“Here you go, Su Zhi. I threw in an extra tea egg. Eat up—you’ve got to grow!”
“Thank you~”
As the first light of dawn spilled across the ground, Su Zhi sat at a breakfast stall and politely accepted the bowl of tofu pudding from the woman serving it.
The woman was one of her fans. When Su Zhi had first moved into the neighborhood, she’d asked her for an autograph. Whenever Su Zhi came by for breakfast, she’d throw in an extra tea egg or a steamed bun.
Even now, when Su Zhi had all but lost her popularity, the woman still welcomed her.
After happily taking a bite of her tofu pudding, Su Zhi pulled the latest amendment to the Criminal Law from her bag. It had been revised the year before.
She’d majored in mathematics at university, then minored in law from her sophomore year onward out of personal interest.
Recently, she’d been set on leaving the entertainment industry and had started studying for the lawyer qualification exam. She’d figured she could make a living as a lawyer while she decided what to do next.
That had something in common with Chunmeng’s character. In You Xin’s version, Chunmeng had studied math and law to prepare for the perfect way to induce people to commit crimes. Su Zhi had planned to use mathematics as a foundation before moving into finance.
In short, she wanted to make money.
As for why she’d minored in law instead of finance, the answer was simple. Finance was too easy to get into. She wanted to learn a little law first so she could protect herself.
Learn to protect yourself, then learn to make money. If you couldn’t even protect yourself, it didn’t matter how much money you made.
Of course, the System had thrown a wrench in her plans and sent her back into the entertainment industry.
“How can you do that? We agreed on 300, and now you’re only giving me 150? You’re cutting it in half!”
“We agreed on an hour, but you quit after half an hour. Paying you half is fair, isn’t it?”
“Twice in half an hour and you’re still not satisfied?”
While Su Zhi was happily eating breakfast, an argument suddenly broke out outside the massage parlor nearby.
She looked up and saw a man in his early thirties and a woman around thirty arguing over something.
They hadn’t said what had happened, but Su Zhi could more or less guess.
Twice in half an hour this early? Impressive stamina.
She couldn’t help making the comment. Somehow, even the tofu pudding in front of her tasted better now.
Watching the spectacle was doing wonders for her appetite, so she put away the amendment to the Criminal Law.
If Chunmeng came across something like this and was in the mood to get involved, how would she think about it?
Su Zhi had realized that Chunmeng’s character concept was flawed, but that didn’t mean she should give up on the role. She needed to find the problem and fix it.
Since she couldn’t become Chunmeng perfectly, she could try thinking like her. She’d take ordinary little problems from daily life, work through them as Chunmeng would, and use them to find and fix the flaws in her character.
It was seven in the morning. The street where Su Zhi sat wasn’t very wide—barely two lanes—and its uneven surface was riddled with old asphalt patches.
One end of the street led to the seafood market. Between three in the morning and eight, the market was at its busiest as vendors restocked.
Because of that, a seafood truck was slowly approaching the entrance to the street. It would reach the arguing couple in about three or four minutes.
Su Zhi took in the woman. Her words suggested she wasn’t going to back down, and one of her hands was wrapped around the man’s wrist. She looked determined to get her money.
The man was eager to get away now that people were gathering to watch. But he didn’t seem to have the cash to settle things, so he’d probably keep arguing.
In the meantime, Su Zhi was in a good mood. She was eating breakfast, watching a show, and even thinking of ordering another bowl of tofu pudding.
If I were Chunmeng, and I felt like getting involved while I was in a good mood, I might side with the woman. She looks like she has the upper hand, so defending her would be the easiest way to jump in.
Their argument has attracted a few bystanders, but no one has stepped in yet. If someone takes the woman’s side, she’ll probably get more aggressive and start shoving him. The man wants to get away, so he’ll likely give ground. But the shoving will make both of them more and more upset.
If I chose my moment carefully, they might end up in the middle of the road during the scuffle, just as the seafood truck reached them.
The truck isn’t moving fast, so the odds of it hitting anyone are low. But the man will be focused on the woman. He probably won’t notice the truck until it’s close—and once it’s close, he’s sure to see it.
All I’d need to do is warn him at the right moment. The crowd watching, the woman badgering him, the shame and anger he’s already feeling—all of it would turn his emotions into a volcano about to erupt.
Then the truck would startle him, and he might finally snap. He’d go from arguing to throwing punches.
That would probably cause a traffic jam. The local patrol officers would have to intervene, and once they did, they might uncover other problems. Maybe the woman was selling sex and the man had hired her. The whole thing could end up in the news.
Now that would be entertaining.
That was Chunmeng’s way of committing crimes.
She was the catalyst, turning an incident that should have blown over into something much worse.
More importantly, a catalyst accelerated a reaction without changing in the process. When the reaction was over, she could walk away completely untouched. She wouldn’t need to cover her tracks like other criminals, because there’d be no evidence against her.
There might not even be any evidence to speak of. If the incident was serious enough, the police would have to protect her. She was a witness! And given Chunmeng’s personality, she’d be more than happy to testify if the police asked.
As for why? It would be a declaration of victory.
The law couldn’t judge her. It might even have to protect her.
Of course, Chunmeng could pull that off. Su Zhi couldn’t.
In reality, Su Zhi simply watched the couple argue while she ate.
“Too short!” “You finished so fast!” “You can’t even afford 150 and you call yourself a big shot?”
The tofu pudding tasted even better.
As for how it ended?
Just before a patrol unit passed by, the man finally took out fifty yuan. The woman hadn’t wanted to let it go, but when she saw the officers approaching, she took the money and left it at that.
