Chen Yusheng's Extraordinary Human Empathy

Hearing Su Bai's words, Chen Yusheng instantly perked up.

Munch munch munch~

After swallowing the seafood in her mouth, she put on a serious face and asked, "What kind of secret is it?"

"Actually, she's a girl."

"...I thought it was going to be some wealthy family drama or a secret underground vault heist in Jiangcheng or something."

"What kind of heist are you even imagining? Look at him—does he look like he could be part of that kind of plot?"

"Alright, fine. A girl... huh?"

Chen Yusheng was a bit slow on the uptake this time.

It took her a moment to process Su Bai's words before it finally clicked.

Su Bai had spoken in plain Chinese, but the meaning was a little hard to grasp at first.

Chen Yusheng racked her brain and ventured a guess, "Is he a crossdresser? Like, someone who secretly enjoys dressing up as a girl...?"

"No, she's genuinely a girl, no doubt about it. It's just that, due to some special circumstances, she has to live disguised as a boy."

Su Bai briefly explained Liu Chen'ang's situation to Chen Yusheng.

After all, he'd already... ahem... been intimate with Liu Chen'ang.

She was bound to join the harem sooner or later, so it was better to let Chen Yusheng know early.

As for why she was the first to be told... in Su Bai's eyes, the status of the official girlfriend still held a lot of weight.

Besides, Chen Yusheng was sharp and adaptable.

Sure enough, after listening to Su Bai's explanation, her face first twisted in disbelief before she blurted out, "But what about when she gets married later? She can't keep hiding forever, right?"

In Chen Yusheng's mind, heirs from wealthy families were inevitably expected to marry.

Even if not for love, they'd at least have to settle for a match of equal social standing—what people called an arranged marriage.

"That is a problem, but it's probably still a long way off. She's only eighteen, after all. Even if she ignores it for now, she can stall for a long time. Who knows? Maybe by then, her parents won't be so fixated on it anymore."

Su Bai had no intention of meddling in other people's family affairs.

But he could tell that deep down, Liu Chen'ang really wanted to live as a girl.

When they were alone together, she acted even more girly than most girls.

It was downright endearing.

Coincidentally, a similar thought crossed Chen Yusheng's mind.

She fell into deep contemplation, her serious yet slightly dazed expression making Su Bai a little nervous.

"Yusheng, I feel like you're thinking something absolutely wild right now, and you're about to say something incredibly inappropriate."

"It's not wild! And it's not inappropriate!" Chen Yusheng defended herself. "This is called human empathy."

"Alright, then where exactly is this empathy of yours directed?"

"If you and Yangyang... you know... I won't blame you."

"..."

Classic Chen Yusheng.

By now, Su Bai had her thought process completely figured out. After a bout of profound, galaxy-brain contemplation, if she didn’t drop some outrageous take, it wouldn’t be her.

Seeing Su Bai struggling to keep a straight face, Chen Yusheng hurriedly explained, "Look, she's been repressing herself for so many years, and she's clearly into you. So, as a friend, it’s only right that you... help her out a little..."

"Wow, my Yusheng is so compassionate."

"Of course!"

"In other words, if I were to help out some other woman, you would blame me, right?"

"Well, that depends on the woman! I’ll screen them first. If I don’t approve, then you... you can’t just go wild!"

Chen Yusheng put on a fierce, clawing gesture.

But her words lacked conviction.

Truthfully, there was no way she could actually control which girls Su Bai got involved with.

Yet she couldn’t help saying something so coquettish.

A part of her was afraid Su Bai would get angry.

After all, Su Bai had given her so much.

Love, companionship, money.

Chen Yusheng felt too embarrassed to make demands—she worried it’d come off as clingy...

Most importantly, Su Bai had no shortage of sweet, obedient girls around him.

The senior student and the Wan sisters seemed like the type who could completely suppress their jealousy.

But Su Bai didn’t get mad. Instead, he pinched her cheek affectionately, half-joking and half-serious as he said, "You’re right. From now on, whenever I discover a new resource deposit, I’ll let you inspect it first. Only after you grant the mining rights will I start excavating..."

"Pfft—you make me sound like some medieval tyrant exploiting the peasantry!"

Chen Yusheng giggled and turned her attention back to the hotpot.

A fresh batch of black truffle wagyu, lamb, and assorted vegetables had just arrived.

She was hungry.

Time to eat. Hehe, no more stressing about the future.

Su Bai really did love her—it gave Chen Yusheng such a warm, secure feeling.

Plus, she could tell Su Bai wasn’t the type to fool around indiscriminately.

For instance, he showed zero interest in the cliché rich-guy pastime of picking up models at bars.

That shattered some of Chen Yusheng’s stereotypes about the wealthy.

Well, Liu Chen'ang had shattered a few stereotypes too...

After all, your average rich girl didn’t make a habit of disguising herself as a boy.

"Big Goose."

"Yeah?"

"Are you into models?"

"Not really." Su Bai looked utterly sincere. "Models have to strut down runways like zoo monkeys, wear all kinds of weird outfits, and attract hordes of cougars harassing them over how handsome I’d look..."

"OMG, who asked that?" Chen Yusheng burst out laughing. "I meant, are you into those female models? Like the ones at car shows. Ugh, I didn’t even go with you last time! I bet some car model totally hit on you..."

She mentally scolded herself for getting jealous.

But the moment car models came to mind, the green-eyed monster reared its head again.

"No way. Senior Zhou Jialu was with me the whole time. With her figure, she outshines any car model. Nobody dared approach me."

"But... she couldn’t have stuck to you 24/7, right? What if someone slipped in when she wasn’t looking...?"

"When she wasn’t around, I was out racing with Liu Chen'ang. Do you really think the two of us would attract car models?"

Chen Yusheng paused. "We wouldn’t?"

"I think we’d only attract fujoshis shipping us as some imaginary BL couple..."

"Honk honk honk~"

Chen Yusheng cracked up.

Su Bai’s imagination was always so bizarre.

But he had a point—having a goddess-tier companion really did lower the odds of getting hit on.

"Honestly, my taste doesn’t lean toward those overly made-up models at all."

"Then who does your taste lean toward?"

"Obviously the academically gifted ones. Yeah, I like smart girls."

"Tch~"

Chen Yusheng pouted and lightly bumped her head against Su Bai’s shoulder before lazily dipping meat into the broth.

Meanwhile, Su Bai’s appetite had improved tenfold just from admiring her.

There was something irresistibly delicious about watching a book-smart airhead fall head over heels.

Right now, Su Bai felt incredibly grateful that he’d outperformed on the college entrance exams—scoring ten points higher than his usual mock tests.

Otherwise, he might not have gotten into Jiangcheng University... and never met Yusheng.