TFRLTOP Chapter 13 Part 1

Chapter 13 – The Overbearing CEO’s Little Side Dish 

◎ It blew up, but not completely ◎

The fever had hit her hard, with injections and medicine alternating one after another. Lord Huo Fifth wasn’t worried about catching it—he hadn’t slept in the master bedroom for days, instead squeezing into the smallest guest room with her.

Ming Ming thought: Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if you took me back to the master bedroom… it’s just that this little guest bed is only five feet wide. It’s seriously cramped in here!

Staying cooped up in the tiny room for so long made her restless. When everyone else went out, she checked her temperature—no fever—so she wrapped herself in a thin blanket and decided to go up on deck for some fresh sea air.

The bodyguards were cautious this time. Chen Si had instructed them to treat Miss Chu the way they would treat their master. They couldn’t directly block her, so they went to get permission. Soon, the reply came back: Miss Chu can do whatever she wants. Just don’t let her stay in the wind too long. Keep sharp, and don’t let anything happen.

Sounds simple, but it meant the bodyguards had to keep their eyes and ears everywhere—protect her without getting in her way.

Ming Ming leaned listlessly against the railing, staring at the rippling water, while the bodyguards shadowed her from a distance.

There was barely any wind today, and the waves were calm. Ming Ming thought dully: If only my life could be this smooth too.

That day, she’d been shaken by that drug, which left her especially fragile and unsettled. But now, sober again, she felt like maybe none of it really mattered.

Even if she had been handed off to someone else… well, that was just part of the dirty games of high society. Instead of living in constant fear, maybe it was better to prepare herself mentally in advance.

If she could stay safe by Huo Xiao’s side and make some money, great. If not… then at least don’t let herself end up too miserable.

To be honest, Ming Ming still didn’t understand why fate had given her a second chance at life, only to make her a supporting character who suffered endlessly.

Sometimes she thought—even with this reset, what difference did it make? She was still an orphan, drowning in student loans, destined to scrape by with some barely decent job and spend her life poor and exhausted.

Pretty meaningless.

The more she thought, the more depressed she became. Fresh out of an illness, her head couldn’t handle this spiral—her thoughts turned messy. One moment she felt like there was nothing to look forward to, the next she wondered if she should start learning tricks from those women she’d seen yesterday to please her sugar daddy, and then she thought maybe after things ended, she could just run off to another city—where the male and female leads couldn’t torment her.

“Hey! It really is you.”

A pat landed on her shoulder. She turned and, speak of the devil, it was the same glamorous girls she’d seen in the billiards room that day.

“Why are you still wrapped in a blanket? Aren’t you hot?”

They were wearing bikinis, casually throwing on sunshirts over them. Their makeup was flawless, and faint marks peeked through their skin.

Ming Ming admitted she was warm. Even though she’d just recovered and they were at sea, it was still sweltering August. Wrapped in a blanket, it was easy to break into a sweat.

But there was another reason for the blanket—her body was covered in marks, especially her neck. Compared to theirs, hers were even worse.

Anyone who saw would know exactly what she’d been through.

Yet seeing how little they cared about their own marks, Ming Ming suddenly wondered: Why should I care either?

What really made her different from them?

“I was sick a couple of days ago. Now it’s just a little warm.” She forced a smile, her face pale and makeup-free, still looking weak and sickly.

She slipped off the blanket, folded it in half, and draped it over her arm.

Just like that, her marks were exposed too.

Standing together, whether mistress, kept woman, or an escort, there was no difference.

No difference at all.

She thought.

“You’d better keep it on, though. Getting sunburned is a pain.” The bold beauty helped spread the blanket over her shoulders again, teasing, “Looking that frail—you must’ve played pretty hard, huh?”

She introduced herself as Candy. The other two were Hua Hua and Xiao Mei. After thinking a moment, Ming Ming even gave herself a temporary stage name: A Ning.

Candy nodded toward Hua Hua. “She met a rich kid yesterday. He’s not the rough type. You could give him a try.”

Ming Ming shook her head. “I came with someone.”

“Ah.”

The three of them nodded knowingly.

Xiao Mei said, “I heard there’s a real big shot on this ship. Something happened with that Party on Deck -3—they ticked him off somehow. After day one, they didn’t dare host again. Now everyone’s just eating and drinking in their own rooms.”

“Not throwing parties is for the best,” Candy said with a curl of her lip. “Those things are basically risking your life for money. Once I pay off the debts back home, I’m running far, far away. They drag me into every single one of these damn setups.”

Ming Ming immediately thought of Huo Xiao, recalling how she’d bumped into Ye Weiran that day. No doubt the heroine had been wronged, and the hero had swooped in to save her.

She wondered how far along the two of them were now.

Leaning against the railing, they chatted idly. Then Xiao Mei suddenly asked, “So… how do you girls usually keep your sugar daddies happy?”

That cracked the dam—each of them started sharing tips, trading bizarre stories from the scene. The “theorist” Ming Ming listened, her expressions shifting from curious to shocked, to “wow, I actually learned something.” It was more than a little overwhelming.

Art imitates life, but it sure as hell doesn’t always rise above it.

High society was downright filthy.

“Have you ever had to do it while running a fever?”

“That CEO loves that the most. If he can’t find a girl with a fever, he’ll deliberately make her sick first, then play.”

“Not afraid of catching it?”

“Rich men don’t even care about STDs. You think they’re scared of a cold? If they get sick, they can still live like kings. If we get sick, we’re as good as dead.”

“Ugh, let me tell you—there’s a Mr. Y in S City, don’t ever get tangled with him. He’s sick, and he infects women on purpose.”

“He deserves to rot in hell!”

…

Ming Ming listened thoughtfully. A cold wind hit her, and she started feeling feverish again. She excused herself and went back to her room.

Actually, meeting Ye Weiran on the cruise wasn’t part of the system’s monitored timeline. According to its analysis, the real conflicts were supposed to unfold after school started.

Once classes began, Ming Ming would see Ye Weiran all the time, stirring up the “supporting role sabotage” plot. With her as the go-between, Huo Xiao would naturally get more chances to interact with Ye Weiran.

But unexpectedly, the male and female leads’ reunion had already come early on this cruise.

Ming Ming figured the next transfer of funds from her sponsor might just be a breakup fee.

If it were the heroine who was being kept by the hero, Ming Ming was sure he’d pay her way more than fifty grand a month—there’d be houses and cars included too. But of course, the heroine, full of integrity, would only despise such arrangements.

She was different. For her, it was performance fees plus emotional damages!

Even if the sponsor wasn’t some bald old sugar daddy, there still had to be emotional damage!

Ming Ming (choking up): Yes, I’m greedy.

Who knew if she’d be forced into conflict with Ye Weiran down the road? If Huo Xiao stood up for her then, she’d be the one left suffering.

By noon, her fever was back.

The fever weighed down her mood too. She didn’t tell anyone. She just ate a little, skipped the medicine, and stayed quiet.

That day, Huo Xiao had a meeting with a businessman on board. Afterward, the man invited him to a card game on the second floor, but Huo Xiao declined.

When he returned, the bodyguards reported everything Miss Chu had done and eaten. Huo Xiao thought for a moment, then decided to check on her himself.