pose. But unlike when she faced Yu Hekun, where she looked like a sunflower, facing this Yu Mingzhong who was interrupting her mission, she wore a deadpan expression that made Yu Mingzhong feel inexplicably uneasy.
"Brother, skip the formalities," Jian Youyou said. "You investigated my family, so you definitely know—my family is poor. Dirt poor. And I'm not filial; I never give the money I earn to my family, I don't even go home."
"To be perfectly honest," Jian Youyou continued, "if I could, I'd even want to sever ties with them. Do you really think bringing up my family is any kind of threat to me?"
She had considered the family issue before crossing over. The Book told her she didn't need to worry about those things; it would find a way to downplay all those useless side plots.
So Jian Youyou truly had nothing to fear.
Yu Mingzhong pressed his lips together. "If Xiao Kun heard these words—"
"You really think your brother is a fool, huh? He investigated me more thoroughly than you did. He probably even knows what color underwear I liked in my teens," Jian Youyou said here, curling her lips into a smile devoid of any warmth. "You're not recording this, are you? Why didn't you say so earlier? If I'd known it was for Brother Kun to hear..."
Jian Youyou suddenly switched to a sweet, coquettish voice, "I would have made my voice sound nicer. Brother Kun, mwah, I love you!"
Yu Mingzhong was thoroughly disgusted. He actually had prepared a recorder, but it wasn't the right moment yet, so he hadn't turned it on. Now, however, he felt the recorder lying in his pocket was burning a hole.
After Jian Youyou finished speaking, the room fell into brief silence again. Jian Youyou leaned back on the sofa, playing with her hair. After a long pause, Yu Mingzhong spoke again, this time very directly and bluntly, "How much money will it take for you to leave my brother?"
Jian Youyou was actually very, very excited upon hearing the word "money." After all, this was the most classic trope in novels: "Here's 5 million, leave so-and-so." Cliché? Absolutely. But every time she encountered it, it still thrilled Jian Youyou immensely.
If all the money offered in these situations could be taken to the real world, Jian Youyou would absolutely take the cash and leave. She loved money, but not to the point of obsession. She understood the principle of knowing when to quit while you're ahead.
Logically, a big-spending elder brother like Yu Mingzhong should be Jian Youyou's favorite type. It's just a shame that she could only dutifully follow the plot and then take Yu Hekun's money. Any money offered by other characters in this novel was completely worthless paper.
So, Jian Youyou's excited little heart wilted before it could even start pounding. She sat up, looking somewhat sorrowfully at Yu Mingzhong, mourning all the wealth that had just passed her by.
Seeing her finally react and switch to this pitiful expression, Yu Mingzhong felt instant disdain in his heart, though he maintained his composure on the surface.
"I believe Miss Jian is a smart person. Xiao Kun is naive and doesn't know how to make a woman happy," Yu Mingzhong said. "Rather than exhausting yourself circling around him, Miss Jian, it would be better to discuss a business deal with me."
Jian Youyou had to admit that even though Yu Mingzhong was an old dog who didn't sleep and spied on her, he had impeccable manners in social interactions. Every sentence he uttered, from tone to pacing, was incredibly comfortable, making it hard to feel any hostility towards him.
Even this kind of unsavory arrangement of being kept, he could phrase as "discussing a business deal." With his sincere expression and earnest tone, if Jian Youyou didn't know what she herself was, she'd really think this coffee table was a negotiation table, and she was discussing a multi-billion dollar deal with Yu Mingzhong.
A slight smile appeared on her face. Strangely, she even began to feel a bit of goodwill towards Yu Mingzhong at this point. Although she knew Yu Mingzhong looked down on her, comparing her to a little mouse, and surely thought of her as one in his heart, he could pretend.
Being able to maintain that pretense was a skill in itself, at least it was pleasant to look at, unlike Yu Hekun's bluster.
Jian Youyou's tone suddenly became sweet and ingratiating, her words slick and glib, "Dear brother, I'm not smart, but I at least know my own worth. And I don't want to discuss business with you. I only want to discuss a multi-billion dollar deal with my Brother Kun. It's you who won't sleep and insists on blocking me every which way. Otherwise, we probably would have closed the deal by now."
Yu Mingzhong felt his scalp tingle at being called "dear brother." Having lived all these years, this was the first time he'd ever been flirted with like this. Who dared to flirt with him?
And she wanted to discuss a multi-billion dollar deal? Yu Mingzhong felt the back of his head was about to blow its top. He had never met someone so shameless.
This time, Yu Mingzhong couldn't even maintain his composure. He shifted his posture and said, "State your conditions. What I can guarantee is that what Miss Jian gets from me will absolutely be more than what she gets from Xiao Kun."
Jian Youyou wore an expression of utter helplessness, shrugged, and said, "Then give me five billion, and I'll leave your brother."
Yu Mingzhong was so angry he laughed out loud, and it was audible laughter. He laughed for a good while before stopping, then turned his head to look at Jian Youyou. "Miss Jian is truly humorous."
Jian Youyou slapped her own thigh. "Then it seems we can't reach an agreement. No point in saying more."
Jian Youyou gave Yu Mingzhong a bold, cupped-hand salute. "Brother, I bid you farewell!"
After saying that, she headed towards the staircase. Yu Mingzhong, his face cold, stared at Jian Youyou's retreating back and suddenly spoke up. "I wonder what Miss Jian plans to do with all those gold bracelets she's been buying?"
Jian Youyou's footsteps paused at the top of the stairs. She was truly caught red-handed now.
She smoothed her hair, turned around, pouted, and looked at Yu Mingzhong. Yu Mingzhong smiled faintly, picked up his teacup, and brought it to his lips for a gentle sip.
"For marrying your brother," Jian Youyou said. "Have you inquired about wedding customs where I'm from? The bride has to wear very wide gold bracelets on her hands. The more, the more impressive. The bride price also has to be a lot, weighed by the pound, only then will people look up to you."
Jian Youyou put on the appearance of a dead pig, unafraid of boiling water (someone who is brazenly unafraid of consequences), though in her heart she was actually terrified and was already starting to figure out how to fool Yu Hekun if this was exposed.
"If you want to go tell Brother Kun, go ahead," Jian Youyou said, walking back to stand in front of Yu Mingzhong. Taking advantage of his lack of vigilance, she directly reached out, snatched the voice recorder from his shirt pocket, and hurled it straight at the wall. It was instantly destroyed.
Under Yu Mingzhong's astonished gaze, Jian Youyou looked down at him, meeting his eyes with a disdainful look. "Brother, these are last century's tricks. You're still using them now? Were you planning to have someone edit it, splice my words together to trick your silly little brother?"
Jian Youyou said, "I'm not afraid to tell you, I'm really not after money. Giving me any amount is useless. I'm just craving Yu Hekun's body. I went through so much trouble to dress up just to get him to notice me. I haven't even had a taste yet. Don't you dare ruin my good fortune!"
Yu Mingzhong gritted his teeth, his expression extremely unpleasant. Jian Youyou continued, "You must have heard about me jumping into the sea. Let me tell you, I really did jump. Surviving was sheer luck. I used my life to earn his favor, and I finally managed to kiss him. If you delay my good fortune, you better believe that those with nothing to lose are not afraid of those with everything to lose."
Jian Youyou issued a harsh warning to Yu Mingzhong. "I have ten thousand ways to completely sever the brotherly bond between him and you. You stole a girl he liked before. How much trust do you think you still have left in his heart?"
Jian Youyou said, "Brother, care to take a bet? Don't mess with a madman, oh."
After she finished speaking, she stormed upstairs with great momentum. Yu Mingzhong sat downstairs looking as if he had eaten something foul. For a moment, he genuinely had a dark thought about making her deeply realize the price of provoking him. He knew ten thousand methods too.
But Yu Mingzhong finally took several deep breaths, suppressing the violent emotions in his heart. His younger brother was currently at the peak of his infatuation. If he really forced the issue, his brother would definitely explode. But this woman was indeed not as easy to dismiss as she appeared on the surface. No wonder Zhan Cheng couldn't handle her either.
Opening her mouth and asking for five billion... that wasn't a lion's big mouth, that was an abyssal maw.
Yu Mingzhong took off his glasses, rested his elbows on the sofa, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He hadn't slept properly for three days, and he hadn't had a good night's sleep for three days. At his age, it was getting hard to handle.
Better get some sleep first. If that little madman kicks his door again tonight, he feels he might have a heart attack.
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