He stole his best friend's photos and fell for a tycoon's heir through online dating.

Learn to be independent?

Helping her with her homework is helping you learn to be independent?

Is helping her clean up helping you learn to be independent?

You give her half of your allowance every month to help you learn to be independent?

Okay then. Whatever makes you happy.

So when Zhang Yu saw Xia Ruo suddenly start cleaning herself, her first reaction wasn't "She's changed her personality," but rather "What is she up to now?"

She picked up her soy milk, took a sip, and continued to observe indifferently.

Lin Wanzhi was still squatting on the ground, grabbing Xia Ruo's arm and shaking it, making Xia Ruo's whole body sway.

"Ruoruo—what's wrong with you—don't scare me—"

Xia Ruo's head was practically spinning from being shaken so much that she couldn't take it anymore:

"Wanwan, stop shaking—it's going to fall apart—"

She grasped Lin Wanzhi's wrist, steadied herself, and said earnestly, word by word:

"I'm fine, perfectly fine."

I came across some science videos on Douyin that said girls who don't pay attention to hygiene are prone to bacterial growth, which lowers their immunity and makes them sick.

So starting today, I'm going to keep things tidy!

After she finished speaking, she nodded heavily, as if to encourage herself.

Mu Zhizhi climbed down from the top bunk and stood beside Xia Ruo, her expression gradually changing from shock to relief.

"That's right, Ruoruo!" Mu Zhizhi clapped her hands happily, her eyes curving into two crescent moons.

"We're girls, and it's easy for us to get sick if we don't pay attention to hygiene! It's so great that you think that way!"

Mu Zhizhi was genuinely happy.

She is someone who really, really loves beautiful women.

When she first arrived at the dormitory in her freshman year, she was immediately captivated by the beauty of Lin Wanzhi and Xia Ruo.

A white rose, gentle and pure, like a lady who has stepped out of a painting;

A bright red rose, so beautiful and alluring, like a model cut out of a magazine cover.

She felt at the time that she must have saved the galaxy in her past life to be assigned to this dormitory.

Later, she discovered that Xia Ruo was actually quite slovenly.

And he always bullies Lin Wanzhi.

Mu Zhizhi is a person with a strong sense of justice. When she saw the beautiful woman she loved bullying another beautiful woman, all the pink bubbles in her heart shattered.

From then on, she only showed politeness and distance towards Xia Ruo.

But now—

Mu Zhizhi watched Xia Ruo squatting on the ground, diligently cleaning up the trash. Sunlight streamed in through the window, falling on her slightly lowered profile, the shadow of her eyelashes swaying gently on her cheekbones.

She admitted that the scene was beautiful.

"To err is human, to forgive divine."

Mu Zhizhi added with a smile, then squatted down to help Xia Ruo pick up the empty milk tea cup from the ground and throw it into the trash bag.

Lin Wanzhi looked at Mu Zhizhi, then at Xia Ruo. Her eyes were still red, but the corners of her mouth had already curved up.

Zhang Yu sat in the chair, watching this harmonious scene with a cold eye, drinking his soy milk slowly without saying a word.

Xia Ruo kept her head down as she tidied up, unaware of Zhang Yu's gaze.

But she knew that Zhang Yu was watching her.

It's okay. Take your time.

What she needs to do now is to clean up the mess one by one.

The dormitory, Zhou Siyan's, and Lin Wanzhi's.

One thing at a time.

The garbage bag was quickly half full. Xia Ruo picked it up and weighed it in her hand; it was quite heavy.

"Okay," she said, standing up and brushing the dust off her knees.

"I'm going to throw out the trash. You guys eat your breakfast first, before it gets cold."

As she turned to leave, she heard Mu Zhizhi whisper to Lin Wanzhi behind her:

"Wanzhi, do you think Ruoruo broke up with her boyfriend? Why did she suddenly change her personality?"

Lin Wanzhi thought about it carefully:

"She's not dating... I don't think so..."

Xia Ruo walked down the corridor, holding the bag of trash, and a slight smile unconsciously appeared on her lips.

Heartbroken?

She wished it were just a simple case of heartbreak.

Her current situation is a million times worse than a breakup...

-

After throwing away the trash and returning to her dorm, Xia Ruo looked at the small clearing she had made on her desk. Although it was still a long way from being "tidy," at least she could see the original color of the desk.

A sense of accomplishment arises spontaneously.

Just as she was about to continue searching the wardrobe, she suddenly remembered something—

The original owner would send messages to Zhou Siyan every few hours, saying good morning, good afternoon, and good night, interspersed with various acts of affection and daily updates, as frequently as clocking in for work.

She needs to maintain the original owner's image; this connection cannot be broken.

If the original owner's overly affectionate frequency wasn't maintained, given Zhou Siyan's keen senses, he would probably have quickly sensed something was amiss.

Xia Ruo picked up her phone and scrolled to her chat with Zhou Siyan.

After thinking for a moment, she raised her phone and took a picture of the desk she had just tidied up.

There were still many things on the table, but at least they were categorized and arranged. Cosmetics were in one box, books were stacked, and the trash can had a new bag.

Caption: "Brother, Wanwan tidied up by herself~ Not bad, right~"

She added a smug little emoji at the end of the sentence, then thought for a moment and added another sentence:

"From now on, when I'm with my brother, we'll keep our little home clean and tidy too~"

After sending it, she stared at the screen for a few seconds and thought her lines were really good.

It maintained the original owner's sweet and coquettish persona while subtly painting a picture of "we will have a little family in the future" for Zhou Siyan.

Xia Ruo silently gave herself a thumbs up for her acting skills.

There was no reply.

That's normal, there's a time difference.

It must have been the middle of the night or early morning for him, when he was sound asleep.

Xia Ruo put down her phone and was about to take her dirty clothes to the laundry room when her phone suddenly vibrated.

Ok?

She picked up her phone, saw the message notification on the screen, and stopped in her tracks.

You replied so quickly?

Didn't he just go to sleep?

Upon unlocking it, it was indeed Zhou Siyan.

Zero: [Baby, you've worked so hard! You don't need to clean the house. Just be beautiful and do what you like.]

(Transfer: 20000 yuan)

Zero: [After a long morning, let's treat the baby to lunch with some friends!]

Xia Ruo stared at the transfer and realized that she had gradually gotten used to Zhou Siyan's chat rhythm, where every sentence was followed by a transfer.

From the initial shock and disbelief to the current calm acceptance—

Humans are incredibly adaptable.

She felt that she was being slowly eroded by something called "money power".

"Thank you, brother~ You're so good to me~"

She quickly typed out a line, then thought for a moment and added:

"Why did you wake up so quickly, brother? It hasn't been long at all!"

Zero: [My sleep quality isn't very good; I only get a few hours of sleep each night.]

As Xia Ruo looked at the message, the description of Zhou Siyan in the novel suddenly came to mind.

In the business world, he is ruthless and decisive, able to turn the tide at will. In just three years, the Zhou Group's market value quadrupled, and no one dared to utter a single word in his presence.

Everyone thought he was a born winner, a god standing at the top of the pyramid looking down on all living beings.

But he couldn't sleep well every night.

There's a small detail in the novel: Zhou Siyan always keeps a dagger under his pillow.