The Slacker Stepmother and the Non-Domineering CEO
Chapter 1

Two days after crossing over to this world, Nian Suian finally accepted the reality of her situation. Perhaps the joy of not having to wake up early for work had diluted the panic of dimensional travel.

On Friday night, after a week of hard work, Nian, the skilled worker, decided to reward herself with a trashy romance novel to unwind. Little did she know that relaxation would turn into overindulgence... At three in the morning, she fell into a deep sleep after her phone hit her face.

Before closing her eyes, she was lying on the small 1.2-meter bed in her rented apartment. When she opened them again, she found herself on a two-meter wide bed. If it weren't for her extensive experience in the online novel community over the past decade, she might have fainted from shock once more.

Upon waking, a scene forcibly played in her mind.

The young woman in the vision looked very similar to her, but more elegantly dressed, without acne or dark circles under her eyes. Her face radiated the glow of someone who didn't have to commute early in the morning.

"Hello, I'm also called Nian Suian, the same name as you. Don't be too surprised, you've crossed over now. From today on, you'll be this world's Nian Suian. Don't worry about me, I recently acquired something called a 'system' by chance, and it told me I could time-travel! It's great, I've long grown tired of this life of eating, drinking, and having fun. When I went to your world, I heard you say you wanted to live a life where you could have money to spend without working. Since we have such a fateful connection, I decided to let you come here! Rest assured, my parents left me a large trust fund, so you can live without working for the rest of your life. No need to thank me too much. Well, I have to go now, bye-bye!"

With that, the vision completely disappeared. Three minutes later, Nian Suian finally reacted. Wait, why couldn't she say more? Where is this place now? What's the situation here? She didn't mention any of that! Don't other dimensional travelers come with a backstory review? Why did she get nothing?

Nian Suian looked around. As far as she could see, there was modern minimalist decor, along with air conditioning and a TV. Well, Nian Suian sighed inwardly, it seems her encyclopedic knowledge of "XX Chronicles" would be useless here. This was clearly a modern society governed by marriage laws.

When Nian Suian went downstairs and was called "Madam" by the household staff, she was completely stunned.

Damn it, how could they not mention something as significant as being married!

"Madam, would you like to dine in the dining room or in the garden?"

"Uh... the dining room, please." Her grandmother had always said not to eat outdoors as it would let wind into your stomach.

The living room also had a minimalist, cold decor style, with a piano in the corner. This scene felt very familiar to Nian Suian.

She had never been rich, but she had visited rich people's homes before! For instance, the home of Li Zeyan, the prestigious CEO of Huarui Group. Why did this home decor style look so similar to Mr. Li's? Could it be that she had crossed over into an otome game world and married Li Zeyan? Nian Suian suddenly wanted to laugh out loud. If that were true, the heavens had truly blessed her!

She had already rummaged through the closet in her room shortly after realizing she had crossed over, but hadn't found any wedding photos or marriage certificates, so she didn't know who her mysterious unseen husband was.

So during dinner, she decided to probe the butler. The middle-aged man in front of her wore a suit and had his hair slicked back, looking very much like Sebastian from "Princess Hours," so Nian Suian decided to treat him as the butler for now.

"Do you know someone called Li Zeyan?"

If Li Zeyan were her husband, the butler would surely say: "Haha, Madam, you're so funny. Isn't Li Zeyan our CEO?"

But alas, fate was not so kind! The butler said: "I don't know any gentleman or lady called Li Zeyan. If you need to contact him, Madam, I can help you inquire."

Crash... That was the sound of her heart breaking. "No need, no need. I was just asking randomly."

When Monday morning came at 7:40, and Nian Suian woke up again in the two-meter wide bed, realizing she no longer had to get up to catch the subway for her commute, she had already accepted the fact of her dimensional travel.

In the beginning of her crossing over, she had wondered about her counterpart in the other world.

Her parents were a wild and unrestrained couple when they were young, planning early on to remain childless. But under pressure from both sets of grandparents, they eventually had her. However, even though they had a child, they always maintained the mindset of "No grandchildren, we enjoy life; With grandchildren, we still enjoy life." After her one-month celebration, they left her with their parents and went off to enjoy themselves.

The name Nian Suian was the only bit of parental love they had given her as parents.

Later, when her grandparents all passed away one after another, her parents never appeared again, claiming, "You're an adult now, you don't need us to take care of you." In short, in her 25 years of life, she had seen her parents fewer times than she had seen her high school discipline master's red long johns. So they probably wouldn't be heartbroken over her disappearance.

Nian Suian also thought about how, fortunately, the stray cat Little Flower that she often fed downstairs had been adopted and sent to a new home a week ago. She really didn't have anything to worry about in that world, and the only one who might think of her would probably be her skinflint, black-hearted boss who would be happy to save on this month's salary because she wasn't there!

Now, the only thing that made her uneasy was her never-seen husband. After all, she had been single all her life, and suddenly becoming a married beauty was somewhat hard to adapt to. Moreover, according to the rules of dimensional travel, shouldn't the plot after crossing over be a touching love story between the traveler and a native of this world? How did being already married fit into this?

However, during dinner, the slick-haired butler dealt her another fatal blow...

"Madam, the young master will be returning tomorrow. Would you like to prepare a welcome-home party for him?"

What, what, what is this? With her limited knowledge of wealthy families, only the son of the mistress of the house could be called "young master," right?

She could only force out a bitter smile: "Haha, the living room isn't well-ventilated, I'm a bit oxygen-deprived. My brain's not working properly right now. How old is the young master this year?"

"Haha, Madam, you're such a joker! But it's normal that you don't know the young master's age since you haven't met him yet. The young master is fifteen this year!" As he spoke, he dramatically wiped the corner of his eye, "He'll be starting high school when the new semester begins. He's becoming a fine young man!"

Hahahahaha...

She clearly heard something shatter inside her heart once again. In fact, she still wanted to ask: if the young master was already fifteen, then how old was the master?

Why would someone give up a good life for this? So this was what awaited her! A beautiful young woman marrying an old widower? This life was becoming unbearable!

Seeing that Nian Suian had stopped eating, the housekeeper in charge of meals approached and asked, "Madam, what would you like for afternoon tea? I'll go prepare it." This lady would go to sleep right after lunch, then want to eat again when she woke up, so they had to ask quickly.

Hearing the housekeeper's question, Nian Suian suddenly realized she had only been living this life of "extravagance and debauchery" for two days!

On one side was financial freedom without early morning classes, on the other was a widowed old man pushing fifty. Nian Suian opened her mouth: "Get me some stinky tofu and add some durian."

Both fragrant and pungent - a toast to life!