Affection System: I have everything the goddess wants.

[System Notification: Jiang Yaru's favorability has increased by 20 points, currently at 76 points]

[System Notification: Tao Jiayi's favorability has increased by 3 points, currently at 37 points]

"Congratulations, host. Jiang Yaru's favorability has been unlocked to 60. The reward is 1500 million yuan in legal after-tax cash."

【招商银行】您尾号5210储蓄卡，09月20日21:32跨境汇入入帐，境外期货提现资金收入人民币15,000,000.00元，帐户当前余额 16,041,728.34 元。

Goodness, Xiao Huang's favorability rating jumped by 20 points in one go. If she were asked to take the blame right now, she wouldn't hesitate at all.

The blond-haired waiter thoughtfully opened the champagne and slowly poured it into custom-made crystal glasses. Jiang Yaru raised her glass and toasted Cao Xu first, her tone full of admiration and flattery: "Brother Xu, thank you! I'll never forget this honor today. I'll toast you, bottoms up, you can drink as you like!"

With that, she tilted her head back and drank it all in one gulp without the slightest hesitation.

Cao Xu also took a sip. "Don't be shy. Take care of your friends. Don't worry about me."

Jiang Yaru instantly switched to "big sister" mode, gesturing to everyone, picking up the champagne on the table, filling a glass first, and waving it at everyone: "Brothers and sisters, let's have fun and drink to our hearts' content today, until we're all drunk!"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone cheered and poured themselves a full glass of wine, then downed it in one gulp. When they got into the swing of things, a few energetic young women stood up and started dancing to the rhythm of the bar, tossing their blonde hair and swaying their hips, exuding a wild and unrestrained energy.

The energetic young men also stood up, each one as thin as a skeleton soldier, waving their arms wildly.

The noise in the booth was almost deafening; the deafening music and the pungent smell of cigarettes and alcohol made it hard for Tao Jiayi to breathe, like an airtight net.

She huddled in the corner of the booth, her back ramrod straight, completely out of place with the crowd around her who were laughing, playing drinking games, and dancing wildly.

The bar lights flickered on and off, and the colorful beams of light swayed wildly, making her temples throb and her head spin.

She looked up and saw Jiang Yaru surrounded by a group of energetic young men and women, raising her wine glass and laughing wildly. Tao Jiayi felt a mix of emotions, including envy, longing, and a hint of indescribable fear.

She envied Jiang Yaru's carefree nature, envied that she could be surrounded and fawned over by so many people, living the kind of life she had never dared to live since childhood, without having to be careful, without having to read other people's faces, and without having to suppress her emotions.

But looking at the noise, indulgence and extravagance in front of her, she couldn't help but feel timid. The "obedience and sensibility" that her parents had taught her since childhood was like an invisible shackle, firmly binding her and making it impossible for her to truly let go of her restraint and integrate into this bizarre circle.

No one knew that this seemingly rebellious and naive little girl with pink hair had long lost her complete family and her safe haven.

Her parents broke up and divorced when she was in her first year of high school. They each started new families and treated her as a burden.

She initially lived with her father, but her stepmother always disliked her, picking fights every few days, her words full of sarcastic remarks, calling her a "worthless good-for-nothing" and making her feel ashamed.

Caught in the middle, her father was in a dilemma. In the end, he simply sent her to live with distant relatives, leaving her to live under their roof. He would only send her some living expenses occasionally and ignored her for years, never even offering a word of concern.

She longed to be cared for and valued, to have someone who truly cared about her feelings, and to have a place where she could let down her guard.

To get attention, she learned to smoke, dye her hair, and skip school, trying to fake her rebelliousness, but this humble desire was never fulfilled.

Until she met Jiang Yaru and her friends by chance, she knew that they were the "spiritual girls" that others talked about who were good for nothing. She didn't like their dense tattoos, their casual sex life, their messy living environment, or their arrogant and domineering nature.

There are many things she doesn't like, but they are willing to take her along, to talk to her, and to let her hang out with them, even if it's just fake fun. It makes her feel a faint sense of belonging, so she stays by their side, even though she feels out of place and like an outsider.

Jiang Yaru and the others had told her long ago that they would take her to get two full-arm tattoos, saying that only then would she be considered "one of them" and truly integrate into their circle, so that she wouldn't be ridiculed as a "newbie" anymore.

Recently, Jiang Yaru and her friends have been short of money, so much so that the three of them have to share a bowl of noodles and can't even afford a pack of cigarettes, which is why the tattoo project has been delayed and hasn't been able to go ahead with.

Jiang Yaru recently said that she has found a big brother who is willing to pay for her to get a tattoo. As long as she spends some time with that big brother, she will have the money to get a full sleeve tattoo and will be able to truly become one of them.

To be honest, she had met the so-called "big brothers" that Jiang Yaru and Xiao Lü accompanied, and they were intimidating to look at, leaving her with no goodwill whatsoever.

So she had mixed feelings about getting a tattoo, both looking forward to it and being afraid of it.

She hoped that after getting her arm tattooed, she could truly fit in with them. But when she thought about the price she would have to pay for the tattoo, the greasy faces of those gangsters, and the disappointed looks her parents would give her if they knew she had tattoos and was involved in gangs, she couldn't help but back down.

This inner conflict, like a tiny thorn, was deeply embedded in her heart, and she couldn't shake it off.

The music in the nightclub was deafening, the drumbeats pounding heavily on his heart. Cao Xu sat not far away and could see Tao Jiayi's unease clearly.

He got up and moved away from the noisy crowd, walked over and sat down next to her. He leaned down slightly, got close to her ear, and shouted loudly enough to drown out the music, "Are you having trouble adjusting? If it's too noisy, we can go sit somewhere quieter over there. Don't force yourself."

Tao Jiayi looked up at Cao Xu, a faint blush rising on her cheeks. She quickly shook her head, then whispered in his ear in a soft voice, "No need, Brother Xu, don't trouble yourself. I'm fine, I'll just sit for a while longer."

Seeing the unease in her eyes, Cao Xu didn't press her. He turned around, picked up the drinks on the table, chose a bottle of room-temperature orange juice from a pile of iced drinks, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to her, his tone full of concern: "Drink less alcohol, have some room-temperature drinks to cheer yourself up."

Tao Jiayi accepted the orange juice with both hands, lowered her head, and whispered, "Thank you, Brother Xu."

She secretly glanced at Cao Xu, and a warm feeling inexplicably welled up in her heart. Everyone else wanted to get her drunk, but few people took such good care of her and considered her feelings.

Seeing that she had relaxed a little, Cao Xu pointed to Jiang Yaru, who was still surrounded by people not far away, and asked, "Are you envious of her? If you want to, I'll arrange a scene like that for you, so everyone will be revolving around you."

Tao Jiayi quickly shook her head vigorously, her eyes filled with a hint of panic and shyness. "I can't do it. I get nervous when there are many people around. I don't know what to say, and I'm not used to being watched by so many people."

Cao Xu smiled and, knowing her tendency to be a bit of a game addict, softened his tone, saying, "It's okay, I'm not really used to noisy places either. By the way, what games do you usually play? We're just killing time anyway, how about we play together for a bit?"

At the mention of games, Tao Jiayi's eyes lit up instantly, and most of the awkwardness and shyness in her eyes disappeared: "Great! I usually play Honor of Kings, but I've been playing for a long time and I still can't rank up."

"It's okay, if you want to rank up in the future, I'll carry you."

The two immediately took out their phones, quickly opened the game, and the familiar "TIMI~" sound rang out on the screen.