“I’m just a steward, not a travel frog.”
006
He Xingluo finally returned to the dressing room, sitting down slowly on the soft sofa bench to relax for a moment. But the longer he sat, the more uncomfortable he felt, as if everything below his waist had lost all feeling.
He completely broke down, abandoning all pretense of caring, and decided to rest properly first.
Ten minutes later.
He Xingluo heard a round of knocks: “Tap, tap, tap.”
He Xingluo stayed silent.
After hesitating for a few seconds, the person outside spoke up: “Steward He, do you need any ointment?”
He Xingluo replied weakly: “Young master, can you just pretend I’ve already passed away?”
Li Zhanbei didn’t say anything more for a moment.
This dressing room came with a separate partitioned alcove, and He Xingluo was sitting on the sofa bench by the window. When the changing hues of the sunset caught his eye, he glanced out the window and noticed a bottle of strawberry milk sitting on the windowsill.
With a soft creak, He Xingluo pushed open the wooden-framed glass window.
Outside was a courtyard full of beautiful scenery.
Below the window, someone stood leaning against the wall. His neat riding gear was worn with a casual, free-spirited flair, yet he stood with extreme patience, only leaving after confirming the strawberry milk had been retrieved.
“What is this?” He Xingluo picked up the carton with its straw inserted, feeling utterly incredulous. “Is the trope of a domineering CEO loving strawberry milk really that common?”
The little system didn’t respond, as it was deep in thought.
Another fifteen minutes passed.
Steward He transformed back into his impeccably dressed self and stepped out of the dressing room. Young Master Li had already been standing in the hallway, admiring the sunset for quite a while.
Their gazes met, but neither mentioned the bottle of strawberry milk. He Xingluo naturally stepped over to Li Zhanbei’s side, as naturally as if baked into the game’s source code.
At the same time, He Xingluo finally unlocked the mystery in his heart when he caught a glimpse of Wen Tian’s figure. Whether Wen Tian had been deliberately picked on and sent over or it was pure coincidence, He Xingluo felt deeply comforted inside.
Because he had finally found the reason for this racecourse scene!
This must be designed to let Wen Tian inadvertently catch a glimpse of Young Master Li looking dashing and heroic while horseback riding, unknowingly giving the young master a boost in visibility and favorability.
The game plot was rigorous, remarkably rigorous.
It was just unclear why this plot required Young Master Li to carry an extra steward on his horse. Wasn’t that a bit redundant? But those were all minor details and didn’t matter.
He Xingluo firmly clung to his NPC steward persona and conscientiously reminded him: “Young master, you should head to tonight’s banquet.”
Li Zhanbei gave him a look that was hard to read.
Who exactly he was waiting for was something certain people were completely oblivious to.
On the way to the banquet venue by car, He Xingluo precisely found his bearings and deployed his old trick: “Young master, I honestly didn’t expect we’d still need to drive just to reach a banquet inside the estate. Truly remarkable.”
Li Zhanbei paused. “Did you want to walk there?”
He Xingluo only wanted to maintain his persona and had no plans to go on a hiking trip, politely declining: “I’m just a steward, not a travel frog.”
Li Zhanbei sighed helplessly: “Get in the car.”
A few seconds later.
Li Zhanbei sat in the back row, once again watching his steward hop unhesitatingly into the passenger seat. He Xingluo cheerfully greeted his working buddy: “It’s you, Mr. White Gloves.”
The driver paused for a moment before introducing himself: “Steward He, my name is Kevin.”
He Xingluo: “…”
Then it sounds like you chose the wrong profession, Teacher Kevin.
Today’s workplace socialization concluded right there. Leaning back against the seat, He Xingluo watched the evening sky grow dim and peacefully lost his mind on the inside: Why is it still bright outside, why is it still bright outside, when on earth can he get off work? When on earth can he get off work?
It hit him out of nowhere, but nobody ever loses their mind according to a schedule.
The little system offered a warm reminder: “Today’s plot takes place after the banquet starts.”
He Xingluo: “…”
So it was impossible to estimate how many more hours of work he had ahead of him.
This NPC life of his was hard-coded by the plot.
He Xingluo felt his current mood was intimately familiar. Wasn’t this precisely the fascinating state he used to experience back in his corporate days when “even though it was already Friday, because of a schedule adjustment you still had to wake up early on the weekend to rush toward an early morning meeting”?
It drove you up the wall, truly infuriating!
Anger flared in his chest!
Upon arriving at the banquet venue, He Xingluo popped open the car door with a sharp snap and stepped out, his movements as smooth as when he used to catch the subway. Perhaps he was naturally gifted for the grind, because a lifestyle where he was worked to the bone with zero peace managed to chase after him every single day.
His expression management wasn’t doing great, though; he couldn’t even be bothered to lift his eyelids.
For some reason, as soon as he entered work mode, he became prone to drowsiness—likely because he had already developed path dependency. He Xingluo stood in place feeling sleepy for a moment before half-opening his eyes to look up.
Li Zhanbei was leaning against the car door, watching him perform sleepiness live on the spot. Very nice, his “Young Master Li’s plaything” persona was becoming clearer by the second. He Xingluo gritted his teeth: “Aren’t you going inside?”
Li Zhanbei chuckled at him again, which was honestly inexplicable.
What could He Xingluo do? He could only follow the young master inside, while still needing to maintain the persona of an ignorant, country-bumpkin steward: “Young master, a lot of big figures are coming tonight, right? Like Duke Xu of Beichen.”
Li Zhanbei: “…”
He somehow miraculously managed to understand this person’s metaphor.
“Uncle Xu from the Xu family was specially invited by the household,” Li Zhanbei said as they walked. “Grandfather actually doesn’t like lively crowds and originally only wanted a family dinner, but he didn’t expect to attract so much attention, so he figured he might as well make it a livelier gathering.”
He Xingluo nodded along as he listened, still feeling deeply puzzled. Why did the young master answer every question he asked? Who on earth was the NPC here?
“Didn’t you already know all of this?” Li Zhanbei shot him a probing look. “Steward He, I haven’t kept anything from you.”
“…”
He was actually fishing.
He Xingluo laboriously maintained his persona, forcing a turnaround: “I knew the general idea, I just didn’t expect it to be on such a grand scale. I thought it would just be in a single banquet hall, not spanning multiple buildings. It really just shows how little of the world I’ve seen.”
Li Zhanbei didn’t commit to a comment. “If you like it, you can come more often.”
He Xingluo brushed it off, calling out to the system frantically in his head: “Is Li Zhanbei figuring something out?! How can an NPC even be at risk of breaking their character?!”
The little system replied with absolute confidence: “Not at all, host! You’re just an NPC, once the plot starts, the protagonists won’t even notice you!”
He Xingluo: “.”
Fine, fine, fine. It was just him being delusional.
While Li Zhanbei was busy socializing with others, he asked in his head: “Where is the protagonist right now?”
The little system: “He hasn’t arrived yet.”
He Xingluo: “?”
After checking, the little system provided a mind-boggling reason: Foreman Wang had assigned Wen Tian to clean the horse stables located a few miles away from the banquet, and because he was ostracized by everyone else, he ended up being the last person to leave the stables, causing Wen Tian to run late.
After running late, he would undoubtedly get his pay docked by Foreman Wang using some excuse.
Only when Wen Tian suffered enough tonight could it set off the warmth of being saved! Bitter and sweet were brought out by comparison, especially with tropes like “life is bitter but love is sweet,” meaning the protagonist had to suffer immensely first!
He Xingluo: “…”
That was pretty unhinged too. He was already starting to feel out of place just from things being this normal.
Banhua Novels, infinite joy.