Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Huh? Thanking me?"

He hadn't even apologized yet, so why was he being thanked?

Shen Ju quickly waved his hands dismissively: "No, no, I should be the one—"

"It's only right."

Pei Yan cut off Shen Ju firmly, a fake smile playing on his lips: "I should thank you properly, thank you for making me—thank you for saving me a ton of trouble. How about this, if you have any needs—like needing tutoring or something, I’d be more than happy to help out. After all, this kind of once-in-a-lifetime experience is something most people rarely get to experience."

Shen Ju didn't dwell on the latter part, but the initial words caught him off guard.

"T-tutoring?"

"Yes."

Pei Yan shifted his gaze to the few people approaching from around the pond: "Your older brother mentioned it to me."

"—About your grades."

Pei Yan continued with a smile: "Seems like they could use some improvement."

Guan Muyao: "............"

He didn’t.

That wasn’t what he said back then.

"You can think about it."

Pei Yan didn’t demand an immediate answer.

In fact, putting everything else aside, he was simply curious about the young man before him—it was rare to encounter such a situation, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Especially since it involved Pei Haochuan...

Pei Yan lowered his gaze, concealing the fleeting emotion in his eyes.

He then added: "Do you have any clothes to change into?"

"Ah, yes, yes."

Qin Suxi immediately reacted, quickly ushering everyone inside.

Regardless of anything else, the soaked clothes needed to be changed first, or they might catch a cold.

Pei Yan was escorted to a guest room.

Shen Ju, meanwhile, was sent back to his room at He Yuan.

Yes, "sent."

The Guan family members all converged outside Shen Ju’s room as if on cue.

The five of them exchanged glances.

Earlier, when Qin Suxi "heard" Shen Ju’s voice, she had pulled Guan Lifeng outside. Soon after, they ran into Guan Muyao and Guan Jianshan, who also looked disturbed. The four of them met up and realized it probably wasn’t a coincidence. As they headed together toward where Shen Ju was, they became even more certain—the voice that had suddenly popped into their heads, all of them could hear it.

And now Guan Mulin was here too.

Guan Mulin’s expression was even more complicated than theirs.

Guan Lifeng frowned: "Mu Lin, you—"

"Wait!"

Qin Suxi quickly interrupted in a low voice, her expression serious and solemn.

She took out her phone in front of the other four.

Guan Lifeng lowered his voice even further, thinking Qin Suxi had discovered something else: "Honey, you..."

Qin Suxi nodded and whispered back: "Let’s make another group chat."

"Ahem, another group to discuss this."

The others: "............"

Their original group chat had included Shen Ju after he was recognized, so they definitely couldn’t discuss this matter there. They had to create a temporary group.

Qin Suxi glanced at the "Loving Family" chat group, then, excluding Shen Ju, added everyone else to a newly created group named "Special Events Investigation Bureau."

She certainly knew how to name things.

Qin Suxi also changed her own display name: Director Qin.

And posted an announcement: Please update your display names upon entering the group, thank you.

"............"

Guan Lifeng pinched the bridge of his nose and was the first to respond: Director's Husband.

Guan Jianshan glanced at Qin Suxi.

Qin Suxi immediately spoke up: "Dad, you’re the bureau director, Director Guan."

Director Guan nodded in satisfaction.

The remaining two team members—

Junior Member Yao, Junior Member Lin.

With the group set up, outside Shen Ju’s room, all five of them were holding their phones, acting as "phubbers."

Director Qin: [First, let’s confirm—did everyone hear it? Those who heard it, raise your hand.]

A row of little hand-raising emojis popped up one after another.

Once confirmed, Guan Lifeng quickly got to the point: [Long story short, the situation is that Shen Ju is bound to some kind of thing that’s making him play the "vicious real young master" and serve as a foil to Mu Lin? That thing called 996 is probably parasitic in Shen Ju’s body. What exactly is it? You two younger ones should understand, right?]

Guan Muyao remained silent.

Guan Mulin thought for a moment, pursed his lips, and typed: [In novels, these things are called systems.]

True and false young masters, system hosts, role-playing tasks...

It was clear that Shen Ju's previous words or actions were likely all about "completing tasks." He had to be his own control group; he had to play the role of... a villain.

Guan Mulin couldn't help but wear a complicated expression.

Even though Shen Ju was opposing him, it didn't seem to bring Shen Ju any benefit.

So why would Shen Ju...?

"Host, I must remind you—"

Here it comes again.

Guan Mulin and the others immediately became alert.

At the same time, in the guest room downstairs, Pei Yan paused in his movements.

Everyone pricked up their ears.

In the room, 996 spoke with a tone of grave sincerity: "About what happened earlier, I’ve thought it over and feel it’s necessary to emphasize this: you need to understand that ever since you were recognized by the Guan family, I’ve been at your side. Our goals must align. You absolutely cannot go OOC in your role-playing tasks. To ensure the success of the mission, every aspect must be thoroughly covered, leaving no room for error!"

"I know you feel like you’re doing something bad."

996 cleared its throat lightly. "But in reality, what you’re doing doesn’t actually have much destructive effect."

"For example, at this banquet, our 'task' was to make Guan Mulin be humiliated, but in the end, the one who ended up embarrassed was actually you—"

996 sighed. "We’re the ones who are supposed to play the 'buffoon'."

"I know."

Shen Ju spoke softly. He had just taken a quick shower and hadn’t finished changing. His hair was still damp, like a little soaked dog's. He hung his head, towel-drying his hair absentmindedly, as if lost in thought. "But... but originally, Guan Mulin shouldn’t have had to go through any of this." If it weren’t for him.

Like those harsh words Guan Mulin endured earlier in the corridor.

Like Guan Mulin’s figure making himself disappear after the banquet.

—Shen Ju had wanted to look for Guan Mulin earlier not because Guan Mulin was actually missing and he couldn’t find a way to embarrass him, but because he felt that he was the one who should have disappeared.

He could feel the goodwill from the Guan family.

But his joining this family was, to put it nicely, here to "make trouble."

So he felt restless, uneasy, and ashamed.

Guan Mulin suddenly clenched his phone, a complex expression on his face as he looked toward Shen Ju’s room—or rather, his door.

He had always thought that even if Shen Ju didn’t particularly despise him, he at least disliked him.

Downstairs, in his room, Pei Yan also looked up.

This young master of the Guan family...

"You can’t think like that!"

996 spoke up disapprovingly. "Your existence is to help the protagonist grow! Besides, the protagonist’s identity is that of the fake young master. Now that his identity has been exposed, there’s inevitably a lack of blood relation between him and the Guan family—it’s not like before. So what you’re doing actually helps bring Guan Mulin and the Guan family closer. You really don’t need to overthink it."

Shen Ju hesitated. "Is that so?"

996 cleared its throat and affirmed, "Yes, of course."

"In short, you need to keep working hard on your 'tasks'!"

............

Setting aside the system’s child-coaxing tone, the Guan family didn’t get to discuss much further.

Partly because the banquet wasn’t over yet, and partly because they still didn’t have enough information. For now, they could only observe quietly and wait for changes, responding with stillness, covertly monitoring how things unfolded.

Still, Guan Mulin couldn't help looking peculiar.

Protagonist? Him?

What kind of protagonist was he? The male lead?

That system called 996 had also mentioned Pei Haochuan, and Pei Haochuan’s identity seemed pretty important too.

Guan Mulin thought to himself, Pei Haochuan... his sidekick?

Hmm, probably.

After all, in novels, the male lead always has a sidekick by his side.

It’s just—

Hmm... so he was actually the male lead?

Guan Mulin felt conflicted, and a little guilty toward his sworn brother—he considered him a brother, but the other was supposed to be his sidekick? Ah.

"Uncle, are you okay?"

With none of the Guan family around, Pei Haochuan had to come check on Pei Yan himself.

If he could, he would have fled far away, but doing so would probably lead to even worse consequences.

Just thinking about what happened earlier by the pond made Pei Haochuan suck his teeth.

Even though Pei Yan was young—only 22—his generational seniority was high. He was precociously intelligent, having skipped grades since childhood. Raised by the family patriarch, he had been personally guided for years as the youngest son. If nothing else, he had mastered the art of never showing his emotions on his face—usually, at least. Tonight might have been an exception, but in general, few dared be presumptuous around Pei Yan, Pei Haochuan included.

And it was Pei Haochuan who had egged Pei Yan on to go to the corridor in the first place...

Pei Haochuan’s heart grew cold.

But thankfully, the one who dragged his uncle down was that Shen Ju, the one who made his uncle be humiliated thoroughly—ahem, also that Shen Ju. So even if disaster was coming, it probably wouldn’t be aimed at him first.

"Uncle, didn’t I tell you Shen Ju was not good?"

Pei Yan had already showered and changed. The Guan family had plenty of new clothes, and the ones Guan Muyao brought him fit rather well. Hearing this, he glanced at Pei Haochuan and let out an unclear laugh.

The laugh was ambiguous, but to Pei Haochuan it sounded like a derisive "heh." Thinking he had struck a chord, Pei Haochuan pressed on, "But Uncle, why do you still need to tutor Shen Ju? Even if his grades are poor, it shouldn’t be your job to tutor him, right? Using a poleaxe to slaughter a chicken—"

The more Pei Haochuan spoke, the more Pei Yan’s eyebrow twitched.

He couldn't help looking at Pei Haochuan.

Pei Haochuan: "?"

Pei Yan: "And you have the face to talk about others?"

Author's Note:

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