Gao Gusheng quickly took a step back to create some distance.
Damn, Yun Zhiyi never told him that the idol she followed was this “approachable.”
Seeing that Qin Shi had already taken out a pen, it would be too awkward to say “I’m not your fan, who are you, bro?” or to refuse the autograph, so he could only accept his “fan status” with an awkward smile.
【Sister Yun wanted Qin Shi’s autograph before. I’ll just consider this getting it for her.】
Qin Shi tore off a sticky note and watched as Gao Gusheng placed the signature behind his phone case. The curve of his lips became more pronounced as he chuckled, “Is that enough?”
Gao Gusheng looked up with complete bewilderment to see Qin Shi suddenly move closer, his gaze ambiguous and dreamy.
“Would you like a photo together, hmm?”
Gao Gusheng looked up to see a face rushing toward him and had to use all his strength to resist the urge to let his fist have a “friendly meeting” with the other’s nose bridge. As he backed away, he found himself against the wall.
Their breaths intertwined.
Alarm bells rang in Gao Gusheng’s mind, along with disbelief.
【No way, no way, I’m still wearing a mask—I’m only showing half my face today!】
He forced a smile, “No need…”
“Don’t be shy, little fan.”
Qin Shi interrupted Gao Gusheng and placed one hand against the wall next to his head.
“Since I happened to meet you today, I can fulfill your wishes for a day, just consider it—” he winked his right eye at Gao Gusheng, “a bonus for fans.”
Gao Gusheng’s goosebumps collectively stood up with that wink.
【Sister Yun, you never told me your idol was this greasy!】
Seeing the assistant about to raise their phone, Gao Gusheng couldn’t stand it anymore and pushed Qin Shi away, “I’m sorry, I’m actually not your fan. I got the signature for my friend.”
Qin Shi didn’t seem embarrassed at all. He smiled confidently, “Eyes don’t lie, little fan. Your eyes are saying that you like me.”
“Besides—”
“Even if you’re not a fan, you can become one, right?”
Gao Gusheng awkwardly smiled while avoiding Qin Shi, backing toward the exit, “Sorry, sorry, I just remembered my dad said if I don’t get home before midnight, he’ll break my legs. I have to go now.”
Gao Gusheng fled in disarray.
Qin Shi watched Gao Gusheng’s retreating figure and chuckled lightly, “I admit your little tricks have attracted me.”
“But the play of ‘hard to get’ only works once.”
“Next time we meet, I hope you’ll become more honest, little fan.”
…
After escaping the exhibition, Gao Gusheng looked down at the signature in his transparent phone case and felt deeply uncomfortable.
He flipped his phone over, adopting an “out of sight, out of mind” approach.
Opening his contacts, he dialed Gao Shi’s number with practiced ease, but it was still out of service area.
Gao Gusheng felt a bit worried.
“Is Dad’s mission this time very dangerous? It’s been four days with no contact.”
***
Time rewinds to four days ago.
Gao Shi hung up from his call with Gao Gusheng and picked up his car keys. Cheng Zeqi had just come out of the kitchen.
He carried a fruit platter with two cans of fruit wine on the side. “Old Gao, are you leaving now? Don’t go, stay and watch some variety shows and have a few drinks. Aren’t you off duty this afternoon?”
Gao Shi jangled his car keys, “There’s an urgent mission. I’ll drink with you when I get back.”
Cheng Zeqi pretended to be serious, “Don’t say things like that. In movies, people who say that always end up dead.”
Gao Shi laughed and scolded, “Get out of here. You can’t live without me. Wait, I’ll come back and drink you under the table.”
Cheng Zeqi turned on the variety show recording of idol Bai Shi before she joined the training camp and waved his hand. “Go quickly, we’ll see who drinks who under the table.”
When Gao Shi was heading to the Anamoly Management Bureau, he picked up Ying Bujie along the way.
By now, Ying Bujie had learned to skillfully use food delivery services. Gao Shi had linked his secondary card to Ying Bujie’s Alipay, telling him to order food whenever he was hungry. Gao Shi would receive a consumption record every now and then, which also served to ensure Ying Bujie’s safety.
Perhaps all parents have this habit—when Gao Shi himself was eating at street-side stalls with his team members, he never felt that takeout was unsanitary. Sitting on small stools around a pot of crayfish and a plate of barbecue, he ate contentedly. But whenever he saw Gao Gusheng eating takeout, he always felt that his son wasn’t eating takeout but gutter oil and additives.
So when Gao Shi moved out, he hired a housekeeper to cook and clean. The auntie was efficient, and her cooking was both clean and delicious.
Sometimes when the auntie wasn’t home, Gao Shi would personally cook for Gao Gusheng.
But since Ying Bujie arrived at the Gao household, the auntie’s days became difficult.
On the first day, he exhausted the cooking auntie.
When Gao Shi returned home, the auntie was rubbing her swollen wrists and crying, saying she had been stirring the ladle all day and couldn’t take it anymore. The work intensity wasn’t this high even when she was harvesting wheat in her hometown.
Seeing the auntie’s swollen wrists, Gao Shi promptly granted her a half-month leave and gave her a sum of compensation to quickly get anti-inflammatory medicine from the hospital.
After the auntie left, Gao Shi opened his watch, accessed the housekeeping app, and tried to compensate for the workload with quantity.
Whether it was because Ying Bujie had consumed too much energy recently in sealing Gao Gusheng’s spirit-attracting body, his appetite had been growing increasingly large lately.
Ying Bujie sat beside Gao Shi, eating egg rolls while looking at Gao Shi’s profile.
Thinking he was looking at the screen, Gao Shi took out the latest smartphone from his bag and handed it to him, briefly teaching him how to make calls.
Seeing Ying Bujie lower his head to fiddle with the phone, Gao Shi efficiently selected two highly-rated cooking aunties, offered high salaries, and invited them for a trial—
And after their trial, they both resigned and refused to continue.
It wasn’t that Gao Shi’s salary wasn’t high enough, but high wages are only worth it if you live to spend them. Sixteen hours a day of high-intensity cooking—who could endure that?
Gao Shi, not willing to give up, hired two more housekeepers—but within a day, they also quit.
There are only so many highly rated cooking housekeepers on the market. Gao Shi ran out of options, and soon a terrifying rumor began to circulate in the domestic worker community about a certain villa district—
That Gao family is just too much. They eat this—much in a day! The high salary they offer isn’t really a wage; it’s basically offering a huge reward for a dragon-taming warrior!
Frustrated, Gao Shi had no choice but to teach Ying Bujie how to order takeout.
At first, Gao Shi took the same patient approach he used when tutoring Gao Gusheng on homework, ready to teach several times until Ying learned. To his surprise, clever Student Ying only needed to watch once and successfully ordered three meat crab pots, which were delivered within half an hour.
Gao Shi: Hmm… Truly, food is the fundamental driving force of intelligence.
Once Ying Bujie got a taste for it, all the delivery drivers in the area soon recognized this villa district within just three days.
Sometimes three or four delivery guys would bump into each other at the entrance—
Yo, you’re delivering here too?
Yep, you as well?
Thanks to Ying Bujie, Gao Shi discovered many foods he’d never tried before.
Although Ying Bujie was now capable of living independently, the boy did have a history of being abducted. So normally, when Gao Shi went to work, he would take Ying Bujie with him.
The same went for this mission.
Besides, even though Ying Bujie’s spirit-sensing ability was incomplete, as shown during the last airport incident, he could still protect himself.
He was also a registered Taoist with the national system, so as long as the mission wasn’t absolutely top-secret and was properly reported, Ying Bujie could participate.
The state actively recruits talented individuals with special abilities.
…
After finishing their preparations, Gao Shi and Ying Bujie arrived at the Anamoly Management Bureau.
As soon as he entered, Gao Shi was handed a stack of documents. Chang Yang, biting into a thick slice of toast while putting on his jacket and heading out, mumbled, “Captain, this is a Level 2 mission!”
Gao Shi immediately called out, “Yangzi, Old Huang!”
With a wave, he said, “Let’s go, we’ll talk as we walk!”
Tasks at the Anamoly Management Bureau, like supernatural encounters, are ranked from Level 1 (highest) to Level 3 (lowest).
The higher the level, the wider the scope, the harder the aftermath to clean up, and the more supernatural officers are dispatched.
Most tasks are Level 3, requiring only one officer. This Level 2 task, however, required three officers.
Chang Yang mushed up the toast into a ball, swallowed it in one bite, and started the car.
Huang Shan sat in the front passenger seat and turned to Gao Shi, “Captain, check out the file. Something about this is really bizarre.”
Gao Shi skimmed through it and was surprised to see that their destination this time was the Zhou family enterprise.
His mind turned to the rumors his own father had worked so hard to dig up, and he tapped the file twice with his finger.
Could it be that the Zhou family’s haunted house rumors were true?
The file in his hand was, strictly speaking, a description from a new employee at the Zhou family enterprise recounting his experience.
…
Che Xi was a recent university graduate who was lucky enough to land a job at the Zhou family enterprise after graduation.
The Zhou family was mainly involved in all kinds of food businesses, most famous for their meat products. Their semi-processed meats were good quality, affordable, and beloved by many restaurants.
After joining the company, Che Xi became an ordinary sales department staff member.
But the excitement of joining the Zhou company only lasted until his first day on the job.
Because the Zhou company truly did not treat employees like people—on the very first day, they had to work overtime all the way until 11 p.m.
Maybe it was poor electrical connections, but the lighting was dim. Che Xi yawned as he looked at the unfinished reports his mentor had asked him to organize.
But the coworkers next to him were already packing up.
Not just those nearby—multiple coworkers across the department could be heard rustling as they gathered their things.
A colleague at the next desk whispered, “Let’s go, let’s go. The supervisor’s not here—hurry and leave.”
Che Xi scratched his head awkwardly. “I haven’t finished the reports my mentor assigned. I’ll finish up and leave later.”
The colleague wanted to say more but, catching sight of the supervisor’s coat, fell silent and smiled at the supervisor instead. “I finished today’s tasks and emailed them to the team leader.”
The supervisor nodded without saying anything.
The neighbor quickly grabbed her bag and left the office.
Before leaving, she gave Che Xi a look.
Meeting her eyes, Che Xi felt a vague sense of unease.
The supervisor came over with a frown. “Not finished yet? It’s not a good habit to leave work for the next day.”
Che Xi internally roasted the supervisor: **If you hadn’t suddenly moved the summary meeting from next week to tomorrow, I wouldn’t have to work overtime like this on my very first day! Every boss is a bit of an idiot—some just make slapdash decisions with their heads, others with their asses.**
Still, he put on a polite smile.
“I’ll be done soon.”
The supervisor, face unreadable, nodded. “Make sure it’s done before tomorrow’s meeting.”
Che Xi nodded repeatedly.
Not long after, he heard the pleasant sound of an engine—his supervisor was leaving in a luxury car worth 56 years of Che Xi’s salary.
**Knew it.**
Che Xi moaned internally.
**Work hard for fifty years, and your boss goes from a minivan to a supercar.**
Nothing to be done—complaints aside, the work still needed doing.
Before he knew it, he heard a clock chime twelve times.
It was already midnight.
The overhead lights grew even dimmer, even flickering.
**No way, even a big company has such crappy lightbulbs?**
Muttering, Che Xi yawned and decided to go get a cup of coffee.
Suddenly, the department phone rang, its sharp ring startling Che Xi so badly that he nearly spilled half a cup of cold coffee onto his newly bought sneakers.
“Which client is calling in the middle of the night?”
Che Xi felt irritable and uneasy.
Some clients’ calls could last half an hour, and he still needed to finish the conclusion of his report. Tomorrow, he had to catch the subway at 7 AM.
With a sigh, Che Xi placed his cup on the coffee machine, preparing to answer the phone.
However, when he was just one step away from the desk phone, Che Xi felt as if he had been nailed to the ground, unable to move an inch.
He saw the phone line, cut in half.
He suddenly remembered that during his onboarding earlier in the day, he had noticed the half-severed phone line swaying slightly beside the desk. He had even asked his neighbor colleague why the phone line was cut.
What had the colleague said at the time?
A flash of terror appeared in the colleague’s eyes as she shrank back, burying her entire body in her tiny work cubicle. The sound of rapid keystrokes filled the space.
At the time, Che Xi thought he had said something wrong.
After a while, he heard a very faint answer.
“So we don’t have to answer… the calls.”
So faint it seemed like an illusion.
Now.
That half-cut phone line hung limply beside the desk.
And the desk phone was still ringing.
Ying Bujie is gonna eat Gao Shi to an early grave, I just know it.
It’s a scary working overtime .. ⊙.☉