Reborn through an arranged marriage, I awakened the Shennong farming system.

Hua Gengchen wasn't angry at all at Su Bai's behavior of putting the food he had picked up aside and ignoring it. However, the way he looked at Su Bai was a different story. His deep eyes conveyed five words from beginning to end: You can't escape!

Su Bai tried hard to ignore Hua Gengchen's gaze, but Hua Gengchen's gaze was so strong that Su Bai could sense its presence no matter how hard she tried.

Su Bai kept his head down and ate his meal silently, pretending to be blind and deaf in self-deception. He couldn't figure out when Hua Gengchen had finally come to his senses.

He, who had been clinging to a sliver of hope, is now in a dilemma: either leave Hua Gengchen or accept him.

Su Bai did want to escape, but Hua Gengchen didn't give him a chance to run away. He also had many things to do in Beicheng, so he couldn't just abandon everything and leave.

Su Bai had never considered the latter, nor dared to consider it. Admitting to liking someone required immense courage, and Su Bai lacked even a shred of it. He didn't deny that Hua Gengchen held a great attraction for him, but the tragic events of his previous life were still vivid in his mind, and Su Bai simply dared not give his heart away again.

Moving forward was not an option, and retreating was also not an option. Su Bai really didn't know how to handle the current situation. Everything was developing in the direction he wanted, so why did it suddenly exceed his expectations and become out of control?

Worries affected Su Bai's appetite. After eating for a while, Su Bai lost his appetite, hurriedly drank the tonic, and left the table without saying a word.

Hua Gengchen looked at Su Bai with a deep gaze, and it took a lot of effort to suppress the urge to chase after him. He should give Su Bai some time to accept it.

Half an hour, no more!

Only after Su Bai's figure disappeared from sight did Hua Gengchen turn his gaze away, facing the table full of dishes alone.

Hua Gengchen's appetite, which had been there just moments before, vanished completely after Su Bai left. It was the first time he had realized that one's appetite could be so easily altered by a single person.

"Hua Jueming." Since he had lost his appetite anyway, Hua Gengchen had no choice but to focus his attention on serious matters.

Because he wanted to give Hua Gengchen and Su Bai some space to be alone, Hua Jueming had already taken the servants to the kitchen. Upon hearing Hua Gengchen's voice, he immediately opened the door and went out, bowing to Hua Gengchen and saying, "Master."

"Go check Su Bai's real information; the information last time was incomplete."

“Yes, Master.” Hua Jueming nodded in agreement.

"Also, from now on, don't call Su Bai 'Madam'." Hua Gengchen's possessiveness kicked in. Su Bai was his, his alone! How could Hua Jueming and the others use the same title as him? "From now on, call Su Bai 'Madam'."

"Yes, Master, I will give the order immediately." Hua Jueming's eyes were full of excitement. His master had finally seen the light!

After Hua Jueming received the task and left, Hua Gengchen stood up, took a long stride, and went straight to the sofa in the living room. He found a spot where he could see the room on the second floor and sat down, staring intently at the door.

Su Bai, who was in the room, suddenly shivered, feeling as if he was being watched by some ferocious prey, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

Su Bai is now in a dead end and can't find a way to resolve his current situation.

After thinking for a moment, Su Bai took out his phone and tapped on Wang Ming's WeChat profile picture.

Su Bai: Are you there?

Wang Ming replied quickly: I'm here, what's up?

Su Bai hesitated for a moment, then typed solemnly: I have a friend who is facing a problem and doesn't know what to do, so he asked for my opinion. But I've never encountered this before and don't know what to do.

Wang Ming paused for a moment upon seeing the sentence. This familiar opening line, "I have a friend," seemed to reek of an attempt to cover up something. However, after spending some time together, Wang Ming knew that Su Bai wasn't someone who would easily ask for help, so he didn't expose Su Bai's obvious lie. Instead, he proactively asked, "I don't know if I can offer any honest advice, but I'd love to hear it. As the old saying goes, three cobblers can outwit Zhuge Liang."

Su Bai nodded in agreement upon seeing this, and quickly typed: "My friend was hurt in a previous relationship, so he decided to never believe in love again. But now he's met someone, let's call him A for now! A didn't like my friend before, but after spending some time together, A realized he liked my friend and confessed to him. But my friend isn't ready for a new relationship, or more accurately, he wasn't planning on liking anyone anymore. Now that A has confessed to him, what should he do?"

Wang Ming was stunned for a while after reading this. He couldn't really offer any useful advice to Su Bai's question because he had never been in a relationship and couldn't possibly understand the situation Su Bai described.

However, after thinking for a moment, Wang Ming sorted out some thoughts: Does your friend have feelings for A? If so, why not consider accepting it? Don't they say online that the best way to heal from heartbreak is to quickly start a new relationship? But if he doesn't like her or isn't that fond of her yet, then perhaps he should think about it some more.

Su Bai smiled bitterly as he looked at the message Wang Ming sent. He was in a dilemma because he realized that he seemed to have fallen for Hua Gengchen!

He thought he had kept his heart closed off, but the joy that welled up from the bottom of his heart when he heard Hua Gengchen say he liked him was something that couldn't be faked.

Su Bai: My friend has some feelings for A, but compared to the hurt he's suffered, he feels that these feelings aren't enough to give him a sense of security.

After sending the message, Su Bai watched as his phone screen displayed "typing..." but he didn't receive any messages from Wang Ming. Su Bai immediately realized that Wang Ming was also stumped by the problem.

After a long while, Wang Ming's message finally came through: "Then you'll have to let your friend ask himself what he really thinks."

Ask your own heart?

Su Bai stared blankly at those words for a long while. His mind was in complete turmoil. What was the point of asking?

Just as I was thinking this, Wang Ming sent another message: My friend is also facing a problem that has been bothering him for a long time. Why don't you listen to his advice?

Su Bai's gaze lingered briefly on the words "my friend": What is it?

Wang Ming's fingers flew across the keyboard, and soon a long message arrived: "My friend had a brief, chance encounter with someone, and they met a few more times afterward, but they never really spoke. One night, however, my friend got drunk and dreamt he was kissing that person! When he woke up the next day, my friend felt the dream was too real. He wanted to contact that person to confirm if it was really a dream, but he was too afraid, so he kept putting it off. He was both afraid the dream was real and afraid it was fake."

For a moment, Su Bai felt that he and Wang Ming were truly brothers in misfortune, somehow they were both entangled in the same predicament!

Putting himself in Su Bai's shoes, if he were in that situation, in his past life he might have directly asked him to find out the truth. But in this life, even if he had feelings for that person, he wouldn't expose the truth.

He typed a reply to Wang Ming: My suggestion is to find the person directly and ask them clearly. But before that, you should think about how your friend feels about that person and what kind of outcome they want.

In his previous life, Wang Ming did not end up with anyone. In this life, Su Bai hopes that Wang Ming can find a good partner.

After seeing Su Bai's reply, Wang Ming remained silent for a long time. He kept wondering what had happened that night.

Do you just want to confirm something, or do you want something else?

After thinking for a while, Wang Ming made up his mind: What if my friend is somewhat attracted to that person?

Seeing this, Su Bai became completely interested. In this life, after he and Wang Ming reunited, they hadn't spent every single day together, but at least a third of the time. How could Wang Ming have fallen for someone else right under his nose?

Who? When?

Su Bai suppressed her gossipy impulse and typed rapidly: "Then go find them and ask them what's going on! If you like each other, then be together! If that person doesn't like your friend, that's okay too, you can pursue them! You have to try things out to know if they'll work, right?"

Wang Ming blushed immediately after seeing Su Bai's reply. What Su Bai said was too unexpected for him, and he was hesitant to do it: Was there a more tactful way?

After sending the message, Wang Ming immediately followed up with another message: My friend is shy.

Su Bai overlooked this point: Did they add each other on WeChat?

Wang Ming: Yes.

Su Bai: Then let's find an opportunity to test the waters and see how things go.

Wang Ming asked timidly: How do we test the waters?

Su Bai subconsciously typed out the excuse "I'll use my friend's," but as he was about to send it, he suddenly realized that if he sent the message, he and Wang Ming would probably be too ashamed to face each other tomorrow. He quickly deleted the message and retyped: I don't know much about this either. Why don't you ask Baidu?

Wang Ming thought the suggestion was very feasible and excitedly replied: I'll go right away!

Su Bai could sense Wang Ming's excitement and joy from his words, but after sending the message, Wang Ming realized he had forgotten to hide it in his excitement and quickly added, "I meant I'll tell my friend right away..."

Su Bai saw through it but didn't say anything: Okay, I wish your friend all the best!

Wang Ming replied with a thank-you emoji and then disappeared, presumably to check the probing techniques. Su Bai stared blankly at his now-quiet phone, momentarily lost in thought. He could speak eloquently about other people's relationship problems and even encourage them to take a brave step forward, but when it came to his own, he immediately became hesitant and timid.

Su Bai knew this was his own problem, but he couldn't avoid it. The spot where he was shot in his previous life still seemed to hurt, and that pain constantly reminded Su Bai that love was a high-stakes gamble. He had already lost everything in his previous life, and in this life, he finally had a chance to start over, but he couldn't afford to lose again.