The weather was hot, the traffic was jammed, the taxi was old, and the air conditioner wasn’t performing well. Yan Xixi sat in the front passenger seat, sweat beading on her forehead.

She took out her phone, and the screen kept lighting up with countless messages.

She was taken aback; she was sure she had uninstalled the app. That sneaky Wan Donglin! He must have tampered with her phone, even going so far as to reinstall the messaging app and add himself.

She checked her contacts list. It was still there but was eerily silent. As she scrolled through, she was incredulous. Her friends were all still there, but their permissions had all been restricted, practically putting them on a blacklist! Only "Pro Foot Scratcher" was active, his messages popping up constantly.

She glared resentfully at the messaging app. That inconsiderate guy! Always secretly messing with my phone. I have no privacy left at all!

"Miss, I miss you, come home soon..."

"A female friend sent me a message: ’I’m tired. Let’s reduce our contact from now on.’ I replied: ’Babe, I haven’t spoken to you in almost a year, have I?’ The reply came back: ’That’s good. I’m her husband. I’m screening her contacts one by one...’"

Yan Xixi laughed aloud.

That jerk.

"The Ming Dynasty county magistrate Mao Yujian was promoted to Imperial Censor and transferred to the capital. Mao Yujian secretly married a mistress in the capital. He was in the midst of a passionate affair when his wife suddenly broke into the house. She beat his mistress and punished Mao Yujian by making him kneel all night. Afterwards, his wife said, ’I came to the capital using the government’s post road.’ Enraged, Mao Yujian petitioned to abolish the post roads. As a result, a post station worker named Li Zicheng lost his job, started causing trouble, and ultimately led to the collapse of the Ming Dynasty... The affairs of a mistress can affect the fate of a nation. This, too, is called the butterfly effect."

Unable to tolerate it any longer, she sent him a fire-breathing dragon emoji with the message: "Good, you better understand. And don’t you dare have a mistress, ever!"

"Miss, don’t be so harsh. I like your gentle, charmingly feminine side."

She scoffed. "That’s how men are. If you’re independent, capable, financially self-sufficient, and rely on yourself for everything, he thinks you’re too much of a ’tough woman’ and lack feminine charm. If you’re the ’clinging vine’ type, acting cute and coquettish, he thinks you’re like a parasite, overly sentimental and dependent, as if you can’t live without him, and he’ll get annoyed with you for that too."

Wan Donglin laughed heartily.

There it is, she finally said it, he thought. This really is her biggest hang-up. But a problem spoken aloud isn’t a terminal illness—it’s the ones kept hidden that fester and become critical.

He was delighted and teased her, "Miss, can’t a woman be both independent and self-reliant, as well as gentle and charmingly feminine?"

"Sorry, there aren’t any perfect fairies in this world. Even if there were, you’re no celestial boy fit to be her match."

"Nonsense. Fairies don’t get paired with celestial boys."

"Oh really? If not celestial boys, then they get paired with losers instead?"

"Didn’t the Seventh Fairy fall for Dong Yong? Dong Yong was just a nobody. Am I worse than Dong Yong?"

She was so angry she almost spat blood on her phone.

"Enough! After getting with Dong Yong, the Seventh Fairy also became plain, plump, and rustic. You can’t possibly believe that a stout woman, one who could carry two children on a shoulder pole and still run like the wind, could also be romantic and sentimental, with a slender waist and full hips, exuding the aura of an artsy, cultured young woman, can you?"

Wan Donglin fell silent. Spinning and weaving, simple food, cutting grass to feed the pigs... indeed, the Seventh Fairy would have become just another village girl, he mused.

"I refuse to believe there isn’t a way to have the best of both worlds in this world." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Go on, keep your fantasies alive. That ’best of both worlds’ will surely be waiting for you."

"Haha, Miss, what do you want to eat tonight?"

What a sudden change in topic!

"Not hungry."

"How can you not eat? I made your favorite food tonight..."

"Who are you fooling? You can cook? Pigs must be flying!"

"What makes you think I can’t cook? If you don’t believe me, come home right now and see. I swear I made it with my own hands... Come on, little treasure, hurry into my bowl..."

(That’s all for today, hehe.)