Wang De suddenly understood a lot of things.

At the police station, Duan Chunshui had abruptly put on a pair of large sunglasses. 

When Duan Chunshui heard that the CEO was Ji Chunshan, he remarked that the situation had become interesting.

Why did both their names have the character “Chun” (Spring), with one being “Shan” (Mountain) and the other “Shui” (Water)?

Amid the unsettling laughter, Wang De stiffly turned his head to look at Duan Chunshui, seated on the other side.

The oversized sunglasses covered half of Duan Chunshui’s face, making his nose and lips the focal points of attention. His already striking mouth moved slightly as he uttered something.

Wang De could tell—it was a curse word.

People with high-bridged noses look particularly cool and authoritative in sunglasses. Wang De felt that Duan Chunshui’s aura was now overwhelmingly strong, almost uncontrollable.

Frightened, Wang De quickly turned his head back, his eyes catching a glimpse of Duan Chunshui’s hand. Resting lightly below his knee, it held a phone, the camera lens pointed squarely at the CEO, capturing everything happening in front of them in sharp detail.

“……”

As Wang De stared at the phone, a notification suddenly popped up.

He noticed that not only had Duan Chunshui received the message, but the other three members of the bureau had as well. Glancing at Xiao Xu’s phone beside him, Wang De saw that the message was from a group chat titled [We’re Not Homewreckers].

A message from Li Heng read:

“Report to the team leader: The richest family in the southern part of the city, the Ji family, has been invaded by a “True and False Young Master” novel^[1]A common trope in melodramatic stories where an impostor claims to be part of a wealthy family, often causing chaos.. A stranger is claiming that their young master, Ji Chunhua, is fake, and that he is the real youngest son of the Ji family. This morning, the family discovered that both young masters had rolled into the same bed. The Ji family is in chaos—come join the drama!”

Xiao Xu turned his phone face down and looked at Wang De. “Don’t worry. Even if the Captain beats you to death, someone will voluntarily go with you to the grave.”

Wang De: “……”

“That was not comforting. Thanks, though.”

After just a few days on the job, not only had his own story been hijacked once, but twice. Now, even Xiao Xu and Jiang Nian didn’t dare look Duan Chunshui in the eye.

Jiang Nian murmured under her breath, “How did two stories end up converging on the Ji family at the same time?”

Xiao Xu whispered back, “The Ji family is the richest in the city. Doesn’t it sound just like a novel setting? It’s not surprising that they’d attract multiple stories.”

True enough.

Duan Chunshui replied in the group chat: [Confirm that Ji Chunshan is not the protagonist.]

If Ji Chunshan were the protagonist and carried the typical “domineering CEO” halo, then when he spouted those cringe-worthy CEO lines, the ordinary passengers on the bus would have been influenced by his halo and found it all perfectly normal. Instead, their reactions were more like, “Ha, who do you think you’re fooling?”

Xiao Xu quickly typed back: [Should we separate the female lead and Ji Chunshan?]

Duan Chunshui: [No need. Bring her to the Ji family so I can meet my two fake cousins.]

Li Heng: [……??]

The usually talkative Li Heng went silent for the rest of the day.

While the group chatted away, the bus reached its stop. As soon as it halted, Xu Xue bolted off, sprinting away at a speed rivaling that of a sci-fi heroine.

“……”

The CEO stepped off the bus after her, watching her figure disappear into the distance. With a confident smirk, he muttered, “Woman, do you really think you can escape from the palm of my hand?”

He pulled out his phone to call his convoy, only to feel a hand clap down on his shoulder.

“Who dared to touch me like this?” The CEO thought.

The CEO turned around, annoyed, only to be met with Duan Chunshui’s expressionless face.

“……”

The four others saw the CEO’s facial muscles twitch several times, most noticeably around his mouth and eyes.

He took half a step back, as if the pressure was too much for him, and looked like he might faint.

Then, he ran.

Three minutes later, both he and Xu Xue were cornered beneath a tree on a small path in a park.

The CEO said to Xu Xue, “Woman, didn’t I tell you? You can’t escape from the palm of my hand. Be a good girl and accept your fate.”

Duan Chunshui interjected coldly, “Shut up.”

Ji Chunshan glanced at Duan Chunshui, his mouth twitching again. This time, he actually shut up.

Xu Xue’s expression of pain and suffering froze halfway. She stared in shock at the now-silent Ji Chunshan, then turned to Duan Chunshui and asked, “How did you do that?”

Why did Ji Chunshan act normal when facing him?

Duan Chunshui didn’t answer Xu Xue’s question. Instead, he asked her, “Have you recently been reading romance novels about CEOs?”

Seeing her hesitation, Xiao Xu reassured her, “Don’t worry. We’re from the Novel Crisis Management Bureau. We’re here to help you resolve the problem.”

After a brief introduction to the bureau and an explanation of her current situation, Xu Xue finally opened up.

“I have read a lot of them. I have loved them since middle school.”

Middle school was probably the peak of her obsession with CEO romances. At that time, domineering CEO stories like “The Arrogant CEO Fell in Love with Me” were wildly popular. A simple online search would bring up countless novels with “CEO” in the title.

Handsome, wealthy young CEOs would trap the heroine against a wall, confessing their love with a mix of dominance and heartbreak. She used to scream with excitement while reading, rolling around on her bed in delight.

Later, as she grew older, she stopped enjoying CEO romances. She moved on to sci-fi, comedic, and horror novels, dabbling in a variety of genres.

When did she start liking CEO romances again?

Xu Xue nudged a tiny pebble with her foot. Her canvas shoes, once vibrant but now muddy and gray, had laces that appeared tattered and discolored.

It started after she began working.

Graduating from an ordinary university so finding a job was incredibly hard for her. After finally securing a low-paying position, she found herself shouldering the workload of multiple people while dealing with scheming coworkers and arrogant, self-centered bosses.

Each day felt like an unending grind. At night, she would drag her exhausted body home, feeling like a zombie, with just enough energy left to collapse into bed.

She was so tired.

Especially when she was mistreated. She felt so drained she just wanted to curl up in her sagging mattress and cry.

It was during those moments that she reopened her novels. She didn’t want to read anything intellectually challenging or filled with intense drama. Instead, she went back to the domineering CEO romances she had loved as a child.

Back then, she admired the passionate CEO consumed by love. Now, she envied the heroine who had a wealthy, powerful boyfriend.

If only she had someone like that… Someone who could stand up for her when she was sabotaged by coworkers or scolded harshly by her boss.

Someone who could pick her up in a warm, comfortable car on a rainy night after working late and running home drenched and weary.

Someone who could appear at awkward school reunions she didn’t want to attend but couldn’t refuse. Someone who could shut down those mocking questions of successful classmates about her lack of a boyfriend by wrapping an arm around her shoulder and declaring his love for her.

It was vain, perhaps, but it was her way of finding comfort—self-soothing in the face of exhaustion and injustice. It worked better than any vivid dream.