Geng Nuo felt it must be a blessing cultivated from his past life that allowed him to encounter a noble benefactor like Ruan Rutang.
He had merely helped the other party take an exam, and not only did he receive a large sum of money, but the person had even enthusiastically helped him secure a high-paying job.
As expected, the Imperial Capital had plenty of opportunities to make something of oneself.
“How could I possibly impose upon you, Young Master Ruan?” Geng Nuo wore a respectful, polite smile on the surface, maintaining the reserved pride of one who could not be swayed by wealth. “According to the rules of our profession, once a transaction is successfully completed, we should never meet again.”
Ruan Rutang raised his teacup, only to put it back down before it even reached his lips. The air in the lower city was enough to trigger his rhinitis, let alone this coffee shop that looked luxurious on the outside but was actually greasy and filthy everywhere, making him unable to sit in peace.
He cast a critical gaze over Geng Nuo. The other person did not look like a Beta at all; his slender physique was more reminiscent of an Omega, and upon closer inspection, his face was somewhat pleasant-looking too, though only somewhat. Compared to himself, he was still far inferior.
Yet after sitting here for just a little while, Ruan Rutang could clearly feel that the gazes falling on Geng Nuo’s face were much more numerous than those on his own. He was very displeased, but still endured it with patience as he said, “I truly did not expect the lower city to have a talent like you. Since you helped me pass the entrance examination for the Royal Academy, a mere ten thousand Galactic Coins is certainly not enough to express my sincerity.”
A mere ten thousand Galactic Coins!
Geng Nuo forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart.
According to the purchasing power of mainstream circulating currency, ten thousand Galactic Coins were equivalent to one hundred thousand Luke coins, and ten thousand Luke coins were enough for a civilian family like Geng Nuo’s to live on for a year.
It wasn’t that Geng Nuo thought ten thousand Galactic Coins were much; it was far from enough. His father was sick, and a single use of the medical capsule cost fifty thousand Luke coins!
It was more expensive than blood-money!
There was a pair of younger brothers at home who were still too young to be laborers, and a mountain of debts to boot. Of course he needed more money.
“It is not that I am unwilling, it is just… working as a waiter in a high-end club, what if I am clumsy and offend a distinguished guest, wouldn’t that cause you to lose face? Besides, if it is only tens of thousands of Luke coins a month, I am afraid it will not be enough to move me.”
Geng Nuo had seen in a textbook picked up from a garbage dump that the noble lords of upper-class society never spoke in a straightforward manner, with a single sentence often hiding seven or eight layers of meaning. Good things usually took time and could not be rushed all at once. Now, by declining the other party’s good intentions several times, he was firstly probing for more information, and secondly taking the opportunity to elevate his own market value.
In the past, he had used this outdated bookish knowledge to mingle among all sorts of shady characters, reaping many benefits. Now, encountering such a massive pie falling from the sky, he naturally had to carefully weigh his options and meticulously calculate for himself.
Unfortunately, the Ruan Rutang he was facing was an uneducated, brainless Omega. This tactic didn’t work on him, and the reason he was enduring it with patience was simply waiting for Geng Nuo to jump into the trap he had prepared.
Geng Nuo had taken his place in the Royal Academy entrance exam and passed smoothly, which meant Geng Nuo’s existence had now become a huge threat.
As a loyal viewer of Imperial 8 PM prime-time dramas, Ruan Rutang was soberly aware that this situation was no different from fake and real Omega young masters swapping lives. In stories, the downfall of the fake young master was always attributed to not having the heart from the very beginning to make the real young master disappear from this world!
He needed to make Geng Nuo disappear without a sound. After all, in this world, dead men’s mouths were still the tightest.
Ruan Rutang endured his discomfort and continued to smile benevolently.
Geng Nuo was swept off his feet by that smile and was already unable to help daydreaming about the future.
Once he saved enough money to cure his father’s illness, worked hard for a few more years to renovate the house, and then sent his younger brothers to study in the Imperial Capital, preferably finding an understanding Beta willing to start a family with him, given his honest, diligent, and hardworking nature (though an Omega like Young Master Ruan would be even better), then all his hardship would be worth it!
In the end, this give-and-take negotiation concluded with the monthly salary of twenty thousand Galactic Coins introduced by Ruan Rutang.
Ruan Rutang took Geng Nuo to meet the owner of the Mad Shark Club. This was Geng Nuo’s first time boarding a flying vehicle. Along the way, he mulled things over and felt his performance had been flawless; now the only thing left was the authenticity of this job. As the saying went, falling pies from the sky always hid conspiracies.
Upon meeting the owner, all of Geng Nuo’s doubts were dispelled.
“What—my Young Master Ruan, what kind of joke are you playing? Letting him work as a waiter at my place?” Hearing Ruan Rutang’s intention, Pixiu immediately blew his beard and stared in indignation. “What kind of place is Mad Shark? The top club of the Empire, a synonym for high-end luxury, a paradise yearned for by everyone. If they aren’t nobles with titles and merits, they aren’t even allowed to set foot in the outer plaza.”
He circled around Geng Nuo, casting a critical, up-and-down examination. “You’re having him come here to be a waiter, what if he offends my distinguished guests! I refuse! A dirty bumpkin like him had better crawl back to wherever he came from!”
Pixiu’s attitude actually put Geng Nuo at ease.
If the owner of this kind of place had eagerly welcomed him to work, there probably would have been something fishy going on instead.
He set his mind at ease; such a lucrative gig could not be missed. Therefore, he used his glib tongue to actively fight for the position, even stating that he was somewhat versed in mechanical repair skills and could help fix small items during his spare time.
“Yes, his grades are quite good,” Ruan Rutang chimed in from the side.
After a long while, Pixiu finally seemed to feel that taking in Geng Nuo as an employee was a decent deal, compounded by the endorsement of Young Master Ruan’s face, so he reluctantly relented.
“Alright, go get your family matters settled. We only have one day off a month here. Three days from now, the third alley of Labora Linni Avenue, I’ll send someone to pick you up.” Pixiu still looked reluctant and unhappy. “Right, who else is in your family?”
When traveling away from home, one’s identity is self-given.
Geng Nuo blurted out, “I’m an orphan, I eat enough to feed myself and the whole family has no worries.” If he told the truth, the other party might think he had entanglements, and for the sake of his family would work desperately hard, having to endure the boss’s exploitation. This was simply a natural-born workhorse.
Pixiu was slightly surprised, but his expression softened considerably. “Fine, work hard when you get here in the future, don’t embarrass Young Master Ruan.”
Geng Nuo nodded with unservile composure and left in complete satisfaction.
As soon as he walked away, Pixiu’s expression instantly changed. He stood obsequiously next to Ruan Rutang. “Young Master Ruan, it must have been tough for you to personally run a trip to the dirty lower city. Next time, just leave this kind of thing to me.” He snapped his fingers, and a portable hand-washing device flew right in front of Ruan Rutang with a swish.
“How is it, are you satisfied with this play?”
“Very good, Pixiu.” Ruan Rutang reluctantly extended his hand into it, pulling it out five seconds later to wipe it thoroughly inside and out with a pure lambskin handkerchief. “This person isn’t even that smart, yet he actually had the ability to help me pass the entrance exam. Hmph, what a pity though, a person’s destiny is predestined the moment they are born.”
He waved his hand and walked toward his flying vehicle. “I’ll tell Uncle Su Mang to cut your rent in half for the next quarter.”
“Then I truly thank you!” Pixiu beamed with joy, bowing and scraping as he respectfully sent Ruan Rutang off. “If there’s anything in the future, old Pei will definitely not shirk responsibility, haha…”
With a pleasant mood, Geng Nuo boarded the return flying shuttle, rapidly planning his subsequent schedule. Only three days left, time was tight and tasks were heavy; he needed to quickly arrange his father’s first course of treatment and settle his younger brothers.
It was now the Galactic Era 31305, and Geng Nuo’s hometown was the near-imperial planet surrounding the imperial star, the planet Helsing. As a rural Beta from a lower-class planet, Geng Nuo was a laborer looked down upon by both sides; he lacked the physical strength of an Alpha, and the reproductive capacity of an Omega, while his physique was even weaker than an average Beta.
In his hometown, due to a lack of intelligent machinery and severe farmland pollution, cultivating fields consumed a massive amount of human labor. Most of the time, people helped each other out—today we all plow your field together, tomorrow we all hoe your land together. Geng Nuo was the unwelcome existence. After all, he was someone who could hit his own foot while hoeing weeds in the field; that wasn’t a laborer, that was useless waste. Coupled with his family’s pile of messes, the villagers avoided them like the plague. It wasn’t until Geng Nuo assembled a handy farming tool using discarded parts from large village machinery that the villagers began to be on good terms with his family again.
Unfortunately, farmland pollution was worsening day by day, and yields were getting lower and lower. With more idlers in the village, Geng Nuo had no choice but to try his luck making a living on a major planet.
The interstellar shuttle was extremely cramped. Compared to the flying vessels of the noble lords, these pitch-black, rounded interstellar shuttles looked like turds squeezed out into mid-air by a spaceship. In terms of capacity, they weren’t small, capable of seating about a dozen people, but everyone had to painfully bend over and curl up inside.
Observation rooms naturally didn’t exist; the inner wall of the shuttle had only a very small window, smaller than even half of Geng Nuo’s face.
Fortunately, he was squeezed next to the window today, allowing him to catch a glimpse of the passing stars and gas nebulas on his return trip.
Before the journey had even properly begun, airspace traffic control suddenly arrived. All flying vessels were forced to stop, required to yield a spacious flight path.
The passengers forced to stay behind broke into complaints. Geng Nuo pressed against the window as a massive interstellar spaceship slowly approached in the distance, and soon his field of vision was left with only a pitch-black shadow.
Amidst the clamor, someone recognized that this seemed to be the exclusive starship Polaris of Imperial General Gu Chengayan.
The complaints abruptly ceased. Even though General Gu, far away in his luxury starship, could not hear the offensive whispers inside the tiny shuttle, everyone still unanimously shut their mouths.
This stemmed entirely from the public’s awe and fear of him.
Rumors had it that General Gu, who came from a humble background, was bloodthirsty and ruthless. Over the years, the scare-tactic folklore Geng Nuo had learned from his neighbors to frighten children had been updated from “If you don’t behave, Marquis Wright will come kidnap you to remote planets as a slave!” to “If you don’t behave, General Gu Chengayan will come grab you and eat you up!”
It was uniquely effective at stopping crying babies.
On the Polaris, the man dressed in the uniform of an imperial general lazily bit down on a cigar. His facial features were exceptionally three-dimensional, his knife-carved face flawless to the extreme, and his entire body radiated the deterrence of a top-tier Alpha like a silent lion—even knowing he was dozing, one would still be deterred by his lingering might and dare not approach.
On the three-dimensional screen in front of him, the face of the Emperor of the Empire was projected.
“Hard work, General Gu. I’ve already received the good news about the suppression of the interstellar pirates.” His Majesty Emperor Moer D. Peisman could hardly suppress the corners of his mouth. “I heard that Marquis Wright is pulling the strings behind this matter?”
Gu Chengayan nodded. “Your Majesty, if this matter is handed over to me to handle, I won’t hold back anymore.”
Moer responded indifferently, “As you please.” He had other matters on his mind right now. After some pleasantries, he made a seemingly casual proposal: “How about I arrange a paid vacation for you?”
“Speak your mind.”
The person on the opposite side seemed to be waiting precisely for these words, and immediately opened the floodgates: “It’s like this. During the days you were away, a huge joke happened in the Imperial Star. Although I tried my best to suppress it, the gossip capability of those Omega wives’ circles is truly not to be underestimated. By the time I found out, it had already spread all over the nobility.”
His Majesty Moer sighed, “If Luoluo were willing to engage in some spouse diplomacy, how could I have possibly been the last to know…”
Gu Chengayan said unceremoniously, “The news of your infidelity has spread to the entire noble class? Do you want me to silence them all? Easy to arrange.”
His Majesty Moer let out a hiss. “Go on with you.”
Pausing in silence for two seconds, Moer wore an expression that defied description, speaking at a rapid pace: “Here’s the thing: the newly nominated Governor of the Peisman Imperial Bank was defrauded of his half-life savings by an Omega. Right as he was about to misappropriate public funds, it was discovered and reported by his subordinates. Now this man has been detained, but he doesn’t feel he did anything wrong in the least. Instead, he keeps emphasizing to the investigators the innocence of that Omega and how much he loves him.”
The words sounded scalding hot to the tongue; it appeared His Majesty the Emperor truly did not want to admit that the Imperial Bank governor he had personally promoted was a brainless romantic.
Gu Chengayan wasn’t very interested. “What kind of Omega has such great charm?”
“That’s precisely where the problem lies. I had people investigate, and over the past five years, there have actually been seven incidents where high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen were blinded by true love at critical moments in their official careers and business ventures.”
Gu Chengayan understood upon a single thought, “And the ultimate beneficiaries invariably fall upon certain nobles?”
His Majesty Moer nodded.
“Interesting, where do these true loves come from?”
“What a coincidence, they were all waiters coming out of the Mad Shark Club, and after the incidents, they all vanished without a trace.”
“The Mad Shark Club,” Gu Chengayan repeated. “I see.” With that, he cut off the communication.