Chapter 38
This world was one gigantic Dragon King webnovel.
Hearing Old Bai utter such a pretentious line, Xie Mi felt that if she didn’t smirk crookedly right now, it would almost be impolite.
“Wrap everything up!” Xie Lian strode in wearing sunglasses, swaggering as she held up a flashy golden-black card.
The shop assistant recognized it immediately, hurried over with the card reader, and felt ashamed for having misunderstood Xie Mi earlier.
How was this vanity? If anything, this was way too low-key!
Xie Lian’s body swayed slightly, but she forced herself to stay composed as she swiped the card.
Beep—Transaction successful.
Her swaying grew worse, yet she still forced out a pretentious line, “Tch, just the cost of breakfast.”
Beneath her sunglasses, her eyes shimmered with tears.
Jiang Huaiting was completely dumbfounded by the scene, not understanding what on earth was going on.
While the staff began packing up the entire store’s clothing, Xie Lian walked over to Xie Mi.
“Sis, even though it’s our own mall, we can’t make things difficult for the employees. You taught me that. So, I paid the bill.”
“Very good. You actually remembered what I said.” Xie Mi slipped fully into character. “Old Bai, you may rise.”
Old Bai: “Yes, ma’am.”
…Did they just mix up scripts? Eh, no big deal.
“Xie Mi, what’s going on? Did you hire these people as actors?” Jiang Huaiting still couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She pulled Xie Mi aside and whispered.
But when the shop assistant finished emptying out the entire store and lined up the luxury shopping bags neatly at Xie Mi’s feet, Jiang Huaiting’s voice trembled.
“This is a joke… right?”
Xie Mi sighed lightly and looked at her with eyes full of pity.
“If you say it’s a joke, then sure—it’s a joke.”
Crack—
Something shattered. It was Jiang Huaiting’s sense of superiority.
The world went silent, listening to the sound of her defenses breaking.
…
In the end, Jiang Huaiting ran off in disgrace.
At a milk tea shop, Old Bai sipped his taro boba milk tea—extra ice, extra sugar—and looked so content that even the wrinkles on his face smoothed out.
“It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to act pretentious with Young Master.”
“…”
Xie Lian didn’t respond. With a solemn expression, she slowly laid a napkin over the black card, as if performing a memorial ritual.
Xie Mi also looked mournful, pondering the feasibility of climbing rooftops while dressed in luxury brands, and eventually concluding it was zero.
Thinking carefully, spending all that money on luxury goods just for show-off value was a real loss. She’d originally only planned to buy a few sets of high-end sportswear.
But then again, it wasn’t her money. So… not really a loss for her.
With that thought, she felt instantly enlightened.
“Boss, one cilantro milk tea, full sugar—extra cilantro!”
Xie Lian shot her a resentful look and hinted, “I’m not drinking. I’m saving money.”
Xie Mi completely missed the hint and gave her a thumbs-up, “Frugality is good! Frugality is a virtue!”
Xie Lian was so angry he bit down on the napkin.
“Xie Lian.”
A gentle, clear voice rang out.
Xie Mi turned her head.
It was a boy about Xie Lian’s age. He wore a white shirt, gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, his eyes lowered with docility, and a faint smile tugging at his lips.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in class today?”
“I took the day off,” Xie Lian pouted, “to accompany my sister shopping.”
“So this is the sister who just came home?”
The boy looked at Xie Mi. Beneath his long lashes, his eyes were like ebony glimmering with autumn light. “Hello, sis. I’m Xie Lian’s classmate, Yu Jinzhe.”
Pfft—
Xie Mi spat out a mouthful of milk tea.
The original villain—Yu Jinzhe.
On the surface, he was a refined, scholarly boy. In reality, he was gloomy and obsessive, the first to see through heroine Xu Shuangrong’s true nature yet still willingly let her use him. When she abandoned him, he snapped, blackened, and imprisoned her for a month. A bona fide dangerous character.
Xie Mi cast a long, wary glance at Xie Lian.
So Yu Jinzhe was his classmate. What a small world.
Wait… do yanderes all like to hang out together? Don’t tell me they’ve got a group chat for it?
“Don’t mind me. You two chat.” Xie Mi waved them off and turned back to her mobile game.
After all, Yu Jinzhe was one of Xu Shuangrong’s plotlines outside of the variety show. Since he wasn’t on the show, he wouldn’t cross paths with Xie Mi. No need for interaction.
Yu Jinzhe glanced at her in puzzlement but said nothing, continuing to talk with Xie Lian about school.
When they were done, Yu Jinzhe said, “I don’t have class tomorrow. I’ll come over to your house.”
“Sure!” Xie Lian grinned. “Perfect timing—my sister won’t be home tomorrow. We can hang out at the Sunlight Greenhouse—”
“I won’t be coming tomorrow.”
“Huh?”
“Something came up suddenly.” Yu Jinzhe smiled faintly and bid them goodbye. “I’ll be going. Goodbye, Xie Lian. Goodbye, Butler Bai.”
Once he left, Xie Lian gleefully bumped Old Bai’s shoulder.
“See? He didn’t even greet Xie Mi. As expected of my classmate.”
Old Bai sighed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Young Master so petty.”
Xie Lian: “…”
Xie Mi, meanwhile, hadn’t noticed a thing—her eyes were glowing green as she gamed furiously.
…
Elsewhere, at the TV station—the dating show production team.
“Madness show! Meme show! Look at the tags the netizens have slapped on us. Who even remembers we’re supposed to be a dating show?!”
Director Niu raged in the conference room. No one else dared to breathe too loudly.
On the whiteboard, all the trending hashtags since the show’s airing were listed: Automatic Umbrella Stabbing, Monkeys Playing in Water, Zombie Unearthed, Mushroom Poisoning Mass Hysteria…
Just from those alone, the show looked like it had nothing to do with romance.
“And the culprit behind all this… is her!!” Director Niu slammed Xie Mi’s photo onto the board and scrawled [DANGEROUS PERSON] in big red characters.
The assistant director instantly jumped up in protest. “I won’t allow you to insult my idol!”
Director Niu hurled the marker at him in fury. “Get him out of here!!”
Almost forgot about that second fool.
“Anyway, we need to take action. Since Xie Mi can even ruin the date episodes, let’s go all out!”
“Outdoor Filming Plan—Officially Begins!”
…
Two days later, filming resumed.
This time, the crew spared no expense, setting the shoot in a famous tourist destination—Nanhai City, a coastal resort.
As soon as Xie Mi got off the plane, she checked the location Director Niu had sent her.
Suddenly, a thunderous shout rang out, “The young miss has arrived! Everyone make way!!”
Startled, Xie Mi nearly flung her phone into the air.
She saw a dark-skinned man dressed like a local charging toward her, holding a pickup sign high above his head.
The sign featured a huge, high-def close-up of her face, with the caption:
Trigger the love alarm immediately— even passing frogs must stop and scream!
“My wild stallion knows no home! When Sister Xie arrives, blessings must be declared!”
The man skidded to a stop before her, bowed 180 degrees, and bellowed from his diaphragm:
“A warm welcome to the arrival of the Iron Rose in Nanhai City!!”
“…”
Receiving no response, he slowly looked up in confusion—
Only to see a figure sprinting away with her suitcase at full speed, growing smaller and smaller into the distance.
