CH 35

For Lin Zixi, this was an embarrassing accident of epic level. If Gu Zecheng had not gone to participate in some economic forum the next day, he might have accepted the sponsor platform’s activity in order to avoid his dad.

However, during the three days that Gu Zecheng was in G City, he still found that something was wrong—Lin Zixi, who originally had been very close to him, suddenly stopped answering his call and did not reply to his messages; even if he occasionally responded, his attitude was so perfunctory that anyone could see through it at a glance.

Even when Big Boss Gu made a special call to tell him that he was going to get on the plane and go back to S City, he only got a response of "Okay, got it. That’s it, right? Then I’ll continue to get busy. See you in the evening."

"Heh, you have some balls!" Gu Zecheng, who had been hung up for the first time in ages, almost laughed in anger when he heard a “du du du” sound coming from his mobile phone.

And when his flight landed at S City’s airport, he naturally wasn’t welcomed with a nice surprise of a certain star secretly coming to the airport to pick him up—in fact, among the more than 30 unread messages on his mobile phone, there was not even one sent by the surnamed Lin.

Therefore, since Gu Zecheng came out of the airport, he had been looking at his mobile phone at a high frequency that he himself was not even aware of. The special assistant and the driver who were in charge of picking him up could not help but size him up from the rearview mirror.

In the end, Wang Yong, the bodyguard slash driver who had stayed with him for a long time, posed a question first, "Boss, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing! Some people are busy with their noble affairs; what can I do?!" Gu Zecheng said. Then he stopped looking at his mobile phone and threw it aside before leaning back on the seat and closing his eyes to rest as if out of sight, out of mind.

Wang Yong subconsciously exchanged glances with Special Assistant Xu Chengfeng in the passenger seat. Then he tactfully shut up and drove silently with great interest. At the same time, he also turned down the volume of the music and frantically guessed in his heart about which fucking god could actually make Big Boss Gu, a person with such status, feel frustrated.

Just when Wang Yong was recalling the list of names from S City to B City, from the business world to the political and government circles, Gu Zecheng, who was sitting in the back seat, suddenly opened his eyes again.

"Chengfeng, cancel the meeting in the afternoon and inform all the participants that the meeting will be rescheduled to 8:30 tomorrow morning." He paused, then continued almost bitingly, "Now, go home!"

…… Oh, the noble person was in the entertainment circle. Wang Yong, who had bought food for Lin Zixi several times, concluded in his heart.

When Gu Zecheng opened the door, he was greeted by silence instead of a clattering of pans in the kitchen or a greeting of "you're back" like before.

Although before Lin Zixi moved in, this kind of silence was the normal state he faced when he returned to this private space, Gu Zecheng suddenly felt that this kind of absolute silence he always appreciated brought not peace but icy coldness.

It was as ice-cold as the wintry outdoors.

However, before he could think much about it, a familiar yet strange scream came from behind the tightly closed door of the study, "Ahhh, I'm going to die, I'm going to die!"

The expression showing in Gu Zecheng's eyes instantly became sharp. He walked in quick steps to the wine cabinet in the living room without making a sound, and after gently turning the two ornaments, a hidden compartment opened soundlessly. Inside it was a silver pistol.

He held the pistol in his right hand, turned the safety off, and quietly walked to the door of the study. Then he violently pushed the door open with his left hand and took aim at the same time, ready to shoot.

"Don't move, and raise your hands!" Gu Zecheng shouted the moment the door opened.

And what were waiting for him behind the door in the dark room with the curtains closed was the back of Lin Zixi alone sitting in front of the computer screen with headphones on and his talking after a long sigh of relief, "Thank you, Chief S, thank you Chief S, or else I’d lose three games in a row at P Port."

Dad Gu turned the safety on and put the pistol away. Then he walked towards a certain young man and stood behind him for ten seconds without being noticed.

He walked to the window and pulled both layers of curtains open, so the ‘monster’ who had been engrossed in playing games for three days showed his original shape in broad daylight.

"I… You...why’re you back now? Didn't you say that you had to hold a meeting until 6 o'clock?!" The moment Lin Zixi discovered his dad, he reacted extremely fast, closing the game and the voice chat. But no matter how fast he was, there was no time for him to destroy other evidence in the room.

"Oh, you've really grown a pair!" Seeing the desk where he had never put food on was now heaped with takeaway boxes, Gu Zecheng said with a sneer, "You better have a reasonable explanation." 

Well, this matter was actually caused by Chen Yunyun. Who made her come up with an idea: "Picking feet for half a year, and a myriad of fans are lost. If you really continue to be a salted fish like this before joining the group, your fans will climb half of the wall…. You choose one of the current most popular games you’re familiar with. Later, I’ll find some popular anchors with good skills and humor to bring you to do game live streaming, which was enough for the hot search content for the next half month. At that time, you can also interact with fans more and strengthen their loyalties."

Of course, when Agent Chen said this, she did not foresee that young actor Lin would directly change shape in a single shake from an ‘idling jobless youth’ into an ‘Internet-addicted youngster who deserved electric shock treatment’.

So, although Lin Zixi had experienced countless normal methods of death in the game such as being shot to death by the enemy, bombed to death, and knocked to death with a frying pan, and had also experienced being shot dead when landing, getting his head hit by the airdrop box, being run over by his teammate's car... and other abnormal methods of death countless of times, he was still deeply in love with this tactical and competitive battle royale game.

After two days and one night of self-exploration and soloing and more than half a day of being escorted in a four-man team by three big game anchors, he gloriously maintained a record of 0 victory—which was also very much in line with his ‘Mercury retrograde’ character.

And after watching one of the anchors' live stream channel for more than an hour, Chen Yunyun had already given up treatment and wondered whether she should just make a ‘Lin Zixi game reverse koi’ hype.

"So it's because you're addicted to playing games that you don't eat and sleep properly..." And also didn't reply to my messages properly? Gu Zecheng sat in the boss chair that had been warmed and asked Lin Zixi, whose voice became lower as he explained, with a stern face.

"I... I'm doing this for work..." Lin Zixi blinked his peach blossom eyes and said with the most innocent and sincere expression, "Daddy, forgive me once again."

……If this is really my son, I can spank his ass—Dad Gu thought to himself seeing the ‘cheap son’ in front of him act like a spoiled child.

The ‘cheap son’ and his ‘cheap dad’ looked at each other speechlessly for three seconds. Then Gu Zecheng suddenly pulled Lin Zixi into his arms, pinched his chin while sneering, and said, "I’ve said it before, if I catch you being addicted to playing games and not eating properly, I have plenty of methods to make you cry and call 'Daddy'."

……Fuck! My dad actually didn't just talk nonsense and is really going to punish me physically?!—Lin Zixi’s intuition sensed a subtle danger, and his mind was somewhat muddled and shocked as he looked at the man who was encircling him closely.

Then in the next second, he showed all the acting skills he had learned from Movie Emperor Zhou and whispered miserably, "But you also said at that time that you’d only punish me after my injury was healed…. My neck still hurt yesterday QAQ."

Dad Gu, seeing the small expression of the person in his arms, took a deep breath and let him go while speaking in a deep and low voice beside his ear, "You, there’ll be that day when your injury heals..."

After speaking, Big Boss Gu, who had hurried back from G city covered in dust, went to his own room to take a shower and change clothes—he absolutely didn't take a cold shower, absolutely.

TL’s notes:

抠脚 (kōu jiǎo) = lit. to pick feet; fig. describing an artist who has no activities or works for a period of time

咸鱼 (xián yú) = lit. salted fish; fig. dead body; people who don't want to move; people who have no dreams

爬墙 (pá qiáng) = to climb a wall; (fig.) to be unfaithful; to like other stars

便宜儿子/爹 (pián yi ér zi/diē) = cheap son/dad refers to a son/dad obtained without having to spend money or effort