In the end, the two of them headed back to school with Yin Mei wondering just what exactly Yao Heyan would do.
And she found out only a couple of weeks later.
As she was browsing the news, she found several articles revealing the identity of the CEO and founder of a new major luxury hotel chain... it was Yao Heyan.
She immediately spit out her coffee, coughing violently as it got all over her tablet. She had to set it down and go looking for a napkin, only recovering after she had cleaned up the mess and downed half a bottle of water.
What, was there something like this in the information? If so, why couldn't she remember it?
She searched the system's information, and like she had thought, there wasn't really anything mentioning it. It was always said in the information that Yao Heyan ran an information guild - he was an intermediary for the buying and selling of information on the black market.
But like she had thought, there was no such thing as some luxury hotel chain. Could it be that he had so quickly founded one since he had talked with her mother? There was no way. It hadn't even been more than half a month since then!
She went through the news articles to find more information. Apparently this luxury hotel chain had been opened up about half a year ago, and business was going extremely well for them. They had mowed down their competitors like a hot knife cutting through butter.
Oh no, now she was imagining a bloody underhanded battle between Yao Heyan and his competitors. There was no way that could have been what actually happened, but why was it that Yin Mei was partially incline to believe it was real?
She wondered what her parents would think of this... But she didn't think it was enough. Luxury hotel chain or not, it still couldn't be compared to marrying into the Rong family, which was an old family that had accumulated decades worth of wealth.
But the next week, and the next week after that, Yin Mei felt that it was a little bit too much.
Every week, it seemed that Yao Heyan released some sort of new news.
He had taken over as a chairman of a longstanding technology company, bringing them to new heights with the release of a new type of VR technology.
He was part of the board committee of a renown pharmaceutical company.
He was a major stockholder of the number one entertainment company, Starry Sky.
And perhaps the scariest thing was that he had bought over a series of mines that the He family sourced their gems from!
In other words, although Yao Heyan hadn't killed off He Lanying's parents, he had taken hostage their main source of business.
Yin Mei wanted to cough up blood. Such a hard stance, did he really think that her parents would agree? Wouldn't this just make them even more reluctant? She guessed that he really did prove himself worthy... but he was also threatening He Lanying's parents.
She wanted to know what the original He Lanying would have thought if she was the one that Yao Heyan had been trying to gain her hand in marriage like this. Well, she also knew that the original He Lanying wouldn't have been interested in him in the first place though.
Well, that was just a what if situation. She didn't know what happened to the soul of the original body once she entered, but she felt that there was no way that He Lanying would be able to come back anyways.
In the end, Yin Mei was told to come back over the weekend by He Lanying's mother, which she expected. After all, their jewelry business was really important to them. Although they had hands in other businesses and they were also in politics, their money mostly came from the jewelry market, which they had a longstanding reputation and status in.
When Yin Mei came back on the weekend, she was immediately met by the scolding of her mother. "Just look and see what a good thing that Yao boy has done! And he wants your hand in marriage? He can forget about it!"
Yin Mei wanted to sigh. See? Didn't she say that this would have the opposite effect? Usually Yao Heyan wouldn't so directly threaten others like this and put on some semblance of appearances, so she wasn't so sure why he had taken this route. Was it that he was simply that angry?
"Ying'er, I told you that boy wasn't any good for you! Just look, he's even threatening our family now! Tell him to immediately back off and break up with him," She said, her voice agitated. Although they could always find a different source of gems, it would be hard. It wasn't easy to find another mine as good as the ones that they were using, and they would have to break their contract, which would cost a fortune - one that they were capable of paying, but not willing to pay.
"Mother," Yin Mei said in an exasperated tone. "If you hadn't said something like that, he wouldn't of had to do this."
He Lanying's mother put on a hurt expression. "You're actually siding with that boy and not your family? Ying'er, I raised you all these years and this is what you repay me with? Do you really love that boy so much? What did he say to seduce you to this point?"
Yin Mei stiffened. She actually didn't know whether her emotions were love... she had never experienced it before, this sort of emotion. But all she did know was that she didn't want to lose it again. She didn't want to experience that again. So she nodded, and after a pause, a sneer surfaced on her face. "I'd rather not end up like you mother," she said cruelly, striking at her mother's weak spot.
He Lanying's mother and father had a political marriage with no emotions of love between them. Of course, He Lanying's father treated her mother with respect and politeness, but they were distant and her father had several lovers outside - though he still had the decency to not father any illegitimate children.
"Ying'er, you..." He Lanying's mother looked truly hurt this time.
Yin Mei was silent, and though she felt a little guilty, she didn't take back her words. Her eyes were cold, and her mother finally noticed.
She bit her lip, before speaking again with a trembling voice. "You'll regret it."
"I'd rather regret being together with him, then regret being apart." Yin Mei answered.
He Lanying's mother closed her eyes, before letting out a deep sigh. "I'll talk to your father... but I can't guarantee anything. Go back to your room to rest for now." She said, before walking away, her back now small and weary.
Yin Mei sighed at the empty foyer, before obediently heading to He Lanying's room. She angrily texted Yao Heyan about what good things he had done, only to be replied with a sad face emoji and then an excited voice message: "So we'll be able to be engaged soon?"
Yin Mei scoffed as she typed back, "In your dreams! Mother is one thing, but father definitely wouldn't agree."
He Lanying's father was prideful, almost to the point of arrogance, and stern. At least, in front of He Lanying and their family. As for those lovers he kept outside, honestly Yin Mei didn't even want to talk about them. She disliked cheating the most. Once they got married, if Yao Heyan cheated, she would see if he still could once she cut off that thing of his.
But she also didn't think Yao Heyan was the type of person to cheat, so she felt slightly reassured.
"Don't worry about that, I've already handled it." Yao Heyan said, and Yin Mei stared at the message for several moments.
Handled it? Handled it?? How? That prideful father of He Lanying's had actually agreed? She tried to imagine the methods that Yao Heyan had used, but it was no good. She kept on imagining violent things. He was a former offender after all. Maybe he had somehow bribed her father? But to bribe him to the point that he would set down his pride would probably have cost quite a bit...
She shook her head, and directly asked him, only to be replied with: "That's a secret." Attached was a smiling wink emoji.
D*mn you Yao Heyan!
She wanted to punch this man in the face. What in the world was that wink emoji? Hadn't his personality completely changed? She didn't know he was capable of making fun of her to this extent...!
But, she also wasn't that interested in what methods he had used. For her, the ends justified the means. Since she was satisfied with the end result, and since Yao Heyan obviously wanted to keep his methods secret, she quieted down. But then she thought that she would let Yao Heyan have a taste of her cooking, and then use that as a way to torture him for teasing her like this.
Haha, she had already discovered just how much power her cooking had in the last world!
There was no way that any mortal would be able to resist it!
Just you wait, Yao Heyan!!
The next day, much to the surprise of upper society, Yao Heyan and He Lanying's engagement was announced. The Rong family didn't come out to say anything, as they had been placated by their son after a long time.
The students of Blue Cross Academy were almost all delighted though, many saying that they had called it and that Yao Heyan x He Lanying had truly been the real OTP all along. The people who had still stubbornly shipped He Lanying with Rong Sheng though were devastated when Yao Heyan and He Lanying became officially canon.
Yin Mei felt really weird about all this though. In her original life, she hadn't even had a single boyfriend even after being in college, while in this life, she was already engaged while still in high school.
But Yao Heyan was clearly happy, a delighted smile on his face the entire time, which made him look like an innocent puppy. Even though he wasn't. Even though he was a sadistic yandere who liked to lock people up and kill people!
Yin Mei tilted her head. Did she make a bad decision?
But alas, it was already too late. And anyways, Yin Mei's morals had already warped so much that after thinking about it for a little while, she thought that it actually wasn't that big of a deal. Didn't he only commit the crimes of kidnapping, imprisonment, murder, and... she proceeded to list several more crimes in her head before stopping. Yeah, it wasn't too terrible.
The important thing was that he still had a bottom line, and the one thing he wouldn't commit was r*pe and drugs.
She nodded in satisfaction.
Her priorities were also a little weird now, it seemed.
But it was true that though at first glance, Yao Heyan seemed like a terrible, terrible human being, he did in fact have a bottom line. For example, even though his main rival had been Rong Sheng, he had never made a move to kill Rong Sheng, because they had been childhood friends from birth. Though their relationship did deteriorate significantly and that said friendship had been broken off in the end...
But anyways, that was a matter of the original storyline. Currently Yao Heyan was engaged with Yin Mei, and Rong Sheng was still currently pursuing Wen Hua more and more.
Hm? Now that Yin Mei thought about it, she had been so caught up in matters with Yao Heyan that she had almost forgot about Rong Sheng and Wen Hua's matters. That's right, the whole hostage situation should be happening soon.
He Lanying even had to check the date to make sure. It was exactly three days away.
What! Since when did it get so close?
She didn't think she would need to make any preparations or anything, but she still had to prepare her heart, her heart!
This was the sort of hostage situation that only happened on TV or the movies!
Maybe she was a little more excited then she should be, but she had epic visions of rescuing them like some badass secret agent.
Of course, Yin Mei knew that this wasn't realistic. Although she had accumulated a decent amount of fight experience from her previous worlds, she was still thinking that it might be a stretch if she wanted to go up against a group of armed terrorists, right?