Chapter 3102: After Divorce, Forced to Compete with My Ex-Husband 32

Steve felt his heart skip a beat, and could only continue speaking.

After that, he kept seeing Chi Mu at various occasions—auctions, private parties—no matter where he went, Chi Mu would always happen to be there. Every time he saw Chi Mu, he would inexplicably feel a strange sensation; his assistant said it was because he liked Chi Mu.

It's just because of this that he talked me into coming on this show. He said he was afraid he'd have no backing here, so he asked me to accompany him.

Steve let out a cold laugh, "Who would have thought? Everyone here is his backing."

Yun Wu lowered his gaze, eyes resting on his own lightly curled fingertips, and asked, "Do you really like him?"

"No." Steve's tone was solemn, his attitude sincere.

Jin Chen finally grew curious, shifted his posture, sat up straight from Chenshu's shoulder, and asked, "Then when did you suddenly realize this?"

Steve's expression suddenly turned indignant, "Starting from discovering that Chi Mu's cooking is truly awful."

The three fell silent again, and Chenshu silently rubbed his forehead.

"Someone as ambitious and refined as me would never like a partner who can't cook." Steve said firmly, "My assistant is just talking nonsense; I've already fired him."

He kept muttering, "But Chi Mu claims to understand me, yet he doesn't know my preferences and always thinks I have a short temper. It's so strange—he keeps saying that, even though I've never been harsh with him."

Jin Chen seemed to sense something.

It's likely that Chi Mu never really got to know anyone; he just took the character settings from the story at face value, slapped labels on everyone, and then dealt with them accordingly, carrying out so-called redemption. In the original work, Steve was set up as a violent-tempered mine owner, so Chi Mu really treated him as someone with a short temper, never bothering to learn his true preferences.

After Steve finished his complaint, Jin Chen leaned against Chenshu's shoulder, lifted his head slightly, and sincerely remarked, "It's great to be rich—you can splurge. Unlike me, I've poured all my savings into making games, so usually I can only mooch off others."

As soon as he said that, Steve stopped complaining about his own situation, and Yun Wu stopped wandering off in thought; they all turned their gaze to Jin Chen.

Steve was genuinely curious, "Your… partner… who lets you mooch and lets you appear on the show—doesn't he have too good a temper? Or did he do something to make up for it?"

Yun Wu also nodded solemnly, staring fixedly at Jin Chen, waiting for him to satisfy his curiosity.

Jin Chen couldn't help laughing, turned his head and buried it in Chenshu's shoulder, his shoulder shaking with laughter.

Chenshu lowered his head to look at the back of Jin Chen's head resting on his shoulder, reached out to pat his back to soothe him, his expression calm but with a hint of helplessness.

Seeing Jin Chen laugh like that, Steve grew more convinced of his guess, then turned to Chenshu and said, "General… you wouldn't also happen to know someone from Jin Chen's family, would you?"

Chenshu replied calmly, "I know."

Steve: "……"

There's someone at home who still dares to flirt openly with the General on the show, and this Imperial General actually knows about it, tacitly approves, and even enjoys it.

Well, well, how brazen.

Chenshu watched his expression change, fell silent for a few breaths, then still spoke up to explain, "I'm the one who took Xiao Chen away to be a child groom."

Steve finally caught his breath, "…… uh!"

Chenshu tried to justify himself, "Back then I didn't think it would become a partnership."

After all, there was an age gap like a chasm; back then he only wanted Jin Chen to have a stable life, never imagining they'd develop a closer relationship in the distant future.

Jin Chen hummed in agreement, lifted his head from his shoulder, and hastily interjected, "But later it was just that I developed a lust for him."

Chenshu smiled and didn't rebut.

It's understandable that a child wants face when out in the world; even though that layer of window paper was pierced by the then-young, hot-headed Jin Chen, who threatened, "If you don't stay with me, you'll have to accept my running away from home, and after that, aside from an adoptive relationship, we'll cut all ties," which frightened Chenshu so much that at that time he'd get up in the middle of the night to check whether Jin Chen had left. But there's no need to go into these details in front of outsiders.

Steve and Yun Wu had just walked out of their shock when they saw Jin Chen as if he'd toggled some controller here, a light curtain appearing in the center of the pure white space.

"I've put together a scenario storyline for you to look at," Jin Chen said.

He also wrote the book's content into the game, sending it to the three of them as an immersive experience.

The original plot of that story just kept flashing through their minds over and over.

Those plot points begin with how Chi Mu entered this world as a transmigrator, then how he met different Children of Fate in various major occasions, and finally how he used the Popularity System to gradually win over those who were originally dark Children of Fate.

The three of them fell silent.

Jin Chen shifted a little and pressed close against Chenshu.

He felt Chenshu's fingers tightening, as if suppressing something; sure enough, after finishing the book, Chenshu emerged from the storyline and a surge of hard-to-describe emotions welled up—anger, residual fear, nausea.

Even though he knew these things could never happen, Xiao Chen hadn't been sponsored by Chi Mu in his studies as in the story, hadn't struggled through hardships, and hadn't taken Chi Mu as his sole white moonlight; yet just thinking that Chi Mu was still sparing no effort to try to "set everything right" made Chenshu unable to resist the urge to tear him apart.

His inner gloom surged upward, his eyes sinking, but Jin Chen suddenly took his hand, peeled open his fingers one by one, pressed his palm against his, their palms meeting. The heavy, sinking emotions, upon touching Jin Chen's warm palm, were instantly swallowed by a soft tremor in his heart.

They held each other like that, neither letting go.

"Xiao Chen……"

"I'm coaxing you, my wife." Jin Chen whispered softly in his ear.

He saw Chenshu's ending in the story—his edges gradually smoothed in Chi Mu's harem—and Chenshu also saw how, after being affected by the storyline, his life would take a completely different turn: the Jin Chen who wasn't snatched up by Chenshu would become a subordinate who obeyed Chi Mu's every word, never even getting a chance to do what he does best—game design.

Jin Chen narrowed his eyes, seeing Steve and Yun Wu still digesting those plot points, not yet fully detached from the immersion.

He turned his head, bit Chenshu's lower lip, gazed deeply into him with those shimmering eyes, and whispered, "None of this will come true—I've already figured out how to kill Chi Mu."

Chenshu's gloom eased a little; unable to resist, he rubbed his lips against Jin Chen's, silently suppressing the turmoil in his heart, his voice low: "I've tried killing Chi Mu. Several times."

"But no matter what I do, he always reappears unharmed the next time; even the potion Yun Wu gave him now is a kind of poison, but it won't take effect that quickly."

Jin Chen tilted his head in doubt, "Is doing that useful?"

"We also suspect that if he can die and come back to life, he must be paying some price." Chenshu then gave him a light kiss, "Otherwise he wouldn't… repeatedly try to seduce me, even though he clearly dislikes me."

"Once Yun Wu's potion takes effect, I'll arrange to lock Chi Mu in the underground prison I've prepared for a year—he won't be able to escape. And the potion's effect will keep him perpetually on the brink of death until his power is exhausted."