Ning Xiaoyu decided it was time to reason with the childish love system. How could this be considered ‘cheating’ on someone?

Comfortably sprawled out on her bed, she negotiated with the system, “What’s with this system of yours? Do you even understand what the word cheating means? That term is mostly used for couples since only they can step on two boats^[1]two-time……”

She and the movie king were strangers at best. Using such a heavy-handed term here was obviously unreasonable.

The love system, however, adopted an ‘I’m not listening, I’m not listening’ attitude, clearly intent on making her send a message to the movie king.

So Ning Xiaoyu, a self-proclaimed salted fish, decided to stay put.

Sending a message? Absolutely not. Picking any of the three options to send would be akin to blatantly telling the movie king, “Hey, have I successfully caught your attention yet?”

Not to mention, it wouldn’t just be the movie king seeing the message— viewers would see it too. A salted fish like her wouldn’t voluntarily invite such trouble.

Since she’d ruled out sending a message, the only option left was to accept the punishment. Ning Xiaoyu didn’t mind at all.

As an eighteenth-line actress who’d played countless bit roles in web dramas, she was well-versed in the usual clichés. The punishments couldn’t be anything too creative. Probably something like lightning strikes, electric shocks, or running laps, maybe a 1,500-meter dash. It might be unpleasant, but she could handle it.

So, she sprawled lazily on her soft, comfortable bed, patiently waiting for the 30-second countdown to end.

While waiting, she unexpectedly received a reply from Shen Yueyue.

【Hello. Goodnight.】

Ning Xiaoyu had assumed she’d be completely ignored, so she was genuinely surprised by the response.

Shen Yueyue was a senior in the industry, and Ning Xiaoyu had always admired the other party’s palace drama performances. Just as she was about to reply with something else, the countdown hit zero, its glaring red numbers vanishing.

She closed her eyes, bracing for the lightning strike— but nothing happened, even after several seconds.

Could the love system really be this kind? Where was the promised punishment?

The absence of thunderbolts made Ning Xiaoyu feel uneasy. Something didn’t add up. With that thought, she slowly opened her eyes.

What greeted her was pitch-black darkness.

It was so dark she couldn’t see her own hand. Was the love system planning to lock her in solitary confinement? Good thing she didn’t have claustrophobia.

Just as she had that thought, a storyline suddenly implanted itself into her mind.

〖Episode 1 of 《What it Takes to Love You, My Runaway Bride》

At a banquet, Xu Wan drank a spiked glass of wine. With her mind in a haze, she stumbled into a room. In her naive and innocent state, she assumed it was an unoccupied space. However, the truth was that the room had an owner.

That night marked the beginning of a years-long entanglement between Xu Wan and the room’s occupant. Because of that single glass of wine, they ended up in bed together. If their lives had been like two parallel lines that would never intersect, that moment became the point where their paths crossed.〗

Before Ning Xiaoyu could ridicule the overly clichéd, dog-blood^[2]absurd, exaggerated, ridiculous plot of this eighteenth-rate drama, someone suddenly grabbed her wrist in the dark.

A cold, low voice demanded, “Who’s there?”

Ning Xiaoyu had no idea which unlucky soul had been dragged into this makeshift drama set along with her, but judging by the love system’s usual antics, she guessed the one gripping her wrist must be none other than the unfortunate movie king.

Pressing her lips together, she responded, “I’m the female lead of 《What it Takes to Love You, My Runaway Bride》.”

Though the system hadn’t explicitly told her what to do, given the storyline transmission, it was clear she was supposed to play the lead.

To her astonishment, her voice had changed. It now carried the same tone often used for female leads in dramas. What’s more, her body exuded a faint scent of alcohol.

Well, well. The love system’s punishment wasn’t lightning or running laps— it was forcing her to act out a dog-blood drama as its lead!

If she’d known this, she…… she…… probably would’ve chosen the punishment anyway.

Imagine that. In real life, she was only a bit-part actress, but in a mission punishment, she’d been handed a lead role.

Too bad the script was trash.

The person opposite her let go of her wrist. Ning Xiaoyu instinctively rubbed the sore spot.

Neither of them asked the obvious ‘How did I get here?’ or ‘Why are you here?’ questions. It was pointless to ask, and smart people didn’t waste time on dead-end inquiries— they preferred to figure things out themselves.

In the dark, the two searched for a door or a light switch. Unfortunately, after fumbling around for a long time, they found neither a door nor a light.

Ning Xiaoyu gave up first. She squatted against a wall, settling into her usual slacker pose. Time passed, and her back began to ache. She started to miss the bed provided by the reality show crew. Say what you will about 《Hi, My Friend》, but the production team had deep pockets. That bed was heaven. It was soft, warm, and perfect for a salted fish like her.

Unable to resist any longer, Ning Xiaoyu spoke up, “You received your own storyline too, didn’t you?”

The other person didn’t reply, but she could tell he’d heard her. She continued, “It seems we can’t leave until we act out the scene. Since that’s the case, why not cooperate? The sooner we finish, the sooner we’re done.”

A chuckle echoed in the darkness, light and mocking. His voice, cold and indifferent, carried a hint of derision, “How do you plan to shoot it?”

His storyline was almost identical to hers, just from the male lead’s perspective.

Ning Xiaoyu carefully recalled the script the love system had transmitted.

At this point, the ‘female lead’ had already stumbled into the clearly occupied room. There was no exit, no lights, and the only object of interest was the large bed in the center of the room.

In truth, Ning Xiaoyu had been eyeing that bed for a while. If she could lie down, why sit? Squatting for so long had made her legs numb.

Choosing her words carefully, she said, “Next up is the scene where ‘they ended up in bed together’.” It was the key moment of the first episode and the core of the story— their first interaction. Once it was done, they’d probably be free to leave.

The man chuckled again, as though entirely unsurprised by her suggestion. His voice, luxurious yet icy, carried a trace of disdain, “I don’t do bed scenes.”

Ning Xiaoyu froze for two seconds.

Did the other person think she wanted to take advantage of him? Please, scenes like that looked exhausting— exactly the kind of thing a salted fish like her hated the most.

Pressing her lips together, Ning Xiaoyu spoke seriously, “What are you thinking? The regulations are very strict nowadays. Scenes like that are impossible to shoot, and even if they were filmed, they’d never be broadcast.” If the other person hadn’t mentioned the words ‘bed scene’, Ning Xiaoyu wouldn’t have even considered the possibility. Besides, just because he didn’t want to film it didn’t mean she did.

The man fell silent for two seconds, clearly surprised by her response.

After saying her piece, she ignored his reaction and decisively climbed onto the bed.

Ah, the wonderfully comfortable bed, here she comes. The moment she lay down, she squinted her eyes in pure contentment.

She had to admit, the system’s provided bed rivaled any real-world bed in comfort. Her sleeping posture was impeccable. She lay quietly on the far-left side of the bed, hands neatly resting by her sides.

The script only specified that ‘they ended up in bed together’. Sure, the female lead in the scene had drunkenly stumbled into the male lead’s room, but in reality, things weren’t as simple as they sounded. Still, thanks to it being only lightly mentioned, Ning Xiaoyu could exploit a loophole. ‘Ending up in bed together’ probably just needed to be interpreted literally.

After giving her suggestion, she didn’t bother with the other person. To her surprise, he showed remarkable patience. Despite how much time passed, he remained motionless in the dark.

Ning Xiaoyu didn’t even bother patting the empty spot beside her. Maintaining her earlier position, she simply said, “If you’re not coming over, then I’m going to sleep. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you.” Yeah, right— as if a salted fish would willingly cause trouble.

Salted fish just wanted to lie flat and rest.

Without waiting for a reply, Ning Xiaoyu allowed herself to drift off to sleep. She didn’t know how much time had passed when she groggily felt the bed sink slightly beside her. Moments later, about half a meter away, a new heat source appeared.

Just as she was wondering when the punishment would end, she suddenly found herself back in reality.

The moment she returned, all her drowsiness vanished. Her first reaction was to pick up her phone.

To her surprise, while it felt like hours had passed in that strange space, only a few seconds had elapsed in the real world.

So, time had been frozen while she was in that space?

Ning Xiaoyu’s expression shifted subtly as she gained a new understanding of the love system’s capabilities.

Fortunately, her brief contact with the system had revealed its true nature— a childishly excitable matchmaker eager to see people fall in love and indulge in sweet moments. It didn’t seem to harbor any malicious intent.

The love system was extremely excited. 〖The plot of《What it Takes to Love You, My Runaway Bride》 is so sweet!〗

Ning Xiaoyu: “……”

Sweet? The male and female leads had lain half a meter apart without any interaction— how was that sweet?

It seemed the naive system was easy to fool.

Ning Xiaoyu tentatively asked, “Who received the male lead script earlier?”

The love system hummed nonchalantly. 〖Who do you think it was?〗

The system didn’t answer directly, but Ning Xiaoyu had a pretty good guess. It had to be the movie king.

She continued probing, “Do you think he figured out who I am?”

The love system replied instantly, 〖How could he not?〗

Ning Xiaoyu’s heart sank.

No way. This lousy system just kept causing her trouble!

Just as she was about to curse, the love system chimed in cheerfully, 〖You’re Wanwan! And he’s your all-powerful President Fu.〗

Hearing that, Ning Xiaoyu let out a long sigh of relief.

Wanwan was the female lead of 《What it Takes to Love You, My Runaway Bride》. President Fu must have been the male lead of the script.

With the punishment completed, it seemed there was nothing left to worry about.

Ning Xiaoyu fell into a deep, restful sleep.

────ρя


The next day, Ning Xiaoyu woke up and checked the time first thing.

Her phone screen happened to be on Weibo.

After noting the time, she noticed that overnight, several program-related hashtags had climbed the trending list.

#LuJingduMostPopularMaleGuest

#NingYuweiMostPopularFemaleGuest

That’s when Ning Xiaoyu learned that Ning Yuwei had received five goodnight messages the night before— all from male guests.

Assuming it had nothing to do with her, she scrolled down with a gossipy mindset. But as she did, she stumbled upon a headline that hit too close to home.

#LuJingdu’sFirstGoodnightMessage-NingXiaoyu

Lu Jingdu’s first goodnight message had been sent to her?

What was going on?