What Should I do After Binding the Wrong System and the Female Lead comes Knocking at my Door? - Chapter 40

“Actually, you’ve known from the very beginning that I’m a transmigrator, haven’t you?”

Pei Yuanxi answered seriously:

“Yes, I’ve known from the very beginning.”

Gu Qing lowered her eyes and released her arms that had been holding Pei Yuanxi.

“Do you know about the system?” Pei Yuanxi continued, speaking with difficulty.

“Actually, you have a system too. It’s called the ‘Counterattack and Face-Slapping System.’”

“It’s just that… it seems to have bound itself to the wrong person it bound itself to me.”

“That night after the banquet, the system gave me a notification saying that you had just transmigrated into this world. Then, because I accidentally spilled wine on you, it issued a mission  ‘Slap Pei Yuanxi in the face.’”

Gu Qing listened quietly to Pei Yuanxi’s explanation and shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Pei Yuanxi chose her words carefully.

“Do you remember how I used to ask you to touch my face? After you did, something would suddenly appear in my hand  those were the rewards from the system for completing the ‘Slap Pei Yuanxi’ missions.”

“Since your profession is acting, the system set your final goal as becoming Best Actress. So, the rewards from those missions were all things that could enhance your acting skills.”

“That time when I visited your home and took out that pill  it was actually something that helped you empathize more deeply with the characters in your scripts.”

Gu Qing lowered her head and asked softly:

“Was there anything else?”

Pei Yuanxi shook her head. “No. After that, I began to wonder what the system’s real purpose was.”

“I was afraid that once it reached a certain point, it might suddenly switch you back with the original Gu Qing.”

“Even if the system means well, I believe you could win the Best Actress title on your own without any help. So, from that day on, I never opened the system again.”

Gu Qing frowned and looked up. “If that system has some malicious purpose, then what will you do?”

She finally understood what Pei Yuanxi meant. If the system truly had an ulterior motive, what would happen to Pei Yuanxi?

Just as Pei Yuanxi had said  the system was currently bound to her. If it ever switched again, it might send Pei Yuanxi into another world entirely.

She would lose her mind if that happened.

Even now, in this uncertain situation, Gu Qing’s first reaction was still to worry about her. That made Pei Yuanxi secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

Pei Yuanxi smiled and tried to comfort her. “It’s okay. At least for now, it doesn’t seem to be harmful.”

“No.”

Gu Qing’s tone was firm.

“I’m quitting acting.”

“As long as I never become Best Actress, the system will never be able to achieve its goal.”

Pei Yuanxi was stunned.

“But being an actress has always been your dream!”

Gu Qing raised a hand to stop her.

“I told you the only reason I wanted to be an actress was so that more people would like me…”

“But now… I don’t need that anymore.”

“I have you, Pei Yuanxi.”

“There’s nothing in this world that could ever mean more to me than you.”

Gu Qing lifted her head and gently caressed Pei Yuanxi’s cheek.

“I have nothing else  do you understand what I mean, Pei Yuanxi?”

“Because this world allowed me to meet you, I can love this world, and I’ll live earnestly in it.”

“But if there were no Pei Yuanxi, then Gu Qing would no longer exist either.”

Pei Yuanxi stammered, “A Qing, don’t… don’t do anything foolish. Even if that kind of thing really happens, you have to live well  for me.”

Gu Qing looked at her in mild frustration.

“That’s why I said  I’m quitting acting!”

“Cutting off the system’s purpose at its root  isn’t that better?”

Pei Yuanxi froze, then suddenly sighed in defeat. “I’m afraid that won’t work.”

“The system just… came back.”

[Ding! Detecting intense emotional fluctuation. Final mission ‘The Road to Best Actress’ has been updated to ‘The Road to Winning Pei Yuanxi’s Heart.’]

“A Qing… you, you want to win me over?”

Gu Qing: “…”

Pei Yuanxi pretended to stay calm and analyzed, “Looks like this system can’t be stopped just by quitting acting. It seems to adjust its final objective according to your desires.”

Just as Pei Yuanxi was about to continue, the voice of the system suddenly interrupted her again inside her mind.

[Ding. Detected strong emotions from the host. The final mission “Capture Pei Yuanxi’s Heart” has now been changed to “System’s Disappearance Route.”]

[Ding… The system does not understand the host’s intention.]

[Ding… Detecting… strong emotional fluctuations from the host. Final mission “System’s Disappearance Route” has now been changed to “System Self-Destruct Route.”]

[Warning! Warning! Host, please immediately cease all mental activity! Otherwise, the system will enter self-destruct protocol!]

Pei Yuanxi: …

[Warning! Warning! Host has repeatedly failed to comply with directives. System entering self-destruct mode!]

[Five… Four… Three… Two… One.]

[Ding. Congratulations, host. Final mission completed. Issuing final reward “Original World’s Irresistible Charm” attribute.]

[Ding… Data error! Data error!]

[Paradox! Paradox!]

[D…]

Pei Yuanxi was dumbfounded.

She tentatively shouted in her mind:
“System? System! Are you still there?!”

“Stupid system?”

“Switch to human agent!”

“Unsubscribe, TD!”

Hiss…
It’s really gone!

Now, when Pei Yuanxi looked at Gu Qing, it was like gazing at a celestial being.

Who’s Gu Xiaoqing…

Show some respect.

That’s Qing Deity!

And beside her, Gu Qing calmly tucked her hair behind her ear, completely unbothered, as if she hadn’t just gone through a battle with the system.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, uh…” Pei Yuanxi stared blankly at Gu Qing. “How did you do that?”

“Oh? Judging by your reaction, I succeeded?”

Pei Yuanxi was practically losing it.

If there’s a most enchanting moment in the world, it had to be this  when Gu Qing smiled right then and there.

Pei Yuanxi couldn’t wait to share the mental battle that had just happened.

“Ah Qing, you wouldn’t believe how dumb that system was just now!”

“It changed the final mission to self-destruction, and because you kept violating its directives, it actually initiated its own termination.”

“In the end, the mission got completed, and the reward was just like we feared  something like the ‘Original World’s Irresistible Charm’ attribute. I think it really would’ve sent you or me back to our original world.”

“At that moment I was terrified. I thought we were going to be separated!”

“But thankfully, the system self-destructed beforehand, so it couldn’t carry out the reward. Hahaha!”

“Ah Qing, you’re amazing!”

Pei Yuanxi grinned from ear to ear, overwhelmed with joy, unsure how to praise Gu Qing properly.

Gu Qing chuckled softly.
“Since the system was willing to alter its mission based on my strongest desire, then I simply made its disappearance my greatest wish.”

“But… but the system responds to what you most deeply desire in your heart. How did you manage that? I mean…”

Gu Qing cupped Pei Yuanxi’s face in her hands, gazing at her with open affection and tenderness.

“Yuanxi, I understand what you mean. Actually, it was quite simple all I had to do was think about the days without you by my side, and I felt overwhelming hatred for the system. In that moment, all I wanted was for it to disappear.”

Pei Yuanxi scratched her cheek, a little embarrassed, turning her head away.

“Ah Qing, so that’s really the end of the system?”

“It feels a little unreal. In all the novels I’ve read, systems never vanish that easily.”

Gu Qing thought for a moment.

“Maybe it really was that simple  just that no one else hated their system the way we did.”

Pei Yuanxi nodded vigorously in agreement.

After all, the two of them were probably the biggest oddballs.
When others got a system, they treated it like a treasure  their golden cheat.

But the two of them?

They literally played their system to death.

Let’s just hope in its next life, the system meets someone who cherishes it…

If it even gets a next life.

“So Yuanxi, are you saying the reason you agreed to sign that dating contract in the first place was because of curiosity about me being a transmigrator and the system?”

Pei Yuanxi: …

So now that the system’s gone, it’s her turn to be questioned, huh?

“I’m sorry.”

Seeing Pei Yuanxi bow her head in immediate apology, Gu Qing gently tilted her chin up with a finger:
“It’s okay. It’s totally understandable. If I were you, I’d be curious too.”

Just as Pei Yuanxi was about to smile in relief, Gu Qing continued,
“Then the way you treated me so well afterwards was that also because of the system?”

“Partly, yes.” Pei Yuanxi struggled to get the words out. “But not entirely.”

“Later on, it was purely because I wanted to  the system had nothing to do with it!”

Afraid that Gu Qing might keep pressing, Pei Yuanxi quickly volunteered more information:

“And I only kept it from you because I didn’t want you overthinking and retreating into that closed-off version of yourself again. I was waiting for the right time to tell you.”

“I’ve been planning to confess everything today for a while now. Didn’t expect you were thinking the same.”

“But Ah Qing, I really am sorry. Whatever the original reason, I did hide the truth from you. However you want me to make it up to you, I will.”

“Alright.”
Gu Qing wrapped her arms around Pei Yuanxi again.

“I forgive you.”

“What?”
Pei Yuanxi could hardly believe her ears.

Ah Qing just forgave her? Just like that?

In all her imagined outcomes, she had thought about being forgiven, sure —
But always with conditions.

Like: “You have to promise not to keep secrets again,”
Or: “Kiss me and I’ll forgive you,”
Or maybe even something like: “Wear a bunny outfit for me and we’ll call it even”…

But now Gu Qing said nothing of the sort and just forgave her?

Was she the one with the dirty mind?

Illusion, illusion! Definitely her imagination!

“What else would I do?”

Gu Qing smiled as she asked:
“Did you think I’d be upset over something like this?”

“Think I’d feel betrayed?”

“That our relationship wasn’t sincere?”

“And then I’d just become disillusioned and fall out of love?”

“But Pei Yuanxi, I’m still sitting in your arms, aren’t I?”

“It’s precisely those things that brought us to where we are now how could I hold them against you?”

“But…”
“Our relationship is a little complicated. So I’ve decided  let’s tear up our dating contract.”

Pei Yuanxi’s eyes widened: “Tear it up?!”

“Don’t overthink it, silly.”

Gu Qing gently traced Pei Yuanxi’s lips with her fingertip.

“I just think we don’t need that contract anymore.
If we didn’t have it, would you stop spoiling and protecting me?”

Pei Yuanxi immediately raised her hand as if swearing an oath:
“Of course not!”

“And if we don’t have that contract, would I stop being your girlfriend?”

“You’ll always be my girlfriend!”

“Pei Yuanxi,” Gu Qing said softly, “this is the second time I’m asking you — say you love me.”

Pei Yuanxi licked her dry lips.

“Gu Qing, I love you.”

“I love you most, Ah Qing!”

“Let’s keep taking care of each other from now on.”

Pei Yuanxi leaned in for a kiss, but before she could act, Gu Qing calmly poured two more glasses of red wine.

“To kindred spirits.”

Pei Yuanxi raised her glass again to clink with Gu Qing’s.

“Ding.”

“To kindred spirits!”