Making Three Heartless Woman Go Crazy for Me - Chapter 15

Qi Lanshi moved into Luan Hua’s opulent mansion, overjoyed beyond measure. Yet she still felt compelled to offer a token protest. “We agreed you wouldn’t interfere with my normal life. I still need to work and study. What exactly are you doing right now?”

Luan Hua gazed at her intently. “I’m not stopping you from attending school. You can continue your classes as usual. As for the convenience store… can that even be considered work?”

To Luan Hua, such mechanical, repetitive jobs offered no opportunity for advancement and were utterly meaningless.

Though her words sounded arrogant and unreasonable, Qi Lanshi understood the logic behind them.

She countered earnestly, “CEO Luan, have you ever considered that not everyone is born with your innate advantages—your privileged background, opportunities, and talents? For the vast majority of people in this world, life is blind and mechanical.”

“It’s not that ordinary people don’t yearn for a life that’s warm, free, or upwardly mobile. They simply lack the means and opportunities.”

“Doing what an ordinary person should and can do—maintaining a basic life through what you dismiss as meaningless, mechanical work—that’s already the most comfortable life most people can hope for.” Qi Lanshi shook her head. “You’re too detached from reality.”

Qi Lanshi had met many people like Luan Hua before, though their attitudes varied in intensity. When she had first lost her parents, people pitied her. Later, when she started school, some saw her as pathetic.

Her tragic background, combined with her beautiful face, allowed others to feel superior to her.

She was impoverished, wearing her school uniform year-round until it faded to white. Her meals consisted of plain steamed buns, rice, and pickled vegetables. She had to beg relatives for tuition and living expenses, forcing a smile as she went from house to house.

Qi Lanshi was the most pitiful child.

And now, Luan Hua thought the same.

“You don’t understand ordinary people, nor do you care to,” Qi Lanshi said earnestly. “But that’s fine. I don’t need you to understand me. You don’t even need to treat me as an equal.”

Luan Hua’s head throbbed.

Three sleepless nights had left her irritable and restless. The interrupted nap had worsened her headache, and now Qi Lanshi’s words felt utterly… nonsensical.

“Why should I care about what ordinary people think or do? There are billions of people in the world—am I supposed to interview and understand each one? I have so many employees under me—am I supposed to have heart-to-heart talks with them, protecting their mental and physical well-being?”

“Don’t you find this absurd? Everyone has their own place and responsibilities. If we all simply do what we’re supposed to, fulfill our duties, and live according to our roles, is that really so difficult?”

“I’m already swamped with work. Do you expect me to play house with you too?”

As a leader, Luan Hua’s approach to work and career was ruthlessly rational. Emotions, feelings, self-respect—to her, these were all intangible and meaningless concepts.

Qi Lanshi was nearly stunned by Luan Hua’s words.

What a remarkable woman, she thought. She’s playing out a substitute lover trope, yet she speaks as if she’s the epitome of rationality.

This must be what it’s like to be a created NPC—devoid of genuine thought. Everything she’s just said is merely the scriptwriter’s and planner’s ideas.

Qi Lanshi tilted her head, gazing at Luan Hua. “If everyone has their own responsibilities and duties, what about me? Is the meaning of my life simply to be your substitute lover, forever branded with shame, unable to face the light of day?”

“You might see working at a convenience store as meaningless, but it’s not like that for me. It’s not about the size of the task, but whether it has value to me. They’ll recognize my abilities and treat me as an equal. That’s why I have to do this job.”

Hearing this, Luan Hua asked earnestly, “Recognize what abilities? The ability to earn eight hundred a month?”

Qi Lanshi: “……” Wow, CEOs are really rude.

For a part-time job, eight hundred a month is already quite good, okay?! Those college students handing out flyers only make twenty yuan an hour!

“If it’s about practical concerns, you should be more obedient in front of me,” Luan Hua said softly, stroking her cheek. “I have plenty of money. As long as you make me happy, you’ll have more than you could ever spend.”

Qi Lanshi silently gasped inwardly. This offer was truly tempting—few could resist it, right?

If Luan Hua had always maintained this demeanor, she wouldn’t have kept raising the game’s difficulty level again and again.

When Qi Lanshi finally stopped saying things that upset her, Luan Hua breathed a sigh of relief. She cradled Qi Lanshi’s head against her chest and collapsed onto the soft, plush bed.

Before long, Qi Lanshi felt Luan Hua’s steady, even breathing—she had fallen into a deep sleep.

Qi Lanshi sighed inwardly: Well, no more steamy scenes for now. What a pity.

Luan Hua slept soundly, unable to leave due to Qi Lanshi’s presence. She remained peacefully asleep until the next morning, when the sky was bright.

The moment Luan Hua opened her eyes, she saw Qi Lanshi’s sleeping face. It struck her: this was the first time she had ever seen Qi Lanshi asleep.

Qi Lanshi’s features were entirely non-threatening, yet her personality was fiercely aggressive. Only in sleep did she appear somewhat serene, free from her usual sharp-tongued remarks that pierced straight to the heart.

The System, monitoring Luan Hua’s thoughts, remained silent, its digital circuits whirring in processing.

These two are something else, it thought. Even their evaluations of each other’s sleeping states are identical.

Well, not quite identical. Luan Hua found Qi Lanshi more composed in sleep, while Qi Lanshi simply thought… Luan Hua was far more endearing in bed than out of it.

Qi Lanshi’s standards were that simple.

Luan Hua stared at Qi Lanshi for a long moment before reaching out to touch her eyebrows and eyes. In the next instant, Qi Lanshi’s eyes snapped open, her hand gripping Luan Hua’s wrist with surprising precision. Her usually emotionless eyes now burned with wariness.

The expression someone makes in the instant of sudden awakening is impossible to fake.

In Qi Lanshi’s eyes, there was resistance, disgust, and a cold glint that made Luan Hua’s heart skip a beat.

She’s on guard, Luan Hua thought to herself. But this defensiveness… it doesn’t seem directed at me.

To put it bluntly, Qi Lanshi had been startled by Luan Hua.

It had been a long time since she’d woken up to find someone beside her. To say she wasn’t afraid would be a lie; she had no defenses prepared at all.

“Why such a strong reaction? Who did you think you were seeing?” Luan Hua asked.

Besides herself, who else would appear in Qi Lanshi’s room and provoke such fear and resistance?

Qi Lanshi had no intention of answering. She turned her face away and said only, “I need to go to school.”

Luan Hua refused to let the matter drop so easily. “Was it… Qi Feng?” she pressed. “He’s been sneaking into your room?”

When Qi Lanshi didn’t deny it, the anger in Luan Hua’s chest burned even hotter.

She knew Qi Feng was a beast, but she never imagined he could be this monstrous!

Qi Lanshi shifted the blame onto Qi Feng because she didn’t know how else to explain.

She had been a parasite, drifting from relative to relative, sometimes sleeping in living rooms, other times in storage rooms or warehouses. She had no basic human rights, let alone any privacy.

It had been bearable when she was younger, but as she grew older and entered puberty, her body began to develop, her feminine beauty becoming increasingly apparent. The number of people who coveted her gradually increased.

Her sleep grew increasingly shallow, any slight noise enough to startle her awake. Her current situation was relatively good; she had been living apart from those relatives for some time now, and the solitude gave her a sense of security. At least she could finally get a decent night’s sleep.

“It’s all in the past now,” Qi Lanshi said. “I need to go to school now. Is that okay?”

Luan Hua continued to gaze at her intently for a long moment before nodding. “Yes, but eat breakfast first.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she noticed Qi Lanshi staring at her in surprise, as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

Luan Hua countered, “What? Did you think I’d lock you up, keep you from school, and cut off all your social connections?”

Qi Lanshi paused, then nodded.

“I might be strict about other things, but school is non-negotiable,” Luan Hua said with a smile. “Education is the most important thing.”

Qi Lanshi blinked slowly.

“Education is the most important thing!” the girl in her blue and white school uniform declared, tilting her head as her ponytail swayed in the breeze. “If you want to escape your troubles, there’s no better path than studying hard. You have to believe me!”

“Yes,” Qi Lanshi agreed. “Education is the most important thing.”