Money-Saving Tips, Miss Tang Sneaks a Peek, The Young Lady's Chat Records...

In the apartment.

The sound of running water kept coming from the bathroom, while the spacious living room only held Tang Yuyao, curled up on the sofa, staring blankly as if lost in thought.

Yep, the person in the bathroom right now was Ye Cheng. Before going in, he had thoughtfully left his "Calabash Brothers" outfit outside.

See?

Right there on the coffee table in front of Tang Yuyao lay two leaves that had been stepped on by the "President" (referring to herself).

In the end, Ye Cheng had stayed—at the cost of having his head bitten, leaving a very noticeable tooth mark on his scalp. It hurt, but… eh, it wasn’t life-threatening. Close his eyes, sleep it off, and tomorrow would be another beautiful day!

Ye Cheng was a master of psychological self-comfort—whether for the "President," the "young lady," or himself, his techniques were "flawless."

When he had nothing better to do, he loved feeding himself little lies. Honestly, I love keeping it real… Every morning, he’d serve himself a big, round lie and swallow it whole.

As everyone knows, people need motivation to live—at least some internal drive. Otherwise, it’s easy to fall into the extreme mindset of, "I dunno, everyone else is alive, so I guess I’ll just keep going too."

This usually happens during periods of overthinking or existential confusion. Back when Ye Cheng was much younger, he’d gone through a phase like that.

The result? He realized he was really just overthinking things. "Are you some rich kid, philosophizing like this? Go touch grass! If you can live, live; if not, reset!"

Poor people don’t have the luxury of being sentimental or falling sick. Wake up, and you’ve got to work. A day without labor is a "sin." You have to keep striving just to survive, as if that’s the only "right" way to exist.

Instead of pondering what’s "right," better to think about how to "go grab some fries at the pier." Yeah, your argument makes sense, but right now, I just want some fries—no exceptions, not even for the heavens!

So, Ye Cheng lived in a way that seemed "weird" to others—almost inhuman, really.

Whatever. Tomorrow, he’d still have to carry the young lady to school, then play… er, deliver roses to the President, followed by a happy lunch break…

In the bathroom, Ye Cheng hummed an indecipherable little tune, clearly in high spirits. In contrast, Tang Yuyao, sitting in the living room, wasn’t feeling nearly as calm.

Tang Yuyao was still dazed, not fully snapped out of it. Every now and then, she’d glance toward the bathroom. How had she let this little brat stay?

"Tang Yuyao, Tang Yuyao, have you lost your mind? A man and a woman alone together, you’re single, you’re gorgeous, and yet—"

"Mom, can I have the iced tea in the fridge later? Oh, and the two packs of instant noodles, a sausage, and a marinated egg? Y’know, the free kind?"

From the bathroom came Ye Cheng’s "sincere" request.

Tang Yuyao: "…"

Never mind. She took it back.

To that little jerk, her charm probably couldn’t compete with iced tea. No—scratch that, it definitely couldn’t. Even his phone’s wallpaper was iced tea. How could she possibly win?

For some reason, Tang Yuyao felt an inexplicable sense of defeat—likely stemming from her unrealistic fantasies and misjudgments.

But she quickly let it go.

At least Ye Cheng’s phone gallery didn’t have photos of anyone else. She couldn’t speak for everything, but Lin Baizhi and the young lady were definitely in the same boat as her.

Wait… why was she comparing herself to them?

Tang Yuyao’s mood had just improved slightly when the smile on her lips froze. Something… felt off.

She pinched her own long, slender thigh—hard. Tears welled up from the pain.

"Stop overthinking or I’ll strangle you!" Tang Yuyao threatened herself through gritted teeth, tears in her eyes. But at least the pain worked; she stopped dwelling on it.

She had a hunch that if she kept thinking about it today, something… not great might happen. A woman’s intuition!

No more thoughts!

Tang Yuyao picked up Ye Cheng’s phone and started scrolling through videos. Why his phone? Well, in this household, everything was hers. What’s wrong with watching a few videos? She’d watch as many as she damn well pleased!

She indulged in some spiteful "consumption." At first, she was amused, but soon, her smile vanished.

"Money-saving hack: Turn your T-shirt into a ‘ding’ (thong)!"

"Cow doing pole dancing."

"Chat logs between Electric Boy and the Cockroach Trio…"

Tang Yuyao: "???"

A giant question mark appeared over her head. She rubbed her eyes, double-checked Ye Cheng’s browsing history, then silently put the phone down and went to wash her eyes.

She must be sick to have seen such inhuman content. And she was definitely sick for checking Ye Cheng’s phone at night…

Buzz!

Just as she stood up, the phone on the coffee table vibrated—a notification for a new friend request.

Tang Yuyao instinctively glanced at it. A friend request?

"Is this really okay?" Her hand hovered mid-air before she frowned and stopped.

Phones were private—especially in this era, where people carried them everywhere. If you got hit by a bus, you couldn’t even pass out before making sure your phone was wiped clean. Leave no traces behind!

Tang Yuyao’s own phone had plenty of things she wouldn’t want others to see—ahem, nothing scandalous, just… photos for personal appreciation.

In the end, she resisted the evil urge to snoop through Ye Cheng’s phone, maintaining basic "respect."

Thirty seconds later.

Thud.

Ye Cheng’s phone "accidentally" fell onto a cushion on the floor. A pale, slender hand swiftly picked it up.

"Oops, so clumsy! Good thing I’m here!"

Tang Yuyao widened her eyes and quickly checked the friend request notification and the contents of Ye Cheng’s messaging app.

If she’d already "accidentally" seen a little, then "accidentally" tapping once more couldn’t hurt, right?

And if she’d already tapped once, then "accidentally" sliding a bit further was normal too…

Bit by bit, through a series of "accidents," Tang Yuyao browsed through Ye Cheng’s entire messaging history. But… after seeing it all, she felt strangely disappointed.

It was clean—nothing like what she had expected to see. There weren’t even any chat logs with the young mistress. Wait, no, there seemed to be one, but it was just a single message from the young mistress.

"Idiot."

Just… two words. That was it. Checking the timestamp, it was sent just over ten minutes ago.

Tang Yuyao: "???"

Did the young mistress really come here late at night just to send the word "idiot"? Could there actually be something going on between them?

Instinctively, Tang Yuyao’s mind flashed back to the first time she saw the two of them together in the infirmary—when the young mistress had sprained her ankle and Ye Cheng had carried her in. Back then, inside the infirmary…

Tang Yuyao furrowed her brows. For some reason, she felt inexplicably irritated, her interest in checking the chat completely gone.

"Tch, how boring…" she muttered to herself, turning off her phone and curling back up on the sofa. Hugging a pillow, she stared blankly, as if lost in thought.

She returned to how she had been earlier, her mind wandering to who-knows-where…

Half a minute later, Tang Yuyao suddenly grabbed the pillow in her arms and hurled it toward the bathroom.

"Get lost!!!" Her chest heaved, her face inexplicably flushed with anger.

Click!

"Ahh, not bad at all, Dr. Tang. Your showerhead is really—" Ye Cheng stepped out of the bathroom, his hair still damp, sighing in satisfaction as steam wafted off him.

At that exact moment, the bathroom door swung open—just in time for the pillow Tang Yuyao had thrown to smack him square in the face.

Headshot!!!

Ye Cheng: "…"

Buzz… buzz…

At the same time, Ye Cheng’s phone on the coffee table vibrated again.

"『Chaotic Loli/.2』 has sent you a friend request. Accept?"