Chapter 4

Chapter 4: What Happened to Being Conservative? “Where are you going?” Si Jinhan glanced at the bag Song Yunwei was carrying. It was a fairly youthful style. The clothes she was wearing today also made people’s eyes light up, outlining her tall, curvaceous figure. She had never dressed like this before. Even Madam Bai thought the clothes in her walk-in closet looked old-fashioned. Song Yunwei had decided to go out and browse around today. In a few days, the Song family would notify her to return for Song Wanwan’s recognition banquet. From that day onward, her position in the Song family would steadily decline, while Si Jinhan would gradually be drawn to Song Wanwan. Her carefree days were numbered! Before that happened, she might as well enjoy life a little. She answered gently, “Mm-hmm, I just want to go out and browse around. You guys have fun—don’t worry about me.” “Go ahead.” Si Jinhan did not interfere. Song Yunwei quickly left the Si family and had the driver take her to a shopping mall downtown. She carefully picked out some cosmetics and bought two outfits she liked. After all, before coming here, she had been a vibrant college student. Back then, in an attempt to win Jiang Yicheng’s heart, she had followed dozens of beauty bloggers and fitness influencers, immersing herself in makeup and working out. The results had been rather tragic—Jiang Yicheng simply wasn’t interested in any of that. After shopping to her heart’s content, she handed everything to the driver and had him take it home first. She planned to continue browsing on her own. “Yunwei!” Song Yunwei had just walked out of a jewelry store when she heard someone call her. Song Zhouming came toward her with a bright smile. He was the original owner’s Eldest Brother. The Song family had two sons and two daughters: the eldest son, Song Zhouming, and the second son, Song Qinghe. Song Yunwei was the third child. Song Wanwan, who had gone missing as a child, was the youngest daughter of the family. Before Song Wanwan was found, both of Song Yunwei’s brothers had doted on her. Later, they were both won over by Song Wanwan’s Succubus System, and their attitudes toward Song Yunwei changed completely. Song Wanwan’s Succubus System was effective not only for romantic feelings between men and women, but also on her own family members. As long as she raised someone’s favorability toward her, her charm would grow accordingly. Favorability and charm reinforced each other, and no one could escape her grasp. “Eldest… Brother?” Song Yunwei had never had an older brother. Seeing the original owner’s brother, she called out awkwardly. Song Zhouming smiled warmly and took a small box from the bag. Inside was a pearl necklace. “I came with a client to buy some things today and saw this necklace. It suits you perfectly. Aren’t pearls your favorite? I was originally planning to give it to you when I brought Wanwan back in a few days, but since I ran into you today, you should take it.” The pearl necklace was placed around her neck the next moment. Song Zhouming continued with a stream of chatter. “Yunwei, Mom and Dad were only worried about you. Don’t be angry about what they said before. They’re afraid you won’t be able to hold on to Si Jinhan’s heart.” Song Yunwei remembered the chat history on her phone. The original owner’s mother had sent quite a few voice messages, complaining that she had failed to get pregnant in three years, that she was too inflexible, and that she did not know how to hold on to a man’s heart. One major reason the Song family had shamelessly sent her into the Si family in the first place had also been for the sake of the family’s interests. Yet she had not given birth to a child in three years, and Si Jinhan treated her with indifference. Song Yunwei forced a smile. “Thank you, Eldest Brother. I’m not angry with Mom and Dad.” “That’s good.” Song Zhouming looked immensely relieved. He still had a client to accompany. After fastening the necklace properly around Song Yunwei’s neck, he prepared to leave. Something stirred in Song Yunwei’s heart, and she called out to him, “Eldest Brother!” “What is it?” Song Zhouming turned to look at her. “Nothing. Bye.” Song Yunwei did not even know what she had wanted to say. When she thought of how Song Zhouming would later slap the original owner until her face swelled for Song Wanwan’s sake, cursing her as a “bitch” over and over, her heart clenched with pain. He had clearly treated the original owner so well before. That damn Succubus System of Song Wanwan’s—did it really have to trample all over the original owner’s suffering to show its power? After parting with the Song family’s Eldest Brother, Song Yunwei checked the time. It was already noon, so she found a restaurant and went in for a meal. The world of the novel felt very different from the real world. Before eating, she habitually took nine photos and posted them to her Moments first. This was one of her habits for attracting Jiang Yicheng’s attention. When he ignored her, she would show off her figure and her life every day. Whenever Jiang Yicheng occasionally gave one of her posts a like, she would beam like a flower. -- The Si family. The chef had already prepared lunch. Si Jinhan and Shen Jinnian were chatting with the others as they got ready to eat. Before putting away his phone, he noticed a little red dot in his Moments—a post from an unfamiliar profile picture. He never added unrelated people, and his friends list was kept extremely clean and private. He tapped into Moments almost unconsciously and discovered that Song Yunwei had changed her WeChat profile picture. The previous image had been a lotus bathed in sunlight, but she had replaced it with an anime-style picture. It showed a small white dog, its fur blowing in the wind, with a large pink bow tied to its long ears. It looked a little cute and a little silly. She had posted nine photos. Eight were pictures of the food from various angles, all of it looking exquisite and appetizing. The final picture was a selfie of her holding a wineglass and giving the camera a narcissistic wink. In the photo, her eyes sparkled and her curled eyelashes resembled sunflowers. Song Yunwei’s Moments had practically been dead before. Today, it seemed to have come back to life. “I won’t be able to eat after all.” Before the meal even began, Shen Jinnian received a message and said helplessly, “My client has made an appointment.” He was a lawyer, and his client had asked to discuss a case with him. He could not put it off. Si Jinhan set down his phone. “Go take care of it.” Shen Jinnian left the Si family first and drove to the meeting place his client had arranged: a restaurant that had recently become quite popular. When he arrived, his client was already waiting. Out of the corner of his eye, however, Shen Jinnian spotted Song Yunwei in the corner, eating with great enthusiasm. Song Yunwei ate while scrolling through videos. Fortunately, this world also had all kinds of short-video apps. Whenever she came across a handsome man, she liked the video without exception, afraid that the algorithm might mistakenly think she was uninterested. Back when Jiang Yicheng had treated her with indifference, she had relied entirely on this group of handsome strangers who were willing to show off half their bodies to her for free to distract herself. Really, who else in the world could be so selfless? As Shen Jinnian passed by Song Yunwei, he lowered his head slightly and saw a slender, pale finger tapping furiously on the abdominal muscles of the man on her screen. Shen Jinnian: ??? Hadn’t Si Jinhan said that his wife was very conservative? So conservative that she was practically like someone who had renounced worldly life. Then who was this woman frantically liking videos of a man with abs? Song Yunwei did not notice Shen Jinnian at all. After she finished scrolling through handsome men, her stomach was full as well. She then grew sorrowful again and began trying to call her own phone number online, but it did not work. Then she dialed Jiang Yicheng’s number. No such number existed. She tried adding Jiang Yicheng on WeChat. The WeChat ID did not exist. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass, she gazed at the scenery outside. Although it was beautiful and radiant, at that moment she felt even lonelier than when she had been alone in Germany.