It was afternoon, and class was still in session. Wang Haoran leaned back in his seat, barely paying attention to the lecture, when he felt a buzz from his phone inside his pocket. He took it out and glanced at the screen. It was a WeChat notification—an update from Gu Yurou’s Monts.
Back when they first started chatting, Wang Haoran had added her as a contact. To keep better tabs on her activity, he even turned on her Monts alert so he’d never miss a post.
He tapped into it, and sure enough, her newest post sat right at the top.
It was her birthday.
Wang Haoran caught the ssage in a single glance. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t feel any urge to respond. Gu Yurou was one of those typical female-lead types from a girls’ genre story.
If he didn’t need to ss with her plot for any specific reason, he honestly didn’t want to get involved at all.
Besides, the intent behind her post was obvious. She was fishing. Posting a birthday ssage to her Monts, fully aware that her feed was crawling with simps, ant one thing—she was baiting them. That one sentence would pull in droves of guys, each lining up to shower her with blessings or expensive gifts, all just to catch her attention.
He had no interest in joining the crowd. So what if it was her birthday? That wasn’t his business.
He slipped the phone back into his pocket, but a few seconds later, it buzzed again.
Frowning slightly, he checked the screen, expecting another Monts post from her. But this ti, it wasn’t her. It was a private ssage from Shao Wanwan.
“Soone’s been asking around about Gu Yurou on campus,” she wrote. “They even secretly took a few pictures of her.”
Shao Wanwan had infiltrated Qingling University under the pretense of preparing for her graduate entrance exams. Her job was simple—keep tabs on Gu Yurou and report back the mont anything unusual happened. Clearly, she just found sothing worth ntioning.
Wang Haoran typed a reply imdiately. “Do you know who it is?”
“I didn’t act,” she responded. “You told to watch, not intervene, so I didn’t approach or interrogate the guy.”
“Keep watching,” he sent back. “If anything serious cos up, let know right away.”
After ending the chat, Wang Haoran leaned back and thought for a while.
Lu Beige, one of the male supporting leads, did have so resentnt toward Gu Yurou. He had tricked her into visiting his film company before, which ant he knew enough about her to lure her in. If that was the case, he shouldn’t need to hire anyone to spy on her now.
Still, Gu Yurou’s character arc was… unique.
For her main storyline to progress properly, it needed to start with her being forcefully taken. That encounter would trigger her developnt and crown the man responsible as the new male lead. That was how her arc worked.
But Lu Beige had already lost his ability as a man. There was no way he could fulfill that role, so he couldn’t trigger her storyline anymore. He was finished. At best, he might show up later as so petty revenge villain.
Which ant whoever was snooping around today probably wasn’t Lu Beige. It had to be soone else.
Wang Haoran didn’t know who it was yet, but he could be sure of one thing—this man was ant to trigger Gu Yurou’s main plotline. Whether he turned out to be a male lead or another villainous rival, the mont he succeeded, he’d climb the ranks.
In stories like this, even villains had a shot at becoming the male protagonist. Redemption arcs were common, especially in female-centered stories.
If Wang Haoran’s guess was right, Gu Yurou’s main plot was about to kick off.
Which also ant that if he didn’t interfere, she’d probably get taken. And he, as a villain, absolutely refused to let the heroine and so male lead enjoy themselves while he sat on the sidelines.
He had to ss it up. That was his role.
And beyond all that, stopping her main plot would reward him with system points. Two birds, one stone.
With that thought in mind, Wang Haoran opened her profile and began typing a ssage.
“Happy birthday. Got ti tonight? I’ll treat you to dinner.”
ssage sent, he waited for a reply. One minute passed. Then two. Then thirty.
Finally, she responded.
“I just had sothing to deal with, sorry for the late reply. You want to treat tonight? I don’t think I’ll be free. I already made plans with a few classmates.”
Sothing ca up? What, busy replying to every guy blowing up your inbox, or are you just letting on, on purpose? He rolled his eyes, then started typing again.
“How about after dinner? You’ve got to have so free ti, right? I’ll take you to a movie.”
“I’ll be out with my classmates after dinner, too. We’re hanging out late,” she replied.
“So you’re not free at all tonight?” he asked again.
“You could just co to my birthday party,” she said.
Wang Haoran frowned. “Wouldn’t that be awkward? I don’t know any of your classmates. It’d be weird.”
“What’s awkward about it?” she replied. “The more the rrier.”
More people ant more attention. She wanted him to show up, say nice things in front of everyone, and make her feel special. This girl just wanted her ego fed; that was all.
Still, if it ant sabotaging her plotline, he’d play along.
“Alright, send the location,” he said.
“It’s not confird yet. I’ll let you know once we decide. Oh, and don’t bring a gift. Just showing up is enough.”
Wang Haoran stared at the ssage. That line—don’t bring a gift—was definitely a trap. No way she ant that.
Inside a luxury mansion, Mu Bai moved through the water with powerful strokes, his body rising and falling across the pool’s surface. His muscles glistened under the light, every line sharply defined. If there were any won nearby, they would have lost their minds watching him.
Just then, one of his n walked in from outside.
“Boss, we found the guy. The one getting close to Gu Yurou. He’s a rich second gen nad Wang Haoran, heir to Wang Group.”
Mu Bai swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out without a word. One of his subordinates rushed over with a towel. After wiping the water from his body, Mu Bai’s voice was cold.
“So he’s from Wang Group? That company’s worth a few hundred billion, right? Doesn’t an anything to .”
His tone carried a hint of disdain. In his world, he didn’t fear money. He had n who would kill for him, and power that money couldn’t buy.
“Boss, today is Gu Yurou’s birthday,” the subordinate added. “She’s having dinner with her classmates.”
“A birthday?” Mu Bai narrowed his eyes. “Perfect. I’ll bring her a gift.”
“What should we prepare?” the man asked.
Mu Bai’s lips curled into a wicked smile. “The gift’s already on . No need to prepare anything.”
His man looked confused. Aside from the towel wrapped around Mu Bai’s waist, the boss wasn’t carrying anything. Surely, he wasn’t planning to gift her a towel?
But then a darker thought crept in. Maybe the boss didn’t an a literal gift. Maybe… the gift was himself. Or sothing even more direct.
By evening, Wang Haoran received a location from Gu Yurou.
The party was being held at a restaurant near Qingling University. Without delay, he jumped into a Pagani and set off.
This was the sa Pagani that used to belong to Lin Chen.
After Lin Chen got wiped out, the car had been sitting idle in the garage. The day after Bian Suwen and Wang Haoran got closer, she made the decision to give him the car as a gift.
After all, Wang Haoran lost a Bugatti for her sake once. Giving him the Pagani was her way of paying him back.
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