Chapter 13

He looked just as pathetic and cowardly as Zero-Zero-Zero, practically a one-to-one copy.

Shen Qinghuai entered the project team right behind him.

The team had only been assembled temporarily. Now that the project was over, everyone should return to their respective positions. When Shi Jihan walked in, he heard them discussing where to have dinner together over the weekend.

"How about hotpot? A new place opened nearby, and they're offering fifteen percent off."

"I'd rather have barbecue. Sizzling pork belly wrapped in lettuce is insanely good!"

"I'm fine with anything, as long as the desserts are tasty."

"Then let's have a buffet. That'll satisfy everyone. What do you think, Brother Huai?" Xu Zhiman said to Shen Qinghuai as he entered. When he saw Shi Jihan behind him, he awkwardly added, "Carb Master, what about you? What do you want to eat?"

Shi Jihan's mouth twitched. "How about you eat one of my punches first?"

A girl in the group dressed in Lolita fashion said, "When are we going? Saturday won't work for me—I've got a cosplay commission."

"What's a cosplay commission?" No one there had heard the term, so Xu Zhiman asked for everyone.

The girl explained, "It's when you hire someone to dress up as a character you like and date you for a day. You can think of it as roleplaying a relationship. They have to look like the person you like."

Shi Jihan's eyes lit up. Zero-Zero-Zero!

Zero-Zero-Zero immediately understood. White Moonlight! Host, our mission is saved!

Naturally, acting was something best left to professionals. Posting a commission was perfect. How was cosplaying a White Moonlight not cosplay? He could find a professional young actor with decent acting skills.

Now that Shi Jihan had a lead, he immediately sat down at his workstation and posted a casting ad. The main requirements were a barefoot height of over 180 centimeters, handsome looks, good temperament, and acting ability. The fee was negotiable.

He had even come up with the character setting already: Shi Bochuan's high school classmate. A White Moonlight from their student days would be far more lethal.

Zero-Zero-Zero had some concerns. But your eldest brother doesn't know this White Moonlight. What do we do?

Shi Jihan looked down on it. Isn't that simple? You're supposed to be a novel system. We'll just have him say—

He cleared his throat and started acting it out in his head, deep affection and tearful mist, complete with a British-style dramatic flourish. Ah, Bochuan~ Back then, your acting when you covered up our puppy love was much better than the way you pretend not to know me now. But you still won't acknowledge me, and it hurts me so much~ Look, taste it—the tears flowing from the corners of my eyes for you are all salty!

Zero-Zero-Zero was speechless. Host, I think you just have too much free time.

Shi Jihan got angry. Shut up! Isn't this all your fault?

It didn't matter whether Shi Bochuan believed it. As long as Shen Qinghuai did, that was enough.

A fabricated romance, acted until you cried.

"...This is still so deranged." Shi Jihan wiped his face.

A notification chimed, and a little red dot appeared over his messages. He quickly opened his DMs to check.

The other party readily sent over a selfie and a medical report proving he was 183 centimeters tall.

After chatting for a while, Shi Jihan felt the other party was highly professional and had good work ethic. He immediately drafted a thousand-word plot outline and carefully instructed him, Just act according to this.

After reading the script and lines Shi Jihan had sent, the other party went silent for ten minutes. Just when Shi Jihan thought the deal had fallen through, he finally replied slowly, Okay, boss. I'll strictly follow the character setting.

After replying, Zhou Zeyang stared at his phone and muttered, "This boss would probably have plenty to talk about with that friend of my brother's who loves being the shared stand-in at noble academies."

A dog head poked over, and he shoved it away. "Wait until I make some money, then I'm moving out of here. I'm never helping my brother look after you again!"

The Beagle knew this low-ranking poop-scooper was disgusted with him. After a second of silence, he yelled, "Werwerwerwerwer!"

I'm good at comparing things! Hurry up and say I'm good at everything! Say it already!

Amid the 3D surround sound, Zhou Zeyang calmly put on his headphones. After some thought, though, he still couldn't resist changing his new boss's name.

[Tacky-Kiss Machine]

He only had one concern now.

If he followed the script, would his boss's brother slap him out the door with two smacks?

Should he buy insurance first?

Shi Bochuan rarely got such a good night's sleep.

For the first time, Instant-Noodle Octopus hadn't strangled him in his dreams, nor had Hamburger Hero shouted "rnm, give me my money back" through a megaphone before flattening him into an Angus beef patty with his butt.

Still, when he woke up, his eyelid twitched badly. He felt that the past few days had been too pleasant, too comfortable, enough to make him uneasy. After thinking for a long time, he found the root of the problem. "Has Third Brother been a little too quiet lately?"

When a child was quiet, it was honestly kind of terrifying.

Shen Qinghuai was still half-asleep and mumbled, "Maybe he got promoted after the project ended and has more work now."

Not only had Shi Jihan been promoted, but nearly everyone in the project team had either received a promotion or a raise. Shen Qinghuai himself had also been promoted to design director. No one thought he had climbed the ranks through connections; everyone sincerely congratulated him. Shi Bochuan had even made time in his busy schedule to book a revolving restaurant, where they had a romantic candlelit dinner to celebrate his promotion.

Thinking of that warmed Shen Qinghuai's heart. He slowly moved closer to his husband, like a shy snail gradually extending its feelers, gently wrapping his arms around Shi Bochuan and lifting his neck.

He clearly looked like he was asking for a kiss.

It was a gesture he had never dared to imagine or do before.

He felt Shi Bochuan's breath drawing closer and closer, his eyelashes trembling nonstop.

Then Shi Bochuan stopped.

"A-Huai..." He hesitated, then gently poked his wife.

"There seems to be some eye gunk at the corner of your eye."

One second. Two seconds. Shen Qinghuai suddenly opened his eyes, flames shooting from his bright gaze. He wanted to burn Shi Bochuan's entire family clean, scattering their ashes across the fields.

His face reddened all the way to his neck as he threw back the blanket. "I'm going to wash up!"

Shi Bochuan tried to pull him back for more sleep, but Shen Qinghuai slapped the back of his hand away.

Shen Qinghuai washed his face for ten whole minutes. Only after rubbing off a layer of skin did he go downstairs for breakfast.

Shi Bochuan pulled out the chair beside him. "A-Huai, sit here."

Shen Qinghuai walked right past him and sat beside Shi Jihan instead.

That made Shi Jihan shudder. He hurriedly flipped his phone face-down on the table and gave an awkward laugh. "Ahahaha, morning, Brother Huai."

"Morning." Shen Qinghuai glanced over unintentionally. It seemed to be a photo-editing page, a large group photo with many people.

Seeing that he hadn't noticed anything strange, Shi Jihan finally relaxed. He had just been fabricating evidence of the White Moonlight's existence, editing someone into Shi Bochuan's high school group photo.

With Shen Qinghuai here, he didn't dare continue. He obediently lowered his head and drank his porridge.

Shen Qinghuai looked at Shi Bochuan across from him, who was completely clueless and innocently meeting his gaze. His anger rose again, and this time he dragged Shi Jihan into it. "Xiaohan, if someone told you there was eye gunk at the corner of your eye, how would you reply?"

Shi Jihan answered instantly, "You like it? I'll give you one."

Shen Qinghuai nodded thoughtfully. "I've learned something."

If only his brain could turn that quickly. It would be nice to live as sharply cruel as Xiaohan.

Shi Bochuan was at a loss for words. "You shouldn't... learn everything..."

When they finished breakfast and were about to leave for work, Shi Jihan said, "I took the day off because I have something to do. Eldest Brother, remember to approve my leave request. I'll meet you for lunch at noon."

After seeing the two of them off, he hurriedly began editing the photo.

It was his first time doing this, so he wasn't very good at it. His finger dragged Zhou Zeyang's big head around, rolling it this way and that.

After finally attaching the head to someone else's body, he wondered whether he should make the person look a little more handsome.

He said, "If we're making him suffer through this mental torture, we should at least provide some emotional value. Let the young actor know we care about him."

Zero-Zero-Zero praised him. Host, you've considered everything!

As Shi Jihan edited, he said, "I feel like this guy looks kind of familiar."

Zero-Zero-Zero stared for a long time. He kind of looks like a younger version of Dianjia Bro... Handsome guys really do resemble one another.

Shi Jihan pursed his lips, instinctively wanting to respond, Him? Handsome?

In the end, he still couldn't bring himself to say it against his conscience.

Zhou Jingcheng... was indeed pretty handsome.

That guy knew he was handsome too, and he was good at dressing up.

Even when he wore a suit, he had to put on a full set of accessories: a watch, cufflinks, a brooch, and a tie clip. He was like a peacock in full display.

Shi Jihan imagined that peacock turning around and revealing a bald, featherless butt. He burst out laughing and collapsed onto the sofa, unable to stop.

He sent the edited graduation photo to the young actor, then sent him the restaurant address and time for lunch, reminding him to make sure he brought props.

[Today, we're not doing anything else. We're just making you a familiar face. I have my own plans for what comes next.]

Zhou Zeyang was playing a game. The moment he saw his boss's message, he replied, Yangzi Fried Rice: Okay, boss [Samoyed smile]

The restaurant wasn't far from his brother's company, and he could even shamelessly mooch an afternoon tea while he was there.

His game match started right away, and he charged into the canyon, fighting bravely without even looking at the photo.

Then he lost and started another match.

He lost again.

Zhou Zeyang rolled up from the floor.

One more billion games!

Once he got carried away, he completely stopped noticing the messages from his boss.

Meanwhile, Shi Jihan had already arrived at the restaurant. Shi Bochuan and Shen Qinghuai were ordering food in the private room, and the atmosphere between them was a little subtle. It looked like they had just had an argument.

Caught in that atmosphere, Shi Jihan felt like his chair was burning his ass. The messages he had sent the young actor had vanished without a trace, and he couldn't sit still any longer. He said he was going to the restroom, shut himself inside a stall, and sent a barrage of sixty-second voice messages to urge him along.

Bro, please, hurry up and get here!

Do you know how I survived the past few minutes without hearing from you? The tripe has already gone three laps around the hotpot!

Zhou Jingcheng had originally booked a restaurant near the company today to discuss an acquisition with a client. He stepped out halfway through to take a call.

Everything had been fine at first, but the spot where he took the call was too close to the restroom. Someone inside was chattering away, muffled through the door, but still annoyingly loud.

The person on the other end couldn't hear clearly either. They had to ask him three times about every sentence: "What, President Zhou?" "What did you say after that?" "There's too much noise on your end."