Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Early the next morning, the family of five set off for the Guan ancestral home.

No matter how wealthy they were, an early start was non-negotiable.

During the National Day holiday, roads were jammed and crowds were everywhere. Even though the Guan family's old residence wasn't far, they had to leave early to beat the rush.

Shen Ju sat in the car, a vehicle so spacious he could stand upright inside. Its luxurious interior, even with everyone including the driver, felt anything but cramped.

Guan Muyao and his father, Guan Lifeng, occupied the front row, both engrossed in the morning financial news.

Shen Ju, not daring to sit with them, slipped straight to the back upon entering the car. He settled into the last row, spreading his legs wide as Qin Suxi and Guan Mulin boarded, signaling his intention to claim the entire row—perhaps even for a quick nap.

"Alright, baby, do you want a pillow?"

Qin Suxi and Guan Mulin took their seats in the middle row.

From seemingly nowhere, Qin Suxi produced a baby bottle-shaped pillow and offered it to Shen Ju.

With its white nipple, pink rim, and milky blue body, the whole thing looked adorably soft and babyish.

Shen Ju instinctively hugged it, but upon realizing what it was, he stared at the nipple directly in front of him, his face flushing crimson. "Who would want a pillow like this?" he protested.

He wanted to toss it aside but had nowhere to put it. In the end, he simply left it in his lap.

Qin Suxi watched with satisfaction. Though the child still seemed distant and a bit challenging, she wasn't discouraged. After all, they had missed so many years of shared time and companionship.

Once the car started moving, Shen Ju found sleep impossible, despite clutching the bottle pillow.

Just then, 996 announced it had detected a bug.

"I need to upgrade our encrypted chat channel. I'll have to re-collect your biometric data."

Shen Ju perked up his ears. "Biometric data? What's that?"

996 cleared its throat. "Biometric data refers to the unique information carried by a living organism—like your hair and blood. It allows for precise identification. The reason I can lock onto and bind with you, and why our conversations can happen mentally without outsiders knowing, is through collecting and verifying your biometric data."

Shen Ju murmured, "Oh, I see. That doesn't sound too difficult. Bro 996, you should be able to upgrade our chat channel quickly, right?"

996 hesitated. Of course, it couldn't! It had planned to ask Senior System 007 for help, being a novice system unfamiliar with many functions.

But faced with Shen Ju's trusting words and confident tone, 996 couldn't bring itself to admit its limitations.

It puffed out its non-existent chest and declared confidently, "Absolutely! I'll complete the upgrade in no time. No problems at all, don't worry!"

The Guan family's old residence was soon reached.

The place, actually named Heyuan, was designed in the style of a classical Chinese garden, featuring pavilions, towers, flowing water, small bridges, and even a small pond—all embodying traditional Chinese aesthetics.

This architectural style was rare in the north.

It clearly demonstrated the Guan family's profound heritage.

Shen Ju knew his grandfather, Guan Jianshan, lived here. He had met him once when he was first recognized as part of the Guan family.

However, after that meeting, Guan Jianshan had returned to Heyuan.

Since his wife's passing, Guan Jianshan had lived alone in Heyuan. Although a room was kept for him at the Yujin Mansion villa, he rarely stayed there.

However, Guan Lifeng and Qin Suxi would bring the family back to stay for a few days each month. If they had free time, they made sure the old man wasn't left entirely alone at Heyuan.

Visiting for the first time, Shen Ju found himself quite fond of the place.

The environment was serene, with scenery changing at every turn. What Shen Ju liked most was a small pond beneath a suspended corridor, about a meter above the water's surface. He imagined sitting on the corridor's edge in summer, enjoying the cross-breeze, and casting a fishing rod into the pond—how wonderful that would be! Though any fish caught probably wouldn't be edible.

But there was little time for further exploration.

An evening banquet was to be held here, and Heyuan was bustling. Shen Ju also had a task:

To try on clothes.

Not much time had passed since he was recognized by the Guan family. While Shen Ju had brought many clothes, he lacked formal attire, being only a high school student, not even a college student yet.

Having lived as an ordinary person for eighteen years, the sudden change in status brought an overwhelming number of new things to adapt to.

For instance, standing in the living room, Qin Suxi had him trying on one formal suit after another.

A team from a luxury brand, consisting of over a dozen people, had been specially invited. Rows of clothes were displayed in the living room, not to mention numerous bow ties, ties, and accessories—it was, quite literally, a dazzling array.

Guan Mulin was also selecting clothes.

Undoubtedly, both of them were the protagonists of the evening banquet.

The Guan family was not unkind; they wouldn't acknowledge one son only to reject the other. So, as the system had mentioned, this banquet also subtly reaffirmed Guan Mulin’s unchanged status. However, the true protagonist was undoubtedly Shen Ju, as the chief designer of the luxury brand team remained by Shen Ju’s side the entire time, serving him exclusively.

But...

"This isn't enough! You are the Guan family’s biological youngest son. At the banquet announcing your identity to the public, why should Guan Mulin also steal the spotlight?!"

996, embodying the mindset of the "malicious true young master," spoke with genuine conviction and indignation: "Seriously! The more you think about it, the more you feel the Guan family is biased. They claim to formally introduce your identity to the public, but in reality, they’re just using it to support Guan Mulin and uphold his status as the Guan family’s young master! So you should be dissatisfied, you should protest! You should—you should make a scene! Understand?!"

"Got it!"

Shen Ju rubbed his chin, then an idea struck him. He saw Guan Mulin picking up an outfit, so he quickly walked over and reached out to Guan Mulin: "I've got my eye on that outfit too!"

The words were out before he realized something felt... off.

Guan Mulin also looked at Shen Ju, his expression turning strange: "You want to try this outfit?"

Shen Ju put his hands on his hips: "What, you don't want to give it up? It’s just a piece of clothing—are you really that stingy?!"

Qin Suxi, standing nearby, touched her face in confusion: Wait, why does this sound like it should be my line?

Guan Mulin fell silent for a few seconds, then handed the outfit to Shen Ju and tentatively said, "Fine, I’ll give this outfit to you. I don’t mind."

After a pause, he added, "I really don’t mind."

Qin Suxi: Wait, so now I have nothing to do here??

Shen Ju also fell silent, finally realizing that something felt off... This scene, these lines, this dialogue—why did it all feel so familiar??

*Ahhh!*

What on earth was he saying?!

Shen Ju’s face flushed bright red as he snatched the clothes Guan Mulin handed over, stumbling over his words: "I—I—I’ll wear this one! Anyway, you’re not allowed to fight me for it!"

Guan Mulin raised both hands in surrender: No fighting, no fighting.

He still harbored hostility and wariness toward me.

But it was like a short-legged kitten throwing a punch—the lethality was truly limited.

It was even somewhat amusing.

Guan Mulin thought to himself that he should keep his distance during the evening banquet. After all, he couldn’t overshadow the main event or steal too much attention at such an occasion.

Shen Ju had snatched a set of clothes that Guan Mulin had his eye on.

—Or at least, he seemed to have his eye on it. The task energy gauge increased by 0.5 percent, which, converted to half a percent, was still quite a significant jump.

It was an ivory-colored suit with subtle silver embossed patterns as the base—understated yet refined, yet exuding luxury. The clothing sizes had been pre-selected, and since Shen Ju and Guan Mulin had similar builds and heights, the style Guan Mulin had chosen naturally fit Shen Ju as well. Moreover, the designer could make last-minute alterations, so it wouldn’t cause any delay.

Still, having taken someone else’s first choice, Shen Ju couldn’t shake the guilt, as though he had bullied someone.

By the time the evening banquet arrived, Shen Ju noticed that he rarely spotted Guan Mulin.

The Guan family had invited a considerable number of guests to this banquet.

It was a rather grand affair, and they gave Shen Ju a prominent introduction. Now, everyone in their social circle would know what the newly-recognized youngest son of the Guan family looked like and what his name was.

After the formal introduction, Shen Ju remained at Qin Suxi’s side, while Guan Mulin was nowhere to be seen.

No one knew where he had gone.

Shen Ju grew restless, feeling antsy.

He thought to himself, 996 had even told him to use this banquet to find an opportunity to embarrass Guan Mulin, but if Guan Mulin was nowhere to be found, how could he carry out this plan?

Guan Mulin was also one of the guests of honor of this banquet—how could he just disappear?

Shen Ju couldn’t help but purse his lips.

Clearly, 996 had also realized this problem.

Previously, it had been so busy fixing bugs that it was nearly overwhelmed—swamped, disoriented, and scrambling—if it had hands and feet, that is. So much so that it only now noticed Guan Mulin wasn’t even here.

This wasn't acceptable—how could they carry out the acting mission like this?!

Suddenly, 996 thought of something and said proudly: "Wait, host, I can help you locate Guan Mulin’s position."

Shen Ju paused, curious: "What?"

996 explained matter-of-factly: "It’s the location tracking feature. It can scan and locate others within a certain range."

Well, technically speaking, it was a function discovered while fixing bugs.

But it wouldn’t explain in such detail.

Besides discovering the location tracking feature, it had also taken this opportunity to uncover some other functions and settings.

Like this—

The reason the encrypted chat channel had the word "encrypted" was because it could truly be encrypted.

Since it was a channel for communicating with the host, it was of paramount importance—absolutely critical. To prevent the chat channel from being accidentally intercepted or leaked, certain security enhancements could be taken for further upgrades and encryption—such as preventing important characters from unexpectedly accessing relevant mission details due to unforeseen circumstances, like mind-reading or similar abilities. That would be an absolute disaster for both the system and the host!

So, the biological information of these important characters could be identified one by one, added, and then set up with reverse shielding.

That way, it would be absolutely secure and foolproof!