Chapter 3: Give a Salute, Shake a Hand

Translated by Eve

Edited by Kara

Song Xuanhe didn't move. Xiao Yuanmu also stopped walking and stood steps away from him. He stared at him coldly.

After fixing his expression, Song Xuanhe slightly raised his chin and deliberated over his own character settings. He then walked until he stood in front of Xiao Yuanmu, haughty. His eyes met with Xiao Yuanmu's calm and indifferent eyes.

Xiao Yuanmu watched him approach with a frosty gaze. Aside from the extremely constrained disgust in his eyes, there were no ripples of emotion.

Song Xuanhe naturally knew just how much Xiao Yuanmu loathed him. Or rather, how much he loathed the original host. However, it would still be him in the end. These were all things that were already established. Thus, he didn't have any particular feelings about this.

Song Xuanhe raised his head and pinched the other's chin. His lips raised into a smile. "I suddenly thought that since I'm helping you finance the orphanage, then shouldn't I get a little something in return? Don't you think so?"

Xiao Yuanmu's gaze darkened. He grabbed his hand. There was disdain in his lowered voice, "What do you want to do?"

His gloomy voice sounded by Song Xuanhe's ears. It carried a biting chill, causing his eyelashes to involuntarily shudder.

You could already see hints of his future self, of the iceberg tycoon who would one day make people tremble in trepidation. With just one sentence, he could make your scalp go numb.

However, the plot that was to unfold must unfold. Song Xuanhe felt like the other was strong enough to shatter his wrist. He knew that he would not be able to press Xiao Yuanmu's head down. With the difference in their heights, he could only inwardly vent while slightly going up onto his tippy toes.

Song Xuanhe's approaching face made the cold light in Xiao Yuanmu's eyes even more strict. Just as their lips were about to touch, it became more than he could bear. He frowned and pushed the other away without any mercy. He narrowed his eyes, "What are you doing?"

Upon being pushed away, Song Xuanhe had to stumble back a few steps in order to maintain his balance. However, he wasn't angry at all. He suppressed the joy from having escaped from the situation and analyzed in a very reasonable way:[I've already said all my lines. It's Xiao Yuanmu who pushed me. According to Song Xuanhe's character settings, he would likely leave, flustered and exasperated. He would then think of a way to take revenge at a later time. Therefore, according to my character settings, I should just turn and leave now. ]

[Your character setting isn't important in the slightest. What's important is that if you don't successfully complete parts of the story line, you'll die immediately. It doesn't matter if it's in the book or in the real world—in both cases, you'll be dead.]The System cruelly shattered Song Xuanhe's attempt at finding a loophole:[Furthermore, the designated scenes can only occur in the designated locations. If Xiao Yuanmu leaves this room, and you haven't completed the designated action, then that means that you have failed your mission. Lastly, I'll give you a little reminder. Xiao Yuanmu is about to walk through that door.]

Just as the System said this, Xiao Yuanmu pushed Song Xuanhe away and headed outside. Currently, he had just reached the door.

Seeing Xiao Yuanmu place his hand on the door, Song Xuanhe thought about how his little life would come to an end as soon as that door was pushed open. Song Xuanhe had no time to think. He broke out into a run in Xiao Yuanmu's direction. Just as the other was about to push the door open, he directly pounced onto the other in a moment of desperation.

The System: !!!

——A faint fresh and cool lemon scent wafted into Song Xuanhe's nose. Before his eyes was a straight nose that the shadows of his eyelashes laid upon. The smooth and perfect contours were as sharp as a knife. He looked like a sculptor's finest masterpiece.

Xiao Yuanmu turned his head to the side slowly. The shadow on his nose shifted a bit. His long eyelashes fluttered, looking like they were stained by an austere chilliness. His eyes met with Song Xuanhe's widened eyes. It was like shards of ice were forming in his voice. He spat out one word at a time, "What are you doing?"

Only then did Song Xuanhe realized that he had actually jumped onto the back of the future boss who could determine someone's life and death with a single blink. However, he was only startled for a moment. After all, he was about to lose his life. What couldn't he do in this case?

"Kissing you."

As soon as those words fell and before Xiao Yuanmu could reply, the door was pulled open from the outside. A kindhearted, elderly person stood outside, staring at the two of them, astonished.

At that moment, Xiao Yuanmu wanted to pull him off. Song Xuanhe, who greatly valued his life, didn't have time to care about other things. He directly turned Xiao Yuanmu's face towards himself and then quickly touched lips with him. He then immediately said the last line, "Not bad."

[Mission complete.]

When he heard the System's voice, Song Xuanhe was relieved. After the urgency from having his life on the line disappeared, the horror from realizing that he was atop of the future tycoon's back instantly attacked his mind. He acted like someone had just pricked his butt, jumping off of Xiao Yuanmu's back. When he regained his balance, in order to gain a teeny bit of goodwill to offset the extremely negative impression the future big boss had of him, he decided to "help out" in a roundabout way.

Song Xuanhe stood up straight and smiled extremely lovably at the elderly person standing at the doorway. He said, "Hello, Director."

Only then did the elderly woman come back to herself. When Song Xuanhe had come looking for Xiao Yuanmu before, she didn't think much of it. When the two of them said that they wanted to be alone in the room together, she had thought that they had something they needed to talk about. She didn't expect that they actually had this kind of relationship.

Yuanmu had never treated anyone intimately before. It wasn't a bad thing that he had a boyfriend now.

The Director did not feel any rejection towards this. Gay marriage in this world had already become legalized before she had even been born. In her eyes, it was normal for Xiao Yuanmu to find a partner of any gender. Only, it would be better if his partner was a bit lively. Therefore, Song Xuanhe was very suitable. Although they had only met twice, looking at Song Xuanhe's glittering eyes and delightful smile, she could tell that he was a good, lively, and cheerful child.

She felt that this child suited Xiao Yuanmu very well.

Only, Xiao Yuanmu's skin had always been thin. The two of them were horsing around in the room, but she had suddenly pushed the door open and interrupted their intimacy. The Director smiled kindly and pretended not to have seen anything. She volunteered them a way out of this embarrassing situation. "Are you planning to go out to eat?"

Xiao Yuanmu pursed his lips and said insipidly, "No."

The elderly woman flitted her gaze from Xiao Yuanmu's cold face to the beaming and charming Song Xuanhe. She said amiably, "Since you're not planning to go out to eat, stay here for a meal, ba."

Song Xuanhe subconsciously took a look at Xiao Yuanmu's expression. Seeing him lower his head silently, he faced the elderly woman's expression of anticipation and could only nod. "Then, I'll have to trouble you, Granny."

Hearing Song Xuanhe agree, the elderly woman's smile deepened. She pulled him down to sit onto the sofa and poured him a glass of water. "Yuanmu, this child, doesn't speak much. It's usually rare to see him get close to others. The only one he's brought back is you. It's obvious that he really sees you as his good friend. You two, ah, get along well. He's a quiet child who doesn't like to speak much. I hope that you can forgive him for that."

Song Xuanhe took the glass and thanked her. He didn't say anything else. He saw Xiao Yuanmu walk over. Xiao Yuanmu then told the elderly woman, "Granny, go cook, ba. We're fine here."

The elderly woman was all smiles. She said, "OK, OK, OK, Granny will leave. The two of you get along well now."

The door had just been shut by the elderly woman when the gentle expression on Xiao Yuanmu's face disappeared. He forcefully wiped his lips that had just touched Song Xuanhe's. His eyes were cold like a frozen pond. "Didn't you say that we're going to your place? Let's go."

"I just agreed to—"

"I don't know why you suddenly came," Xiao Yuanmu looked down at him from above. There was a threat of breaking out into a life-or-death struggle in his meticulously suppressed voice. "However, if you dare scheme against the Director, I promise you that I'll make you regret being born into this world."

Seeing the constrained vicious currents and maliciousness in Xiao Yuanmu's eyes, Song Xuanhe only felt a cold air travel up his spine. It slowly climbed up to his scalp, paralyzing it. At the same time, he abruptly realized that even if Xiao Yuanmu hadn't been reborn yet, he was still not someone you could easily create difficulties for. He trusted that Xiao Yuanmu would definitely do as he said.

He propped himself into a standing position with the sofa. Song Xuanhe raised his chin and adjusted his expression to one full of disdain. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't eat in a place like this. Since you want to go, then we'll go, ba."

However, just as the two of them reached the orphanage's gate, before they could get in the car, a little girl with twin ponytails ran over. She glanced at Xiao Yuanmu and then spoke to Song Xuanhe timidly, "Gege, are you leaving now? Granny Director wanted me to call you and Yuanmu gege to go eat in the dining hall."

Song Xuanhe paused his steps, and he turned to look at Xiao Yuanmu.

Xiao Yuanmu acted like he didn't see the little girl. He only said coldly, "Tell her that something's come up, so we won't be coming."

The girl was evidently afraid of Xiao Yuanmu. When she heard his words, she promptly nodded her head and then ran away like a rabbit being chased by a pack of wolves, making herself scarce.

Song Xuanhe pursed his lips and choked by down the "What did you do to the little girl to make her so afraid of you?" He then opened the car door and sat in his seat.

He waited until Xiao Yuanmu sat in the passenger seat before starting the engine. From the corner of his eye, he saw that the other was looking down. He endured and endured but couldn't help but finally say, "Put on your seatbelt."

Xiao Yuanmu glanced at him but didn't move. Song Xuanhe's eyebrows knitted, and he spoke in a tone in accordance to the original host, "It couldn't be that you want me to do it for you?"

Song Xuanhe thought that if he said it like this, Xiao Yuanmu would put on his seatbelt. However, the other didn't move. He only stared at him coldly.

Was this a passive protest against his threat?

Xiao Yuanmu wasn't this kind of senseless person, ba. Before, when he had only read the novel, it still had been OK. Now that he'd come into contact with him, Song Xuanhe only had one thought: Xiao Yuanmu was absolutely not someone he could afford to offend.

If it was in his original world, he would certainly avoid Xiao Yuanmu if he saw him. Even if they had to meet, he absolutely would not offend him. However, he was destined to really, really offend him.

However, if someone in his car didn't have their seatbelt on, his obsession would not allow him to start driving.

He struggled over this for a second. His character settings—something that could collapse at any time—could not win over his compulsive obsession that he'd had for twenty odd years. Song Xuanhe undid his own seatbelt, leaned over to Xiao Yuanmu, helped him put on his seatbelt, and then withdrew. He was afraid that if the big boss was unhappy, he would torment him even more horribly in the future.

[What are you afraid of?]Er Gou said.[There are only a few people who will die as miserably as you will. Relax, ba. No matter what you do, you can't possibly die an even worse death. ]

Song Xuanhe's action of starting the car paused. With an expressionless face, he said:[Thank you for the reminder, Big Bro.]

The author has something to say:

Song Xuanhe: I don't know if I should let out a 'son of a b*tch' right now or not.

Eve: Poor SXH. He just doesn't want to die. Is that so much to ask?

Kara: Ahhhhh! Hello everyone, I am finally here!(´∀｀)ノ♡ To both the readers and Eve, sorry for the delay in editing! I have been sick for a week or so. OTL I just wanted to say that I'm very excited for this project too, and I am already loving it! SXH, do your best! (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

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