Chapter 33

"Is everyone here?" Shen Qinghuai came out of the kitchen with the last dish and smiled at Shi Zhongye and Zhou Jingcheng. "Second Brother, President Zhou. Everyone, grab your chopsticks and eat."

The moment Shi Jihan heard it was time to eat, he perked up. "Yay! I'll go get the chopsticks!"

Shi Bochuan deliberately tried to bring his wife and second brother closer together. "Second Brother, try A-Huai's cooking. He makes really delicious food."

Still traumatized by the green soup, Shi Zhongye tugged at the corner of his mouth. What could possibly be good about it? Besides, he hadn't come here today just to eat.

What was Old Wang doing? His efficiency was terrible. Why hadn't the package arrived yet?

Thinking that, he casually picked up a bite of Shen Qinghuai's stir-fried beef with pickled peppers.

His chopsticks froze in midair.

Holy crap, it was delicious!

The pickled peppers were numbing and spicy, while the beef was tender and smooth. One bite coated the tip of his tongue in sauce.

After Shi Jihan's culinary devastation, it tasted even better.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Shi Zhongye kept a straight face and said, "It's average."

No, he couldn't be so easily corrupted.

He couldn't waver. Tonight, he still had to expose that gold-digger's true colors!

Yet his chopsticks honestly grabbed several more pieces and stuffed them into his rice.

"Ding-dong—"

The doorbell rang.

The butler went to answer it.

A few minutes later, he handed a package to Shi Zhongye. "The courier said it was for you."

The main event had arrived.

Shi Zhongye sneered. "It's not for me. It's for my eldest brother."

With this kind of dirt, naturally the person involved had to open it himself.

That was the only way it would have enough impact.

Shi Bochuan asked curiously, "For me? Did you buy me a gift?"

"No, it's..." He paused, then reluctantly called out, "It's a gift from Sister-in-law."

Shen Qinghuai looked puzzled. "Me?"

He met Shi Zhongye's provocative gaze, and his heart skipped a beat.

000 grew excited.

[It's here, it's here! The evidence we prepared has appeared!]

The holographic game was coming!

Shi Jihan's finger hovered over the shopping cart, waiting only for the money to arrive so he could spend it freely.

Everyone at the table stared intently at Shi Bochuan as he opened the package.

Shi Bochuan first took out a card with words written on it. He read them aloud: "Let me show you what Shen Qinghuai has been doing behind your back. Once you see this, you'll know exactly how vain and money-grubbing a... person... he is?"

Shi Bochuan hesitantly exchanged a look with Shen Qinghuai, then pulled out the book underneath.

"How to Empty Your Rich Husband's Pockets."

Shi Zhongye, who had been about to mock them: ?

He could hardly believe it. "What the hell is this?!"

[Ding, Malice Points +8]

Shi Bochuan pulled out another book.

"How to Make Your Husband Earn Ten Million in Fifteen Seconds: The Man Behind a Successful Man."

Then another one: "The Cultivated Grace of a Flirtatious Beauty."

And another: "108 Positions for Eating Soft Rice the Hard Way [R18]."

The air fell silent for five minutes.

For Shi Zhongye, they were five minutes of questioning his entire life. For Shen Qinghuai, they were five minutes of feeling as if an old acquaintance had returned.

For Shi Bochuan, they were five minutes of gradually becoming shy and bashful.

He turned his head away, too embarrassed to look at everyone's expressions, and softly said, "Bring more gifts like these next time."

So vain. So money-grubbing.

He loved it.

[Ding, the mission "Establish Shen Qinghuai's Gold-Digger Persona" has been completed. Reward: Malice Points +9]

Seeing this familiar style and familiar bizarre turn of events, Zhou Jingcheng felt that strange sense of unease rise within him again.

He glanced at Shi Jihan beside him, angled his phone to make sure it couldn't be seen, and opened the chat history of his alt account.

Could it... really be this guy?

He cautiously initiated a transfer to AAA Detective Old Wang.

Transfers required real-name verification, after all.

When Zhou Jingcheng opened the transfer page, he felt the nervousness of being about to uncover a huge secret.

There was also a trace of indignation.

Let him see what was going on. How could two people go on a trip without even giving him a name?

They were simply ignoring Zhou Jingcheng.

There was no millet congee, no Chinese yam congee, no eight-treasure congee, and no honorable JingCheng.

His gaze locked tightly onto the content in parentheses after AAA Detective Old Wang.

Zero.

Huh?

Zero?

Zhou Jingcheng breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't "Han," everything was fine.

Who cared whether it was Performance Zero, Zero-Calorie Sugar, or even Crunchy Zero Rolls? None of it had anything to do with him.

Xiaohan still had him in his heart. How could he possibly have gone out with someone else just to edit him out?

Seriously, he had overthought it. Hahaha.

He looked at Shi Jihan, who was enthusiastically stuffing his face beside him, and placed a huge braised pork knuckle into his bowl, his eyes full of apology.

Sorry, he'd misunderstood him.

He'd said it before: someone as warm, cheerful, lively, and adorable as Shi Jihan could never do something so cruel, outrageous, unforgivable, and morally bankrupt.

The butler stood frozen with his knife and fork in hand, watching President Zhou use two chopsticks to spear the pork knuckle meant to serve five people and divert it into Third Young Master's bowl.

Even if Third Young Master were a bottomless pit, he couldn't finish that.

Shi Jihan stared blankly at the massive pork knuckle that had fallen from the sky and landed precariously atop his rice. Under Zhou Jingcheng's urging gaze of Hurry up and eat, aren't you going to eat it?, he cautiously lowered his head, opened his mouth, and took a huge bite.

The pork knuckle skin was wounded.

Watching him, Zhou Jingcheng thought, So cute.

Shi Zhongye looked at the pair feeding each other pork knuckles, then at the pair with shy, blushing faces, and abruptly felt like he was falling apart.

"What the hell are you all doing?!"

Were there any normal people in this house?!

And that damned AAA Detective Old Wang—how dare he play him?

When Shen Qinghuai saw that one angry roar startle Shi Bochuan, he said with slight displeasure, "Second Brother, don't talk while eating, and don't speak in bed."

Shi Zhongye finally found an opening and retorted, "Aren't you talking too?"

Shen Qinghuai remained perfectly calm. "I'm using you as a negative example."

Shi Zhongye: "..."

Shi Zhongye thought despairingly, What kind of people are these?

When Shi Bochuan got married a year ago, he had met Shen Qinghuai. Back then, Shen Qinghuai had clearly been a proud, silent mute who never opened his mouth.

In his grief and indignation, he grabbed three huge chopstickfuls of stir-fried beef with pickled peppers and viciously stuffed them into his mouth.

This was so annoying. How could it smell so good?

After dinner, Shi Zhongye dragged Zhou Jingcheng away with him.

Once he pulled him into his room, he began asking his external brain for help. "What do you think about what happened tonight?"

"Me?" Zhou Jingcheng thought seriously for a moment. "I looked at it with my eyes."

Shi Zhongye was so angry he nearly gave him a few more solid punches and supplied him with some additional professional pain points.

But remembering that his new drama still depended on this man's investment, and that Zhou Jingcheng was his future esteemed sugar daddy, he forcibly held himself back.

He said, "Do you think Old Wang set us up?"

Zhou Jingcheng sneered. Had he only just realized? From that eight-person kissing photo onward, he had felt something was off. "Banana money can only hire monkeys." He paused, then asked, "But have you considered that spending more banana money can only hire more monkeys?"

Thinking of the 18,888 he had already sunk into this, Shi Zhongye gritted his teeth. "I don't believe... Wait, I get it! Do you think this is Old Wang mocking Shen Qinghuai? Calling him someone who eats soft rice the hard way, who climbed up by relying on men and has no real skills of his own?"

Zhou Jingcheng: ?

He slowly dug at his ear, wondering if he had misheard.

The more Shi Zhongye spoke, the more convinced he became. Feeling as though he had grasped the truth, he slammed a fist into his palm. "Yes, that must be it! For an arrogant great designer like Shen Qinghuai, this kind of humiliation must have gotten to him, even if he didn't show it just now. He's probably spiraling and suffering inside right now, maybe even crying in secret."

Zhou Jingcheng thought that whether Shen Qinghuai cried or not depended on Shi Bochuan's abilities. Meeting his brother's foolishly clear gaze, Zhou Jingcheng spread his hands, struggling with the helpless resignation of Even if you said you were Ultraman, I'd believe you, and merely said, "Shi Zhongye, we have to be good friends for life."

Shi Zhongye said, "? Why are you being so mushy?"

Zhou Jingcheng said, "That way, when you're old, I can sell you insurance."

He was finding himself a little extra source of income for retirement.

Shi Zhongye: ?

Shi Zhongye said, "Get lost!"

Shi Jihan had assumed that his AAA Detective Old Wang alt account had long since been blocked and deleted by Shi Zhongye. Shi Zhongye might even demand all the money back before blocking him. He had waited in anxious suspense for a long time.

Instead, he received Shi Zhongye's newest message.

[This Is an Alt Account: Shen Qinghuai has no ability or real talent. He only got where he is today because others opened back doors for him. Find evidence that he's occupying a position without doing any work and harming the company. Once I get it, I won't short you on the money.]

At the same time, a new mission prompt sounded.

[Ding, mission issued: Find evidence that satisfies Shi Zhongye. Reward: Malice Points +10]

Shi Jihan complained, "Why is this mission name so half-assed this time?"

They weren't even pretending anymore? It was just directly called satisfying Shi Zhongye?

000, who had just returned from the Main System, hesitated before speaking. "Probably because the Main System has shut down emotionally."

As far as it knew, the Main System showed Shi Bochuan and Shen Qinghuai's relationship progress bar steadily rising. Tonight, it had jumped by a huge amount, leaving them only one critical point away from reaching the final ending.

In short, even after activating the automatic correction mechanism and dropping Shi Zhongye into the story, the main plot had almost completely collapsed.

000 told Shi Jihan that the Main System had been so upset by the result that it had gone emo, curling up in the hall and refusing to see the light. When 000 saw how dark it was and asked why it didn't turn on the lights, the Main System had said, "Why turn on the lights? This is my darkest hour."

"Ahem." Shi Jihan rarely felt guilty, and he rubbed his nose.

Bringing him in to work and do missions was truly a blessing for the Main System.

His former boss had once begged him on his knees not to put the company's name on his internship report, afraid Shi Jihan would ruin its reputation.

But Shi Jihan never suffered internal turmoil. He only struck hard at others. "Looks like you high-dimensional intelligent machines aren't all that impressive. You can't even correct a tiny deviation like this."