Page 16

Maybe then she'd feel a little more responsible, and wouldn't spend every day thinking that there was nothing in the world tying her to it, and that she might as well just die.

Yu Qing said nothing. Xiang Changge, who was usually quick and decisive, soon made the decision for her. "Then let's get you a dog... If you have enough left over, miss, you can have two."

"You can think about what color you'd like. I'll arrange it for you when the time comes."

After saying that, Xiang Changge went to the balcony and closed all the wide-open windows, leaving only two narrow gaps at the sides.

As she walked back into the living room, she seemed to remember something else and checked the time. "Oh, right. According to your schedule, miss, you need to be in bed by ten tonight. If you still need to shower and get ready for bed, please keep an eye on the time."

Author's Note:

So, babies, would you like the paragraph-comment feature?

I've never used it, but it seems some of you want it.

But I heard that if you revise the text, the comments might get moved around or disappear? Authors like me, who occasionally need to fix awkward phrasing and typos, look on in confusion [sobbing][sobbing]. Also, do paragraph comments affect the reading experience?

Chapter 10: I'm Here to Provide Bedtime Services...

Xiang Changge left.

A little while later, Aunt Yang came over hesitantly. She glanced at Yu Qing, who had stopped working on her puzzle and was just staring into space, then nervously scratched the back of her hand.

Goodness gracious, no wonder the new housekeeper had dared to replace all the household staff on her very first day. She'd even dared to talk back to the young lady!

And not only that—she'd made demands of miss Yu just like she'd made demands of her granddaughter's kindergarten teacher: no picky eating or leftovers, and a set bedtime. Aunt Yang had stood not far away, hearing every word of their conversation. She hadn't dared breathe.

What kind of housekeeper was this? She was more like a parent!

Still, Aunt Yang had no idea what Miss Yu thought about it.

Forget going to bed at ten at night—sometimes Miss Yu was still awake at ten in the morning, and other times she was still asleep at ten at night.

Thinking this, Aunt Yang sneaked another glance at Yu Qing, who was still staring into space. She wondered whether to say something or come up with an excuse to leave.

For a while, the only sound in the small third-floor living room was a song Yu Qing had recently taken a liking to, playing on repeat.

After who knew how long, just as Aunt Yang was wondering if she should go get Yu Qing some water, she heard Yu Qing use voice control to turn off the music.

As soon as it stopped, the small living room fell silent.

Yu Qing drew up her legs, rested her chin on her knees, and hugged them. In a lazy tone, she asked Aunt Yang, "Aunt Yang, being broke isn't so bad, is it?"

Aunt Yang, standing there uneasily, said, "?"

What was Miss Yu talking about? Was she dreaming?

Had the new housekeeper upset her so much that she thought she'd be better off without one?

But if she didn't want a housekeeper, she could simply get rid of her. Why was she talking about being broke?

How could being a pauper be a good thing? The very idea sent chills down Aunt Yang's spine. It was scarier than a ghost story. Of course it wasn't good!

Though she vehemently disagreed in her heart, Aunt Yang didn't give a definite answer out loud. She chose her words carefully. "It, it probably wouldn't be very good, would it?"

She'd heard of people wanting to get rich, but never of anyone wanting to be broke.

Yu Qing didn't respond.

Perhaps the question she'd just asked Aunt Yang was really one she was asking herself.

After carefully reading the contract and the will that afternoon, she'd learned that under their terms, if she fired Xiang Changge, she wouldn't be able to inherit the Yu Family estate... which was more or less the same as becoming destitute.

She couldn't understand why her parents had made a will like this. It looked as if they'd made it up on the spot.

Why did Xiang Changge have to be her housekeeper for her to inherit the Yu Family estate? What did one have to do with the other?

Her parents had always doted on her. Why had they included such a clause in their will? Did they trust Xiang Changge that much?

Yu Qing couldn't make sense of it.

That was one of the reasons she was curious about Xiang Changge. When Xiang Changge had "overstepped her bounds," Yu Qing hadn't firmly, sternly, and irrevocably declared that she had to be fired.

But now Xiang Changge was going too far.

As a child, Yu Qing had hated the kind of regimented life where she had to listen to doctors and nutritionists, living without freedom as though she were a test subject.

And now Xiang Changge seemed to be taking her back to those days.

The other woman's voice rang in her mind again—

"I'll make sure you're healthy and plump, and live to a hundred."

If staying alive meant being raised in a greenhouse, without freedom or the ability to do as she pleased, then she'd rather die.

"Beep, beep, beep—"

"Target has been detected harboring extremely negative thoughts. Host, please take note—"

Meanwhile, Xiang Changge had just driven back to her villa dormitory in the estate's shuttle car. She was about to run a milk bath when the system's warning sounded in her mind.

Xiang Changge stopped in her tracks and asked the system doubtfully, "Detected what? What did it find?"

The system repeated itself.

Xiang Changge: "..."

On the very first day of the mission, this news was a huge blow to both Xiang Changge and the Plot Rewriting System.

They had come here hoping Yu Qing would regain her confidence in life and live happily. Who could have guessed that after all their efforts, Yu Qing would develop extremely negative thoughts ahead of schedule?

For a few seconds, the human and the system stared at each other in a figurative sense.

Then Xiang Changge clenched her fists and turned to head out.

"Extremely negative thoughts? What thoughts? Does she not want to live anymore? Why? Is it because I told her to raise pigs and dogs and not leave food uneaten, or because I told her to get into bed at ten?"

That was too much. She didn't want to live just because of that?

It wasn't that she didn't want to live. She just didn't want to let herself enjoy a good life!

If she died, Xiang Changge would die too. She'd only just eaten her fill today, and there were still so many things she wanted to eat and drink. How could Yu Qing just give up on living?

Seeing Xiang Changge looking so ready to charge out, the system hurriedly called out to her in her mind. "Calm down, 8802! What are you going to do? Confront the female lead? What if that makes her want to die even sooner?"

Xiang Changge: "..."

The system had been feeling pretty down, but seeing Xiang Changge like this made its CPU run faster and more smoothly.

It even managed to comfort its host. "It's okay, 8802. This is only the beginning. Look on the bright side: the female lead is only having negative thoughts. At least she hasn't acted on them yet. We can keep working on her gradually and help her change."

After hearing the system out, Xiang Changge stroked her chin and decided it had a point.

"True. Right now, she only doesn't want to live. For my mission to fail, she'd have to actually die."

She could keep following the plan and working on the mission for now. If Yu Qing kept sinking deeper into negativity, then when she really tried to kill herself, Xiang Changge could tie her up so she wouldn't be able to. She could take whatever necessary measures were needed.

After all, if she took good care of Yu Qing and she still wanted to die, then she'd just have to resort to more direct methods.

The Plot Rewriting System, which had detected her thoughts, cried out, "! Wait, wait, wait! 8802, we're a legitimate system doing a legitimate mission! We don't do any imprisonment-play stuff!"

Xiang Changge's mouth curled. "Oh? Even if the mission fails?"

The system: "..."

Well... compared with failing the mission, it wasn't as if they absolutely couldn't do that... right?

Forget it. Why think so far ahead? They'd take things one step at a time.

After the human and system had optimistically talked themselves around, one went back to studying the mission while the other resumed her bathing plans.

At ten that night, a light drizzle began to fall again.

Wearing comfortable pajamas, Xiang Changge stood before a floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor, watching the fine rain fall thickly like wool beneath the streetlights. She elegantly took a small sip of the whole milk in her wineglass, then asked the system, "What's she doing?"

The system answered promptly, "The female lead has showered and is lying in bed reading a work of literature."

She hadn't fallen asleep yet, but at least she was in bed resting.

Xiang Changge knew Yu Qing could lie in bed until ten the next morning without falling asleep.

Knowing that didn't mean she could make Yu Qing fall asleep right away. She'd originally told her to get into bed at ten so she could lie there and get used to sleeping, but it clearly wasn't easy.

Yu Qing's health was already poor. Using medication to make her sleep would only backfire. And Xiang Changge couldn't go sit beside her bed and sing lullabies or tell her bedtime stories like she was a child.

The system: "...Hm? Why not?"

Xiang Changge: "??"

At ten twenty that night, a four-seat sightseeing cart stopped outside the main house.

Soon, someone wearing white striped pajamas got out of the cart, opened an umbrella, and entered the main house.

At ten twenty-two, the elevator chimed and stopped on the third floor.

In her room, Yu Qing was curled up in her big bed reading when she suddenly felt that something was wrong.

She closed her book and hugged it to her chest, then slowly poked her head out from under the covers and looked around the room.

She didn't like having the lights too bright when she was lying in bed, so the only light in the room came from the two full-moon-shaped reading lamps mounted on the wall beside her bed.

Their warm, orange glow fell over the bedside, while the rest of the room was dim.