Chapter 22: Shen Yan’s Refusal to Marry Off, Except for Chi Yu

The next day, as Chi Yu was carried along in Shen Yanzhi’s pocket to his company, she felt invigorated and brimming with joy.

Last night, her phone had gained 1,180% in battery charge. In other words, that sleep had increased her remaining balance of human-form time by 11.8 minutes! Since the days she had first transmigrated into Shen Yanzhi’s phone, she had only managed to cautiously hoard 10.7 minutes; reaping 11.8 minutes in a single night was, without exaggeration, like striking it rich overnight.

Upon arriving at the office, Shen Yanzhi placed Chi Yu on the desk as usual. Although she craved the battery charge she gained from physical contact with him, she knew that too much of a good thing could be counterproductive; if she were too deliberate in seeking such contact, it might arouse his suspicion. Furthermore, her time spent on the desk was far from unbearable. Shen Yanzhi’s office was a private one; aside from Assistant Chen and other high-level executives occasionally entering to report on business, no one else ever came in.

Shen Yanzhi was quite tolerant of Chi Yu. As long as she didn't make noise that interfered with his work, he didn't care at all what she did on his phone. Under the guise of boredom, Chi Yu openly downloaded TikTok right under his nose. To avoid alerting him, she didn't search for Chen Jiazhi’s account, choosing instead to scroll through the videos recommended on the home feed.

Shen Yanzhi looked up from his documents to see this "phone spirit" browsing short videos. He watched silently for a few seconds before lowering his head to immerse himself in his work once more.

After scrolling for over ten minutes, Chi Yu finally came across a video about Chen Jiazhi. The story of the "richest man's daughter being found" had been making waves online recently. After Chen Jiazhi and the Su Group personally confirmed the news, netizens were both excitedly gossiping and keeping a close eye on her life as an heiress. For days, countless media outlets and entertainment accounts had been churning out videos about her, and this was one of them.

Chi Yu skillfully tapped into the comments section, then followed the "Chen Jiazhi" tag automatically recommended by the app to reach her profile. Ever since seeing Chen Jiazhi in that private room at Jinhuang Entertainment, Chi Yu had visited her page every single day—not for any other reason than to see if the murderer who had pushed her into the sea had dropped dead yet. Clearly, today was another day of disappointment.

Chen Jiazhi had updated her feed early that morning with a video of herself jogging outside her villa. The comments section was as lively as ever, filled almost entirely with praise. After browsing for a while, Chi Yu exited the app.

She stared silently at Chen Jiazhi’s profile. Her updates had been frequent lately, mostly sharing her daily life as an heiress. She posted at least once a day, sometimes two or three times, and would occasionally appear in the comments section to reply to netizens, trying to make herself seem more grounded.

When they were still friends, Chen Jiazhi had told Jiang Ning more than once that her greatest dream was to become a social media influencer. She had tried hard for it back then, but her content never gained traction, and after several failed attempts to grow an account, she had been forced to give up. Now, thanks to her change in status, she had leaped into becoming an influencer with over a million followers. It was easy to see from her recent videos that she was silently crafting a positive, upbeat image for herself.

Chi Yu looked at the 1.61 million followers on Chen Jiazhi’s profile and the bustling comments section, feeling entirely calm. Even if she were the daughter of the richest man, even if she had millions of fans, it could not change the fact that she was a murderess. In Chi Yu’s eyes, Chen Jiazhi was like an apple that had already rotted from the inside; no matter how thick the layer of wax coating it, the grey-green mold would eventually burst forth from the core. From the outside, it looked shiny and beautiful, but once sliced open, the decay within would be plain for all to see.

...

Chen Jiazhi had no idea that her secret as a "rotten apple" had been exposed. Ever since she saw Shen Yanzhi at Jinhuang Entertainment, his handsome face and tall, upright figure had been flashing through her mind from time to time. If, at first, she had only wanted to make Shen Yanzhi her boyfriend because he was the fiancé of the "previous" Chi Yu, the persistent longing over the past few days made her realize that she had truly fallen for this man at first sight.

Although Su Muyang had explicitly told her over the phone that day not to set her sights on Shen Yanzhi—explaining that he was different from other men, that he was neither lecherous nor greedy, but rather indifferent and detached, and that not even the Su family’s extravagant dowry could tempt him into a marriage alliance—Chen Jiazhi had vehemently rejected those words in her heart. She remembered clearly: in her previous life, Chi Yu had been engaged to Shen Yanzhi!

A man as outstanding as Shen Yanzhi—if it wasn't a business marriage, could he really have loved a woman like Chi Yu, who grew up in an orphanage? Chen Jiazhi didn't believe it for a second. If Chi Yu could use the status of a Su family heiress to secure a marriage with Shen Yanzhi in her past life, then she certainly could too!

Consequently, the very next day, Chen Jiazhi brought the matter up to her parents. She stated her feelings for Shen Yanzhi bluntly, telling them she wanted to marry him and was even willing to "sacrifice" herself, provided they could arrange the union. She thought they would surely grant her request; after all, in the days since she returned, they had been indulgent toward her every whim. Whenever she said she had no money, they would transfer millions without a second thought, never asking how she spent it, only caring if she was happy. It was clear how much guilt and love they felt for their long-lost daughter.

To her surprise, after hearing her out, her father remained silent, while her mother hesitated before tactfully saying that the Su family did not need a marriage alliance, nor did the Shen family. This enraged Chen Jiazhi. If Chi Yu could manage a business marriage in her past life, why couldn't she? Was it because she wasn't as pretty as Chi Yu, so they were stingy with their resources? It was simply too insulting!

Don't think she didn't know that these noble families loved business alliances above all else. The Su family and the Shen family—one the richest in the city, the other a rising star in technology—how could they not want to form an alliance? It was just as she feared: they weren't her real parents, so they would never treat her as well as they had treated Chi Yu in the past.

Suppressing her anger, Chen Jiazhi feigned sadness and managed to squeeze two million out of them, claiming she was too distressed and needed to go out and unwind with her new socialite friends.

In recent days, Chen Jiazhi had indeed been going out to socialize with Gu Mingyue and other young heiresses. However, she hadn't decided to give up on Shen Yanzhi; instead, she was using these outings as a pretext to subtly fish for information about him. She would absolutely not give up on this marriage! What Chi Yu could do in her past life, she would surely accomplish as well!