Texting Her Archrival on WeChat: Husband, I Miss You
Lu Xiaoxiao stared at the message and read it three times, nearly throwing her phone away.
His first kiss was valuable?
Then wasn't the first kiss she had guarded for 21 years even more valuable? Besides, she had just swallowed her pride and called him "gege," and tonight she still had to call him "husband."
He was the one who had come out ahead, okay? She was the one who had taken a huge loss!
Lu Xiaoxiao refused to let the pressure get to her. With her delicate, adorable white backpack on, she jogged home.
Her home was close to the school, in a school-district housing complex less than a ten-minute walk away.
That evening, Lu Xiaoxiao had just come out of the shower. She wore a white, pure cotton nightdress, her long hair blow-dried and draped over her shoulders. Her fair face was flawlessly beautiful, and her snow-white skin was translucent.
She had just opened her phone and lit up the screen when her whole world came crashing down.
Her older brother, Lu Jiayan, had sent six messages in a row, starting with interrogation and escalating to threats. The last one read: [Lu Xiaoxiao, are you asking to die?!]
Her father, Lu Yifei, had sent only three sentences, getting straight to the point: [Who said you could date so young? Come to my office tomorrow.]
Her mother, Wen Jingjing, was as gentle as ever. She sent a stifled-laughter emoji, followed by three messages:
[When did you get such a handsome boyfriend behind Mom's back?]
[Bring him home to visit when you have time.]
[Don't listen to your dad and brother's threats. Mom supports you dating.]
Lu Xiaoxiao's taut nerves relaxed considerably.
Fortunately, Ms. Wen called the shots in this family. Her dad and brother were all bark, and they couldn't scare her.
She replied only to her mother, lying without a blush or a flutter of her heart: [We only just started dating. I'll tell you more when there's a chance.]
For now, only that excuse could fool them. There were even more mortifying tasks waiting for her in the future. Hopefully, their little hearts could handle the fact that the apple of their eye had shed her old self and become someone new.
Lu Xiaoxiao had barely sent the message and hadn't yet recovered when her phone vibrated again.
Middle school classmates, high school classmates, even people she hadn't heard from in ages popped up, and messages exploded across her phone. It seemed that three-second video had caused quite a stir and had already spread beyond the school.
She ignored them all and opened her pinned chat first.
Her best friend, Meng Yuan, had sent seven messages, ranging from [You actually forced a kiss on someone behind my back] to [If you keep ignoring me, I'm going to ask Shao Enci what happened]. The last one read: [!!! Did something happen to you? Don't scare me.]
Lu Xiaoxiao had no choice but to call her.
Meng Yuan came from a wealthy family and was a highborn young lady in outsiders' eyes. But to Lu Xiaoxiao, she was the best friend who had been by her side for eight or nine years, the kind who was as close as a sister.
The phone rang for five seconds before a sweet voice filled her ear. "Xiaoxiao, what's going on with you and Shao Enci? The video clearly shows you forcing a kiss on him!"
Meng Yuan huffed indignantly. "That male fox spirit Shao Enci must have seduced you. What kind of love potion did he slip you?"
Lu Xiaoxiao breathed a sigh of relief instead.
Well, Meng Yuan had even come up with an excuse for her.
She agreed softly, "Yes, yes, yes, you guessed it. He was the one who seduced me."
"I knew it!" Meng Yuan gave a soft huff. "That brat Shao Enci was making eyes at you back in high school. I thought then that sooner or later he'd carry you off. I didn't expect it to come true so soon."
"Hmm?" Lu Xiaoxiao drew out the sound, puzzled.
Meanwhile, at Huaqing Jiayuan.
Shao Enci had just finished showering and wore loose black pajamas. Beads of water still clung to his cool, pale skin, and his short black bangs had been casually tousled into a mess, adding a few touches of lazy, unruly handsomeness.
He lounged languidly against the sofa, phone in hand, consulting his bro Qiu Boye, who was studying abroad, about a "serious question."
Shao Enci: [A girl who really hates you suddenly forces a kiss on you in public one day. What would you call that?]
Qiu Boye replied instantly: [I'd suggest sending her straight to a psychiatric hospital for a checkup.]
Shao Enci: [?]
Qiu Boye: [I'm serious. She hates you but still takes advantage of you. There must be something wrong with her head.]
Shao Enci narrowed his eyes at the line of text, his thick brows drawing together.
He quickly typed back: [There's something wrong with your head.]
Qiu Boye sent a huge question mark, followed immediately by another message: [So after all that, you're the one who likes her.]
Shao Enci couldn't be bothered to reply, but Qiu Boye sent two more messages in a row: [Bro, I'm coming back to China this Labor Day holiday.]
[The old man threatened to have someone break my legs and drag me back to China if I don't fulfill the marriage arrangement with that girl from the Meng Family.]
Shao Enci: [What's the name of the girl you were betrothed to as a kid?]
Qiu Boye: [I think it's Meng Yuan or something?]
Shao Enci froze. He hadn't expected the girl Qiu Boye had been betrothed to as a child to be Lu Xiaoxiao's best friend.
The scene cut back to Lu Xiaoxiao's home.
On the other end of the call, Meng Yuan's voice was full of anticipation. "Xiaoxiao, I have a feeling He Xi will confess to me this Labor Day holiday. When he does, I'll ask my dad to call off the marriage arrangement with the Qiu Family. What do you think?"
At the mention of He Xi's name, Lu Xiaoxiao's eyes flickered, and memories of her previous life flashed through her mind.
During their junior year, Meng Yuan and He Xi had been about to get engaged, but on the eve of their engagement, He Xi's younger sister drugged him and forced him to have sex with her. However much Meng Yuan cared for him, she couldn't get past that hurdle in her heart, and they ultimately parted with regret.
And He Xinyi, the He family's adopted daughter who had ruined the engagement, had also been Shao Enci's fiancée in their previous life...
The melodramatic grudges, love, and hatred in wealthy circles were a tangled pot of porridge.
She didn't want Meng Yuan to follow the same disastrous path again. If she weren't bound by the system's tasks, she would have been only too happy to let Shao Enci take that yandere woman He Xinyi off their hands early, so she would stop hurting that poor young couple.
Lu Xiaoxiao pondered for a moment, then patiently urged her through the phone, "Yuanyuan, don't rush to make it official. Haven't you yet to meet the guy you were betrothed to as a child? Wait until you've met him before you consider breaking off the engagement."
Meng Yuan was about to continue when Lu Xiaoxiao was suddenly interrupted by the system. 037 promptly issued an instruction in her mind: [Task 3: Send Shao Enci a WeChat message saying, "Husband, I miss you." Countdown: 2 minutes and 59 seconds.]
She sat bolt upright and hurriedly glanced at the time in the upper-right corner of her phone: 21:57.
Oh no, she had been so caught up chatting with her best friend that she had forgotten the important task!
Lu Xiaoxiao fumbled to open her chat with Shao Enci.
His profile picture was a white puppy wearing a red scarf, with a snowy beach in the background. He had used it since their first year of high school. She used to think it was cute, but later, the more she looked at it, the more she felt it clashed with his actual personality.
Only then did she notice that Shao Enci had sent her two more messages.
16:24
[My first kiss is very valuable. You have to compensate me.]
16:41
[Playing mute?]
17:24
[Lu Xiaoxiao, if you still don't say anything, don't force me to report you for molestation.]
After reading them, Lu Xiaoxiao had only six dots to offer.
037 urged her on in her mind: [48 seconds remaining.]
Hearing that, she clenched her back teeth and forcefully typed out the six humiliating Chinese characters: Husband, I miss you.
But when she tried to hit send, her finger refused to obey, hovering in the air as she remained too afraid to press it.
Sweat broke out on Lu Xiaoxiao's forehead, and her back went rigid.
037 urged her again: [Xiaoxiao, only 15 seconds left. Don't hesitate, be decisive!]
Lu Xiaoxiao was losing her mind. She fiercely hit send.
[Husband, I miss you.]
The instant the message went out, she slapped her phone facedown on the bed, pushed up her curtain bangs with both hands, and stared at the white ceiling with despair in her starry eyes, muttering to herself:
"I'm done for... completely done for... how am I supposed to live tomorrow..."
When the message popped up, Shao Enci stared at the screen, his finger freezing in place.
He chewed over the six Chinese characters again and again, hardly able to believe it. He suspected Lu Xiaoxiao's WeChat account had been hacked.
The young man leaned forward slightly and tapped the screen, the corners of his eyes dipping as his lips unconsciously curved into a smile. He replied:
[Calling me gege one minute and husband the next, Lu Xiaoxiao, are you trying to pick me up?]
Lu Xiaoxiao, who was hiding under the covers and writhing and rolling around, heard the message notification, and her heart felt as though someone had seized it in a vise.
She could feel her heart rate climbing past 120.
For someone else, it would have been their heart fluttering with attraction. Hers was racing from the shock.
Lu Xiaoxiao poked her head out and glanced at the screen. Her dark brows knitted slightly, and she was utterly speechless.
When is this guy ever going to get over his narcissism?
She rolled her eyes and replied: [Yes, I want to pick you up. Will you let me?]
Before long, he sent two messages in a row.
[You're really acting strange today.]
[Did a donkey kick you in the head?]
Lu Xiaoxiao glared disdainfully at Shao Enci on the screen, her teeth itching with anger. She cursed under her breath, "Your whole family got kicked in the head by a donkey!"
At that moment, 037 popped up with a reminder: [Tomorrow's task 4: Interlock all ten fingers with Shao Enci for five minutes during your father's open biology class. Countdown: 16 hours, 14 minutes, and 59 seconds.]
"?!"