Chapter 40 – Sleep talk

40th -【Sleep talk】

Editor: Sammy
Proofreader: Bubbles

It was a message sent by Chu Yu.

He texted Lu Shi that he’d played three games in a row and successfully swept all the locations in the novice area, very unparalleled¹秒天秒地: lit. every second of the day, every second of the earth. Had a hard time understanding this, but according to what I searched, it has a connection to when someone cheats on gaming through hacking, plug-ins, bots, etc. and becomes very powerful..

Lu Shi replied with an [En].

Before returning to the private room, Lu Shi went to the restroom.

He carefully washed his hands three times, then finally wiped them dry with paper towels. He especially wiped his fingertips very meticulously.

Lu Shaochu saw Lu Shi had returned so he put his phone down and questioned, “Why were you gone for so long? The dishes are cold.”

Lu Shi sat down, his voice still a little chilly. “The sky corridor’s monitoring, ask someone to deal with it.”

Lu Shaochu’s chopsticks paused. Realizing something was wrong, he frowned. “What’s the matter?”

“Fought with someone.”

Lu Shaochu’s frowning eyebrows loosened and he nodded. “Just need the monitoring erased?”

“Mn.”

“Not bad not bad, knowing there was a fight, very good. When you were a child, I found a famous master to teach you how to fight. One, because of fear that you’ll be kidnapped, and two, for fear that you’ll be bullied.”

Lu Shaochu was gratified to hear that his son was fighting and he joked with a half true and false meaning, “I, your dad, have already been mentally prepared to help you send people to the ICU.”

Lu Shi glanced at him, but said nothing.

Lu Shaochu wasn’t annoyed by Lu Shi’s indifferent attitude. He called the manager and ordered him regarding the matter.

After that, there was a feeling of novelty.

Unlike now, Lu Shi had been extremely obedient and sensible as a child. He was self-disciplined and never caused trouble; the standard perfect young successor.

Lu Shaochu had heard envious praises from many people, saying that he’d raised such a considerate son who was even clever and thoughtful, and that the Lu family was believed to be a tall incense stick that would burn for eight lifetimes.

His mouth would reply ‘you’re too kind’, ‘you flatter me’. The child had been small and didn’t know what would happen once he grew up, but his heart had been entirely free of worry.

Lu Shaochu was busy at work, so Fang Weiyun had taken care of him at home. Children were always full of enthusiasm for their parents, and Lu Shi was no exception. He liked Fang Weiyun very much.

So much so that when he was young and asked why he was studying so hard to become first in his grade, Lu Shi would answer seriously, “In order to make my mother happy.”

Perhaps this was why Lu Shi’s reaction had been so big when he suddenly learned that his mother, whom he’d called mom from his childhood to youth, wasn’t his biological mother.

Sighing in his heart, Lu Shaochu considered that this knot still had to be slowly untangled. His son, who was very upright in his decisions, might be influenced contrarily if forced and scolded.

He looked at Lu Shi again, feeling more and more satisfied.

His son possessed good looks, a good brain, and a good temperament. Although he was in his youthful rebelliousness currently, wasn’t that hereditary? When he himself was young, hadn’t he rebelled as well? Nothing had hindered him²“Nothing” may refer to either the father’s own rebelliousness or what he’s doing to Lu Shi.

Picking up the serving chopsticks, Lu Shaochu grabbed a piece of stewed beef and placed it in Lu Shi’s bowl while saying in a gentle voice, “If you don’t want to go home for the time being, it’s okay. When residing outside, you can live life for yourself and enrich all the experiences it has to offer. Dad supports you. You’re older now and have your own ideas, Dad won’t interfere too much.”

“But I only have two requirements. First, you must return for your grandfather’s birthday banquet. The second is to take good care of yourself and not undergo personal risks. You’re the sole heir to the Lu family, there shouldn’t be any mishaps, understand? Otherwise, we won’t be able to completely estimate the turmoil and consequences it will cause.”

Lu Shi answered quickly this time, “Okay.”

After the meal, the two got up and left.

Lu Shaochu didn’t notice that the piece of stewed beef he’d given Lu Shi was still in his bowl, and that he didn’t eat a bite of it.

Exiting the private room, the manager was waiting outside and reported respectfully, “The monitoring records have been completely destroyed according to your instructions.”

After he finished speaking, he couldn’t help but quietly shoot a glance towards Lu Shi, who was silently standing behind Lu Shaochu. It caused him to subconsciously feel a bit frightened of the little prince.

In order to ensure it was done absolutely well, he personally watched the surveillance video from start to finish.

Lu Shi’s expression had been cold throughout, but that ruthless force alone was extremely scary. Several times, he even thought that Lu Shi would let go and throw the person down.

Moreover, while Lu Shi had been pressing the person against the railing, he didn’t see any excitement or anger on his face, rather it was such a tranquil expression unfettered by the waves that it was simply astonishing.

The manager added, “We discovered that the person in conflict with Young Master Lu was the chairman of HengYuanJiaHe Group’s grandson, He Zhiyuan, a college student.”

Lu Shaochu looked at Lu Shi. “Sure enough, it’s my son, really causing me trouble.”

Lu Shi retorted with a question, “This can be called trouble?”

Lu Shaochu laughed. “You really— but you’re right, not just anyone can be called trouble.”

The Maybach 62S stopped in front of Auspicious Luxury’s gate, its glass windows reflecting the brightly colored decorations.

Lu Shaochu entered the car and asked Lu Shi, “You really don’t want me to see you off?”

Lu Shi, who had his black school bag hanging on one shoulder, refused. “No need, I’ll go by myself. You’re busy, no need to care about me.”

Hearing that, Lu Shaochu didn’t insist anymore. “Okay, then Dad will go back first.”

The tires rolled and the black Maybach gradually faded out of sight.

Lu Shi once again plugged his earphones back in and walked in the other direction.

In a black internet cafe on Qingchuan Road.

The door was very narrow, void of any sign boards or eye-catching posters.

As soon as one stepped through the door, a gush of heat would hit them directly in the face, containing the mixed smell of instant noodles and takeaway, as well as sounds of howling here and there.

“Can your fucking ancestors play games? Laozi can play with his eyes closed, one-handed and still 6³6(or 六) is a homephone to 溜，which means do something very skillful in Beijing‘s localism. more than you!”

“The mage pulls the table and all come to receive the bread… Fuck your mother, what bullshit conjuring⁴It’s the spell conjure refreshment table in warcraft. Raws said ceremony but due to the English counterpart of the spell having the word ‘conjure’, I translated it as conjuring. Here’s a link on how the spell works: https://www.wowhead.com/spell=43987/conjure-refreshment-table move!”

“Boss, help me buy fried rice and add two eggs, I’m still growing!”

The owner of the Internet cafe was a bearded uncle who wore a long-sleeved black T-shirt and sat behind the bar counter, dozing off with his chin propped up.

Hearing movement, he opened his eyes. Seeing that it was Lu Shi, he closed his eyes again and continued sleeping.

Lu Shi had a clear goal. Bypassing a group of elementary and junior high school students who were skipping classes to surf the Internet, he walked to the seat in the utmost corner.

Two pots of green plants that were half a person tall barely isolated and concealed the place from the cameras.

In front of the computer sat a bespectacled boy of sixteen or seventeen years old. He was very thin with white skin due to not getting any sun all year round, and he was wearing black-framed glasses, manipulating the game characters to mine and collect medicine everywhere.

Lu Shi bent his fingers and knocked on the desk.

The boy removed his headphones and was about to prattle saying ‘you’re noisy, I, your grandpa was playing a game’ when he saw that it was Lu Shi. His face appeared a little surprised. “Lu-Shen!”

“I have something for you, do you have time?”

“Have! Must have! What’s the matter?”

“Help me find someone.”

Chu Yu arrived at Lu Shi’s house in the afternoon.

The door was open by a crack, and as soon as he entered, he heard the ‘pipipapa’ background music of a game.

When Wei Guanglei saw Chu Yu coming in, he shouted, “Little Young Master, hurry up and replace this weak chicken Zhu Zhifei! It’s obviously a two-player game, yet Laozi always feels like he’s playing a stand-alone game with a corpse⁵When a body dies, there’s a time when they suddenly move either due to vengeance or a spirit possessing it. This is the corpse WGL was talking about (If I remembered correctly), which is also a superstition. teammate who pits him from time to time! The game experience is too bad!”

Zhu Zhifei didn’t accept it. “I, your daddy, didn’t dislike you but you disliked me first! School Flower, quickly replace Shitou or else this game won’t be playable!”

Chu Yu glanced at the screen of his cellphone and withdrew from the battlefield with tremendous speed. “I don’t know this game, you guys just harm each other ba!”

He looked around. “Where’s Lu Shi?”

Wei Guanglei scratched the back of his head. “Seems like he went downstairs to buy something, he’ll probably be back soon. He told me to tell you to wait for him at home. Shit, Zhu Zhifei, Laozi merely removed his eyes from you for a bit, why did you die?”

Chu Yu heard that Lu Shi wasn’t present, so he simply sat down and watched Wei Guanglei and Zhu Zhifei play their game.

After watching them for a few minutes, he discovered that the two were both newbies, the brand new unpolished kind, and they weren’t familiar with the skill keys.

In a six-person team, the two pitted all, bringing four with two. Chu Yu unanimously felt sorry for the other four teammates.

In the black internet cafe.

Pei Le pushed up his glasses, palms sweaty because of excitement.

He pointed to a list of video files on the screen. “Lu-Shen, this dude’s like a treasure trove! I initially thought he was a typical rich second generation who had fun filming videos and whatnot. Then I started digging and motherfucker, he’s a scumbag from head to tail! These are all the videos he recorded after using drugs and knocking people out with them. He has a black heart, eats both men and women, and even prefers those younger than him.”

Pei Le opened another folder. “These are the transaction records of his drugs and equipment purchases. Some of which aren’t clear, what purchased xylitol, sugar pills? But it can be said that they’re all along the lines of those kind of drugs. It’s estimated that this person has succeeded every time, and hasn’t been discovered yet. His courage is getting bigger and bigger, and his frequency of buying drugs is getting higher and higher.”

He licked his lips. “Lu-Shen, what shall we do? This kind of scum is best crushed to death with one foot!”

Lu Shi propped his hands on the table as he watched the videos, his eyes darkening.

Hearing the sound of the door, Chu Yu subconsciously turned his head to look at it. He was instantly frantically urged by Zhu Zhifei, “School Flower, School Flower, look at the screen! Damn it, don’t look at Lu-Ge! Look at the screen! The HP is about to bottom out! It’s dying!”

Finding that Chu Yu was absent-minded, Zhu Zhifei was too anxious, so he simply grabbed the phone and went by himself, enduring to protect that last trace of blood.

Seeing Chu Yu sitting on the floor, looking up at him, Lu Shi sat down beside him. “Playing games?”

“Un!”

Chu Yu summed it up in one sentence. “The three weak chicken’s pitting journey.”

Wei Guanglei took the time to speak. “Who’s pitting? We’re just teaching teammates how to adjust their mentality in the face of failure!”

At this time, in the team channel, someone sent a text: [Are you fooling around? Elementary school students not attending class?]

“Elementary school student?” Wei Guanglei exploded into curses. “Fuck your mother’s elementary school student. I, your father, obviously graduated from junior high school!”

“Hahaha—” Zhu Zhifei laughed out loud, causing his phone to shake so much that he nearly couldn’t hold it securely. “Shitou, are you here to fucking play games or be funny?”

Wei Guanglei himself laughed before pulling a long face. “Nonsense laughing, play the game seriously!”

Lu Shi sat, inched closer, and asked Chu Yu, “Did He Zhihao call you?”

“He Zhihao?”

Chu Yu was ‘hahaha-ing’ together with Zhu Zhifei. Hearing Lu Shi’s question, he thought for a while. “He didn’t. There’s finally a vacation after much difficulty, he probably went somewhere to play and won’t come find me any time soon.”

“Hm.”

As soon as he finished, Chu Yu’s phone rang and the name displayed on the screen was ‘He Zhihao’.

Chu Yu thought it was such a coincidence. As soon as he answered, he heard He Zhihao hurriedly say, “Chu Yu, I’m in the hospital right now. My brother was beaten up by someone and is quite miserable. He suffered a fracture, his wrists and ankles are dislocated, his meniscus is cracked, and two or three of his ribs are broken. He’s firmly stating that he was beaten up by Lu Shi in Auspicious Luxury’s sky corridor. I think he might’ve been beaten stupid. Let alone whether Lu Shi appeared in Auspicious Luxury, the point is that there’s no record in the hotel’s monitoring system!”

Someone was rushing him so He Zhihao said quickly, “Doesn’t Lu Shi have a good relationship with you? You have to tell him to be more careful these days. If my brother really doesn’t sober up, he might retaliate.”

Before Chu Yu could reply, He Zhihao hung up the phone.

“Lu Shi, He Zhihao—”

“Follow me.”

The two entered the bedroom and Lu Shi closed the door.

Chu Yu was a little puzzled. “He Zhihao said that you beat up He Zhiyuan. Did he do something rubbish and provoked you? How about you, were you hurt?”

Subconsciously, his heart was completely biased, leaning towards Lu Shi.

“Not injured.”

After hearing his inquiries, Lu Shi’s expression eased slightly.

He turned on his phone and handed it to Chu Yu. “Here.”

Chu Yu was a bit confused but still accepted.

After reading the contents of the folder, Chu Yu wasn’t shocked, nor did he display any other expression. He was fairly calm.

Touching the slightly hot metal surface of the phone, Chu Yu suddenly asked, “He Zhiyuan wanted to target me, but you found out. You beat him up and even looked into his background, am I right?”

“Correct.”

It was as expected.

Having known each other for so long, Chu Yu knew very well that even though Lu Shi fought, poked at people’s lungs as provocation, and had others fight him, he separated people and occasions and behaved with propriety.

He Zhiyuan was injured so badly, it showed that Lu Shi really meant to beat that person to death.

Chu Yu very earnestly said, “Lu Shi, thank you.”

He exhaled and shook the phone. “So, you gave me the evidence. I want to retaliate now, but how should I?”

“Hm.”

Chu Yu didn’t go home that evening and slept on Lu Shi’s bed for the night.

After falling asleep until the sun was bright outside, Chu Yu lay down on the pillow, dilly-dallying and not wanting to get up.

His mind turned slowly. After a while, once he remembered, Chu Yu rubbed his eyes and grabbed his phone.

Several newsreaders were opened in turn, and the headlines were all regarding He Zhiyuan.

Clicking on Weibo and sure enough, He Zhiyuan was a favorite mention in the number one hot search.

Several related hot searches followed, namely: #Who is He Zhiyuan’s father#, #He Zhiyuan’s school issued response#, #He Zhiyuan taken by police#, #He Zhiyuan expelled#, and #HengYuanJiaHe Group stock price plummets#.

Chu Yu felt refreshed.

When he switched to the chat software, he saw that his brother and sister had left him a message.

A pile of gifts were given to comfort his shock.

Rolling happily on the bed, Chu Yu felt that the sky was extremely blue and the sun extremely bright!

Chu Yu hummed a song while brushing his teeth. Halfway through, a picture suddenly appeared in his mind, which scared him so much he almost choked. He quickly spat out the foam.

My grass, what stupid dreams did I have last night!

Lu Shi in women’s clothing—

Can’t think, can’t think, absolutely can’t think of it!

Standing in front of Lu Shi, who was answering questions, Chu Yu brewed for a long time before cautiously asking, “That… haha, the weather’s really good today! Last night… I didn’t say anything in my sleep, did I?”

He was calm on the surface, but panicked in his heart.

Please, please, I must’ve said nothing in my sleep… I must’ve said—

“You did.”

Chu Yu was scared witless.

He trembled with fear. “W-what did I say?”

Lu Shi held the pencil and casually sat on the sofa. He raised his eyes to look at Chu Yu. “You said, ‘Beloved Concubine, don’t cry, Zhen favors you’. After speaking, you stuck your hand on my face.”

Chu Yu stood where he was, as if struck by lightning.

While dreaming, why’s my mouth so unreliable!

Lu Shi got up and stood in front of Chu Yu.

He was much taller than him. Wearing a black hoodie and jeans, he appeared leisurely.

Habitually putting his hands in his jeans’ pockets, Lu Shi lowered his head and his lips pressed close to Chu Yu’s ears. As if in a whisper, with a light and husky voice that concealed traces of danger, he uttered, “So, Chu Yu, who’s your beloved concubine?”

The author has something to say: Here are hearts~ Wishing that those little fairies who will take the exam tomorrow will still be right even with wild guesses!

• 1
  秒天秒地: lit. every second of the day, every second of the earth. Had a hard time understanding this, but according to what I searched, it has a connection to when someone cheats on gaming through hacking, plug-ins, bots, etc. and becomes very powerful.
• 2
  “Nothing” may refer to either the father’s own rebelliousness or what he’s doing to Lu Shi
• 3
  6(or 六) is a homephone to 溜，which means do something very skillful in Beijing‘s localism.
• 4
  It’s the spell conjure refreshment table in warcraft. Raws said ceremony but due to the English counterpart of the spell having the word ‘conjure’, I translated it as conjuring. Here’s a link on how the spell works: https://www.wowhead.com/spell=43987/conjure-refreshment-table
• 5
  When a body dies, there’s a time when they suddenly move either due to vengeance or a spirit possessing it. This is the corpse WGL was talking about (If I remembered correctly), which is also a superstition.