A Scummy A, But Bound To A Cutesy-Appeal System - Chapter 3

A vein bulged at Pei Xixia’s temple. “That’s not what I meant. Other systems usually give out items, bonuses, and things like that when missions are completed, don’t they?”

“Other systems?” Jiaojiao seemed very confused, but still answered, “Of course the system will allocate different types of material rewards according to the difficulty of the mission. Please rest assured on that point, host. Do you have any other questions?”

Pei Xixia said, “Let me ask something first. If I get physically injured while completing your missions, you’ll take responsibility for me, right?”

Judging by Lu Yimo’s current explosive temper, Pei Xixia truly did not dare imagine what the consequences of acting cute toward her would be. For all she knew, in the next second, a frying pan might come crashing down onto her head.

Jiaojiao considered this for a moment. “Under normal circumstances, as long as the host strictly follows the system prompts, no accidents will occur.”

“Then what if an accident does occur?” Pei Xixia pressed.

After all, Lu Yimo’s current situation was definitely not normal.

“Confirming with the Central System. Please wait.” Her brain seemed to be numbed by a surge of electric current carrying electronic data. A few seconds later, Jiaojiao’s voice returned to its usual calm. “Reporting to host. If the host suffers physical harm caused by external force majeure while completing a system mission, we will reimburse all medical expenses and provide a double-speed recovery bonus to assist the host in regaining health as soon as possible.”

Pei Xixia’s heart leapt with joy. “I’m already injured right now. Can you reimburse me and give me that double-speed recovery while you’re at it?”

Jiaojiao replied coldly, “Unable to execute this operation. The host’s current injuries were not caused by completing a system mission. According to regulations, we cannot provide the relevant support plan.”

Pei Xixia: “…”

They really were stingy.

Since things had already come to this, saying anything more was useless. With no will to live, Pei Xixia clicked the confirm button, planning to get it over with quickly. “Fine. When can you issue the mission?”

Jiaojiao said, “We will initiate challenge missions weekly according to the progress of the host’s interactions with the target character. If the missions are completed smoothly, the binding can only be released in about half a year.”

Pei Xixia froze. “Half a year? That long? And it has to be completed smoothly? Wait a minute. Are you saying there are cases where it doesn’t go smoothly?”

She was still waiting to divorce Lu Yimo and return her happy life to her. Great. Now what? It wasn’t as though she could still shamelessly show up at Lu Yimo’s door every few days to act cute after they divorced, right?

Jiaojiao said, “Yes. The target character’s current psychological trauma value is 86 points. This value will decrease or increase according to the host’s specific actions. If it rises to 100 points, it means the mission has completely failed. If it drops to 0, it means the mission challenge has succeeded.”

Pei Xixia: “…”

No, seriously. Wasn’t this mission a little too easy to fail?

She might as well admit defeat and die to apologize. Then everyone would have a bright future.

Jiaojiao continued, “The first-stage challenge mission will be issued at twelve o’clock tonight. The host is reminded to assess the situation, seize the opportunity, and we wish the host immediate success!”

Complaining was complaining, but Pei Xixia still wanted to live a few more years. It seemed that, for the time being, this marriage could not be dissolved. Drooping like a wilted plant, she walked out of the bathroom. As soon as she stepped out, she found Lu Yimo leaning against the head of the bed, her gaze sharp as she looked at her.

Pei Xixia jolted under that stare and hurriedly asked, “Yimo, do you feel any better now?”

Lu Yimo gave a cold scoff and asked in return, “What do you think?”

Pei Xixia: “…”

…Probably not very good.

Pei Xixia scratched her head awkwardly. “Everything before was my fault. I really have changed. From now on, I’ll listen to you. Whatever you say goes, okay?”

“Then call a lawyer over right now.” Lu Yimo straightened her back and tidied her messy hair. “We’ll discuss the relevant matters regarding our divorce.”

Pei Xixia: “…”

See? If acting cute worked, what would anyone need the police for? Divorce was what everyone wanted!

However, Pei Xixia had already confirmed the binding, so she could only coax her. “Yimo, calm down. I really know I was wrong. Don’t divorce me, okay?”

Lu Yimo looked back at her coldly. “Pei Xining, do you think I’ll still believe you?”

…True. Not believing her was the correct choice.

But! She did not want to die of organ failure either! Compared to that, being stabbed to death would at least be quicker!

Pei Xixia’s mind spun rapidly as she tried to stall Lu Yimo. “Yimo, look, you’ve only just woken up. Let’s not think about such complicated things for now. Do you want to eat something? I’ll go buy it for you!”

Lu Yimo said, “No need. I have no appetite.”

“Then do you want to take a shower? Look, your clothes are completely soaked. It must feel terrible with them sticking to your body.”

Lu Yimo paused, then lowered her eyes, seeming to feel that Pei Xixia’s words did make some sense. “Then you go out.”

“Okay, okay.” Pei Xixia hurriedly agreed. “Call me anytime if you need anything. I’ll wait right outside the door.”

After leaving the ward, she crouched in the corner of the wall and called the lawyer, Mu Rong, for help.

The contractual marriage agreement the two of them had signed back then had been drafted by Mu Rong. She should have a way, right?

The call connected very quickly. “Miss Pei, are you looking for me?”

Pei Xixia lowered her voice. “Hello, Lawyer Mu. I’ve run into a bit of trouble on my side. Lu Yimo insists on divorcing me. Do you have any way to stop her?”

Mu Rong paused. “Didn’t you sign a three-year contract at the time? It’s only been one year. If she unilaterally breaches the contract, she’ll have to pay a large sum in compensation. Don’t worry. She can’t afford it.”

According to the setting in the book, entertainers in this world were not high-income professionals. Besides, Lu Yimo was only a small celebrity who had debuted less than two years ago. Her pay was not very high.

Pei Xixia stammered, “Then what if I was the one who did something to hurt her first?”

Mu Rong said, “What, did you commit domestic violence against her?”

Pei Xixia found it hard to speak. “I drugged her… and wanted to send her to Qi Wanbai… Of course, my conscience woke up, and I saved her again… Does this count as voluntary abandonment of a crime? I can receive a lighter punishment, right?”

Mu Rong: “…So you do know this is a crime?”

Enduring her shame, Pei Xixia said, “I already know I was wrong. I really want to salvage this marriage. Can you help me think of a way?”

Mu Rong: “…Does she have evidence that you carried out the crime?”

Pei Xixia recalled for a moment. “No. The drug came from the black market, so there’s no purchase record. There also weren’t any cameras where I drugged her, and I wore gloves. The medicine bottle was disposed of long ago…”

The more Pei Xixia spoke, the more shameless she felt. Did this Pei Xining have to be this skilled at committing crimes?

Mu Rong said, “Then it’s fine. She has no evidence, so this marriage cannot be dissolved. However, this is only temporary. If she still insists on divorcing you two years later, neither you nor I can stop her.”

Pei Xixia hurriedly said, “It won’t take two years. Half a year is enough.”

Mu Rong: “?”

Pei Xixia thanked Mu Rong with boundless gratitude, hung up the phone, and let out a long breath.

Her angelic cub could only be wronged and endure for another half a year!

Inside the ward, the sound of running water from the shower came to an abrupt stop. Pei Xixia lightly knocked on the ward door. “Yimo, can I come in?”

Lu Yimo pulled the door open a crack. The rich medicinal jasmine scent in the room had already dissipated, replaced by the faint sweet fragrance of body wash. The tense atmosphere had eased a great deal. Lu Yimo looked Pei Xixia up and down, clearly having no intention of letting her enter the room. “Did you contact a lawyer?”

Pei Xixia was too embarrassed to meet her eyes. “I asked the lawyer. She said that in our situation, we can’t divorce.”

Hearing this, Lu Yimo’s expression turned cold in an instant. With a bang, she slammed the door shut, nearly hitting the tip of Pei Xixia’s nose.

Pei Xixia: “!!!”

She hurriedly knocked on the door. “Yimo, Yimo, we can talk things through. Let me in first, okay?”

Lu Yimo said coldly, “I have nothing to say to you.”

Thick-skinned, Pei Xixia said, “It’s fine. We can just stand there without talking. That’s beautiful enough.”

There was no sound at all from inside the ward.

Pei Xixia: “…”

All right. Her cub did not like cheesy pickup lines.

She had no choice but to knock again. “Yimo, Yimo, let me in. I’m just worried you won’t feel well. I want to take care of you.”

There was still no sound from inside the ward.

Pei Xixia grew a little anxious. “Yimo, Yimo, you didn’t faint, did you?!”

Just then, from the other end of the corridor, two security guards, one tall and one short, came walking over with batons in hand. “Hey! You over there! What are you doing?”

Pei Xixia: “?”

The tall security guard pointed his baton at Pei Xixia. “The patient in Room 1723 just reported you, saying you were making noise here and disturbing patients’ rest. Please leave immediately!”

Pei Xixia said, “I’m her legal spouse!”

The short security guard’s fleshy face trembled. “I don’t care whether you two are legal or not. Making a racket in the inpatient building is disrupting public order. If you continue being stubborn, we can subject you to mandatory control.”

Pei Xixia: “…”

She could only knock on the door again and remind her, “Yimo, then I’m leaving. Rest early. I’ll come see you again tomorrow.”

The tall security guard patted Pei Xixia’s shoulder with a stern face. “Don’t come tomorrow either. It’s never too late to turn back.”

Pei Xixia: “…”

Dejected, she left the hospital. Since she had nowhere else to go anyway, she planned to go home and rest for the night first.

Right. There was a little over an hour left before the first-stage challenge mission would be issued. Maybe she could refer to it and salvage Lu Yimo’s heart.

Pei Xixia took a taxi to Songge Manor. Songge Manor was a cluster of European-style detached villas. Each villa had nearly one thousand square meters of floor area, with three floors above ground and one below. It was extremely luxurious and imposing.

After all, the Pei family had once been glorious too.

In fact, during Pei Yuan’s time as the family head, Jiaqi Entertainment’s development had always been smooth sailing, and it had held a prestigious reputation in the industry. However, eight years ago, Pei Yuan unexpectedly passed away in a car accident. Her partner, Xia Qi, was delicate and frail, plagued by illness, so the heavy responsibility of running the company fell onto Pei Xining’s older brother, Pei Xize.

Pei Xize was an extremely mediocre N-rank Alpha with absolutely no business sense. In just eight years, he had run the company into a stagnant pool. Almost all of the company’s even slightly famous artists had left, leaving behind only some terrible scripts nobody wanted to film. The company was also buried under a mountain of debt.

The Pei family originally had several other properties, but all of them had been sold to repay debts. Only this one villa in Songge Manor remained. The whole family lived together, barely maintaining their last shred of dignity.

Pei Xixia unlocked the fingerprint lock. At this hour, everyone had already returned to their rooms to rest, and there was no one else in the living room. Exhausted, she went back to her own room.

Because they could no longer afford wages, the servants had also been dismissed. No one took care of the huge room, so it was filthy and messy beyond belief. Unwashed dirty clothes and socks were casually piled on the bed, and the corner of a dirty magazine even stuck out from under the pillow. At a glance, it was clearly the room of a sloppy single dog.

Yes. Although Lu Yimo lived in Songge Manor, she and Pei Xining had always slept in separate rooms. Lu Yimo never stepped even half a foot into Pei Xining’s room.

Thankfully, she had never come in. If she had, wouldn’t she have hated Pei Xining even more?

Pei Xixia pinched her nose and dealt with Pei Xining’s “relics,” washing what needed to be washed and throwing away what needed to be thrown away, giving the room a thorough cleaning. By the time she collapsed tiredly onto the now completely refreshed bed, the clock had just struck twelve.

Jiaojiao issued a friendly reminder. “Ding—the first-stage challenge mission of the Cutesy-Appeal System has been issued. Host, please proceed to check it.”

Pei Xixia clicked confirm to proceed, and a millennium-style dialogue box full of pink bubbles immediately appeared in front of her, displaying “Loading.”

Even the internet speed was from the millennium era.

Pei Xixia held her breath and waited patiently.

Finally, blurry pixelated words appeared in the dialogue box:

“[First Stage * Mission One]

Warm Reminder: Detected that the target character is extremely wary. Please use intimate forms of address to lower hostility!

Mission Requirement: Use at least three different nicknames with intimate, ingratiating meanings to address the target character and lower the target character’s psychological trauma!

Example References: Mobao, wife, little jasmine, sweetie cupcake…

Mission Success Rewards: Cash × 20,000, high-efficiency suppressants × 3, Inner-Thought Eavesdropping Card Lv.1 × 3, Spring Cherry Couple Set × 1, title “A Small Test of Skill”

Mission Failure Punishment: Continuous tongue paralysis for one week [little devil] [little devil] [little devil]”

Pei Xixia: “…”

Sorry, just looking at those examples had already made her tongue go numb in advance.

Mobao, wife, little jasmine, sweetie cupcake… What were all these scalding-hot, impossible-to-say forms of address? Are you sure this is acting cute and not adding fuel to the fire?