Three Plans

An Yang sat on the sofa, suddenly finding the sensation rather pleasant—letting musical notes leap freely under his control. Unfortunately, he was long past the age for chasing such things.

Ji Weiwei finally snapped out of it and said, "Why'd you stop playing? It sounded really nice."

An Yang glanced at her and replied, "You'd better finish your noodles first. They'll get cold soon."

Ji Weiwei pouted, picked up the bowl, and took a huge mouthful, slurping loudly. "These noodles are terrible. You definitely didn't even add soy sauce!"

An Ran looked embarrassed. "I can't cook. The kitchen's just for show. Why would I have soy sauce? Having a bit of salt and MSG is already a blessing!"

"No wonder they taste so bad..."

An Yang watched her finish the last bite, then start fishing out broken noodle pieces with her chopsticks, and finally lift the bowl to drink the broth. His face twitched.

"If they're so bad, why are you eating them so enthusiastically..."

"Mmph... Your granny here was starving, got a problem with that?"

"Fine, fine. But what were you up to? Running a special ops mission in the Amazon? You're this hungry?"

"You really think I was starving? Just kidding. I was just thinking—you can barely take care of yourself, and you actually cooked me a bowl of noodles. That's not easy. I got carried away eating!"

An Yang's eye twitched, and his expression turned serious. "Since you've finished eating, you'd better spill it. Why are you hiding out at my place again? Your parents forcing you into another blind date?"

Ji Weiwei froze, smacked her lips, set the big bowl on the coffee table, and wiped her mouth without a care for appearances. "Yeah. I thought the old man was really sick, so I rushed back without even finishing the sales plan my boss gave me. Turns out it was just another setup for a blind date!"

An Yang asked, "That urgent? Is it another 'White Bone Spirit' working at a state-owned company?"

Ji Weiwei shot him a look. She was a beautiful girl, usually careful about her image in public, even a goddess in the eyes of many shut-ins. But here, she belched and wiped her mouth without a care, completely destroying her charming aura.

"What? Still jealous? They wouldn't be this anxious over some state-company White Bone Spirit. Word is he's some rich family's young master—a second-generation rich kid. I'm guessing he's no good, but my parents are treating him like a treasure. You should've seen them—they already showed him my life photos, bare-faced photos, glamour shots, and every ID photo from childhood to now. Afraid that if they waited any longer, the golden catch they'd hooked would slip away!"

"Come on... how can you say that? Your parents are just looking out for your future."

Ji Weiwei snorted, full of self-mockery. "Ha. Looking out for my future. When I was little, they thought I was a money pit. Now that their daughter's worth something, they're terrified they can't sell me off, or won't get a good price, and they'll take a loss."

An Yang didn't know what to say. They'd grown up in the same neighborhood, and he knew Ji Weiwei's parents well enough. They really weren't great. When she was pregnant, they'd had a checkup, and the doctor said it was a boy. The old couple was overjoyed. The technology back then wasn't reliable, but she turned out to be a girl. You can imagine how they felt, having hoped for a son.

In the terms of that era, their thinking was anything but progressive—they valued boys over girls. Even though they were a teacher's family, little Ji Weiwei was always getting beaten. Whenever she did, she'd run to An Yang's house to hide. His parents would feed her well, and back then, she was more like their daughter than his.

Ji Weiwei glanced at An Yang. "It's your fault for not stepping up. Otherwise, I'd have dragged you out as a shield long ago. Every time I go back, it's blind dates. Now just hearing the word makes me sick. If they keep pushing, I'll go crazy!"

An Yang thought for a moment. "Hiding out here isn't a solution. Aren't you afraid they'll come looking for you here? Or show up at your company?"

Ji Weiwei pouted. "Even if they guess I'm here, they won't find me. Asking Uncle and Auntie won't help either—they definitely won't tell. As for my company, they wouldn't dare. Worst case, I quit on the spot. Then they won't get a single cent from me anymore!"

An Yang nodded, a bit awkward.

Ji Weiwei had a fiery personality and did whatever she wanted without restraint. If her parents really dared to go to her company, she'd really quit.

As for why An Yang's parents wouldn't tell hers where she was, there were two reasons. First, because of their childhood—Ji Weiwei was always getting beaten and scolded, so she was closer to An's parents. Second, An's parents really liked this girl. Ahem... they'd wanted her as their daughter-in-law for a long time.

Ji Weiwei grabbed the bowl, washed it in the kitchen, then came back shaking her hands dry, splashing water all over the floor.

"I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep. I'll probably wake up in the evening. Don't move—I'll cook!"

"Great! But... there's no food or rice. How are you going to cook?"

"...Then go buy some, quick!"

An Yang pouted and flopped back onto the sofa without moving.

His phone buzzed with a text. He glanced at it—it was from Xiao Xueer.

"Brother An Yang, the weather's been really hot lately. Remember to guard against heatstroke if you go out this afternoon."

An Yang shook his head with a wry smile. He wasn't some little girl. A grown man wasn't that easy to get heatstroke from. And with his constitution, getting heatstroke would be a joke. But it was a sweet gesture from a young girl, and he appreciated it.

Speaking of which, his own little sister had never cared about him like this.

After a moment's thought, he replied, "Thanks, Xueer."

Not long after, he got a call from his mother, Xie Yunqing. She said An You was planning to find a summer job in Jinguan City with some classmates to earn pocket money and gain experience, so she wouldn't be coming home. But Xie Yunqing was worried An You was too naive and might get scammed, so she asked him to keep an eye on her.

An Yang was stunned but could only nod in agreement.

Putting personality aside, An You had always been a hardworking, studious kid. It made sense she'd want to find a summer job in Jinguan City—summer wages there were pretty high. But Xiao Xueer's family was clearly well-off. Why would she need a summer job? And her family actually agreed?

Well, that wasn't his business. He just needed to do what his parents asked, fulfill his duty as an older brother. Since they'd called him, they'd probably already told An You. But knowing An You's personality, she'd never want his help and would never reach out to him on her own.

"These two girls... such a handful."

An Yang sighed, lay back on the sofa for a while, then went back to his room to continue watching A Chinese Ghost Story.

The more he watched, the more conflicted he became!

A Chinese Ghost Story was about a scholar named Ning Caichen, who went to Guo Bei County to collect a debt. Caught in a downpour, his ledger got soaked, blurring the ink and making collection impossible. Penniless, he had to stay at the ominous Lanruo Temple, where he met the hero Yan Chixia and the female ghost Nie Xiaoqian.

The mission was to prevent Nie Xiaoqian from reincarnating. But in the story, she wasn't forced into reincarnation—she chose it. Reincarnation had always been her wish, her highest goal as a wandering ghost. Yet the system wanted him to stop her.

Wasn't this forcing him to be the villain?

After finishing the movie, An Yang closed his eyes to think. There were two relatively simple ways to achieve this, but both would require him to be ruthless. A third method was a bit harder, but it still wouldn't let him be the good guy.

One was to side with the Thousand-Year Tree Demon and the Black Mountain Old Demon, letting Nie Xiaoqian marry the Black Mountain Old Demon. That meant opposing Nie Xiaoqian, Ning Caichen, and Yan Chixia from the story.

But with his foreknowledge, he could easily remove Ning Caichen from the main plot, preventing him from falling in love with Nie Xiaoqian, meeting Yan Chixia, or even having any connection with Lanruo Temple at all!

The second was to side with Yan Chixia from the start, directly obliterating Nie Xiaoqian's soul, thus stopping her reincarnation. But this required preventing Ning Caichen from convincing Yan Chixia. If Yan Chixia was moved to mercy and let go of his killing intent, this plan would be off the table.

After watching A Chinese Ghost Story again, An Yang felt deep sympathy for this lonely, pitiful female ghost who had no control over her own fate. She was innocent, devoted, bold in love and hate, more straightforward than many people—making it hard for him to bring himself to destroy her. So, he leaned toward the third option.

That was—to have her stand on his side!

Neither helping Nie Xiaoqian reincarnate nor aiding the Thousand-Year Tree Demon in marrying her off to the Black Mountain Old Demon, he would instead help Nie Xiaoqian regain her freedom, at the cost of remaining a ghost forever, never to be reborn.

But the prerequisite was that he must help Yan Chixia kill the Thousand-Year Tree Demon and the Black Mountain Old Demon, retrieve Nie Xiaoqian's golden pagoda, and destroy it. As for what happened after that, he wouldn't bother with it—just let Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen be together forever.

The mission was set, and he had no choice but to complete it. What a helpless situation!

Perhaps this was the meaning of the third prelude—to teach him how to be a villain.

"Sigh, whatever. Plans can't keep up with changes. I'll just go into the story first. Maybe there'll be some other turning point?"

An Yang shut down his computer, lay down on the bed, and slept. When he woke up, Ji Weiwei had already cooked a meal, and the whole room was filled with fragrance.

The next day, he called An You. As expected, An You's attitude was stiff, and she had no intention of letting him help.

"That's enough. I'll handle Mom and Dad's side. I won't make things difficult for you!"

"There are a lot of scammers out there now. Mom and Dad were just worried about you, so they asked me to check in. I'm not going to help you find a job—I'll just go with you to your interviews. You're Mom and Dad's precious daughter; if something happened to you, I couldn't bear the responsibility."

"Let me say it again: I'm not stupid. Besides, you don't even have a job yourself yet. Worry about your own problems!"

An Yang's head ached. He asked, "Then where are you now?"

An You was silent for a moment, then said, "An Yang, I don't like you meddling in my affairs. Unless you want me to tell Mom and Dad that you lost your job."

An Yang was taken aback. This girl actually dared to threaten him. Just as he was about to say something more, the call had already ended.