Chapter 13 (continued)

At least Yan Tingshen would never try to wipe out his benefactor.

Still.

Qin You felt a headache coming on again.

The upside was that the protagonist had accidentally ended up owing him a favor.

The downside, of course, was the newly unlocked mission.

Weighed against each other, it was a terrible bargain.

A confession?

In theory, he and the target had known each other for less than ten days in total.

Under those circumstances, confessing to the target would seem far too hasty and rather irresponsible.

And from his own perspective...

He couldn't bring himself to confess to a man.

Qin You said, [Confessing before we've even established that we're friends? Are you sure this mission is meant to advance my conquest progress, not lower the target's favorability?]

The system said, [Come on, host, did you forget? Your character setting is an overbearing villain! What overbearing villain establishes a relationship one step at a time? They all get their man first and worry about the rest later!]

Qin You disregarded its utterly unfounded book knowledge. [If I complete the mission and his favorability falls instead of rising, does that count as success or failure?]

The system crashed in response. [...]

Qin You said, [Is there any way to postpone this mission?]

This time, the system answered firmly. [No.]

It quickly added an explanation. [Host, according to big data, missions are always issued at the optimal time for completing them. In principle, there's no possibility of failure.]

The seventy-two-hour countdown was still ticking away, second by second, on the system panel.

The system saw that its host had begun slacking off again and urged him earnestly, [Host, with the target's current favorability, even if he doesn't accept your confession, he definitely won't come to dislike you! Then you just need to show a little more charm, and a huge surge in favorability won't be a dream, host!]

What was done was done, and Qin You stopped listening to its nonsense.

Forget it.

He still had three days.

He'd deal with it in three days.

Half an hour after Qin You returned to Zeshui Bay, he heard the target come back on time.

Yan Tingshen stopped when he saw Qin You on the sofa.

He gave the person beside him a slight gesture, then turned and walked over.

Hearing his footsteps, Qin You looked up.

Yan Tingshen said, "Today at the hospital—"

"You don't need to tell me about you and him."

Qin You cut him off. "I'm not interested."

The system sounded touched. [Host, you've finally started maintaining your character setting on your own!]

Qin You ignored it.

His character setting was one reason.

On the other hand, he didn't want to hear the protagonist's name again today, and he really didn't want any further involvement with him.

To get his plan back on track and keep Yan Tingshen from meddling, simply ignoring him might not be enough. Showing an appropriate amount of dislike would work better.

Yan Tingshen paused.

He hadn't intended to mention anyone.

But the "him" Qin You spoke of was naturally Pei Sheng.

He could tell that Qin You was indifferent toward Pei Sheng, unwilling even to maintain basic social courtesies. Given Qin You's personality, that was somewhat unusual.

Qin You observed social etiquette with everyone, including staff he had only met in passing. Pei Sheng alone couldn't even get a response when he greeted him.

Perhaps Pei Sheng had inadvertently offended Qin You.

Or perhaps something had happened that Pei Sheng didn't know about.

Otherwise, Pei Sheng wouldn't have wanted to "thank him in person" despite knowing Qin You disliked him.

But even so, Qin You had never previously revealed his opinion of Pei Sheng in word or deed. Now, however, he had openly expressed his dislike of Pei Sheng in front of him.

What else had happened?

At that thought, Yan Tingshen glanced at Qin You, then continued, "I've arranged for a doctor to come and remove your stitches on Wednesday."

Remove his stitches?

Qin You glanced at his left arm across his chest.

Wednesday was two days away.

It did seem about time to remove the stitches. If the target hadn't brought it up, he would have forgotten.

[See, host? Look how good the target is to you. Even when he went to the hospital to see the protagonist, he didn't forget about you.]

The system hurried to seize the opportunity to persuade him, even fabricating a claim against its conscience. [Maybe he went to the hospital for your sake this time! Even the protagonist isn't as important as you! If you confess now, he definitely won't dislike you!]

Qin You pretended not to hear. He looked at Yan Tingshen and smiled. "Okay."

He raised his wrist to check the time, then added, "Let's go upstairs. Go change, and I'll wait for you in the rehabilitation room."

Yan Tingshen nodded. "Okay."

When they reached the stairs, Qin You casually gave Yan Tingshen a hand.

Thinking of his favorability, he paused with his hand on Yan Tingshen's forearm. Then he remembered that the mission had already been unlocked and such little details no longer mattered, so he supported him and continued forward.

Yan Tingshen's gaze passed over the hand gripping his wrist and settled on Qin You's face.

Qin You didn't notice. "You were out for so long. Can you manage?"

Yan Tingshen looked away. "Yes."

Qin You said, "That's good too. Going out more will help you recover."

He looked out the window. "It's a shame the weather's bad today. It's not suitable for a walk outside."

Yan Tingshen followed his gaze out the window.

The weather was indeed bad.

There was no sun, and a chilly breeze swept the shadows of the trees across the window.

"Let's wait until next time. The next sunny day, if you don't want to exercise at home, I'll go for a walk outside with you and get some fresh air."

Yan Tingshen looked back at him.

He stepped onto the stairs with Qin You's support and replied mildly, "Okay."

Once they were upstairs, they both knew their way around, so Qin You didn't see him all the way to his room.

He waited for Yan Tingshen in the rehabilitation room. After they finished the day's training, he returned to his room to wash up.

By the time he came out and ate dinner, it was already dark.

After watching Yan Tingshen return to work, Qin You went back and played a few games.

He had scarcely experienced this kind of pure entertainment in his previous life.

It was very boring.

Usually, after several hours, he'd find he'd completely wasted his time.

But it was also a little interesting.

Before going to bed, Qin You had planned to try a new game the next day.

But after he woke up and ate breakfast, he received another call from Cui Ling.

"Young Mr. Qin, the chairman told me to pick you up at Zeshui Bay at three thirty this afternoon. There's a family dinner at the old residence tonight."

Qin You said, "Tell the old man my injury hasn't healed, so I'm not going."

The original owner was a wastrel whose specialty was neglecting his proper duties. How could he follow every arrangement made for him?

"Well..."

But Cui Ling said, "The chairman said the family dinner is also to welcome you back."

Welcome him back?

Qin You asked the system, [Was there a family dinner to welcome him back in the plot?]

[Searching.]

The system said, [Host, there is nothing about it in the original owner's memories. There probably wasn't one.]

Qin You frowned.

A family dinner arranged especially to welcome him back.

It seemed the target had written too much on his behalf lately, causing Qin Hengzhong to develop expectations of him that he shouldn't have.

The system said, [If you don't want to go, host, I've collected some handy tips for feigning illness!]

Qin You said, [No need.]

It was a welcome dinner for him. How could it begin if its main guest didn't show up?

Feigning illness would only solve the problem for the moment. Sooner or later, Qin Hengzhong would come looking for him here.

To keep the target from being exposed and prevent this kind of thing from happening again and again, he had to eliminate the problem at its source.

"Young Mr. Qin?"

Qin You said, "Then come pick me up."

"All right."

Cui Ling breathed a sigh of relief. "There's also the matter at the company, Young Mr. Qin. The one I gave you before—"

Qin You hung up, looked at Yan Tingshen, and made a show of sighing. "I was planning to stay home and keep you company today, but it looks like I can't."

He hadn't tried to keep the conversation private, and Yan Tingshen had heard what he'd just said. "If you don't want to go, you don't have to."

Qin You chuckled and turned to look at him. "But the old man expects me to inherit the family business, and he's been keeping a close eye on me lately. If he finds out I won't even go home because I want to keep you company, he might take away my shares. What do you think I should do?"

Yan Tingshen saw the teasing in his eyes, but his tone didn't change. He said mildly, "Without your shares in the Qin Group, you can come work for the Yan Family."

Qin You's smile deepened. "Work for you? I'm the General Manager at the Qin Group. What position would you give me at the Yan Family?"

Yan Tingshen said, "As long as you can hold the position, it's not impossible for you to be General Manager."

Hearing that, Qin You laughed. "I didn't expect you to joke too."

Yan Tingshen made no comment.

Qin You didn't pursue the subject either. They chatted for a bit, then left the dining room together.

That afternoon, Qin You helped Yan Tingshen with his rehabilitation ahead of time. He had just returned to his room and changed when Cui Ling, who had arrived on time, called.

"Wait for me downstairs."

As Qin You left, he saw that Yan Tingshen's door was open and stopped to say goodbye.

Yan Tingshen said, "Be careful on the way."

"I know."

From his doorway, Qin You looked out the window. "It's windy outside. If there's nothing you need to do, don't go out. Get some rest at home."

Yan Tingshen said, "Okay."

With that, he watched Qin You turn away and listened to the increasingly familiar footsteps fade into the distance.

A moment later, he looked away.

"Young Mr. Qin."

When he saw Qin You come out, Cui Ling went to meet him, and the driver opened the car door.

Qin You got into the car. They had been on the road for only a few minutes when Cui Ling turned around from the front passenger seat and handed him a document.

"Young Mr. Qin, this is the information missing from the previous documents. Please take a look."

But Cui Ling soon discovered that Qin You's perfunctory responses on the phone these past few days had not been his imagination.

The young master didn't even glance at the materials he held out to him.

"Young Mr. Qin?"

Qin You looked up and glanced at them, then said only, "You don't need to give me these in the future. Make the decisions yourself."

He had still been too ambitious before, which had led to the present situation. He had to correct that mistaken image as soon as possible.