You're My Only Exception - Chapter 4

I went into the bathroom to wash up.

In the mirror above the sink, I studied the young man staring back at me.

I had been a homebody who rarely went out, so my skin was porcelain-white with a cool undertone.

My face was delicately beautiful in a meek, harmless way, neither intimidating nor sharp. It amazed people even as it invited them to underestimate me.

But beneath my slightly upturned peach-blossom eyes lay a trace of careless steel.

I touched my face.

I should be good enough for Duan Changyu, right?

I tore open one of the disposable toiletry sets laid out by the sink.

After washing up, I entered the kitchen and opened the enormous refrigerator.

I arched a brow.

It was fully stocked with fruit, vegetables, and meat.

I started cooking.

…

Clear chicken broth simmered on the stove.

I dropped a handful of fine yangchun noodles into the pot, lifted them into two white porcelain bowls, and topped them with evenly shredded chicken and tender bamboo shoots. I added only a dusting of white pepper and a few drops of sesame oil.

Then I poured in the savory clear broth and arranged freshly blanched greens on top.

Two bowls of fine noodles with chicken and bamboo shoots in clear broth were ready.

I had always believed

that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach.

When I carried the two bowls out of the kitchen,

Duan Changyu was already awake, standing in the living room with his back to me.

He wore a black silk shirt with matching trousers.

They made his body look tall and elegant.

His waist was slim and supple too.

Obsession flashed through my eyes as I set the tray on the dining table beside us.

Tentatively, I asked, “Mr. Duan, want something to eat?”

Duan Changyu turned around.

His expression was calm. Last night’s rage and loss of control had been completely contained.

His eyes were deep as a frozen pool.

Duan Changyu walked over at an unhurried pace, but when he reached the table, he didn’t sit immediately.

He stared straight at my smiling face, which showed not a shred of fear, and said without expression,

“The Chi family has certainly presented me with one enormous surprise.”

I agreed wholeheartedly. “I think my parents gave me an enormous surprise too.”

After all, the original had drunk the milk his mother gave him, then been packaged up and delivered to Duan Changyu’s bed.

I had transmigrated bodily and inherited the original’s memories. The original looked nothing like me; he was a rather delicate, stereotypically timid protagonist bottom.

The System had also said that, for reasons unknown, Duan Changyu kept straying from the plot. The protagonist couldn’t attract him at all. Time had rewound three times, yet whenever Duan Changyu saw the protagonist at the banquet, he felt nothing.

If the two leads never crossed paths, how was the plot supposed to happen?!

Left with no choice, the Heavenly Dao blurred everyone’s perceptions and had the System bind itself to me, then rewound time again. But after so many reversals, something went wrong. I didn’t arrive when Duan Changyu and I first met. In the end, with one grand wave of its hand, the Heavenly Dao substituted my face for the original’s.

So at that final banquet, when Duan Changyu looked at the original, what he had actually seen was my face…

By the time I completed my transmigration, the original’s parents had already delivered him to Duan Changyu’s bed.

Me: “…”

Fucking absurd.

Duan Changyu looked perfectly calm.

But I knew he probably wanted to mince me up and feed me to the dogs.

I pushed the bowl of chicken and bamboo-shoot noodles toward him and said earnestly, “If you want revenge, you should eat something first. You’ll need the strength.”

Duan Changyu didn’t stand on ceremony. He sat, gave me a long look, picked up some noodles with his chopsticks, and took a bite. He paused.

Then took another.

…

I ate too.

The fine noodles had soaked up the warm, savory broth, lightly salted without being greasy.

The shredded chicken was soft and tender; the bamboo shoots crisp, fresh, and faintly sweet; the broth delicate and flavorful.

Delicious, delicious, delicious!

I snuck a peek at Duan Changyu. He seemed very satisfied with the noodles too; half of them had already vanished from his bowl.

My mood soared.

I ate my own noodles while admiring Duan Changyu’s beauty.

When we finished, I gathered both sets of dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

Then I scampered back to the living room. Duan Changyu was working on the sofa with a laptop on his knees.

I squeezed onto the sofa beside him and asked eagerly, “Mr. Duan, Mr. Duan, when are you going to bankrupt the Chi family?”

Duan Changyu: “?”

I said cheerfully, “So I know when to pop the champagne!”

Duan Changyu: “…”

Duan Changyu looked at a loss for words. “They’re your parents…”

I swung my legs. “So what?”

“They sent me to a rich man’s bed and treated me like an ATM, but they still expect me to think of them? I’m not some saint.”

“I hope they go bankrupt soon. Then the whole family can hold hands, jump off the Chi Corporation building, and burst into a few bright-red flowers when they hit the ground~”

“That way, they’ll never bother me again.”

Duan Changyu: “…”

He was so exasperated he laughed. “So not only did I spend a hundred million to buy you, only to have you fuck me, I’m also solving a major problem for you?”

“I’ve never suffered a loss this big in my life!”

Apparently reminded of last night, intense killing intent filled his eyes. He bared his teeth at me. “The Chi family is finished, and so are you!”

“Chi Zhen, don’t even dream of surviving in Jing City! I’ll make you wish you were dead!”

Me: “…”

Wish I were dead?

I’d already spent more than ten years living like that.

I really didn’t want to do it again. QAQ

I grabbed his hand, rubbed my cheek coaxingly against it, and said in a sweet, soft voice, “Mr. Duan, I’m sorry. I was wrong. How about I pay back the hundred million with interest?”

“Mr. Duan, Mr. Duan~”

“Don’t be angry, okay?”

Duan Changyu met my pitiful peach-blossom eyes. His gaze paused, but he still pulled his hand away with cold ruthlessness and said contemptuously, “And how do you plan to repay me? Even if you sold yourself ten times over, you couldn’t afford it.”

Me: “Huh?”

Puzzled, I said, “I don’t have to sell myself. I can take a few assassination jobs on the dark web.”

Duan Changyu: “?”

Thinking of the bounties I’d seen on my phone while the broth simmered, I said, “The headmaster of Laixin International Academy has a pretty valuable head. So does the president of Samoa. And there’s a rich businessman called Acton Swell whose head is worth even more…”

I’d planned to trade stocks, but the original had far too little starting capital.

Killing people would make money much faster.

Duan Changyu: “???”

I tapped at my phone, opened a website with a pure black background, and was about to show him.

Then a bounty popped up.