Lin Meimei's Long-Awaited "Reply," the President's Elbow Strike

The Lin Group, top floor.

This was Lin Baizhi's exclusive office, and equally her exclusive residence. Over the course of a year, the time she spent working and living here far exceeded the time she spent at her own home.

Today, Lin Baizhi's makeup was still a smoky eye look.

It made her look inexplicably fierce. When she arrived early in the morning, the employees in the company didn't even dare to breathe too loudly, terrified that they might get fired just because their left eyelid twitched one too many times.

After all... in the minds of the group's employees, Lin Baizhi was someone who almost never wore makeup. Even if she did, it was just a light touch of lipstick to add a bit of color. Due to her weak constitution, she always looked severely anemic and sickly.

Add to that her habit of staying up late for no particular reason, and her fondness for tinkering with little inventions in the dead of night—it would be a miracle if she actually looked healthy.

However, over the past two days, not only had Lin Baizhi started wearing makeup, but she was also wearing light makeup. Although it was very beautiful, it severely contradicted her usual persona.

She naturally had a rather sweet appearance, like a delicate and gentle girl next door. But doing this turned her into a sickly, obsessive, yandere-like girl. No matter how you looked at it, it gave people a sense of impending heart failure.

Lin Baizhi didn't want to wear such heavy makeup either, but she had no choice. If she didn't apply such heavy makeup, she wouldn't be able to cover up the tear tracks on her face. Her eyes were all swollen; how could she come to work like that?

She would become a laughingstock.

It was not easy to build a good image. The image Lin Baizhi had spent so many years establishing absolutely could not be broken so easily. Maintaining her current authoritative image was beneficial for managing the company.

Otherwise, Lin Baizhi wouldn't be willing to wear makeup at all. It made her look so fierce. If her brother saw her, he might think she was some scheming, wicked woman...

It would be terrible to leave a bad impression.

Her image should be the same as before—a kind-hearted, slightly naive, and sweet innocent girl. Only then could she maximally arouse a man's protective desire.

Although... Lin Baizhi wasn't entirely sure if these tactics, which worked on other men, would actually work on her brother. After all, her brother was, in a sense, a bit too aloof and distant from ordinary people.

The mind of a genius could never be judged by ordinary standards.

Still, it was very necessary to maintain her sweet and innocent persona...

Sometimes people are just like that. Even if you know what to do and have planned it perfectly, actually putting it into practice is exceptionally difficult. If one could truly achieve the unity of knowledge and action, they would ascend to heaven in broad daylight.

Lin Baizhi had pretty much finished dealing with the matters at hand. She glanced at the time. It seemed... it was about time for morning classes?

"Brother should be awake by now," Lin Baizhi muttered to herself. Seeming to have found a reason to convince herself to contact Ye Cheng, she picked up the phone resting to the side and opened the messaging app.

Among the crowd of contacts, Ye Cheng's profile picture—Grandpa Cow chugging iced tea—was unsurprisingly ranked at the very top, pinned.

In this regard, even her loving old father had to stay below; he couldn't compare to Ye Cheng.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Lin Baizhi's fingers flew across the screen, typing non-stop. Years of accumulation and suppression meant that no matter the time, Lin Baizhi always had a ton of things to say to Ye Cheng; they had just been forcibly repressed.

The more she repressed it, the more she wanted it; the more she wanted it, the more she repressed it. The ultimate result was that Lin Baizhi overworked herself, making her already weak body even worse.

Lin Tianxiong was still wondering to this day why his daughter's body had been nursed for so many years, only to become weaker and weaker.

She had no major illnesses, but constant minor ones. She caught colds frequently and simply had poor immunity. How strange, why on earth was this?

As time passed, Lin Baizhi's eyes grew strange. There were no superfluous emotions, only desire—pure desire. Looking at the mini-essay she had drafted, Lin Baizhi carefully read it over.

It expressed her yearning for Ye Cheng over these years, her nostalgia for their past life, and her longing for their beautiful memories...

Without a doubt, it was an excellent, high-scoring essay. If placed in the college entrance examination, it would at least be a model essay finalized by the review panel after three rounds. It had true feelings and real emotions, with no unnecessary showing off. The technique was maxed out, and the emotions were pushed to the limit. If this didn't get a perfect score, what would?

"My dearest brother, have you been well lately? Remembering the past..."

The more Lin Baizhi read it, the more satisfied she became. Just at the moment she was about to hit send, her finger paused in mid-air, unable to drop. At this moment, it was as if a pause button had been pressed, and she couldn't move forward an inch.

After a long while, a long sigh echoed through the office.

"Sigh... it's starting again..." Lin Baizhi thumped her own head. She still didn't send the message, ultimately deleting the text she had spent so long drafting. She slumped over her desk, her eyes devoid of life.

She felt inexplicably helpless and sorrowful. No one could ever imagine that the current CEO of the Lin Group, a big shot among her peers, could actually have such a weak side.

Lin Baizhi set her phone aside and pulled a white shirt out of her drawer. It was Ye Cheng's school uniform. Previously, it had been snatched away by Da Huang and gotten all dirty. She washed it, and as a result...

Lin Baizhi hugged the clothes, which were now full of the scent of laundry detergent, and felt inexplicably sad. "It's gone, it's all gone, boohoo... I worked so hard to get it, boohoo..."

"Stupid dog, you just wait!"

Lin Baizhi gritted her teeth, pinning this debt onto a certain poop-yellow, fat local dog. She had even planned out her revenge, preparing to take Da Huang to get neutered or something!

She took a sniff. Smelling the scent of laundry detergent flooding her mind, Lin Baizhi's heart completely died. Now she definitely wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. Sigh...

In ancient times, there were traditional sleep methods; now there was Lin Baizhi's little life hack sleep method. Great, now the little life hack was gone, and there was no need to sleep anymore. Being cucked was already painful enough, but now even the one little thing she had managed to hold onto as a token of her longing was gone too.

Boohoo... stupid dog, I'll show you...

Suddenly, Lin Baizhi seemed to think of something. She perked up, a gleam of light flashing through her pitiful eyes. A gleam of... wisdom.

I've got it!!!

Lin Baizhi's hope for life was reignited once more. She grabbed her phone and sent a message to Ye Cheng. This time... she was decisive!

Not only decisive, but also anxious. She had to be anxious; if she wasn't, she really wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. From the time the incident happened until now, Lin Baizhi hadn't closed her eyes for over a dozen hours. Her mental state was quite charming.

It was like a corporate slave accepting the blessing of the 996 work culture, only to look at their paycheck at the end of the month and see a four-digit number starting with a 2... Oh, so that's a salary, I thought it was a verification code.

Her resentment skyrocketed to the heavens. Even a ghost would be impressed and ask, "Bro, how did you die to have this much resentment?"

Lin Baizhi was fuming with resentment. The only reason she didn't butcher Da Huang on the spot was entirely out of respect for Ye Cheng; otherwise, she would have served it a spaying combo meal long ago.

Tap, tap, tap...

Classmate, classmate, are you there?

Are you there, classmate?

Can I discuss something with you? Please, okay? Pretty please~~~

It's just that my birthday is coming up soon. Could you give me a present?

Classmate, are you there?

Classmate, to tell you the truth, I lost my mom when I was little and really lack love. I see you as my good friend...

Classmate, are you there? Why are you ignoring me, classmate?

Lin Baizhi unleashed a combo: first lowering her posture, then using moral kidnapping, and finally begging and playing the emotional card. After this silky-smooth sequence, Lin Baizhi felt that absolutely no one could cruelly refuse her.

She waited for a long time, but there was no movement from Ye Cheng's side. Compared to the eldest miss leaving her on read, which messed with her mind, Ye Cheng not even reading the messages was double the torture.

Every passing second was a dual mental and physical torment for Lin Baizhi. Her fingernails were digging deep into her flesh.

Heaven rewards the faithful. Amidst the agonizing wait, Ye Cheng's typing status finally changed, and the unread status turned into read.

The other party is typing...

Lin Baizhi widened her eyes, her pupils dilating in sheer excitement. Her heart started racing. It is here, it is finally here!!!

Ding-dong!

It was a voice message!

Lin Baizhi grew even more thrilled upon seeing this, her lips curling up wildly. A surprise!!!

This was an unexpected delight. Without a second thought, Lin Baizhi immediately favorited the voice message and then hit screen record, preparing for both scenarios just in case he recalled the message. As for why... naturally, she planned to turn off the lights at night, huddle under the covers, and listen to it slowly, treating it as a lullaby...

She tapped play.

He is sleeping. Dongfang Zhixia's pleasant voice came from the phone.

Lin Baizhi: ???

Lin Baizhi shot up from the desk she had been slumped over, her face full of disbelief. Her smile stiffened, and a massive question mark seemingly popped up over her head.

Before Lin Baizhi could ask what was going on, two more voice messages came through consecutively from Ye Cheng's phone.

The phone is about to die. If you need something, wait until this guy wakes up to message him. Stop messaging now; he will not see it even if you do.

That is right, it was still the Student Council President. Though her voice was icy, it did not stop it from sounding pleasant. After speaking, she sent a picture: it was Ye Cheng with his eyes closed, wrapped in a shroud, lying dead to the world on the sofa.

He looked very peaceful.

Lin Baizhi: ???

Lin Baizhi typed a bunch of question marks on the screen. The first one showed as read, but the rest were unread. She was not even looking anymore. No matter what message was sent, it showed as unread, and Ye Cheng's status showed as offline.

Silently, with a calm face, Lin Baizhi stood up from her seat, took her phone, and smashed it viciously onto the floor. A piercing, explosive scream echoed through the room.

Ahhhh!!!

Coincidentally, Lin Baizhi's secretary came over at that moment, hugging a large stack of documents that needed signing. She walked to the door and was just about to knock when she heard the piercing scream from her Boss Lin inside.

The sound was miserable, like a vengeful ghost awakening...

The secretary shuddered in fright. Silently, she hugged the documents in her arms and walked back exactly the way she came, muttering something under her breath.

I did not hear anything, I did not hear anything at all. Boohoo, Boss Lin is so scary, boohoo...

...

Meanwhile.

At the academy, inside Dongfang Zhixia's villa.

First floor.

By the sofa.

Wrapped in a bath towel, Dongfang Zhixia narrowed her eyes and glanced at the phone. Ye Cheng's cheap commoner phone had already gone black due to low battery. Tossing the phone aside, Dongfang Zhixia crossed her arms over her chest and quietly stared at Ye Cheng, who was sleeping like a dead pig in front of her.

One minute passed...

Two minutes passed...

Three minutes passed...

Ye Cheng showed no signs of waking up. Dongfang Zhixia finally could not bear it anymore and kicked Ye Cheng right in the face.

Bastard, playing the Great Compassion Mantra first thing in the morning? Go to hell!!!

Ahhhh!!! This was... Ye Cheng's miserable scream as he was jolted awake from his dream.