Is my roommate a caged bird? I'm stealing her away.

This sharp question immediately pulled Zhou Suisui back to reality, forcing her to face the bloody future.

She really wanted to answer Xu Yan and tell her.

She, Zhou Suisui, is amazing! She's different from those vulgar women!

But... she knows it's a lie. At least for now.

It all started when Chen Boxu promised her 700,000 yuan a month, when she first tasted the vanity built on money, and when he took her into that high society circle.

She has changed.

If she hadn't been exposed to these things, if she hadn't become Lin Xiao's roommate, if she were still Zhou Suisui.

That ordinary Zhou Suisui!

But could she say these things? Should she say them? Would saying them make her just like those vulgar women?

Her dream was clearly not like this! Did she change, or did her dream change?

Zhou Suisui bit her lip, and with a hint of honesty, squeezed out the answer she didn't want anyone to know: "I...should...shouldn't."

The moment she said it, her heart seemed to stop pounding, she wasn't nervous anymore, and it felt like it was nothing special. Saying the truth wasn't as difficult as she had thought.

"Hmm," Xu Yan smiled, her cold scrutiny fading, "You're quite honest, otherwise I would look down on you."

Seeing that the atmosphere had eased, Liu Weiwei seized the opportunity to say, "Cousin, can you give Sui Sui some advice?"

"After all, Sui Sui is just a little cabbage, completely incomparable to you!"

"Are you saying I'm old?" Xu Yan took a sip of tea and said calmly.

Liu Weiwei quickly explained, "You know perfectly well that's not what I meant."

Xu Yan ignored her, turned to look at Zhou Suisui, and slowly said, "Cheng Fang is no good, you can't outmaneuver him, but you don't have to refuse."

"Not refusing?" Zhou Suisui asked, puzzled.

"Literally, don't refuse." Xu Yan took out a cigarette and lit it: "His mother is your sugar daddy's godmother. With your circles overlapping, you're likely to get hurt."

Before they could ask further, Xu Yan continued, "Don't pin your hopes on Chen Boxu. There's no shortage of young and beautiful women in this world. You might think he's interested in you now. Or…"

She took a drag of her cigarette, exhaled, and said in a hoarse voice, "You think you're beautiful, but it's useless. You'll get tired of it eventually; even a dog on the street will be more attractive than you."

Zhou Suisui's face paled, and she gripped her teacup tightly. Liu Weiwei hadn't expected her cousin to be so blunt.

Xu Yan glanced at Zhou Suisui and scoffed, "Is it hard to accept? Heh, it's all the same."

"Girls only learn to be sensible and know how to cherish men after being betrayed countless times. They'll be unlucky for life." A hint of sadness appeared in Xu Yan's eyes.

"Cousin..." Liu Weiwei looked at her rare vulnerability and wanted to offer a few words of comfort.

Xu Yan gave her a sharp glance, her voice calm: "Shen Xu is fine. He and Chen Boxu don't have much interaction, but it's limited to meals and tea. Anything else—"

Her gaze swept over Zhou Suisui. "You're too easy to see through."

"..." Zhou Suisui couldn't refute it. She used to think she was quite clever, but after meeting Chen Boxu, one after another, they were crushing her little bit of cleverness.

Well, Su Wei is an exception.

"But don't be too nervous, after all—" Xu Yan stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray, a charming smile appearing on her face, "I think he's at least quite fascinated by your body."

Zhou Suisui's face flushed bright red instantly. The feeling was incredibly shameful, the kind of embarrassment one feels when a friend makes fun of you to your face.

Liu Weiwei immediately chimed in, her face showing a clear agreement: "The bathroom... the sofa... you guys are really showing off your skills."

She turned to Zhou Suisui with a mischievous grin: "So, where do you plan to go next time?"

Zhou Suisui dared not speak out against her anger, for her cousin Xu Yan was there, her strategist and powerful confidante, and she dared not be presumptuous in front of her.

Looking at Zhou Suisui's embarrassed appearance, her face flushed like a peach blossom, Xu Yan realized that it was no wonder Chen Boxu liked her.

Knowing when to stop, Liu Weiwei casually mentioned on behalf of her friend, "Cousin, Sui Sui is going to that club next Saturday..."

Zhou Suisui quickly replied, "Um... what do I need to do? Or do I need to learn something?"

"What do you need to learn?" Xu Yan raised an eyebrow.

Zhou Suisui remembered Su Wei saying that bringing Lin Xiao would be more appropriate for this kind of occasion, and whispered, "Should I learn some manners?"

Xu Yan glanced at her and said with a light sneer, "Why?"

"I don't know anything, I want to be presentable," Zhou Suisui said, revealing something that had been troubling her for a long time.

"Ha, respectable?" Xu Yan seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. "Does being respectable cover up the fact that you are a mistress?"

The voice just fell.

Zhou Suisui wanted to say no, it was Chen Boxu who kept saying she was undignified. She felt extremely wronged, and the feeling of being misunderstood made her eyes redden.

Xu Yan stared for a few seconds, her gaze calm: "Crying in front of a man won't work on me."

These words were like a knife, piercing through Zhou Suisui's disguise. She lost control and stammered, "No...it's not for that reason...it was him...it was Chen Boxu who said...I...I'm not as respectable as Lin Xiao."

Xu Yan was confused. She wondered if Chen Boxu was mentally ill. Did he have some kind of psychological problem, that he had to make his mistress respectable?

She looked at the sobbing girl across from her, frowned, and softened her voice slightly: "No need to learn."

When Zhou Suisui heard that she didn't have to study, she was so shocked that she stopped crying. This was the first time someone had given her a different answer on this matter.

Looking at the dazed and fragile Zhou Suisui across from her, Xu Yan continued, "You don't need to deliberately perform, and you don't need to learn those proper etiquette rules."

"You're not a savage. You should know what you should and shouldn't do in normal situations. As for clothes, Chen Boxu will arrange it; that's just the kind of person he is."

"So, should I just stick to my own way?"

"No," Xu Yan shook her head, "You need to make Chen Boxu pay attention to you, or rather, make him unable to resist your body. It's very straightforward, right?"

Zhou Suisui nodded shyly, then immediately lowered her eyes.

"Still so shy," Xu Yan thought to herself. Was she being too bold? She continued, "Judging by his constant mistresses, his desires must be quite strong. I have high hopes for you; try to drain him dry as soon as possible."

After saying that, she didn't look at Zhou Suisui's face, which was flushed red, but turned to look out the window and said slowly, "Make him stand up for you, make an exception for you, and let others think that you are not to be trifled with."

Zhou Suisui felt her head buzzing.

What exactly does Xu Yan mean? Is she not to be trifled with? How exactly does she have to be not to be trifled with? Does she have to put on a stern face? Adopt the same cold and aloof image as Chen Boxu?

She doesn't want to. Just thinking about it is suffocating.

Xu Yan turned her head and immediately saw that she had misunderstood, and might even be having wildly imaginative thoughts. She tapped the table and said clearly, "I'm not asking you to go up and fight five people at once."

"You're made an exception for Chen Boxu. So special that everyone knows he cares about you, and that's how others will fear you."

"It's difficult, isn't it?" Xu Yan curled the corners of her lips into a mysterious smile. "I think you have a chance. Because..."

She stopped talking. She didn't want Zhou Suisui to be affected by her, and she didn't want to let this idiot mistakenly think that the other party was interested in her.

Although she found it interesting, Zhou Suisui might add five or six more interpretations to it. Then she'd become completely engrossed.

Today, when she heard Zhou Suisui slowly recount the facts, she understood that Chen Boxu's heart was not as calm as it appeared on the surface.

She had met this man before, and even had an acquaintance who had been his mistress. She had heard of the coldness in his heart. He might be protective, or he might be domineering.

But he would never do something as foolish as offering candy to a girl. He clearly has a better solution.

---

Zhou Suisui lay on the bed in the hotel room, tossing and turning, repeating Xu Yan's words over and over.

A special existence! How could that be? She simply couldn't do it. The images of how that man usually humiliated her were still vivid in her mind.

Dog man, scumbag, Lin Xiao's father, seven times a night... She constantly came up with new nicknames for him in her mind every day.

Then, she sat up irritably, took out her new phone, and dialed Shen Xu's number.