The Substitute Bride's Deadly Chuckles

The day Ji Zhilin summoned me to the café, moonlight sonata wept from the violin strings. His gaze held unprecedented tenderness.Ding! The system vibrated with excitement: [Host! After three years dating, is he finally proposing?]But when Zhilin spoke, the words crystallized into daggers: "Sui, will you take Yuanming's place in the wedding ritual... for my brother's sake?"Everyone knew Ji Yucheng - the ruthless titan who shaped the city's skyline with his bare hands, now reduced to a comatose shell after the accident. The Ji family had originally chosen Ning Yuanming, whose birth chart aligned perfectly with the auspicious signs.But how could Zhilin bear it? Yuanming, the false young master who stole my rightful place in the Ning family, had always been the precious jewel in Zhilin's palm.And so the sacrificial lamb became me - the true heir returned from exile, still unwelcome in my own home.The entire city held its breath for my humiliation.I entered Yu Cheng's chamber with downcast eyes, playing the heartbroken martyr to perfection. The moment the doors closed, I nearly burst into a b-box beat while covering my mouth to stifle laughter.Three years ago, a system embedded itself in my consciousness with one rule: the longer I maintained physical contact with powerful figures, the more money I earned.Zhilin had been my mediocre backup plan when the real prize - Yu Cheng - remained untouchable. Now, staring at the unconscious tycoon's sculpted features, I mentally high-fived my system: [Cha-ching! We're hitting the jackpot!]Unbeknownst to all, Yu Cheng's consciousness burned bright within his paralyzed shell. The accident had shackled him with his own system, forcing awareness without movement.Until one day, he suddenly acquired a wife - a 20-year-old college student with Bambi eyes and questionable survival instincts.The boy tended to him with devotion bordering on obsession. Fresh flowers daily, Mozart playing at dawn, whispered confessions to his unresponsive form...Except for one peculiar habit:The kid kept stripping him naked for "skin-to-skin temperature regulation therapy" every damn night.As days bled into months, a growing sense of unease festered in Zhilin's heart. The sacrificial lamb he'd expected to wither was blooming - radiant in Cartier diamonds and private jets, giggling over Yu Cheng's hospital monitors like they shared intimate jokes.He waited for the old patriarch to lose interest in the revival ritual. He'd reclaim Sui, he vowed, like retrieving misdelivered mail.But fate laughed cruelly. After two years of stillness, Yu Cheng's eyelids fluttered awake - and when those obsidian eyes locked onto Sui napping across his chest, the world shifted.The once-emotionless titan now moved with primal intensity, his gaze turned dangerously possessive, forbidding anyone from laying a finger on Sui's hair. Least of all, the brother who'd foolishly let treasure slip through his fingers.