Chapter 7: Being Rich and Willful

"I say, Lulu, you spent a hundred yuan on a single sketch—do you just have too much money and nowhere to throw it? Being rich makes you so willful, huh?"

"And it's an artistic signature too!"

"You have the nerve to say that? You can find tons of artistic signature designs online for five yuan a pop."

"Those cheap ones sold online look like chicken scratch. I just like this one; it recognizes my name and it looks beautiful. Look at the photo I took of the sketch—don't you think they drew me really well? You have no idea, the girl who drew me looked at me afterward with such a gentle, doting gaze and said, 'I'm drawing the you that exists in my eyes.' Oh my god, I got goosebumps right then and there. It was so incredibly dreamy, don't you think?"

"I can't even be bothered to argue with you. Anyway, if you run out of money, you can just ask your family. I'm done talking to you; the supervisor is coming, I have to get to work. I don't have a blessed life like yours."

Liu Lulu pouted, pulling the phone away from her ear and muttering, "You make it sound like my parents' money just blows in with the wind. I'm not spending it recklessly; I think this is very worth it." She looked at the sketch in her hand, feeling more and more satisfied the longer she stared.

"Can I take a look at the drawing in your hand?" A low, magnetic voice suddenly came from beside her.

Liu Lulu jumped in surprise, only then realizing there were two men standing next to her. The sturdier one had a resolute face and looked to be in his early thirties; he was wearing a black T-shirt and deep blue jeans, and the muscles exposed on his arms were solid, making him look exceptionally manly. The other one looked...

Her gaze had only just begun to wander when she was caught red-handed. The man didn't look angry, but he felt even more intimidating than her father when he was angry. She didn't dare look any longer, averting her eyes and obediently handing over the paper in her hand.

*Ding!* The elevator doors opened.

"I'm getting in the elevator." Taking the opportunity of the conversation, Liu Lulu looked at the man beside her. The face looking down at the drawing was excessively calm, his long eyelashes obscuring the eyes that were the only way to reveal emotion.

Wow, so handsome!

As for exactly how he was handsome, Liu Lulu couldn't quite put her finger on it. His looks weren't the perfectly sculpted face of a celebrity, but he was just inherently handsome, and quite tall. His build wasn't as massive as the muscular man next to him, but he wasn't thin either.

"Where is the person who drew this?" The man raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping toward Liu Lulu, his expression turning a bit more serious.

"By the large flowerbed at Baihua Square." Staring into that chilling gaze, Liu Lulu answered honestly and immediately.

The man turned and walked out. Seeing the paper clutched in the hand hanging at the man's side, Liu Lulu realized her belongings were still in his possession. She hurriedly chased after him, shouting, "My drawing—"

The man stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Liu Lulu. That gaze was like a sharp sword, instantly shattering her courage to demand her things back.

"How much? I'll compensate you."

"I... I don't want money..."

While Liu Lulu was speaking, the muscular man following the man had already received instructions; he pulled a stack of banknotes, estimated to be worth over a thousand yuan, from his wallet and handed them to her.

"No, I..."

Another stack.

"Not enough?" The man uttered the two words nonchalantly.

Liu Lulu silently shut her mouth.

Once the two had left her line of sight, Liu Lulu looked down at the money that had been shoved into her hands. She surreptitiously counted the bills—twenty-seven bills. After deducting the hundred yuan she spent, she had just made two thousand six hundred yuan in one go!

"Now *this* is true being rich and willful!"

Meanwhile, Sheng Jiaoyang, who still had no idea her drawing had been resold for over two thousand yuan, was still diligently helping people design signatures. The ten-yuan signature design wasn't expensive; it was about the price of a milk tea, so some onlookers, feeling tempted, placed orders. No one had asked her for a sketch yet.

After finishing a few artistic signature design transactions, Sheng Jiaoyang was preparing to find a shady spot to continue her struggle to avoid the increasingly intense sunlight. Just as she had packed up her gear, her vision darkened, and someone blocked her path.

"Did you draw this?" A very familiar voice filled her ears.

Sheng Jiaoyang squinted, seeing clearly the object held before her eyes. It was her first commission of the day, Liu Lulu's portrait sketch. Then, seeing the blood-jade ring on the thumb clutching the corner of the drawing, her heart skipped a beat.

She slowly raised her head, following the arm upward, and what met her eyes was indeed Shen Zhining's unpredictable face.

Sheng Jiaoyang's lips trembled. Only after remembering her current identity did she regain her composure: "It is. Is there a problem?"

If she hadn't experienced it herself, who would believe that a person could turn into someone else with a different appearance and different bloodline?

"Jiao... Yang?" The man scrutinized her from above.

Did two people in this world exist with different regional backgrounds and styles, yet have the exact same name and signature?

He never believed in coincidences; all coincidences were surely intentional human acts.

As Sheng Jiaoyang heard the name being uttered by the person before her, an inexplicable numbness crawled up her spine, making her scalp tingle. This feeling was too familiar; it seemed that every time he called her in such a gloomy tone, it meant she was about to have bad luck.

Back then, that bastard Shen Zhining would bully her whenever he was unhappy, even though she was only a few years old. To make matters worse, he seemed to be unhappy every single day. She really didn't know how her younger self managed to endure being bullied day after day until she was in tears without ever leaving him. The psychological shadow from being bullied so badly as a child was massive; as an adult, she basically gave him a wide berth. Wherever Shen Zhining appeared, she would absolutely avoid him, or at most, give a perfunctory greeting before quickly making her escape.

The little demon king wouldn't turn into an angel just because he grew up. The current Shen Zhining was simply too terrifying; the heavy, concentrated coldness radiating from him was almost tangible, giving her the sensation of falling into an icy lake even in the middle of summer. Her heart felt freezing cold.

"Th-this is my stage name," Sheng Jiaoyang said, her voice lacking confidence.

"Change it."

Hearing his commanding tone, Sheng Jiaoyang laughed out of anger: "You think I'll just change it because you say so? Who do you think you are? Why should I change it?"

"Don't want to change it?" The man's tone became extremely dangerous.

Sheng Jiaoyang felt a jolt of inspiration as a scene she had seen before suddenly flashed through her mind. It was a scene she had witnessed when she saw Shen Zhining again after several years. A Shen Zhining who had outgrown his youthful innocence was wearing a custom-tailored suit, his left hand in his trouser pocket and his right hand holding a stemmed glass. The blood-jade ring on his thumb was highly conspicuous against the shimmering liquid in the glass. However, the most conspicuous thing was the person being crushed under his feet. The person wailing was a middle-aged man, his face swollen as he lay on the ground, his right wrist being stepped on by Shen Zhining. In contrast, there was only a calm, indifferent smile on the corners of Shen Zhining's mouth.

She only learned later that the man whose hand Shen Zhining had brutally ruined was actually one of his subordinates, and he had met such an end because he had betrayed him.

That scene had clearly traumatized her. The little demon king had become a great demon king; the change wasn't just in his height and appearance, but also in his added cruelty and coldness. The only thing that remained unchanged was likely his unpredictable mood.

*Absolutely cannot oppose Demon King Shen!* This was a rule etched into Sheng Jiaoyang's heart, practically serving as her code of conduct.

"It's not that I can't change it, but why should I?" Sheng Jiaoyang's tone softened. In the past, protected by the wall of their families' friendship, Demon King Shen could bully her whenever he wanted. Now, she was just an ordinary person with no support; it would be far too easy for him to destroy her.

"With a masterpiece already existing, are you trying to be a poor imitation?" Shen Zhining's gaze as he sized her up was undisguised. Although he showed no emotion, Sheng Jiaoyang could hear a hint of contempt in his flat tone.

A masterpiece? Who?

"How come I don't know of any other painter in this world named Jiaoyang who is better than me?" Sheng Jiaoyang considered her own horizons to be quite broad; if such a painter truly existed, how could she not know!

Shen Zhining let out a short laugh, his gaze toward Sheng Jiaoyang revealing a trace of pity, as if looking at a frog in a well.

D*mn it!

Sheng Jiaoyang gritted her teeth in frustration, but she was helpless.

"I can change it, but since this is what you want me to change, I want compensation." Being dismissed with money wasn't the problem; the problem was when the money wasn't enough—that was a phrase the young Demon King Shen had once said to her.

"How much do you want?"

Sheng Jiaoyang held up one finger.

"A hundred thousand?"

So loaded? Sheng Jiaoyang blinked, failing to respond immediately due to her surprise.

"Think it's too little? Your life isn't worth a million." Shen Zhining narrowed his eyes slightly.

Sheng Jiaoyang's lip twitched, feeling inexplicably annoyed. A million was nothing; in the past, it wouldn't have even been enough to buy her a piece of jewelry. Originally, she only wanted to ask for ten thousand, and when he had proactively offered a hundred thousand, she had been quite pleasantly surprised. But now, she was no longer satisfied. Since he looked down on her so much, she was going to insist on that million.

"That 'masterpiece' probably earns more than that with just one painting, right? My life might not be worth a million now, but the paintings I draw in the future will definitely not be worth less than that!" Sheng Jiaoyang stood up. Her current body was tall, so she could meet Demon King Shen's gaze directly without having to look up at him like before.

Shen Zhining stared fixedly at the girl who dared to haggle with him. As if thinking of something wonderful, his expression softened slightly, and he said, "Fine."

In the next second, Demon King Shen's expression changed.

"But if I find out next time that you are still using her name, I will make you wish you were... dead!"