Chapter 2

Shi Bochuan sat upright in a broad black leather executive chair, scrutinizing his younger brother with an inscrutable tone. "You still knew to come over?"

If I'd known he was coming, I wouldn't have come.

After grumbling to himself, Shi Jihan put on a flattering smile, sweet and obedient. "I came to see whether Big Brother was still angry."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Qinghuai, who had been trying to avoid him, looked over in surprise.

A moment later, he understood.

After all, Shi Jihan acting cute and obedient in front of Shi Bochuan was practically a passive skill—one that never failed.

And it didn't even have a cooldown.

Shi Bochuan asked coldly, "You know the investor pulling out caused losses for the company?"

Shen Qinghuai prepared to listen to him tearfully plead his case.

"Big Brother, you can't just look at the immediate losses." Shi Jihan disagreed.

Could something a vicious cannon-fodder character did even be called a mistake?

It was called building a character profile.

The two of them: ??

Shi Jihan spoke earnestly. "You need to look further ahead. You need to see the enormous returns a good employee can bring you in the future."

Shi Bochuan: "?"

Shi Bochuan: "You? Enormous returns?"

Shi Jihan: "Exactly. This project has a bright future. Once it succeeds, our Shi Family will become an industry leader, a commercial giant. Big Brother, you'll reach even greater heights too!"

"And don't always put making money first, always thinking you've suffered a loss this time. What fun is a smooth-sailing life? Young people need to endure more hardship."

He clenched his fist and swung it, delivering an impassioned speech. "What we need to temper is the ability to bounce back after hitting rock bottom!"

000: [Host, who did you learn that from?]

[That bastard boss from my internship company.]

Shi Bochuan actually took it in, and he looked faintly moved. "Then what should I do now?"

Shi Jihan said sincerely, "Big Brother, give me all your shares and let me train you."

"Oh, right. If that doesn't work, cancel the weekends off and make everyone work more overtime. Getting off work on time can only mean your workload isn't full enough."

Shi Bochuan looked even more moved as he pointed at the door. "Get out."

How dare he turn around and manipulate him while coveting the company's assets?

The audacity!

After being cursed out from head to toe, Shi Jihan was kicked out.

The two people left behind looked at each other.

Shen Qinghuai met the gaze of his nominal husband. "Do you want me to get out too?"

Shi Bochuan frowned. "No, that's not what I meant. But you're his project team leader. How could you let him bypass you and liaise with the investor?"

The only response he received was the sound of a door slamming shut.

When Shi Jihan saw Shen Qinghuai come out, he was delighted. "He told you to get out too?"

Both of them getting kicked out made it even luckier.

Shen Qinghuai: "."

He wanted to tell both brothers to get lost.

Shen Qinghuai ignored him and simply kept walking forward.

Shi Bochuan had actually questioned why Shi Jihan had been able to bypass him and liaise with the investor.

If not for Shi Bochuan's indulgence, would Shi Jihan have dared to act so lawlessly?

In the end, it was because he had no standing. If he could make the project succeed, everything would be different.

Shen Qinghuai pushed open the door to Office 2403, where the project team was located, determination appearing between his brows.

The workload really wasn't full enough. He would work overtime tonight!

Shi Jihan planned to squeeze some more spending money out of the original protagonist seme, so he followed along.

He ran straight into a familiar face.

The fire-breathing baboon met his gaze, the anger in his eyes shooting up several dozen degrees as he snapped, "Young Master Shi, shouldn't you be whining to your brother and making up stories about our team leader? What are you doing here? Our little temple can't accommodate a great Buddha like you."

"Xu Zhiman," Shen Qinghuai stopped him. "Go borrow a dress form from the neighboring team. We'll need it for our meeting later. And call the patternmaker back. We'll be working overtime late tonight."

Xu Zhiman snorted, tossed out a sarcastic, "What an honor for such noble feet to grace this lowly place," then slammed the door and went to the neighboring team.

But Shi Jihan had already lost all capacity to care about that. His mind was filled with the two words he had just heard.

Overtime...

Overtime!!!

This was awful. An angry brother, an overtime-working sister-in-law, a system lacking a 1, and a broken him.

Shi Jihan had a brief tantrum, the light vanishing from his eyes.

He looked at Shen Qinghuai, trying to confirm whether this was an illusion. "I have to work overtime too?"

"You?" Shen Qinghuai said. "You're off work."

Shi Jihan froze.

Xu Zhiman, who had returned dragging a dress form, heard this and became instantly wary. "Don't tell me you were planning to participate? No way!"

There was no way he would let Shi Jihan interfere in the project team's affairs again. Don't even think about using this to fight for power and profit—he had already seen through this person!

Shi Jihan: ???

There was actually such a good thing?

He tested the waters. "Then the meeting later...?"

Xu Zhiman said, "Don't even think about it! Give up on that idea and stop interfering with our team's work!"

Shen Qinghuai studied Shi Jihan. As long as the other man showed any dissatisfaction, he naturally had a reason to brush him off.

Shi Jihan did indeed look angry. His eyes were wide, his lips trembling, and his eyes as he glared at Xu Zhiman were extremely bright, as though he were trying to kill him with his gaze. They had already battled for 108 rounds.

Noticing Shen Qinghuai watching him, Shi Jihan hurriedly withdrew his delighted expression.

It was hilarious—his bared teeth simply would not go back in.

He looked around, grabbed a huge handful of tea leaves from the cabinet, and brewed Shen Qinghuai a cup of hot tea as an offering to the leader.

"Brother Huai, do your best. I'll give you my strongest spiritual support," Shi Jihan said after completing the obligatory show of respect. Then he hurriedly added, "Then I won't disturb you guys. I'm getting off work first."

Without waiting for anyone to react, he swiftly turned and left, afraid that if he was even one step too slow, he would be gifted a meeting plus overtime.

Xu Zhiman was puzzled. "Did he hit his head today? He actually didn't keep pestering us."

Shen Qinghuai said, "Ignore him and hurry up with what we have to do. Even if he gets angry and wants revenge, I'll handle it."

After saying that, he lowered his head and picked up his cup, intending to moisten his throat.

Then he opened the lid and saw an entire cup of fully soaked wood ear mushrooms.

Huge pieces of wood ear mushrooms protruded from the cup and swayed with the movement.

On the cabinet was an opened box of premium organic shredded wood ear mushrooms, which Xu Zhiman had bought to give as a gift.

Shen Qinghuai took a deep breath, the hand holding the teacup trembling slightly.

Shi Jihan had only just gotten into the car and had not even had time to celebrate not needing to work when the system prompt sounded in his ear.

[ Ding, Villain Points +2 ]

Shi Jihan: Double, double happiness?

Chapter 2

Shi Jihan sighed, "As expected of me," puffing out his chest. "So I really am a naturally talented player."

000 was deeply impressed. [Host, you're amazing! We had a full harvest today!]

Shi Jihan waved modestly. "This doesn't count for much. I took a shortcut. After all, I'm in the same line of work as them, doing fashion design, so acting isn't difficult."

Why didn't an academic tailor count as a tailor?

He wondered whether his meticulously patched-up thesis before leaving had been discovered by his advisor. His advisor must have been moved to tears.

Shi Jihan's happiness ended the moment Shi Bochuan opened the car door.

Shi Bochuan said, "Move over. I'm sitting inside."

No, the Shi Family was so rich. Why were they still carpooling in a rideshare after work?

Shi Jihan reluctantly lifted his butt and scooted inward to make room. "Brother, you're getting off work with me too?"

"Not only are we getting off work together," Shi Bochuan said, "you've also seized my space in the car."

[Host, you're the one carpooling.]

Shi Jihan disagreed.

What kind of thing was that to say? It wasn't like he had stolen his oxygen.

Just let him catch his breath and live.

Shi Bochuan: "Hm?"

He said shyly, "I'm cultivating brotherly affection with Big Brother."

Shi Bochuan had never heard such nonsense before. After being stunned for a moment, he threw the documents in his hand at him. "Inside are the newly screened partners. There's a banquet tomorrow night, and they'll be there as well. Prepare yourself and make up for your mistakes. Don't mess up again."

Shi Jihan pointed at himself, his eyes clear. "M-Me?"

"Who else?"

[ Ding, task issued: At the banquet, separately max out the original protagonist gong and shou's negative reputations. Task reward: Villain Points +20. ]

[It's our first task!] 000 perked up. [Host, this is a great chance to earn Villain Points!]

Shi Jihan snapped the documents shut, his gaze firm enough to join the Party. "Leave it to me."

A so-called upper-class banquet was naturally meant to rack up angst points and make the protagonist shou grow even more disheartened.

After all, Shen Qinghuai and Shi Bochuan had married in a rush. They got their marriage certificate shortly after Father Shi passed away, and because they were still in mourning, they did not even have a proper wedding. Their social gap was also immense, so rumors had run rampant in their circle. Everyone said Shi Bochuan had married merely as a stopgap measure to quickly obtain the shares from his maternal family and secure his position in Shi Group. It did not matter who he married.

Put simply, Shen Qinghuai had picked up a bargain.

"You can't put it that way," Shi Jihan disagreed. "He definitely chose carefully. Otherwise, he would've married a Tianjin twisted doughnut."

000 could not keep up with that leap in logic. [What is the logical connection between a twisted doughnut and your brother?]

"They're both essentially double-helix structures."

Shi Jihan took the pressed formalwear from the butler, put it on, and looked himself over in the mirror from every angle. He was extremely satisfied and completely ignored Lurdan's speechlessness.

The stretch limousine was already waiting outside the villa. He opened the door and got in.

Shen Qinghuai was in the car too, arguing with Shi Bochuan. "Why won't you let me work overtime? If I don't come home tonight, shouldn't President Shi be happy?"

Shi Bochuan said quietly, "But we're married."

"You don't mean..." Shen Qinghuai looked him up and down several times. His face suddenly turned red and then white as he gritted his teeth. "Even if President Shi doesn't have a right hand, shouldn't he have other people?"

Shi Bochuan looked at his perfectly fine hands. What? I do have them.

When they saw Shi Jihan get in, they stopped talking, leaving only an odd atmosphere inside the car.

Shi Jihan had sensitive skin, so he sensed it immediately and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.