TMLSG -Chapter 39 Bringing Up a Breakup

Tang Zhen was stunned.

“But… I don’t have a visa.”

Ren Yanjing fell silent. Normally, visas were handled by the supervising teacher, so he never had to worry about them. This time, the country he was going to didn’t allow visas on arrival, and he had been so eager to bring her along that he had unconsciously overlooked the visa issue.

“Next time. I’ll take you next time.”

Tang Zhen: …

Actually, that wasn’t necessary.

Even though there were still a few days before departure, Ren Yanjing had already informed a few close cousins to look after Tang Zhen while he was away.

When Ren Yanfu heard this, he laughed himself silly.

“A-Jing, are you even guarding against your own brothers?” He only asked a few cousins to look after her—didn’t even tell him, the older cousin.

And yet he had borrowed Ren Yanfu’s car twice.

But when Ren Yanfu had something to ask, he forgot him entirely.

Ren Yanjing’s tone was calm: “Just knowing is enough.”

Whenever Ren Yanfu dated someone, he deliberately kept his distance from his cousin’s girlfriends. He never added them as contacts, never had private communications.

Similarly, he didn’t want his cousin to get too close to his own girlfriend.

It just wouldn’t be appropriate.

Time flew by, and suddenly it was the day Ren Yanjing and his teammates were leaving for their overseas trip.

Tang Zhen went with one of Ren Yanjing’s cousins to see him off at the airport.

On the way, Ren Yanjing seemed like he wanted to say something but finally just said, “Wait for me to come back.”

After sending him onto the plane, Tang Zhen and his cousin had a nice meal together, then the cousin drove her back to school.

The country Ren Yanjing was going to had an 8-hour time difference, and he would be busy with the competition, so over the next few days, they could only keep in touch via a few short messages each day.

With him away, there were no tasks to do, so Tang Zhen threw herself fully into painting and finishing the calendar gift.

She had expected to have a carefree few days until he returned, but just two days after he left, a new task arrived.

【Task 15: Complain about the male lead during a voice call.】

Tang Zhen’s fear of arguments had arrived, albeit late. Although this was technically a complaint, for her, complaining and arguing were almost the same thing.

“Why do I have to complain about the male lead?”

000: 【Xiao Zhen, haven’t you noticed? Over the past two days, you two haven’t exchanged more than ten messages in total!】

“He said he’s busy.”

【The supporting female character doesn’t care about that. She just wants someone to pay attention to her!】

【Xiao Zhen, right now—you are the supporting female character!】

So in the original story, the argument that would have happened before he left for abroad now got shifted to a phone call.

Luckily it was a voice call—Tang Zhen had time to write down useful sentences in her notebook so she wouldn’t stumble during the argument.

After weighing things carefully, she felt completely prepared.

She stepped onto the balcony and dialed Ren Yanjing’s voice call with all the force she could muster.

Not having to meet face-to-face made her feel much more relaxed.

After nearly ten seconds, Ren Yanjing answered.

Through the distance, his slightly tired voice came over: “Baby.”

Tang Zhen suppressed the softness and guilt in her heart. She held her phone in her right hand and her notebook in her left, reciting her lines word for word: “Have you been seeing another kitty while you’re away?”

Her ending tone, especially on “kitty,” hooked Ren Yanjing instantly—sweet and soft.

“Hm?” Ren Yanjing paused for a few seconds, then laughed. “No.” How could there possibly be anyone else?

“No! Then why have you barely talked to me these past two days?”

“I was busy talking to other competitors today, no time for my phone. Baby, I’ll be back in a few days.”

Tang Zhen read from her script: “A few days? How many days is a few days?! You don’t miss me at all!”

“I do miss you.”

The four words hung in the air, and both ends of the call fell into a long silence.

It was just four simple words, yet they seemed magically powerful.

After a long pause, Ren Yanjing asked: “And you? Do you miss me?”

Tang Zhen suddenly felt anxious. She bit her lip and said, “Ren Yanjing… actually, a lot of the time, I feel like we’re not right for each other…”

“Not right? In what way?” Ren Yanjing immediately countered.

For now, it was still just a complaint—not yet the time to bring up a breakup.

Tang Zhen told herself firmly:

She could only bring up the one thing the supporting female character cared most about—“You don’t spend any time with me.”

A relieved voice came from the other end: “When I return, I’ll spend every day with you.”

Tang Zhen, hearing someone call Ren Yanjing’s name in the background, hurriedly said, “I’m hanging up,” and ended the call.

Task 15 completed.

But her heart couldn’t settle.

When the male lead said “I miss you” in that sweet, serious tone, it was really hard to resist.

She could barely imagine what it would feel like when one day they broke up.

The task requirement was for the two of them to break up gracefully and naturally.

That should be doable… right?

Not long after Tang Zhen returned to her dorm, Ren Yanjing’s cousin called her, asking her to come downstairs.

Tang Zhen arrived to find that his cousin had brought fried chicken, cake, barbecue, and milk tea. And the milk tea wasn’t just one cup—it was four cups.

Tang Zhen gaped. “Sis, why did you suddenly bring so much?”

“A-Jing asked me to come keep you company. What happened? Did you quarrel?” The cousin’s eyes sparkled with curiosity about Ren Yanjing.

“Quarrel? Not really.”

At most, it had been Tang Zhen’s one-sided complaint. “Not really.”

The cousin leisurely threw out a sentence: “A-Jing told me to pass along a message: don’t ignore him.”

Tang Zhen: !!!

She felt a cringe-worthy awkwardness creeping into her toes.

Why didn’t he just say this on the phone?

Why go through his cousin?

The cousin quietly enjoyed the small dose of gossip.

Ren Yanjing, you have your day.

Cousin contentedly said, “Share these with my roommates when you go back.”

“Thanks, sis.”

The cousin laughed freely. “I’m just doing what A-Jing asked.” After Ren Yanjing left for abroad, she was basically treated like a tool—even delivering snacks to his girlfriend.

She herself had never delivered food to a boyfriend when she dated!

Back in the dorm, the late-night snacks his cousin brought earned unanimous praise from Tiantian and the others.

“Ren Yanjing really cares.”
“Ren cousin worked hard too!”
“Even though he’s abroad, he still asked his cousin to bring food to you. What kind of divine-level love is this?”

Tang Zhen was a bit surprised. “Tiantian, do you really think this is divine-level love?”

Tiantian asked in return, “Doesn’t this count as divine-level love?”

Even though Ren Yanjing wasn’t physically there, his cousin was still taking care of Tang Zhen.

If it weren’t for Ren Yanjing’s request, would his cousin have been so cooperative?

Tang Zhen held a small cake in one hand and a plastic fork in the other. Slowly, she asked the system:

“Sanquan, in that bestselling novel, the supporting female and the male lead’s love—others think it’s totally mismatched and awful, right?”

000 hesitated, 【Yes.】

Tang Zhen bit the fork. “Then what’s happening now?”

000: 【I don’t know either.】

The previous debugging tasks had gone smoothly—so why did the male lead say ‘I miss you’ on a voice call?

In the original story, at this point the supporting female’s feelings for the male lead had almost frozen over, and afterward, she would shamelessly cling to him, begging to keep the relationship going. That’s how the romance barely survived.

The supporting female would both hate that the male lead didn’t have time for her and yet love his excellence, oscillating between drama and submission, her behavior extremely conflicted. They only managed to last about a month.

After that month, the relationship couldn’t survive, and the male lead and supporting female went their separate ways.

000 offered advice: 【Why don’t you, after the male lead returns, try to bring up a breakup once.】

【If he immediately agrees, you must act desperate to stop the breakup.】

【If he doesn’t agree…】

【Then deal with it then.】

【But I don’t think he’ll refuse.】

【If he does agree, Xiao Zhen, you absolutely cannot let him agree.】