Chapter 15

Outside of Sui Si’s house, Yu Tang went straight to the garbage can while carrying the bag.

“Host.” The system hesitated for a long time, and reminded in a low voice, “You didn’t sort it……”

Yu Tang: “……”

The system raised a small flag. “Waste sorting is everyone’s responsibility.”

Yu Tang stopped in front of the garbage can. In order not to be caught by Sui Si just now, he had directly activated an automatic mode program he designed many years ago to tidy up the room.

The garbage from years ago was chaotic, “free”, all mixed together, without the love and hate relationship between dry and soiled waste, kitchen waste and hazardous waste.

Yu Tang stood for a while in front of the garbage can holding the plastic bag. “Does this bag of garbage belong to me?”

“……” System: “Host.”

Yu Tang: “In principle, every item that belongs to me can all be exchanged into experience points at a 1:1 ratio.”

The system’s screen blackened. “……Host.”

Yu Tang was extremely sincere. “The important point is not the experience points, but that I don’t want to continue carrying it.”

The host’s request didn’t violate any regulation. Unable to find any point to refute for a moment, the system steeled itself while flashing the small red light twice.

Yu Tang cooperated calmly; moving sideways and using the garbage can to block the attentive eyes of the passerbys.

In Yu Tang’s mind the mechanical sound was heard and the steaming hot seafood, preserved eggs and lean meat porridge quickly decomposed into data streams.

Immediately afterwards, the medical waste and plastic bag also became a string of 0s and 1s.

On the bankbook, the balance of experience points flashed but there was no change.

“It increased 0.00749 points.” The system had never done such a thing before and was lacking confidence. “It can’t be displayed on the panel…”

“Don’t worry.” Yu Tang was in a very good mood. “It will eventually appear when we accumulate more.”

System: “?”

Yu Tang looked at the time and leisurely went to the studio.

He first bought a bottle of water and a box of chewing gums from the system’s mall. Then he went into a convenience store on the roadside, entered the toilet and tried to vomit as hard as he could, however nothing came out. He then rinsed his mouth for five minutes on the bathroom sink.

“Host, host.” The system regained its senses after being scared. “There’s poison on the porridge!?”

“…There is no such plot.” Yu Tang just took a breath and rubbed his waist. “I don’t eat seafood.”

For this kind of tool-man character, it won’t generate many specific settings unrelated to the plot. It will directly adapt the host’s habits, making changes on the basic data.

Sui Si never knew that Yu Tang couldn’t eat seafood.

The system was choosing snacks in the store and promptly noted it down. “Is there something else the host doesn’t eat?”

Yu Tang: “Preserved eggs, lean meat.”

Yu Tang thought for a moment. “Porridge.”

System: “…”

“Look on the bright side.” Yu Tang said, “Once the re-evaluation of the character is finished, we’ll have a higher degree of freedom.”

Flashing a red light, the system rubbed on his shoulders.

Yu Tang came out of the store. “How’s the evaluation going?”

“In five minutes, the logic operation will take over the character.” The system said, “It will deduce strictly according to the details of the plot. It will last 24 hours. The host can only cooperate and can’t interfere.”

Yu Tang nodded.

He was familiar with this mode; although his consciousness was still in the body, all his actions will be strictly controlled by logical deductions, and he can only react in the most consistent way with the plot.

All that’s left to do now is, in five minutes, call a taxi to go to the studio, and push the plot away completely.

“Host, host.” The system was still a little worried. “Won’t Sui Si affect our plan?”

Yu Tang shook his head. “It’s not important anymore.”

System: “Why?”

Yu Tang stood at the street corner, stopped a taxi and watched that car slowly park on the roadside.

He raised his hand and pressed his chest slightly.

The result of the re-evaluation had not come out yet, but he could already feel, to some extent. the subtle changes on the basic data.

It was extremely similar to the feeling from when he was in the Almighty Butler Department, when he separated from the main character, under a reasonable and logical plot, and single-handedly went from nothing to acquiring the main character’s company.

Sui Si was unaware of it now, but he’ll know sooner or later.

Yu Tang was no longer his tool-man.

It was long after Yu Tang’s departure that Sui Si recovered from his rage and shock.

No matter how he persuaded himself, it was impossible to continue ignoring the obvious differences on Yu Tang just now.

In this not very big room, Yu Tang slowly circled around it with stiff and sluggish movements, as if he was a puppet with no life.

Getting out of bed, folding the quilt, tidying up the room and going out.

An extremely stiff puppet that was already broken to the point of being thrown away, led by some invisible strings and repeatedly doing the same things he had done in the past in a once-familiar place.

Repeating until it had exhausted the last of its energy and stopped completely in some place.

……

Sui Si suddenly woke up.

He suddenly had an extremely uneasy premonition and could no longer sit still, so he took his coat and rushed out of the door with large strides.

These years Yu Tang had been circling around him, practically without any personal life, and, without a residence, the places that he frequently visited were so few that it was pitiful.

There were only so many places to look for him.

Sui Si stepped on the accelerator hard and directly went to the river they found Yu Tang in, trying hard to control himself not to think about the horrible possibilities. He also called Nie Chi and asked him to go to the studio as soon as possible.

“Yu Tang’s condition is bad.” Sui Si stared at the river embankment, with one hand holding the phone. “I don’t know where he went. I’m looking at the river bank. Go to the studio and look…in his office.”

“I can’t get through his phone and nobody’s answering the office phone.” Sui Si’s voice was very hoarse. “If he is in the studio, don’t let him touch that shock device.”

When the doctor came to examine Yu Tang, the doctor had once proposed to let Yu Tang receive treatment in the hospital, but he insisted on keeping Yu Tang at home.

Not even a day had passed and he had actually lost the person.

Sui Si’s face burned with pain. He knew that no matter what he said, he was at fault for this matter. He was also clear that as long as Nie Chi questioned him, he didn’t have any excuse at all.

However this time, Nie Chi didn’t ask those questions that left him with no room to maneuver. He only responded briefly and bored down Sui Si’s instructions. “What shock device?”

Sui Si frowned. “There’s a shock device on his office desk. He’s most afraid of it, so don’t let him touch it. He——”

Nie Chi asked, “Side he’s most afraid of it, why would Special Assistant Yu leave such a thing on his desk?”

Sui Si was caught off guard by this question, and his throat stiffened slightly.

This question…… Sui Si had never thought about it.

When Yu Tang had just come to the studio, he couldn’t do anything and didn’t know anything. He practically needed to learn everything on the spot. He hadn’t received education nor had any work experience, and the things that other could learn in a day, he needed three days.

Yu Tang remained silent, working tirelessly behind the scenes. While others went back to rest, he stayed in the washroom, painstakingly memorizing the list of partners, clumsily reciting it word by word. When he was so tired that he couldn’t keep his eyes open, he would splash a basin of cold water on his face.

With the digitalization of work, all this information could be accessed at any time. Everyone felt that this dull little assistant was stupid, and his personality was eccentric.

A few months later, on a specially important banquet, the planning and preparation went wrong: the staff in charge of getting the guests were not present and the rest, not to mention knowing the names, couldn’t even recognize some of the faces that were coming. The organizers were furious but they could only ask for help from every studio to save the show.

Relying on his rote memorization, Yu Tang obtained an opportunity on the big screen for Sui Si that would make people particularly jealous.

……

Sui Si was already used to Yu Tang’s silent hard work, close to self-abuse, so he didn’t find anything strange when he saw that shock device.

But once Nie Chi asked the question, he suddenly realized the abnormality.

For the first few months, Yu Tang still needed to desperately catch up with the other; after a few more months, he already had a faint resemblance of being an assistant.

After a year, Yu Tang could go on negotiations on his own, no longer having to follow whoever the company dispatched.

Since it was no longer needed, why would Yu Tang leave that thing on the desk?

He was worried about Yu Tang and specially went to the company that day to look for him, but why was Yu Tang not in the studio?

Did Yu Tang know that he would be there? Intentionally leaving the shock device on the desk, was it because Yu Tang wanted him to have a taste of it too; or he wanted to arouse his guilt, making himself feel indebted to Yu Tang……

Sui Si gripped the steering wheel tightly, his gaze slightly cold and stern.

Of course, he didn’t want to think of Yu Tang like this.

But for some reason, after he found out that W&P fancied Yu Tang’s work ability, which he was unaware of, he couldn’t control himself when facing Yu Tang and have doubts.

He had always trusted Yu Tang and never doubted him even one bit. All three years, Yu Tang had been able to arrange the work and staff of the studio as he liked, and sable to contact every partner that he worked with.

But what did Yu Tang actually do?

Why would W&P fancy the unknown assistant of an actor? Where did Yu Tang actually put his thoughts on all these years? He feels ashamed when facing Yu Tang, but maybe Yu Tang wants as he imagined——

“……Mr. Sui.”

Nie Chi’s voice sounded on the other side of the phone.

Nie Chi had also started the car; his monotonous voice blended with the road of the engine and the last part, that faded away and swallowed up by the noise, was like a sigh with unknown meanings.

Sui Si came back to his senses. “What?”

“That’s not a shock device.”

Nie Chi said, “It’s the alarm clock that Special Assistant Yu would wear during his break in the office to ensure that he does not miss any schedule.”

Sui Si was suddenly startled.

He couldn’t quite understand that sentence and, after pausing for quite a while, he finally asked, “……What?”

“Special Assistant Yu often stays up all night for several nights, so once he sleeps, it’s quite difficult to wake up.”

Nie Chi said, “He will set a shock reminder according to the schedule, categorized based on their importance……”

Sui Si interrupted him, “How did you know?”

The feeling of the electric current running through his nerves longer, and Sui Si couldn’t help trembling when he recalls it. That kind of suffocating fear of annihilation, after experiencing it once, he does not want to have a second time.

How could anyone…… use it as an alarm clock to remind them of their schedule?

“How did you know?”

Sui Si’s voice was low and hoarse. “I recall that you can’t be considered familiar with Special Assistant Yu……”

“We are indeed not familiar.” Nie Chi said, “I know this matter because everyone in the studio knows it.”

Nie Chi: “As long as someone has an urgent matter and can’t contact Special Assistant Yu, they can all set off the alarm through remote control.”

Sui Si over his mouth, but didn’t say anything.

He tried his best to refute Nie Chi’s statement, but after a futile mental struggle, he found that he had no way to speak up.

There was a significant number of people in the industry who were envious of his studio.

There were also many people who complained jokingly, asking him what kind of trick he had and how to change his subordinates’ bad habit of forgetting things when they’re busy.

There was also people sighing, complaining that although there was more freedom in a studio, because of the relatively loose organization, the arrangements were not conveyed in time when there were many matters going on, which caused one or two things to be arranged at the same time due to miscommunication.

…… There was no trick.

Yu Tang’s mind wasn’t sharp enough, so he could only resort to dumb methods—desperately working behind the scenes.

Sui Si leaned back.

He still mechanically searched the river embankment, in an attempt to find any silhouette that looked like Yu Tang, but his mind was abnormally empty, without any thoughts.

If before he was aware to some extent of the past—that Yu Tang had indeed suffered some grievances in the years that he had been following him, Nie Chi mentioning the matter of the shock device pushed in front of him a fact that he could no longer avoid through self-deception.

5 million may really not be enough…… to pay for all the feelings that Yu Tang spent on him all these years.

This realization made Sui Si uncontrollably irritated.

He acknowledged that he didn’t treat Yu Tang well enough, but from the very beginning, he never thought to owe Yu Tang anything.

Even in this crucial moment in his confrontation with the Sui family, he still strived to deduct the five million from the studio’s funds as a final and proper explanation to Yu Tang.

Sui Si never expected that the money might not be enough.

He always thought that he was staging a came marriage with Yu Tang, and once the contract expired, they would be free without any loss or debt. He never thought that the past three years would be uneventful, but on the last few months, there would be so many twists and turns——

Almost as in response to his thoughts, from the other end of the call, amidst the background noise on Nie Chi’s side, faintly came the sound of intense commotion.

Sui Si’s heart skipped a beat and he stepped on the brakes. “What happened?!”

“Special Assistant Yu has been found……” Nie Chi’s voice sounded amidst the commotion. “Special Assistant Yu’s condition is extremely bad. The staff at the studio found him and they have already called the ambulance.”

Sui Si felt as if a hand was gripping his throat.

He had difficulty breathing. He took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to calm down, and turned the car around. “What’s wrong? What ‘s going on? I’ll be there right away. Control the situation first——”

The phone vibrated twice, and Nie Chi directly hung up the phone and changed to a video call.

Sui Si saw the scene on the phone.

Yu Tang was sitting on a wheelchair.

Rather than “sitting”, it would be better to say that Yu Tang had been placed on a wheelchair. His posture was really stiff; there was some distance between his bent arms and the armrest of the wheelchair, yet he maintained this posture as if he didn’t know fatigue.

Yu Tang had his eyes open, but there was no trace of mist in them. His pupils were slightly dilated, his gaze unfocused, and no matter how the people around him touched him or talked to him, he was unresponsive.

Just like a discarded old puppet.

“Give him the phone……”

Sui Si‘s hand was slightly trembling. He stopped the car and placed the phone on the steering wheel. “He only listens to me. Let me talk to him. I will wake him up.”

When they were in the house, Yu Tang still showed some reaction to what he said.

For Yu Tang, he was different from everyone else. Yu Tang will react to Jim, even if it’s fear or avoidance, but that was still better than the current stupefied appearance.

Nie Chi handed the phone over as ordered.

Sui Si stared at the screen and said in a hoarse voice, “Yu Tang?”

Yu Tang’s arms hovered over the armrest; he was rigidly sitting on the wheelchair and his gaze still drifting into nothingness.

“It’s me……Yu Tang, can you hear me?”

Sui Si said, “Cooperate with the doctor, listen to the doctor. I’ll come over right away.”

“Don’t you remember? Just a moment ago, we were talking in the house……You’ve had an attack and suddenly run away on your own.” Sui Si said, “It’s my fault, I should have pursued you instead of letting you run so far away.”

Facing such a Yu Tang, Sui Si suddenly learnt on his own how to “nicely“ talk to him.

It’s not to treat him in a fake coaxing manner as in front of the camera, nor to be affectionate and intimate as in scripts. Sui Si’s acting skills have always been good; he could deceive the paparazzis and reporters of the industry and also fool even the most observant CP fans, but he couldn’t deceive Yu Tang.

Yu Tang has always known what was false, and he was also always aware that Sui Si was unwilling to properly talk with him, even if it’s just a sentence.

Three years ago, not long after they had their fake marriage, when Yu Tang was still young and was not yet the calm and collected Special Assistant Yu he became later on, he managed to secure a big project for Sui Si and was coaxed by the staff of the studio to drink. The staff were all half drunk, they started joking and made Sui Si promise Yu Tang one thing.

Yu Tang also drank several cups of wine. He was naturally introverted, so even while drunk, he didn’t make much noise. He was carefully looking at Sui Si with his calm black eyes, which had a little moisture due to the wine.

Yu Tang was very intoxicated, yet also appeared sober.

He stood amidst the lively cheering crowd, a blush creeping from behind his ears to his neck. In a muddled and soft tone, he expressed his desire to have porridge with Teacher Sui and to have a nice chat with, even if it was just one sentence.

……

Sui Si closed his eyes firmly.

He can’t quite remember what he said at that time, only recalling that at that time he felt remorseful towards Ke Ming from the bottom of his heart and felt that Yu Tang’s over the top request was simply ridiculous and ignominious.

These years he didn’t drink porridge with Yu Tang nor did they ever have a nice chat.

Until now, he felt that he had failed Yu Tang but couldn’t help using him for W&P’s cooperation. Having a guilty conscience, he couldn’t help feeling irritated, and also because of the subtle loss of control of everything, he was forced into a state of unease that he himself hadn’t noticed.

Looking at Yu Tang ‘s current stupefied appearance, Sui Si suddenly recalled the scene of Yu Tang standing before him that day, trembling slightly with a pale, frightened expression listening to his stern reprimand.

Maybe……it was from that day on that Yu Tang started to be afraid of him.

Sui Si raised his hand and caressed Yu Tang’s pale countenance through the screen.

“Yu Tang, I’m not scolding you. Don’t worry.”

Sui Si got closer to his phone and said slowly, “Did you forget? We had porridge in the house…… You were very obedient. It’s I who fed you.”

Yu Tang moved during his speech.

On the wheelchair, Yu Tang moved slightly and frowned.

“Can you hear me?”

Sui Si’s heart suddenly started to beat faster. For some reason, he was unexpectedly delighted, more so than he expected. “I’ll be there right away. Don’t worry, I——”

In the next second, Yu Tang shot out from the wheelchair.

The doctor mentioned that under intense psychological trauma, acute stress disorder could suddenly switch from a state of numbness to impulsive behavior at any moment.

But as he had been peaceful from beginning to end, this movement was too sudden and the surrounding people didn’t react on time. They were frightened and desperately rushed to support him.

Yu Tang was supported by several pairs of hands. His body stiffened as he slumped, leaning against the nearest Nie Chi’s arms.

Nie Chi held the phone with his other hand. The scene was chaotic, but because it was too close, it was remarkably clear.

……

Yu Tang’s gaze was still unfocused, his expression pale and motionless, devoid of any emotion.

But his body did react.

Facing Sui Si abrupt deep affection and tenderness, as if unable to resist the body’s physiological reaction being triggered, Yu Tang’s shoulders and back stiffened, and retched violently, his eyes welling up with a striking redness at the corners.

.

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The author has something to say:

Yu Tang: Listening to it made me want to vomit.jpg

Translator’s note: First of all, thank you very much for reading and I want to apologize for disappearing for so long without any notice.