Chapter 25 – The Twenty-Fifth Day After Transmigrating: The Real Yun Shuning (3000…)

Su Muqing sat in his office, wearily rubbing his temples.

These past few days, he had been swamped with company matters.

What Yu Cheng had done was disgusting—not overtly severe, but neglecting even one detail could lead to serious consequences.

So he had no choice but to devote most of his time to the company. Qingyuan couldn’t afford to make a single mistake.

He glanced at a push notification from the Jinli livestream app. His brows furrowed slightly—why was Yun Shuning streaming at this hour?

Stealing a moment from his busy schedule, he clicked into the stream. He put on his earphones to listen to Shuyan’s livestream while continuing to deal with the documents in his hand.

But the moment he heard the first sound from the stream, his pen froze in place.

Something was clearly off about Yun Shuning today.

He considered himself fairly familiar with her, but this voice, this tone—it wasn’t like her at all.

And at that moment, a trace of confusion struck him:
What is the real Yun Shuning like?

Was she the apathetic, emotionally detached person he always saw? Or the one who occasionally showed sympathy toward the weak?

Suddenly, he realized that what he had seen wasn’t the real her at all. What he had seen was a version of her living under the shadow of He Yan’s disappearance.

People are inherently multi-faceted. He had only seen one side of her.

This drunken side of her stirred both curiosity and a flutter in his heart.

He was a hypocritical person by nature, which was precisely why he was drawn to people and things that felt real.

While he was deep in thought, a sudden stream of “strange” music poured through the headphones—he was reluctant to even call it a song.

Su Muqing’s calm expression cracked; his eyes filled with rare astonishment.

Was Yun Shuning… singing?

How could it sound so… unique?

Every cell in his body was resisting this song, and yet Su Muqing, battling his own instincts, forced himself not to hit the pause button.

Somehow, in that moment, he felt he had gotten much closer to the real her.

And the lyrics of the song… did suit her current state: longing and remembrance.

He listened to the voice in his headphones in a daze. Just as he was starting to get used to it—starting to tolerate it—Xiaobai joined in the “performance.”

He had heard Xiaobai meow when he rescued it. It was definitely… distinctive. Not like those cutesy cats at all.

But he hadn’t expected that the combination of their voices would hit him like such a shockwave.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, but didn’t lower the volume one bit.

Suddenly, his hand froze. He had heard the sorrow hidden in her voice—the overwhelming emotions she was trying to let out.

Just as he stood there stunned, the voice in his earphones abruptly cut off.

She had ended the stream.

“Xu Zheng.” He reflected on her odd behavior and then called Xu Zheng’s number.

“Boss.” From the sound of it, the man on the phone was on the verge of tears. “This isn’t about something serious, right?”

Xu Zheng had been tied up with company issues for the past two days. The Yu family had vast resources, while their small tech company, only a few years old, couldn’t possibly compete.

On top of that, they had to be careful not to alert the Su family, which made things even more difficult.

“Check He Chen’s schedule for today. Focus on whether he visited He Yan’s villa,” Su Muqing instructed, thinking over Yun Shuning’s actions that day and suspecting He Chen had something to do with it.

And he knew deep down—whatever had lifted Yun Shuning’s mood that night probably had something to do with He Yan as well.

If she wasn’t just drunk and imagining things, then He Chen must have told her something about He Yan.

And as for what that something was—he already had a pretty good idea.

He just hoped he was wrong. Otherwise…

Just before hanging up, a thought struck him: “Xu Zheng.”

“I’m here, boss,” Xu Zheng replied, sounding completely defeated.

“Subtly leak to Lin Wan that He Chen has been paying a lot of attention to Yun Shuning lately.” Su Muqing looked out into the pitch-black night, the corners of his lips curling. “And also let Yu Cheng know more about the difficulties Lin Wan is facing right now. It’d be best if they both get a little busy.”

“Everyone knows the Yu family’s heir is hopelessly in love with Lin Wan.”

Xu Zheng silently gave him a thumbs-up in his heart. That’s his boss, alright—so dark-hearted it’s impressive.

First he set up He Chen, and now he was using Lin Wan to manipulate Yu Cheng.

If Yu Cheng still had feelings for Lin Wan, then for the foreseeable future, he probably wouldn’t have time to mess with them.

Xu Zheng also had a rough idea of what kind of person Lin Wan was. Some pretenses were just too abrupt—anyone with eyes could see through them.

But Lin Wan had absurdly good luck. She always seemed to extend a helping hand just when people needed it most. So even if her kindness was fake, the help she offered was real.

At that thought, he shook his head. It didn’t really concern him anyway—he just had to follow the boss’s orders.

Still…

“Boss, are you really going to use Miss Lin?”

“How can you call it use?” Su Muqing leaned back in his chair with a playful smile. “I just don’t want her to be kept in the dark like everyone else.”

“Got it, understood.” Xu Zheng instantly dropped the probing tone—clearly, his boss no longer had any attachment to Lin Wan.

Which made him even more confident in the plan’s success.

As for Yu Cheng, he had missed Yun Shuning’s livestream that night out of pride.
By the time he caught wind of it the next day, basically the entire internet had already heard the audio.

But unlike the netizens who didn’t know Yun Shuning’s story, he recognized instantly that something was wrong.

Everything Su Muqing had figured out—he could figure out, too.

So, after listening to the recording this morning, Xu Zheng went straight to He Chen’s company.

Secretary Ming looked at him, seeming like he was about to start a fight. He clenched his fists, then obediently did what a secretary should do.

He Chen was the CEO of a company, and to meet him, an appointment was definitely required:

“Hello, this is the Yu Group’s secretary’s office. Our President Yu has an urgent business deal he wants to discuss with President He.”

“Yes, the timing is very urgent, please help us schedule an appointment for President He in twenty minutes.”

“Thank you very much. We look forward to working together.”

After hanging up the phone, Xu Zheng drove, closely following Yu Cheng, worried that he might lose control of his temper and offend He Chen.

Offending Su Muqing, although dangerous, was something that could be survived. The Su family likely wouldn’t come after him directly, so if it happened, it happened. But He Chen was different. He was the definite heir to the He family, which was vast and powerful. Even though things had gotten a bit chaotic due to He Yan’s disappearance, a dead camel was still bigger than a horse—Yu Cheng’s family really couldn’t afford to offend them.

When Yu Cheng arrived at He Chen’s company, he was respectfully escorted into He Chen’s office by the secretary.

“President Yu, please have some tea.” He Chen, looking at Yu Cheng standing at the door, said calmly without any urgency.

Yu Cheng, who despised these insincere pleasantries, got straight to the point: “What did you say to Yun Shuning yesterday?”

“Why is President Yu so interested in my little aunt?” He Chen put down his teacup and leisurely looked at him.

“You really know how to claim relatives.” Hearing this, Yu Cheng sneered, unwilling to engage in a verbal sparring match. “Answer my question.”

“I just told her the truth,” He Chen replied.

“The truth?” Yu Cheng’s eyes narrowed.

“This really has nothing to do with President Yu,” He Chen replied, still calm.

“It has to do with He Yan,” Yu Cheng’s gaze became sharp, his tone filled with certainty. “What made Yun Shuning so happy yesterday? You didn’t lie to her, did you…”

“It wasn’t a lie,” He Chen met his gaze firmly, his voice full of conviction. “The chance of my uncle still being alive is not impossible, is it?”

“He Chen!” Yu Cheng stepped forward, placing both hands on the desk, his eyes dark with an ominous intensity. “Do you know how easily this lie could be exposed?”

“You’re not saving her. You’re hurting her.”

“This has nothing to do with President Yu,” He Chen’s hand paused momentarily before lifting the teacup to his lips, drinking a sip as though unaffected.

The tea was scalding hot.

“Also, President Yu should know that this really doesn’t qualify as a lie,” He Chen added. “It’s just a reasonable assumption based on the facts.”

“You’ll regret this,” Yu Cheng took a couple of steps back, his expression darkening. “I’ll make you regret this.”

Why was he so agitated? Because he knew that if He Yan wasn’t dead, and this lie tricked Yun Shuning into believing it, he would have no hope left.

A person who has died can only be mourned by the living. But if that person isn’t dead, the living might wait for them, perhaps even their entire lives, for someone who will never return.

He could only hide in a dark corner, forever envious of Yun Shuning’s deep and passionate love for He Yan, a love that he would never receive.

Yu Cheng left the office expressionlessly and drove to another place, heading straight for Yun Shuning’s apartment.

Yun Shuning suddenly felt as if there was a tractor in her arms, purring away as it worked.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked down at the sleeping Xiaobai in her arms.

Xiaobai seemed to realize she had woken up, lazily stretching, before starting to lick her hand.

Yun Shuning pet the cat for a while, but suddenly felt something was wrong: How did she fall asleep last night? She had no memory of it at all.

Did she forget the livestream yesterday?

Maybe she should check in with her fans on the platform.

As she thought, she opened her phone and was surprised to find a lot of notifications.

“Angel’s voice, devil’s song, leading you into the world of King of Songs, Shuyan—B Station Push.”

“Is this the decay of humanity or the collapse of morality? A young woman is doing this late at night—UC Push.”

“Watch the voice actor Shuyan conquer the world with a song—Weibo Push.”

“Xiao Ling’s new episode of ‘Hold Back Laughing Challenge’ is here, this time it’s ‘Shuyan singing’—Q Browser Push.”

Yun Shuning couldn’t remember what had happened the previous night, but the fear in her eyes was overflowing.

“Xiaobai, tell me, the person on here isn’t me, right?”

“It must be a coincidence, it must be!!!”

She had always known she was tone-deaf, so she rarely sang in front of others.

She wasn’t crazy, there was no way she would livestream singing at night, right?

No, her last memory of last night was of that can of blue milk beer.

Could she have drunk too much and gone crazy?

She took a deep breath, trembling as she opened Weibo’s trending page.

…

Help!!! She wanted to immigrate to Mars. Where can she get a visa for that?

After about ten minutes of calming herself, she finally had the chance to think about how to fix this.

In her past life, when she got drunk, she would often put herself into the roles she was performing. Sometimes, when she couldn’t find inspiration, she would deliberately get herself drunk to record her state afterward.

So, last night’s performance was completely in line with the character of ‘Yun Shuning.’

She forced herself to ignore the off-key, torturous sounds that could be described as a form of mental assault and tried to calm herself.

Now, she had already woven a dense web of her and He Yan in everyone’s hearts, just waiting for the day when she could expose it.

Xiaobai’s paw accidentally pressed the play button on her phone’s audio.

“Meow~~”

“Longing is a pain that can breathe~~”

She expressionlessly closed her phone and went to the bathroom to remove the cat fur from her face.

By the time she was eating a slice of bread with jam, there was a rhythmic knock on her door.

Hearing that familiar knock, she already knew who was on the other side.

She didn’t adjust her expression or demeanor, but instead opened the door as a normal person with hope for the future would—calmly.

In fact, the real her now fit her inner state perfectly.

This change suited her, now that she knew He Yan was still alive.

Su Muqing, looking at the figure standing before him, realized he had unconsciously lowered his hand that was knocking.

Her slightly messy hair, the expressionless face, and a piece of bread crumb on the corner of her lips made her seem incredibly real.

Her aura still kept people at a distance, but the first time he saw her, he sensed something different.

She was no longer like a kite with a broken string, floating aimlessly in the air, not knowing when it would fly away.

Thump, thump.

This strange, newfound realness in her made his heart race, throwing his rhythm off.