Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Uncle Li helped Nan Liujing change into loungewear and quickly went to the kitchen to check on things.

As soon as he reached the doorway, a pungent burnt smell hit him, and wisps of black smoke drifted out from the crack in the door.

Oh my God, what happened?!

He pushed the door open and was met with thick smoke billowing out, forcing him to step back and cough. Quickly, he took off his jacket to fan away the black smoke. When he finally got a clear look, the steamer on the gas stove was already charred black, and Shen Gali was lying on the cutting board, his face pressed against a lump of flour, sleeping peacefully.

Uncle Li swiftly turned off the heat, grabbed a wet towel, carried the pot to the sink, and opened the lid. Inside, arranged haphazardly, were lumps of burnt black stuff in various shapes and sizes.

"Mr. Shen!" Uncle Li shouted. "How can you sleep like this? The flower rolls are burned to a crisp!"

Shen Gali groggily opened his eyes, and the sudden smoke made him cough violently. After barely catching his breath, he looked around at the swirling black smoke and at Uncle Li, whose face was as black as the burnt rolls. He asked in confusion:

"Uncle Li, have you also come to the underworld?"

He had made a few flower rolls earlier, but they didn't look right. Afraid that Uncle Li would nag him again, he took them out of the steamer and tried to reshape them according to the recipe book.

But even with the picture guide, his eyes grew blurry. After finishing the rolls and putting them in the steamer, he planned to close his eyes for a quick half-minute rest. Instead, he didn't wake up until an hour later.

Uncle Li was on the verge of tears, staring at the charcoal rolls. "What do we do now? It's mealtime, and the young master must be starving by now."

Shen Gali, tired of getting scolded, quickly said, "The other dishes are ready. Take them out first. I'll handle the flower rolls."

Uncle Li was skeptical. "Really?"

But with no other option, he had no choice but to trust him.

Uncle Li brought the other dishes to the dining table and saw that the young master had already wheeled himself down the ramp.

Nan Liujing was wearing a simple beige sweatshirt, his hair loose, soft ends resting around his ears. The V-neck sweatshirt made his neck look long and elegant, giving him a very youthful appearance.

He was flipping through a magazine, and when the burnt smell hit him, he looked up coldly. "What's wrong?"

Uncle Li didn't dare tell the truth. "Mr. Shen's cooking isn't great; he overheated the flower rolls. He's handling it now."

After a moment, he added, "Young master, perhaps from now on, I should handle dinner."

"No, let him do it," Nan Liujing said in a low voice without looking up.

Uncle Li sighed. Don't say I didn't warn you.

After a long while, Shen Gali came out with the flower rolls.

At first glance, the rolls in the dish were pure white. Though irregularly shaped, they at least looked edible.

Edible my foot!

Uncle Li was dumbfounded.

So Shen Gali's idea of "handling it" was to drizzle yogurt over the burnt black rolls to disguise them!

Trusting him was the one mistake in this old man's life. And now, he had to be the taste tester.

Nan Liujing closed the magazine and looked at the rolls.

"What is this?"

Shen Gali didn't even look up, as if his soul had been sucked out. He slumped in his chair, struggling to breathe. "Flower rolls..."

Nan Liujing's sharp brows furrowed slightly.

Shen Gali couldn't understand why mixing yogurt with fruit was considered "living the good life." Yogurt should be used for practical uses—like coloring food.

Nan Liujing pushed the knife and fork toward Uncle Li with his fingertips, his voice cold. "Taste it."

Uncle Li: T_T

Uncle Li gritted his teeth.

It wasn't just the rolls. There was also the cherry foie gras. It was supposed to be foie gras rolled into balls, coated with cherry sauce to resemble real cherries, but no one had ever seen a polygonal cherry.

And they'd never seen fish soup made without gutting or cleaning the fish.

"Shen Gali," Nan Liujing said coldly, staring at him.

Shen Gali lowered his head and closed his eyes, letting out a little hum as a response.

"Is this the meal you made?"

Shen Gali nodded. It looked like a simple acknowledgment, but somehow had a hint of defiance.

"Do you think this is edible?" Nan Liujing tightened his grip on the knife, his tone icy.

Shen Gali said, "I married you to be your wife, not your maid."

Nan Liujing thought, fair point.

He pulled out his phone and pushed it toward Shen Gali. "You say you're a wife. Have you fulfilled the duties of one?"

Shen Gali replied weakly, "So being a wife is a career now? Then... just send my wages to my WeChat."

Nan Liujing: ...

Sure enough, this guy never misses a chance to talk about money.

"Look for yourself," Nan Liujing said, tapping on the phone.

Shen Gali found it annoying. Couldn't he just push the phone closer? Why did he have to sit up and stretch his arm, such a bother.

He picked up the phone and glanced at it. It was a Weibo post on a tabloid, under the headline: "Shen Gali Caught Cheating and Sexting."

Shen Gali was puzzled. Someone as lazy and listless as him—sexting? What would that even look like?

"Hey, I'm huge. Wanna see my big eggplant?"

"Nope."

"Baby, you wanna hook up tonight?"

"No, I've got a toilet at home."

Even a sexting partner would flee on a train that same night after hearing that.

But according to the original story, the villain would use this as an excuse to torture him relentlessly until he died.

Shen Gali suddenly stood up, unbuckled his belt, and held it out reverently with both hands as he walked over to Nan Liujing. He deliberately avoided looking at the man's face, which was stacked with a hundred layers of debuff.

He presented the belt:

"Remember to pull upward from the bottom, so the coroner will rule it a suicide by hanging."

Nan Liujing: ...

Li Shu: ...

Nan Liujing sneered. Did he think this would bluff his way through?

His long fingers tapped lightly on the table: "Shen Gali, apologize, or go upstairs and face the wall. Choose one."

Shen Gali thought: *The villain is so kind, giving him a chance to apologize.*

"I choose to face the wall."

...

Li Shu kept giving him meaningful looks: "Mr. Shen, it's easy to apologize and show some sincerity. The young master isn't petty."

Shen Gali insisted: "I want to face the wall."

Nan Liujing narrowed his eyes, a deadly chill in them: "Are you sure?"

Shen Gali nodded, then asked, "How about increasing the punishment to one year for such an unforgivable crime?"

At least for that year, he'd have some peace and quiet.

Nan Liujing sneered. Still stubborn, huh.

"Li Shu, take him up." Nan Liujing picked up the belt on the table, "And as for this, please make good use of it."

Shen Gali followed Li Shu to the storage room on the third floor. The room was small and dim, piled with clothes and items waiting to be dealt with.

Li Shu sighed and, following Nan Liujing's instruction to "make good use of it," loosely fastened Shen Gali's hands with the belt.

"The young master is kind and let you off this time. If this were really an extramarital affair and you were sued, your Shen family would be bankrupt."

Shen Gali said "Mm-hmm" and added, "Tell him I said thanks."

Li Shu shook his head and left the room.

Shen Gali looked around and spotted a handmade doll in the corner, about the size of a person. The doll had raised eyebrows and a cold expression that screamed "I'm bad." Although he had never paid close attention to what Nan Liujing looked like, this was clearly a replica Nan Liujing doll—at least the clothing was very similar.

Although he didn't know why Nan Liujing had such a thing, he didn't care.

His knees gave way and he dropped straight to his knees, leaned forward, and fell into the doll's embrace, burying his face in the crook of its neck, letting out a contented sigh.

Meanwhile.

In Nan Liujing's bedroom.

Time ticked by. Two hours had passed since Shen Gali entered the dark little room.

Nan Liujing took off his gold-rimmed glasses, closed his laptop, massaged the bridge of his nose wearily, and asked Li Shu in a low voice, "Has he apologized?"

Li Shu: "No, he's still kneeling."

An hour later.

"Has he apologized yet?"

"No, but he's already fallen asleep, and very peacefully. I've never seen such good sleep quality."

Nan Liujing gripped the pen in his hand, his thumb pressing against the barrel, turning pale.

Li Shu watched, involuntarily craning his neck.

It must be an illusion. How could anyone bend a pen with one hand? Definitely an illusion.

Nan Liujing released his grip, threw the pen into the trash can, and glanced at the clock on the wall.

It was midnight.

He reopened the computer. He was determined to see what kind of explicit photos Shen Gali had sent to others, and whether this was another brilliant contribution to his plan to call off the wedding.

Not just Nan Liujing, but the entire internet was eagerly awaiting the steamy photos.

Although Shen Gali was unpopular, at least he looked like a celestial being. Maybe tonight they could finally get off on those photos.

The gossip magazine delivered on time:

"Everyone has been waiting~ According to network management policies, explicit photos cannot be posted online, so Shen Gali's sexting partner has packed the photos into a folder. Just DM this Weibo account to claim them [sly grin] @ShenGalisCheatingPartner."

A newly registered Weibo account with only one follower gained millions of followers in just half an hour. The DMs were set to auto-reply, so anyone asking for the file would get Shen Gali's private explicit photos!

"Get hype, fam! Shen Gali's explicit photos [lewd]"

"I'm just saying I don't want to see them, just want to study human anatomy."

"Hahaha Shen Gali! Go die, bitch!"

On Weibo, Shen Lanqing frowned deeply. He didn't believe his brother would do such a thing. It must be a misunderstanding, so he had to see the photos for himself to decide.

Meanwhile, Nan Liujing, after reading the process to get the photos, said:

"Li Shu, log into your Weibo and ask for the photos."

He was too elegant and refined to engage in such lowbrow behavior as asking for explicit photos via DM.

Li Shu: You're all moral paragons, and I'm the despicable one.

Steeling himself, Li Shu obtained the file and kindly asked, "Should I preview it for you first, or..."

"Just leave it," Nan Liujing said flatly, his eyes slightly downcast. "You can go now."

At almost the same time, millions of netizens received the file. Whoa! A 2GB file! What a legend!

They pulled down their pants, rubbed their hands together, and eagerly opened it—

Sluuuurp—

They were going to jerk off and curse at the same time. Hehe, being a total degenerate feels damn great!

They leaned in to see the 2GB of explicit photos—

?

??? ?

??????

The first photo in the file package: a shiny-coated dachshund sprinting across the grass, its bright red tongue flapping wildly, with a smug look.

Second: the dachshund lying on the ground, its short legs splayed wide, shamelessly showing its belly, begging for belly rubs.

Third: the dachshund struggling to mount another dachshund, revealing a bit of its little lipstick, showing off its sturdy doggy hips.

Fourth...

Netizens: Why the hell is it all dachshunds?! And you're telling me these are the damn explicit photos?!

Shen Lanqing was stunned.

Where was the promised brother's explicit photo? Why was it a sleek little dachshund?

“Fuck! I have to get up at six tomorrow for work, and after staying up all night, you show me a bunch of dachshunds?!”

“This is the explicit photo Shen Gali sent? Damn... you're going to jail, you marketing account.”

“I'm out. If I believe you again, I'm a dachshund.”

“Sorry, different species, can't get turned on.”

“Umm, if Shen Gali sent this kind of explicit photo while flirting, I'd think he's cute...”

“I also think it's cute... What am I supposed to do?”

In the room, Nan Liujing glanced at the phone out of the corner of his eye for a long time. After confirming that Uncle Li had indeed left, he slowly picked up the phone and opened the file package.

He wasn't interested in the explicit photos; he only wanted to find some dirt on Shen Gali to successfully break off the engagement.

He glanced at the phone.

Huh?

Glanced again.

Dachshund photos?

He couldn't believe it, scrolling all the way to the end. After looking at hundreds of dachshund daily life photos, his brows gradually furrowed.

What's wrong with people?

Why had netizens stayed up all night, excited just to see dachshund daily life?

Were dachshunds really that popular now?

Nan Liujing's eyes darkened, remembering Shen Gali, who was still being punished in the dark room.

*

Nan Family Mansion.

Yu Huaisu tightened her grip on her phone, her fingers trembling incessantly, her jaw muscles bulging.

It was dachshunds.

She slipped away from her husband and rushed to the study, opened the laptop, and clicked on the third file on the desktop.

Indeed, they were the daily photos she'd taken of her beloved dog.

Where were the explicit photos?

She opened each file one by one, and finally, in the last file, she found the so-called explicit photo.

Actually, the subject of the photo was not Shen Gali, but a male escort who looked about 70–80% similar to Shen Gali. Coupled with the dim lighting, the man's face in the photo could almost be mistaken for the actual person.

Yu Huaisu knew that bringing down Nan Liujing would not happen overnight, so she wanted to start by targeting Shen Gali. At least ruin the couple's reputation first. For a consortium, once mired in scandal, it's impossible to clean up.

As long as Nan Liujing lost his credibility, she could seize the opportunity and strike, breaking through his last line of defense.

But why was it full of dachshund photos!

She called the "friend" to demand an explanation. The "friend" said nervously, "Mrs. Yu, you know we paparazzi have way too many photos, all zipped into folders. When I stored the files on the desktop to check, I accidentally clicked on another folder. That folder happened to have some celebrity's explicit photos, so without careful inspection..."

Yu Huaisu gritted her teeth, grinding them audibly: "Still want your hard-earned money?"

The other party put on a brazen face and asked with a grin, "Eh? Can I have it?"

Yu Huaisu took a deep breath and roared, "No—!"

She hung up the phone, tossed it aside, and lit a cigarette to calm her nerves.

But outside the door, the barking of the dachshund Robbie made her even more irritated.