The Heiress's Game

Bai Tianyi slumped on the sofa in the living room of his apartment. His WeChat interface was open, showing his self-proclaimed group chat with his childhood friends, "The Three Musketeers of Yunjing".

His brows furrowed into an unusual "川" shape, his expression so serious that the last time he showed this was when he was surrounded and attacked by five people in the final round of a game.

He thought for a moment and then posted a message in the "Three Musketeers of Yunjing (self-proclaimed)" group:

"Wake up! Everyone come to my house, something terrible has happened!"

Less than two seconds after the message was sent, Lu Zihang's reply popped up on the screen, consisting of only a question mark.

Immediately afterwards, Shen Yue also chimed in, sending a yawning emoji.

Bai Tianyi, too lazy to waste words, simply uttered two words: "Speed."

Half an hour later, Lu Zihang and Shen Yue arrived one after the other.

As soon as Lu Zihang walked in, he flopped onto the sofa, yawning, and asked, "What's the big deal? Did you lose the house playing games all night yesterday?"

Shen Yue was relatively more refined. He pushed up his glasses and sat down in the chair opposite the sofa.

Then the two of them simultaneously saw the screen spread out on the coffee table—a meticulously crafted table on a tablet, with the classification and ratings of various restaurants in Yunjing on the left and the recommendation indexes of attractions and specialty shops on the right.

A Yunjing Map APP was also open next to it, with several stars marked in different colors.

Lu Zihang picked up his tablet and swiped around a bit. Behind the table was a more detailed document titled "Yun Jing Three-Day Reception Plan (Draft)".

The first item reads, "Depart at 8:00 AM, first stop: Huguosi Snack Street for breakfast," followed by a note in parentheses: "Flavor: sweet."

He looked up at Bai Tianyi, his eyes filled with scrutiny and suspicion: "Have you... changed your ways? Last time your dad set you up on a blind date, you couldn't even be bothered to look at the girl's picture. What's wrong this time, are you taking it seriously?"

Bai Tianyi sprang up from the sofa and slapped him on the back of the head: "What are you chasing for! That's my sister-in-law! My older brother's future wife! My legitimate sister-in-law!"

Shen Yue's hand, which was pushing up his glasses, froze in mid-air. His tone was cautious and confused: "Wait, you have so many cousins, which one is the eldest?"

Bai Tianyi rolled his eyes and said slowly and deliberately, as if asking, "Did you just come back from another planet?" "My relationship with the other brothers is just so-so. Of course, she's my eldest brother, Bai Junze's future wife."

There was a two-second silence in the living room.

Lu Zihang and Shen Yue sat up straight at the same time, their expressions instantly switching from "just listening" to "what do you say?"

Bai Junze—this name is practically a legend among the younger generation in Yunjing.

He doesn't usually participate in social events, but every time he does, people talk about him behind his back for a long time.

Now Bai Tianyi tells them that Bai Junze is getting married.

"Your older brother, Bai Junze? The cousin you mentioned who's the most capable in your family? He's getting married?"

Lu Zihang looked as if he had been struck by lightning, and his tone was one of bewilderment, as if to say, "I don't even have a girlfriend, how come he's getting married?"

"right."

Shen Yue quickly picked up his tablet and re-examined the list. "This list won't do. These are places that ordinary tourists go to."

This is your sister-in-law's first time visiting Yunjing, and it was entrusted to you by your elder brother—this is a big deal.

"There are too many people at Huguosi Snack Street, and parking is a hassle. Let's go somewhere else." He picked up a pen and crossed out a row on the form.

Lu Zihang also leaned over, his head pressed against Shen Yue's, his fingers flying across the tablet:

"I went to a private restaurant near Hegong last time. It was converted from an old courtyard house in Dongcheng District. Their grilled meat was amazing."

The boss has a terrible temper and doesn't serve new customers. I had to try three times to get on his good side. My sister-in-law has definitely never been to a place like that before—I'm going to make a reservation tonight, and if I can't, I'll get the boss drunk.

"And in the alley behind Shahai, there's a handmade dessert shop."

Shen Yue crossed out another line and wrote a new one next to it.

"We only accept reservations, and only twenty tables a day. I asked my girlfriend to make the reservation; she's a regular customer. What kind of food does your wife like? Sweet or mild?"

"It's sweet," Bai Tianyi said with certainty.

"Then let's stick with their signature dish—red bean paste with tangerine peel, served with handmade glutinous rice balls, a unique offering in Yunjing City."

Shen Yue wrote it down solemnly on the form, and the three of them squeezed in front of the coffee table and reviewed the form from beginning to end.

Which places are famous but not interesting, and which small shops are hidden in alleys that even locals may not know about?

Which time periods offer the best lighting for taking photos at tourist attractions? Lu Zihang contributed his "food, drink, and entertainment information database," while Shen Yue organized and optimized the routes.

Bai Tianyi made the final decision from the side. The three of them were talking back and forth, working even harder than when they were working on their graduation project together back then.

After everything was arranged, Lu Zihang leaned back on the sofa and suddenly sighed:

"Tianyi, aren't you being a little too formal with your sister-in-law? I've never been this attentive to my own sister-in-law."

"That's my older brother's fiancée." Bai Tianyi saved the form without looking up.

"I know, but this is way too much—"

Bai Tianyi put down his tablet, looked at his two childhood friends, and his expression became unusually serious.

"My older brother is the best to me. He can handle everything. Those old men on the board of directors don't even dare to say a word of objection in front of him."

But he's really not good at dating and spending time with his girlfriend.

Although I am not good enough myself, my older brother's affairs are my affairs.

It was Yun Jin's first time visiting Yun Jing, but my older brother happened to be away on a business trip. He must have felt bad about it.

So I must take good care of him for these three days.

No matter where Yun Jin wants to go, what she wants to eat, or what she wants to do, I have to make sure everything is arranged for her.

We can't let her feel that coming to Yunjing was a humiliation, and we can't let her feel that the Bai family doesn't even have this much sincerity.

He added, "Besides, she's not just anyone; she's a friend I know."

Lu Zihang and Shen Yue exchanged a glance and didn't say anything more. One continued to make phone calls to order private restaurants, while the other imported the selected route into the navigation to do a test.

Bai Junze's schedule in Europe is packed.

I flew to three cities in three days, from Paris to Frankfurt and then to Zurich, attending at least four meetings every day. When I got back to the hotel at night, I still had to deal with documents sent from China.

On his phone screen, work emails and WeChat messages flowed like two parallel rivers, each surging endlessly.

But the message from Bai Tianyi was more turbulent than those two rivers combined.

On the first day, as soon as he got off the plane and turned on his phone, more than a dozen unread WeChat messages flooded in, all from Bai Tianyi.

The first post was a selfie—Bai Tianyi was standing at the arrival gate, holding his phone up at a 45-degree angle, with Gu Yunjin next to him looking helpless, and the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of the terminal building in the background.

The caption read: "Successfully picked up my sister-in-law! She looked absolutely gorgeous today! Don't worry, big brother, I got her, not a single hair was missing!"

The second post was sent half an hour later, in a different scene. The two were sitting in a car, with Gu Yunjin looking down at her phone, while Bai Tianyi leaned over from the front seat and squeezed into the frame.

"Let's head to the hotel! My sister-in-law said she wanted to eat hot pot, but it's too late today, so I'll take her to have some congee first."

The third post is a close-up of a clay pot of congee, captioned: "My sister-in-law said it was delicious, and I think I did a pretty good job arranging it."

The density of messages increased further on the second day.

Nine o'clock in the morning: "I took my sister-in-law to a meeting. Assistant Li and the others also arrived. It was a grand affair. My sister-in-law had an incredibly strong presence when she walked into the meeting room. I was stunned."

At 11:00 AM: "The meeting is over! My sister-in-law made the deal! The celebrity's agent was initially aloof, but after my sister-in-law spoke for ten minutes, the other party nodded in agreement."

Oh my god, I only knew she was good at variety shows, I never imagined she was so good at business too.

At noon, another selfie was taken, showing Bai Tianyi and Gu Yunjin sitting in a roast duck restaurant deep in a hutong.

Bai Tianyi held up half a duck leg, and Gu Yunjin was amused by him and turned her head to laugh. At the edge of the screen, you could also see Li Chunjing sitting opposite, calmly rolling a pancake for herself.

The caption read: "Took my sister-in-law to eat authentic Peking duck. She said it was better than the one in Dahaicheng."

The scene shifted in the afternoon. In the photo, Bai Tianyi and Gu Yunjin were standing at the entrance of the Bai family mansion. Gu Yunjin had changed into a more formal yellow dress and was carrying a box of exquisite pastries.

The caption read: "I took my sister-in-law to visit my grandfather! She brought him some pastries, and he was beaming from ear to ear, constantly saying 'Good, good, good.'"

Then came another message: "My second aunt is here too! My second aunt and sister-in-law are having a great time chatting. They talked about everything from tea ceremony to collecting and business. I couldn't get a word in edgewise."

After my sister-in-law left, my grandfather told me personally that he was very satisfied with his granddaughter-in-law.

That evening, the last message was a photo of the three of them together.

Bai Tianyi stood at the back, holding his phone. In front of him, Gu Yunjin and Zhuo Shengnan sat side by side at the dining table, which was set with exquisite porcelain tea sets and several plates of snacks.

Zhuo Shengnan was all smiles, while Gu Yunjin listened to her with her head slightly tilted to the side, her posture relaxed and natural.

The caption read: "My second aunt and sister-in-law successfully arranged a meal together! They had a wonderful chat! Big brother, you'll never have any mother-in-law/daughter-in-law conflicts again, I swear on all my gaming equipment!"

Over the course of three days, Gu Yunjin only sent him one message: "I've arrived in Yunjing."

Simple, concise, and as always.

Bai Junze sat in the executive lounge of the Zurich Hotel, with the ancient buildings on both sides of the Limmat River and the snow-capped peaks of the Alps in the distance outside the window.

The coffee beside him had gone cold. He scrolled through his phone screen, looking at each selfie for quite a while.

Then he flipped his phone face down on the table, leaned back in his chair, stared out the window in silence for a moment, picked it up again, swiped two more times, and put it down again.

In the past three days, Bai Tianyi sent him nearly twenty times more messages than Gu Yunjin.

We ate every meal, visited every place, and arranged everything perfectly.

He even took Gu Yunjin to see his grandfather and Zhuo Shengnan, and they took a group photo together.

Gu Yunjin gets along well with everyone, can chat with everyone, and can also have pleasant conversations with his mother. He will indeed not have any conflicts with his mother-in-law in the future—each of these pieces of news is good news on its own, and is evidence that he should be at ease and satisfied.

But he couldn't explain why; he just felt uncomfortable.

It's a very unfamiliar, somewhat irrational feeling of displeasure.

He examined this feeling over and over again, and finally managed to define it—probably because all the things he felt he should have done himself in the past few days had been done by someone else.

Although this person is his dear younger brother, this feeling is not right.

He picked up his phone and made a video call to Gu Yunjin.

I answered after it rang twice. Her face appeared on the screen; she was probably in a hotel room with soft lighting.

She leaned against the headboard, her hair loose, holding an open business plan in her hand, looking like she had just been working.

"Still not asleep?" he asked.

"What time is it? And you? It's only afternoon in Zurich, isn't it?" Her tone was casual and relaxed.

"Yun Jin," he began. "Could you stay one more day?"

Gu Yunjin tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow.

"My work here is finished. I can fly back tomorrow morning after signing the last document."

Bai Junze said that he looked at her without flinching or showing any extra expression, but the logic in his words was very clear.

"It's your first time visiting Yunjing, and it's not right for me, your boyfriend, to be absent the whole time. Give me a day, and I'll fulfill my duties as your boyfriend."

He didn't say "Did Tianyi do a good job for me?" or ask "Did you have fun these past few days?" He could say those things next time he drank with Tianyi.

Now, he just wants to do it himself.

Gu Yunjin looked at him for two seconds.

"Okay," she said, closing the proposal. "Then I'll stay one more day."

There will be more later, maybe in an hour or two.