Shen Che kept his hand away from the doorknob.
He did not answer Gu Lin either.
There were too many eyes on this scene already. If he spoke too quickly, he would only hand the initiative to someone else.
Lin Nanyue was still looking at him. A few minutes ago, there had only been anger in her face. Now there was something colder and more troublesome. She was studying him.
That was the last thing Shen Che wanted.
Outside the door, Gu Lin called again, this time more firmly. "Miss Lin?"
The system interface still hovered in front of Shen Che.
[Option 1: Return to original villain route. Provoke male lead.]
[Option 2: Continue deviation. Avoid open conflict.]
[Option 3: Use current misunderstanding to drag male lead into an off-script scenario.]
Shen Che looked at the three choices and made his decision almost immediately.
Option 1 was just suicide with better formatting.
Option 2 sounded safe, which usually meant it would kill him in a more creative way.
That left Option 3.
"Selected," he said in his head.
[Choice confirmed.]
[Warning: chain deviation may increase.]
Lin Nanyue said, "You know who's outside."
It was not a question.
Shen Che gave her a careful smile. "Miss Lin, a lot of people know who's outside. He wasn't exactly subtle."
Her eyes narrowed slightly. "You also know what he's supposed to do next."
So she had heard that too.
Very good. Very encouraging.
The doorknob moved.
Shen Che lowered his voice. "If you want answers, give me one minute and don't interrupt."
Lin Nanyue did not agree.
She also did not object.
That was enough.
Shen Che stepped over and opened the door himself.
Gu Lin stood outside in a black shirt with the sleeves rolled once at the wrist. He looked clean, composed, and dependable in the deeply irritating way male leads always did. His gaze passed over Shen Che and went straight into the room.
"What happened?"
The people who had just been pushed out had not gone far. Others in the corridor had noticed the tension and drifted closer. Nobody was openly watching, of course. They were only standing nearby with the full commitment of people who intended to miss nothing.
A public stage had formed again.
In the original plot, Shen Che was supposed to block the door, talk big, and give Gu Lin a perfect excuse to act. Gu Lin would step in, protect Lin Nanyue, and walk away with his reputation polished another degree.
Shen Che had no intention of playing supporting cast in his own funeral.
He stepped aside and said, "Nothing serious. I behaved badly after drinking. I've already apologized to Miss Lin, and I was just about to leave."
The effect was immediate.
Gu Lin looked at him.
The people in the corridor looked at him.
Lin Nanyue looked at him.
That sentence should not have come out of Shen Che's mouth. Everyone here knew that.
Gu Lin's brows drew together. "You apologized?"
"I did," Shen Che said. "I was out of line."
The corridor quieted further.
A young master near the wall shifted awkwardly, as if he had prepared himself for a better show and no longer knew where to put his expression.
Lin Nanyue said nothing, but Shen Che could feel her attention sharpen.
She understood what he was doing.
He was breaking the scene in public.
If he admitted fault first, kept his tone normal, and refused to fight, Gu Lin would lose the clean opening the plot had arranged for him.
The system gave a soft chime.
[Plot node distorted.]
[Original public conflict failed to establish.]
[Gu Lin attention level increased.]
Good.
If the male lead was uncomfortable, then tonight had not been a total loss.
Gu Lin turned to Lin Nanyue. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she said. Then she added, "He did apologize."
That made the atmosphere even stranger.
The righteous momentum in the corridor loosened. A few people exchanged uncertain looks. A scene that should have been simple had become difficult to read, and people were never comfortable when they could not tell who was winning.
Gu Lin's expression remained controlled, but Shen Che could see the pause behind it. He had arrived ready to solve a problem. Now the problem was no longer in a form that let him solve it cleanly.
Gu Lin looked back at Shen Che. "Since you know you were wrong, leave."
There it was.
Short. Upright. Reasonable.
Very male lead.
Shen Che kept his face calm. "That was the plan."
Then he looked at Lin Nanyue and said, "Miss Lin, I was out of line tonight. I'm apologizing again before I go."
The words were plain, which was exactly why they landed.
A drunk rich heir acting shameless was normal.
A drunk rich heir apologizing twice in front of witnesses was not.
The people around them were looking at him differently now. Some were suspicious. Some were confused. One or two looked genuinely unsettled, as if they were witnessing a familiar machine produce the wrong sound.
Gu Lin studied him more carefully.
That was another problem for later.
Then Lin Nanyue said, "And after that?"
Shen Che understood the question immediately.
She was not talking about the apology.
She was dragging the conversation back to what she had heard in the room.
Gu Lin noticed the shift at once. His gaze moved between them. "After what?"
Lin Nanyue ignored him. She kept looking at Shen Che.
The corridor grew still.
Shen Che knew exactly what kind of moment this was. It looked quiet from the outside, but it was full of traps. If he dodged too obviously, Gu Lin would notice. If he answered badly, Lin Nanyue would keep digging in front of everyone.
The system flashed again.
[Temporary mission triggered.]
[Mission: survive double-line confrontation.]
[Requirement: redirect public focus within thirty seconds.]
[Failure penalty: heroine suspicion +10, male lead hostility +10.]
Shen Che cursed inwardly and answered at once.
"After that, I was going to have your birthday gift sent over tomorrow. Tonight is obviously not the right time."
For the first time since Gu Lin appeared, real surprise showed in Lin Nanyue's eyes.
It was slight, but Shen Che caught it.
The line worked for a simple reason. He had taken a dangerous question and folded it into ordinary social etiquette. To anyone else listening, it sounded perfectly normal.
The tension in the corridor eased by a fraction.
Gu Lin's attention shifted with it.
Good.
Shen Che continued, "I'll send it to your office in the morning. If you don't want it, throw it away."
[Public focus redirected.]
[Mission complete.]
Lin Nanyue watched him for two quiet seconds and said, "What gift?"
Shen Che nearly laughed from disbelief.
She was doing this on purpose.
He had only used the gift as a patch for the conversation. He had no idea what the original Shen Che had prepared. Given the old Shen Che's taste, it was probably expensive, vulgar, and impossible to defend.
Lin Nanyue repeated, "What gift?"
The people nearby were interested again.
Shen Che searched the original owner's memory and found the answer just in time.
A velvet box.
A diamond bracelet.
Limited edition.
Eight hundred and eighty-eight thousand.
He almost developed a headache on the spot.
"A bracelet," he said.
"What kind?"
"A very expensive one."
Someone near the back failed to hide a laugh.
Shen Che ignored it. He was beyond shame already.
Lin Nanyue's lips curved slightly. It was not a smile so much as a sign that she found this unexpectedly interesting. "And now?"
"Now I think it was a bad choice," Shen Che said. "It's too showy." He paused, then added, "I bought it with very bad judgment."
The corridor went quiet again.
This time the silence had weight to it.
He had not tried to save face. He had not pushed the gift harder. He had looked at his own failed setup and admitted it was tasteless.
People did not know what to do with that.
Even Gu Lin had gone thoughtful.
Shen Che disliked that immediately.
A male lead paying too much attention was rarely good news.
Then Lin Nanyue said, "Bring it tomorrow."
Shen Che looked at her.
Gu Lin looked at her too.
So did everyone else.
Her expression remained calm. "Since you bought it, let me see how bad your judgment really is."
The system practically screamed.
[Major deviation detected.]
[Original route correction failed.]
[Lin Nanyue route updated: active observation -> intentional contact.]
[Deviation rate: 37%.]
Shen Che felt his heartbeat stumble.
This was getting out of hand much faster than he liked.
Gu Lin finally spoke. "Nanyue."
His tone was calm, but there was real pressure under it now.
For the first time that night, Shen Che almost felt a sense of solidarity with him. At least someone else had noticed the problem.
Lin Nanyue turned her eyes to Gu Lin. "Is something wrong?"
It was an ordinary sentence, but it left him very little room.
He could not object without sounding odd. He could not press Shen Che without seeming unreasonable, not after Shen Che had already admitted fault twice in front of everyone.
The clean position the plot had prepared for him was gone.
That was enough for Shen Che.
Not a win.
He was not stupid enough to call it that.
But it was breathing room, and breathing room was valuable.
Gu Lin held Lin Nanyue's gaze for a moment before looking back at Shen Che. "Since Miss Lin is finished here, don't cause trouble again."
Shen Che nodded. "I'll do my best."
That answer was safe enough. He was learning.
He did not intend to stand there any longer than necessary.
"Good night," he said.
This time, no one stopped him.
He walked through the corridor under a collection of complicated looks and kept going until he reached the elevator alone.
When the doors closed, the silence felt almost unreal.
Shen Che let out a long breath and leaned back against the wall.
"System," he said in his head, "explain why Lin Nanyue wants to see the bracelet tomorrow."
[Current analysis: target has classified host as unstable variable.]
"That is not analysis," Shen Che said. "That is a corporate summary written by someone trying not to take responsibility."
The system ignored him.
[Settlement complete.]
[Reward issued: Survival Points +50.]
[Skill acquired: Intermediate Expression Management.]
[Warning: Gu Lin attention level remains high.]
[Warning: tomorrow's contact with Lin Nanyue is now mandatory.]
Mandatory.
What a cursed word.
By the time he reached the underground parking level, his mood had not improved.
His driver was already waiting beside the car. Before the man could open the door, Shen Che's phone vibrated.
He glanced down and saw a message from an unfamiliar number.
You know too much. Come alone tomorrow.
Shen Che stopped walking.
The driver looked at him. "Young Master Shen?"
A second message arrived before he could answer.
Bring the bracelet. Don't tell anyone.
There was no signature.
There did not need to be one.
At the same moment, the system sent a new notification.
[New branch confirmed.]
[Heroine secret-contact route activated.]
[Please continue surviving.]
Shen Che looked at the screen and felt a chill creep up his back.
In the original novel, Lin Nanyue had never contacted him privately.
Not once.
That meant tomorrow was no longer part of the plot he knew.
And whatever was waiting for him at the end of this new route, it would not be something he could prepare for the usual way.