Gao Shi suddenly awoke from his dream.
Dawn was just breaking, with the horizon showing a faint whitish glow.
Beside him, his son was sleeping sprawled out, like a cat showing its belly, one hand still hugging his new favorite big monkey plush, the corner of his mouth turned up-who knows what pleasant dream he was having.
Gao Shi casually pulled a corner of the comforter over his stomach. Gao Gusheng remained completely unaware, sleeping soundly.
Looking at his son, the fierceness Gao Shi felt in the dream gradually subsided. His expression softened and relaxed, only then did he realize he seemed to be holding something in his hand.
He turned his head and was surprised to see Ying Bujie.
Ying Bujie was sitting cross-legged at the head of the bed, one hand clasped with his, the other supporting himself on the edge of the bed.
Gao Shi had truly been in a deep sleep; earlier it seemed Ying Bujie had covered his eyes with one hand, yet when he awoke startled, he hadn’t even noticed.
Awakened by his movement, Ying Bujie opened his eyes, yawned with a hint of moisture at the corners of his eyes, and then his stomach let out a plaintive growl.
Only then did Gao Shi notice that Ying Bujie’s face was pale-terrifyingly pale.
His heart jumped, remembering the sandalwood scent from his dream and thinking of Ying Bujie’s previous spellcasting. He quickly got out of bed and said softly, “Daoist, let’s go eat something.”
Ying Bujie’s reaction was delayed, as if he looked at him for a while before slowly nodding.
Gao Shi didn’t know how long he had been keeping watch by his bedside. Worried about his legs being numb, he crouched beside him to help him up. Ying Bujie, looking bewildered, was supported for a few steps, then a bit of starlight flowed from his fingertips. “It’s fine, doesn’t hurt.”
That bit of starlight enveloped them both, and Gao Shi felt a gentle breeze on his face, making his entire body feel refreshed. This starlight had a similar effect to Taoist “cleansing talismans.”
Now they didn’t even need to wash up. Gao Shi released Ying Bujie and quickly walked to the kitchen, first taking ready-to-eat bread from the refrigerator, then making a cup of instant soy milk for Ying Bujie to eat first, before rapidly preparing breakfast.
Ying Bujie’s face was truly frighteningly pale.
Two-minute egg noodles with fried eggs, five-minute sandwiches, ten-minute chicken legs and buns, shumai, beef noodles… all the way to the takeout that arrived half an hour later-Ying Bujie’s stomach schedule was packed full.
Only then did Gao Shi relax and sit at the dining table, watching as Ying Bujie’s cheeks gradually regained their color.
After eating for a full twenty minutes, Ying Bujie’s eating pace finally slowed. His complexion had returned to normal, and Gao Shi curiously glanced at Ying Bujie’s stomach, which remained flat, wondering where exactly the Daoist had put all that food.
Gao Shi looked at Ying Bujie, hesitated for a moment, and asked, “Daoist, is your magic consumption related to your eating?”
Ying Bujie swallowed the grape in his mouth and nodded, “Spellcasting makes me hungry.”
No wonder Ying Bujie was so weak this morning.
Gao Shi recalled the sandalwood fragrance that had surrounded him in his dream. Ying Bujie had likely watched over him all night without leaving his side.
Actually, Ying Bujie didn’t need to look after him; he had always managed to get through his nightmares on his own.
Or Ying Bujie could have left briefly to get food and eat while casting spells.
But he had stubbornly stayed by his side all night.
Was it because he lacked mental clarity and couldn’t adapt?
No, that wasn’t it.
Someone lacking mental clarity would act on instinct, prioritizing themselves, not others.
Gao Shi felt a mix of emotions. He wanted to say something, but felt that anything he could say would be inadequate. In the end, he simply passed over the mango pieces he had just cut.
…
When daylight filled the room, Gao Gusheng groggily climbed out of bed and followed the aroma to the dining room, where the neatly stacked takeout boxes immediately woke him up.
At the dining table, Gao Shi was holding a cup of coffee and reading the latest news, while Ying Bujie picked up a chopstick-full of beef noodles. Hearing the sound, both looked up.
…What’s with this déjà vu of a family of three?!
Gao Shi said, “You’re awake? Do you want toast or plain noodles?”
“Plain noodles…”
Gao Gusheng brushed his teeth in front of the mirror, feeling something was off yet also feeling like this was how things should be.
He washed his face, shaking like a little dog shaking off water, giving his bangs a “natural beauty” look. After admiring his handsome face in the mirror for a while, he walked contentedly to the dining table.
-If Cheng Zeqi knew that Gao Gusheng had confused his carefully designed hairstyle with Gao Gusheng’s own impulsive, original method of styling his bangs, he would certainly be angry enough to argue with Gao Shi for three hundred rounds.
Though they did look quite similar.
While Gao Gusheng ate breakfast, Gao Shi opened his wristwatch and began organizing last night’s dreams.
In the “Plot” document, “Contractor” had been renamed to “Li Mochen.”
A new category appeared below: “Racing Suit.”
Yesterday’s dream was divided into three segments. The first segment was about the “Racing Suit.” This part of the dream was the most chaotic, but he could still deduce what Gao Gusheng had experienced.
In simple terms, it was a “substitute story.”
It wasn’t because Gao Shi saw his son through a thick filter-he genuinely found it hard to imagine who could possibly use his foolish son as a substitute.
Gao Gusheng’s face was capable of paralyzing Weibo and making programmers’ hairlines recede another centimeter. If someone truly resembled Gao Gusheng, unless they had hidden for eighteen years like Gao Gusheng had, they would have been discovered long ago.
Understanding substitute relationships was beyond Gao Shi’s comprehension. He really couldn’t understand the psychology of someone seeking a substitute-if you love someone enough, why find a substitute?
This situation would disgust the original love interest if they knew; it would disgust the substitute if they knew; and wouldn’t even the person seeking the substitute feel guilty? Wouldn’t they feel angry seeing the substitute forced to imitate their true love, like looking at a counterfeit?
Gao Shi thought about it but couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to ask Zhuang Xiuxiu later at work if she had any novel recommendations about substitutes.
However, from the first dream segment, it was clear that “Racing Suit” was very interested in racing. At least the “true love” frequently participated in racing and liked to wear a white racing suit. He could start from this point to investigate who “Racing Suit” might be.
Could the feeling of being watched yesterday at the arcade have come from “Racing Suit”?
After organizing the first dream segment, Gao Shi looked at the second one.
The second segment revealed much more information.
Although the dream was still incomplete, he could basically deduce the experiences of Li Mochen and Gao Gusheng.
In the second dream segment, the most complete part was their first meeting, when Li Mochen drove away the ghosts from the orphanage.
In this dream fragment, the most noteworthy point wasn’t that Gao Gusheng attracted ghosts, but that Li Mochen could dispel them.
He was surrounded by a faint golden light. The dream version of Gao Gusheng trusted him so easily not only because he helped the orphanage, but mainly because Gao Gusheng mistook that layer of golden light for the golden light of virtue.
People with the golden light of virtue were invariably people of great goodness.
But Gao Shi himself had the golden light of virtue, and he could tell that the golden layer around Li Mochen wasn’t it at all.
The light of virtue was golden yellow, while the layer around Li Mochen was dark gold, mixed with threads of blood red.
To make a comparison, if Gao Shi was the sun, Li Mochen would be a piece of copper.
What Gao Gusheng saw as “scaring away ghosts,” in Gao Shi’s eyes, looked more like the ghosts vanishing into thin air.
Moreover, only those with direct or indirect blood on their hands would have an aura mixed with threads of blood color.
Gao Shi reached for one of Gao Gusheng’s newly bought lollipops and turned to ask Ying Bujie, “Daoist, are there any other lights that are golden like the light of virtue?”
After thinking for a moment, Gao Shi added, “Not golden yellow, but dark gold, mixed with blood color.”
Ying Bujie was eating rambutan intermittently. Hearing the question, he thought carefully and shook his head, “I can’t remember clearly.”
There was nothing to be done about that.
Gao Shi made a note in his memo to ask Yin Ling about the dark gold light.
The second noteworthy point was Gao Gusheng attracting ghosts.
It was true that Gao Gusheng attracted ghosts, but the attack on the orphanage had nothing to do with his constitution.
Gao Gusheng had a spirit-attracting constitution-the closer to him, the more abundant the spiritual energy. Ghosts that acted only on instinct without thinking would cling tightly to Gao Gusheng, so how could they turn to attack the orphanage?
Was the attack orchestrated by Li Mochen?
Although he didn’t know the truth, he couldn’t rule out this possibility.
The third noteworthy point was that he had now dreamed about the land that Li Mochen was bidding on.
That piece of land was the “land king” that would transform the Li family’s business.
It was also the reason Li Mochen had handed Gao Gusheng over to someone else.
In another week, the land auction would take place.
***
After breakfast, Gao Shi drove Gao Gusheng back to school. He himself needed to visit the Criminal Investigation Brigade to handle the follow-up matters regarding Qin Shi’s case.
Gao Gusheng noticed Gao Shi sucking on one of his newly bought Hundred Flowers series lollipops and asked excitedly, “Dad, how is it? Does it taste good?”
Gao Shi casually tossed one with a rose sealed inside to the back seat. Gao Gusheng caught it, popped it into his mouth, and immediately froze.
He licked it again in disbelief, his face filled with indignation. “Ahhh, I’ve been scammed! This is just an ordinary malt lollipop! It doesn’t taste like flowers at all!”
Gao Shi, driving the car and listening to his son howling like a husky in the back seat, couldn’t help but smile. “The malt flavor is quite good too.”
Gao Gusheng whined, “It’s not the same, Dad.” He looked painfully at the payment receipt for the Hundred Flowers series lollipops, then clutched his chest in agony. “It’s not the same at all-”
A box of the Hundred Flowers series cost 218 yuan-with that money, he could have bought so many malt candies!
Gao Shi laughed, “Just think of it as trying a new flavor. Actually, there is a floral fragrance at the end. This cherry blossom flavored lollipop contains candied cherry blossoms. If you eat it for a while, you should be able to taste the rose flavor.”
Gao Gusheng felt somewhat comforted, but couldn’t help thinking of the starry sky lollipops he had bought before-another IQ tax.
After arriving at school, Gao Gusheng insisted on taking Gao Shi to buy new flavors of lollipops. Ying Bujie was still eating and found it inconvenient to carry things, so he waited in the car.
“Dad, do you know what the most bizarre candy flavor I’ve ever eaten was? Spicy crayfish! The school used to sell them, but they’ve been taken off the shelves now. They probably lost a lot of money.”
“Spicy crayfish…” Gao Shi refused to imagine what that would taste like.
The two walked side by side, and just as they were approaching the school supermarket, Gao Gusheng heard Jia Qi’s long-absent inner thoughts.
[System, help me find a tool to get rid of him, so annoying.]
Gao Gusheng instinctively scanned his surroundings and saw Jia Qi tugging back and forth with Zhou Da.
He hadn’t felt much when Mo Hua mentioned it earlier, but seeing it today gave him a real shock.
Zhou Da was an athlete with an extremely fit body-his clothes could barely contain his bursting hormones. But now he had lost a lot of weight, his muscles had diminished significantly, and his previous clothes hung loosely on him. Moreover, his eyes were ringed with dark circles, his cheeks sunken-not just ordinary haggardness, but the kind that would get you detained and searched at customs.
Gao Gusheng gently tugged at Gao Shi’s clothes, and the two quietly followed behind them.
Zhou Da seemed somewhat neurotic. He gripped Jia Qi’s shoulders with both hands. “Who did you go see? Lin Kun or Sun Langyan? Or some other man?! Why didn’t you reply to my messages? You want to dump me, don’t you?!”
Tears welled up in Jia Qi’s eyes. “Brother Zhou, you’re hurting me.”
[System, hurry up! It hurts so much, my shoulders must be red!]
Zhou Da instinctively loosened his grip, but then trapped Jia Qi between himself and the wall. “Xiao Qi, I quit the team for you. Don’t think about leaving me.”
Jia Qi’s nose reddened slightly as he stood on tiptoe and hugged Zhou Da. “Brother Zhou, how could you think that? How could I ever leave you?”
[Zhou Da should look in the mirror. No brains and no understanding of romance-if it weren’t for his good body, who would be interested in him? Now he’s lost his looks, and his only advantage is gone. Also, he couldn’t keep up with training and got kicked off the team, but he makes it sound like he quit voluntarily for me. Shameless.]
“When the club organized a mountain climb, I twisted my ankle, and you carried me down the mountain. That night we watched the stars together. I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.”
[He kept saying he was straight, but that night he was so vigorous. To create the atmosphere, I had to pretend to twist my ankle and feed mosquitoes on the mountain. A damn mosquito bit me right there, and I was uncomfortable for days.]
Zhou Da seemed to be awakened by Jia Qi’s reminder of their “sweet” memories. His gaze softened considerably as he hugged Jia Qi back. “The stars that night were the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I’ll never forget them either.”
Jia Qi rested his head on Zhou Da’s shoulder. Zhou Da couldn’t see his face, but Jia Qi didn’t forget to feign deep emotion. “Brother Zhou, so please don’t say such things anymore. I’ve been busy preparing my paintings these past few days. You know the teacher wants to take me to the exhibition. This time my opponent is Sun Jun, and I don’t want to…”
Jia Qi stopped mid-sentence, his tone carrying three parts sadness, three parts unwillingness, and four parts stubbornness, like a pie chart.
Zhou Da immediately felt both guilty and angry as he hugged him tightly. “Sun Jun is truly hateful! I’m sorry, Xiao Qi, I didn’t trust you enough.”
He pressed on Jia Qi’s shoulders to create some distance between them and looked into his eyes. “Xiao Qi, do you want me to make sure that Sun Jun can never paint again?”
He made a fierce “hitting” gesture.
Jia Qi immediately stopped him. “No! I want to compete with him fair and square!”
[Is Zhou Da an idiot?! Breaking his hand at this critical moment would definitely make people suspect me!]
Zhou Da softened his tone. “Xiao Qi is just too kind. There’s no need to hold back against someone who smears you and steals your teacher.”
The two leaned against each other affectionately. If one couldn’t hear Jia Qi’s inner thoughts, they would truly seem like a sweet couple.
[He definitely hasn’t showered again. Ahh, so smelly!]
Just as they had barely managed to send Zhou Da away, without even having a chance to catch their breath, Lin Kun came looking for Jia Qi.
If Zhou Da looked like he was on drugs, then Lin Kun looked like he was on his deathbed.
At least Zhou Da had previously been very fit, with abs and pecs, and even though he had lost weight, he still somewhat resembled a human. Lin Kun, on the other hand, had previously been the handsome scholar type, but now that he had lost weight, he looked so frail that it seemed an ant could throw him over its shoulder.
Lin Kun arrived, going through the same process as Zhou Da.
Although Lin Kun, the former math genius, still had some intelligence left, after falling in love, not much remained. Under Jia Qi’s sweet talk, he only held out ten minutes longer than Zhou Da before the two were sweetly leaning against each other again.
Gao Gusheng thought: Some intelligence, but not much, let’s see what happens next.
Finally, Lin Kun left. Gao Gusheng and his father, whose brows were increasingly furrowed, exchanged glances, both thinking that surely this must be the end now?
Unexpectedly, as they turned around, another male student approached, making Gao Gusheng exclaim that something strange was happening-it was as if they had disturbed Jia Qi’s harem today.
This student looked decent, presentable, in better shape than Zhou Da, and was studying music.
After Gao Gusheng listened to Jia Qi’s complaints like [This person acts all proper, but his musical talent is actually fraudulent, what a waste of my time!] [Hmph, every time just five minutes, thinking he’s so great, I can’t keep up this act anymore, whoever wants to can play it], this student was also successfully sent away.
The show was finally over.
As they left, Gao Gusheng asked Gao Shi, “Dad, what do you think? Is there something off about him? I feel like there’s something strange.”
Gao Shi nodded and said gravely, “Those boys look like they’ve been drained.”
Both physically and mentally.
Gao Shi said, “Fortunately, the system in his hands has limited powers, only able to control and conquer. Sun Jun’s parents, who were once controlled, didn’t suffer physical damage-only those who were ‘conquered’ show these symptoms.”
As they spoke quietly, Gao Gusheng suddenly heard a mechanical voice in his ear.
The mechanical voice was urgent.
[Target for conquest detected! Target level: S-class-static-system error, recalculating-static-]
[Target level: A-SS-SSS-static-system error, recalculating-static-]
[Calculation complete, no conquerable target.]
Gao Gusheng looked up to see Jia Qi gazing in his direction.
The conquest target the system mentioned… could it be his dad?
##
LMAO the system really getting his host to target father and son 😭😭😭