Chapter 80

Chapter 80: The Male Lead Delivered to the Door

The car drove all the way to the apartment building where Qiao Qing Yan lived, and she didn’t say a single word the entire ride.

Si Jin Nan had a thousand questions burning on his tongue. Somehow, none of them made it to his mouth.

If he asked, it would feel like an admission—like he’d been paying attention, like he cared. If he kept quiet, the curiosity only gnawed harder at him: how had she been so certain that the note would end up in Ji Qiang Wei’s hands?

The moment the car stopped, Qiao Qing Yan finally moved. She leaned down and looked in through the open window at the driver’s seat, her smile bright enough to be rude.

“Young Master Si, do you know what you look like right now?”

Si Jin Nan blinked. “…What?”

She tilted her head, studying him with obvious enjoyment. “A resentful housewife stuck at home.”

Si Jin Nan: “…?!”

His jaw clenched. His fingers tightened around the steering wheel until the leather creaked.

Don’t get mad. Don’t get mad. Don’t argue with a little girl. Don’t—

The troublemaker was already walking away, hips swaying as if the entire world owed her applause, disappearing step by step into the residential complex without even sparing him another glance.

As soon as Qiao Qing Yan entered the garden path, Little Tabby Cat’s anxious voice surfaced.

[Master, what’s the deal with that grandmother-green necklace?]

It remembered the plot clearly. In the original story, the original host had never possessed anything like that. When its master had taken it out earlier, it hadn’t thought much of it. It had even assumed it was simply something the original host owned.

Who would’ve guessed its background was so… terrifying?

Old Ancestor Ji’s attitude had been unmistakable. That necklace wasn’t just valuable—it meant something.

But no matter how many times Little Tabby Cat combed through the original plot, it couldn’t find a single mention of it. Nothing about the Ji family. Nothing about a grandmother-green necklace. Not even a shadow.

Qiao Qing Yan lifted a hand and patted the little virtual cat hanging in midair beside her. Her voice was gentle, almost indulgent.

“Xiao Hua Hua, that’s why you’re just a string of data… and I’m a person.”

Little Tabby Cat froze, then sulked in wounded silence.

“Master…”

Qiao Qing Yan didn’t look back. She toyed with the white jade bangle at her wrist as she walked, slow and unhurried, along the small path winding through the complex. Under the cover of night, the little garden held a quiet charm of its own.

The summer breeze carried a faint coolness. A few scattered stars pricked the dark sky.

From the moment Wu Lan had notified her—told her she had to attend the charity gala—Qiao Qing Yan had already begun preparing.

Xu Zhong Qin wanted her to retreat. To lower her head. To submit to his will.

But Qiao Qing Yan was no longer the original host.

Xu Zhong Qin wanted to test her. Fine. Then she’d test him right back.

The difference was simple: Xu Zhong Qin wanted to test her from the shadows, quietly, without leaving fingerprints.

Qiao Qing Yan preferred to walk straight up and knock on the door.

It was a pity Xu Zhong Qin had left halfway through because of something urgent. Otherwise, the evening would’ve been far more entertaining.

She just didn’t know… if Xu Zhong Qin went up against Old Ancestor Ji, who would come out on top?

[So, Master… you also don’t know the connection between the Ji family and that grandmother-green necklace?]

Did she not know?

Not necessarily.

Qiao Qing Yan lifted her eyes to the crescent moon hanging in the sky.

People said the moon was prettiest on the fifteenth night, and that the fourteenth could look even fuller—more perfect—than the fifteenth.

Qiao Qing Yan liked the crescent instead.

When the moon was full, it only ever began to wane.

[Master…] Little Tabby Cat pressed, still unwilling to give up.

A sudden thud split the quiet.

Before Little Tabby Cat could react, a tall figure lunged out of the shadows—fast enough to startle the air itself.

Little Tabby Cat’s mind went blank.

Then it watched, stunned, as its master lifted one pale, slender arm and caught the man cleanly, pulling him in with a smooth, practiced motion as if she’d been waiting for him to fall into her hands.

Little Tabby Cat: “!!!!!”

Qiao Qing Yan’s gaze dropped to the man in her grasp. If not for the familiar scent clinging to him, she might have stepped back at once.

Ebony and agarwood—faint, not overpowering, but unmistakable.

Like someone returning through snow in winter.

She sighed, almost amused, and tightened her hold so he wouldn’t crash to the ground.

“Xiao Hua Hua,” she murmured, voice light as a tease, “this male lead who fell from the sky… should I take him, or not?”

Little Tabby Cat went cold.

It was certain of one thing: if it dared say no, its master would toss the Child of Fate onto the ground without blinking.

But this small world revolved around the Child of Fate. If its master harmed him, would the Heavenly Dao punish her? Would it turn on her afterward?

Little Tabby Cat’s logic circuits practically smoked.

In the end, it forced out a single sentence.

[I don’t know.]

Then it vanished.

This was too hard.

Why did its master keep running into the Child of Fate?