Just as Bai Xinjian thought he was at a stalemate with the monster, 0048 finally appeared.
Bai Xinjian heard a surge of electric buzzing in his mind, followed by 0048’s voice: “I have checked, Jianjian. It is fine. Your arrival will bring some butterfly effects to the story. It is normal for the plot to deviate or for certain events to occur ahead of schedule. It is likely that the monster’s level of contamination has intensified, causing him to escape from the hospital early. Let us just proceed according to plan.”
“Hurry, hurry!” Bai Xinjian said excitedly after listening. “Stuff the censored words into his mind, then my mission will be complete!”
Bai Xinjian’s plan was perfect. If he stuffed the censored words into Gu Yue’s mind, Gu Yue would clearly realize he was actually Shen Yuhuai. He would be trapped in Gu Yue’s skin, watching his own little husband engage in relations with another man in his own home.
It would be real listening, real watching, and real feeling.
What thrilling NTR literature.
As a novel from the Huashi genre, the readers would surely be delighted to see such a plot.
Bai Xinjian’s inherent destructive desires began to stir.
“No,” 0048 rejected Bai Xinjian’s proposal. “Drive him away. Just say you are tired and want to rest. The plot has not reached that point yet; regardless of whether there is a butterfly effect, we cannot take the risk. Let us stick to the original plan. I will notify you when the plot node arrives. But having said that, if a ‘Gu Yue’ wearing a skin is here, then where is the real Gu Yue?”
Soon, Su Qin returned from shopping, and Bai Xinjian took the opportunity to use that as an excuse to drive Gu Yue away.
As soon as Su Qin returned, the temperature throughout the mansion returned to normal. Gu Yue seemed remarkably easy to talk to; as soon as Bai Xinjian said he was tired, he politely bid farewell and left.
In the evening, after eating a light dinner made by Su Qin, Bai Xinjian felt quite tired. He wondered if his physical stamina had become just like the original host’s after transmigrating into the book.
He went upstairs, entered the bedroom bathroom to shower, and was drying his hair as he stepped out, ready to lie down and rest.
This was a single bedroom. The double bedroom downstairs was merely for show, used by the plastic married couple—the original host and Shen Yuhuai—whenever necessary.
As a high-ranking military official, Shen Yuhuai often had visitors. On occasions where they needed to play the part of a loving couple, those details were essential. Of course, neither Shen Yuhuai nor the original host ever really slept in that double bedroom; they both usually slept in their own rooms upstairs.
The original host’s bedroom was decorated quite cozily, showing that he was someone who knew how to enjoy life.
Bai Xinjian lay down in the soft covers, his cheeks sinking into the fluffy pillow. His damp hair emitted a faint, refreshing fragrance under the moonlight filtering in through the window.
Bai Xinjian closed his eyes, his breathing gradually becoming even and shallow.
He did not know how much time had passed when a soft sound suddenly came from his bedroom door.
Then, a pair of legs wearing work boots quietly stepped inside.
The boots were covered in mud from the garden downstairs. If one sniffed carefully, they could even smell a rich scent of roses on the intruder.
The intruder’s footsteps were silent. He moved closer and closer to the person on the bed.
Bai Xinjian, immersed in his dreams, was completely unaware of the intruder in his bedroom.
Before long, the figure stopped by Bai Xinjian’s bedside.
The moon, having hidden behind the clouds, peeked out, illuminating half of the intruder’s face.
There was a hollow eye socket, an ugly scar, and skin that was rough and coarse from long-term exposure to the sun.
On the other half of his face, hidden in the shadows, a dark blue eye emitted a deep, glowing light.
Cut it out, cut it out and give it to him…
In the dimness, it seemed as if a voice was clamoring.
He likes my eyes.
Scoop out the eyeball, pack it! Tie it with a bow!
The ugly gardener stretched out a hand, slowly moving it toward his own eye.
Suddenly, he heard Bai Xinjian, who was lying on the bed, let out a soft, uncomfortable moan.
“Cold…”
The room’s temperature dropped again.
Bai Xinjian instinctively shrank deeper into his blankets.
The monster finally realized that wherever He was, the surrounding temperature would drop, and humans would feel cold.
He feels cold. He feels cold. He feels cold!
What should I do?
The monster started pacing back and forth in a panic.
After a long while, He realized that since the human felt cold because He was in the room, if He left, the human would stop feeling cold.
The monster hung his head. His once-glowing dark blue eye stopped shining.
Like a wounded beast, he hunched his shoulders and slowly retreated from Bai Xinjian’s room.
Before leaving completely, he still felt reluctant. He went to Shen Yuhuai’s bedroom next door, found a thick, fleece-lined blanket, returned to Bai Xinjian’s room, and gently covered him with it, ensuring he was bundled from head to toe before finally backing out.
Bai Xinjian was woken up the next day by the heat.
He vaguely remembered feeling a bit cold in his sleep the night before, then suddenly feeling very hot. Switching between hot and cold, he was too lazy to wake up. It was not until he opened his eyes that he realized someone had covered him with an extra blanket.
Bai Xinjian: “…”
Was it Su Qin?
Bai Xinjian was full of questions. It was not even winter; were they afraid he would catch a cold? The original host really was a handful. Bai Xinjian sighed. He felt bad for the house servant having to worry so much about him.
Bai Xinjian got out of bed and went to the bathroom for a shower. When he came out, he heard the system in his mind say: “Host, in a few days, it will be the birthday of Jiang Sui, the protagonist of this book. There will be a key plot node that you need to attend.”
Bai Xinjian acknowledged the information.
Since the timing was right, 0048 retrieved the entire story’s content for Bai Xinjian, hoping he could use his free time over the next few days to study. As a newcomer to the Transmigration Bureau, the system needed to provide necessary guidance. Once Bai Xinjian got the hang of his work and became more proficient, it could properly let go and let him develop his own work rhythm. For now, it would guide him where it could.
As expected, when Su Qin went out to buy groceries in the morning, she returned with an invitation that had been tucked into the mailbox.
Bai Xinjian took a look; it was an invitation from the Jiang family.
The Jiang family was an elite family in the Imperial Capital, just like the Bai family. The only difference was that Jiang Sui was the Jiang family’s only son and the apple of their eye, while Bai Yu was the unloved youngest son of the Bai family.
It was said that Bai Yu was brought back by the Bai family when he was eight. Before that, he had been wandering outside, allegedly because a Bai family servant was negligent, allowing Bai Yu to be abducted in a crowded plaza.
Years later, the couple who bought Bai Yu from the human traffickers fell into debt due to the husband’s long-term alcoholism and gambling. The wife managed to contact the trafficker and learned that the child they had bought was actually the youngest son of the prestigious Bai family.
Seeing a windfall, the couple did not hesitate to write a letter to the Bai family, using both threats and bribes to sell Bai Yu back at a price a thousand times higher than what they had paid.
Of course, their scheme did not work. The Bai family called the police and had the couple arrested for extortion. Naturally, Bai Yu finally returned to the Bai family.
He had left the Bai family before the age of three, too young to remember anything. When he returned, all the memories of home in his mind were of an alcoholic, gambling father who loved to hit people, and a weak, incompetent mother who was willing to serve her husband even while being beaten. The clothes he wore, which his foster mother had begged from someone, were not even worth as much as a spoon the Bai family used to eat.
He grew up in the Bai family, timid, fragile, and sensitive, until he was eighteen.
Later, he realized his position in the Bai family: a useless vase and a tool.
He was grateful that he still had a face that could be looked at. His parents never cared if he kept up with his studies. They only cared if he had learned proper etiquette at school so that he could eventually enter into a political marriage with someone from the military or government to add value to their careers.
His personality began to turn petulant and overbearing. Under his parents’ arrangement, he entered into a marriage with Shen Yuhuai, transforming from an exquisitely packaged commodity of the Bai family into a useless beauty kept by a man.
Had he ever thought about what his future would be like if he did not follow the arrangements of others?
Who knew? Whatever. A tool does not need to have any thoughts of its own.
Just like when he had once accidentally overheard a servant of the Bai family discussing: “Master Bai Yu should be grateful to the Master and Mistress. If they had not spent millions to buy him back from that couple, he might still be the son of a gambler right now.”
Yes, a grateful tool needs even less in the way of its own thoughts.
Bai Xinjian spent the afternoon reading the entire story.
It certainly lived up to the Huashi production; there were indeed many scenes of questionable content, though most were about Jiang Sui and the people surrounding him. There was not much description of Bai Yu.
There was not much description of Shen Yuhuai either, other than the fact that he became a high-level unfortunate one later on, and was eventually suppressed by Jiang Sui and his followers.
Bai Xinjian’s mission was to stimulate Shen Yuhuai’s potential, help him defeat Jiang Sui, and swallow the entire world.
No wonder 0048 was so cautious at the beginning. Judging by the combat power of Jiang Sui and his followers, this mission would be quite difficult to complete. He did not believe that Bai Yu’s charm alone could stimulate Shen Yuhuai to that extent, but he would take it one step at a time.
A few days later, Jiang Sui’s birthday arrived.
Bai Xinjian was invited to attend. In order to better suit Bai Yu’s character, Bai Xinjian took special care to dress himself exquisitely. In 0048’s words, he looked gaudy.
“Oh, my host, you are simply too beautiful and too dedicated!” 0048 praised him incessantly in his mind. “This is bound to make those people lose their minds!”
0048 was joking, of course.
Bai Xinjian looked at himself in the mirror, adjusted his expression to look satisfied, and straightened his collar. “No need to make others lose their minds; just making that monster Gu Yue and Shen Yuhuai lose their minds is enough!”
After saying this, he stepped out of the bedroom, ready to ask Su Qin to call a driver for him, when he bumped into someone.
The ugly gardener was standing at the door. He was not wearing his work clothes today, nor was he carrying his toolbox.
That dark blue eyeball trembled in the rough, sunken eye socket, suddenly fixing its gaze on Bai Xinjian. Then, Bai Xinjian heard the other person ask: “Who does the Mistress want to make lose their minds?”