From Simp to National Heartthrob - Chapter 3:

Chapter 3: A Chance Encounter

Seeing this, Zhao Mingda grew even more displeased. He stiffened his neck and said, “I know the Gu Family is not to be messed with. That’s exactly why I don’t want to marry Gu Mingxue! That temper of hers—every time she sees me, it’s like I’m her subordinate. She always wears a cold face. Who could stand that?”

Madam Zhao impatiently flung his hand away and said, “Think carefully about who you marry and who benefits you the most! If you want to fool around outside, I won’t interfere, but if Miss Gu finds out, don’t come crying to me!”

She turned around and went upstairs, “I’m going to play cards.”

She didn’t mention anything about the New Year’s Eve dinner.

After Madam Zhao left, the living room sank into awkward silence.

Zhou Meng wished she could find a crack in the floor to disappear into. Zhao Mingda had made it very clear before—he wanted to reject the arranged marriage from his family, so he paid her to pretend to be his girlfriend.

Now that his mother didn’t approve of her, wouldn’t staying any longer make her knowingly act as a homewrecker?

Zhao Mingda didn’t seem to care about Madam Zhao’s attitude. He reached out and put his arm around Zhou Meng’s shoulders, “Looks like there’s no New Year’s Eve dinner for us. Come on upstairs. I’ll show you where we’re staying tonight.”

The more Zhou Meng thought about it, the more wrong it felt. This was completely different from what she had expected.

She slowed her pace on purpose and joked, “Aunt isn’t happy. So what about the payment you promised me earlier?”

“Relax, I won’t shortchange you.” Zhao Mingda raised his hand to ruffle Zhou Meng’s hair, then immediately pulled out his phone and transferred her the money.

Zhou Meng smiled happily and was about to tease him with a “Thank you, hubby,” but froze the moment she opened her phone.

666 yuan.

That was it?

The promised six-figure payment was slashed down to three digits!

Truth be told, Zhou Meng hadn’t agreed to pretend to be his girlfriend just for that 100,000 yuan.

Back in high school, the two had been quite flirty. Even after he went abroad, they never lost contact.

If she could really be with him, she was more than willing to become a rich lady in the Zhao Family!

At that point, she could have any bag or jewelry she wanted. Wasn’t that far better than Chen Yi’s meager salary?

But she also understood that the upper-class circle was never clean. If Zhao Mingda only wanted to toy with her and wasn’t planning to give her a proper status, she couldn’t give herself up so easily.

She had to let him know that what he couldn’t get was always the most valuable.

“I’m a little hungry,” she found an excuse to step back, “Can you ask the kitchen to make me something?”

Zhao Mingda didn’t care about her request and instead said, “It’s so late already, and you still want to eat? Aren’t you girls supposed to be dieting? Come on, take a shower first—we need to wash off last year’s dust before midnight.”

He reached out to grab her hand, his intentions plain as day.

Zhou Meng couldn’t tolerate it any longer!

Chen Yi would never treat her like this!

If she said she was hungry, Chen Yi would immediately cook for her!

There had been so many times when Chen Yi returned from working overtime in the middle of the night, and when she wanted a late-night snack, he would personally cook for her—or even go downstairs and buy it for her!

“I’ve only had a cup of coffee since noon. I’ll go find something to eat myself.”

She unhappily pulled her hand out of Zhao Mingda’s and went downstairs.

“Then I’ll go take a shower first.”

This time, Zhao Mingda didn’t insist. He didn’t even look back and simply returned to the bedroom.

Zhou Meng sat alone in the spacious living room, listening to the sound of fireworks outside. Her heart ached terribly.

It was New Year’s Eve. If she had been at Chen Yi’s home, she would have been surrounded by his relatives offering her blessings. Chen Yi had even told her they would all give her red envelopes—10,000 yuan each from his parents and 2,000 from the relatives.

Zhou Meng sniffled, pulled out her phone, and sent Chen Yi a message.

[What are you doing?]

She didn’t expect that the moment she hit send, a red exclamation mark appeared on the screen.

[Message sent but rejected by the recipient.]

Chen Yi had blocked her!

Zhou Meng shot up from the sofa, her eyes red with anger, heart pounding hard.

How could Chen Yi do this?!

She immediately dug out his phone number and called him, only to find she had been blocked there too!

“Miss Zhou, do you need anything?” Just then, a maid from the Zhao Family came over and asked politely if she’d like something to eat.

Zhou Meng had lost her appetite. She reached out, “Lend me your phone.”

This time, she finally got through to Chen Yi.

“Why did you block me? Chen Yi, is it just because I didn’t spend New Year’s with you? Do you have to go this far? I was with you for three years, my youth—”

Before she could finish her questions, the line beeped twice.

Chen Yi didn’t say a word. The moment he heard her voice, he hung up!

She tried calling again, but even the maid’s number got blocked!

…

First Day of the New Year

Chen Yi got up at 8 in the morning and went out for a run.

On the eighth day of the New Year, Chen Yi returned to work.

From the first day onward, he exercised every single day.

For someone who normally never worked out, even a little effort brought massive changes—especially with the system’s bonus.

The moment he stepped into the office, his coworkers were drawn to him.

“Chen Yi actually lost weight over the holiday?”

“Who are you? Where’s the real Chen Yi?”

A close colleague even reached out and touched him, “Damn, did you get liposuction during the break?”

Chen Yi joked around with them for a bit before heading to the manager’s office.

He planned to apply for a transfer to Group B.

The Group A he used to work in had too many tasks and frequent overtime. Everyone looked like pandas, squeezing every drop of health just to earn more money.

He didn’t have to live like that anymore. Not only because no one was draining him dry anymore, but also because the system’s rewards were ridiculously generous. That was now his main income!

This salary meant little to him now!

In the past few days, he had already lost 4 kilograms through exercise and diet control. His parents were a bit regretful that he didn’t eat much meat during the holidays, but when he explained that being overweight could lead to cardiovascular problems, they were convinced.

Besides, it’s not like he couldn’t afford good food anymore. If he wanted to eat well, he could eat anytime.

Now, he was just a bit away from the system’s goal of losing 5 kilograms.

At 5:30 in the evening, after getting off work, Chen Yi headed straight to the gym in the park.

It had been a long time since he had gotten off work before sunset, let alone had time to go to the gym.

He changed into workout clothes, stretched a bit while walking toward the cardio area. As he passed the weights area, he noticed a woman on the bench press machine.

She was holding up the barbell with both hands, her face flushed red!

Her arms were trembling violently—clearly, she couldn’t hold on any longer.

Chen Yi quickly rushed over and lifted the barbell off her, placing it back on the rack.

“When doing bench presses, someone must spot you. If the barbell drops, the consequences could be serious.”

The woman was dressed loosely—not the type who wore tight yoga clothes just to take pictures—but even through the baggy T-shirt, her perfect figure was unmistakable.

Her beautiful face had delicate features, lightly flushed and sweaty, making her look lively and youthful.