Whether it was Su Mei or Gu Yancheng, both of whom had originally planned to ‘stay temporarily’, inexplicably ended up living in the main residence for more than half a year now.

Su Mei didn’t know where Auntie Mei was sent to retire by Gu Yancheng, nor was she very curious about it.

Anyway, in the few months after Auntie Mei was gone, Su Mei lived at home with unprecedented joy.

Yes, home.

Su Mei now truly regarded this place as home, with a sense of belonging stronger than when the other Su Mei had lived there.

It wasn’t just because she had a share in this place. The most important reason……

Perhaps, it was because of Gu Yancheng.

After being housemates for more than half a year, Su Mei found that Gu Yancheng was truly a good person.

This goodness wasn’t based on his role as the male protagonist in the novel. Rather, in Su Mei’s eyes, Gu Yancheng was gradually deviating from her previous perception of him as the male protagonist.

He was neither aloof nor domineering. On the contrary, he was humble, polite, and very gentle.

He was quite busy with work most of the time, but when he wasn’t, he often stayed at home or occasionally took Su Mei, this ‘tag along’, to events or for a stroll.

He didn’t seem at all like the character in the novel who was constantly entangled in love and hatred with the female protagonist.

This Gu Yancheng felt very genuine to Su Mei, to the point where sometimes she would forget that this was a world inside a novel.

Of course, this was only true if she didn’t run into that troublesome Ji Zixiao.

After being forced to go to Gu Group a few times, Su Mei finally had a moment of conscience and stopped being a freeloader who waited for company dividends every day.

Occasionally, when Gu Yancheng was overwhelmed with work, Su Mei would step in and handle some of the tasks that she could manage.

In summary, their relationship was genuinely good now.

‘Motherly love and filial piety’?

This phrase occasionally popped into Su Mei’s mind.

However, when she thought about Gu Yancheng and their interactions, she found it a bit incongruous.

Their relationship had no resemblance to a ‘mother-child’ relationship. It felt somewhat like a family bond, but not quite the same.

“Madam, are you cooking today?”

There was one thing Su Mei had been trying to correct but had never succeeded in doing.

That was the fact that everyone in the house liked to call her ‘Madam’, and she couldn’t change it.

After several attempts, Su Mei finally gave up the struggle and let them call her whatever they wanted.

“What’s the original menu for today? Show it to me, and I’ll make the simplest one. You guys can handle the rest.” Su Mei said to the kitchen staff.

“By the way, have you prepared the materials I requested?”

“Everything is ready and stored in the freezer over there. You can start preparing at 1 o’clock, Madam.” The other person said with a smile.

“Okay.”

Recently, Su Mei had been going to Gu Group every day, but today was an exception.

The reason was that she had ‘accidentally’ seen in a message notification that Gu Yancheng’s 27th birthday was today.

Planning a surprise birthday party seemed too difficult, so Su Mei thought about it and decided that a simple, modest meal at home would be best for the celebration.

To make the birthday feel a bit less casual, she decided to bake the birthday cake herself.

Later, when Gu Yancheng returned home from the company, Su Mei would just place it on the table.

———pr


“Why are you home so early today?” It didn’t seem like it was time to leave Gu Group yet.

“The meeting with Aneng was moved to the morning, so I don’t have anything scheduled for the afternoon.” Gu Yancheng said as he walked over and took off his coat.

“So, you skipped work?”

“Mm.”

“Well, that’s perfect. Let’s have dinner early.”

“Sure, you have the final say.”

“Shouldn’t it be the other way around today?” Su Mei said with a wink at Gu Yancheng.

Hearing that, Gu Yancheng smiled as well. “Is there anything you need me to do?”

“There’s nothing much. I bought some special candles online before. They should be in a small box in the study. When you go upstairs to change, could you bring them down for me?”

———pr


In the evening, after dinner, Su Mei lit the candles on the cake.

“Well, although I don’t really want to say it, congratulations on getting another year older.” Su Mei said.

“Are you disliking me for getting older?”

“No, no, no, it’s just that I’m feeling a bit nostalgic.”

It’s unclear at what point the original plot of 《Contract Lover》 began to fall apart. By this time, according to the novel, the story should have reached the dramatic climax of love and hate between the male and female protagonists. However, instead of intense emotions, Gu Yancheng and the female protagonist haven’t even had much contact with each other so far.

But Gu Yancheng was already 27 and that was a fact.

With the romance between him and the female protagonist in such disarray, how would he ever achieve the goal of getting married at 28 as outlined in the novel?

And another point, when the time comes for Gu Yancheng to get married, would he and his wife move out, or would Su Mei be the one to leave?

Skipping the part about the novel, Su Mei briefly mentioned her main concerns to him.

Upon hearing her words, Gu Yancheng’s expression darkened.

“That won’t happen.”

“Huh?” What won’t happen?

Just as Su Mei was about to ask, Gu Yancheng countered with a question of his own, “And what about you? Have you thought about marriage?”

Not noticing the hint of concern in Gu Yancheng’s eyes, Su Mei took it as a casual question.

“I don’t need to think about it. I’m planning to live out my days happily with my money.” Su Mei replied.

She had beauty, wealth, and a successful career, so she hadn’t really thought about marriage.

As for keeping a little puppy……

Forget it. She didn’t seem to have much interest in that either now.

Hearing her answer, Gu Yancheng’s gaze sank.

“Actually, you can consider it.”

“What did you say?”

“Find someone who loves you.” Gu Yancheng said, looking at Su Mei intently, enunciating each word.

Su Mei: It sounded like a pretty good idea?

Oh, no, she must be out of her mind.

She had previously been associated with Gu Hongguang in a certain way. Even though he had passed away, discussing finding someone else in front of his son didn’t seem appropriate.

“Let’s not talk about that. Blow out the candles.” Su Mei urged, steering away from the topic.

With the candles extinguished and the lights turned back on, she saw that Gu Yancheng’s gaze was so intense it could drown someone.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Where’s my gift?”

“Err……” She didn’t have one. She thought the birthday cake was already the gift.

“Well, how about I sing you a birthday song?”

“The kind that’s deadly?”

The idea of her singing being ‘deadly’ came from one of Su Mei’s livestream incidents.

Nowadays, Su Mei isn’t livestreaming every day, and her content isn’t limited to eating broadcasts.

One day, on a whim, she showcased a talent and ended up being labeled as having a ‘deadly singing’ voice.

But how did Gu Yancheng know about it?

“Anyway, that’s all there is. No other gift. It’s up to you whether you want to hear it or not.” Su Mei said, adopting a go-for-broke attitude.

Hearing that, Gu Yancheng chuckled softly. “I want to hear it.”

“Then, I’ll sing?”

“Mm.”

“Cough……”

Su Mei sang the song.

Honestly, she thought it wasn’t that bad.

If it weren’t for Gu Yancheng’s face, barely holding back laughter, Su Mei wouldn’t have thought she sang that poorly.

“It really is deadly.” Gu Yancheng said jokingly.

“Gu Yancheng! Have you been feeling smug lately? You stay right there!”

Fortunately, after Auntie Mei left, the other household staff didn’t wander around the house at this time of night.

So, at this moment, their playful chase hadn’t caused Chairman Gu and Vice Chairman Su’s lofty personas to crumble in front of everyone.

Retreating to the living room, Gu Yancheng, seeing Su Mei chasing him with a dollop of cream on her finger, grew concerned she might bump into something and instinctively raised his hand to protect her.

“Be careful.”

As Su Mei pushed him onto the sofa, Gu Yancheng looked somewhat helplessly at the determined woman intent on getting her revenge.

“Let me smear some on you too. No dodging.”

“Su Mei.”

Gu Yancheng’s expression suddenly changed, his arm tightened, and he restrained the woman causing ‘trouble’ on top of him.

Initially, Su Mei was puzzled when Gu Yancheng suddenly held her still, making her unable to move despite trying.

“Gu Yancheng, if you have the guts, let me go.”

“Don’t move.”

Su Mei was taken aback by the odd tone in Gu Yancheng’s voice. Before she could react, she was suddenly spun around and found herself pinned to the sofa.

“You……” Did she underestimate her opponent?

Su Mei seemed to hear Gu Yancheng say something, but the next moment, he released her, quickly stood up, and went upstairs.

Watching him go, Su Mei felt a bit dazed.

Was he angry?

Oh no, oh no, after spending so much time with Gu Yancheng lately, she had forgotten that he was the formidable male protagonist.

Did she manage to anger him?

Recalling Gu Yancheng’s tense expression as he went upstairs, Su Mei suddenly felt guilty.

She curled up on the sofa, contemplating how to redeem herself as a cannon fodder, when she heard footsteps. Gu Yancheng was coming back downstairs, having changed his clothes.

Did she accidentally get cream on his clothes earlier?

As Su Mei thought about this and opened her mouth to apologize, Gu Yancheng spoke first.

“Just now, I’m sorry.” Gu Yancheng said, his face still a bit unnaturally tense.

However, some reactions were beyond his control.

Hearing Gu Yancheng apologize first, Su Mei felt somewhat puzzled.

But, an apology was an apology. After all, she wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

“Actually, I was planning to stay mad for a while, but since I’m leaving the day after tomorrow, I’ll let it go and forgive you.” Su Mei said, jumping off the sofa and playfully patting Gu Yancheng’s shoulder, trying to sound overly dramatic.

Su Mei recently received an invitation to participate in a variety show.

《We Are on the Road》 is a travel program featuring celebrities.

The destination was several countries in Europe and places Su Mei had wanted to visit before, so she accepted the offer without much hesitation.

Gu Yancheng was aware of this matter as well.

“Got everything packed?”

“Almost.” Su Mei said, having packed two full suitcases.

“I’ll come over to join you after I finish my work here.” Gu Yancheng said.

“No need, I’m only going for eight days. By the time you’re done, I’ll probably be back.” Su Mei continued, “But if you also want to go there for a vacation, I can scout it out first, then we can go together during the Spring Festival.”

“We can also bring Wu Fei along, and even Ji Zixiao and the others, though they’re a bit annoying.”

“But do you think I should shoot the departure teaser in a different location?” Su Mei frowned, pondering.

This time, before the trip, there would be a teaser filmed at home, capturing the preparations for the departure.

Although the amount of filming required at home was minimal and the production team would obscure the location, ensuring it wouldn’t reveal where the filming was taking place, Su Mei still felt uneasy due to her previous frightening experience.

“No need, just do it here.” Gu Yancheng reassured her. “Don’t worry, the main house has a dedicated security system in place. There won’t be any issues like last time.”

Hearing Gu Yancheng’s words, Su Mei felt completely at ease.