Chapter 23: At the Latest, I Must Become Official in Two Months

God of Wealth:
“I don’t want to be your secret lover anymore. I want to come out into the open.”

Shu Shu Has Candy:
“Ah? Oh. Once things between us become stable in the future, I’ll definitely tell my parents and officially announce our relationship.”

God of Wealth:
“Really?”

Shu Shu Has Candy:
“Of course it’s true. I never lie to Gege.”

God of Wealth:
“Why do I find that so hard to believe?”

Shu Shu Has Candy:
“Gege is the best person in the world—so gentle, so patient. You always indulge me and spoil me. I like Gege the most, so I’ll definitely give Gege a proper status!”

There was a two-second silence on the other side of the screen.

Then three words appeared.

God of Wealth:
“Two months.”

Tang Shu blinked in confusion.

Shu Shu Has Candy:
“Huh?”

God of Wealth:
“At the latest, I must become official in two months.”

Tang Shu’s fingers froze above the keyboard.

Her heart suddenly tightened.

Two months?

A string of ellipses exploded in her mind, making her both amused and helpless.

Where would two months come from?

At most, her mission only had one month left.

One month later, she would complete the task.

And completely end this fake relationship with him.

How could there be any talk of “becoming official”?

Suppressing the complicated emotions in her heart, she obediently followed along.

Shu Shu Has Candy:
“Okay~ I’ll listen to Gege.”

Anyway, she was only agreeing casually.

When the time actually came, who would still remember?

The next day.

Tang Shu slept until after ten in the morning.

She slept deeply and comfortably, only to be forcefully awakened by her phone ringing.

The night before, she had stayed up most of the night hugging her tablet and frantically working on the next chapters of her comic.

Even while drawing, she had made herself blush.

The more she drew, the more immersed she became.

She simply couldn’t stop.

Wrapped in her blanket, lazy and half-asleep, she blindly fumbled for her phone beside the pillow.

Without even opening her eyes, she answered the call.

Her voice was sticky and soft from sleep.

“Hello?”

A bright, energetic female voice immediately came from the other end.

“Shushu! You went back to Yun City for the May Day holiday?”

Tang Shu’s brain took a moment to catch up.

“Yingying? Mm, I’m back.”

It was Zhao Yingying, her childhood best friend.

They had been classmates from middle school all the way through high school.

Zhao Yingying immediately complained.

“You’re so heartless!”

“You came back to Yun City and didn’t tell me first!”

“If I hadn’t seen your Moments post yesterday, I still wouldn’t know you were back!”

“We’ve been classmates and best friends for years. How could you secretly come back and hide it from me?”

Leaning against her pillow, Tang Shu explained,

“This trip was really rushed.”

“I was actually planning to contact you first thing after I woke up today and invite you out.”

“That’s more like it.”

Zhao Yingying was instantly appeased.

Her tone became cheerful again.

“You haven’t even gotten out of bed yet, have you? You sound exhausted.”

“Mm. Still lying here.”

Tang Shu answered lazily.

“I knew it.”

Zhao Yingying laughed knowingly.

“Did you stay up late again?”

“I saw your new comic update.”

“Have you been rushing deadlines recently?”

“Yeah.”

Tang Shu yawned lightly.

“I had a burst of inspiration recently and started a new series.”

“I stayed up late drawing several sequel chapters, so I lost some sleep.”

“Then I definitely need to check it out!”

Zhao Yingying said sincerely.

“I’ve been busy helping my family lately and haven’t had time to keep up with your comics.”

“When I finish this busy period, I’ll binge-read everything.”

“No rush.”

Tang Shu replied gently.

“The comics will always be there. Your own matters are more important.”

“Alright, alright.”

Zhao Yingying laughed.

“I won’t disturb your sleep anymore.”

“Rest a bit longer.”

“I’ll wait for you at Qingxia Plaza this afternoon.”

“My treat. Milk tea.”

“Sounds good.”

Tang Shu agreed readily.

After hanging up, the room returned to silence.

She rolled around in bed for quite a while before finally opening her eyes.

Casually opening WeChat, she clicked into her chat with Shi Zhiyu.

Three new messages were waiting there.

God of Wealth:
“Morning.”

“Still not awake?”

“Stayed up late again last night?”

At the end was a pitiful kitten sticker with drooping ears.

Tang Shu sighed softly.

How was it that even Shi Zhiyu, who was halfway across the world, knew she had stayed up late?

Couldn’t it simply be because she was sleeping comfortably at home and slept in?

Her fingers quickly flew across the keyboard.

Without blushing or feeling guilty, she lied smoothly.

Shu Shu Has Candy:
“Good morning, Gege~”

“I just woke up!”

“The bed at home is just too comfortable. It’s so soft and cozy that I slept amazingly well, so I got up late.”

“I didn’t stay up late.”

“I’m an obedient good baby who listens to Gege!”

Inside, however, she was screaming.

What a disaster.

Besides drawing comics, the real reason she hadn’t slept well was Shi Zhiyu’s photo.

It had completely disturbed her peace of mind.

Her dreams all night had been chaotic.

And every single one of them involved him.

The dream scenarios were all over the place.

One moment, a cold and aloof male lead modeled after Shi Zhiyu was being restrained and imprisoned, his eyes reddened and his breathing uneven.

The next moment, the scene would abruptly switch.

Shi Zhiyu would pin her against a wall and lean in close.

Asking her—

Why are you treating me like this?

The dreams were so intense that she had woken up in fright several times during the night.

No wonder she had slept poorly.

No wonder she woke up so late.

Tang Shu covered her face and sighed.

She was completely impressed by her own imagination.

No.

This couldn’t continue.

She absolutely had to change her comic’s storyline.

For her next work, she would still use Shi Zhiyu as the appearance reference for the male lead.

But this time, the cold and aloof protagonist would be paired with a powerful, dazzling heiress heroine.

She was never writing another weak, emotionally tangled romance again.

The more she thought about it, the more brilliant the idea seemed.

Suddenly, inspiration struck.

A brand-new plot outline rapidly formed in her mind.

The male protagonist—the one in the “bottom” role—would lose his memory and escape from the possessive male lead’s grasp.

Then he would meet a strong and dazzling young heiress.

The two would begin a completely new romance.

They would spend a wonderful period of time together.

And after that?

Of course, the story had to return to its central theme.

After all, it was still a story with two male leads.

So eventually—

The original male lead would find him again.

And then…

Things would get very unfortunate.

Yes!

That’s it!

Twist after twist after twist!

Tang Shu instantly lost all traces of sleepiness.

Her eyes lit up.

She sat up in bed and grabbed her tablet from the bedside.

Her stylus began flying across the screen.

Completely absorbed in revising the plot and drawing new chapters.

Ideas poured out endlessly.

The new storyline captured all of her attention.

She tossed her phone aside.

And once again missed several messages from Shi Zhiyu.

Far away in his apartment in America, Shi Zhiyu stared at his phone.

His messages were usually answered almost immediately.

But this time, nothing came back.

He genuinely wanted to know what she was doing.

So he typed several more messages.

Fish:
“You’re awake?”

“What are you doing?”

“Why are you ignoring me again?”

“Shushu?”

“Shushu, answer me?”

“Poor phone. I wonder where Shushu threw it this time.”

“Did Shushu fall asleep again?”

Several messages in a row.

And all of them sank into silence.

Like stones dropped into the ocean.

Rubbing his throbbing temple, Shi Zhiyu tossed his phone aside.

The only thing he could do was comfort himself.

Tang Shu must be busy with something.

After all…

This had happened before.

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