The world went silent-listen to her composure shatter

This world was one giant Dragon King power-fantasy novel.

Hearing Old Bai deliver such a ridiculously swaggering line, Xie Mi felt it would be wrong not to give a crooked smirk.

"Wrap it all up!" Xie Lian made a grand entrance in sunglasses, ostentatiously holding a gold-and-black card between his fingers.

The sales assistant recognized him and hurried to fetch the card reader, ashamed of having misunderstood Xie Mi.

How was Xie Mi vain? She was practically the definition of understated!

Xie Lian swayed, but forced himself to remain composed as he swiped the card.

Beep-payment successful.

Xie Lian swayed even harder, yet still insisted on showing off. "Tch. Just breakfast money."

Tears shimmered behind his sunglasses.

Jiang Huaiting was stunned by the spectacle, utterly unable to make sense of what was happening.

As the sales assistant started packing up every item of clothing in the store, Xie Lian walked over to Xie Mi.

"Sis, this may be our family's mall, but we still can't make things difficult for the staff. That's what you taught me. So I paid."

"Excellent. You've taken my teachings to heart." Xie Mi slipped into character instantly. "Old Bai, you may rise as well."

Old Bai said, "As you command."

Had they wandered into the wrong genre? Eh, no big deal.

"Xie Mi, what's going on? Are these actors you hired?" Jiang Huaiting still refused to believe what she was seeing and pulled Xie Mi aside to whisper the question.

But when the sales assistant emptied the entire store and lined up bags full of luxury goods at Xie Mi's feet, Jiang Huaiting's voice began to tremble.

"This is a joke... right?"

Xie Mi sighed softly, looking at Jiang Huaiting with something close to pity.

"If you say so."

Crack-

Something shattered. It was Jiang Huaiting's competitive pride.

The world went silent. Listen to her composure shatter.

In the end, Jiang Huaiting slunk away.

Inside a bubble tea shop, Old Bai sipped his taro bubble tea with full ice and full sugar, looking so content that even his wrinkles smoothed out.

"It's been ages since I last got to show off with the young master."

"..."

Xie Lian didn't respond. Wearing a solemn expression, he slowly laid a tissue over the black card, then paid his respects.

Xie Mi looked mournful too, considering the possibility of climbing rooftops in those luxury clothes before finally settling on zero.

Thinking it over, buying a pile of luxury goods just to show off really had been a bit of a waste. She had only planned to buy a few sets of high-end sportswear.

But then again, it wasn't her money. Apparently, she hadn't lost anything.

That thought cleared everything right up.

"One cilantro milk tea with full sugar, please! Extra cilantro!"

Xie Lian gave her a resentful look and dropped a hint. "I'm not having any. I'm saving money."

Failing to take the hint, Xie Mi gave him a thumbs-up. "Good for you! Thrift is a virtue!"

Xie Lian was so angry he bit his tissue.

"Xie Lian." A clear, gentle voice rang out.

Xie Mi turned to look.

It was a boy around Xie Lian's age. He wore a white shirt and gold-rimmed glasses, lowering his eyes with easy grace, a faint smile on his lips.

"Don't you have class today?"

"I took the day off." Xie Lian gestured with his lips. "See? I'm shopping with my sister."

"Is this the sister of yours who just came home?"

The boy looked at Xie Mi, his ebony eyes beneath long lashes holding a smile as soft as autumn waters. "Hello, Xie Lian's sister. I'm his classmate, Yu Jinche."

"Pfft-"

Xie Mi sprayed out a mouthful of milk tea.

Yu Jinche, the original novel's villain.

He looked like a refined young man, but was actually a brooding, obsessive yandere. He was the first to discover the Female Lead Xu Shuangrong's true nature, yet willingly let her use him anyway. When Xu Shuangrong eventually abandoned him, he went off the deep end and imprisoned her for a month. He was genuinely dangerous.

Xie Mi gave Xie Lian a long, quiet look.

So Yu Jinche was Xie Lian's classmate. What a small world.

Did yanderes all like hanging out with other yanderes? Did they have a hobby group chat, too?

"Don't mind me. You two go ahead." Xie Mi waved a hand and opened a game on her phone.

Yu Jinche was part of a storyline Xu Shuangrong developed outside the variety show anyway. If he wasn't appearing on the show, he wouldn't cross paths with Xie Mi, so there was no need to get acquainted.

Yu Jinche looked at her with some puzzlement, but said nothing and continued talking to Xie Lian about school.

When they finished chatting, Yu Jinche said, "I don't have class tomorrow. I'll come over to your place."

"Sure!" Xie Lian was delighted. "My sister won't be home tomorrow, either. We can go to the sunroom..."

"I'm not coming tomorrow."

"Huh?"

"Something just came up." Yu Jinche smiled faintly and said his goodbyes. "I'll head off now. Bye, Xie Lian. Bye, Butler Bai."

Once he was gone, Xie Lian gleefully bumped Old Bai's shoulder.

"See that? He didn't say goodbye to Xie Mi. That's my classmate for you."

Old Bai sighed. "It's been ages since I last saw the young master being so petty."

Xie Lian said, "..."

Xie Mi hadn't noticed any of it. Her eyes gleamed green as she tore through her game.

Meanwhile, at the television station, the Love Watch production team was meeting.

"A lunatic show! A comedy circus! Look at the labels people online are giving us! Does anyone even remember we're a dating show?!"

Director Niu raged in the meeting room while everyone else barely dared to breathe.

The whiteboard listed every trending topic the show had generated since its premiere: automatic umbrella up the butt, monkey splashing in water, zombie rising from the grave, mushroom poisoning sparks collective insanity...

Judging by those phrases alone, it really did have nothing to do with a dating show.

"And the culprit responsible for all of this is her!!" Director Niu slapped Xie Mi's photo onto the whiteboard and forcefully scrawled [Dangerous individual] in red marker.

The assistant director immediately objected, slamming the table as he stood. "I won't let you insult my idol!"

Director Niu hurled the marker at him in fury. "Get the hell out!!"

He had almost forgotten about this idiot.

"In any case, we have to take action. Since Xie Mi can even wreck a date day, we're going big!"

"The outdoor filming plan officially begins now!"

After a two-day break, filming resumed.

This time, the production team spared no expense, choosing a popular tourist destination as their filming location-the famous coastal city of South Sea City.

Xie Mi had just gotten off the plane and was standing in South Sea City's airport, checking the location Director Niu had sent her.

Suddenly, she heard an earth-shaking roar.

"The young lady has arrived! Everyone, clear the way!!"

Xie Mi was so startled she nearly sent her phone flying.

She saw a dark-skinned man in indigenous attire sprinting toward her, holding an airport pickup sign.

Displayed prominently on the sign was a high-definition close-up of her face, captioned: Sound the heart-flutter alarm immediately-even passing frogs must stop and scream.

"This wild horse knows no way home, but when Sister Xie arrives, we cheer her on!"

The dark-skinned man charged up to her, bowed a full 180 degrees, drew a breath deep into his belly, and bellowed, "A warm welcome to our iron rose on her arrival in South Sea City!!"

"..."

After receiving no response for a long while, the dark-skinned man raised his head in confusion.

All he saw was a figure carrying a suitcase over her shoulder, sprinting farther and farther away from him at a hundred-meter-dash pace.