CHAPTER 224: CHAPTER 5: FIXED DESTINY_3

...

Data people, data soul, data organization is divine!

Hands-on expert Chu Fa Da barely needed to adjust anything in the program, the spreadsheet clearly recorded all her contributions and expenditures since the start of their relationship.

As a meticulous master, she even listed her acts of caring for her boyfriend, with detailed references to costs from a well-known housekeeping company in Beijing.

All things considered, dating Su Tiankuo astonishingly ended up with him owing her over 200,000 yuan.

——No way around it, housekeeping is a booming industry these days!

This neatly produced electronic spreadsheet, if done by someone more strategic, would have been preceded by some buildup, a bit of suspense, and then a major reveal. That’s the basic tactic to attract attention in the entertainment world.

But for Chu Fa Da, if you can go straight to the point, why bother with unnecessary moves?

Naturally, that spreadsheet was posted in her social circle—

[Love Expenses Overview]

Cut losses promptly, avoid being trapped.

This phrase made many fund bosses from the green disk cry, receiving over 20 likes as soon as it was posted, and then people started clicking on the image for a closer look.

On such and such a day, Valentine’s Day, Su Tiankuo gave a single rose. Worth 10 yuan.

On such and such a day, Su Tiankuo’s birthday, gifted a fitness tracker, worth 249.

...

On such and such a day, Saturday, went to Su Tiankuo’s rented place.

Cost of pork ribs and vegetables about 105.

Round-trip transportation fee 14.

House cleaning, clothes washing. Omitted several items.

...

The level of detail in this spreadsheet was comparable to a bank transaction record, and most frighteningly, there were attached images for bank transaction cross-verification at the back.

Not to mention how shocking it was to the social circle, but in Su Tiankuo’s class group, this picture was being scrutinized line by line, with open discussions, basically trampling his face into the ground.

Zhu Yuwen stood up for his good brother and commented:

[Chu River is way too cunning, if not premeditated, how could she come up with such a detailed expense list? This is clearly setting a trap for Su Tiankuo.]

The group was silent for a while.

After a while, a girl scoffed in rebuttal.

[Whoever is talking must have a guilty conscience? Please use your pea-sized brain to think, this world has Cloud Disk, and there are bank transactions, there’s also chat records, and something called Easy Note...]

These days, if you put in the effort, what can’t be organized?

The class monitor sighed as well.

[Why is someone like this in my class? Just talking about it could make me face discrimination—without even considering those labor expenses, just the material expenditures, Su Tiankuo spent less than 2000 yuan on Little Chu over two years of dating.]

[Good heavens, not counting what’s eaten, not counting emotional and labor contributions, Little Chu spent about 15,000 in total. I remember this girl used to work during holidays back then—how can any man feel okay taking advantage of this?]

Someone else spoke directly—

[Looking at this record, Little Chu is exactly my dream goddess. If feelings could be priced, and a girl treated me like this, I’d hand over my whole salary, let her arrange my pocket money, happiness would be off the charts! Eating takeout pig slop every day is truly enough...]

In the 21st century, young men and women have their own pressures and habits, living resourcefully, being presentable, good cook, pretty, and frugal...

Even girls wouldn’t dislike her!

Having such a sister around, isn’t she a treasure?

Isn’t nibbling a little food with no trouble quite delightful?

...

By the time the topic reached this level, the outcome was already clear.

Su Tiankuo, essentially socially dead.

Zhu Yuwen, lost face.

With two notifications of members exiting the group, even the air in the group seemed cleaner.

Chu River looked at her call intercepts, fully content.

Why talk about feelings with scum?

Isn’t throwing a bill more straightforward?

Phase one—Su Tiankuo is essentially socially dead, achieved.

...

Now, the next step is to prepare in advance for the cheat code.

However, the opening still lies with future minor boss Chen Jingbai.

In the original novel, at this time Chen Jingbai was still finishing the last part of his current book, but preparations for the new book were already done.

Except as a rather lazy author, he accustomed himself to taking a complete break for a few months after finishing then starting anew.

Su Tiankuo in his past life won during this time gap—he didn’t know there was this time gap, but to become a famed author with one book, of course, he picked a well-known work from the Otherworld.

And the work ranking given by the cheat code [Biqu Pavilion], besides the Otherworld, also included the future of the current world.

Chu River sent a message to Chen Jingbai—

[When is your new book going to be published?]

...

Chen Jingbai just finished updating today’s part, seeing readers shout "impossible," he thought about why he updated early, and felt a certain hidden delight—

[This book will probably be finished in the next week, following my previous habit, I’m planning to take a four-month vacation. The new book will be released on October 1st.]

Chu River: ...

Indeed! Pigeons meet no good end! Neither do lazy typists!

Four months, and the greens will have wilted! In your past life, Su Tiankuo surpassed you by 800,000 words!

However, Chen Jingbai waited two minutes without receiving a reply, couldn’t help but send another message:

[Do you want to read my new book? If you’d like, I can—]

Chu River was blunt: [Not really interested.]

Currently she still wanted to play games, spend money on new skins, tease scumbags, watch something thrilling, and earn a bit of money on the side.

Novels... weren’t her top hobby.

Besides, upon knowing Chen Jingbai had connections with Chang Geng, she didn’t even want to talk to him, let alone read his books—reading the plot she couldn’t help associating with Chang Geng’s real ideas...

Too terrifying!

...

The rejection came as fast as a tornado.

On the other end of the phone, Chen Jingbai: ...

Wasn’t he the most popular author of the year?

Wasn’t his work the most anticipated of the year?

Did Bai Lu... become obsolete now?

How could Little He not like him, a bolt from the blue!

Luckily, as an adult man, he knew the basic emotional control, held back his sadness at the moment: "Did you ask about my new book to discuss your own publishing strategy with me?"

Chu River was honest: "I wanted to ask, if your story was plagiarized, what would your reaction be?"

Chen Jingbai was stunned—

"Nowadays the anti-plagiarism law is strict, if there’s a case, the website’s legal department will step in."

Chu River sighed: "If your new book gets plagiarized?"

Chen Jingbai smiled confidently—

[Little He, every author’s writing style and thinking is different, my new book is just an outline, even if someone literally plagiarized the outline, their output would definitely be different from mine.]

[Every author has this kind of confidence. Like when occasionally several authors’ inspirations coincide, using similar settings, but the quality of the outcome determines the success.]

Chu River really wanted to sigh.

See, Chen Jingbai who has some traits of Chang Geng is so clear-headed and capable, yet he is powerless against the overwhelming cheat code!

"What if from now on, every book you write gets completely plagiarized, each story gets prematurely published, what would you do?"

Chen Jingbai was even more puzzled.

[Impossible, Little He.]

[There are countless paths in life, each leading to different outcomes—if my book gets plagiarized, upon discovery, I’ll write another, the state of "every book plagiarized" wouldn’t occur.]

[Inspiration, especially for writing, has no template, it’s always uncontrollable.]

[Unless someone defines my fate, why would I trap myself in such an inescapable quagmire?]

See!

So rational and calm, full of wisdom!

Even without Chang Geng’s characteristics, Chu River admired him very much!

Unfortunately, Chen Jingbai’s fate was already sealed by someone else.