Chapter 69

Nothing Good Ever Comes of It

"Mr. Xu — is there anything you'd like to watch?" The screening room had limited options. Chao Musheng opened the streaming app on his phone, looking for something to cast to the screen.

Xu Chenzhu shook his head. "Whatever you like — I don't know much about films."

"You don't watch shows?" Chao Musheng's hand stilled on the list. "Mr. Xu — what do you usually do when you have free time?"

A pause. "Read."

"And then?"

Xu Chenzhu looked at him and said nothing.

"That's it?" Chao Musheng couldn't begin to picture Xu Chenzhu's daily life.

No school. No particular hobbies. No dissolute socializing. No travel. Even his messaging app profile picture had only been changed within the last two days.

Was there actually a person who sat surrounded by limitless wealth and shared it with limitless solitude?

"Mr. Xu — with all the money you make, do you ever worry about not having anywhere to spend it?"

"I've bought a lot of jewelry." Xu Chenzhu answered the question in earnest. "Real estate. A horse estate. A castle. Various other things."

The courtship manual had said: a man should let the person he cares for see his wealth, in moderation.

"Are those things you genuinely like?" Chao Musheng was curious.

Xu Chenzhu was quiet for longer than usual. He didn't want to lie to Chao Musheng.

He had no particular attachment to any of these things. But he had wanted to be, in the world's eyes, a person with something to offer — or more specifically, someone useful in Zhaozhao's eyes.

"Mr. Xu — if you have a horse estate, you must ride?"

"Yes." Xu Chenzhu stepped toward the door; a bodyguard came in with two blankets. He took them, shook one open, and draped it over Chao Musheng. "When you have time, I'll take you."

The room was dim. On that face, which could look almost severe, Chao Musheng found something that resisted easy naming.

"All right." He pulled the blanket up. "In high school I used to imagine being a wandering hero on a white horse — traveling the country, correcting wrongs. In my second year I wrote a short wuxia story and submitted it to a publisher, but they sent it back saying the wuxia market was in poor condition."

"I have a very beautiful white horse — perhaps similar to the one you had in mind. Would you like to meet it someday?" A quiet smile. "No one else has ridden it. It could be yours."

Something itched, faintly, somewhere in Chao Musheng's chest — the particular sensation of Ink Blob's paw pressing lightly without its claws.

Perhaps... he really wanted to see the horse.

The film began. The protagonist woke up one morning to find the world had developed inexplicable changes, and in order to prevent a tragedy, made a series of decisions that looked, to everyone around him, entirely foolish.

Chao Musheng drank the cola the bodyguard brought and laughed hard enough that he nearly spilled it.

But he was too tired. He didn't make it to the end. He fell asleep against the sofa cushions before the credits.

Xu Chenzhu stood and pulled the blanket up around him, then turned back to the screen. A sun was rising over the final scene.

The story ended with the protagonist waking again in the same bed, sunlight coming through the same window. The director left it open — whether the protagonist had changed anything was not stated clearly. But the flowers on the windowsill had bloomed.

Credits rolled. The screen went dark.

By the faint residual light, Xu Chenzhu turned his head and looked at the blurred shape of Chao Musheng's face for a long moment. He rose quietly, went to stand beside him, and touched his arm through the blanket in a series of gentle pats. "Zhaozhao — let me take you back to your room."

Chao Musheng opened his eyes in a daze. "Mr. Xu — is the film over?"

"Yes." Xu Chenzhu watched him sit up in his bleary, unfocused state, and after a brief hesitation, put his arm around his shoulders — the way Chao Musheng's close friends did — and guided him toward the door. "I'll take you back."

Chao Musheng nodded, not entirely awake.

He walked into his room and dropped onto the bed without ceremony, pulled the blanket over himself, and was already closing his eyes. "Good night, Mr. Xu."

"Good night." Xu Chenzhu looked at Chao Musheng, already gone, and straightened the blanket, adjusted the room temperature, and walked out, pulling the door quietly closed behind him.

*

Ten in the morning. Secretary Liu walked into the courtyard with documents and found the usual familiar figure was missing from the reclining chair.

He went into the main building. The boss was supplementing the cat's breakfast. Still no sign of Xiao Chao anywhere.

"Boss — is Xiao Chao still not up?" Secretary Liu handed over the documents. "Song Cheng's scandal has spread across every platform. Serious internal fallout at Song Enterprises — the tax investigation team moved in this morning. The family's finances have been mismanaged for years. They probably can't cover the gap that's accumulated." He set down the Song Enterprises internal financial summary. "There's the report."

"Zhaozhao slept late last night. He's tired." Xu Chenzhu didn't so much as glance at the Song file. "Handle it by the book."

Tired?

Secretary Liu's ears went up.

"I had some insomnia last night. Zhaozhao kept me company for a film." The corner of Xu Chenzhu's mouth moved. "Let him sleep in."

Secretary Liu looked at his employer's expression — the smile that was simply not going to be pressed back down — and privately, extensively, clicked his tongue.

Xiao Chao watches a film with you at midnight and this is your reaction. Boss, a man who is this easy to satisfy is going to face difficulties in the negotiation.

"Good morning, Mr. Xu. Brother Liu." Chao Musheng came down the stairs in a light-colored shirt, and paused to look at Xu Chenzhu a moment longer than passing required. "What time did you get up this morning, Mr. Xu?"

"Half past six." Xu Chenzhu turned back to the kitchen and came out with a bowl of congee. "Eat something first."

"Thank you." Chao Musheng looked at the bowl of mushroom and lean pork congee placed in front of him, took two spoonfuls, and noticed the taste was different from the Chen estate's usual morning delivery. "Did Chen Garden change their kitchen staff?"

Up at six-thirty with no trace of dark circles. A constitutionally industrious CEO.

"The congee seems off?" Secretary Liu went slightly tense. Surely the Chen family wouldn't dare put something in the food.

"Nothing's off — just a different flavor from yesterday's." Chao Musheng took two more spoonfuls. "Today's is better."

"Mr. Chao." One of the bodyguards in the corner caught Xu Chenzhu's eye — no signal to stop — and said quietly: "The boss made it."

The boss?

Secretary Liu looked at Xu Chenzhu in disbelief. A few days ago it was cat food. Now it's the cat's owner's food. Boss — exactly how many talents have you been hiding from your staff?

"Mr. Xu — you made this?!" Chao Musheng's eyes went wide.

He'd really come up in the world. Sleeping in and waking to congee his boss had made. Even wish-fulfillment fiction wouldn't dare write this.

"The ingredients and equipment here aren't complete, so a simple congee was all I could manage." Xu Chenzhu's tone was as matter-of-fact as if this were an obvious and natural thing to do. "How is the taste?"

"Delicious." Chao Musheng smiled with his whole face. "Thank you, Mr. Xu."

Xu Chenzhu smiled back. "I'm glad it suits you."

Secretary Liu quietly moved himself further away. His presence in this particular corner had become a visual inconvenience.

*

After finishing a full bowl, Chao Musheng went to collect his bodyguards for another walk around the estate.

"Don't worry, Brother Liu — I'll find an opportunity to make trouble for the Chen family." He patted Secretary Liu's shoulder. "See you at lunch."

He wanted to contrive another accidental meeting with the Chen family and see what they were actually planning to do with the supposed rift between him and Secretary Liu.

*

"Curly Hair." Tiger had turned it over from every direction and still couldn't make sense of it. He finally went to find her.

Curly Hair had been unusually occupied these past two days — he barely ever caught her. Today he managed to corner her and pulled her into the shade behind the rockery. "Curly Hair — there's something I can't work out."

"What is it?" She pulled out her signal blocker. "Make it quick — I have somewhere to be."

"You can leave Chen Garden?" Tiger was startled.

"I told the gate guard I was running an errand for Xiao Chao. They let me through." She looked at his expression. "If you want to go out too, I can bring you next time."

"I mean — we can actually leave the instance area?" Tiger still wasn't following. "Does the instance boundary not apply to you?"

"I just told you." Curly Hair looked at him steadily. "I was running an errand for Xiao Chao."

"Running an errand for Xiao Chao... not bound by the instance..." Something in Tiger's mind went off like a thunderclap. "You mean — as long as you have the instance's NPC's recognition, you can move freely outside the instance boundaries?"

She didn't contradict him. He knew he'd guessed right.

"But how is that possible? The Main God would never allow players that kind of freedom. And there's also — also—"

Unless this wasn't a world the Main God could fully control.

Tiger stared at Curly Hair. "Curly Hair — is there any chance that this world is... actually real?"

"You finally figured it out." She smiled. Arms folded. "Welcome to a real world. One the Main God hasn't taken over yet."

"Then what I suspected was right." Tiger could barely hear what she was saying anymore. "An instance that hasn't been successfully cleared yet doesn't belong to the Main God."

Those worlds that looped endlessly — the Main God hadn't created them. The Main God had stolen them. Taken something that belonged to other places and made them into spaces for players to attack.

The so-called NPCs had been living people.

Which made the players who helped the Main God clear and explore instances — what exactly? Accomplices? The tiger's willing helpers?

"Stop standing there." Curly Hair knocked his arm. "Someone's coming."

The steward. Xiao He and You Jiu following behind him.

"You're both candidates I've been considering for deputy steward." The steward had his hands clasped behind his back, carrying the full air of a feudal household's prized lackey. "But there's only one position, and the master has final say."

Xiao He nodded obediently. You Jiu smiled with the precise calibration of someone asking for favor. The gap in apparent intelligence was visible from the outside.

"You both know about the thieves apprehended in the garden last night?" The steward had substantial dark circles under both eyes. His criminal-record enforcers were sitting in the police station answering questions; he'd spent considerable effort making sure none of it attached to him. "Tomorrow is the master's sixty-ninth birthday. Tonight, I need you both to stand watch outside the wooden building. Don't let anyone approach — we can't have any disturbance before the banquet."

With the enforcers unavailable, he needed people he could manage. You Jiu was obedient and came from Master Chen's personal courtyard staff. Xiao He was limited upstairs, but was the only person who could get near the guest building without raising questions.

If Chao Musheng came blundering around again at midnight, having Xiao He on the door would at least mean the situation could be managed.

It was a pity about Tiger — his connection to Chao Musheng was too close for this job, which was unfortunate, because a man that size clearly knew how to use himself.

"Steward — is there something precious kept in the wooden building?" Xiao He put on his most vacant expression of curiosity. "Is that why the thieves went there?"

"Don't talk nonsense. The building houses the memorial tablets of the master's mother and his late wife." The steward fixed Xiao He with a look. "The master wants them left undisturbed. That's why he has people at the door."

Only his mother and wife. No father's tablet.

You Jiu considered this. Given the distinctly feudal-patriarch energy Master Chen radiated from ten miles out, he didn't seem like the kind of man who honored his mother while disowning his father.

"Don't ask so many questions — just stand watch and keep people away tonight." The steward saw Xiao He drawing breath to continue. "Do you want to keep this job or not?"

"Yes." Xiao He said quickly.

"Then be quiet."

"Understood." Xiao He closed his mouth.

The building definitely had something in it that couldn't stand scrutiny. That was why there was no surveillance installed.

He glanced at You Jiu beside him. How was he going to get away from this one tonight and search the building for evidence?

You Jiu, noticing the glance, gave a mild smile.

How many doses of the temporary amnesia item were left in the inventory?

"Steward." Chao Musheng's voice drifted over. "What a coincidence — we meet again. Back so soon?"

The steward: "..."

He had no idea why, but every time he laid eyes on Chao Musheng lately, something in him went immediately, formlessly afraid.

The feeling that nothing good was ever going to follow.