Chapter 28

"Such a good relationship..." Shi Jihan rubbed his chin and knocked on kindhearted netizen 707.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Are you asleep?]

[z: Asleep.]

"Instant reply," Shi Jihan commented. "Dianjia Bro isn't like me, is he? Does he have nothing to do at night besides staying home?"

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Let me ask you—what do you think of my second brother? What does he usually like?]

The other side was clearly interested.

[z: Shi Zhongye?]

[z: What, has your conscience finally kicked in? Are you going to burn him some paper money?]

No, he had more conscience than that.

Shi Jihan wanted to clear away the other party's negative impression of him and demonstrate his friendliness.

That would make their future powerhouse alliance easier, so they could work together.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: I've decided to throw Second Brother a grand and spectacular welcome party [throwing confetti]]

Standing beneath a streetlamp, Zhou Jingcheng ignored the joyful werwerwerwer sounds coming from his own Beagle and Bestie Dog's Beagle playing nearby and thought silently.

Wonderful. The next victim had appeared.

Shi Jihan was still fishing around for information.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: What does Second Brother like best? Hurry up and tell me.]

Zhou Jingcheng recalled the arrogant way Shi Zhongye had asked him for money last time, acting like, "If you don't invest, you just don't understand art," and, "Fine, you invested, so you understand a little." The more Zhou Jingcheng thought about it, the more his teeth itched with hatred.

In that case, he couldn't be blamed for selling out his brother.

[z: He likes his own face the most.]

[Why Are You Still Awake?: No way, he's that narcissistic?]

["Why Are You Still Awake?" withdrew a message.]

[Why Are You Still Awake? (Friendly Version): Do tell, do tell.]

Zhou Jingcheng handed the leash in his hand to Bestie Dog's owner. "I need to reply to a message. Hold him for me for a bit."

Bestie Dog's owner immediately became wary. "What are you going off to do? Just for a bit, okay? Don't think about running away."

He couldn't handle the weight of two Beagles by himself.

Pizza: "Werwerwerwerwerwer!"

Bestie Dog: "Werwerwerwerwerwer!"

Neither of Zhou Jingcheng's ears got a moment of peace. "...I'll reply right here."

Under Bestie Dog's owner's close surveillance, he quickly typed out a detailed explanation to Shi Jihan about exactly how much Shi Zhongye loved his own face, ending with, "That's it. He even insured his face."

He was unbelievably narcissistic. Aside from celebrities with special needs, no normal person would do something like that.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Which company? Do you have a link to the insurance policy?]

Zhou Jingcheng slowly typed: [?]

"Don't have one?" Shi Jihan was disappointed.

But now he knew how to make the welcome party grand enough to win his second brother's heart.

He would handle this himself. Done.

After finishing the serious business, he started tapping away to harass 707 some more, chatting happily. [I just remembered a joke, hahahaha, do you want to hear it?]

Zhou Jingcheng had originally reached for his leash, but the moment he saw the message, he pulled his hand back. [What?]

Bestie Dog's owner: ?

He became even more vigilant and quietly blocked Zhou Jingcheng's escape route.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Once upon a time, there was a very narcissistic handsome guy. Then he was disfigured, and from then on, he finally lived a life where he didn't get woken up by his own handsomeness.]

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Hahahahahahahaha!]

So cold.

Zhou Jingcheng wanted to type a question mark again. He felt like he had been a question mark generator in his previous life.

[z: Don't tell that joke to your second brother.]

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Is his sense of humor too high-level? Does he not get it?]

[z: No. He'll beat you into bouncy shrimp paste.]

Shi Jihan: Not hehe.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: Okay then.]

[Why Are You Still Awake?: I'm going online to start buying things for the welcome party. Good night in advance!]

Once 000 saw that he was done chatting, it finally had a chance to speak. [Host, you have to keep your second brother's route on track. If it collapses any further, I won't be able to send you back to your original world.]

Shi Jihan scratched the skin beneath his eye and, after a long while, let out a, "...Oh."

000 said, [Also, also, the Main System upgraded me again! You can now randomly choose daily mini-tasks to complete, like daily activity in a game. It's a reward for us, and there's no punishment if you fail.]

Shi Jihan clicked his tongue. A stick followed by a sweet date—this Main System was a master of workplace PUA.

He opened the daily tasks and glanced through them.

[Randomly drive Shi Bochuan to death: 7/1, completed]

[Randomly drive Shen Qinghuai to death: 0/1, incomplete]

[Randomly drive Zhou Jingcheng to death: 2/1, completed]

"I have to drive so many people to death every day?" Shi Jihan pointed at the list. "Then I shouldn't be doing design. I should open a funeral home—drive them to death, cremate them, the whole package. Then run a promotion where the second tombstone is half price."

After saying that, he thought he was a genius. He practically wished he could undergo mitosis and create another him to pat himself on the shoulder and praise him: As expected of you, Shi Jihan!

"In that case," he said, rubbing his chin as another idea struck him, "let Dianjia Bro join the welcome party too."

Gather the protagonists together and drive them all to death at once.

Efficient and effortless.

Turn the career of a vicious cannon fodder into an industrialized assembly-line operation.

Just as Zhou Jingcheng said "good night" and was about to take the leash back from Bestie Dog's owner, another message arrived.

[Why Are You Still Awake?: One last question before bed—will you come to the welcome party? [expectant] [kitty peeking out]]

Looking at the soft, adorable animated cat, Zhou Jingcheng first long-pressed to save the sticker before replying: [Definitely.]

How could he miss the appearance of the next victim?

Bestie Dog's owner had just been about to hand over the leash when he saw Zhou Jingcheng pull back again. Unable to endure it any longer, he said, "Tell me the truth. Do you just not want to be a human anymore?"

Pizza: "Werwerwerwerwer!"

The little Beagle gave you two solid punches!

-

Just as the man and system had expected, after Shi Bochuan came up with the idea of holding a make-up wedding, he immediately found a fortune-teller to pick an auspicious date. Eagerly, he chose the nearest date among all the days suitable for marriage, then began sending invitations everywhere.

Didn't matter whether they knew each other or not. Just come.

People in the same circle who knew the inside story had never expected this contract marriage to produce true love. Half a year ago, the two had barely known each other, and now they were thoroughly done. What, was the bed in their bedroom a steak pan specifically made to heat the two of them up?

It had originally been a teasing remark, but every time Shi Bochuan heard it, he would look strangely at his third brother.

No, something even more terrifying than that.

Naturally, a wedding invitation was sent to Shi Zhongye, who was deep in the mountains and forests.

Ten days later, when Shi Zhongye came down the mountain to buy all the supplies at once and wrap up filming as quickly as possible, he received the gilded invitation at the post office.

There were only five days left until the wedding.

Shi Zhongye thought, Love after marriage? True love from a contract?

He didn't believe a single word of it.

Shi Jihan had probably come up with another scheme, this time even joining forces with Shen Qinghuai, and that fool Shi Bochuan had stupidly taken the bait.

The assistant director observed Shi Zhongye's expression. He knew about Shi Zhongye's conflict with the Shi Family and asked, "Your brother's having a major life event. Are you going? It's fine if you do. We're nearly done here, and I can manage both sides."

Shi Zhongye said, "Not going. Bad luck."

Assistant Director: "...Then why are you looking at flights back to City A?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? I've never bought a phone in my life, so how would I look? Look at what?" Shi Zhongye snapped in embarrassment and turned the accusation back on him. "Shut up. Say one more word, and I'll throw you up a tree to pick bananas."

The assistant director was used to it. "Sure thing. Whatever makes you happy."

That very day, the Shi Family received the news: Shi Zhongye would land in City A the following afternoon.

Shi Jihan cheered. "Great! I'll start decorating the house right away!"

The friendly forces had arrived, haha!

Shi Bochuan slowly edged over to Shen Qinghuai's side and whispered, "Should we give Second Brother a heads-up?"

He had seen the list of items for the welcome party. It was festive, sure, but it also looked like they were sending Second Brother off.

Shen Qinghuai smiled. "Why tell him? If we tell him, it won't be a surprise."

Seeing the smile at the corner of his lips, Shi Bochuan shuddered and obediently shut up.

With so many things to prepare, Shi Jihan couldn't finish it all alone. Even after pulling in the household butler and auntie, it still wasn't enough, so he set his sights on the external staff.

With one phone call, he summoned Big Zhou and Xiao Zhou.

Shi Bochuan and Shen Qinghuai were just about to leave for work when they ran into Zhou Jingcheng and Zhou Zeyang entering the house.

When Zhou Jingcheng saw them, he calmly nodded in greeting. "Going to work? Go get busy."

With that, he strode straight through the gates of the Shi Family home.

Shi Bochuan: ?

He turned his head to watch the Zhou brothers enter, then turned back to Shen Qinghuai and said, "Isn't this my house? Why did he make it sound like he was strolling through his own garden?"

His skin was way too thick. Stop being so possessive over other people's real estate!

Also, when was Universe going bankrupt? He couldn't stand seeing someone skip work every day while their company still developed so well.

Baked by the blazing sun outside, Shi Bochuan suddenly felt that the sweat running down his body was lemon juice.

The moment the Zhou brothers entered, they received Shi Jihan's enthusiastic welcome.

"Quick," he said, pointing at the pile of balloons. "Come help me blow these up."

The Zhou brothers moved in perfect unison, looking toward where he pointed, then gradually raising their heads together to survey the huge expanse of supplies from bottom to top.

"...That many? We have to finish all this today?"

Zhou Zeyang was starting to back out. He figured fieldwork was worse than staying at the office. At least President Shi had a conscience and wouldn't work him to death at his desk.

He wanted to drag his brother away immediately, but saw that Zhou Jingcheng had already gone to rummage through the supplies, asking as he searched, "Where's the balloon pump?"

Zhou Zeyang: ?

Bro, tell me the truth. When did you become such premium cheap labor?