Pretending To Be A Boss

"What should I feel?"

"Aren't you surprised or resistant?"

Li Xiaoyu was like a contradiction incarnate, feeling on one hand that she could give Tang Xian everything, but on the other hand, she yearned for Tang Xian to have eyes for only her.

Tang Xian shook his head:

"Those fans are surprised merely because of the numbers; it's just a reaction to the change in magnitude. But they weren't resistant, they even quite craved that kind of life."

"Why, isn't everyone longing for... a love that's loyal and exclusive?"

"Most of the time, people love only one person their whole life because they can only afford to love one person. If they could love more, most people might not refuse more options."

Tang Xian walked out of the movie theater.

Lowering her head, Li Xiaoyu followed, somewhat puzzled by the meaning of his words.

Thinking of Lin Jue whom he had just seen, Tang Xian also remembered what Lin Jue had done in the past.

"I knew a rogue teacher named Lin Jue, part of Song Que's team. When he used to teach, his greatest joy every day was to harass women."

"Once, when a female teacher returned to school with her newborn child and husband after maternity leave, Lin Jue said, 'The kid doesn't look like me.'"

Li Xiaoyu couldn't help but laugh.

"What happened then? Did Lin Jue have an affair with the female teacher?"

"Not at all, he was just mouthing off. He didn't like the way that male teacher strutted around, so he decided to give him some grief. But the male teacher took it seriously, went to the hospital with his child for a paternity test, and found out the child indeed wasn't his."

Li Xiaoyu fell silent.

"So, it couldn't be covered up any longer, and eventually, the female teacher admitted to having had a moment of indiscretion with another teacher from the school, a physics teacher."

"Then this matter reached the physics teacher's wife, who angrily confronted him saying, 'Ha, her child isn't her husband's, but is yours definitely yours?'"

Li Xiaoyu had not expected the situation to unfold like this.

"The physics teacher also took his son for a paternity test and found out his child indeed wasn't his either. It was the young and handsome art teacher's."

"After the art teacher's girlfriend found out, she wasn't happy and said sorrowfully to the art teacher, 'Is it because I had dinner with the music teacher Liang that you decided to get back at me like this?'"

"And then it was the turn of the music teacher Liang. It was a chain reaction just like dominoes falling; if one goes down, they all go down."

"Because of Lin Jue's joke, all the married couples at the school had a crisis of trust. Exaggerated, right?"

"Afterwards, Lin Jue felt like he lost out. He hadn't caused all of these betrayals, so how did everyone tacitly turn their anger towards him?"

Li Xiaoyu found the joke funny, but also felt something was off.

"You seem particularly skeptical about absolute loyalty between two people."

"Not at all, just the opposite. It's precisely because I believe in it that I think if someone likes another person, they must ask themselves whether this fondness stems from lust or the soul."

"Don't wait until life gets twisted together and becomes tangled before attempting to sort out this question."

They had reached the passageway.

Li Xiaoyu had no plans to go to the lower level and just stood gazing at Tang Xian, thinking about the story he told.

Until Tang Xian was about to enter the checkpoint, she called out loudly:

"I'm from the soul!"

"I never doubted it," Tang Xian said indifferently, waving his hand as a gesture of farewell.

Li Xiaoyu stood there dumbfounded, as she was not someone who reacted quickly.

But it took a while for her to register Tang Xian's response and then she started to giggle foolishly.

...

...

The lower level was quite vast, but it also had a large population, with the temperature noticeably higher than the second and third levels, and the air seemed somewhat murky.

Tang Xian first went to Luo's place. He bought a specialized oven for roasting ducks and an apparatus for turning the ducks while roasting.

Though he couldn't chat and mingle with Luo as in the past, the need for trade was still there.

With the hunting festival fast approaching, after getting all his gear ready, Tang Xian planned to stay in the mining area.

What was left to do was wait for Liu Lang's glasses, the gloves Ke was crafting, and some grass seeds from Shang Lu suitable for herbivorous animals. Continue reading at empire

Upon returning to his residence, Tang Xian saw Akasi telling stories to Tang Xiaojiu.

This house couldn't accommodate three people, Akasi, Tang Suoye, and Dong Ran all stayed on the third level, where the Li family had arranged accommodations.

Akasi had just come down to ask about Tang Xian's plans for the day.

"We'll have lunch here," Tang Xian told Akasi.

Akasi nodded; eating with Tang Xian and enjoying the food prepared by Tang Xian were both pleasant experiences.

Tang Xian picked up the homework book on the table and casually flipped through a few idioms written by Tang Xiaojiu.

"Colluding in villainy, the two characters you wrote wrong changed the entire meaning," he said.

"The character 'bei' is so hard to write," Tang Xiaojiu said with a wronged expression.

"But you wrote 'wei' wrong as well."

In the homework book, Tang Xian instantly noticed the phrase "wolf besieged by trickery."

There were also "sheep aren't spitting," "incessant bats," "an extraordinary search for intestines," "a chicken that cannot be lost," and other such misspelled terms.

The mistakes were mostly related to food.

Tang Xian shook his head and said,

"Such a foolish child."

Tang Xiaojiu felt that she was already pretty impressive.

When she showed her homework to Brother Akasi earlier, he seemed very happy.

Tang Xian opened the furnace, took out the organic ore, and prepared to cook a duck, while simultaneously mentioning to Akasi,

"Li Zheng plans to hire you as external support to help with the Hunting Festival."

"I'll listen to you," Akasi replied.

"Then go and help. Living in Lincoln Fortress No. 39, it still serves some purpose to get along well with the Li family. No need to mind the other team members; if there's real danger, just focus on protecting Li Zheng."

"Okay."

After some thought, Tang Xian said,

"At Lincoln Fortress, I saw a bald man from the Evolution Zone with a code, S-004. Do you know him?"

"I'm unaware of other Evolutions Zones; the S-series coding is probably an American practice. They're ranked based on strength and talent in categories D, C, B, A, S, and SSS. However, SSS is said to be just a conceptual model; practically, the S-series subjects are the strongest," Akasi explained.

Tang Xian understood and asked,

"How is Tang Suoye doing?"

Akasi didn't respond; he just shook his head.

Tang Xian was also encountering for the first time a human with the biological traits of the mining zone's creatures.

He said softly,

"She will wake up. While you go to help Li Zheng, I will look after her for you."

"I appreciate it," Akasi said, naturally trusting Tang Xian.

Regarding Tang Suoye, Tang Xian was quite curious about how much she would differ from before once she woke up.

...

...

After seven in the evening, almost everyone in Lincoln Fortress No. 39 was talking about the Hunting Festival.

Tang Xian went shopping with Tang Xiaojiu, and although Decay Street at the bottom was chaotic and degenerate, walking around after dinner allowed them to hear a lot of news.

From national affairs to the widow next door.

The place Tang Xian mainly visited was the bookstore.

Audio books.

Most devices can't be used in the mining zone, but these old-fashioned phonographs can be used there.

Tang Xian hadn't forgotten the little company he had set up with Shang Lu; although it hadn't opened yet, he still secured certain benefits.

Qing JiuYu liked Biphasic Orchid, Bai Mansheng liked stories.

Though Tianque Plains are far from the forest sea, Yuepela Plains are close to it.

Tang Xian wasn't sure if the beast tide migration was related to the preparations for attacking the Yuepela Plains.

But buying a few bottom-tier novels wasn't a big deal.

A new model of a box-shaped phonograph reading device, several disc versions of the popular novels and stories that people enjoyed.

Most were about the resurgence of spiritual energy, time-travel, and rebirth; Tang Xian occasionally read them too. They were relaxing and entertaining, and while they might not have the depth of classical literature, the amusement they provided was no less comparable.

Bai Mansheng probably liked them as well.

Of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch; she'd have to trade something for it.

(Afternoon... not sure if there will be more, I'll try to finish it today.)