Chapter 45

Li Rongxiu's handsome face had practically crumpled into a bitter melon. He said bluntly, "Because I don't want to get up early. I hate the rigid nine-to-five life of an office worker, and I don't like managing a company, with its dull work and endless trivialities. I hate all those fake pleasantries and workplace politics even more."

Li Rongyu curled his lips knowingly and said, "Since that's the case... how about you come work as my assistant starting tomorrow? You'll be with your big brother all day. Surely you won't get sick of me?"

"Besides, we can go to bed and get up together, so you won't have trouble waking up. We can also go running with Grandpa and Dad. Your lifestyle is too unhealthy right now; you should get more exercise. That way, the men of the Li family can spend more time together, too. What do you think?"

"Huh?" Li Rongxiu looked at Li Rongyu suspiciously.

Li Rongyu continued, smiling encouragingly. "Come help me. Try living a different kind of life. If you still don't like it in the end, your big brother won't force you."

Li Rongxiu thought it over, then finally agreed, though with some hesitation.

That evening, his big brother urged Li Rongxiu to go to bed before ten. But once he was alone in bed, he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, and had no choice but to watch a movie on his laptop. After browsing for ages, he realized he'd already seen most of the movies online. Finding them more and more boring, he started checking out various gossip forums and websites—and came across a post titled, "The Scandalous Tales of a Young Master from a Wealthy Family and a Young Master from a Small Clan (The Real-Life CP of Li Rongxiu, Youngest Son of Li Huamei's Chairman, and Chi Junrui, Eldest Young Master of the Chi Family)."

Li Rongxiu's mouse hovered over the post title for a long while before he frowned and clicked. As it turned out, the irresponsible moderator had not only imagined a romance between him and Chi Junrui, but had also learned to "read" photos from gossip and media coverage, then concocted a whole bunch of nauseating, melodramatic plotlines. Chi Junrui had supposedly stolen Li Rongxiu's fiancée out of spite, just to get his attention; Chi Junrui was supposedly so madly in love that he'd rather have the beauty than the kingdom; there were stories of you loving me, me not loving you, and me loving him instead; and of melancholy gazes and the heartache of unrequited love...

What was even more infuriating was that people in the replies were saying things like "So adorable!" and "Now that's true love!" Li Rongxiu skimmed through the post from start to finish, so aggrieved he nearly spat blood. Because throughout the entire post, that damn brain-dead moderator had not only fantasized about a love-hate affair between him and Chi Junrui, but had also imagined that he was the one on the bottom—

Damn it, why was he the one getting his wife stolen and his pride trampled, yet still ending up on the bottom? (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻

Furious, Li Rongxiu didn't stop to think. He registered an account, logged into the forum, and started a flame war with the moderator and the commenters. But he was outnumbered, and after only a few retorts, he was drowned out by their shameless numbers. Lying on his stomach, Li Rongxiu watched the screen fill in an instant with phrases like "OP is an idiot" and "the poster is a dumbass." Enraged, he flipped his laptop over.

Finally, with his anger at its peak, Li Rongxiu climbed out of bed, dug out the Palm Treasure Shen Yujun had given him before leaving, logged into the site, and posted a message that he pinned to the top:

"Tell me the real names and addresses of the moderator of XX and these commenters. I'm going to dox them!"

Ten minutes after Li Rongxiu posted his pinned message, he got everything he wanted—including, among other things, the real identities of the moderator who had written the post and several "random commenters" who'd mocked him relentlessly, their usernames and passwords for various online services, their home addresses, and information about their family members.

At the same time, Li Rongxiu got a call from Shen Yujun, who was far away across the ocean. He had just met his biological father and was resting in his room. "How does it feel to exercise your power for the first time?"

At that moment, Li Rongxiu, who believed in getting things done today and settling online matters online, was lying under the covers. He'd used the information the website sent him to log into the moderator's forum account, only to discover that the moderator who wrote the post was also one of the site's administrators. No wonder Li Rongxiu had reported the moderator more than ten times earlier without getting any results. That was the biggest drawback of using public resources for personal gain.

Li Rongxiu gave two sinister chuckles, then used the moderator's account to post an apology and pin it to the top. He also used the account to leave nonsense comments on other people's posts, stirring up a storm. Then, using that as an excuse, he resigned from his position as forum administrator, changed the account's password at random, and logged out.

Next, he logged into several of the moderator's other online messaging accounts, deleted all their contacts, changed the passwords again, and logged out.

After doing the same to several of the random commenters, Li Rongxiu put on another alias and returned to the original forum. Under the post about his real-life CP, he replied, "Haha, see? This is what happens when you mess with me." Finally, he deactivated the new forum account he'd registered, leaving without a trace and keeping his good deed hidden.

So when he heard Shen Yujun's question, Li Rongxiu replied in a rather cheerful mood, "Yep. I never knew having access to other people's information could feel this good. I feel like an emperor holding all the power in his hands. The fate of others is at my whim."

So you used that power to steal people's forum accounts and messaging accounts and do something this utterly pointless?

Looking at the information displayed on his laptop, Shen Yujun felt so helpless he could barely summon the energy to complain. He collected himself and continued, "I heard you're going to start your internship at the company tomorrow. It's so late—will you be able to get up?"

Shen Yujun's words snapped Li Rongxiu back to reality. He glanced at the clock and realized it was already past three in the morning. If he didn't go to sleep soon, he probably wouldn't be able to get up at seven thirty. But this was the first call Shen Yujun had made to him since arriving in Enoria. Shen Yujun had been so busy today and had still remembered to check in on him. If Li Rongxiu didn't ask how Shen Yujun was doing, he'd feel like a bad friend.

So Li Rongxiu forcibly ignored the wave of sleepiness washing over him and asked, "It's fine. At worst, I just won't go in tomorrow morning. I can show up in the afternoon. By the way, did you meet your dad? Does he look like you? Is he treating you well?"

As if he could see Li Rongxiu's furrowed brow and the slightly damp corners of his eyes as he held back a yawn, Shen Yujun's expression softened, and his voice grew a little lighter. "He's all right. He's a man in his mid-thirties, with brown hair and blue eyes. We look about seventy or eighty percent alike. If you saw him, you'd probably get a preview of what I'll look like in twenty years. He has a pretty good personality, too. At least he's very talkative. He spent the whole afternoon telling me the romantic story of how he met my mother... I guess every man in Enoria is like that."

At this, Li Rongxiu couldn't help covering his mouth to yawn again. Hearing his breathing over the phone, Shen Yujun smiled knowingly. Although Enoria was seven hours behind the Empire, Shen Yujun still said, "Never mind. Get some rest first. We can talk about anything else tomorrow. I've also had a tiring trip all this way."

When his sleepiness hit, Li Rongxiu found it hard to keep himself awake. Hearing Shen Yujun say that, he immediately replied, "All right. See you tomorrow."

Early the next morning, Li Rongxiu was woken by his big brother, Li Rongyu. Seeing his big brother dressed in running clothes and ready to go out for a jog, Li Rongxiu—who hadn't slept nearly enough—half-opened his eyes and waved him off, saying perfunctorily, "You and Dad and Grandpa go running. I'm not coming. Call me when you get back for breakfast."

Li Rongyu shook his head helplessly. He could only tuck the blanket around Li Rongxiu before leaving.

But by the time the three generations returned from their run and the family was ready for breakfast, Li Rongxiu still hadn't gotten out of bed. This time, his excuse was, "I'm not having breakfast. Come get me after you're done, and then we can go to work together!"

In the end, Li Rongyu still couldn't take his little brother to work. When he saw Li Rongxiu curled up under the covers, fast asleep, he couldn't bring himself to wake him by force.

By the time Li Rongxiu had slept enough, gotten up, and washed up, it was already past one in the afternoon. He'd missed his morning run and breakfast, and even lunch. If he waited any longer, he'd only make it in time for afternoon tea.

Mo Wanrou and Zhuang Meiru were sitting in the living room, discussing how to arrange Zhuang Meiru's birthday banquet a month later. Seeing Li Rongxiu's lazy, listless figure, they couldn't help laughing. "You really are something, child. You said you'd go running with your grandpa and dad this morning, but you slept so long you even missed lunch. The kitchen's preparing bird's nest porridge and a few snacks and side dishes for you. I'll ask a maid to bring them up. You've only just woken up, so you shouldn't eat anything too greasy."

Li Rongxiu gave a slightly delayed "Mm." His soft, nasal hum still had a dazed, half-asleep quality to it, making Mo Wanrou and Zhuang Meiru smile knowingly. They beckoned him over and asked with a smile, "Your mother's birthday is next month, and it's her fiftieth—a milestone birthday. People say that at fifty, one knows Heaven's will. How do you think we should celebrate? In my opinion, we should put on a proper celebration and make it lively. What do you think?"

Li Rongxiu's suggestion matched the old lady's perfectly. Besides, he'd been a "party animal" in his previous life and loved a lively event. So he went along with her and offered plenty of ideas. A maid brought bird's nest porridge and snacks from the kitchen, and Li Rongxiu strolled into the dining room. Seeing how bland the food was, he lost his appetite and frowned. "Do we have duck blood vermicelli soup? I want some."

Mo Wanrou smiled as she watched Li Rongxiu pick at his food, then waved to a maid and told her to ask the kitchen to make him some duck blood vermicelli soup. Li Rongxiu remembered to add, "Don't put cilantro in it."

By the time Li Rongxiu had happily finished his duck blood vermicelli soup—which could hardly be called breakfast, lunch, or afternoon tea—it was past three in the afternoon. The company would be closing in two hours, so there was clearly no point in going in to report for work today.

Li Rongxiu, who was used to doing nothing, felt no guilt about standing his big brother up. Still, he called his big brother at the office to tell him he wasn't coming in today. He also proudly added, "I just heard from one of the housekeepers that the kitchen bought a few giant lobsters weighing four pounds each. Looks like we're in for a treat tonight. Big brother, you, Dad, and Grandpa should come home early tonight. If you have any engagements, turn them down. Lobsters this big are hard to come by."

After hanging up, Li Rongyu, who had been busy reviewing documents in his office, shook his head helplessly. He pressed the intercom on his desk and told his secretary to come in. When Zhou Fan arrived, he waved a hand and said, "Tell the secretarial department to cancel the welcome party and tonight's welcome dinner. Xiuxiu isn't coming to the company today."

Zhou Fan ventured, "What, is Young Master Xiu still in bed even though it's this late?"

"He's already up. He even had a bowl of duck blood vermicelli soup and told us to cancel all our engagements tonight and come home early for lobster." Li Rongyu spread his hands and said helplessly, "Anyway... tell the secretarial department to cancel all of today's activities. No, push the welcome dinner to tomorrow night. I'm sure Xiuxiu won't be late tomorrow."

Zhou Fan, who had never expected Li Rongxiu to have any sense of time, shrugged without much concern. He was skeptical of his boss's words. Still, his professional duty as a subordinate pushed him to pass Li Rongyu's instructions along to the secretarial department. In the end, Zhou Fan remembered to offer some reassurance: "There's no need to worry, boss. Young Master Xiu agreed to intern at the company during summer vacation instead of going out to have fun. That's already a huge step forward."