Lu Linwei left in quite a hurry this time, but even so, he managed to corner Shen Ying for a few words.
He was quite satisfied with Shen Ying’s recent behavior—staying home obediently without constantly scheming to go out or return to her own place.
The only issue was that, despite being in this "job" for days now, she still hadn’t learned to read the room.
They ran into each other every morning, yet when his tie wasn’t properly adjusted as he came downstairs, she never stepped up to help.
If it weren’t for his generosity as the "boss," where else would an employee so oblivious to basic tasks even be tolerated?
"I’ll only be gone for a few days. Stay put, and don’t call me unless it’s absolutely necessary," Lu Linwei said.
Shen Ying nodded eagerly. "Boss Lu, I thought by now you’d have full confidence in my professionalism."
"If I have problems, I handle them myself. When have I ever called you?"
Lu Linwei: "—Good. As long as you know your place."
With that, he walked out the door in a less-than-pleased mood.
Shen Ying leisurely finished her breakfast, returned to her room, and crawled back under the covers for a nap.
But barely two minutes after lying down, an ear-splitting noise erupted from all directions.
Lu Linwei’s mansion occupied an entire private mountaintop, with even the surrounding roads being exclusive property. Day or night, the estate was always serene and elegant—a perfect sleep environment. This was the first time she’d ever heard such a racket here.
Shen Ying got up and looked down from the balcony. Below, a lawnmower was hard at work on the grass, seemingly obsessed with the patch right outside her bedroom, going back and forth without ever moving elsewhere.
When she opened her door, someone was vacuuming the hallway carpet with an industrial-strength machine.
Not far away, marble floors were being polished, while wooden stairs were buffed and waxed.
With this level of commotion, sleep was out of the question.
Shen Ying shrugged and decided to find somewhere else to kill time.
But when she went to the home theater, she was told the projection system and screen were undergoing maintenance.
The game room? All equipment was being replaced and tested.
The greenhouse? Pest control was scheduled, and pesticides would be sprayed soon.
The hot springs? The surrounding area was being deep-cleaned. Even the gym was off-limits due to equipment servicing.
At this point, Shen Ying couldn’t be bothered to check the stables, garage, or anywhere else.
She simply asked, "So what *can* I do right now?"
The reply came from a senior maid who’d apparently worked here for over twenty years.
With a polite smile, she said, "Apologies, Miss Shen, but none of the facilities are available today."
"If you’re bored, you could sit over there."
She pointed to a secluded bench in a far corner of the estate grounds.
The maid continued, "Every department is swamped today, and the mansion is a mess. Until maintenance is done, Miss Shen can entertain herself with her phone or tablet."
Then, before Shen Ying could respond, she added pointedly, "After all, wasn’t that how Miss Shen usually passed the time before? Surely a few days of luxury here haven’t made you too spoiled to go back?"
Her smile was loaded with unspoken meaning: *Someone whose idea of fun is just scrolling on cheap gadgets shouldn’t act entitled after a taste of the high life, right?*
Most people would’ve been stung by such a remark, especially since there was no easy retort.
But Shen Ying? Shamelessness was her forte.
She nodded matter-of-factly. "Exactly. It’s tough going from luxury back to basics."
The maid’s smile deepened. "Hard or not, there’s no choice. After all, Miss Shen isn’t the mistress here, nor will you be working here forever."
"Even if you were willing, and even if Mr. Lu didn’t mind paying your salary, the future lady of the house certainly wouldn’t allow it."
If you can’t handle the fall from grace, you’ll have to adjust eventually.
Shen Ying sighed in agreement. "True. Since I *can’t* stay here forever, every day I miss out on the perks feels like a loss."
The maid’s expression flickered—clearly unprepared for such brazenness.
But she quickly regained composure. "I understand wanting to make the most of this opportunity while it lasts."
"But for these few days, you’ll have to bear with it. Estate maintenance always happens when the master is away, to avoid disrupting his comfort."
"Every department is busy today. You might be the only person in the entire mansion with nothing to do."
"You wouldn’t expect everyone to delay their work just for your convenience, would you?"
Shen Ying answered without hesitation: "I *would*, actually!"
"???"
Then, she pulled out her phone and swiftly dialed a number.
At that moment, Lu Linwei was reviewing documents in his car when his phone rang.
Despite his earlier insistence that Shen Ying *not* call him, the caller ID showed her name—proof that he’d saved her contact.
His sour mood from earlier lightened somewhat.
*Maybe she’s not completely hopeless,* he thought as he answered.
Only to hear: "Boss Lu, I’d like to go out. Can you have Assistant Fang arrange it?"
Lu Linwei’s face darkened instantly. Had she really waited until he was barely gone to make a break for it?
"Where are you going?"
Shen Ying replied, "Haven’t decided yet. Maybe visit home, go shopping, grab a meal, meet up with friends—that sort of thing."
Lu Linwei scoffed. "You *have* friends?"
Her social circles were an open book to him.
Shen Ying: "Just because I didn’t before doesn’t mean I can’t now. Last time, Mr. Gao and I hit it off. We had a great conversation—I’m sure we’ll become good friends."
"Maybe I’ll invite him out today to continue. He still owes me a meal, after all."
A heavy silence followed.
"...Are you *trying* to provoke me?"
Shen Ying’s voice turned icy. "*You* started it."
"I gave up my freedom, left my family, and came here alone. I even humored your twisted control issues by playing along with this ridiculous ‘office roleplay’ of yours."
"You—the actual *captor*—get to act like the put-upon employer, while I’m painted as some freeloading scam artist. Tell me, who’s really shouldering all the absurdity here?"
"And yet, even after all that, you’re cutting me off from the *one* consolation in this gilded cage."
Namely: free food, fun, and luxury.
Lu Linwei was baffled. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Shen Ying: "The whole mansion is under maintenance today. I’ve got nowhere to have fun."
Lu Linwei: "......"
His blood pressure spiked. He turned to Assistant Fang. "What’s going on?"
Assistant Fang knew exactly what was happening. While he hadn’t been involved, he was well aware of the staff’s attitude toward Shen Ying.
This was just workplace exclusion tactics—except Shen Ying had outplayed them by skipping the confrontation and dumping the problem straight onto the boss.
Feigning ignorance, Assistant Fang said, "It must be routine upkeep, sir."
Lu Linwei wasn’t the type to fuss over trivial matters, so he directly instructed Assistant Fang to call the head butler of the estate—
“This is ridiculous. Why the sudden deep cleaning? Can’t they maintain the place in sections? Tell them to knock it off.”
Only after giving the order did he turn to Shen Ying on the other end of the line and ask, “Satisfied now?”
Shen Ying’s tone instantly sweetened by several degrees: “How considerate of you, President Lu. Thank you.”
Lu Linwei was irked by her blatant insincerity: “You came to confront me over something this trivial, and without even asking, you assumed I was the one messing with you.”
“Am I really that petty?”
Shen Ying showed no remorse: “It’s your house, President Lu. Who else could’ve ordered it?”
“I’m so likable and easygoing—it’s not like the entire staff would gang up to target me, right?”
Even Lu Linwei had to marvel at her shamelessness. Here was someone with zero friends, yet she had the audacity to say such things.
Still, he didn’t dwell on why the estate had launched into a deep cleaning the moment he left.
Naturally, if he could figure these things out at a glance, the original story wouldn’t have been a tragedy.
Meanwhile, after hanging up, Shen Ying smiled at the senior maid standing before her—
“Open the home theater and have the pastry kitchen send over coffee and desserts. I’m going to watch a movie.”
Before the maid could respond, the intercom crackled with the butler’s voice, calling off the cleaning operations across all departments.
The maid’s smile finally faltered: “O-of course, Miss Shen. Just a moment, please.”
Shen Ying strutted back into the theater and settled into the plush massage sofa.
The staff hadn’t yet cleared out, but no one dared stop her now.
She tapped the smart massage controls and casually said to those preparing to leave, “Play *Inception* for me.”
Her expression remained unchanged, still wearing that polite smile as she added, “Thanks.”
The staff in the theater, however, looked far less composed.
Shen Ying leisurely enjoyed the movie, utterly unimpressed by these petty power plays. They could scheme all they wanted, but they’d better not mess with her comfort during her “lazy phase.”
By normal logic, hitting such a snag should’ve been enough to make them back off.
But tragedy narratives don’t follow normal logic—otherwise, the system wouldn’t have claimed these events were unavoidable.
Since Shen Ying had outright blocked one avenue of harassment, the others would inevitably find another.
Sure enough, the next escalation came sooner than expected.
This time, they resorted to workplace ostracism.
Before, the estate staff had merely been indifferent toward Shen Ying, rarely engaging with her unprompted.
But she’d still wandered freely around the mansion, and necessary interactions had occurred.
Now, they treated her like thin air.
Even when they saw her, their gazes slid right past. Necessary exchanges—like placing meal orders or requesting assistance with amenities—were carried out mechanically, without a single word in response.
Overnight, despite being surrounded by people, Shen Ying’s world became a vacuum.
She was now an island unto herself.
This collective silent treatment cast an eerie, icy pall over the entire estate.
Most people would’ve cracked under such sustained hostility, especially when already confined.
Few could remain unaffected by relentless malice and isolation.
Of course, Shen Ying was the only one who noticed the atmosphere. Behind the scenes, the staff were quite chatty.
Leaving the dining room, she caught snippets of conversation from the slightly ajar service door—
“Did you see how she eats? I’d bet money she’s been thrown out of high-end restaurants before.”
“Don’t flatter her. She’s probably never stepped foot in one—they’d mistake her for a janitor applicant at the door.”
“Come on, cut her some slack. A broke country girl with no manners isn’t committing a capital crime. No need to be cruel.”
“True. Rumor has it her parents are factory workers, she graduated from some no-name college, and her last job was fetching coffee at a small company. Can’t expect her to know better.”
“Maybe Mr. Lu’s just tired of all those accomplished, gorgeous Ivy League women. A useless loser must seem refreshing.”
“Useless is one thing, but even her hobbies are pathetic. She loses every online mahjong game—can’t even gamble right.”
Shen Ying could shrug off most of it, but that last jab was a bridge too far.
She pushed the door open. “Now that’s unfair. It’s not lack of skill—just bad luck.”
The room fell silent as everyone turned to her.
A few flashed identical tight smiles: “Miss Shen, you’ve misunderstood. We were just chatting—not about you.”
“Did we mention your name even once?”
With that, they dispersed to their tasks, resuming their practiced ignorance of her existence.
The pattern continued. The entire estate treated her as invisible, yet she kept “accidentally” overhearing staff conversations—always unmistakably about her, yet never explicit enough to pin down.
So aside from isolation, the only human contact Shen Ying had left was this gaslighting-by-proxy.
Even the system pitied her, though for a tragic romance plot, this was merely the appetizer.
It consoled her: *Don’t worry. Once the male lead returns, they won’t dare be so blatant.*
Only to watch as Shen Ying cheerfully called Lu Linwei.
Assuming she’d found another escape scheme, he answered irritably: “What now?”
Shen Ying: “Can my little brother come stay with me for a couple days?”
Lu Linwei didn’t mind. He’d planned to suggest inviting her family or friends over if she ever expressed loneliness.
But since she’d asked first, he couldn’t make it too easy. She’d have to soften up, maybe even beg—preferably with some coaxing.
“I don’t like strangers in my home. Give me one good reason to say yes.”
Shen Ying countered: “How’s my brother a stranger? He’s done his fair share taking care of you.”
“Forgot how he learned to cook for you? How many times you made him redo the mopping? All those errands you ran him ragged over?”
Lu Linwei had learned by now. He drawled, “I paid him.”
“Only five hundred.”
Lu Linwei: “…You only gave that kid five hundred?”
Shen Ying pressed on: “So not only did you underpay him, but you’ve never even invited him over. Both of us helped you, yet the difference in treatment is glaring.”
“Plus, my parents are worried since I’ve been gone so long. Shouldn’t my brother see how I’m living?”
Lu Linwei gave up. Clearly, expecting self-awareness from her was futile.
“Fine. I’ll have Assistant Fang arrange a car to pick him up,” he snapped before hanging up.
Shen Ying was delighted.
The system asked: *Host, are you bringing your brother to cope with the loneliness?*
Shen Ying grinned. “No. I’m bringing him to stage an ‘accident.’”
