Chapter Thirty-Eight: Her Affection Meets His Intent

"Oh my! Mengyan, why do you seem even more anxious than the two of us?" Fan Yirou grinned, still resting her chin in her hand as she watched her.

"Hmph! Do you think Chen Hao and I are as idle as you all day?" Gu Mengyan finally asserted herself for once, retorting, "We're nothing like you, with nothing to do every day. We still have our own jobs. Even though we're both planning to resign from our current company, until we officially quit, we're still employees of Illusion Corporation.

Even if we resign, it won't happen today. Tomorrow, the two of us still need to report to the office on time. And besides, Chen Hao was unconscious for a while these past two days—he only just woke up today and is still weak. He needs to hurry home and rest. Ah!"

Unintentionally, Gu Mengyan let slip about Chen Hao's period of unconsciousness. Only after she spoke did she realize her mistake.

Fan Yirou immediately furrowed her brows. "What? Chen Hao, you've been unconscious these past two days? What happened? How did you faint?"

"Oh, you silly girl..." Chen Hao rubbed his forehead helplessly. "It's really nothing. Maybe I was just too exhausted from working overtime these last few days, and couldn't sleep at night, so I suppose it was just excessive fatigue, my body’s self-protection kicking in. It wasn’t exactly unconsciousness—just slept a little longer than usual."

Chen Hao didn't tell Fan Yirou about his surreal, dreamlike experience in the game. First, after going with Gu Mengyan to that dilapidated unfinished building, he started suspecting whether he really was dreaming. Second, Chen Hao felt there was no need to go into detail with Fan Yirou. Although he intended to treat her as his future wife, this was more a matter of resignation than true affection. Of the women he knew well, aside from Fan Yirou, there was only Gu Mengyan. Marrying her seemed like the natural course of events.

But in terms of genuine trust, Chen Hao placed more faith in Gu Mengyan. In other words, if their roles were reversed, perhaps Gu Mengyan would be the one he’d want to marry, not Fan Yirou. Of course, all this was predicated on never meeting a girl who truly stirred his heart.

To be honest, neither Gu Mengyan nor Fan Yirou, though both beautiful and admirable, were his ideal wife. That title belonged to Vivian, the goddess he met in his dreams—if only she weren’t so young.

Chen Hao’s thoughts flashed across his mind; he dreaded that Fan Yirou would dig into the details of his unconsciousness. With her persistent nature, he might not be able to resist her questioning, and end up confessing everything, which was giving him a headache.

"Overtime exhausted you?" Fan Yirou was clearly unconvinced. "Just a few days of overtime would tire you out? Please, don't joke with me. Others may not know you, but I do! You've practiced martial arts since childhood; your physical strength is far beyond normal. And remember when we played together for three days and nights straight—you never complained about being tired!"

"Huh?!" Gu Mengyan’s ears perked up at this. "Three days and nights of what? What were you two doing behind my back?"

Gu Mengyan was obviously very concerned about Fan Yirou’s words, unaware that Yirou was merely teasing and telling the truth in a roundabout way. "Oh, what else could we be doing? Of course, things everyone loves..."

"Chen Hao, you! Fan Yirou, you!" Gu Mengyan exploded with fury, suddenly standing up from her chair. The people nearby were startled by her sudden reaction.

Chen Hao hurriedly grabbed Gu Mengyan, first apologizing to the startled onlookers, then quickly pressing Mengyan back into her seat. "Don’t listen to Yirou’s nonsense. It’s nothing like that."

He turned to Fan Yirou, "And you, after all these years, why do you still love teasing Mengyan? It’s really nothing. We were just playing virtual reality games together for three days and nights!"

Gu Mengyan eyed them suspiciously. "Really?"

Fan Yirou laughed cheerfully. "Of course! That’s exactly what I meant. What did you think?"

"I..." Gu Mengyan stammered, unsure how to reply. "Of course, I thought it was playing games."

"If you knew it was just games, why so worked up?"

Gu Mengyan retorted stubbornly, "Hmph! Is playing games for three days and nights something to be proud of? Don’t you know that gaming in moderation is healthy, but addiction is harmful?"

"Oh my, Mengyan’s lecturing us—so scary..." Fan Yirou patted her chest dramatically. "But honestly, I don’t think you believed we were just gaming. Rather... hahaha... don’t worry! You’re my best friend. How could I keep all the fun to myself? If I ever planned to take Chen Hao, I’d invite you along. Wouldn’t that be exciting?"

Because of Gu Mengyan’s earlier outburst, the nearby diners had all turned their attention briefly to Chen Hao’s group. Hearing Fan Yirou’s unabashed voice, their faces were filled with shock. Looking at the three, the man handsome, the women charming, all dressed and poised with remarkable aura—and the luxury car Chen Hao and Fan Yirou arrived in—it was clear they came from wealthy families.

The world of the rich... so terrifying, yet so thrilling!

Under the gaze of the crowd, Chen Hao spoke up. "Alright, enough fooling around."

Fan Yirou shrugged nonchalantly. "I’m not fooling around! I’m serious! But seriously, what caused you to faint? Don’t tell me it was fatigue—I won’t believe it!"

"There’s really nothing more. Stop asking!" Chen Hao was exasperated; she was indeed beginning to probe.

"Ah! I know!" Fan Yirou exclaimed. "Could it be something went wrong during your martial arts training? I remember last time we were together, you mentioned hitting a bottleneck—you couldn’t progress no matter how hard you tried. Because of that, you were sleepless for several nights, and when you finally did sleep, you fell into a deep slumber for days and couldn’t be woken up! Is this the same situation?"

The incident Fan Yirou referred to happened just after Gu Mengyan graduated from university, before she reunited with Chen Hao. It was a period when Chen Hao and Fan Yirou frequently spent time together. Chen Hao had just finished cultivating with his father and was consolidating his martial arts skills at home. When the episode occurred, Fan Yirou tried calling him for three days with no answer, then finally went to his house to find him. By then, Chen Hao had woken up and explained the situation to her.

Since Fan Yirou had brought up the matter herself, Chen Hao didn’t need to invent another excuse. He nodded, "More or less. This time was better than last—it only lasted two days, so it’s not a big deal."

Fan Yirou said with some guilt, "It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have suggested opening a martial arts school to you. You must have been thinking about my idea, so you started revisiting your martial arts, which led to exhaustion and unconsciousness."

"Oh dear..." Chen Hao felt more headache than ever. Fan Yirou’s imagination was too wild; things that never happened seemed plausible when she described them. Her explanation was reasonable and highly likely. Now even Gu Mengyan seemed to believe it.

Gu Mengyan, unaware of Chen Hao's previous martial arts-induced unconsciousness, was now worried after Yirou’s story. Her anxious gaze matched Yirou's earlier concern.

"I wondered why you seemed to know you’d faint and asked me to take care of you these two days—so you’ve been through this before!" Gu Mengyan said, worried and a little dissatisfied. "And you didn’t tell me the truth, instead you made up such an absurd story to fool me! I’m very angry—the consequences are serious. I’m your little sister, growing up eating, sleeping, playing together. How could you hide something so important from me?"

Chen Hao’s headache worsened. "Oh... how did you two end up so far off track? It’s really not what you think..."

"Hmph!" Gu Mengyan tossed her hair and turned her ire on Fan Yirou. "And you! Why can’t you stay home and leave Chen Hao alone? Especially when I’m not around! And not only do you bother him, you even suggest doing business together? Don’t tell me it was Chen Hao’s idea—I won’t believe it! And I’m not done! Even if business is fine, why mention opening a martial arts school? If you hadn’t brought it up, Chen Hao wouldn’t have revisited his skills, wouldn’t have fainted! If he hadn’t fainted, I wouldn’t have had to take care of him for two days, worry about him, and keep it a secret from Uncle Chen!"

Gu Mengyan finally seized the opportunity to lecture Fan Yirou thoroughly. Though she was annoyed that Chen Hao and Yirou kept things from her and worried about his health, she knew Chen Hao’s constitution was strong and even fainting wouldn’t harm him much.

She was simply getting back at Yirou for years of teasing, savoring the chance to retaliate.

Fan Yirou, however, was neither scared nor surprised by Gu Mengyan, as if she had anticipated this reaction. She played along, "Yes! I’m a sinner—I made Chen Hao suffer so much. To make up for it, I’ve decided to provide twenty-four-hour close care for him from today onwards. I won’t let him suffer any more..."

"Wha—what?!" Gu Mengyan exclaimed in shock.