It's just The Sims, how did it become my ideal love story?

Chapter 154 Confront It, Solve It (Fourth Update, Please Vote!)
Gu Huai was not a certified mage, so he was not qualified to cast spells.

Gu Huai had been in a good mood, and after watching Lin Jiang get into the car, he felt genuinely relaxed.

It was as if the burden of many years had been gently laid down.

Of course, this doesn't mean those people have disappeared. Gu Huai knows they will reappear in his life, perhaps causing even greater trouble.

But so what?

When a person knows that they can resist and are capable of resisting, they will no longer be willing to swallow their anger.

Gu Huai then went home to rest, but during that time his parents sent him a lot of messages.

After all, Gu Huai wasn't going to answer the phone at this point. Even if they wanted to have a proper talk with him, the result wouldn't be any different. They would still revert to their old ways and start arguing with Gu Huai like crazy.

She tried to use her past experience to continue suppressing the man.

So Gu Huai naturally wouldn't give them that chance. He wanted to get a good night's sleep, so let them fight amongst themselves. It's none of his business if they get so angry they can't sleep.

The message was incredibly earnest and persuasive; I skimmed through it and then deleted it.

Then I replied to them: Anyway, I can't afford to give them money back because of these things. Just wait and see when they'll pay you back the 30,000. Don't worry about my affairs, like marriage or having children; don't even think about that.

Then came another barrage of information.

It was as if they felt they hadn't angered them enough.

But this wasn't just Gu Huai speaking out of anger. In this era, marriage and having children are no longer mandatory for everyone. And because of his own predicament, his circumstances, and even his mental state, Gu Huai had long since given up on that idea.

If you don't expect true love, feel you can't have love, and are unlikely to meet your soulmate, then why get married just to have children?
It doesn't really matter.

That's just how the world has always been throughout a person's life.

So he was able to sleep easily tonight.

Then on Tuesday, I ate a bigger breakfast than usual, full of energy, boarded the bus, and went to work.

Let go of those troubling thoughts and you'll be kinder to yourself.

A person who cannot regard family as a haven should live like this.

"Hey, Lao Gu!"

Old Lin downstairs was smoking when he called out to Gu Huai.

Then, quite skillfully, he offered a cigarette, but this time Gu Huai didn't take it. Instead, he shook his head and smiled, saying, "I won't smoke."

"Huh? You're not smoking anymore?"

"Yes, I plan to quit."

Gu Huai said lightly.

Old Lin stared wide-eyed, scrutinizing Gu Huai from head to toe.

"Are you going to marry Team Leader Cai?"

"What the hell!"

"Otherwise, why would you quit smoking? I thought you and Team Leader Cai were secretly trying to conceive."

"Go to hell! If people hear this, you'll lose your job."

Gu Huai said irritably.

What, getting married and trying to conceive? Is that the only reason a man can use to quit smoking? Besides, does the partner have to be Cai Yan? Can't he just have a sudden realization on his own?
"Hahaha, just kidding. But why are you suddenly thinking about quitting smoking?"

Gu Huai calmly replied, "Actually, I've wanted to quit for a while, but I've been too busy to stick to it. I've had a little more free time recently, so I've decided to quit. Anyway, smoking isn't a good thing, and I advise you to quit as soon as possible."

Old Lin frowned slightly and said with some distress, "If only this stuff were so easy to quit. Actually, I didn't smoke before. It wasn't until after I graduated from university and started working that a senior colleague gave me one, and then somehow I got hooked and have been smoking ever since."

Gu Huai laughed and said, "Aren't you saying you want to have a second child? How can you not quit smoking?"

"Hiss, but it's difficult."

"If you've survived such a tough life, what's so hard about quitting smoking? You keep smoking, I'm going upstairs."

"Hey, wait a minute, damn it, I'm not smoking anymore. I just feel so uncomfortable smoking in front of someone who's quitting! You little rascal, you've really got me into trouble."

Seeing the troubled Old Lin catch up with him, Gu Huai could only laugh.

Then it was just the usual clocking in and starting the day's tasks, everything was normal.

No more women in the cafeteria tried to chat him up.

No unexpected tasks came his way.

There were no unexpected dates sent to my phone.

I spent a normal day, then went home after get off work.

I enjoyed the brief sunset on my way home, and returned to my small but warm and safe rented room.

Because of the system, it seemed that he didn't need to do anything special about body management. Thinking of this, Gu Huai didn't rush to enter the sleep pod.

Instead, she went downstairs to the supermarket and bought over a hundred yuan worth of snacks, something she wouldn't have dared to imagine before. Spending over a hundred yuan on this kind of 'junk food' is utterly wasteful and a crazy extravagance!
Some people might ask, Gu Huai, is spending a little over a hundred yuan really considered extravagant?

This is a question that's not convenient to answer directly; I'll blur it out first.

I just sat on the beanbag chair, scrolling through videos on my phone while snacking on Mala Prince, Weilong, Lay's potato chips, and Pepsi.

I indulged myself like that until 9:30 p.m.

After finishing his final washing up, without any other thoughts, Gu Huai entered the sleep pod. It was predicted to open tomorrow, and the shop would also be refreshed for the week.

So this time it's just for sleeping.

I didn't have insomnia for too long; I definitely fell asleep before midnight and then woke up very early, repeating Tuesday's routine.

Wednesday marked my second day of quitting smoking.

I left work a little late today. Just as I was about to clock out, Cai Yan came out of the office.

Their eyes met in the air.

Gu Huai glanced at the woman, who remained both aloof and radiant.

She looked at herself in silence, and finally Gu Huai opened his mouth, "Want to come down together, Team Leader Cai?"

Cai Yan scoffed, "Do you think I need to avoid you while waiting for the next elevator?"

"That's not what I meant." Seriously, why can't she just give a normal, conversational answer? It's as if her brain is programmed with nothing but contrarian solutions.

We arrived at the elevator together and watched as it slowly arrived at our floor and then opened.

Cai Yan didn't wait for Gu Huai to make way for her and walked in on her own.

Before Gu Huai even went inside, he saw the other person reach out and frantically press the close button.

He was both amused and exasperated. "Team Leader Cai really hasn't lost his childlike innocence."

"You're saying I'm naive."

She glared at Gu Huai.

"Isn't this childish? Or are you trying to slam me to death with the door?"

Gu Huai said with a laugh.

"You've been acting strange lately."

Instead of answering her previous question, Cai Yan suddenly threw out this one.

Gu Huai was taken aback. "What's strange about it?"

"He works exceptionally hard and talks to his colleagues with ease, as if he has no worries at all and is just like a normal person."

"I feel like you're insulting me."

"That's not what I meant. I was just curious what triggered you to disguise yourself like this, to force yourself to wear a mask that is so incongruous with your true self."

Does it feel out of place?

Gu Huai fell silent for a moment.

Cai Yan glanced at Gu Huai, took the elevator downstairs, and then opened the door.

She walked out and looked at the man who was slowly following her.

"Actually, it's not that bad. It doesn't feel that out of place. At least your colleagues didn't notice, did they?"

"But didn't you discover that?"

Gu Huai looked at her with a wry smile.

Cai Yan shook her head. She didn't need to explain why she could tell, nor did she need to tell him that she understood him better than he thought.

So she would only say that to him.

"No matter what happens, you don't have to pretend you're normal to show that these things don't affect you. Solve it, only solving it can make you truly relaxed and free."

"Thanks for reminding me."

Gu Huai said sincerely.

Cai Yan nodded gently, then raised her swan-like, long, and fair neck.

"So it's a family matter?"

"Huh? How come you have this?"

"Just guessing, since you don't have anything else to worry about."

Cai Yan smiled slightly, seemingly quite pleased with her own intelligence.

Gu Huai was utterly powerless to refute this woman's strange intuition.

"It's nothing really, I can handle it myself."

"That's good. Don't let it affect your work. Although my family situation is okay and harmonious, I may not be able to understand the impact your family might have on you. But even orphans and abandoned babies have to live in this world."

"Oh, I'm not that bad off."

Maybe they're actually happier? Well, let's just say they're not cut out for what they're made of.

"Okay, I'm going now. Get some rest."

"So fast?"

"Why are you so addicted to my comforting? Go comfort yourself."

"Then it becomes self-centered."

"Ok?"

She glanced over, her eyes cold, but her cheeks were clearly flushed.

Gu Huai quickly and obediently shut his mouth.

"Team Leader Cai, please take care."

Then he said it.

"Humph."

On his way home, Gu Huai kept thinking, "Is it really that easy for people to see through my emotions?"
How did they all know? Lin Jiang could see it too, and Cai Yan could see it too. Yet they themselves were so self-satisfied, thinking they had covered it up quite well.

Okay, it really is that easy.

But none of that matters anymore. I quickly got home, finished what I needed to do, and then went to bed.

At a time when many young people haven't even started partying or begun their nightlife, Gu Huai put on the sleep pod he hadn't worn for several days.

Cai Yan is right.

Pretending to be relaxed is useless; appearing normal is just a cover-up.

The real solution is to address it and stop running away from it.

So what is the best solution? For Gu Huai, it is of course to work harder to change himself and change the past.

Welcome to the Perfect Life Simulation System!

[The store has been restocked this week. Would you like to check now?]

……

(End of this chapter)