Chapter 4: Brewing

How could a hand slip leave a fingerprint?

Zhang Xibai did it on purpose.

Afterward, Gu Liuguang didn’t let Zhang Xibai get close to her anymore. She just mechanically mimicked Zhang Xibai’s movements and barely managed to learn about fifty percent of it.

Edge dancing wasn’t that difficult to begin with. It just involved making some dance moves smaller and stickier to create a certain ambiguous insinuation.

Gu Liuguang had no talent for dancing at all. Zhang Xibai watched as her entire face turned beet red while she kept her lips parted, panting with her red tongue faintly visible now and then. In the end, Zhang Xibai simply let her go back.

Gu Liuguang was full of anger. She grabbed her bag and left without looking back.

The dance studio had air conditioning, but after two hours of practice, Gu Liuguang was still burning up. Strands of hair on her forehead were drenched in sweat. She slung her bag over her shoulder and headed to the bathroom first to wipe her face.

Gu Liuguang vented furiously to the System: 【Zhang Xibai was deliberately getting revenge on me. She wanted to pinch me until it hurt so I’d back off knowing my place!】

The System hesitated: 【……】

Gu Liuguang didn’t mind the System’s silence and kept pressing: 【When can I “offend” her?】

She was already impatient to start feuding with Zhang Xibai.

The System finally knew the answer to this one. It immediately replied: 【Once you two officially start streaming. The female lead shou comes to support Zhang Xibai’s work and casually sends a gift to someone—aka you. You immediately follow and private message her, sweet-talking her into giving you all her money. Once Zhang Xibai finds out, she wants to kick you out. You badmouth the female lead shou…】

Gu Liuguang irritably cut off the System. Just thinking about having to work with Zhang Xibai for a long time made her want to turn back into a ghost. She frowned: 【Wasn’t it that I trip her up everywhere? Just tell me if there’s a scene where I teach her a lesson—best if it’s some physical punishment in return.】

The System racked its brains and then said in surprise: 【There really is! When the female lead shou comes to the company, you slap her right in front of her!】

【But Zhang Xibai dodges the slap. She deliberately lets you hit her to act weak in front of the female lead shou.】

Gu Liuguang was instantly satisfied: 【As long as I can slap her, it’s fine.】

She could endure working with Zhang Xibai for a while longer. According to the plot, she was still far from getting written off. She could torment Zhang Xibai a bit more.

She leisurely splashed some water on her face and pulled out a tissue from her bag to carefully wipe the sweat-soaked strands from her forehead. Her mood finally improved.

The System hesitantly spoke up: 【Host, do you really think Zhang Xibai pinched you to get revenge?】

Gu Liuguang’s satisfaction vanished. She snapped angrily: 【Didn’t she pinch me? That’s a fact!】

Seeing her get mad, the System weakly said: 【I just feel like… she was taking advantage of you.】

Unexpectedly, this made Gu Liuguang even angrier. Her voice was full of disbelief, as if she wanted to crack open the System’s head: 【You think she fell in love with me at first sight, couldn’t control herself, and pinched my butt for that? Do you even believe that?】

The System felt dizzy. Yeah, that made sense—the Host had loaded into a cannon fodder role. How could the second female lead take advantage of Gu Liuguang?

Still, the System couldn’t quite figure it out: 【But… why did she pinch you? It doesn’t seem like revenge either.】

Gu Liuguang chuckled lightly, looking like a worldly expert with everything under control: 【Know what this is called? Low damage, maximum humiliation. Too bad for her, my skin is thick.】

The System stayed silent. The person claiming to have thick skin had nearly jumped out of her own skin not long ago. It wisely didn’t bring it up.

Once Gu Liuguang got home, she felt utterly exhausted. She hadn’t spent much time outside, but the scorching summer heat on the way there and back still left her uncomfortable. The moment she arrived, she took a shower first.

Only after showering did she have time to check her messages. Quite a few people had added her on WeChat, mostly from the dance studio.

The System’s plot info was limited, and it was afraid of missing something important, so Gu Liuguang approved them one by one.

Messages popped up right away.

【Xiyou: Sis, hey! Mind sharing where you get your treatments done? [Wink]】

【Xia Xia: Sis, you’re so pretty! What’s your lipstick shade? [Blush]】

【Zhang Ze: Why didn’t you take the cake? Want me to send it over? Drop your address.】

…

Gu Liuguang replied to a couple and already felt annoyed. She messaged Lin Zhenshuang: “I’m hungry.”

Zhang Xibai was scarier than a female ghost and wouldn’t let her eat.

Lin Zhenshuang replied that she’d already had someone send food over and asked why she hadn’t eaten lunch.

Gu Liuguang stared at the screen in silence for a moment before muttering to herself: “I’ll tell her in a few days.”

The System was curious: 【What’s up?】

Gu Liuguang didn’t reply to Lin Zhenshuang anymore. She planned to give her the cold shoulder first. Putting down her phone, she told the System: 【Getting ready to break up with Lin Zhenshuang.】

She felt she was pretty kind. Otherwise, why would she bear the pain of giving up such a perfect meal ticket? She clutched her chest and said solemnly: “I’m still too conscientious.”

She only planned to keep things with Lin Zhenshuang going until the stream started and she hooked up with the female lead—instead of hooking up with the female lead while still stringing Lin Zhenshuang along.

The System’s eyes welled up with tears: 【Host, you’re just… too good!】

Gu Liuguang waved it off, averting her eyes: 【Eh, average.】

She was afraid Lin Zhenshuang would cling to her and mess up her mission.

The System secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the Host didn’t mess with Lin Zhenshuang, that was for the best.

After eating, Gu Liuguang wanted to try on the clothes Lin Zhenshuang had sent, but seeing so many, she lost patience. She stepped right over them and flopped onto the bed to binge shows.

Afraid Lin Zhenshuang would see if she went online, she didn’t even log into the game.

The System, which didn’t want her entangled with Lin Zhenshuang any more than necessary, certainly wasn’t going to tell her she could make a smurf account or go invisible.

It wasn’t until almost bedtime that Gu Liuguang, scared her “meal ticket” might slip away early, sent a vague message: “Practice was so tiring, I slept all afternoon. Gonna watch a bit more and then crash.”

Lin Zhenshuang was typing for a while before replying.

【Lin Zhenshuang: Wanna play a bit? Fifty stars gets you a mark.】

The System immediately coaxed softly: 【You have dance practice tomorrow. Gaming will keep you up late again, and you won’t wake up in the morning. Better skip it.】

Gu Liuguang, who had just steeled her resolve, wavered. She grumbled to herself: I’d been practicing so hard all day, and tomorrow’s more of the same. I deserve a break. Even for missions, you need rest and relaxation.

Having thought it through, she said breezily: “I’m logging on. Hurry up and join.”

Lin Zhenshuang messaged: “I’m online.”

The moment Gu Liuguang logged in, before the interface even loaded, Lin Zhenshuang’s team invite popped up.

Gu Liuguang had learned this game from a rich second-gen kid she knew. She hadn’t even finished the newbie quests or figured out the basics before dumping a bunch of money in to buy heroes, skins, and upgrade inscriptions.

Later, annoyed by the kid constantly nagging her, she blocked and deleted them across the board—from game to WeChat.

The other side probably had pride too and never bothered her again.

Lin Zhenshuang was the type who dominated the rift, racking up kills silently like a massacre machine—an all-round expert.

After Gu Liuguang queued with her and won one, Lin Zhenshuang invited her for another, and they naturally added each other.

Lin Zhenshuang loved playing jungler. Gu Liuguang still wasn’t great at the game and only knew that when Lin Zhenshuang jungled, she’d drag her around everywhere, slaying wildly while teammates and enemy junglers alike cursed her out.

Gu Liuguang later learned Lin Zhenshuang was a classic square orphan jungler—stealing buffs left and right, invading the enemy jungle to counter their blue and red, even picking fights with their jungler on the way. No enemy jungler ever stayed mentally unbroken.

Gu Liuguang stopped wanting to duo with her.

Lin Zhenshuang seemed to get it and switched to bot lane, toning it down a bit. She only farmed the three lanes, her own red buff, and half the enemy jungle.

She still got flamed. Gu Liuguang couldn’t hold back: “If you don’t steal resources, don’t you still carry anyway?”

Lin Zhenshuang was silent for a long time before saying: “Can’t help it.”

Just a pure rift bully, instinctively hogging every resource.

Gu Liuguang vented to the System that Lin Zhenshuang was totally the repressed-pervert type.

The System hemmed and hawed, wanting to speak but holding back, then vaguely said: 【This kind of person doesn’t seem great. Better keep your distance.】

Gu Liuguang shot it down: 【What if she ends up on my enemy team?】

The System started regretting not drilling more common sense about this world into Gu Liuguang. Otherwise, what could it say to someone basically illiterate? She didn’t even know all the smart features on her phone and needed help to call a ride…

They won three in a row. Gu Liuguang still didn’t want to sleep. Lin Zhenshuang gently persuaded her: “Don’t you have work tomorrow? Time for bed?”

Gu Liuguang said no.

Lin Zhenshuang: “How about Baby quits the job and rests for a few months? I really feel bad for Baby.”

Gu Liuguang refused. She had to do the mission. She forced her fox eyes wide: “No need. I want to work.”

Lin Zhenshuang chuckled and stopped persuading, just clicking to start matchmaking.

The System said: 【She’s so scheming.】

Gu Liuguang ignored it, thinking the System was the one with issues—not as smart as her.

The System sulked when ignored, grumbling internally. This time, if the Host didn’t coax it, it absolutely wouldn’t pay attention to her.

They loaded into the match during ban-pick. Suddenly, the first floor’s mic lit up. A girl’s trembling voice asked: “Is floor five Su Zai? Su Zai, I’m your fan!!”

Floor two jumped in right away: “For real? Cute Tiger’s Su Zai? Isn’t she in peak race? Lemme check if she’s streaming!”

Su Tian was indeed streaming. Hearing them, she didn’t respond at first and habitually scanned her teammates’ names. Her gaze locked on floor four’s “Liuguang” avatar. Her pupils shrank, her heart skipping a beat. She quickly opened teamwide voice and asked uncertainly:

“Liuguang? Gu Liuguang? Is that you?”

Gu Liuguang heard someone call her name. Everyone else was talking as the game started, so she couldn’t tell who at first. Her eyes scanned and stopped at floor five’s avatar—only their mic kept flashing.

Gu Liuguang stayed silent. She’d already recognized who it was: the rich second-gen who’d taught her the game.

Gu Liuguang ignored it. Thinking she wasn’t on teamwide, the rich kid typed: 【Gu Liuguang, it’s Su Tian. Turn on your mic.】

Floor one typed impatiently: 【Floor five, you really Su Zai?!】

Floor two sneak-typed: 【Checked. She’s streaming for real… nickname’s blocked though.】

Gu Liuguang didn’t get what they meant and just pretended not to know her.

Su Tian typed: 【Believe I won’t go block your building right now?】

Gu Liuguang still planned to ignore her. It was a shared apartment, but the complex had solid security. Plus, she wasn’t afraid of door-blockers—she’d dealt with it before.

Lin Zhenshuang spoke up instead. She asked Gu Liuguang calmly: “Baby, who’s this?”

Gu Liuguang frowned, annoyed and inexplicably guilty. About to say she didn’t know, she remembered her plan to break up with Lin Zhenshuang and casually played it off: “Oh, my ex-CP.”

She’d even forgotten the rich kid’s name if Su Tian hadn’t brought it up.

Lin Zhenshuang chuckled: “Ex-CP? She’s been to your place?”

After a quiet moment, Lin Zhenshuang said softly: “I want to come see Baby, but you keep not letting me. Turns out others have been to your home.”

In truth, no one had. Even though it was a rental, Gu Liuguang was surprisingly protective of her personal space.

Hearing Lin Zhenshuang’s accusation made her feel like total scum. She worried she’d lose her long-term meal ticket right then.

Before she could respond, the unacknowledged Su Tian lost it: “Gu Liuguang! I gave you so much stuff, and you just ghosted me!”

Gu Liuguang opened teamwide mic, about to say list it out and she’d pay back.

But before her mic even flashed twice, Su Tian rushed: “You’re always so hot-tempered, never giving anyone a chance to explain. I don’t ask much—just add me back.” She paused, then added, “Delete that CP of yours too. Didn’t you always want that 8-million auction sapphire? Delete her and I’ll bid it for you.”

Floors one and two’s mics both flashed in shock—”Holy shit”—before they hurriedly muted, quietly munching popcorn, begging internally for more Su Zai tea!

Gu Liuguang never hid her match history or intimacy links. Her CP spot had Lin Zhenshuang listed. She hammered the System asking how Su Tian knew about her CP.

The scene went awkwardly quiet until the game loaded into the match.

Suddenly, Lin Zhenshuang chuckled: “Heh.”

Gu Liuguang felt her scalp tingle. She asked the System whether Lin Zhenshuang also had a system—why did she shudder in horror at just a smile from her?

【How could that be possible?】 The System couldn’t help retorting: 【You’ve been a ghost for too long and forgotten how to act human. Don’t you know that’s your guilty conscience acting up?】