Been Waiting for You to Escape Marriage for a Long Time

Chapter 10: The Idle Prince

Zhao Yuheng suspected he must be hallucinating from working too late.

Otherwise, why would Shen Shuyi suddenly send him such a strange message in the middle of the night?

When he looked again, the message had already been withdrawn.

Zhao Yuheng: “?”

Curious, he typed back: [How much do you hate me?]

Shen Shuyi: [Zzzzzz……]

Zhao Yuheng: “……”

So that’s how it is—pretend to be asleep when you don’t want to answer?

He stared at the screen for a few seconds, then chuckled.

This Shen Shuyi didn’t seem as cold and untouchable as the media made him out to be.

Sometimes… he was kind of cute?

When Shen Shuyi sent that WeChat message, he had deleted it within seconds. But he didn’t expect Zhao Yuheng to have seen it anyway.

Fortunately, the other person didn’t seem angry.

He’s got a pretty good temper, huh? So tolerant—

Bah! What’s so good about that!

Snapping back to his senses, Shen Shuyi remembered all the things Zhao Yuheng had done to him in that dream—and how he’d destroyed his “relationship” with Kelly.
Unforgivable!

Thinking that, any trace of guilt for cursing at him in the middle of the night vanished instantly.

He was a light sleeper to begin with, and after only three or four hours of sleep, there was no way he could fall back asleep now.

As soon as he unlocked his phone, notifications flooded in from every app—most prominently from Xianyu APP.

When he saw the buyer’s comment, he blinked in surprise.

Someone already wanted to buy the bag? In just a few hours?

As expected of Daddy’s favorite Kelly!

Feeling very pleased with himself, Shen Shuyi nodded—his taste was impeccable, confirmed once again.

Beautiful bags are irresistible, after all!

But when he opened the comments—

He froze.

[LOL, acting pretentious even on Xianyu.]
[I know people sell fakes here, but never thought buyers of fakes could be this bold.]
[…Speechless. Bro, do you even know that only three of that bag exist in all of Asia?]
[Every day I witness new varieties of Xianyu idiot sellers.]
[If you want to brag, go post on Little Red Note, ok?]

???

??????

Shen Shuyi couldn’t believe what he was reading.

A whole line of comments—and all of them were insulting him!

He, the illustrious Young Master Shen, raised with a golden spoon—when had he ever been treated like this?

In his social circle, people only ever flattered him! Never had he been attacked so ruthlessly by strangers online!

In an instant, the calm he’d regained exploded into fury.

He replied to each one:

[Are you crazy? It’s real.]
[Yeah, exactly, there are only three in all of Asia—that’s why I priced it at 1.5 million!]
[Who’s showing off? This is literally just my daily life.]

That last one unleashed a storm.

[666666]
[Not even pretending anymore!]
[Heaven strike the show-off dead!]

Shen Shuyi: “……”

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!”

In the middle of the night, the intern maid sleeping on the first floor woke up in terror.
She hurriedly put on her glasses and rushed out.
“Young Master?! Is it an earthquake?! Young Master?!”

But Butler Lin stopped her calmly at the door, utterly unfazed. “Don’t worry. It’s fine. This is normal.”

The maid: “?”

Really? But the Third Young Master has screamed twice today already…

Unruffled, Butler Lin glanced at his watch. “At this hour, it’s usually because the young master lost an argument with netizens online.”

The maid: “?!”

Butler Lin patted her shoulder kindly. “You’re still young. You’ll get used to it once you’ve worked here longer.”

The maid, pale: “…O-okay!”

Shen Shuyi was so furious he immediately uninstalled Xianyu.

The next morning, Shen Shuyi didn’t wake up until ten.

He was awakened by the constant dinging of his phone.

Already in a foul mood from lack of sleep, he became even grumpier.

When the spoiled young master got angry, no one could calm him down.

He opened WeChat, intending to grab some unlucky soul from his chat list and yell at them—

But when he saw the most recent message, he froze.

Lu Zhiwei: [Damn, BB, you’re on the Hong Kong tabloids’ front page again?!]

Shen Shuyi: “…?”

He hadn’t attended any fashion shows or jewelry exhibitions lately—how could he be on the headlines?

A bad premonition hit him. He tapped the link.

Huge flashy headlines filled the screen:

“Shen Family Scandal! Third Young Master Forced to Sell Bags for Cash?! Did His Brothers Win the Inheritance Fight?”
“From Heir to Hustler: Third Young Master Shen Becomes Xianyu Influencer! Netizens ask: What’s next, a livestream selling the family mansion?”
“Hilarious! Third Young Master Shen Reduced to Selling Bags for a Living—Netizens Comment: Should’ve snatched more Hermès when you had the chance!”
“Tragic Song of the Rich: Third Young Master Becomes the ‘Salted Fish Prince!’”

…Salted Fish Prince?!

Shen Shuyi’s vision went black. He nearly stopped breathing.

Calm down. Calm down.

Deep breaths—yes, deep breaths—

He patted his chest to steady himself.

Fighting down his anger, he scrolled through more headlines.

Seriously? Didn’t those Hong Kong paparazzi have anything better to do? They stalked him 24/7! He’d already uninstalled Xianyu last night!

And what was this nonsense—

“Selling bags to raise emergency funds”?
“Livestreaming the family mansion”?

Utter fabrication! Infuriating!

He was just about to call some friendly media contacts to demand those reports be taken down when his phone rang—

It was Shen Lu.

Shen Shuyi: “…”

Answer, or not?

After one “beep,” he sighed and pressed the call button.

Shen Lu: “Shen Shuyi!!”

Shen Shuyi: “Hello, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable—press 1 to leave a voicemail.”

Shen Lu: chuckling in fury “Your Mandarin’s great, huh? No wonder you’re so good at using mainland apps! Does the Shen family starve you now? You’ve fallen so low you’re selling bags on secondhand sites?!”

Shen Shuyi: “….”

Heh. Well, you do starve me.

Reinstate my credit cards. Now. Immediately. THIS INSTANT.

Shen Lu took several sips of tea to suppress his temper, both helpless and amused.

He’d just heard about it while playing golf—his business partners were joking about Shen Shuyi selling bags online. If not for that, he’d still be in the dark.

Shen Lu, calmly, “You stay up at night just to make trouble for me?”

Shen Shuyi, defensive, “How am I making trouble? I didn’t even want that bag. I sold it, that’s all.”

Shen Lu, “Really?”

Shen Shuyi, stone-faced, “Of course!”

Of course, it was a lie.

Getting scolded for selling a bag was one thing—but if Shen Lu found out he was selling family property just to brush off Zhao Yuheng, he’d do a lot worse than scold him.

Honestly, Shen Shuyi didn’t get it—

If his brother wanted this arranged marriage so badly, why didn’t he marry Zhao Yuheng himself? 🙂

Shen Lu: “You used to just dump the things you didn’t like in the closet to gather dust. Why bother selling this one?”

Shen Shuyi, righteously, “I just thought wasting them was wrong!”

Seeing his opening, Shen Shuyi immediately launched into flattery mode—like a cat purring for treats.

“Brother, you just took over the Shen Group, right? I was worried those old board members might bully you. See how thoughtful I am? Trying to save you money, not cause you trouble—so you can focus on fighting for the inheritance!”

Shen Lu, smirking, “And what inheritance would I be fighting for—just to let a certain someone spend it all?”

That stung. Shen Shuyi pouted.

Then again, his brother wasn’t wrong. Shen Lu was single, no wife, no kids. Everything he earned—really was for him to spend.

And Shen Shuyi could spend enough for ten people.

Hong Kong media had once joked that if he kept it up, Shen Lu would have to start earning ghost money in the afterlife just to keep up.

Damn it! So mean!

Just as he was about to change the subject and ask his brother to unblock his bank card—

Shen Lu: “Alright. You’re old enough to know your actions reflect on the whole Shen family. Stop arguing with random netizens online.”

Shen Shuyi: “? I wasn’t arguing! They were the ones insulting me—I was just defending myself!”

He was about to protest when Shen Lu cut him off:

“I had a 16-carat pink diamond bought for you at Christie’s. I don’t know much about that stuff, but didn’t you say you needed a brooch stone? I’ll have Uncle Lin pick it up from the Peninsula and deliver it to Shallow Bay tonight.”

Shen Shuyi: “….”

…16 carats.

That’s twenty-four million yuan.

Instantly, Shen Shuyi forgot everything he’d planned to say. His voice turned sweet and syrupy:

“Thank you, brother~ I love it! I’ll never forget your kindness!”

Shen Lu chuckled. He was long used to these lightning-fast mood swings. Then, his tone turned serious again:

“Little Shu, your top priority now is your marriage. I won’t pressure you too much, but don’t forget to spend time with that Zhao boy. Build some feelings.”

Shen Shuyi: “Okay, no problem.”

With a 24-million-yuan diamond coming his way, suddenly everything in life felt manageable.

After hanging up, Shen Shuyi felt refreshed and upbeat.

He immediately opened WeChat and messaged Zhao Yuheng:

[Where are you?]

Zhao Yuheng replied almost instantly—probably not working today: [At school.]

Shen Shuyi: [Send me the address.]

Zhao Yuheng: [?]
[What are you doing?]

Shen Shuyi: [Building our relationship.]

Zhao Yuheng: […?]

There was a long silence.

After about a minute, Zhao Yuheng finally replied: [What relationship? You hate me?]

Oh.

So Mr. Zhao still remembered last night, huh?

But that was last time!

Now there’s a 20-million pink diamond shining bright—how could he stay mad?

Grinning at the thought, Shen Shuyi’s reply was light and sweet:

[Of course not.]
[Right now, I love you very much ^ ^]

Author’s Note:
Poor Zhao Yuheng just left the beginner’s village and immediately ran into a top-tier succubus.

Zhao Yuheng’s POV: “…Does this rich pretty boy actually like me?” (deep contemplation)

Also—Shuyi baby, do you love Zhao Yuheng more or the pink diamond more…?
At this rate, Zhao Yuheng’s about to lose his real name and become “Diamond Bro.” ?