The Young Lady's Unusual Behavior, The Little Secretary and Ye Cheng's "Epic" Encounter

The Arcade City.

Inside a very unique office, a noble lady sat alone on the sofa, legs crossed, idly fanning herself as she seemed to be deep in thought.

"That little guy is indeed interesting; no wonder he was able to lure Tongtong over," the noble lady muttered to herself.

It had been several minutes since she had sent Ye Cheng and Shen Qinghan away. The final resolution to the matter was... Ye Cheng could come to the Arcade City to play anytime he wanted, with free food and drinks, but he still could not exchange his game coins for cash.

In reality, it was only a matter of tens of thousands of yuan—an amount earned back in the blink of an eye. To the Arcade City and the noble lady, this money didn't even count as a drop in the bucket. What mattered were the rules.

Once a rule is established, it cannot be broken. If it is broken, everyone will fixate on that small tear in the fabric. The next time trouble arises, opportunists will specifically target that very opening.

Bit by bit, the breach will widen, and eventually, the rules will vanish completely.

Therefore... she absolutely could not set this precedent. Simply put: money comes in, but it doesn't go out. Playing is fine, but trying to make money off them is impossible.

Of course, if this were Da'ao City, that would be a different story.

It was a pity that this was Dahai City. The idea of making money on someone else's turf was something one could only dream about; it was impossible. However, Ye Cheng had managed to secure some benefits, and massive ones at that.

As for the price... it was the bag of game coins he had earned himself. It wasn't much, just tens of thousands of coins, which converted to tens of thousands of yuan. In exchange, he bought a lifetime special membership to the largest arcade in Dahai City, complete with free food and drinks. It was practically a steal!

Ye Cheng had simply calculated the value and agreed immediately, without a shred of hesitation, as if afraid the other party would regret their offer. He planned to come here every day to eat and drink for free—he was determined to eat back the value of those game coins!

*I'm gonna eat, eat, and eat some freaking more!!!*

Others certainly wouldn't receive this treatment. Even if they caused a scene, the arcade wouldn't be afraid. After all, the rules of the Arcade City had always been clearly posted. Even assuming, for the sake of argument, that the arcade was in the wrong, they still wouldn't be afraid because... the house is big enough to bully the customers.

Hehe, naturally, it was better to do such things sparingly; otherwise, even the biggest shop couldn't withstand that kind of turmoil too many times. The noble lady was shrewd; the reason she offered Ye Cheng such tempting conditions was naturally for the sake of her precious daughter.

She had seen the chat logs, and she had clearly understood the cause and sequence of events from the Head Maid.

To summarize it in one sentence... it seemed their Tongtong had entered the next phase of adolescence?

The noble lady had worried about the issue of puppy love before, fearing that her Tongtong would be tricked by the little boys around her. As it turned out... she had overthought it. The facts proved that her precious daughter's brain was filled with nothing but cartoons and strawberry milk all day long.

As for issues between men and women, she had never even considered them.

She was just a happy, carefree strawberry shortcake every day. It was just that later on, the shortcake became a little "rebellious," that's all. But it didn't matter; their Tongtong was the most, most, most... adorable girl in the world.

Her daughter was a bit of an airhead, so naturally, she, as the mother, needed to look out for her more.

It was just that after reading the chat logs, the noble lady fell into a brief silence... Did their Tongtong mess things up?

But it didn't matter. If she remembered correctly... didn't their Tongtong attend the same school?

In that case, things would be much easier to handle...

After briefly thinking about the follow-up plans, the noble lady seemed to think of something and uncrossed her legs.

*Clack!*

A crisp sound echoed through the office as the noble lady took out her phone and called the Head Maid.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

"Hello, it's me. Once Tongtong wakes up, bring her over to the Arcade City. If you come a bit later, there might be a surprise..."

When the noble lady said the word "surprise," her tone became somewhat meaningful. To catch a fish, one must be willing to use bait... and that card was the bait.

Although she hadn't known Ye Cheng for long, the noble lady had an inexplicable intuition and confidence that Ye Cheng would definitely come tonight. He definitely would!

"Yes, Madam!" The Head Maid's voice came from the other end of the phone.

...

Meanwhile.

By the roadside, Ye Cheng watched the Shen family motorcade gradually drive away, the corners of his mouth rising wildly, feeling inexplicably emotional.

It was truly a case of someone handing you a pillow just as you were nodding off!

Ye Cheng had just been thinking about how to get the Eldest Miss to go back and sleep early. After all, it was still early, and there was plenty of time for activities. Aside from the claw machine... it seemed the only option left was walking, which was a free and non-monotonous activity?

The only inappropriate part was... the Eldest Miss's leg was still lame and hadn't fully healed. Rather than calling it a walk, it was more like him carrying the Eldest Miss and aimlessly wandering around the school playground. It wasn't having the desired effect at all.

She needed to be the one getting tired! What was the point if he was the only one walking?

He was the one getting exhausted here!

Wait... no, he wouldn't get tired. It is a known fact that carrying the Eldest Miss grants +1 Stamina, +1 Happiness, and +1 Dopamine for every step taken...

Similarly, every step consumes 1 point of Stamina. So here comes the question... isn't this a perpetual motion machine?

Ye Cheng was still carrying the Eldest Miss toward the school, his left and right brain engaging in a boxing match as he pondered the question of whether he was, in fact, a perpetual motion machine.

Suddenly, a black car stopped in front of the two of them. The window slowly rolled down, and Ye Cheng recognized the person. It was that short-haired woman from before. Her name seemed to be... Little Lan?

He just didn't know if she would transform into a Little Magic Fairy and shout "Balala Power" or something. After all, he really liked Sister Little Lan when he was a kid...

"Young Miss, a major event has occurred in the family. The Family Head has issued an emergency recall." Little Lan looked serious.

Shen Qinghan furrowed her brows... A major event?

If she remembered correctly, the last time they called her back like this was a few years ago when she was still in high school. Because she lived on campus, Du Wanyi hadn't seen the Eldest Miss for a long time, and she had used the exact same excuse, claiming there was a major event.

It was nothing more than the despicable tactic of a certain god-tier wicked old hag.

Having figured this out, the Eldest Miss knocked on Ye Cheng's noggin. Ye Cheng understood immediately and continued walking forward, completely ignoring the short-haired woman on the side.

The short-haired woman: "..."

A giant question mark appeared over the short-haired woman's head. If her ears were working correctly... she hadn't heard the two of them speak, had she?

How did he just walk away after a knock on the head?

Or is it that Ye Cheng and their Eldest Miss have reached a state where they can communicate without language?

With the current synchronization rate between Ye Cheng and the Eldest Miss, they could pilot a Jaeger to fight Kaiju without any training! Who cares if it's a Category IV or V Kaiju? They’d smash them all into teddy bear biscuits!

The short-haired woman hurriedly drove to catch up, earnestly trying to persuade her Young Miss.

"Young Miss, something big really happened this time..."

"Oh." Shen Qinghan responded casually without turning her head.

The short-haired woman: "..."

Fortunately, she had anticipated this situation. The short-haired woman called Du Wanyi. *Beep beep beep*, the call connected quickly. After saying a few words, she put the phone on speaker, got out of the car, and chased after them.

Knowing that her Young Miss seemed to have a form of mental mysophobia and disliked being touched by others, the short-haired woman only dared to hold the phone out to the side, matching Ye Cheng's walking pace as she followed along.

From the phone came the voice of a certain unreliable Mrs. Du.

"Little Hanhan, it's terrible! Something huge has happened! Come back quickly! Luckily, your smart, beautiful, kind... Mommy discovered it early, or else you would have become someone else's stepping stone!"

Du Wanyi's voice was very loud. Not to mention that Ye Cheng had the "Heightened Senses" buff, so he heard it extremely clearly—loud enough to make his head buzz... Sometimes, having hearing that was too good wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Ye Cheng hurriedly "turned down" his hearing volume. Only then did the pain stop, and then... he continued to eavesdrop on the conversation between the Eldest Miss and a certain married woman.

"Little Hanhan, Mommy promises you, I'm absolutely not lying to you this time. Let me tell you, inside your school..."

Ye Cheng: "???"

Wait, why is there no sound?

The Eldest Miss had turned off the speakerphone.

Ye Cheng tried "turning up" his hearing, and the voice appeared again.

"...by then, you'll really become the los... in those mini-dramas..."

Ye Cheng: "???"

That's not right, why is the sound gone again?

The Eldest Miss had turned off the phone.

"Put me down." Shen Qinghan's cold voice came from behind Ye Cheng. Ye Cheng paused for a moment, then did as told and set her down.

After getting down, Shen Qinghan held onto the railing and moved toward the back seat of the car. Seeing this, the short-haired woman hurried over to open the door for her Young Miss.

*Bang!*

Like a gust of wind, the Eldest Miss answered a phone call and just left, leaving Ye Cheng standing there with a big question mark over his head. Ye Cheng was happy, true, since he didn't have to figure out a way to tire the Eldest Miss out anymore.

But... Ye Cheng was very curious about what exactly the Eldest Miss had heard just now to make her rush back in such a panic.

Damn Eldest Miss, turning off the speaker at the key moment, and then cutting it off completely later... The Eldest Miss is at least a 3000!

"Woohoo!"

Ye Cheng let out a very excited howl. The Eldest Miss was too smart to hoodwink easily, but now Mrs. Du had directly solved the problem on her end. Long live Mrs. Du!!!

Ye Cheng took out his phone and sent a message to the contact saved as "Hamster Spirit."

"Employee 251, I'm done here. Meet at the old place. Please respond if copied, please respond if copied. Report complete, O-ver!!!"

After sending the message, Ye Cheng activated "Fleet-Footed" and headed toward the school's "old place."

Meanwhile.

At the Dongfang family villa.

"Miss, I'm going out to buy something to eat..."

The little secretary looked at the message from Ye Cheng on her phone. First came delight, her big eyes lighting up with a *bling-bling* sparkle, and then she shouted toward the upstairs area with a very guilty conscience.

"Alright, do you want me to go with you?"

"No need, no need, Miss. I'm already an adult; I don't need to trouble you, Miss. I'm leaving now, Miss. Bye-bye..."

After saying that, the little secretary shouldered her small backpack and ran out.

Dongfang Zhixia finished drying her hair and went downstairs.

"Where is she?"

Looking at the empty first floor, the Madam President fell into silence. Why did she feel... like something wasn't quite right?

Was it an illusion?