The bodyguard opened the car door: "Miss, please get out of the car."

Xia Shizhao, who was half asleep in the car, subconsciously stretched after getting off the bus and was scolded by his mother.

Then she immediately resumed her dignified and elegant demeanor and followed behind Xia's mother. Beside her was Ye Qiuling, who was wearing a little dress. Her expression was indifferent, and she seemed uninterested in her surroundings.

Once inside, Xia Shizhao realized that this was not a banquet, but simply a small gathering with the He family.

Upon seeing Old Master He inside, Xia Shizhao instinctively greeted him, "Hello, Grandpa He!"

"Oh, my good boy."

Old He patted the empty seat next to him, gesturing for her to sit down beside him, a hint of regret still in his eyes.

Xia Shizhao couldn't understand the meaning of the regret in his eyes. She sat next to him, not daring to ask or move, because He Mucheng kept looking her up and down, which made her very unhappy.

"Mr. He, this is my daughter, Qiuling."

Madam Xia gently pulled Ye Qiuling up and introduced her.

"She looks like a beautiful and intelligent child, not bad at all."

Old He still praised him with a smile.

As they chatted, Old He glanced at the communicator and called everyone to start eating. Xia Shizhao, who had been hungry all afternoon, didn't care about his mother's expression and started piling food onto his plate.

Major General He Mo also rushed over.

Xia Shizhao looked up, greeted them, and then continued eating.

Before long, they perked up their ears to hear what Xia's mother and Old He were saying.

"Xia, you know that Aqing is a stubborn person. She arranged to marry your own daughter, so Acheng's fiancée cannot be Shizhao."

"Of course I know my godmother's temperament, that's why I brought Qiuling here so that you could take a look."

The three people involved were all unsettled.

He Muchen, who originally thought Xia Shizhao was his fiancée, was the most agitated:

"No way! I can't accept my fiancée being a beta! My buddies will laugh me to death!!!"

Enraged, Old He struck him with a stick. Although He Mo didn't say anything, he gave He Mucheng a warning look. He Mucheng, who had never been treated badly before, wouldn't stand for it and immediately shouted:

"I'm not getting married anyway, so whoever wants to marry me can marry me!"

Then it ran away.

This left everyone in an awkward situation.

Meanwhile, Ye Qiuling, the main character, continued to eat the food on the table at a leisurely pace, as if she were not the one who had been humiliated.

Old He was losing face; his face turned red with anger, and he slammed his cane on the ground several times. "It's my fault, it's all my fault! I've spoiled this child so much that he's become unruly!"

"Mr. He, please don't be angry. The child is still young, and it's normal for him to find it hard to accept that he suddenly discovers he has a fiancée."

Madam Xia deliberately avoided the topic of He Muchen's dislike of beta.

To her surprise, Old He didn't answer her, but instead looked at Ye Qiuling standing to the side:

"Qiuling, I'll bring him to apologize next time. I'm so sorry."

"No need, Mr. He, I don't want to be anyone's fiancée."

After saying that, he stood up, wiped his mouth, and left.

Xia Shizhao was holding her chopsticks and didn't even realize what had happened; the events that occurred in just a few seconds caught her off guard.

She blinked and watched Ye Qiuling leave, completely bewildered.

No one had told her about this. Should she eat or not? Glancing sideways at Madam Xia's dark face, she silently bid farewell to the table full of delicious food and walked over to Madam Xia's mother. "Mom, my sister might not be feeling well. If we go back and have a good talk with her, she'll know."

It sounds like you're trying to sow discord.

Xia Shizhao felt something was off.

Old He waved his hand and said, "It's my son's problem. Any normal person would be angry, so it's normal for Qiuling to be angry."

"Mr. He, I'm really sorry. I'll go and talk to her properly. She was only recently brought back and doesn't know what's going on. She was probably just a little surprised and lost her composure just now. Please excuse us."

Xia's mother felt a little ashamed and wanted to leave.

"Okay."

After this scene, Old Master He felt embarrassed to keep them, so he gestured to He Mo, who was standing to the side, to see them off. He Mo, who had only taken a few bites of food, sighed slightly and stood up, "Mrs. Xia, Miss Xia, let me see you off."

"No, no, you can keep eating. You're hungry too, you just got back."

Xia's mother said a few polite words.

He hummed in agreement, then sat back down without another word and started boasting, because he was really hungry; alphas naturally have big appetites.

On the way home, Xia Shizhao was not so comfortable. Her mother's low mood made her feel suffocated, and she could only force a standard smile as she looked at her mother.

After a while, Xia Shizhao watched as his mother opened the communicator and contacted several people, saying, "Bring the young lady to me."

Xia Shizhao swallowed hard. "Mom, my sister will go back by herself later."

"I know, but I want to see her as soon as I get home."

Xia's mother's expression seemed gentle, but in reality, she was sharp-tongued. Xia Shizhao's clasped hands twitched, and he leaned against the glass in dejection, wishing Ye Qiuling good luck.

Unfortunately, Ye Qiuling was not favored by heaven; by the time they arrived home, she had already been captured and taken back.

"Smack."

A crisp slap.

Xia Shizhao's mouth gaped slightly as he looked at his mother in surprise, "Mom?"

Madam Xia's slap was quite powerful, turning Ye Qiuling's face to the other side.

Ye Qiuling licked her lips, savoring the metallic taste in her mouth. She chuckled softly, "You've got a strong grip. Go ahead and kill me, Mrs. Xia."

The sinister tone sent chills down Xia Shizhao's spine, but he stood aside without daring to utter a sound, fearing that he too would be slapped.

Xia's mother was so angry she laughed. Her hand trembled as she pointed at her and said several times, "Good for you. You don't need to go to school anymore. Go to the detention room for a week."

Then, she walked away in her high heels, the two bodyguards holding Ye Qiuling exchanged a glance, and then looked at Xia Shizhao.

Xia Shizhao's lips twitched. What was she looking at? Did she dare to make any other decision?

All I could do was say with a cold face, "Why are you looking at me? Just do it."

Then she walked away, tossing her hair.

Xia Shizhao sat on the bed and pounded it hard. What kind of people are these? Ye Qiuling is afraid of the dark, so they locked her inside again.

Suddenly a timid voice rang out to her, "Those two bodyguards actually obey you too."

Then there was silence again.

Xia Shizhao froze, his scalp tingling as he looked around, but saw nothing.

Is it haunted?

She stood up and looked around the room.

The system couldn't stand it anymore.

"It's Xia Shizhao."

"Am I crazy? Am I scaring myself?"

After saying that, Xia Shizhao realized what was happening, looked shocked, and stammered, "Xia Shizhao."

It wasn't the same voice that answered, but the system's voice: "Yeah."

"She...she...she's awake?"

"No, I didn't sleep at all. I was watching your performance with you."

"Holy crap, I've taken over someone else's place and the original owner is watching me?!"

The faint voice came: "No, it's okay. I didn't want to live anyway."

Xia Shizhao and the system were both shocked. "Huh?"

Why did you throw cold water on Ye Qiuling back then?

"I want to see if they will come back, care about me, or punish me."

"Then why don't you want to live anymore?"

He remained silent for a long time without answering.

But no matter how the person and the system asked, Xia Shizhao remained silent.

The system was the most shocked; it was sent because the system detected a bug that would disrupt the plot.

However, because of his experience, he didn't take this minor incident seriously. He was a bit careless during the process and accidentally contacted the wrong person, which led to the current situation.

It was eventually discovered that the main characters developed consciousness outside the novel, which caused fluctuations in the plot. In short, the novel was meant to become a real world, no longer just a story.

This realization almost caused the system CPU to crash.

Even with its extensive experience, it had never encountered anything like this before!