Chapter 261 I'm Not Leaving
The following week was a week of complete isolation.
Since Zhou Pingchuan has proposed a result-oriented approach, according to the ending of "Love in the Palm," Zhou Ting and Xia Mingzhao have already become a couple, and only the death of Xia Mian's character has not yet been achieved.
According to the book's logic, no matter what the process is like, as long as it ends according to the plot, it's fine. For example, Zhou Pingchuan and Xia Mingzhao: Zhou Pingchuan should have fallen for Xia Mingzhao, loved her but couldn't have her, and then forcibly took her away.
However, due to Xia Mian's intervention, Zhou Pingchuan and Xia Mingzhao's romantic relationship became completely distorted. To achieve the ending where "Zhou Pingchuan likes Xia Mingzhao," the book's rules forcibly altered Xia Mingzhao's character, making her actively seduce and even sow discord between Zhou Pingchuan and Xia Mingzhao. All these signs sufficiently demonstrate that this world only cares about the outcome.
So, since the summer's end didn't happen, they'll artificially create it. Since there's no death, they'll artificially create death.
But how does a person "die"?
As a fictional book, physical death is not true death; death in the hearts of all the characters and readers is perhaps the real death.
Therefore, the fire at the unfinished building was set by Jack, the mercenary leader, at Zhou Pingchuan's behest; the news that the "fire victim was suspected to be a married Chinese actor" was leaked to the media by Zhou Pingchuan; Xia Mian's entry information was erased by someone Zhou Pingchuan arranged; the agency was temporarily silenced by Zhou Pingchuan's intervention; and the resulting breach of contract penalties were paid by Zhou Pingchuan...
In this way, Summer's Sleep disappeared completely from the internet. The next step is to make the main characters and their loved ones believe that Summer's Sleep is "dead".
Zhou Pingchuan has already made arrangements with Zhou Ting, and Xia Mian has also exchanged a recording for Xia Mingzhao to cover up the truth for him. Next up are his family members, which will take some time.
Once all the endings are achieved, the book will be completely finished, and all the coercive rules in the book will disappear. The characters will regain their freedom, and Xia Mian can then resume her life. Of course, these are all speculations by Xia Mian and Zhou Pingchuan, and they need to verify them slowly.
For the past seven days, Xia Mian locked her phone in a safe, letting it get flooded with calls and messages, and letting it automatically shut down due to low battery. She spent her days at home sleeping in, reading, playing games, and eating and drinking.
Since entering the entertainment industry, he has never enjoyed such a large amount of undisturbed leisure time. He treats it as a vacation and finds it quite comfortable.
Strangely, Zhou Pingchuan didn't go to the company for the past seven days, switching to working from home. Xia Mian would occasionally run to the study to check on him.
"Can we have black tea for afternoon tea? What kind of tea snacks would you like? Do you want milk?" Xia Mian opened the door a crack, poked her head through the crack, and asked Zhou Pingchuan in a low voice.
Zhou Pingchuan: "Black tea is fine, tea fruit is up to you, but no milk."
So concise, you must be very busy right now. Xia Mian touched her bangs shyly: "If you're busy, go to the company. You don't need to come with me. I'm fine at home by myself."
Zhou Pingchuan: "It's okay. Just don't get your head caught."
“...That makes sense,” Xia Mian thought for a moment. “According to the plot we designed, I have just passed away. If you go to work without fail, you will definitely be attacked by public opinion. It is right to stay at home and avoid the storm.”
Zhou Pingchuan immediately frowned: "Don't talk nonsense."
Xia Mian noticed that Zhou Pingchuan was very sensitive to words containing the character "离" (lí, meaning "separation" or "departure"), so she quickly laughed it off: "Just kidding, okay, okay, I won't say anymore. How's my mom doing?"
In this world, besides Zhou Pingchuan, the person who loved Xia Mian the most was Ren Xiping. They didn't dare tell her about her death, only saying that the transnational case was fraught with difficulties and the police were still working hard to confirm the deceased's identity.
“Not good. She fainted from crying yesterday,” Zhou Pingchuan shook his head. “I asked Yu Heng to look after her.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Mian couldn't help but tear up. He knew this was an unavoidable path, and could only fight back his tears: "What about Xia Garden?"
“They seemed very concerned and sad, asking me about the latest developments every day. But I heard that they were secretly consulting lawyers about how to get the shares back from you.”
To express their sincerity, the Xia family gave Xia Mian five percent of the Xia Group's shares as a dowry when they got engaged, hoping that the Zhou family and their biological son would lend a helping hand when the Xia family was in trouble.
As a result, before the piece could even make that move, it was the first to perish!
Without a marital relationship, given Zhou Pingchuan's personality, how could he possibly help the Xia family? The Xia family would definitely want to get back the property they had wrongly given away as soon as possible, but due to the special nature of stock fluctuations, this 5% is very likely to be considered marital property and divided according to the Inheritance Law.
Xia Mian could picture the couple's furious faces.
But the child's body was barely cold when they started calculating money... It's impossible not to feel heartbroken.
Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore. People are different, and parents are different too. He has Ren Xiping, that's enough for him, he doesn't ask for anything else.
Besides Xia Mian frequently looking at Zhou Pingchuan, Zhou Pingchuan also frequently looked at Xia Mian.
For example, when Xia Mian went to the sunroom to sunbathe, Zhou Pingchuan would stand in the garden and quietly watch him. For example, when Xia Mian played games, Zhou Pingchuan would stand behind him and quietly watch him.
For example, when Xia Mian takes a nap, as soon as she opens her eyes, Zhou Pingchuan is sitting by the window, quietly watching her.
"Finished with work?" Xia Mian rubbed her eyes. "Want to take a nap?"
Zhou Pingchuan shook his head: "I'm not sleeping."
Xia Mian moved aside to make room for him and beckoned him with her finger: "Come here and let me give you a hug."
Zhou Pingchuan didn't move.
"Come here." Xia Mian propped herself up and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
Because he had just woken up, the boy's voice was slightly nasal, making his pleading tone unusually strong. Zhou Pingchuan had no choice but to let him drag him to the bed.
Xia Mian snuggled into Zhou Pingchuan's arms: "What's wrong with you lately? You keep staring at me like that. Do I look more handsome now?"
Zhou Pingchuan paused for a moment: "Mianmian, what are you like in real life?"
He gave an irrelevant answer, but Xia Mian didn't mind. She raised her eyebrows smugly and said, "Super hot! Whenever I go out, all the girls on the street stare at me just like you do! And I'm super rich too. I have all the models of your watches, and all the cars in your garage are ones I've already played with! As for the company, I have one too, but I don't want to manage it. I've hired a professional team to take care of it for me. My career is about to enter a new phase!"
Zhou Pingchuan doesn't care much about material things. He buys cars and watches casually, as long as they can be driven and worn. Xia Mian is like Tian Ji's horse racing strategy, comparing her own strengths with Zhou Pingchuan's weaknesses.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Pingchuan's tone suddenly became serious: "Xia Mian, I can give you a life ten or a hundred times better than you described, and I can deliver all the resources you want to you."
Xia Mian was a little confused. Why did she suddenly make a promise?
Zhou Pingchuan: "As long as you ask, I can give it to you."
Ah... After a moment of reaction, Xia Mian finally realized what was happening.
Zhou Pingchuan was afraid that he would go back to his own real world, so he offered him benefits as a lure.
So all his worries and unhappiness these past few days are because of this?
Xia Mian wanted to laugh, but at the same time, he felt a pang of sadness for the person he loved and for those days and nights filled with anxiety and uncertainty.
He grabbed Zhou Pingchuan's hand and placed it over his heart: "Did you hear that? Thump, thump, thump."
"If the first life was given by your parents, then the second life was given by you. Here, every beat is for you."
He nestled against Zhou Pingchuan's chest, their hearts so close, thump-thump—thump-thump, gradually synchronizing to the same frequency: "Without you, I can't find the meaning of my heartbeat. Zhou Pingchuan, I won't leave, I'll never leave."
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