The Awkward Conversation: Ms. Su Seems Somewhat Deceased, the Trio's Silence Is Deafening

The Dongfang family manor, first-floor main hall.

On the sofa, three people stared at each other with wide eyes, looking at one another in a silence that only grew deeper by the second.

If they hadn't misheard just now, there seemed to be... some kind of strange noise coming from the other end of the phone?

Gulp.

After a good while, Su Su finally snapped back to reality and swallowed hard. She adjusted her mindset, regained her composure, and tried her best to use her usual tone to ask her daughter on the other end of the line.

"Zhixia, what happened to you? Are you hurt?" Su Su's words carried a deep sense of concern.

And then...

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Some muffled thudding sounds could clearly be heard from the other end of the phone, followed by Dongfang Zhixia's reassuring reply.

"I'm fine. I just accidentally stepped on a rock while walking and almost fell to the ground."

Walking?

A rock?

It seemed... plausible, but... why did it feel like something wasn't quite right?

"Did you bump into anything? Is it serious? How about you take a picture and show Mom, okay?" Su Su continued to press.

"I'm fine, I didn't get hurt. Just tell me what's going on. What's wrong, Mom? Is there something important that you had to call so late?" Dongfang Zhixia's doubtful voice came through the phone.

She didn't directly answer her mother's question.

Su Su narrowed her eyes, keenly sensing that something was off. However, she didn't show it and instead went along with her daughter's words.

"Oh, it's like this. Isn't your dad's birthday coming up in a few days..."

Su Su began to chat about family matters, tacitly skipping over the question her daughter had just dodged. Her daughter was too smart; if she asked even one more question right now, the girl would probably get suspicious immediately.

And if she got suspicious, she wouldn't tell the truth anymore.

The good news: her daughter was highly capable and very independent. The bad news: she was far too capable and far too independent...

As long as it was something Dongfang Zhixia could solve on her own, she would never seek help from the family. By the same token, once Dongfang Zhixia made up her mind about something, no one in the family could change it.

Even her parents, Dongfang Zhan and his wife, were no exception; they could only serve an advisory role.

If her daughter sensed anything unusual in her tone right now, she would definitely put her guard up. By then, they wouldn't hear a word of truth, and their daughter might just fall into the clutches of some despicable, naturally evil, social-climbing brat...

A woman's mind was ultimately more meticulous. If the person answering the phone right now were Dongfang Zhan, he would definitely keep interrogating her, saying things like, the sound just now didn't seem like a fall...

Such was the charm of language. In just a sentence or two, the mother and daughter had already crossed swords once.

Now, it was just a matter of whether the student had surpassed the master, or if the older and wiser would prevail...

"Alright, I got it. Let's aim for tomorrow. I've pretty much prepared the invitation letters on my end. As for Dad's side, you guys figure it out yourselves..."

"Thump, thump, thump..."

While Dongfang Zhixia was discussing the follow-up plans with her mother, she didn't forget to punish a certain bastard who had almost made her fall off just now!

Tiny fists, massive power. In just this short while, the number of times the Madam President had knocked on his head exceeded the number of times the Eldest Miss usually did in a whole day.

Ye Cheng's head had completely turned into a wooden fish, being rhythmically knocked "thump, thump, thump" by the dear Madam President...

Only the first two strikes were a bit forceful, making Ye Cheng feel like his brain was turning to mush. The subsequent hits lacked any real power; it really was just like tapping a wooden fish. She even alternated her hands, and if both got tired, she would throw in a chokehold to relieve the fatigue in her hands.

Once she had rested enough, a new round of alternating left and right hands began.

Ye Cheng: "..."

The prompt from that scam of a cheat system he had seen earlier was proving to be more and more accurate.

The Madam President could gain a sense of pleasure by "attacking" and "humiliating" him...

Was this really okay?

But the good thing was that he had gotten his hands on a one-yuan coin, hehe!

Looking at the one-yuan coin in his hand, Ye Cheng revealed a satisfied smile. Taking all those hits was totally worth it. Woohoo!

Wait a minute. He had just been walking around casually and managed to pick up a dollar. If he searched seriously, wouldn't that mean...

Ye Cheng: "!!!"

Ye Cheng instantly got excited. He rummaged through his clothes, pulled out his little toad coin purse, clicked it open, dropped the newly found one-yuan coin inside, and stuffed it back into his pocket...

At this moment, the originally dull and boring green lawn suddenly took on a whole new look in Ye Cheng's eyes. It became "golden and glittering," as if it were an unexcavated treasure land.

If you told him to simply act as a beast of burden or do hard labor, there was no way; Ye Cheng's entire body would go soft. But if you told him he could make money just by taking a few steps... then excuse me, I might not have any other skills, but I can sure walk!

His whole body surged with endless, brute strength!!!

Without any warning, Ye Cheng suddenly sped up, meticulously searching the grass outside the villa. He wished he could peel the turf back to see if there was anywhere he had missed!

The result of doing so was... an almost identical scene from before played out once again.

Faced with the sudden acceleration, the Madam President, who had been casually chatting with her mother, tilted backward!

She almost fell off, but fortunately, her reflexes were quick, and she stabilized herself using her strong core strength.

Dongfang Zhixia's chest heaved up and down. Her red lips parted slightly, and her pristine white teeth looked exceptionally beautiful under the moonlight.

Go to hell, you bastard!!!

The Madam President's eyes burned with the raging flames of revenge!

Combo move: "Madam President Chomp Chomp Chomp!!!"

"Shut up. If you make another sound, you're dead!" Dongfang Zhixia lowered her voice, her tone extremely "gentle."

Even at this moment, Dongfang Zhixia didn't forget to warn Ye Cheng not to speak out of turn, otherwise... she couldn't guarantee what would happen next!

Dongfang Zhixia let out a cold snort and viciously knocked on Ye Cheng's head a few more times, considering it her revenge for just now.

"Keep going. Don't make a sound, or else... heh." Dongfang Zhixia sneered.

Ye Cheng: "..."

Ye Cheng blinked his big, expressive eyes and nodded vigorously with an "innocent" look, afraid that if he showed his compliance too slowly, he would eat another combo move.

As for the other "inappropriate" aspects...

Dongfang Zhixia naturally noticed them, but her reaction was merely a slightly unnatural blush flashing across her face, her gaze becoming a bit restless, and her ears growing faintly hot... that was all.

She would just treat it as the "remuneration" given to a certain bastard.

Wanting a horse to run without letting it graze was obviously impossible. It violated the law of conservation of energy in physics. You have to put something in before you can get a return, right?

Empty promises might hold up for a while, but not forever. Eventually, you had to offer something substantial.

Of course, what you give doesn't necessarily have to be money. Anything would do, such as...

Thinking of this, Dongfang Zhixia suddenly realized something, her eyes narrowing... Ha, so you aren't stupid after all!

Dongfang Zhixia suddenly thought of how Ye Cheng and the eldest miss usually colluded at school. She had always thought Shen Qinghan was a problem child, and of course, she still was, but now she had made a new discovery.

For example... this problem child also understood the principle that "if you want the horse to run, you must feed it grass."

Before she could hand out a "salary" to a certain bastard, had a certain self-righteous problem child seemingly beaten her to the punch?

Even if the objective factor was that Shen Qinghan's leg was injured, which led to the excuse of paying a "salary" to a certain bastard, the question remained: why give the "salary" to that specific guy instead of someone else?

Wouldn't it be better to have a female bodyguard or a maid do it, or simply rest at home for a while and come back when she was completely healed? It was such a simple thing, she didn't believe Shen Qinghan couldn't have thought of it...

It couldn't possibly be that she truly loved studying that much, right?

Heh... That was simply the funniest joke in the world!

If hard work was all it took, what would be the point of geniuses?

Could you learn Sanskrit in less than five minutes just by working hard?

Could you memorize an entire book in just a few minutes just by working hard?

Could you get a perfect score on the college entrance math exam just by working hard...

You couldn't, but Ye Cheng could.

Of course, Dongfang Zhixia couldn't do it herself either. Being a genius was merely the threshold to even stand before certain people. Although she was very reluctant to admit it... that was the truth. People who couldn't clearly see the gap between themselves and others would never be able to improve.

This was another one of Dongfang Zhixia's strengths: she could always look at everything from an objective perspective, including herself. Acting on impulse was absolutely non-existent for her, except for those times when she was infuriated by a certain idiot or made to blush with rage by a certain bastard...

Two real masterminds.

There were two real masterminds in the villa. One was a mastermind, and the other was also a mastermind...

The charm of language was as potent as ever!

Regardless of objective or subjective factors, the fact that the eldest miss was paying Ye Cheng a "salary" was already set in stone in the eyes of the student council president.

"Scheming woman," Dongfang Zhixia narrowed her eyes and muttered to herself.

Hearing her voice, Ye Cheng stopped. With a hint of confusion in his eyes, he glanced back at the president who was pressing him like "rapeseed for oil."

Coincidentally, Dongfang Zhixia was also looking at Ye Cheng at that moment. Their eyes met, as if sparks were dancing and lightning was about to strike, and then...

"Thump!"

Ye Cheng: "..."

Alright, he was behaving now.

Ye Cheng went back to being the "rapeseed oil" squeezed by the president, while Dongfang Zhixia released her hand covering the speaker and continued chatting with her mother.

Only... why was there no sound?

Doubt flickered in Dongfang Zhixia's eyes. She looked at the ongoing call on her phone, her confusion deepening.

"Mom, why aren't you saying anything? The signal on my end was a bit bad just now and dropped a little, but it's fine now." Dongfang Zhixia took the initiative to pick up the conversation the mother and daughter had left unfinished.

However... the other end of the line remained silent.

Dongfang Zhixia: "???"

"Mom?"

"Mom, why aren't you speaking?"

Dongfang Zhixia frowned, her eyes full of puzzlement and doubt. Could it be that just now...

Just as Dongfang Zhixia was suspecting whether her mother had heard her teaching a certain bastard a lesson, which would be a bit troublesome if she had, and was preparing a brief explanation since she originally planned to introduce that bastard to her parents in a few days, now...

Her mother's voice finally came through the phone.

"Yeah, Zhixia, the sound on your end suddenly got very quiet just now. It must have been a bad signal, so Mom stepped outside. I wasn't looking at my phone just now. Did you say something?"

Dongfang Zhixia breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed she had overthought it; it was good that she hadn't heard.

"I didn't say anything, Mom. I'm a bit sleepy, I'm going to rest."

"Mhm, okay... By the way, Zhixia, have you considered getting a boyfriend? Mom has a few friends' sons here..." Su Su's probing voice came from the other end of the line.

Dongfang Zhixia's voice instantly turned cold.

"Mom, if there's nothing else, I'm going to hang up. I'm tired."

Su Su: "..."

"Hahaha, don't be mad, Zhixia, Mom is just bringing it up. Don't worry, you are in charge of your own affairs. Mom is just nagging a bit, thinking that I still have some good candidates on hand. If nothing else, at least their character is guaranteed..."

Intentionally or not, Su Su emphasized the word "character" a bit more heavily, as if she were hinting at something.

Their family lacked nothing. As long as there were no issues with character, nothing else was particularly important. After all, the couple trusted their daughter's judgment.

Their daughter was so outstanding, it was impossible for her to fall for a good-for-nothing or a fool, right?

But now...

The good news: he wasn't a good-for-nothing. The bad news... he was a gold-digging opportunist, which was even scarier than a good-for-nothing!

And it seemed their daughter had already fallen into his trap, and even...

No way!!!

Su Su was almost crying from anxiety on her end, but she didn't know how to broach the subject. If she was too blunt, their Zhixia might just fall out with them completely.

How could the two parents not know their own daughter's personality?

She couldn't tolerate a single grain of sand in her eye, and she had a fiercely independent personality... If it was pointed out right now, things would definitely get very tense. But Su Su was unwilling to just say nothing!

She could only do it this way, dropping hints to remind her daughter not to remain obstinately on the wrong path.

"I know. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up... By the way, Mom, you said a few of your friends' sons are pretty good, right? The kind whose character is guaranteed to be fine?"

Just as Dongfang Zhixia was about to hang up the phone, she seemed to think of something, paused, and asked this question.

On the other end of the line, Su Su froze for a moment. Thinking her daughter had actually listened to her, she hurriedly said, "Yes, their character is guaranteed, and their backgrounds are completely clean. Some are even grandsons of your grandfather's comrades-in-arms, and sons of your father's comrades... Their character is absolutely beyond reproach!"

"Mhm, okay. Then Mom, send me their profiles, I'll take a look tonight," Dongfang Zhixia continued.

"Okay, Mom will send them over to you in a bit!" Su Su's voice was a little agitated, as if she had already foreseen the day her daughter would turn back from the wrong path.

"By the way, Zhixia..."

"Mom, why are you so talkative tonight? Is there something you want to tell me?" Dongfang Zhixia's puzzled voice came through the phone.

Su Su shuddered, her brain working in overdrive. "What do you mean talkative? You silly girl, is that how you talk to your mother? Mom just wanted to say that the weather is getting colder, so wear more clothes when you go out for a walk at night, and make sure to wear what you need to wear..."

"Alright, I get it. I'm going to sleep," Dongfang Zhixia said casually.

"Beep, beep, beep..."

Right after Su Su finished speaking, the President hung up the phone.

Su Su: "..."

Dongfang family manor.

In the first-floor living room, three people sat on the sofa, looking at each other in dismay. An inexplicable silence filled the air.

Actually... the phone had been on speakerphone just now, resting on the table, and they... heard some "subtle" sounds.

They didn't hear it very clearly, but what was said didn't matter at all anymore. What mattered was that their minds had already automatically filled in the blanks...

Du Wanyi: "..."

Su Su: "..."

Dongfang Zhan: "..."

Of the three people, not a single one could laugh anymore.

...