"Wow, this old guy is so ugly!"

Amidst the noisy chatter, Yuan Zhao looked at the headline of tomorrow’s news on his phone— the championship photo of the Chef Demon tryout, with that old man making a crazy grin and casually showing a V-sign to the camera.

He looked like someone I’d seen somewhere, but whatever, hmph. Although I don’t know how he beat Miss Huaizhi, he must have used some despicable trick.

Just thinking about Miss Huaizhi crying weakly and pitifully right now made Yuan Zhao burn with anxiety, wanting nothing more than to rush to her side and seek justice.

But alas, the situation doesn’t allow it...

Yuan Zhao sighed deeply to the sky, casually kicking away a guy who tried to sneak his hand into his pocket, sending him on a perfect trajectory into an open garbage bin.

As he looked around, he couldn’t help but doubt.

Is this really Yingzhou?

Unlike the pristine scene ordinary people imagine, the streets were littered with garbage that no one cleaned, littered with illegal vendors and flowing sewage.

The walls were covered with messy graffiti. In the distance, he could vaguely hear some dirty kids being chased by angry adults, running while flipping the middle finger and shouting obscenities like "FU@K" that were hard on the ears.

Osaka·Kamasaki District— here is one of the largest hybrid communities in all of Yingzhou, second only to the Tanbo Inner Circle in Kyoto and the Huangquan Slope.

In this lawless area, smuggling, illegal drugs, and the sex industry forces intersect.

"Sister Ye, how much longer do we have to wait—"

He was filled with bitterness and sighed helplessly.

Who knows what this woman is up to.

Chewing bubblegum, with a skateboard in hand, Ye Xueya wore an outrageously baggy T-shirt and wide-legged pants, along with a tattered baseball cap.

At first glance, she looked like a rebellious hip-hop girl who came out of nowhere, with none of the majesty or aura of the new generation leader of Dongxia Genealogy.

But the faint pain in the back of Yuan Zhao’s head always reminded him of the consequences of daring to offend or slip away.

A week ago, upon arriving in Yingzhou, he was eating hotpot and singing in the car, without having the chance to meet the cute two-dimensional ladies, only to get caught right in front of Otaku Street by this woman waiting like a hunter.

"Since you’re here, why not just stick with me, I happen to need a helper."

Saying that, she lifted Yuan Zhao by the collar and dragged him running all over Yingzhou, wandering aimlessly everywhere, throwing random whims and ridiculous requests his way, using him completely as a laboring errand boy.

As a result, he couldn’t go to Nara immediately... By the time Yuan Zhao realized it, he had missed the dream reunion with Miss Huaizhi.

Just thinking about it brought tears to his eyes.

— Why is the road to pursuing true love so bumpy!

Heaven and earth be my witness, he had intended to run away... But once he got 200 meters away from this wicked woman, he was cursed with crazy bad luck. After being hit by a truck no less than eight times within three steps, poor Yuan Zhao had no choice but to give up escaping and remained at the mercy of Ye Xueya.

"Damn... Why is this old man so detestable!"

He stared at the news report with gritted teeth, wishing he could bite down a handkerchief: "I also really want to eat Miss Huaizhi’s food."

Beside him, Ye Xueya glanced at this clueless guy, her eyes almost rolling to the back of her head.

"Xiao Yuan, as regrettable as it is, I have to remind you— that old man can beat you with just one finger eight hundred times over." She rubbed her aching temples, helplessly reminding him: "Also, whatever that woman cooks, just taking one bite would boost the entire village’s GDP.

Most importantly: there’s not a single red string of fate connecting you two, you are completely incompatible, got it?"

"Nonsense!"

Yuan Zhao’s eyes widened, blood boiling: "True love can overcome everything."

"Enough with the lovesick puppy stuff."

Ye Xueya’s eyes almost went skyward.

She spit out her bubblegum, casually rolled it into a ball, and tossed it towards a distant pile of trash: 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Yuan Zhao, unrequited love won’t change the outcome, loving like a puppy only annoys people— you’re young, if only your cousin had beaten some sense into you."

These past few days, Yuan Zhao had pestered her enough, treating her like a street fortune teller, asking her to push his Destiny Disk with the lovely Miss Huaizhi.

Too bad, no matter how she pushed, there were no good results—

Ye Xueya didn’t need to push to see how problematic that Huaizhi SuZi woman was.

Her destiny was eerily troublesome, as if she suddenly jumped out of a stone with no roots or origins, yet the mysterious connections and hidden links were mind-bogglingly complex, with at least sixteen completely different divination results constantly combining and changing.

Typical destiny lock— someone didn’t want Huaizhi SuZi’s fortune to be told, cloaking her fate with dozens of layers of danger-laden fog and curses.

Even so, it wasn’t enough to fully deceive Ye Xueya.

Having learned from the Owner of the Genealogy, Xuan Niao, Ye Xueya’s style was the same as his, never over-relying on details, but rather excelling in viewing the bigger picture.

If it were merely an ’affinity’ issue, there would be no need for unraveling. Just glancing at a couple of positions and trends, she could see that Yuan Zhao had absolutely no chance with her.