New Times, New Hell

Chapter 38 - CP Poll

Peppa’s reincarnation result was still in the process of being calculated. In the time she spent waiting, she was passed around to be taken care of by Luofeng’s ghostly employees one by one,

The little girl had been forced into servitude before she had even been born, so had never received any formal education. Regardless of her personality or moral character, she seemed a bit strange at times. Fortunately, she was good at heart, so listened carefully to the lessons everyone taught her.

Yu Zhengdu consequently downloaded and printed copies of the Elementary Student’s Guidelines and the Code of Conduct for Red Scarves for her to learn. He also told everyone to teach her to do kind things when she was under their care; for example, helping old grandmother ghosts cross the street, returning lost sacrificial offerings to the lost and found at each reincarnation point, maintaining a safe distance from unlucky humans, especially pregnant women, to prevent from worsening their luck, and more. He also often signed her up for Underworld children’s athletic competitions and similar events. Other than helping her formulate a normal worldview and good moral character, he naturally also hoped that she would be able to become friendlier and kinder. This way, it might help her reincarnation results.

After finally wrapping up everything with the belly spirit, Shang Que was notified of another issue a few days later.

Work had just barely started on that day. Lu Lingxi walked in reluctantly to see Shang Que and said, “Boss, a company called Big Eye Livestream called and said they want to invite you to attend an event.”

Shang Que was in the middle of elegantly listening to class. Upon hearing her, he looked up in bewilderment. “What’s that?”

Lu Lingxi felt too ashamed to keep explaining. Thus, she simply handed over her phone, open to a web page, for Shang Que to take a look at. Shang Que glanced at it and immediately went: “&#k2026;&#k2026;”

The page Lu Lingxi had opened was a post from a famous gossip forum. The post’s title was extremely excited: Hurry and get in here to understand what a god-given appearance is!!!!!!!!!

The original post was short and to the point. “I’ve already grown tired of saying those three words, but this time I’m definitely going to shout it out loudly: Okay with this!!!!!!!!!!”

Beneath the text, several of Shang Que’s pictures were attached.

It turned out that a lot of people had sneakily taken pictures of Shang Que when he had attended Yu Zhengdu’s graduation ceremony and posted them online. Thus, because of his uniquely handsome appearance, he somehow managed to become slightly famous. This was also taking into consideration the fact that Hou Guangzong’s speech at the graduation ceremony had attracted a lot of attention. If not for that, then the amount of conversation around Shang Que probably would be greater.

Even so, Shang Que still managed to garner a large group of wild fans without his own knowledge.

After the graduation ceremony, he and Yu Zhengdu had both been extremely busy, left with practically no time to check up with news online. Shang Que’s fame was also only in a specific, small circle. Consequently, neither of them had realized until today.

And this company named Big Eye Livestream was preparing for their celebratory first anniversary activity. They had come up with a large number of topics, one of which was called “Palpitating Youth”; they were specifically looking for good-looking non-celebrities somewhat famous online to attend in addition to popular idols as guests. This plan had been quite well received.

Though Shang Que was only slightly famous and not considered a true Internet celebrity yet, his physical appearance was truly too astonishing. The scout for the planning team had unintentionally come across his picture on the forum and immediately recognized his potential. After a lot of effort, he finally managed to get the other’s contact information to invite him to attend.

After figuring out the sequence of events, Shang Que looked up at Lu Lingxi and asked, “Palpitating Youth?”

Lu Lingxi didn’t even dare to meet Boss’s gaze. She kept her head lowered. “They think your appearance is very youthful……”

Shang Que very coldly and emotionlessly rejected, “Not going.”

Lu Lingxi had only been customarily asking. She wasn’t surprised by his response at all, so simply made a noise of acknowledgment before handing over two reports. “These detail the financial situation of our company from the past two months. Please take a look.”

Shang Que nodded, then signalled for her to leave the reports. He continued listening to his lecture.

After Lu Lingxi left the office, Shang Que finally elegantly took out his earphones, leaned in closer to his computer, switched tabs, then started looking for the post that Lu Lingxi had just shown him.

Title: Hurry and get in here to understand what a god-given appearance is!!!!!!!!!

Main floor: I’ve already grown tired of saying those three words, but this time I’m definitely going to shout it out loudly: Okay with this!!!!!!!!!! [picture] [picture] [picture] [picture] [picture] [picture]

Floor 1: Fuck, when I saw the title, I clicked in to gift the floor owner a chicken cage, but now I’m going to lock myself inside too.

Floor 2: !!!!!! Since the floor owner is okay with this, I am too!

Floor 3: You bunch that haven’t seen anything. You think this kind of appearance can be considered………………Fuck! He really has a god-given appearance. Floor owner, come out and fight me!!!

Floor 4: Not to exaggerate, but I was so attacked by his beauty that I crowed. The people in my neighborhood all thought it was already sunrise!

Floor 5: Sister upstairs, I need to remind you that only roosters crow. Female chickens don’t know how to crow.

……

Shang Que completely ignored the obsessive fangirl comments in the beginning and furiously scrolled down the page until he found a few different pictures that had appeared.

He had first come across them on Lu Lingxi’s phone, but was too embarrassed to examine them too closely in front of her. This was why he had waited until now to revisit the post for examination.

Floor 77: The sisters upstairs should give up early on. This man already has a significant other……his S.O. is a man too, faint-smile-with-a-hint-of-fatigue.jpg……These are some pictures my friend at Fu City University sent me. This little gege caused quite a stir at their school’s graduation ceremony a while back, but……he went for a handsome senior at their school. He brought a huge bouquet of roses, please experience these feelings [picture]

The picture that this netizen uploaded was the one where Shang Que was holding the bouquet of roses and had first appeared in front of Yu Zhengdu to wish him a happy graduation. The person who had taken the picture had been in a good spot, right across from both of their profiles, so got a good angle. The framing was well done too, coincidentally getting both of them on two distinct sides; the enormous bouquet of roses was in the middle as the two looked up at each other, clear-cut facial profiles washed over with a faint layer of golden sunlight.

The scene could be said to be perfect. The people in the tower agreed too.

Floor 78: Fuck! These two men look so good together!!!

Floor 79: This school senior is a little too handsome…………Meimei has lost.

Floor 80: How come all the men I’m into already have boyfriends?!!!

Floor 81: Goodness, can I say that I like this school senior’s face more? Watch me perform a switching of interest live!

……

Floor 222: Sister of floor 77 stop spreading false news. I’m a current student of Fu City University and was there that day too. This graduating senior is quite famous at our school, and was also a part of the anti-corruption incident during the graduation ceremony. If the people in this tower don’t believe me, they can go look it up themselves. The guy in the original post isn’t his boyfriend, but his boss. He was only there out of courtesy that day.

Floor 223: Is the sister upstairs joking? A boss attending his employee’s graduation ceremony? And gifting roses? You believe that society could have such an innocent relationship between a boss and employee?

Floor 224: What the fuck? Innocent Boss and Flirty Senior?

Further down, the entire comment section of the post started getting stranger and stranger. Over a thousand floors were discussing from several different possible angles whether Shang Que really wanted to get in Yu Zhengdu’s pants or truly just wanted to keep him around as an employee.

But, the comment that appeared the most was: Meimei has lost. I give them my blessings!

Shang Que, who had very diligently scanned over the entire post, felt abnormally pleased. He thought about it, then sent the link of the post to Yu Zhengdu.

My broke-ass Boss:【Link: Hurry and get in here to understand what a god-given appearance is!!!!!!!!!】

My broke-ass Boss:【Look at this】

Yu Zhengdu:【……You don’t need to especially message me to brag about your looks?】

My broke-ass Boss:【Scroll lower. They said we’re a couple.】

Yu Zhengdu:【…………………………】

My broke-ass Boss:【Why would they say that?】

Yu Zhengdu:【Calm down. This is nothing. They also said lan and I are a couple】

My broke-ass Boss:【???? What?】

Yu Zhengdu:【Link: Voting: Who do you think between landry and beautiful CEO is a better match with our little senior?】

Shang Que had originally sent the link to Yu Zhengdu because he had been feeling strangely boastful. He hadn’t imagined that Yu Zhengdu would suddenly send him a more exhilarating link back. He clicked into it and almost spat out a mouthful of Underworld energy.

The link Yu Zhengdu had sent was one from Fu City University’s private forum. It covered less information, but was much more to the point.

Title: Voting: Who do you think between landry and beautiful CEO is a better match with our little senior?

Main floor: Everyone else is very concerned with Hou Guangzong and the dumbass dean of the College of Information. Only I! Only I am concerned about our handsome and talented little senior Zhengdu and who he will ultimately leave with. One is the idol of our whole university, the top-notch CTO of Cosmic Factory; the other is the astoundingly beautiful, dependant on stocks (slashed out, roses) Boss who appeared from the Heavens. If I were senior Zhengdu, I would definitely not know who to choose, hesitating in the middle. Can everyone bear to let our beloved senior suffer so much distress? How about we help him make a decision:

Option 1: landry (mature and reliable, above average skills)

Option 2: beautiful CEO (appearance is power, gentle and handsome)

Option 3: All options above are impossible, senior Zhengdu is mine!

The results of the voting revealed that options 1 and 2 were barely tied while option 3 rose steadily and rapidly……

My broke-ass Boss:【…………………………What do they mean?】

Yu Zhengdu:【Keep calm. They’ve arranged 108 significant others for me. All my previous CP’s are enough to film a version of “Water Margins”.】

Shang Que didn’t reply for a long time, then finally sent back a very angry message.

My broke-ass Boss:【Why am I tied with that laboratory? Also, he’s not as mature as me.】

My broke-ass Boss:【I’m over a thousand years older than him!】

Yu Zhengdu:【……………………】

A gamer’s desire for victory is too strong, he’s even competitive about stuff like this……

Yu Zhengdu:【First of all……lan’s name isn’t laboratory……】

Yu Zhengdu:【Secondly……My schoolmates don’t know you have so much seniority. They’re referring to maturity as in appearance-wise】

But Shang Que still seemed unnaturally displeased.

My broke-ass Boss:【Can I pay to get what I want for this poll?】

Yu Zhengdu:【………………Obviously not.】

He thought about it and decided that Boss was a little bit tragic. In his games, he was always getting beat up by others. Now, he couldn’t even win a simple poll on the school forum. He was the Ghost King for god’s sake! What a pity.

A while later, Yu Zhengdu replied in exasperation:【But if you really want to win, there’s something I can do】

My broke-ass Boss:【?】

Yu Zhengdu:【Wait a bit】

Shortly after, Yu Zhengdu finally replied:【Okay. Look at it again.】

Shang Que clicked into the voting link once more, bewildered. He discovered that there was a new update to the post, so scrolled down to look at the newest reply. Only to see a comment from an ID named “Autumn Rain Doesn’t Cross the River”.

Autumn Rain Doesn’t Cross the River: Thank you everyone for helping me make plans. I choose beautiful Boss. pleased.jpg

Autumn Rain Doesn’t Cross the River was the public ID Yu Zhengdu used in their school forum. Normally, he rarely commented, so as soon as he replied to this post, he garnered a lot of attention. This post that had been steadily losing popularity suddenly became the topic of conversation again. In an instant, an innumerous amount of ID’s appeared to show up in the same frame as him. Little accounts owned by people of unspecified genders started crying and shouting that their love story with senior Zhengdu was ending up with a BE.

Because the concerned party had personally made an announcement, the number of votes for beautiful CEO immediately skyrocketed.

Shang Que felt strangely pleased. He happily refreshed the post a few more times, then realized something was off.

My broke-ass Boss:【Why are they saying you’re a pig trotter?】

Yu Zhengdu:【[Link][Link][Link][Link]……】

Shang Que didn’t know anything, so opened them one by one. Immediately:【……………………】

Those links were of CP polls that had been posted in the Fu City University forum in past years. As Yu Zhengdu said, his schoolmates had set him up with dozens of CP’s, spanning across the entire university and all majors.

And Yu Zhengdu who had been super active back then had clicked into every link and expressed his own opinion, choosing one person this time and a different one the next.

My broke-ass Boss:【You can reincarnate into a pig trotter in the next life.】

Yu Zhengdu:【????????????? Why???】

My broke-ass Boss:【Because you are one】

Yu Zhengdu:【………………I refuse to die!】

Because of the post on the forum, Shang Que’s heart felt like it had been on a roller coaster ride. He refreshed the post one more time, then voted for himself out of unwillingness to lose. Finally, he reluctantly closed the page and started reading the official reports on his desk.

After browsing through them, the little bit of a good mood he had still been in disappeared completely.

Their company’s sales had started increasing for only a few months, but now had already bottlenecked. In the past month, business had stopped growing, regardless of whether the product was their luck-changing jades or their Underworld energy detection package. In fact, it seemed to be coming to a standstill. Though they had made a lot of profit previously, this wouldn’t be enough to support the costs of rent for the new office, the wages for the new human employees, or the continuous developmental fees that needed to be paid.

The reason their sales had stopped was very simple: though their original customers were extremely wealthy and willing to spend a lot of money, in the end, they were only a small percentage of the population. The amount of jade and times they needed to undergo Underworld energy detection were limited. Most families wouldn’t be willing to buy a ton of jade to keep at home, or get an Underworld energy detection test once every day.

Currently, the number of employees working for Shang Que kept growing. The office spaces under his management were increasing too. He also had a CTO who kept reminding him about the developmental budget by his ear every day. He no longer was the Ghost King who only needed to pay the water and electricity bill every month.

This was his first time very clearly feeling the pressure of being the one and only company in the Underworld.

Thus, that afternoon, Luofeng Life Management Company Ltd. Co. had their first official meeting since the company had been registered. The topic of their discussion was how to come up with an effective plan for their future businesses and how to allow the company to become successful in the long run.

The company’s employees who received the notification: ………Who would’ve thought, Hell that had once commanded the entire Underworld now also has to ponder the route of revolutionizing their business.

Underworld spirits who had once only needed to receive the sacrifices from mortals now also had to work for their own survival, using their hands to make a living.

The socialist revolution was coming at them full speed. Even though they were ghosts, they still had to use their brains and roll up their sleeves to work in order to not be left in the dust!

The author has something to say:

Shang Que: Pig trotter warning!

Zhengdu: I apply to quit!

Hell’s development committee: Hell in these new times, is so difficult……