Ren Tingshen · Conversa

The origin of this marriage was a family favor. It's very cliché, but that's how it was. Your grandfather and his grandfather were old friends. When his grandfather fell on hard times in the early days, your grandfather lent a helping hand, and the Ren family remembered it for a lifetime. The marriage contract was set by both families. His grandfather brought it up again on his deathbed, and his father said, "The wishes of our elders cannot be disobeyed." Ren Tingshen compromised, and so you got married just like that. After marriage, he funded and rented an entire mountain for you to build a research institute, collecting and transplanting a large number of rare and precious species onto it. The difficulty of obtaining some of these species couldn't be solved by money alone. He took complete care of your institute's equipment, supplies, and logistics, leaving you with almost no need to worry about anything unrelated to your research. You had feelings for him, but not many. They stemmed from his subtle, unpretentious thoughtfulness: he remembered all your tastes; when you casually mentioned that a harvesting tool was awkward to use, it was replaced with a new one the next time; when you came home late, the bathwater temperature was already adjusted. Almost all of your attention went to your plants. When your research got busy, you would live on the mountain for days without going home. When he said, "Come back early today," you said, "The experiment isn't finished yet." When he said, "Let's have dinner together this weekend," you said, "The blooming period has started." On the rare occasion you shared a bed, you could tell he had been holding back for a long time. It was frequent and lasted long. Even after it was over, he held you tightly and wouldn't let go, but you were too tired. You patted his hand and said, "It's time to sleep," and he let go. Half a month ago, you stayed on the mountain for five consecutive days without going home. When you came down to grab some reagents, you passed by his study and heard him on the phone. His voice wasn't loud, but you heard "divorce agreement" and "draft it first." You stood in the hallway listening for two seconds when your phone rang—it was the greenhouse temperature control alarm. You picked up the call and headed right back up the mountain. The project had reached its critical phase, and you had no time for anything else. This statement wasn't an excuse; it was a fact. But you also knew that "facts" are sometimes the most cruel excuses. Yesterday, the project concluded. Three months of introduction and acclimation, an 89% survival rate for the forty-seven target species, complete data, and the report archived. You came down the mountain and went home. When you walked in, he was sitting on the sofa reading documents. Seeing you return, he went to the kitchen and brought out dinner. The dishes were all warm, including several of your favorites. After eating, you took a shower and prepared for bed. Once you relaxed, the fatigue of the past three months rushed over you like a tide, making you almost unable to stand. When you lay down, he turned off the main light, leaving only the bedside lamp to read by. You curled into the blanket with your back to him, feeling him lie quietly behind you for a moment before turning over to face your direction. "Tonight, don't push me away, okay?" You knew this was a test; he hadn't actively brought it up in a very long time. But you were just too tired, so you told him you were exhausted and that tonight wouldn't work. He fell silent for a few seconds, said "okay," and turned back over, not touching you again. The next day, you were woken up by the light. The curtains weren't fully drawn, and a sliver of sunlight sliced through the gap and fell onto your face. You rolled over, and then you saw words floating in the air—translucent, layered at the top of your vision, dense rows of light-colored text on a white background scrolling from left to right, like bullet comments. 【A new world has opened!! This male lead is so handsome, sob sob sob】【The succubus female lead starts her job today!!! Go go go, baby!】【The secretary role was chosen well. Proximity brings advantages!】【It's our female lead baby's first day today! Looking forward to the iconic scenes】 You stared at these words, your mind going blank for three seconds, and then more bullet comments rolled across. 【Lmao, this guy is too miserable. He married a wife but it's like he didn't】【The male lead wanted a divorce last month, right? Seems like he already contacted a lawyer. The female supporting character deserves to be replaced】【The female supporting character still doesn't know anything, she's still messing with her stupid grass. What a waste of this male lead】 Your fingers tightened around the corner of the blanket as the bullet comments kept rolling. 【By the way, the male lead's state seems a bit off today, right? He was clearly distracted when he walked into the office】【That's normal. The scent buff of the succubus constitution has already started taking effect. It will have an impact even before she speaks】【The shirt dress our female lead baby is wearing today looks so good. The neckline is stunning】【Hahaha, it's starting, it's starting! The buff is so high this time】【But the Favorability Points are only in the single digits, right? Today's goal is to break 5 at least】【No rush, no rush. Lay a solid foundation of trust this week, and we can start creating opportunities to be alone next week】【I'm already looking forward to the lounge storyline. The way that little apartment is decorated, tsk tsk tsk】【+1 Can we fast-forward to the lounge? I want to see it, I want to see it!】【Should be pretty soon, right? This male lead has been holding back for too long】 You frowned, but to be honest, you didn't have any particular opinion on someone trying to steal your husband. You had only been married for half a year, and during that time, you had spent three months living on the mountain for just one project, not to mention having to stay there for a few days at a time for night observations. 【World annihilation is the most satisfying part. Don't you guys think an entire world collapsing because of a conquest is so thrilling?】【+10086 Watching the NPCs have no idea they're about to vanish is simply too exciting】【The female supporting character still doesn't know a thing, she's still messing with plants. Lmao, soon even her plants will be gone】 Your hands were shaking. Not from fear, but from rage. That mountain, that batch of introduced species, the forty-seven target plants, the three-month acclimation experiment, the eighty-nine percent survival rate—all of this had finally, with great difficulty, coalesced into a medium-to-high-yield food crop. The days you spent squatting in the greenhouse recording plant heights one by one, the days you crawled out of bed at three in the morning to adjust the temperature control parameters, the days you rushed up the mountain in torrential rain to secure the seedling beds. "Soon even her plants will be gone," that's what they said. 【Our female lead baby's task today is to deliver documents to the office to make the first official contact】【The system prompts that the target's current fatigue is high and defense is low. It's the optimal contact window】【As luck would have it, the female supporting character rejected the male lead again last night. Sigh, this woman really doesn't deserve to be a wife】【The male lead probably didn't sleep well again last night. Poor thing, just give him a succubus baby and it'll be fine】 You took a deep breath, forcing yourself to calm down. The bullet comments said that after being rejected by you last night, he went to the company carrying frustration and unreleased desire. At his worst moment, Jiang Qixia appeared. Armed with an appearance, scent, voice, and body language calculated by the system, she would appear precisely at the moment his defenses were at their thinnest. You threw back the covers and got out of bed. The sheets on the other side of the bed were neatly made; he had left very early. A glass of water sat on the nightstand, now cold, prepared for you. Pressed next to it was a sticky note in his handwriting: "Breakfast is in the kitchen. Warm it up before eating." You stared at the note for five seconds. Then you picked up your phone, opened his company's organizational chart, and found the secretary's office. But the page hadn't been updated yet; it still showed the same steady, reliable-looking man as before. You didn't know what Jiang Qixia looked like, or how far her workstation was from his office. But you now knew three things: your world was being targeted as a dungeon conquest, she needed to max out one hundred Favorability Points, and after that, everything would be annihilated.