Ch 45: How To Be A Good Lackey

When Shao Ye came back, he happened to catch sight of Su Yuexiang’s departing figure. He watched her step into the elevator before pushing open the door and entering the ward. As he unpacked a delivery, he asked Pei Fangyan, “Seventh Uncle, I think I just saw Su Yuexiang. Did she come to see you?”

Pei Fangyan gave a quiet “mm.”

“What did she come for?” Shao Ye looked up, suddenly on guard.

Pei Fangyan summed up Su Yuexiang’s intentions and said, “Probably to persuade me to lay down the butcher’s knife and become a Buddha on the spot.”

What kind of nonsense was that? Shao Ye didn’t understand a word. Seeing Pei Fangyan beckon to him, he set the package aside and walked over quickly.

“I’m a bit hungry,” Pei Fangyan said, looking up at him.

“Didn’t you just eat?” Shao Ye asked, confused. It hadn’t even been an hour since lunch.

The next moment, he watched as Pei Fangyan pushed up his white shirt and lowered his head to bite into his lower abdomen.

Shao Ye: “?”

Even if you’re hungry, you can’t just eat a person! What is this, Hannibal?

A warm tongue traced slowly across his skin. Shao Ye felt his legs go weak. He lowered his head, one hand resting on Pei Fangyan’s shoulder, the other slipping into his hair.

After a while, he heard Pei Fangyan murmur, “So fragrant.”

There was even a post-meal review. Should he leave a five-star rating too?

“Squat down a little. I want to eat higher up,” Pei Fangyan added.

Oh, so he wasn’t done yet.

Shao Ye crouched down, and Pei Fangyan unbuttoned his shirt one button at a time, unhurried.

Shao Ye stared at his face for a moment, then asked, “Seventh Uncle, are your legs any better?”

Pei Fangyan lightly pinched his chest and smiled. “It’s only been a few days. Not that fast.”

Shao Ye gave an “oh,” then asked, “Then when will they get better?”

“If everything goes smoothly,” Pei Fangyan said, “it’ll take at least half a year to regain sensation.”

Seeing Shao Ye frown in concern, Pei Fangyan asked, “Why so anxious? Tired at night?”

“Not tired!” Shao Ye immediately shook his head.

What was two-plus hours of extended “exercise,” anyway?

Pei Fangyan chuckled softly and continued enjoying his “dessert.”

Outside, the autumn sunlight was bright, golden ginkgo leaves drifting down in a quiet cascade.

Ever since the Pei family learned about Shao Ye and Pei Fangyan’s relationship, they hadn’t stopped making moves against Shao Ye. Yet not a single hair on his head was harmed, while they themselves ended up in worse shape. They didn’t really believe in karma, but it didn’t take much thought to guess who was behind it.

None of them dared to confront Pei Fangyan directly. The last person who tried was now sewing in prison for seven years.

Some even resorted to “mystical” methods in private, hoping to get rid of Shao Ye or change Pei Fangyan’s mind. Unfortunately for them, the supernatural wasn’t very effective. At least, there were no visible results.

If they couldn’t deal with the two of them, they could at least make things uncomfortable for Pei Tiancheng.

After all, as Shao Ye’s father, he should bear some responsibility for all this.

So at the year-end gathering, the moment they saw Pei Tiancheng, they began their passive-aggressive remarks.

The sixth sister started, “Big brother really has a good son. We just don’t have your boldness, sending your own son to seventh’s bed. If we’d known seventh was so generous… oh my!”

Pei Tiancheng’s face darkened instantly. Honestly speaking, did he send him? It was clearly that bastard Pei Fangyan who seduced his son!

And “if they’d known”? If they’d known, they’d have sent their own kids too? They should take a good look at themselves. Even if they wanted to, would Pei Fangyan want them?

The fourth brother added, “But my A-Yang is my precious treasure. I could never bear to send him to seventh.”

Pei Tiancheng’s fists clenched. He sneered inwardly. They were all surnamed Pei, who didn’t know who they were? If they were really that upright, they wouldn’t have rushed to send their children to the old residence back then.

If they knew Pei Fangyan would hand over the Pei family to his lover, they’d probably line up themselves without a second thought.

Pei Tiancheng looked around at his siblings and suddenly asked, “How much did you all get in dividends this year?”

“Huh?” They were caught off guard by the sudden change of topic.

Pei Tiancheng sighed and said sincerely, “My share increased by nine percentage points this year. I’ve been calculating for days and still can’t figure out how much money that actually is. Do you know?”

Nine percentage points?

Before, all of them combined hadn’t even gotten that much.

In an instant, the jealousy on their faces was impossible to hide.

What was this? Glory through one’s son?

Seeing their sour expressions, Pei Tiancheng felt much better. He smiled and said, “Fourth brother, I remember you used to score full marks in math back in elementary school. Why don’t you help your big brother calculate it?”

Pei family’s fourth brother’s face darkened. This year his share hadn’t even reached half a percent, and judging from the tone of Pei Fangyan’s secretary, it might be even less next year. And now he was supposed to help Pei Tiancheng do the math? As if! Now he finally understood where the portion deducted from him had gone.

“Fourth brother, why aren’t you saying anything?” Pei Tiancheng turned to someone else. “How about you, sixth sister? Why don’t you calculate it?”

The sixth sister couldn’t even force a smile. She stood up and said, “Big brother, something came up at home. I’ll head back first.”

“Why leave? Stay and chat a bit longer! Help me do the math!” Pei Tiancheng tried to keep her, but she had already quickened her pace and fled.

After she left, the others quickly claimed they had things to do as well. No one wanted to stick around and listen to Pei Tiancheng brag about how much he’d gained from Pei Fangyan.

At last, Pei Tiancheng had found his source of satisfaction. Before, he hated meeting these sarcastic, passive-aggressive relatives, always bringing up his son and that old fox Pei Fangyan.

But now he had an epiphany. He had evolved. Whenever he felt like it, he’d call up his brothers and sisters just to have a “nice chat” about year-end dividends.

By the summer of the following year, Pei Fangyan’s legs actually began to regain sensation, and he gradually became able to stand.

Shao Ye braced his hands against the smooth bathroom wall. One of Pei Fangyan’s hands rested at his waist while the other was busy with preparation. After thinking for a moment, Shao Ye couldn’t help suggesting, “Seventh Uncle, maybe we should go back to the bed instead?”

“What’s wrong?” Pei Fangyan stopped and asked, “Weren’t you helping your uncle with rehabilitation?”

But he hadn’t known rehab would be like this!

Shao Ye turned his head and said, “The bathroom floor is too slippery. I’m worried you might fall.”

Pei Fangyan smiled. “It’s fine. As long as Xiao Ye stands steady.”

Sunlight filtered through dense leaves, scattering across the water. The koi in the ornamental pond had grown large and plump over the past two years. Viewers in Stream Room 6 were so familiar with them that they could name each one on sight.

If any koi met an unfortunate end, viewers would even hold a “cyber memorial” for it on the forum.

At this point, only Streams 2, 4, and 6 were still running. But Streams 2 and 4 had always been dull. And ever since Pei Fangyan regained the ability to walk, Stream 6 had also become less interesting. There were more koi to watch than anything else. On the forum, the “refund thread” had already grown to over twenty thousand posts.

Although the broadcast hadn’t officially ended, the outcome was already decided. Translated on Hololo novels. And since even the koi weren’t that interesting anymore, the organizers sped up the time flow in the streams again and began discussing whether to wake the remaining three volunteers early.

But before they could act, Pei Fangyan signed his will, marking the perfect conclusion of that world.

Inside the game pod, Shao Ye slowly opened his eyes, waiting for the violently pounding heart in his chest to settle.

He remembered what Pei Fangyan had told him before signing the will: every parting now was for the sake of meeting again. One day, he would come to him.

The same staff member as before stood outside the pod, explaining the results of this broadcast.

After listening, Shao Ye asked in confusion, “But aren’t there still Numbers 2 and 4?”

The staff member replied, “In the other worlds, Pei Fangyan chose to donate all his inheritance to charity.”

His uncle really was such a good person.

Shao Ye stepped out of the pod and looked around at the stark white walls. Suddenly, he asked, “Can I go see His Majesty now?”

The staff member paused mid-recording and looked up. “Have your memories returned?”

“No,” Shao Ye said.

“Then why do you suddenly want to see His Majesty?”

“I don’t know,” Shao Ye replied. “I just really want to see him.”

Suddenly? Hadn’t he asked this several times already? They’d only ever let him see from a distance.

“Not yet. To see His Majesty requires approval from both the Council of Elders and the Oversight Council,” the staff member explained.

Shao Ye had heard this answer countless times. He huffed. “I’ll remember you.”

The staff member almost laughed at his dramatic threat, but recalling his superiors’ private speculations, he replied a bit uncertainly, “I didn’t make the rules.”

“That’s fine,” Shao Ye said. “I’ll remember Tang Qichuan too.”

The staff member sighed inwardly. How did a small fry like him end up on the same list as the vice director of the Oversight Council? His life was complete.

Then he heard Shao Ye add, “When His Majesty wakes up, I’m definitely going to have him send that guy off to Gole Star!”

The staff member: “…”

Forget it, let Vice President Tang go up on this list by himself.

Having just parted from Pei Fangyan and now being told he still wouldn’t be able to see “His Majesty” for a while, Shao Ye felt a bit down, even though he knew that as the winner of this livestream, he would receive a large bonus.

Not long after, when Shao Ye realized that his bonus was nothing compared to the enormous medical bills he owed, his mood sank even further.

He left the room and went to the gym, planning to numb his wounded heart through exercise.

Meanwhile, Neverland project team had already begun preparing for the next livestream. During this time, the parents and employers of two volunteers personally came knocking, subtly and not-so-subtly reminding them to be more careful next time and not let anything go wrong again.

They didn’t dare to directly accuse No. 6 of cheating. Instead, they said he shouldn’t always be paired with NPCs in romantic plots, as it was unfair to the other volunteers and also unfair to viewers who had bet their points on others.

The person assigned by the project team to receive them was just a low-level errand worker. On the surface, he kept agreeing enthusiastically, saying “yes, yes, of course,” but the moment he returned to the institute, he treated it like nonsense and didn’t even bother reporting it upward.

What had gone wrong with their livestream? It was doing great. Viewership kept rising steadily. And now they were being threatened with investment? Ridiculous. With the Council backing them, would they really lack funding?

Just because they had a bit of money, they thought they were something special!

The project leader was also aware of the outside debates surrounding the past two livestreams, but honestly, they had never given No. 6 any special treatment.

During the broadcast, there had been two heated discussions about whether to adjust NPC parameters for the next session. But once the broadcast ended, everyone fell silent, and no one dared to bring up modifying NPC data again.

Because at the moment Shao Ye logged out of Neverland, His Majesty’s condition had noticeably improved. No one dared to gamble with His Majesty’s consciousness. And deep down, they all had a bold guess, one that felt terrifying even to think about.

They couldn’t touch the NPCs that could be controlled by external consciousness, but some special NPCs could still be adjusted. The leader said, “This time, let’s change Q-058’s gender. I refuse to believe our Q-058 has zero appeal!”

This was top-tier code they had spent three years developing. Could it really fail to attract His Majesty at all?

…

Shao Ye trained like crazy in the gym for three days, and his mood improved a lot. He clearly understood that the President and Seventh Uncle were the same person, but he had no idea how that person would appear in front of him once Neverland project ended.

During his free time, Shao Ye browsed the forums. They were in an uproar, arguing intensely over whether he had cheated.

Cheated? Who was cheating for him? Would they come ask him to reimburse the cost later?

Thinking about his current situation, Shao Ye couldn’t help but feel a wave of sadness. He tapped on his phone and posted a thread in the usually cheerful uncle-nephew CP section.

【I went on a business trip with my boss, and something happened along the way. Now my boss is in a coma, and they suspect I’m the one behind it. I want to ask—】

Because of the title’s character limit, the rest had to go in the main post. Maybe because the title looked dull compared to others like “After waking up, he was forced to become the scheming Seventh Uncle’s plaything,” “Minors do not enter—click to see multiple important NPCs in Neverland lose control in broad daylight” (with a koi fish fighting for food image attached), or “Academic column: deducing Seventh Uncle’s positions from koi swimming patterns,” no one replied for a full two minutes.

But two days later, when Shao Ye checked again, the thread had already grown to over two hundred replies. Translated on Hololo novels. Many people were asking about his situation. The more he shared, the more enthusiastic the responses became. Quite a few users even said that person shouldn’t be his boss, but his husband.

When Shao Ye saw that, he was so startled his soul almost left his body. That kind of joke couldn’t be made lightly. That wasn’t just any boss, that was His Majesty!

Besides…

He already had someone he liked.

But it was strange. Every time he thought about the President and Seventh Uncle, his thoughts would always end up on His Majesty.

Sigh, when would His Majesty finally wake up?

Shao Ye’s cheeks and ears flushed red. He knocked lightly on his own head and didn’t dare reply casually anymore.

Before he knew it, half a month of rest had passed quickly, and the third livestream of Neverland  was about to begin.

Full of anticipation, Shao Ye lay down in the game pod and closed his eyes.

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