Chapter 32 Part 2

Exiting the chat, Gu Liuguang felt like she’d escaped alive. Glancing down, Heartthrob Player’s chat blinked with a red “2.” She remembered she’d just claimed to be Lin Shixia’s wife fan.

If she really was Lin Shixia, there should be some reaction…

With that thought, she tapped in.

-What if Lin Shixia actually dated you? Would you say yes?

-Little Light, you busy?

Her fox-like eyes lazily half-lidded, thick lashes drooping down. Gu Liuguang wanted to think, but exhaustion hit—her brain felt frozen, no energy even to type. She held the spacebar:

“Sis, I’m so sleepy. Let’s chat tomorrow.”

After sending, she glanced at the previous one and held the key again. Her tone was soft and lingering, thick with sleepiness, like deliberately lowering her voice—the sweet and cloying scent seeming to spill from the screen, half-joking:

“If Lin Shixia and I got together, I’d haunt her like a ghost for life.”

She was a ghost anyway—saying it felt kinda fun.

Gu Liuguang laughed at herself and didn’t notice the pause on the other end.

After a while, Heartthrob Player replied.

-Goodnight.

Gu Liuguang was drowsy beyond measure. She buried her head deep in the pillow. Only after a good while did she remember to turn off the light.

Instantly, the room held only the faint glow of streetlights filtering through the curtains.

She checked her phone one last time and saw another message. Not planning to care, but it looked like a transfer.

Struggling to open her eyes, her slender fingers tapped in. It was from fox.

-fox: Transfer 5200, note: voluntary gift

Gu Liuguang felt a bit more awake. She quickly accepted it. Once done, her eyelids drooped again. After a pause, she hit record, taking forever to think what to say: “Sis, I’m so sleepy…”

Before finishing, another message came.

-fox: Go to sleep.

-fox: Goodnight, Little Light.

Gu Liuguang struggled to open her eyes, subconsciously wanting to cancel the recording to read fox’s messages. Her fingers slipped, and the voice message sent.

However, she could no longer care about any of that. She figured fox wouldn’t mind either. Dazedly, she pressed the voice message button: “Good night, sister…”

In the blink of an eye, she seemed to spot a new message from Zhang Xibai. Gu Liuguang had wanted to tap it open, but the moment she closed her eyes, she passed out.

Gu Liuguang was woken by the alarm. Eyes still shut, she buried herself deep under the covers.

Because of the rain, she had turned off the air conditioner. As the morning temperature rose, a faint dampness crept over her fair skin. She was so overheated she couldn’t stand it anymore and finally opened her eyes—straightaway turning the AC back on.

The sounds from the bedroom caught Su Tian’s ear. She knocked on the door from the hallway: “Liuguang, are you awake? I ordered takeout. Eat something before heading to work.”

Gu Liuguang startled at the voice. She realized it was she who had brought Su Tian upstairs the night before; she’d assumed Su Tian had already left.

“Right away.”

She replied, then lazed around on the bed a little longer. She pulled out her phone—WeChat was crammed full of new messages. She replied to one, two, and three first.

She scrolled up through the messages from the 1st. She didn’t remember receiving the payment, but spotting a 5,200 receipt first thing in the morning still made her happy.

She immediately messaged fox, deliberately lowering her voice into something sweet and cloying: “Good morning, sister. Thanks for the red envelope. Sister, you’re the best.”

“Got a chance, I’ll treat sister to dinner.”

The messages from two and three were short—just a good morning.

In a great mood, she held down the voice button and replied to both.

Her first reply brimmed with energy, but by the second, her mood had dipped, her tone flat.

Only when she finished getting ready and stepped out of the bedroom did she remember Su Tian was still there. Su Tian had already laid out breakfast on the dining table. She was even wearing Gu Liuguang’s clothes and short skirt.

The styles clashed, giving her a weird look.

The moment Su Tian saw her, her eyes lit up: “Liuguang, do you have to head to the company this morning? Let me give you a ride, okay?”

“I do.” Gu Liuguang had already sat down. She eyed the breakfast on the table—it looked as refined as the takeout Lin Zhenshuang often ordered for her, right down to the packaging.

Once she recalled that Su Tian was a rich second-gen, it all made sense.

She picked up her chopsticks and started eating. Seeing the pretty girl across from her staring eagerly—even her eyebrow piercing seemed more docile now—she finally relented: “Your ride still there?”

Su Tian lit up like she’d been recharged. She grabbed her chopsticks too, her tone turning lively: “Yep.”

Gu Liuguang said nothing more. Instead, she pulled out her phone to scroll Douyin for a bit. Out of habit, she checked WeChat first—and finally spotted the message she’d missed from Zhang Xibai. It had been buried under a flood of messages from her rich lady sisters.

She had thought Zhang Xibai had ghosted her again.

-Shixia hasn’t had any time lately

-Screenshot.jpg

-I’m not lying to you. The screenshot isn’t photoshopped.

-If you’re really that eager, just take time off work. We can go to C City all the same.

She flipped back and forth through them before tapping open the screenshot. It was a chat between Zhang Xibai and Lin Shixia.

Zhang Xibai’s contact name for Lin Shixia was “Xia Xia.” The chat background looked familiar. The face was blocked by a speech bubble, but it took Gu Liuguang a moment to realize—this was her own photo.

Zhang Xibai was using her photo as a chat background?

Gu Liuguang felt oddly uncomfortable. She forced her attention onto the conversation between Zhang Xibai and Lin Shixia.

Just as Zhang Xibai had said, she had invited Lin Shixia to A City for fun. Lin Shixia replied that she was swamped lately and had to head to C City next month, so she couldn’t make it for now.

In the screenshot, Lin Shixia’s avatar matched the one on Gu Liuguang’s main account.

Zhang Xibai really hadn’t lied to her.

She still hadn’t decided what to do. Bored, Gu Liuguang read through it several times and noticed the timestamps—hours apart.

After some thought, Gu Liuguang couldn’t help but chuckle. Had Zhang Xibai thought she was mad and stayed up all night?

Looking at the gaps: one at past 1 a.m., another around 3, and one more at 6.

Imagining Zhang Xibai tossing and turning all night, unable to sleep, Gu Liuguang felt an odd thrill of satisfaction deep down.

Secretly pleased or not, she was still worried Zhang Xibai might change her mind. So she sent a reply.

-Let me think about it.

Su Tian, sitting across from her, saw her smiling at her phone. Her earlier excitement vanished in an instant. She knew she had no right to pry into Liuguang’s privacy, but she couldn’t hold back. Her voice fell low, tinged with jealousy: “Liuguang, are you chatting with that Xi Xia?”

“Are you going to date her?”

She still remembered how Liuguang had chased her off for that Xi Xia.

Gu Liuguang paused. She peeked over her phone at Su Tian and saw little dog Su with her head hanging low, looking like she might burst into tears any second.

There was no need to feel burdened by someone else’s crush—that was what a proper cannon fodder should do. If she acted too empathetic, how was the plot supposed to cannon fodder her?

In hindsight, she shouldn’t have even let little dog Su come up yesterday. She should have made her give up completely.

Gu Liuguang: “Not Xi Xia. Xi Xia’s a total scumbag. She has a girlfriend and still wants me to be her side piece.”

The revelation was too explosive. Su Tian blanked out for a second, staring dumbly at Gu Liuguang: “Huh?”

Gu Liuguang still wasn’t cannon fodder enough. After Su Tian’s accusations yesterday, she discovered she actually had a shred of conscience left.

Su Tian had nothing to do with the plot anyway—no need to lie. She just laid it out straight.

Gu Liuguang: “You think I’d be someone’s side piece?”

Su Tian shot back instantly: “No way!”

That woman had some nerve. If anything, people would be lining up to be Liuguang’s side piece, second side, third…

Su Tian’s motorcycle was still there, gleaming faintly from the rain. After wiping it down, Gu Liuguang started to climb on, but Su Tian stopped her and fitted a helmet onto her head first.

The security guard poked his head out: “The little couple finally made up after their spat?”

Su Tian’s face exploded red.

Before Gu Liuguang could explain, Su Tian twisted the throttle and shot forward ten meters.

The speed was too much—Gu Liuguang jolted in fright. Her loosely draped arms around Su Tian’s waist tightened instantly, her whole body pressing against Su Tian’s back.

Su Tian usually loved speeding like this, the fierce wind slicing through her like freedom piercing the soul.

But today, it felt way too fast. Those soft hands gripped her waist, her heartbeat thundering like it might burst through her chest—like some movie outlaw racing off with their lover, consequences be damned.

The fantasy cut short when they reached Gu Liuguang’s company.

At first, Gu Liuguang had been scared stiff. But gradually, she started to feel the allure of the motorcycle. For once, she took a real interest in it.

She waved to Su Tian: “Thanks.”

Su Tian waved back in a daze. She wanted to offer picking her up after work, but the words didn’t make it out—Gu Liuguang had already jogged into the building.

The moment she stepped inside, she got mobbed. It was streamers from another group. They cornered her at the elevator, asking who the girl on the motorcycle that morning was—was it her girlfriend?

She didn’t know any of them. They didn’t seem malicious, more like gossiping. She tossed out casually: “Not my girlfriend.”

Everyone around her let out a collective sigh of relief.

She glanced around, and the girl who’d asked spoke up again: “You know about Xi Xia?”

Gu Liuguang hesitated: “What about her?”

The girl let out an “ah”: “Liuguang, you haven’t heard? Xi Xia’s drama is blowing up in the company group.”

Seeing Gu Liuguang’s blank look, the girl went on: “That crossdressing man who showered streamers with tips ended up dating Black Tail, the top streamer from the rival group. Now she’s the Big Sis fully bankrolled by Black Tail.”

Gu Liuguang: “…You mean Xi Xia is that Big Sis?”

The girl nodded solemnly: “Black Tail was livid yesterday. She went live in the middle of the night declaring she’s coming to our company to find you today.”