Half an hour later, Chen Cheng was full, and Zhou Lin was full too.

Zhou Lin went to the kitchen to tidy up the dishes and washed her face while she was at it.

Chen Cheng sat on the chair, lost in thought.

Damn, it feels like I've done Zhao Hui wrong.

What a headache.

With a light chuckle, he said to Zhou Lin, "Actually, you didn't have to do that."

Zhou Lin turned around and rubbed her aching cheeks. "If I didn't do something, I wouldn't feel right taking that money."

Chen Cheng chuckled softly; you really are base.

Being overly melodramatic is just being base, and right now, Zhou Lin was being far too melodramatic.

If it were the old Chen Cheng, if a woman wanted to give him five million, he wouldn't even blink; he'd take the money and run.

He'd even hurry to the bank to withdraw it just to feel safe.

Chen Cheng shook his head and let her be, but this matter could absolutely not be known by Zhao Hui.

He spoke up to caution her, "Just this once. Don't let anyone know."

Zhou Lin nodded. "Don't worry. My son is in your hands; I wouldn't be stupid enough to betray you."

Chen Cheng smiled; Zhou Lin was indeed quite clever.

More importantly, she had the assets. Like meat tucked in a bun, wrapped tight without a single leak.

"Go take a shower, then you can leave."

Zhou Lin rolled her eyes at him. He didn't trust her at all now, afraid she'd take his DNA with her.

Forget it, why get angry with him? She had to wash up when she got home anyway.

"Fine, I'll go wash up now. I promise to be squeaky clean and won't take a single extra thing with me."

As Chen Cheng watched her back, his gaze narrowed. This woman was a menace; he couldn't let her stay in Ode to Joy anymore.

After about ten minutes, Zhou Lin took a quick shower, changed back into her paper-thin stepmother dress, and walked out with a swaying gait.

Chen Cheng handed her a prepared glass of water. "Rinse your mouth!"

Zhou Lin gave him an enchanting, coquettish roll of her eyes but said nothing.

Taking the glass, she took a large gulp, swished it around three or four times, and spat the water into a nearby trash can.

"Is that enough?" Zhou Lin said, opening her mouth wide for him to inspect.

Chen Cheng looked her up and down, then yanked the white towel wrapped around her head. "Dry your hair too."

Zhou Lin grew a bit impatient and sneered, "You really are cautious enough."

Chen Cheng didn't mind her mockery and maintained a smile. "Carefulness is the mother of safety."

"With a troublesome entanglement like Miss Zhou, it's better for me to be on guard."

"Whether it's suing me for forced demolition or suddenly producing a son for me, neither would look very good."

Zhou Lin raised an eyebrow, finally understanding why this young man could stand on equal footing with Xie Zhiyuan at such a young age, or even surpass him.

Zhou Lin was still very confident in her charms, especially with today's simple yet tasteful outfit.

Combined with her intentional and unintentional seduction, she should have been invincible.

But this young man had actually held back; he hadn't even moved a hand to touch her, methodically picking up food and eating throughout the whole process.

"Where's the hair dryer?"

"In the bathroom cabinet."

About ten minutes later, Zhou Lin came out.

Chen Cheng circled around to inspect her. "You can go, but move out of Ode to Joy within three days."

"What?" Zhou Lin's eyes widened as she looked at Chen Cheng in confusion.

Chen Cheng gave a playful smile. "Since you've eaten my family's sausage, don't even think about Senior Brother Zhao's cooking anymore."

Hearing his reason, Zhou Lin actually breathed a sigh of relief. She raised her arms to hook around Chen Cheng's neck, her eyes full of allure. "Is this your way of saying you want to keep me?"

Chen Cheng slapped her arms away, his tone turning cold. "Are you even worthy?"

A flash of embarrassment crossed Zhou Lin's face. "Then what do you mean?"

Chen Cheng didn't care to explain. "Just do as you're told. Why so many questions?"

He waved his hand, signaling her to leave.

Zhou Lin curled her lip and walked toward the entrance with enchanting steps.

"Before you act on impulse next time, think about the fact that you have a son."

Before she could open the door, Chen Cheng's magnetic voice came from behind her again.

Zhou Lin's lip twitched. She took a breath and responded, "Understood, I'll remember."

The sound of the door closing echoed. Chen Cheng picked up his phone and sent a message to Eleven, asking her to call a cleaner.

Putting down his phone, Chen Cheng went into the bathroom to shower.

Regarding Zhou Lin's proactive pledge of loyalty, Chen Cheng was both satisfied and dissatisfied.

He was satisfied that she had proactively cut off her own retreat.

As for whether the dirt she had on Xie Zhiyuan was real or fake, the authorities would naturally verify it.

He was dissatisfied that things hadn't gone according to his plan.

In his original plan, Zhou Lin was meant for Zhao Hui.

To handle a man, one might start by finding him a woman to satisfy his physical needs.

Gradually, it would turn into cars, money, and houses, then school districts, medical care, and finally his spiritual pursuits.

And Zhou Lin could satisfy both Zhao Hui's spiritual and physical needs.

What a perfect tool.

Who would have known the tool had other ideas?

She was no longer satisfied with Zhao Hui, the big branch manager.

Moreover, Zhao Hui had resigned and lost his value.

Zhou Lin naturally wanted to find a more powerful man to depend on.

As long as she could achieve her goal of raising her child, she was willing to do anything.

Whether it was being a tool or a mistress.

After a moment of release, Chen Cheng laughed at himself.

My cultivation still isn't quite there yet; I couldn't resist the temptation of beauty.

Zhou Lin, wearing that stepmother dress with her ample chest exposed and gold-rimmed glasses, had knelt before him.

Chen Cheng unconsciously hallucinated Gao Qilan wearing semi-rimless glasses.

With her face so close to his lap, the lethality was too high; it was hard to refuse.

It seemed the sleep plan for Zhao Hui would have to be rearranged.

Near the end of the workday, Chen Cheng appeared in the underground garage of the office building where Company Name was located.

He didn't go up, instead using his phone to unlock the M8 that Lucy had driven over and sat inside.

He looked for songs on a music platform but couldn't find anything satisfactory after searching for a while.

The entertainment industry in this world was strange; only a tiny portion was familiar to Chen Cheng.

The vast majority were people he didn't know. However, there were two exceptions.

While singing with Zhao Rui and the other four before, Chen Cheng had deduced that the people who appeared were there because the plot involved fellow townsmen from parallel dimensions, and they had been copy-pasted into this parallel universe.

The Chinese entertainment industry in this universe was truly terrible, so Chen Cheng eventually searched for his own pseudonym as a literary copycat.

He clicked on random play.

While waiting for Lucy, Chen Cheng used his phone to study the song comments on the NetCloud platform.

Chen Cheng's mouth nearly twisted into a grin; when he had uploaded the songs, he hadn't forgotten to upload the memes along with them.

"With your 'Blue Lotus,' I almost starved to death on Route 318."

20k+ likes, over 500 replies.

"Arrest the dog author on the spot! Compensate me for my sun-kissed milky skin!"

There were also comments on other songs, "Da da da da da~"

"cao thief's songs are a bit strange; listening alone makes you emo, listening as a couple feels romantic, and singing in a group feels like free and unrestrained youth."

Clearly, Chen Cheng's fans had already started calling him 'cao thief.'

...