Chapter 6

After confirming that Yu Tang’s condition was temporarily stable, Sui Si took Nie Chi and left the hospital temporarily.

These days the studio was a mess due to Yu Tang’s absence,  the originally planned work schedule was delayed for quite a bit. Fortunately, all these arrangements were originally made by Yu Tang, and the others had a really good impression of him, so knowing that Yu Tang was in the hospital because of sickness, they were all quite considerate to postpone the recording process.

Now Yu Tang is finally out of danger and will very quickly have the energy to help him reorganize the studio. Sui Si could also go back with peace of mind, work overtime, and gradually catch up on the pending work.

Yu Tang was lying on the hospital bed with his eyes closed, pretending to sleep and released the system from the blacklist.

He was in charge of too many books at the same time, so it was not uncommon to have overlapping timelines, making it difficult to handle those times he had to rush from one character to another.

The system will try its best to help manage the timelines, but there will be times when it really can’t be adjusted. In those cases, it can only evaluate the urgency and priority level of the plotline and first send the host to the plotlines where he must make an appearance while applying forceful measures to break away from the less prioritized book.

This time Yu Tang was forcefully ‘inserted’ and woke up as the Yu Tang of the fourth book, as he was abruptly removed from the first book.

Yu Tang had already heard of this way of handling things. He was very dedicated to his work, but it was actually the first time he encountered it. “What is the method of forceful breakaway? Is it reliable?”

“Reliable.”

The system replied, “In the story of the first book, you have already been abducted by a group of masked individuals who put a sack over your head. Drifting through streams and oceans, you were sold to low-tier planets to become a laborer.”

Yu Tang, “…”

Yu Tang, “?”

“We have received training.” The system was very professional. “For everyone in that story, you’re currently a kidnapped slave. That’s why, even if they can’t find you anywhere, it would seem reasonable.”

Yu Tang didn’t think it was reasonable. “Is there something wrong with the people of this world of yours…’’

“There was no other way, host.” The system said, “In the current world, if Yu Tang doesn’t wake up soon, they will have to perform electrical stimulation for consciousness treatment on you.”

Yu Tang was dumbfounded.

He didn’t say anything. After a while, he raised his hand to rub his temple.

Yu Tang was now in his sea of consciousness, and his body was composed of countless data streams. As he was not used to moving in the consciousness, he didn’t control his strength and poked a hole in his brain with his finger.

“I have bought a shock-resistant vest, a shock-resistant helmet, and a shock-resistant bubble gum.”

The system learned really quickly; it stretched its arms and hugged Yu Tang imitating Sui Si’s movements. “Let them shock me, host. Let them shock me.”

Yu Tang smiled. He lowered his hand from his temple and removed the system from his body.

The system was still afraid. “Host, does it hurt a lot?”

Yu Tang really didn’t remember it. There were many books during his internship and the most important thing was for the tool-man to become familiar with the process and attitude of being a tool-man. Just like playing a collectible card game; after a few years, even though you still have all the collected cards, you would have long forgotten most of the effort and dedication that you put in at the beginning, how you obtained them or what the storyline was like.

But Yu Tang did remember.

This character was managed for several years after he left; however, in his body still remained the original data, which was imprinted with an intense fear of electric shocks, almost to the point of life-threatening.

The fear was so intense that when Yu Tang just accidentally shocked himself, he had strong convulsions and almost fainted again in Sui Si’s arms.

The system was stunned. “You shocked yourself?”

“Otherwise?” Yu Tang had a headache. “At that time, I originally had the lowest mark for the ability to enter a character in a second.”

Yu Tang’s work ability rating is level S, of which there are not many in the whole Book Transmigration Bureau. If his acting skills were passable, he could have long been transferred to the protagonist department to receive scripts of face-slapping, abusing scums and reaching the pinnacle of life, instead of being here relying on the strength of one person to play four deeply affectionate spare tires.

If he needs to act as deeply in love, he can still more or less imitate it as the training course. However, if it were a more complex emotion or reaction, then he could only rely on the assistance function of the system.

“Would the host want the [Gaze of deep longing but can’t obtain], [Firmly repressed envy] and [Unplaceable fear] experience cards?”

The system didn’t expect this and regretted spending some experience points to buy the set of shock-resistant items, going around in circles around Yu Tang. “According to the plot, when you meet Ke Ming, these feelings are a must-have. Sui Si can’t see it, but Ke Ming is observant and can see it at a glance.”

However, Yu Tang hadn’t considered buying experience cards. Once he heard the name Ke Ming, he thought of a more important thing. “What day is today?”

“The 13.” The system said, “It has already been a week since you unexpectedly jumped into the river.”

Yu Tang slapped his forehead. “Darn!”

Ke Ming’s birthday is the 13th of December.

This is an extremely important main plot-line in the story. The protagonists gong and shou have gone through nearly twenty chapters of transition period and must complete the emotional transformation of this stage on Ke Ming’s birthday.

Ke Ming is proud yet anxious, and he’s more sensitive than the average person. He has been suppressing all his negative emotions, leaving only the best side for Sui Si—he’s not as calm as Sui Si thinks.

For Ke Ming, it doesn’t matter what Sui Si gifts him on his birthday—whether the present is expensive or not.

But if Sui Si doesn’t even remember his birthday, Ke Ming’s attitude towards this relationship will experience significant fluctuations. And then it will trigger a series of butterfly effects that will have an immeasurable impact on the overall story’s direction.

If there were to be problems at this kind of crucial plot point that have been marked in red and in bold, let alone the experience cards, even the system’s shock-resistant bubble gum will have to be returned to help Yu Tang pay the penalty for this month’s mistake.

“Help me adjust my physical condition.”

Yu Tang didn’t have time to delay. “And go to the system mall to buy a ‘Character’s favorability rating detector’.”

“The genuine one?”

The system hasn’t visited the mall with no discounts yet. It also knew the urgency, helped Yu Tang block the discomfort, and raised the body data of those under the standard line. It floated in Yu Tang’s consciousness. “We may not have enough experience points for the genuine one…”

Yu Tang gritted his teeth. “The genuine one.”

The ‘Character’s favorability rating detector’ is very important; it is an important indicator that determines the character’s behavior—clear and straightforward. As long as they protect the favorability that the two leads have for each other, they can smoothly pass the rating of the crucial plot points.

Before, the imitations that the system bought were either stuck or inaccurate in their measure. They will all break down after three days. In these crucial times, they are undoubtedly absolutely unreliable.

“Can we exchange things from the real world into experience points?”

Yu Tang asked, “What is the exchange rate?”

“1:1, direct exchange.” The system was worried. “But we are only a tool supporting role; we haven’t finished yet and have no money that we can spend however we want…”

“There is.” Yu Tang said, “In the first book, I was kidnapped and sold as a slave, drifting on a slave ship in the vast Star Sea, heading towards an endless and distant horizon.”

The system helped block the hospital’s surveillance system, watching Yu Tang skillfully get up and get dressed. “And then?”

“Exchange the slave ship.” Yu Tang said, “Let me drift alone and miserably with the current to an island to dry in the sun.”

System, “…”

“It makes sense.”

Yu Tang saw that it didn’t have any reaction and explained specifically, “When I return to the first book, just say that the boat capsized and I sank, then a kind-hearted dolphin that passed by saved me.”

System, “…”

Its host always has a lot of complaints about this kind of plot, but for some reason, every time he accepts it incredibly fast.

Yu Tang didn’t have time to care about the matters of the consciousness world anymore. He got dressed, took the cap from the side, wearing it with the brim lowered, and adjusted the collar.

Right now it was three o’clock in the afternoon, and there were still nine hours until the end of the day.

In these nine hours, no matter what method is used, he must make the protagonists gong and shou be on the same bed.

…

Broadcasting studio

Sui Si just finished a recording. Taking advantage of the break, he returned to his lounge to touch up his make-up.

His make-up and hairstyling have always been managed by Yu Tang. This time was a special situation; since Yu Tang was absent, he could only rely on the professional styling team provided by the production company.

“It’s done.” The make-up artist straightened up and adjusted the swivel chair. “Have a look…”

“It’s average,” said Nie Chi.

The expression of the make-up artist became slightly stiff. She laughed and turned to ask the opinion of Sui Si, “Teacher Sui?”

Sui Si seamlessly frowned.

As the professional manager in Sui Si’s team, Nie Chi actually doesn’t accompany him to participate in the recording and filming, so he is unfamiliar with the unspoken rules of the circle. As a result, he tends to be quite straightforward in his communication.

However, it was indeed average.

The make-up before the recording was still acceptable, but this type of swift touch-up in a short time almost didn’t highlight any of his personal facial features. The difference with the original one done by Yu Tang could be discerned with the naked eye.

“As the time is too tight, it can only be done this way.”

The make-up artist’s tone was very polite. “We haven’t worked together before. If you’re not satisfied, next time you can bring a personal make-up team.”

Sui Si responded in a noncommittal way to this sentence without saying anything. He suppressed his temper and stood up. “Thank you.”

This time, they are collaborating on a public service announcement, and the production company was from the official channel of the Alliance. They don’t care about their status nor their background, and they won’t give any face to anyone.

If there is a real conflict, that group of old-fashioned people that don’t recognize their own family¹as in, they don’t care about family relationship, ruthless, heartless , won’t even care about the relationship with the Sui family; they will turn around and start naming some young actors to criticize them for their arrogant and improper attitude.

The make-up artist slightly leaned over to apologize and left the lounge.

Without Yu Tang’s mediation, the whole afternoon of recording was inexplicably filled with an irritable sense of discomfort.

It was because Sui Si was annoyed by these old-fashioned folks that followed the rules everywhere that he didn’t follow the arrangements of the Sui family and insisted on entering the entertainment industry. He endured it all afternoon and his patience was almost completely exhausted. When he returned to the nanny’s car, his face was extremely gloomy.

The new assistant stayed by the car and, upon seeing Sui Si, promptly mustered up his courage to go over. “Teacher Sui, just now Mr. Ke has sent a message…”

Sui Si closed his eyes and pressed the space between his eyebrows with force. “What the matter?”

“He’s asking whether you’re returning home today.”

The assistant said in a low voice, “He learned to cook with the assistant and wants to wait for you to return home to eat.”

Sui Si remained still, leaning against the back of the seat. He took the phone but didn’t check the message, and placed it face down on the dashboard.

Recently, he had to deal with the work arrangements that couldn’t be put off and he also went to visit Yu Tang at the hospital. The last time he saw Ke Ming was when Ke Ming was drunk and Nie Chi had to arrange for someone to send him home.

That night, Ke Ming was rarely so drunk, and he also had a little fever, so he vaguely said some things that he would have never said otherwise.

Ke Ming asked him when he would get the divorce.

Ke Ming told him that Yu Tang wouldn’t have any objections, that Yu Tang was a really good person, wouldn’t fight with him over Sui Si and would properly return Sui Si to him.

This was not the first time that Ke Ming said these words. Every time Sui Si heard these, he felt that Ke Ming was gentle and humble by nature and was even full of goodwill towards someone like Yu Tang, who separated them.

But this time…Sui Si couldn’t utter those words as Yu Tang’s life and death was still unclear while he was lying in the emergency room.

His silence triggered the inherent uneasiness in Ke Ming.

Sui Si had always had a hard time dealing with Ke Ming’s sudden emotions. He remembered when the two of them pretended to be strangers in front of the camera; Ke Ming’s delicate eyes were slightly red at the corners, which made him feel extremely guilty in his heart and could only gently kiss him.

Kissed by him, Ke Ming seemed to sober up a little bit but also seemed like he was not sober at all. He stared at Sui Si for a while and then curled up in a corner of the bed to sleep.

The two people didn’t say anything all night and Ke Ming left Sui Si’s house early the next morning.

Sui Si knows that Ke Ming doesn’t like his heavy-hearted appearance.

Because he had some things on his mind that day, he couldn’t coax Ke Ming well. Today he was in a bad mood and accumulated a lot of anger, so it was even less probable to see Ke Ming and vent all his negative emotions on him.

For him, Ke Ming has already suffered a lot of grievances.

“Text Xiao Ming²Ke Ming. It’s kind of like a nickname back saying that… I have another recording at night.”

Sui Si said, “I won’t return home for the moment.”

The assistant hesitated, a little embarrassed. “But—“

“But what?” Sui Si listened to a whole afternoon of ‘buts’. These days, the things that went out of control were really too many. He slammed the car door with force causing the entire car to shake with a loud bang, as if it was in an irritable mood. “Now I even need to follow other people’s arrangements about what I want to do or where I want to go, right?!”

The assistant kept quiet out of fear, shutting his mouth firmly with a pale face.

Sui Si pushed aside the bewildered driver, closed the car door firmly, and started the car.

“Teacher Sui!” The assistant was afraid that an accident would happen if he drove the car during a rage and advised, shaking with fright, “Please wait for a moment first, Mr. Ke still has something to tell you. You—“

The assistant was new. He didn’t know Sui Si’s temper and was unaware that right now, what Sui Si couldn’t stand to hear the most was this.

He was scared out of his wits, shouting in vain. Mustering up his courage, he chased a few steps. Almost closing his eyes in fear, he suddenly noticed another person next to him.

The person quickly running over wore a cap and had a large paper bag.

The staff of the studio on the side reacted as if they have been granted amnesty, their eyes brightening up. “Special Assistant Yu!”

The new assistant has heard of Yu Tang, but has never met him personally. He was in a daze and looked over.

Yu Tang stopped in front of the car.

He wore a peaked cap with the brim lowered. The frame of his glasses was ordinary and his face was hidden in the shadows.

“Teacher Sui.”

Yu Tang leaned on the car door, not caring at all whether he would be accidentally bumped into by Sui Si. His free right hand reached into the car window and gently pressed on Sui Si’s steering wheel.

He was holding the paper bag in one hand, and his chest was still rising and falling slightly, occasionally mixed with a slight cough. However, he seemed to have a strange quality, something that made people involuntarily calm down, and the tense atmosphere disappeared in an instant.

Yu Tang gently looked at Sui Si, his tone was very stable and his voice carried a slight hint of hoarseness. “Relax, Teacher Sui.”

Sui Si’s line of sight was on Yu Tang.

It was really strange. When Sui Si was good to him, Yu Tang almost couldn’t control his nervousness and fear. But now that Sui Si was staring at him in anger, unable to control his temper and his whole body exuding a cold feeling that kept people away,  Yu Tang could manage to keep his composure.

The one standing in front of Sui Si was the Special Assistant Yu who properly took care of him all these years, shielding him from all the complexities and handling everything with ease.

Staring at Yu Tang, Sui Si suddenly thought of that day on the phone and Yu Tang’s gentle and lonely voice.

The first time that Yu Tang called Sui Si’s name, his tone was entirely different from the past, assuring him that he would not pester him anymore.

Sui Si suddenly realized that the secret and hard-to-talk about uneasiness that has been troubling him for a long time seemed to have suddenly taken root and grown from that moment.

…It was just half a day of work without Yu Tang accompanying him.

He never thought that, without Yu Tang, the originally enjoyable work would turn into this kind of irritable suffering.

Sui Si sat there stiffly for a while, lowered his line of sight, and stared at Yu Tang’s hand pressing on the steering wheel.

Yu Tang, who had been on an IV for a week, had a pale complexion, and a conspicuous bruise had formed on the back of his hand.

“It was my negligence. I will have the studio organized in the next few days.”

Yu Tang looked at Sui Si. His eyes, blocked by the glasses frame, were still as focused and gentle as before.

Sui Si sat in his gaze, and his mood gradually calmed down.

The troubles that Yu Tang’s absence brought him far exceeded his estimation. Now that Yu Tang is back, everything is in its place, and it seems to be back on the right track.

Wait until the divorce, Sui Si thought.

If, after the divorce, Yu Tang really doesn’t want to leave, he can still continue to work in the studio.

Nothing has to change. He and Ke Ming will sincerely treat Yu Tang as a really good friend.

Leaning on the car door, Yu Tang softly said, “Teacher Sui?”

Sui Si sat for a moment, then turned the car key in the opposite direction, switching off the engine.

Yu Tang smiled.

His smile was subtle; the corners of his pale lips were tightly pressed together, and his thick eyelashes were lowered, forming a small but sincere and restrained gentle curve.

As if he completely didn’t notice his own physical condition, Yu Tang moved his ice-cold hand and placed it on Sui Si’s hand, making Sui Si slowly release the steering wheel.

“Get out of the car first.”

Yu Tang turned sideways, placing the paper bag containing gifts, flowers, red wine and a sack, and said in a gentle voice, “I have something really important to tell you.”

The author has something to say:

[Yu Tang’s work notes]

Plan A: nicely coax the protagonist gong and shou into the bed

Plan B: Pull a sack over their heads³To threaten/force them

• 1
  as in, they don’t care about family relationship, ruthless, heartless
• 2
  Ke Ming. It’s kind of like a nickname
• 3
  To threaten/force them