There’re Always Paranoid Thoughts to Monopolize Me - Chapter 45.1

Song Qingzhuo’s entrance exuded the air of a pampered young master from Sijiu City.

The double doors of the private room were pushed open directly by his bodyguards, with the weak and helpless directing team blocked behind. Song Qingzhuo stepped inside.

At that moment, the latter half of his “Why can’t I enter” fell to the ground with a clang.

The scene was intimidating.

The room fell silent out of respect.

Seeing Second Young Master Song’s pretty-boy face, fragments of scattered memories flashed through Qin Ke’s mind – she had previously felt that the name of the Song family’s second young master was familiar in her past life, and it turned out it wasn’t her imagination, she had indeed seen this person before.

The true pursuit of memory was already a bit blurry. Qin Ke only vaguely remembered that she and the other party had a brief encounter in her previous life.

The timing should have been when Huo Zhonglou hadn’t yet reached the point of insanity, and she hadn’t been imprisoned in that villa of the Huo family. At a certain party in the Huo family’s main residence, this notorious playboy, Second Young Master Song, shamelessly flitted through the ballroom, embracing women left and right like a promiscuous butterfly.

Although Qin Ke wasn’t completely restricted in her freedom at that time, she was already bound by many of Huo Zhonglou’s demands. Apart from watching the young guests frolicking from the second floor, she could only take a stroll in the back garden.

As for the ballroom, that was a forbidden area for her set by Huo Zhonglou. In all those years she had been married into the Huo family, few outsiders had truly seen what this legitimate Mrs. Huo looked like – needless to say, it was naturally Huo Zhonglou’s possessiveness at work.

And in that back garden, Qin Ke happened to encounter Song Qingzhuo.

She didn’t even know what she had done to catch Song Qingzhuo’s attention.

And later…

Qin Ke frowned. Her gaze lowered.

Later, she didn’t know what happened, she only heard the servants gossiping privately, saying that Huo Zhonglou had broken one of Song Qingzhuo’s legs.

All in all, her relationship with this Song Qingzhuo was a genuine ill-fated connection.

Better to avoid if possible.

As Qin Ke was thinking this, Qi Tian in the room had already let out a “surprised” low cry. As if afraid others wouldn’t know about her intimate relationship with Second Young Master Song, Qi Tian stood up and ran over, affectionately hugging Song Qingzhuo’s hand that was tucked into his suit pants pocket, and nuzzled against the man’s arm like a sweet and lovable kitten.

“Second Young Master, why did you come?”

Even her voice was two degrees sweeter than usual.

In the room.

Ling Shuang’s expression grew colder, the disgust in her eyes almost visible; July still had an innocent look in his eyes, as if he was surprised and unaware of the situation before him; as for Gu Yuncheng, he remained silent, his expression and demeanor unchanged.

In the silence, Song Qingzhuo allowed Qi Tian to cling to his arm, smiling with unrestrained charm, “Didn’t I hear that someone dared to snatch my darling’s privilege? So I came to back you up.”

“…”

The room fell into an awkward silence.

The directing team also looked displeased, clearly not expecting Song Qingzhuo to go to such lengths without giving any face.

Qin Ke wasn’t surprised at all. Recalling their encounter in her previous life, she naturally remembered this Second Young Master Song’s reputation in the Sijiu City for being a romantic to the bone, even in death under the peony flowers. For the sake of someone he fancied in his bed, even if just for a moment, it wasn’t strange at all for him to do such things.

Qi Tian, hearing Song Qingzhuo’s words, was absolutely delighted.

But on the surface, she still deliberately acted coy.

“Oh my, after all, it’s a privilege someone earned with their own abilities. Although I was close to solving it too, I can’t say it was mine…”

Song Qingzhuo’s gaze swept across the three people on the sofa.

The corner of his mouth quirked up, with a half-smile, but his eyes were extremely cold.

“Who’s so clever?”

“I heard it’s a top student from a key high school,” Qi Tian said coquettishly, gesturing towards the small blackboard where Qin Ke was standing.

Song Qingzhuo’s gaze fell there.

Then it suddenly paused.

The room suddenly fell silent.

Song Qingzhuo didn’t say a word, so naturally, no one else would open their mouths to invite trouble. However, as he stared at Qin Ke for longer and longer, the smile on Qi Tian’s face became a bit hard to maintain.

She secretly gritted her teeth, beginning to regret texting Song Qingzhuo to come earlier – Song Qingzhuo had been spoiling her too much lately, making her a bit carried away, almost forgetting that she was just one of the countless “playthings” he had handled.

For a girl so clean that even she found a bit stunning at first glance to catch Song Qingzhuo’s eye… it was only too normal.

Just as Qi Tian was feeling anxious, she suddenly heard Song Qingzhuo squint his eyes slightly and chuckle.

“So it’s you who snatched my darling’s privilege?”

“…”

Qi Tian’s heart suddenly relaxed.

It seemed that Song Qingzhuo wasn’t that interested in this Qin Ke after all…

Seeing that this ill-fated connection couldn’t be avoided, Qin Ke could only raise her eyes to meet his gaze.

She glanced lightly at Qi Tian behind Song Qingzhuo, then returned her gaze to the Song family’s second young master.

After a pause of two seconds, Qin Ke pointed to the blackboard beside her.

Beautiful, neat chalk characters were lined up on it.

“This is the poem I solved. As a game reward, that privilege is mine.”

“…..”

Song Qingzhuo’s smile faded.

He looked at the girl before him with slightly dangerous eyes – those clear, pure eyes were like two black gems, so beautiful that one couldn’t look away.

Song Qingzhuo had seen too many women, so he could clearly know the true emotions in the hearts of those who put on various acts in front of him.

For example, right now,

—

The girl’s gaze towards him only held indifferent detachment.

It wasn’t fear.

It was more like an untainted immortal lowering her eyes to look at dirty ants crawling out of the mud.

“!”

Song Qingzhuo felt as if his breath was being choked by some invisible force. His gaze towards the girl grew increasingly dangerous, and his expression darkened.

A girl who carried such unconscious indifference and arrogance in her bones, yet was as clean as an unstained white paper… it only made one want to grasp her tightly in hand or press her down, act willfully and wantonly, and paint her thoroughly.

Song Qingzhuo smiled through gritted teeth.

“What if I insist on getting this privilege?”

“…”

The people from the directing team beside them finally couldn’t bear it anymore.

The young man who was in charge of hosting earlier came forward with a frown and a forced smile, lowering his voice to advise, “Young Master Song, this privilege isn’t really a big deal. Why bother a young student? This little girl just started high school, she’s straightforward, please don’t take offense…”

“Just started high school?”

“Eh—?”

“…” Song Qingzhuo impatiently looked down at the young man from the directing team and asked, “You said she just started high school?”

Young man: “…”

So out of everything I said, you only heard that one thing.

After his internal grumbling, the young man didn’t dare to delay. He quickly nodded with a smile, “Yes. So you see, why don’t you forgive this little girl just this once?”

“Is she the real top student you reported in your budget earlier, the one you said you’d invite from a key high school?”

Young man: “…” Having completely given up on two-way conversation, the young man could only submit to the evil of capitalism, consciously acting as an answering machine. He lowered his head and replied resignedly, “Yes, it’s her.”

After hearing this, Song Qingzhuo’s gaze towards Qin Ke grew even deeper.

After staring for a few seconds, seeing the girl still standing there calmly with lowered eyes, Song Qingzhuo finally couldn’t help but curl his lips again.

He lifted his chin.

“Tell her, I’m definitely taking this privilege.”

The young man frowned. “Young Master Song, isn’t this bullying a child a bit too much?”

“Bullying? You call this bullying?” Song Qingzhuo sneered. “Do you want me to withdraw my funding and let your production team go hungry?”

“……”

Just as the young man from the directing team was in a dilemma, he suddenly heard a faint voice from behind.

“Give it to her.”

“?”

The young man from the directing team turned his gaze in surprise.

The girl who had spoken had already walked to the sofa and sat down again.

“It’s just a right to choose, I don’t really care.”

Her expression as she looked at everyone was as quiet as when they were recording earlier, her eyes also light.

“Do we need to re-record a section of the answering process? I’ll cooperate, let’s continue.”

The young man from the directing team let out a sigh of relief.

Qi Tian’s gaze towards Qin Ke also turned slightly mocking—

What’s with the act of being a proud top student? You still have to submit to privilege in the end.

But just as she finished thinking this, she suddenly felt Qin Ke’s gaze fall on her.

Those clear eyes seemed able to see through the most twisted thoughts in her heart.

After two seconds of eye contact.

Qin Ke smiled faintly. “Don’t misunderstand. I’m not afraid of you, I’m just worried about delaying the recording—I only have a day and a half, I still need to go back to class on Monday. I hope the recording can be completed on time and not affect my studies.”

“…”

Qi Tian’s face turned red, so angry that she couldn’t even maintain her smile.

“Hmm.”

Qin Ke seemed to have thought of something. She had just lowered her head, but now raised her eyes again, her gaze falling on Song Qingzhuo.

“Second Young Master Song is so powerful, I certainly can’t compete. If you find me a hindrance—pay me the breach of contract compensation as per the contract, and I’ll leave immediately, no questions asked.”

After speaking, the girl fell silent, staring at Song Qingzhuo without blinking.

It seemed she was really waiting for him to speak and dismiss her.

Even Qi Tian was full of anticipation, quickly reaching out to secretly tug at Song Qingzhuo’s sleeve.

However, Song Qingzhuo, who was staring intently at Qin Ke, seemed oblivious.

After several tens of seconds, he suddenly smiled.

“I’m not such an arbitrary person, you’ll know in the future.”

He withdrew his arm from Qi Tian’s embrace, gave Qin Ke a deep look, then turned to leave.

“Record well, ‘darling’—I’ll celebrate with you when you’re done.”

The room fell silent.

Before re-recording, everyone slowly returned to normal, except for Ling Shuang, who sat next to Qin Ke and gave her a meaningful look.

—

Whether it was an illusion or not, Song Qingzhuo’s final “darling” had a tone completely different from his previous frivolity.

It was as if… he wasn’t calling Qi Tian, but was directed at someone else.

****

After the midday disturbance passed, they each returned to their rooms to rest for half an hour before being called out again by the directing team’s phone calls.

This time they gathered directly in the car.

The young man from noon was gone, perhaps due to some psychological trauma from the appearance of the financial backer. The afternoon host was changed to Qiao Nan, whom Qin Ke knew.

Recording had already started in the car, so the guests’ emotions were relatively restrained in front of the camera—even Qi Tian didn’t show strong hostility, and Qin Ke naturally couldn’t be bothered to fuss with her.

As soon as Qiao Nan got in the car, she began to explain the rules to everyone.

“The theme of our first episode of ‘Academic Genius Show’ is Chinese literature. All guests must keep this in mind during the later parts of the show—it might help with your final ‘exam submission’.”

“Now, let’s first assign roles to each guest. The specific task details will be given out separately after determining the guests’ identities. First, would the guest who received the privilege at noon please come forward to choose their identity.”

Qiao Nan paused, giving Qin Ke a meaningful look.

As part of the directing team, she had naturally heard about the commotion that occurred at noon. But with the presence of the financial backer, no one could do anything. Qiao Nan only hoped that her little student wouldn’t have any emotional issues.

Fortunately, from what she could see so far, apart from looking a bit low on energy, Qin Ke seemed normal.

Qi Tian had already stepped forward by now.

She showed no shame for snatching Qin Ke’s privilege spot and still maintained that bright smile in front of the camera.

“How should I choose?”

Qiao Nan quickly snapped back to attention, rummaging in her bag and pulling out a container of lots.

Seeing this prop, Qi Tian was stunned for a moment, while July behind her looked crestfallen—

“I’m an atheist, you can’t do this to me.”

Ling Shuang coldly quipped from the side. “They’re not asking you to choose, you don’t have the privilege.”

Qiao Nan spared a glance at July.

Clearly, in this rather rough new team, July was the rookie with the strongest variety show sense, with jokes and gags that would make it easier for the production team to edit in laughs later.

Qi Tian had already started batting her eyes at Qiao Nan.

“Wasn’t it said that my privilege was to choose actively? This doesn’t seem like I have much initiative.”

“Of course it’s active,” Qiao Nan took out five lots from the container, holding them upside down. Each lot had two characters carved on its top. “They draw randomly—while you choose actively.”

Qi Tian curiously leaned forward.

Following the directing team’s cue, she read out what she saw in front of the camera—

“[Sinner].”

“[Blind Person].”

“[God].”

“[Performer].”

“[Fool].”

After reading, Qi Tian looked at Qiao Nan with a bewildered expression. Qiao Nan returned a very innocent look.

“These are the only hints, Qi Tian. You can choose now.”

“…”

Qi Tian agonized over the five lots for a long time before finally choosing the [God] lot.

—After all, among the five lots, this was the only one that seemed like a positive role.

Seeing the lot Qi Tian chose, a hint of amusement flashed in Qiao Nan’s eyes, but it quickly faded. She inserted the remaining four lots back into the container upside down, ensuring the characters were facing down, then turned around and shook it again before turning back.

Qiao Nan smiled at the four people.

“Now, you can come up to choose.”