What Should I do After Binding the Wrong System and the Female Lead comes Knocking at my Door? - Chapter 16

After leaving the Muxi Investment Building, Pei Yuanxi couldn’t wait to return to the studio to share the good news with Gu Qing.

However, Pei Yuanxi didn’t intend to simply tell her directly. She was planning how to cleverly complete a system task.

The previous system tasks had appeared because Pei Yuanxi wanted to get Gu Qing to do something, so if she directly told Gu Qing that she had prepared a house for her right next door, and all she had to do was move in, she wasn’t sure if the system would trigger. Even if it did, Gu Qing would probably agree immediately.

So, she decided to first propose a request that Gu Qing couldn’t directly agree to, and then complete the task before revealing the real intention.

With everything planned, Pei Yuanxi waited happily in the office for Gu Qing.

Meanwhile, after finishing a day of lessons, Gu Qing was informed by the staff that Pei Yuanxi was in the office. She remembered Pei Yuanxi had said she would send her home that evening.

Send me home?

What excuse could she use this time to keep Pei Yuanxi with her?

Deep in thought, Gu Qing arrived at the office and saw Pei Yuanxi standing up with a bright smile, looking like a little sunshine, and asking her how her day had been.

“How did your studies go?”

“Are you tired?”

“Are you hungry?”

“Come sit down, let me give you a shoulder massage.”

Gu Qing was caught off guard as Pei Yuanxi pressed her into the office chair, giving her an entertainment industry-level shoulder massage.

She guessed there must be some ulterior motive for Pei Yuanxi to be so attentive, but who could resist such kindness from her?

This was the first time someone had waited for her to finish work.

The first time someone had cared whether she was tired or hungry after a long day.

It was the first time that warmth surged through her heart, and she suddenly thought that this kind of life wasn’t so bad after all.

Moreover, all these “firsts” came from Pei Yuanxi. Even if Pei Yuanxi had some ulterior motive, so what?

As long as Pei Yuanxi didn’t bring up breaking the contract, she would agree to anything else.

As expected, just as Gu Qing had predicted, Pei Yuanxi cleared her throat behind her and said, “Ah Qing… I have something I want to discuss with you.”

Gu Qing hummed softly, not sure if the sound was a result of the relaxing massage or if she had deliberately made it sound enticing.

Pei Yuanxi didn’t notice, and with a tone full of flattery, she asked, “I had Bai Zhou check out some houses around the studio today, but they didn’t seem quite right, so I was thinking maybe you could stay at my place for a while?”

Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, the system appeared in her mind, delivering the task: “Detected that Pei Yuanxi is attempting to deceive the host in order to achieve cohabitation. Please refuse and slap Pei Yuanxi in the face.”

Everything was in place, only waiting for Gu Qing’s hesitation and rejection!

“Sure!”

Pei Yuanxi: …

Her body stiffened, completely frozen behind Gu Qing, who noticed the sudden stop in the shoulder massage and thought Pei Yuanxi had misheard. She turned around and seriously repeated, “Sure.”

Pei Yuanxi: …

It wasn’t that she hadn’t considered the possibility that Gu Qing might agree, and she thought at worst, Gu Qing could touch her face as a consolation. But in Pei Yuanxi’s mind, Gu Qing would at least hesitate for a while. Yet here, Gu Qing agreed so immediately—what the heck was going on?

This directness made Pei Yuanxi shudder. Had this lamb willingly led the wolf into her home?

Pei Yuanxi forced a smile and tried to salvage the situation by saying, “You trust me that much? Aren’t you afraid I’ll do something to you?”

Gu Qing shook her head and gently gazed at Pei Yuanxi’s cheek. “It’s fine, I trust you.”

“Besides… Yuanxi, did you forget about the love agreement?”

Pei Yuanxi realized she had completely forgotten about that damn contract. She started to persuade Gu Qing seriously, “I really forgot about it. Ah Qing, you don’t need to take that agreement seriously. You’re a person, a complete person! Your personality doesn’t belong to anyone else. I’ve always respected you, but I want you to respect yourself more.”

Gu Qing lowered her gaze, “But isn’t fulfilling the contract my duty?”

Seeing Gu Qing still agonizing over the contract, Pei Yuanxi was almost furious. She vigorously shook Gu Qing’s shoulders, seemingly trying to shake some sense into her.

“That contract was fundamentally flawed! Legally, it’s hardly valid. And I’ve already said that the five million is back in my hands. Why are you so stubborn?!”

Gu Qing laughed despite the shaking, which only made Pei Yuanxi more exasperated. She stopped shaking Gu Qing and sighed in frustration.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have agreed to it back then. I should have just forced you to come to my studio. That way, we wouldn’t have all these problems.”

Gu Qing gently poked her in the side from behind.

Pei Yuanxi jumped, exasperated. “What are you doing?”

Gu Qing softly reassured her, “Okay, okay, I was wrong. I promise I won’t mention the five million again.”

Pei Yuanxi sighed in relief but still double-checked. “You’re sure?”

“Mm-hmm,” Gu Qing nodded obediently but then poked Pei Yuanxi’s side again. Pei Yuanxi slapped her mischievous hand away.

“Stop it…”

Pei Yuanxi was already charmed by Gu Qing, who was now acting so sweet and gentle. Who could resist such a transformation in the “ice queen”? Certainly not Pei Yuanxi.

But she still pretended to act tough and said, “Fine, I’ll forgive you this time. But if I hear you mention the contract again, don’t blame me for ignoring you.”

“Mm-hmm, okay. So Yuanxi, are you still okay with me moving into your place?”

Pei Yuanxi: …

Gu Qing curiously asked, “What’s wrong, Yuanxi? Don’t worry, I’ll pay rent on time.”

Who’s worried about rent right now?!

Pei Yuanxi started to seriously suspect that Gu Qing was sent by the heavens to torment her.

“Alright, I’ll confess. Actually, the house I prepared for you is next door to mine. I just said you should stay with me to… to tease you.”

“However, Ah Qing, I’ve also really thought about you staying at my place. The fact that my sexual orientation has been exposed and you’ve signed with my studio, I’m worried if the paparazzi see you living with me, it could shift all the attention onto you. I’m not worried about the impact on me, but I don’t want all the heat to fall on you.”

Pei Yuanxi lowered her head, genuinely apologizing to Gu Qing. “I’m sorry, Ah Qing.”

Gu Qing smiled softly and shook her head. “It’s fine, Yuanxi. You were thinking of me. I understand. I’ll listen to you. Let’s just move into the house next door for now.”

Pei Yuanxi looked up in surprise but didn’t catch the special tone in Gu Qing’s words. “Wuwuwu, Ah Qing, you’re so wonderful! You’re simply the gentle god! From now on, I’ll call you ‘Qing Shen’!”

“Stop messing around,” Gu Qing refused the embarrassing nickname and asked, “How much is the rent?”

Pei Yuanxi waved her hand. “Forget about rent! Just live there without worrying about anything.”

After settling the house issue for Gu Qing, Pei Yuanxi eagerly turned to the system, but found that the system declared the task a failure.

Pei Yuanxi froze. How did it fail?

She had already decided Gu Qing wouldn’t stay at her house…

Pei Yuanxi angrily cursed the system in her mind.

[Beep, detected that Pei Yuanxi herself does not actually wish to live with the host. Her true intention was to have the host live next door, and Pei Yuanxi is so cunning that even the system was deceived. Please be cautious, host.]

Cunning Pei Yuanxi: “???”

Pei Yuanxi was so furious she almost laughed. Not to mention anything else, just that line about “even the system was fooled” was enough to make her mad. Did this idiot really think it was so clever?!

And shouldn’t this be a malfunction of your system?!

Now it’s ruined. The mission has failed, and I can’t even get Gu Qing to touch her face anymore…

Compensation! There must be compensation!

【Ding, the system does not understand the host’s meaning.】

Pretending to be dumb, huh?

Pei Yuanxi silently said to the system, “Do you believe that Gu Qing will now tell Pei Yuanxi that she must live at her house? Do you want to see whether Pei Yuanxi agrees or not?”

System: …

【Ding, compensation has been issued. Please check, host.】

Pei Yuanxi sneered and cursed “you vile thing” before accepting the compensation.

She was eager to see what compensation she would get, but what she received was unexpectedly good.

It was a script—one that was perfect for Gu Qing.

Pei Yuanxi’s eyes lit up, and she quickly called Gu Qing over. “A Qing, come look at this script, it’s really perfect for you,”

At this moment, Gu Qing was wondering why Pei Yuanxi had performed another magic trick on her.

Why didn’t she let her touch her face before performing the trick…?

Gu Qing silently walked over and stood beside Pei Yuanxi to look at the script.

The script was titled “Flowers in Time”, a somewhat tragic story.

The general plot is about the female lead, who was a pitiful girl without anyone to care for her. Her mother was biased, her father was a gambler, and after her parents divorced, she was taken by her mother to live with a new stepfather who almost assaulted her. When the mother found out, she slapped the female lead, telling her to stay silent for the sake of a better life.

Unable to endure any longer, the female lead ran away to another city to start a new life, hoping things would get better. But instead, she encountered a scumbag who deceived her into a hotel, intending to sleep with her for his own career.

In despair, she was about to jump out of a window to end her life, but suddenly a voice from another woman appeared in her mind.

After understanding the female lead’s situation, the voice helped her escape the hell she was in. Once safe, the female lead discovered that the voice came from a woman in the same city, but from several hundred years in the future.

The world in that future was a wasteland, the result of a devastating world war. People lived in underground towers, never allowed to step outside in their entire lives.

The woman’s name was Xi, as in “hope,” but she was a criminal. In that future world, women who did not want to bear children were seen as criminals and exiled to die outside the high towers.

Xi had reached the same point in her life as the female lead, which is why their timelines crossed.

The female lead asked where Xi wanted to go, and Xi said she wanted to visit a desolate place she had heard about, where flowers still bloomed—something from books that might be the last thing she could see before dying.

The female lead didn’t want the only person who had helped her to die, but there was nothing she could do.

With nothing left, the female lead decided to follow Xi’s footsteps, looking for the flowers she hoped to see.

The place where Xi described the flowers was the desolate area in the female lead’s world, and the female lead bravely entered this place, walking on the same land as Xi, even though their timelines were hundreds of years apart.

When Xi reached the end, she still didn’t see any flowers. She was barely holding on and wanted the female lead to turn back, but this time, the female lead refused to listen.

They both desperately wanted to see each other. It seemed that fate had begun to favor them. Xi, in her dying moments, crossed time and appeared in the female lead’s world, collapsing in her arms.

The female lead sat on the ground, letting Xi rest against her lap. She took out a withered rose from her bag, and Xi took it, looking at the sky, saying, “So beautiful,” before closing her eyes for the last time.

The story ends with the female lead softly stroking Xi’s face and saying, “Yes, it’s beautiful,” before the curtain falls.

After reading the script, Pei Yuanxi and Gu Qing stared at each other in silence. Pei Yuanxi scratched her head and said to Gu Qing, “The story is really moving, but it’s a bit too ‘lesbian’—if we shoot this, would it be okay for us?”

Gu Qing shook her head decisively and said, “We should shoot it!”

“I want to make this script.”

Pei Yuanxi thought for a moment and nodded. A little bit of “lesbian” content could be modified during filming without affecting much. It would be a shame to pass up such a good script just because of a little impact…

Besides, it was the first time that Gu Qing had insisted on something in front of her without following her opinion, and in Pei Yuanxi’s eyes, that was a form of self-expression. She was happy, so why would she refuse?

However, Pei Yuanxi was also a bit curious about why Gu Qing was so moved by this script. She couldn’t figure it out, and probably only Gu Qing herself knew why…