Chapter 77: Red Beans
With the "man of the house" gone, Shen Xi felt great on the first day.
Finally, no one was watching her appearance and behavior all the time.
She could walk around barefoot if she wanted to,
She could sleep however she liked on the bed,
She could come home whenever she wanted.
...Well, except that last part. She still had to be back before 8 PM.
On the second day, Shen Xi stayed home all day, not stepping out once. With nothing to do, she almost turned into a fossil.
The only thing keeping her sane was chatting with Butler Wang. But their conversations were mostly pointless small talk.
Other than that, she had nothing to do but read scripts.
The Masked Singer King’s Top 6 Finals would be airing next week, and her songs were already fully prepared. All thanks to President Gu’s connections.
As for her audition for “The Landscape is Like a Painting”, that wasn’t happening until the end of the month.
So Butler Wang was busy. The servants were busy. Even that man, who had been gone for two days without a word, was busy.
Everyone was busy, except for Shen Xi who was living the life of an early retiree.
On the third day, her "big brother" still hadn’t sent a single message.
And that’s when her mind started wandering.
"Did Big Brother... you know, get 'wiped out' in some foreign land?"
A small part of her felt worried.
Of course, she told herself it was only because there’d be no one to pay her. Definitely not for any other reason.
She refused to text him first, in case the man misunderstood and thought she liked him.
The contract terms were still fresh in her mind. Truly, she was a dedicated employee, so much so that she felt touched by her own professionalism...
Just then—
"Sister! Team battle! Mid lane push!"
"Coming, coming!"
Shen Xi was playing a game on her phone, quickly moving her fingers across the screen. Since she had no work today, she was playing with Sister Na on 'Pesticide of the Dead'.
Sister Na was a VIP player. She got that by buying limited skins for her characters, not by being good at the game. She just likes how they look and showing them off.
Shen Xi had to admit, whoever came up with this money-sucking scheme was truly a capitalist mastermind.
After all, the most expensive things in life... are always the ones labeled 'free.'
Limited edition? Nope, it's all luck-based!
They don’t sell the limited skins. You can only win them in draws!
And probability? That mysterious, unpredictable force. It’s the biggest scam for getting players to spend money.
After finishing a match, Butler Wang happened to walk by. He glanced at her screen, a bit curious.
"Madam, you play this game too?"
Shen Xi looked up in surprise.
"Huh? Butler Wang, you know this game?"
The butler smiled kindly and shook his head.
"I don’t play, but this game was actually saved by Sir’s investment. It was about to shut down before he stepped in."
"...Oh, and he’s the one who named it too."
Shen Xi felt her lips twitch.
So the naming genius, the money-sucking capitalist, was actually the man in her house all along.
"Exactly how many industries does your boss invest in?"
She only knew that the house she lived in belonged to Gu Corporation’s real estate division.
Butler Wang smiled, "Madam, you might not know this, but for families of that level, they have a hand in almost every industry."
"...Heh."
Shen Xi let out a dry laugh.
So it’s true. People can never earn beyond their level of understanding. The foundation of a powerful family was something she, as an ordinary person, couldn’t even begin to imagine.
Gu Hanling was low-key and reserved. His name barely appeared on social media or in broadcast news.
Yet, he was richer and more unpredictable than those so-called billionaires who publicly claimed "I’m not really interested in money."
That’s why he was only a hidden boss in the original novel, a golden benefactor who helped Shi Jingyan rise to success.
If he were the main lead, with Gu Corporation’s backing, who could possibly compete with him?
Any woman he liked, one wave of his hand and they'd throw themselves into his arms. Actually, even without waving, plenty of women were already rushing to do just that.
Of course, she didn’t count!
Sure, she had fallen into Big Brother’s arms before. But that was purely an accident!
A rare, one-in-a-million, truer-than-pearls accident!
Also, let’s be real. If the male lead wasn’t made to be an idiot, how could he fall for all those manipulative 'green tea' types? How else would he blindly defend them and yell at the female lead, "She’s just my sweet little sister!"
Without this, where would the conflict come from?
No conflict, no plot.
No plot, no word count.
And without word count, the original author would starve to death.
So honestly, you can’t completely blame Shi Jingyan for being so frustrating. He was perfectly suited to be the male lead.
Without him, even the author wouldn’t have been able to stretch out millions of words of dramatic, over-the-top plot twists.
By the time Shen Xi snapped out of her thoughts, Butler Wang was already gone, probably off to do more work.
She pursed her lips, hesitated for a moment, then typed into Gu Hanling’s chat box.
[You there?]
But the next second, she deleted the whole message.
…………………………………………
That night.
The “Heartbreak Club” trio had no plans for tomorrow, so they made plans to meet up. It had been a while since Shen Xi last saw Su Kexin.
Just as she was about to turn off the lights and sleep, she suddenly got a message from Su Kexin.
[Sister Xixi, do you think Zekai prefers girls who dress more maturely, like Susie?]
Huh? NTR alert?! Something fishy was going on!
Since when did her little brother get caught up in romantic drama?!
Usually, Su Kexin dressed in cute, Japanese JK-style school uniforms. Shen Xi didn’t know what other people thought, but she personally liked that style a lot.
She decided not to expose her "sister’s" obvious ulterior motives and instead, she texted her cheap little brother directly.
[Hey, little bro, got a question for you. What kind of outfits do you like on girls?]
[…Bro?]
[Typo. Just answer.]
Shen Zekai replied with a laughing emoji.
[Obviously, I like the way you dress, sister!]
[……]
Shen Xi nearly choked on her own saliva. Wasn’t there a saying that in every younger brother’s eyes, their older sister is ugly?
She quickly texted back,
[Cut the nonsense. Answer seriously.]
The other person sent another emoji with a serious expression.
[Serious.]
Shen Xi sighed helplessly and relayed the message to Su Kexin as it was.
………………………………
The Next Day.
For most girls, especially when meeting their best friends, they usually put in more effort than when meeting their boyfriend.
But since they were all old friends, Shen Xi didn’t dress up on purpose.
She just wore her usual outfit. A loose T-shirt, casual pants, and a baseball cap.
When she arrived at the meeting spot, Su Kexin was already waiting at the door. Sure enough, Su Kexin wasn't wearing her usual favorite JK uniform.
Instead, she had on a light blue dress, giving off a fresh, sweet, and innocent look.
With her slightly chubby baby face, this outfit made her look like a college girl who hadn’t graduated yet.
The moment Su Kexin saw Shen Xi, her eyes lit up instantly. She ran over, did a quick twirl, then asked shyly and uncertainly.
"Sister Xixi, do I look good today?"
Shen Xi’s gaze was full of affection, her eyes curving into a smile.
"Of course! My Keke looks good no matter what she wears."
When the three of them got together, Shen Zhekai, who's always thinking about his love life, started talking about his complicated relationship. He didn't even notice Keke looked different today.
Shen Xi thought he was just being manipulated by his girlfriend and was annoyed. With a deadpan expression, she just focused on eating.
She glanced at Keke, her "sister" was forcing a smile, but the disappointment in her eyes was impossible to hide.
Shen Xi’s heart ached for her.
She didn’t know what had happened between them, but one thing was certain. She was fully on Keke’s side.
………………………………………
That night, on the way back to the villa, Shen Xi spent the entire ride thinking about one thing.
How could she expose the "fake Susie" ahead of time?
But before she could figure it out, she had already arrived home. Yet, the moment she stepped inside, she immediately sensed that something was off.
The lights inside and outside were much dimmer than usual. The servants, who were usually busy around the house, were nowhere to be seen. The whole villa was eerily quiet.
"Wait… Where did everyone go?"