Three Sentences to Make a Paper-Doll Character Spend Money on Me

[The whole story is undergoing a major rewrite. I came back after a year away and realized I was writing garbage a year ago, orz. It's almost 100,000 words, so I can't finish revising it in a short time. I'll hold off on updates for now and post it all once I've finished revising.]

[Note left on 2025.10.23]

With a blink, Mu Yanli, who was terminally ill, found himself inside a raising-a-child game, bound to a System.

The System told him that if he maxed out the affection of the player who had selected him, he could return to reality and be cured of his illness.

Mu Yanli fell silent for a moment, then asked a very reasonable question: What happens if I refuse to complete the task?

System: You can take a look at the player who selected you first.

Mu Yanli did.

Well, it was someone he knew: Bai Xingqian, the child he'd raised before entering the game. He'd been so busy with work that he'd repeatedly forgotten to give him food and water, nearly letting him die.

Looking at his own kid's face, Mu Yanli felt a twinge of guilt. The kid had suffered a lot with him. He'd let him down as a parent!

System, come back. I think we can discuss this again!

Mu Yanli thought it was ridiculous that he still had to work like a corporate drone after entering a game. Luckily, Bai Xingqian was very easy to get along with.

It was just that he couldn't approve of this habit of spending money at the drop of a hat.

He sighed, gave the kid a whole lecture about it, then started working hard to raise his affection score.

After who knew how long, he looked back and saw that the affection score was rising slower than a turtle, while the money being spent kept piling up.

Unable to take it anymore, Mu Yanli downed two bottles of wine. His eyes burned red with alcohol as he glared at Bai Xingqian, who had come to pick him up, and asked, "Do you hate me?"

Bai Xingqian hurriedly shook his head.

Mu Yanli felt even more aggrieved. He rested his head against Bai Xingqian's shoulder, his breath carrying the scent of the fruit wine he'd just drunk, and angrily thumped him once. "Then why isn't your affection score going up? If you don't hate me, why isn't it going up? If this keeps up, I'm going to hate you."

Bai Xingqian: !!!

System notification: Player Bai Xingqian's affection has increased by 20%.

Mu Yanli, bleary with drink: "...Huh?"

"Bai Xingqian, why do you love me?"

Mu Yanli lay on top of Bai Xingqian, his ear pressed against Bai Xingqian's chest, and asked him this.

Bai Xingqian stroked the soft hair of the person in his arms, lowered his eyes, and answered quietly without a moment's hesitation.

"From the moment you entered the game and chose me, I loved you."

He was born from binary code. His purpose was to love me.

[Hey! Look here!]

1. (Important) This story isn't all sweetness!!! There'll be a little angst later, but not much. The actual story differs a bit from the blurb. I don't even know what I wrote in the blurb. I'm terrible at blurbs, let me get on my knees first. There are tons of headcanons, so don't take it too seriously, okay? QAQ

2. Nobody dies, nobody dies, nobody dies! His illness will get better! A big, capitalized HE!

3. A slow-to-react, sickly beauty on the receiving end X a restrained, devoted love interest. The love interest is named Bai Xingqian, with Xing pronounced xing.

4. This isn't a fully immersive game, and the love interest really is a fictional character.

5. The love interest loves the protagonist unconditionally. No matter what the protagonist does, he loves him. The last line of the blurb explains why. The protagonist is slow to react, but once he catches on, his feelings are intense. There's no doubt that they both love each other deeply.

6. The one-line description and the last line of the blurb come from the internet.

7. Hope you little angels enjoy reading~

Theme: Treat illness proactively and love life