Chapter 6: The Price

Meng Yuqi’s parents didn’t wait for them to have a meal together, nor did they insist on what time they should wake up.

They thought young people should have plenty of time to themselves.

Mrs. Meng had no issue with whether they ate breakfast together or not; she didn’t think it was that important. After all, with modern transportation, it wasn’t like they couldn’t share a meal when they wanted. As long as they made an effort, they could always find time to eat and chat together.

What mattered more to Mrs. Meng was that her son and daughter-in-law had a good relationship, and she hoped her daughter-in-law would get pregnant soon.

Mr. Meng, the chairman of the Meng Group, had already left for work. Mrs. Meng found her husband too serious, thinking he might unintentionally scare their daughter-in-law, so it was better for him to focus on work and earn more money for their future grandchildren’s milk.

Every time Mrs. Meng shooed her husband away, Mr. Meng would feel a bit wronged. He wasn’t unattractive, after all, so why did she always make it seem like he’d affect the grandchildren’s looks?

When Meng Yuqi and Tong Yue came downstairs, they saw only Mrs. Meng.

“Let’s have breakfast first,” Mrs. Meng said with a smile. “We’ve already eaten. Yuqi, don’t always focus on work. Your father’s not blind yet; spend more time with Yueyue. Go out, take a walk, or watch a movie together.”

Mrs. Meng didn’t want her daughter-in-law staying home just to keep her company. She believed a wife should spend more time with her husband.

“I’ve been filming on the set recently, so I’ll stay home and rest for the next few days,” Tong Yue replied, thinking to herself: Shopping is tiring, and movies in theaters can’t be fast-forwarded. It’s exhausting.

As an actress, she knew the importance of watching films and analyzing them, without skipping scenes. But during her break, she just wanted to rest and avoid crowded places. Besides, her relationship with Meng Yuqi was just contractual—so what was there to do when they went out together?

“I’ll stay home and keep her company,” Meng Yuqi added. If his beloved didn’t want to go out, he’d happily stay at home with her. It was that simple.

“Alright,” Mrs. Meng nodded, jokingly adding, “It’s fine if you two spend all day lying around in your room.”

“…” Tong Yue fell silent, feeling like Mrs. Meng really wanted to say, It’s fine if you two spend all day in bed.

Meng Yuqi said, “Yueyue is my whole world. Being in the room with her feels like seeing the entire world.”

Tong Yue thought: What a filial son, spewing nonsense. Who can stay in one room all day?

Meng Yuqi insisted he wasn’t just saying sweet nothings. While staying in the room all day wasn’t practical, doing so occasionally wasn’t a problem.

In the past few days, Lin Qian had been having bad luck. If it wasn’t getting caught in a rainstorm, it was having someone throw a bucket of water at her while she walked.

While she could accept getting rained on—natural occurrences and all—being splashed with water by someone or sprayed with a bottle felt off.

“It must be Tong Yue’s fans,” Lin Qian grumbled. Even if it was just an old lady who threw the water, who’s to say someone didn’t put her up to it?

Ever since Lin Qian was reborn and bound to a fox spirit, she hadn’t seen herself as the destined protagonist of the world, but she also didn’t believe her luck should be this bad.

Her recent string of misfortunes must be because she landed the lead role in Moonlight, provoking Tong Yue’s fans to take revenge.

“Fans’ behavior reflects on their idols,” Lin Qian said to the fox. “Go make her allergic or give her nightmares—it’s only fair she suffers a bit.”

This was just a minor punishment, not something to ruin Tong Yue’s face or expose any of her scandals.

Lin Qian believed her actions were mild and even kind toward Tong Yue.

“No,” the fox refused. “I’m a spiritual creature. We aren’t allowed to harm innocent people for no reason.”

Allergies? Nightmares? Definitely not. What if I get caught by the Monster Management Bureau?

The fox had no intention of doing such foolish things. She was still a spirit with principles.

Lin Qian felt frustrated but also a little relieved. She had worried that the fox might harm her, but hearing this response, she trusted that the fox wouldn’t hurt her without reason.

Despite the fox not taking action against Tong Yue, Lin Qian’s misfortunes continued.

For example, her high heel broke suddenly as she walked, or it got stuck in a crack in the pavement. Even drinking water caused her to choke.

These mishaps couldn’t easily be blamed on any fan’s plotting—after all, her shoes came from her own home, and she was the one drinking the water.

“You always pay a price for taking something that belongs to someone else,” the fox said, without any intention of sparing Lin Qian from her bad luck. The fox believed Lin Qian needed to learn this lesson—otherwise, she might keep pushing for more and more.

The fox had its own agenda. It needed Lin Qian to gather faith and medicinal herbs, while Lin Qian was constantly asking for things from the fox. It was a mutual exchange.

But the fox had to make sure Lin Qian didn’t take it for granted.

“You don’t have enough faith energy right now,” the fox continued. “When you have more, things will get better. But you’ve taken someone else’s role, altering their fate and stealing their fortune. That comes with consequences.”

“I was reborn, so of course I’ll make changes. It’s not stealing; it’s just going after what I want. Besides, Tong Yue didn’t even go to the audition,” Lin Qian defended herself.

“But you still used her name for your promotion,” the fox said quietly.

“…” Lin Qian couldn’t argue with that. She had indeed leveraged Tong Yue’s name for her own publicity. After a pause, she stubbornly added, “It’s all for the sake of gathering more faith energy.”

The fox scoffed softly, knowing full well whose faith energy Lin Qian was truly after. This was just Lin Qian’s way of trying to step on someone else to feel superior.

The fox had encountered many people like Lin Qian before. If it weren’t for her being reborn, with some knowledge of the future and a bit of good fortune, the fox wouldn’t have even bothered working with her.

Meanwhile, at the Monster Management Bureau, staff members were feeling troubled. A weather spirit at the Meteorological Bureau had reached out to them again, asking what was going on.

“Mr. Long, can you cut down on the rain a bit?” a staff member asked a dragon who lived in a seaside villa.

“I’m an endangered species,” Mr. Long replied seriously.

“…” The staff member thought this had nothing to do with being endangered.

“It’s summer, and it’s hot. Can’t I sneeze once in a while?” Mr. Long continued. Summer weather is unpredictable—what’s wrong with a little rainstorm?

People should stop obsessing over the weather forecast; it’s not always accurate anyway.

Mr. Long felt he was doing humanity a favor by cooling things down naturally, saving them the effort of artificial rain. It was environmentally friendly, and he wasn’t charging for it either—people should be grateful.

Mr. Long just wanted to go out and explore for a bit, giving humanity a little benefit. What’s the harm in that?

“I’m not like a panda in the zoo, only good for eating and looking cute!” Mr. Long scoffed.

The Bureau staff member, who happened to be a panda spirit, felt personally attacked.

“Besides, I hear the pandas at the breeding centers are treated well, especially the pregnant ones. Some even fake pregnancies, and humans can’t tell because the ultrasounds aren’t reliable. Panda cubs are smaller than a rat when born, right?” Mr. Long said.

“…” The staff member, a panda spirit, was truly speechless.

In the end, the Bureau couldn’t do anything about Mr. Long. After all, he was a dragon. There were far more pandas than dragons, and pandas couldn’t compete with a dragon’s power.

The staff member figured it was best to leave Mr. Long alone and not worry about his sneezing. After all, Mr. Long seemed to have everything under control. If something went wrong, it wasn’t something a small spirit like the staff member could handle anyway.

One day, Tong Yue and Meng Yuqi went out together to the zoo.

Tong Yue secretly laughed to herself, thinking: The smell at the zoo is intense. Let’s see how the brother Yuqi handles it.

But Tong Yue wasn’t worried. As a god, she could block out the overwhelming smells with ease.

Meng Yuqi originally wanted to take her to a concert, thinking it would be a more refined and cultured activity. But when he heard that his beloved wanted to visit the zoo, he immediately agreed. If that’s what she wanted, he’d make sure to give her what she wanted, especially after hearing her inner thoughts. He wanted to see her amused.

“Erha has started streaming, but it only has a few dozen followers,” Meng Yuqi mentioned. “Maybe it’s because it’s just an ordinary husky.”

“Isn’t he wearing a famous brand?” Tong Yue asked. Other people’s pets have tons of followers on Weibo, so why doesn’t this husky? After all, he is a husky of CEO Meng’s family.

“It’s a counterfeit,” Meng Yuqi pointed out. “There’s no shortage of people flaunting wealth on Douyin, and livestreamers often feature all kinds of pets.”

To put it bluntly, that husky really doesn’t have many fans. The only reason it has a few dozen followers is because the other household butlers followed it.

“He’s so useless!” Tong Yue exclaimed.

The wolf, disguised as a husky, felt insulted. He noticed the number of followers on his account—only a few dozen!

Was it because he didn’t stream often enough? Or maybe his performance wasn’t entertaining enough?

He had thought it would be easy to gain tons of followers and get showered with tips. In reality, it was a rude awakening.

“Good thing you’re a house pet,” the butler said, patting the Erha’s head. “Don’t worry, Madam and Young Master are just visiting the zoo. They’re not sending you there.”

The butler couldn’t help but sigh at how few followers this husky had. Maybe it was because there were no pictures of the house? Or the mansion?

Clearly, relying on just the husky wasn’t enough. The butler opened a short video app and scrolled through other pet videos. Each one had way more followers.

The zoo was on the outskirts of town, but luckily, Tong Yue and Meng Yuqi didn’t have to take public transport. With the driver, they got there quickly. There weren’t many people at the entrance, and no one was in line to buy tickets. As Tong Yue was about to step forward to buy tickets, Meng Yuqi reached out and stopped her.

“I’ll handle it.” Meng Yuqi pulled out his phone. He knew how to scan the code, and he also carried cash, so there was no way he wouldn’t be able to pay. He was still young, after all, so of course he used electronic payments.

Tong Yue: Noted, big boss with money!