Using the identity information provided by the system, Ai Cao spent the night in a hotel near the mall.
She woke up early the next morning to the system's prompting.
The system cried out in Ai Cao's head, "The female lead's family is going bankrupt today! Hurry up and go to the female lead's house to pick her up before the male lead arrives!"
Ai Cao sighed. She stretched on the soft bed, then went out wearing the same suit as yesterday, taking a taxi to the location of the female lead provided by the system.
She arrived at the entrance of a villa area.
The driver smiled and exchanged a few words with the security guard at the entrance of the villa area, but the guard seemed indifferent, and in the end, the driver was unable to drive in.
Ai Cao got off the bus here.
After paying, she stretched.
The pale gray sky pressed down. A few scattered snowflakes drifted down, landing on Ai Cao's shoulder, where they were melted by her body heat into tiny water droplets.
The mugwort said, "It's snowing."
No wonder she was wearing three layers under that suit, each one thicker than the last. The sun was shining brightly yesterday, and she went to bed early, so she didn't notice the change in temperature.
Ai Cao stood at the entrance of the villa area and looked inside. She could only see overlapping tree shadows, houses and roads, but not the female protagonist.
The system whispered, "Wait here a moment, the female lead will come out soon..."
Artemisia glanced silently at the sky. The sun was firmly blocked by thick clouds—those clouds had painted the sky a uniform white-gray, as if a blizzard was brewing.
She rubbed her hands together and put them in her pockets.
The system proudly declared, "This time, the clothing provided by the system was specially modified by me! Although this suit is a women's style, I've added pockets on it!"
Ai Cao smiled and asked, "So, women's suits in this world—have no pockets?"
The system fell silent.
Ai Cao enjoyed the silence. She stood by the roadside for a while, until the falling snowflakes gradually grew larger and a thin layer of snow accumulated on her shoulders, before she heard the sound of footsteps walking through the snow.
The female protagonist, still wearing a black dress with a long black down jacket over it, was trudging through the snow in high heels. Beside her was an older woman with a similar face, also wearing a long black down jacket.
Behind them was a bodyguard in a suit carrying a small bag.
When Ai Cao saw the female protagonist, the female protagonist also saw her. But the female protagonist just silently looked away from her without saying a word.
They walked silently and quickly out of the villa area gate.
The mugwort asked, "Do you need my help?"
The older woman turned to look at the mugwort. Before she could say anything, the protagonist interrupted abruptly, saying, "Mom, don't mind her."
"Is he/she your friend?" the older woman asked slowly. Her cheeks were flushed unhealthily, and her voice trembled weakly.
The female protagonist shook her head.
Artemisia thought for a moment and said, “I mean no harm—I just think you might need some help.”
The female lead shook her head again.
She pulled the older woman a few steps further away from the mugwort. She took out her phone, but it seemed to be a completely unresponsive brick—her carefully groomed eyebrows furrowed in frustration.
Ai Cao pointed to the older woman beside her and said, "She looks sick."
The female protagonist paused on her phone. She turned to look at Ai Cao, her suppressed voice tinged with an unstable, neurotic quality: "You found out again?"
Standing behind her, the bodyguard, who had been silent for a long time, tried to persuade her: "Miss..."
The bodyguard only uttered those two words, and the female protagonist gritted her teeth, slammed her phone into the snowdrift, and pointed at the bodyguard's nose, panting heavily. She opened her slightly smudged makeup wide, then closed her eyes briefly before calming down and silently picking up her phone.
The bodyguard calmly advised her, "Miss, Madam's temperature was higher than usual last night." She glanced at the mugwort and continued, "This woman doesn't seem to have any ill intentions."
"Then how do you explain her behavior yesterday?" the woman said with a sneer. She continued to fiddle with the brick-like phone—she dialed several numbers, but only got a busy signal.
Her face grew increasingly gloomy.
"It might just be a coincidence," the bodyguard said without batting an eye. "Besides, the lady needs treatment now."
The female protagonist took a deep breath.
For the first time today, she looked at Ai Cao properly—her gaze lingered on Ai Cao's unkempt short hair, then she held out her hand and said, "Give me your phone."
Ai Cao blinked, but didn't give it to her.
The woman frowned. She said curtly, "I told you to give me my phone—didn't you hear me?"
"On what grounds are you asking me this?" Ai Cao asked calmly. "I might lend my phone to a friend, but I don't have any friends whose names I don't know."
The female protagonist took another deep breath.
She said, "I am Cen Yu." Cen Yu pointed to the bodyguard who remained silent again and said, "This is Feng An, my bodyguard."
Bodyguard Feng An raised the corners of his mouth at Ai Cao.
Cen Yu said, "Now we're friends." She reached out to Ai Cao again and said, "Cellphone."
Ai Cao handed her the phone.
Cen Yu skillfully opened various apps to check her account balance and asked Ai Cao, "Where did you come from, this nouveau riche? Did you just win the lottery yesterday?"
The mugwort shook its head.
Cen Yu snorted and handed the phone back to Ai Cao.
Cen Yu said, "My mother needs a doctor." She gave Ai Cao a list of hospital names, "Take a taxi here, I need to find the doctor who has been taking care of my mother."
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