Lin Zhi subconsciously touched her stomach, wondering if she actually had a little baby in her belly right now.
"Yes, Host," System 6 replied.
Lin Zhi gasped, her disgust for the male lead deepening. He had indirectly caused the deaths of three people. Simply detestable.
Because that stretch of road had no surveillance cameras, the killer was never caught. Furthermore, since the original host had no other relatives besides her mother, the police had to step in to handle the funeral arrangements. After the original host's death, her mother ran out of money for medical treatment and was transferred from the hospital to a nursing home. However, the conditions were atrocious, and the medical staff were unprofessional. Without proper care, she passed away not long after.
Lin Zhi rubbed her chest, which suddenly ached, and silently promised to take good care of her mother.
She looked at her first task. Naturally, she wasn't going to let the male and female leads off the hook. She certainly didn't believe the female lead was innocent; judging by Li Ruoyao's actions after discovering the original host's existence, the woman was clearly a top-tier manipulator. Fooling around with Zhou Ye behind Zhou Congli's back—from the perspective of the male and female leads, it was true love, an uncontrollable passion. But in reality? Hah.
The third task was to provide a "complete" family. Did that mean finding a father in addition to a mother? The points for this task were higher than the first two combined. The baby probably wanted its biological father.
That day, after Zhou Congli left, the original host had also quickly woken up and departed, missing the assistant who had rushed over. Therefore, Zhou Congli didn't know the original host's identity, nor did he know about the unborn child. But what if he found out early this time?
As the heir groomed by the Zhou family since childhood, Zhou Congli had always been exceptionally outstanding, entering the company to work as early as high school. In contrast, Zhou Ye had always been an idle playboy, eating, drinking, and having fun every day without any outstanding abilities. If Zhou Congli hadn't died suddenly, leaving the Zhou family with no other suitable candidates, Zhou Ye might not have been able to secure the CEO position.
She even suspected that he was behind that car accident, just so he could become the heir and be with the female lead.
"Host, shall we begin the tasks?" the system prompted.
Lin Zhi nodded. "Let's begin."
"Understood," System 6 said. "A reminder, Host: in every world, you have one opportunity to request assistance from the system. Task commencing—"
The next second, the stagnant time began to flow slowly. The sounds of the surrounding crowd rang in her ears. Before Lin Zhi could even process what the system meant by an opportunity, she saw the fake smile plastered on Zhou Ye's face.
In this current timeline, the Zhou family and the Li family were preparing to hold a wedding for Li Ruoyao and Zhou Congli. Zhou Ye had confronted Li Ruoyao, demanding to know who she would choose, only to be met with hesitation. Driven by anger, he decided to make Li Ruoyao see his older brother's true colors so she would realize who truly loved her.
Thus, he found out where his brother would be discussing business with partners. Once his brother was drunk, Zhou Ye had a waiter help him into a prearranged room. Then, using a Valentine's Day surprise as an excuse, he tricked the original host into going to the hotel. He installed hidden cameras in the room and saved the footage, planning to play it at his brother and Li Ruoyao's wedding.
As for why he chose the original host, Zhou Ye felt she was vain and greedy. He had spent so much money on her, and now it was her turn to pay him back.
Afraid of any mishaps, he had been too excited to sleep a wink last night, and even rushed to the university first thing in the morning. Driving his luxury car, he pretended to be picking her up, when in reality, he just wanted to observe her reaction.
"Zhizhi?" Seeing her stand completely still, Zhou Ye looked confused.
Lin Zhi furrowed her brows. "Zhou Ye, what are you doing?"
Noticing that she didn't look happy and worried that she might have realized what happened last night, Zhou Ye suppressed his impatience and said, "Inviting my little Princess into the car, of course." His eyes brimmed with feigned affection. "Isn't it a popular trend online lately to invite a princess into a car? Zhizhi, you are my little Princess. I will protect you like a princess every single day from now on."
The overly saccharine sweet talk was nauseating. Lin Zhi covered her mouth, afraid she might actually throw up.
Zhou Ye's expression immediately darkened. "Lin Zhi, what's the meaning of this? I do all this for you, and this is your reaction?"
Lin Zhi was speechless. Sure enough, it was obvious at a glance whether someone truly liked you or not. She had only shown the slightest change in expression, yet he reacted so strongly and even turned it around to accuse her.
She frowned, looking utterly miserable. "I don't know why, but my stomach has been feeling really upset." She put on a bashful expression. "Do you think it could be..."
Seeing her place her hand on her lower abdomen, Zhou Ye felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He wondered if she could be pregnant already. Was his brother really that capable? Once he snapped out of it, a wave of disgust washed over him. She really was a promiscuous woman; she had just been slept with by another man, yet she was acting this happy. Good thing he hadn't touched her. This kind of woman couldn't even compare to a single finger of Ruoyao's.
Zhou Ye completely lost his patience. "You probably just ate something bad. Oh, right, I have some business to attend to. Why don't you go hang out with your friends? Don't worry, I'll reimburse you for whatever you spend. Buy whatever you want."
Looking at this stupid woman, he saw she clearly hadn't realized a thing and still wanted to have his child. Hah! He didn't want to waste another second on her.
Seeing his thinly veiled disgust and his obvious eagerness to rush back to Li Ruoyao's side, Lin Zhi cursed inwardly. He had orchestrated this whole mess, yet he had the audacity to be disgusted by her.
"Zhou Ye, what is the meaning of this?" She abruptly pulled a long face. "I woke up first thing in the morning and you were nowhere to be seen, and now you're rushing off in a panic. What are you playing at? You're blowing hot and cold! Last night... was it really you..."
"Of course it was me!" Zhou Ye shouted hurriedly. But as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake. He had admitted it now; how was he supposed to change his story later?
Lin Zhi, however, looked at him with intense suspicion. "Are you sure it was you? Could I have gone into the wrong room or mistaken someone else for you?"
Zhou Ye wanted to curse her out. This woman, who usually couldn't string a sentence together to save her life, had suddenly become sharp-tongued and clever, guessing his entire scheme with pinpoint accuracy.
"Zhizhi," he said, feigning helplessness. "Who else could it be but me? Stop being so paranoid. You're just tired. Go back and get some good sleep, okay? Be good."
"I can go back, but you need to give me an explanation," Lin Zhi said.
Zhou Ye was already impatient. "What explanation?" Did she actually think she could marry into the Zhou family?
Lin Zhi scoffed. "After everything that's happened between us, when are you going to take me to meet your parents? Zhou Ye, you said we'd get married after graduation. You weren't just stringing me along, were you?"
Zhou Ye scoffed inwardly. What a greedy woman. To think she actually wanted to marry into the Zhou family. Did she even look in the mirror? With her status, did she think she was worthy? The only person in his heart was Ruoyao. She was the only woman he wanted to marry in this lifetime!
However, now wasn't the time to fall out with her.
"Alright," Zhou Ye agreed readily. "My parents happen to be home next Saturday. I'll take you to meet them then.
"My little Princess better not be shy."
So what if she wanted to meet his parents? Fine. But if she thought meeting his parents meant she could marry into the Zhou family, she was dreaming. He would make her see reality. In fact, it was perfect. Having his 'girlfriend' make a grand appearance would only make the inevitable fallout at the wedding seem that much more convincing.
A cold, mocking glint flashed in Zhou Ye's eyes. He would wait and make Lin Zhi regret everything.
Pretending not to notice, Lin Zhi smiled now that she had received a satisfactory answer. "Then I'll wait for you to pick me up on Saturday. Don't be late."
Zhou Ye watched her leave, the smile dropping from his face in an instant. Completely ignoring the onlookers, he got into his car with a dark expression and drove straight off.