Ch 75: After My Mother Returned to the Rich Family

On the Spring Festival Gala, all the hosts and performers had gathered on stage. Watching the clock, they counted down together:

“10, 9, 8… 3, 2, 1!”

In an instant, the TV erupted with layers of celebratory messages, and laughter filled every household.

Among the younger crowd at the Liang household, Ruan Cha and Liang Cunjin, the two most energetic members, enthusiastically shouted in unison:

“Happy Spring Festival!!!”

The moment they finished, they rushed off to check their “Five Blessings” rewards, glanced at each other’s total amount, and then turned away coldly, silently sending out mass New Year’s greetings on WeChat.

No one had the right to mock the other.

Meanwhile, Liang Cunhuai, who had originally planned to call his girlfriend, noticed that Jiang Yuxing was sitting alone, not even using his phone. After some thought, he walked over to chat with him.

At the same time, he secretly shook his head—his younger brother had brought a friend home yet wasn’t even looking after him properly.

Actually, Jiang Yuxing didn’t feel neglected at all. He had been completely immersed in his own world.

After all, he had deliberately initiated the topic that led to Liang Cunjin bringing him to the Liang family for a few days—for a certain purpose.

And yet, when he recalled the family’s warmth toward him that morning, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

—

On the WeChat interface, Ruan Cha saw that both Class One and Class Ten’s group chats were flooded with red envelopes. The groups were livelier than ever.

Scrolling down, she found New Year’s greetings from family members and friends.

She read through them carefully and replied one by one.

There were also a few messages from contacts without saved names—likely people who had changed their usernames and profile pictures, leaving her unable to recognize them. She simply replied “Happy New Year!” to all of them.

As she scrolled further, her eyes landed on the first person who had sent her a message—Fu Chen.

Reading his message, she paused momentarily.

Fu Chen’s greeting was noticeably different from the others.

[Fu Outstanding · Sharp Vision · Not a Slacker]: Ruan Cha, Happy Spring Festival. In the coming year, I hope we can continue to keep each other accountable and stay focused on our studies.

Seeing the words “focused on our studies”, Ruan Cha suddenly felt another layer of guilt creeping in.

Had Fu Chen seen the comment she made while using Second Brother’s account on the live broadcast?

If he had—

…Then again, it didn’t really matter.

At least it indirectly told him that she was completely sincere about asking him to be her study supervisor.

There was absolutely no hidden meaning—none of the wild speculations the netizens had.

Now, he wouldn’t worry about people misinterpreting things and wouldn’t drop his role as her study partner.

With that thought, Ruan Cha felt instantly relieved and typed out a response.

[Happy Spring Festival! To be precise, since we’ll be in our final year of high school next semester, we only have six months left! I’m calling dibs on the top scorer position for the college entrance exams!]

[Fu Outstanding · Sharp Vision · Not a Slacker]: Deal. If you take first place, I’ll prepare a special gift for you.

[Fu Outstanding · Sharp Vision · Not a Slacker]: By the way, my dad and I are visiting the Liang family tomorrow. At night, let’s go see the fireworks together. We can head out together?”

Ever since confirming his feelings, Fu Chen had been making his presence known at every possible moment.

Logically, he only needed to stay at the Liang family’s house for a morning, but when he thought about Ruan Cha—

Fu Chen figured his skin could afford to get even thicker.

After reading the message, Ruan Cha agreed immediately.

And so, while the Spring Festival Gala played “Unforgettable Tonight” in the background, the two of them continued chatting nonstop on WeChat.

Every time Ruan Cha thought they were about to wrap up, Fu Chen would seamlessly introduce a new topic, and it would be something that piqued her interest.

Back and forth, their once-empty chat window was soon filled with a flood of messages.

—

Midnight.

Liang Cunhuai, who had been chatting with Jiang Yuxing, noticed that he seemed a little out of it, as if growing drowsy.

Seeing this, he suggested, “It’s already past midnight. Let’s all go upstairs to rest—staying up too late leads to hair loss.”

Upon hearing this, Ruan Cha instinctively touched her hair, suddenly recalling what Fu Chen had said to her at the cafeteria a while back.

Tsk.

He really used “hair loss prevention” as a reason to stop people from staying up late.

Meanwhile, after sending a few more red envelopes to his work group chat, Liang Cunjin agreed.

“The Gala’s over too. Let’s head upstairs.”

“I’m good with that,” Ruan Cha raised a hand, though her gaze subtly lingered on Jiang Yuxing.

She had a nagging feeling that he was still considering linking to her uncle.

Hearing Liang Cunjin’s suggestion, Jiang Yuxing nodded.

“I’ll take you up,” Liang Cunjin offered, patting his shoulder.

He had been worried that Jiang Yuxing might feel uncomfortable staying at the Liang house, so he had arranged a guest room right next to his own.

Earlier in the day, he had planned to show him the room, but Jiang Yuxing had been too caught up chatting with the elders to notice.

Now that he thought about it—

Liang Cunjin rubbed his chin.

Someone as reserved as Jiang Yuxing, suddenly wanting to spend a few days at their house, was honestly quite intriguing.

Maybe… he really was just lonely?

Just as Jiang Yuxing was about to speak, his eyes landed on the red envelope he had just opened on his phone.

The phrase “for good fortune” echoed in his mind.

He hesitated briefly, then offered an apologetic smile.

“I have a call to make. You go ahead first—I’ll come up later.”

With that, he nodded to the others before heading straight to the garden with his phone.

“Tsk.” Liang Cunjin clicked his tongue, pointing first at Jiang Yuxing’s retreating figure, then at Liang Cunhuai, who had also just stepped out to make a call.

Then, he turned to Ruan Cha with a helpless expression.

“Cha Cha, both of them are calling their partners. We single dogs are suffering here.”

At that moment, Ruan Cha was instructing the system to track Jiang Yuxing. Hearing Liang Cunjin’s comment, she held up her phone screen, showing a WeChat message.

“You won’t be left out—look! The adorable Nan Nan specifically asked me to pass on a message: Happy Spring Festival, and may all four seasons be beautiful for you.”

“Nan Nan?”

Liang Cunjin read the words ‘four seasons be beautiful’ and couldn’t help but smile.

Most people usually wished him career success, so seeing a different kind of blessing was both surprising and heartwarming.

After a moment of thought, he asked, “Nan Nan… you mean that shy little classmate from last time, Xu Nan?”

Ruan Cha nodded.

“Yup! Nan Nan will probably become a professor of chemistry at Qing University in the future. Second Brother, with a future professor’s blessing, your path will surely be smooth.”

Being an actor wasn’t easy—not only was it exhausting, but it also came with harsh online criticism.

After seeing some negative rumors about Liang Cunjin online, Ruan Cha felt even more strongly—

She had to keep encouraging him.

Big kids need encouragement just as much as little ones do.

Looking into Ruan Cha’s clear, dark apricot eyes, Liang Cunjin felt a warmth in his heart. He reached out and lightly poked her cheek.

“Thanks, Cha Cha. Oh, and also thank Nan Nan for me—wish her a Happy New Year and may all her dreams come true.”

Hearing this, Ruan Cha made an OK sign.

With that, the two headed upstairs together.

The moment Ruan Cha entered her room, she immediately instructed the 1128 system to start a live broadcast of Jiang Yuxing’s whereabouts.

Although she still didn’t fully trust 1128, she had gradually unlocked many of its functions. After exploring them one by one, she had come to a realization—

This system wasn’t just a dream tool for people who loved studying.

It was also perfect for detectives.

Just look at the high-definition, 360-degree surveillance projection in front of her—the image quality was leagues ahead of most security cameras on the market.

—

In the front garden, Jiang Yuxing pulled his coat tighter around himself against the night breeze. Holding his phone in one hand, he hesitated for a long moment before finally dialing a number.

Following the system’s broadcast, Ruan Cha could even see the tension on his face—and a faint trace of expectation?

…Expectation?

Could Second Brother have been right?

Was he calling his girlfriend?

The next second, she realized she had guessed wrong.

Jiang Yuxing’s tone on the phone was cold and distant, his expression impassive, his brows and eyes filled with an icy stillness.

He turned to glance at the Liang family’s villa, noting the few lit windows, and lowered his voice.

“I’m at the Liang house. Do I really have to switch to Task B? Doesn’t Task A also earn points?”

Ruan Cha raised an eyebrow.

It seemed that Jiang Yuxing was talking to Yu Zheng—which meant that Yu Zheng really was controlling Virus Y through his panel.

On the screen, Jiang Yuxing listened in silence to the other side’s orders. But just before the call ended, he couldn’t help but ask:

“Can I see A-Yan?”

The moment the words left his lips, all he heard was the abrupt beeping of a disconnected call.

Jiang Yuxing slumped against the railing, sliding down until he was crouched on the ground, burying his face in his arms.

His entire figure seemed to shrink, concealing his emotions from the world.

—

[Ruan Cha, I traced the signal. The other person is in the southeastern outskirts of Nanshi. But something strange happened—I lost direction inside that area. The magnetic field there is completely unstable. I can’t pinpoint an exact location.]

Ruan Cha was still pondering who “A-Yan” was.

Could it be that Yu Zheng had taken control of this person, forcing Jiang Yuxing to obey his demands?

Seeing that Jiang Yuxing wasn’t returning anytime soon, she lost interest in watching further.

“That’s normal. Yu Zheng is skilled in both science and the occult. He’s hidden well—it’s hard for us to track him. 1128, output a map of the approximate location you traced.”

[Please wait, Ruan Cha.]

As 1128 responded, its mood was complicated.

Originally, it had been just 2,000 energy points away from unlocking its sealed database.

But due to the stealth monitoring of Jiang Yuxing and the high-cost tracking of Yu Zheng, its energy reserves had taken a visible hit.

If it ever returned to the system headquarters, it had to report this—

The selection process for ancient human hosts needed stricter oversight.

They couldn’t afford another Yu Zheng or Ren Qingqing.

Two absolute disasters!

—

After finishing her conversation with the system, Ruan Cha refocused on Jiang Yuxing’s image on the screen.

Suddenly, she hesitated.

Did she really want to convert him?

Between the threat he posed and the benefits of swaying him, which was greater?

She rubbed her temples.

Her mother’s judgment of people was always spot-on, but Jiang Yuxing’s target was her uncle.

Judging by her mother’s attitude that morning, she hadn’t noticed anything. Otherwise, she could have asked for advice.

—

[Buzz—]

Looking down, she saw a new message from Fu Chen.

[Fu Outstanding · Not a Slacker · Sharp Vision: Good night.]

Ah—he had assumed she went to bed since she hadn’t replied after coming upstairs.

[Ruan Cha: Fu Chen, have you ever struggled with decision-making?]

At that moment, Fu Chen was picking out his outfit for his visit to the Liang house tomorrow.

Seeing her question, his brows furrowed slightly.

He rarely had trouble making choices—he always picked the option that maximized his advantage.

Most decisions, when viewed purely from a logical standpoint, had clear optimal solutions.

But if Ruan Cha was asking, it meant her judgment was being influenced by emotions.

After some thought, he replied with a simple line:

[Go with your first instinct.]

Reading his response, Ruan Cha exhaled softly.

Her first instinct was to convert Jiang Yuxing!

If she turned him, she could use Virus Y to help narrow Yu Zheng’s range, gather information on Yu Zheng, and possibly find out why he was targeting the Liang family.

As for the risk—

There was only one: Yu Zheng might discover that she had a system.

But then again, she hadn’t bound herself to 1128, so even if Yu Zheng had a control panel, it wouldn’t work on her.

Moreover, even if she didn’t convert Jiang Yuxing, she would still have to attack Virus Y to protect her uncle.

In that case, Yu Zheng might find out about the system anyway.

—

After consulting Fu Chen for a few more rounds, Ruan Cha glanced up.

Jiang Yuxing was heading back.

Without hesitation, she stepped out of her room.

A few minutes later, the two met at the third-floor corner.

“1128, block all signals in the house first. We don’t want Virus Y sending a report.”

[… 100 energy points consumed. Signal block completed.]

By now, 1128 had fully realized that Ruan Cha was going through with converting Jiang Yuxing.

Her concern was that if they attacked Virus Y directly, it might harm Jiang Yuxing in the process.

Facing Jiang Yuxing’s guarded gaze, Ruan Cha met his eyes directly and smiled slightly.

“Jiang Yuxing, system user.”

“You and I… should have a chat.”