Chapter 77 Overnight Stay

Chapter 77: An Overnight Stay

Yan Zhoubai only realized the impropriety of his request when he caught Zhan Jiayu’s teasing gaze. A bedroom was a private space, especially the boss’s. For a subordinate to ask for a tour of his superior’s private quarters felt a bit too presumptuous.

“Is… is it inconvenient?” Yan Zhoubai’s voice dropped to a whisper.

“Of course not. There’s nothing in my room I need to hide. Why shouldn’t you see it?”

With that, Zhan Jiayu led the way upstairs. There were bedrooms on the first floor, but they were all empty. He resided on the second floor, where the former master bedroom of the old man was also located.

Yan Zhoubai followed, adding, “Actually, I also wanted to examine your room’s layout to check for any issues.”

“Alright, Little Master is truly meticulous.”

Zhan Jiayu’s room was exactly as Yan Zhoubai had imagined: simply furnished in a minimalist style. However, constrained by the mansion’s inherent architectural flair, even its simplicity appeared rather elaborate.

Upon seeing the large bed in the room, Yan Zhoubai couldn't help but recall their shared bed during their trip to Jiang City. His face began to flush again.

“Little Master, why are you standing at the door? You can’t see everything from there. This room is quite spacious.”

Noticing Yan Zhoubai standing dazed at the doorway, Zhan Jiayu called out to him.

“Oh, right.”

The room was indeed large—twice the size of a standard room. Stepping inside, it felt incredibly expansive.

Yan Zhoubai circled the room but found nothing amiss. He then retrieved three copper coins from his small satchel, tossed them onto the floor a few times, and then collected them.

Zhan Jiayu didn’t understand what Yan Zhoubai was doing, but he found the act of tossing copper coins on the floor rather childlike, which softened his heart.

“Any issues, Little Master?” Zhan Jiayu inquired.

Yan Zhoubai shook his head. “None that I can detect for now.”

“Earlier, Little Master mentioned that someone might have died in this house and that the feng shui isn’t good. I never noticed anything living here alone, but if you say so, I’m getting a bit nervous about staying here.”

Zhan Jiayu looked at Yan Zhoubai, his eyes devoid of fear, filled only with the confidence of a fisherman waiting for his catch.

“It’s… it’s not certain yet, and it’s not that serious.”

Hearing Zhan Jiayu express his reluctance to stay, Yan Zhoubai worried he had botched the job. He had come to assess the boss’s feng shui, only to end up scaring him out of his own home. Not only had he failed to provide an immediate solution, but he’d also made the employer want to move out. How would he ever build his reputation if this got out?

So he quickly reassured Zhan Jiayu, “It’s probably not that bad.”

Well, truth be told, he wasn’t sure either. He hadn’t expected his first job to be so challenging. Perhaps he had been too optimistic about starting his own business.

“Little Master, since you’ve only given the house a general look today, does that mean you can’t fully determine the situation?” Zhan Jiayu began to subtly guide him.

Yan Zhoubai nodded.

“Then how about Little Master stays here for the night? You’ve trained in this. Staying overnight would surely allow you to sense more than an amateur like me, right?”

Zhan Jiayu’s intentions quickly became clear—the map of Yan wasn’t very long, after all.

“Ah?”

Yan Zhoubai was taken aback by the suggestion. Logically, Zhan Jiayu was right. Staying overnight would indeed allow for a better feel for things, or at least give him more time to observe the feng shui of the old house.

But was it appropriate to stay at the employer’s home?

Seeing Yan Zhoubai hesitate, Zhan Jiayu seized the opportunity to press further. “I’d feel much more at ease if Little Master stayed here with me. Otherwise, I’d really be afraid—worried that this feng shui might be bad for me.”

Yan Zhoubai thought Zhan Jiayu wasn’t afraid because someone had died in the house—after all, he’d likely seen worse growing up in Country A. He figured Zhan Jiayu was just worried the ominous feng shui would affect him negatively, especially since he’d specifically hired a feng shui master. He must really believe in this.

Zhan Jiayu, who didn’t believe in feng shui at all and only wanted Yan Zhoubai to stay overnight: Still so gullible.

“Alright then, I’ll tell my family later.”

This was his first job, and Yan Zhoubai wanted to do everything right. He couldn’t just identify a problem in the employer’s home, leave it unresolved, and allow the frightened employer to stay alone in a house with bad feng shui. That wouldn’t be right.

Yan Zhoubai’s system: “Baby, you’re doing great! Our baby is such a responsible Little Master—so dependable. I’m giving you a five-star rating!”

Zhan Jiayu’s system: “No wonder he’s a side character. His brains are no match for the protagonist’s, not even a little.”

Zhan Jiayu: “Don’t talk nonsense. Our Xiaochuan is genuine and caring. Someone like him is perfect for the protagonist role in a traditional story.”

Mentioning Yan Zhoubai always lifted Zhan Jiayu’s mood, and his tone carried a hint of pride. His system felt like he was bragging about Yan Zhoubai.

The system sighed. “Host, this isn’t a traditional story—it’s a plot from a typical power fantasy novel.”

Initially, Zhan Jiayu hadn’t known what “Long Aotian” meant, having grown up in Country A. His system had spent a long time explaining it when they first met.

“I don’t care. If I want him to be the protagonist, he can be the protagonist.”

Zhan Jiayu said this with confidence—after all, he had the means to make it happen.

“Good. You can tell your family later. If your older brother doesn’t agree, hand the phone to me. I’ll talk to him.”

Zhan Jiayu hadn’t forgotten about Yan Anxuan, the difficult older brother in Yan Zhoubai’s family.

Aside from Yan Zhoubai’s unreliable parents, the two brothers in the Yan family didn’t seem like good people and were difficult to deal with. If Yan Zhoubai stayed long-term in the Yan family with his gentle personality, he would likely continue to be taken advantage of.

His plan to take Yan Zhoubai away from the Yan family needed to speed up.

“Then which room should I sleep in tonight?” Yan Zhoubai asked.

“Just sleep in my room,” Zhan Jiayu replied with a smile.

“Ah?”

Yan Zhoubai was stunned again. So, he was going to share a bed with the boss again? He noticed that although the room was large, there was only one bed.

“As you can see, I live here alone, so the other rooms haven’t been tidied up and aren’t fit to stay in. Would you mind spending the night in my room, Little Master?”

Wanting Yan Zhoubai to stay overnight was a last-minute thought for Zhan Jiayu, but coming up with a plausible excuse for it was effortless.

“Then… alright.”

After saying this, Yan Zhoubai suddenly ran to Zhan Jiayu’s side, stood on his tiptoes, and whispered in his ear:

“I’m only this accommodating with you because you’re my big brother. I’m not nearly this patient with anyone else.”

Yan Zhoubai nodded. “Mm.”

Zhan Jiayu’s system thought its host’s grin at that moment looked completely pathetic.

…

Bu Qiran had finally found out who it was that had been bad-mouthing him recently, which cost him all his connections in the capital. It was someone both expected and unexpected—Zhan Jiayu.

This was truly strange. Both Bu Qiran and his system found it odd. Zhan Jiayu wasn’t the final boss in the later stages, so why was he confronting him this early? The two of them shouldn’t have had any interactions, right?

After learning it was Zhan Jiayu, Bu Qiran was in a foul mood because he knew full well that he was no match for Zhan Jiayu at this point. For Zhan Jiayu, squashing him would be easier than stepping on an ant.

What was even more terrifying was that he still didn't know exactly why he had offended Zhan Jiayu or whether the pressure would keep coming.

“Master, I told you before—you need to be wary of this villain boss. Although according to the original plot, he wasn’t supposed to confront us until much later, he’s just too powerful. Even a small move from him could keep us pinned down with no chance to recover,” Bu Qiran’s system said.

Bu Qiran didn’t respond. He understood the reasoning, but the system’s words now felt a bit like Monday morning quarterbacking.

How was he supposed to be wary? They weren’t even on the same level. In front of Zhan Jiayu, he probably wasn't even in the same league. The only one who could possibly go toe-to-toe with Zhan Jiayu was Yan Anxuan, and even then, strictly speaking, Yan Anxuan was no match for him either.

After all, Zhan Jiayu was someone who had lost his father and seized power from a den of wolves among his siblings.

“Master, I’ve always thought we didn’t need to go through the trouble of developing connections on our own. You’re already a young master of the Yan family. You can use all of the Yan family’s resources—they’re right at your fingertips. Why aren’t you using them?”

This was something Bu Qiran’s system particularly didn’t understand.

The Yan couple treated Bu Qiran very well and, more importantly, implicitly and even explicitly allowed him to use the Yan family’s resources to develop himself. But Bu Qiran still wanted to build his own network.

His father saw this but didn’t interfere. His attitude toward Bu Qiran in other matters remained unchanged—he even introduced him to the young lady of the Lin family for a marriage alliance. It was hard to say exactly what he was really thinking.

But no matter what he was thinking, he shouldn’t be ignoring ready-made resources and starting from scratch. The system felt the Master was somewhat stuck in his ways—he had relied on this method to thrive in Lan City, and now that he was in the capital, he wanted to recreate his past comfort zone.

At its core, it was a lack of trust in the system.

But what could he do if he didn’t trust it? If the host truly didn’t listen to the system, there was nothing the system could do.

Bu Qiran admitted he was somewhat stuck in his ways, but on the other hand, he was more accustomed to having everything under his control. Of course, he could use the Yan family’s resources, but they didn’t fully belong to him—they could be taken back at any time.

Moreover, after realizing his feelings for Yan Zhoubai were different, he became even more wary of being controlled, especially after the previous marriage alliance.

If he married Lin Qihua, he and Yan Zhoubai would be completely over.

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Author's note: Coming through! [Let me take a look]