New Times, New Hell

Chapter 88 - Complete Plotline

Yu Zhengdu silently stared at Shang Que. He suddenly burst into laughter: he actually didn’t know how to respond.

Shang Que turned to the side and lifted his chin, making himself appear elegant and proud.

He waited a bit, but Yu Zhengdu remained silent. Thus, he couldn’t help glancing at Yu Zhengdu out of his peripheral vision.

Coincidentally, Yu Zhengdu happened to be looking at him too. Their eyes met. Yu Zhengdu’s gaze softened. “Boss, hear me out……”

“I refuse.” Shang Que decided to get the first word in. Very confidently, he said, “You were the one who misunderstood. Even from the beginning, I wasn’t planning on agreeing.”

Though he managed to control his facial expressions while saying this, his hand subconsciously gripped the computer mouse harder. His knuckles had even started turning white.

Yu Zhengdu got refuted before he had even managed to say anything. Eyes bright, he stared at Shang Que. A moment later, he finally sighed heavily and spoke again, “You’re absolutely sure that you weren’t planning on agreeing?”

“Of course!” Shang Que replied. His tone was harsh, carrying with it the arrogance that was in his bones. “Either way, didn’t you say that you were never planning on confessing to me? We’re even!”

“We’re even ah.” Yu Zhengdu kept his gaze on Shang Que. An unknown thought struck his mind. Without realizing it, he had already revealed a slight smile. “I thought about it, though, and realized that it wouldn’t be bad if you agreed.”

Shang Que furrowed his brows. He temporarily couldn’t understand what Yu Zhengdu’s words meant.

“However, I feel like I truly need to carefully reconsider.” Yu Zhengdu stuffed his hands into his pockets and seriously asked, “Do you actually want to be with me, or do you only want to be with me because you think I like you?”

Shang Que coldly rebuked, “I don’t want to be with you……”

Halfway through this phrase, he noticed that Yu Zhengdu was staring straight at him. Shang Que instinctively paused and swallowed the second half of his sentence. He said instead, “You don’t like me anyways.”

“I never said anything of the sort,” Yu Zhengdu replied with a smile. “Xiao Shang, you can’t assume that I like you, then assume that I don’t like you.”

“More importantly, you can’t want to be with me because you think I like you, then change your mind when you think I don’t like you.”

Shang Que’s mind had already gone blank. He couldn’t understand what Yu Zhengdu was saying at all. He only stubbornly retorted, as usual, “I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Then carefully think about it,” Yu Zhengdu stated very patiently. “I’m not in a rush.”

He wasn’t in a rush either!!!!

Shang Que inhaled deeply. He pulled up the game server on his computer screen and expressionlessly ordered Yu Zhengdu to leave. “You can leave. I’m gaming.”

“Un, I’ll temporarily work at the subsidiary company over the next few days,” Yu Zhengdu said. He retreated to the doorway of the office, thought about it, and turned back around. With a smile, he shouted out, “Xiao Shang.”

Shang Que looked up.

Yu Zhengdu’s eyes crinkled up. Cheerily, he said, “You look great.”

Shang Que: !!!!

You said I look great! Why aren’t you confessing?!

The next morning, Yu Zhengdu clocked in at the subsidiary company, Amazing Future. Usually, he travelled between the headquarters and subsidiary company quite often. Thus, his coworkers didn’t think anything was off.

Yu Zhengdu didn’t explain anything either. After sitting down, he pondered a bit and sent Shang Que a message:【Do you need me to go help with Peppa’s fetal education today?】

This time, Shang Que hadn’t blocked him. However, he didn’t respond either.

Yu Zhengdu fell deep into thought. So did this count as a cold war or not?

Coincidentally, a programmer at the subsidiary company, Liu Wei, came over to discuss a problem with him. Thus, Yu Zhengdu pushed the situation with Shang Que to the back of his mind. He started analyzing the problem with Liu Wei.

Halfway through, a shadow appeared beside them. The surrounding programmers all greeted, “Hello, Boss Shang.”

Yu Zhengdu looked up, only to see Shang Que standing right in front of him. The other was staring down at him, expression cold and severe.

At this time, Liu Wei turned around too. His entire being was shocked. His voice cracked as he shouted, “Boss Shang, why are you carrying a chicken nest?”

Exactly right. Shang Que was currently dressed in a tailored suit, looking as elegant and fine as always. He was also standing straight up, his perfect posture making him appear handsome and graceful. The authority of a superior emanated off his person.

However, in the hands of such a refined and serious Boss Shang was an enormous……chicken nest?

Not only so, but if one looked down, they would realize that there was also a white duck by his feet.

Liu Wei’s entire being was bewildered. “Boss Shang, our company isn’t about to expand into animal husbandry, right?”

Their company’s list of products was already weird enough&#k2026;&#k2026;

Yu Zhengdu was staring at the object in Shang Que’s hands too. That was clearly Peppa’s hatching nest. However, he didn’t know what Shang Que was preparing to do.

He stood up and told Liu Wei, “Head back to your seat first. Come back later……”

“There’s no need. I’ll be leaving after setting this stuff down,” Shang Que calmly said. Then, he coldly took two steps forward and placed that giant chicken egg on Yu Zhengdu’s desk. Following this, he lowered his gaze and glared at the big white duck.

The big white duck went “ga——” and flew onto the office desk. Then, she wriggled her duck butt and sat right in the middle of the nest to continue hatching the egg.

Fortunately, Yu Zhengdu’s desk was big enough; it barely managed to fit this nest and duck.

Yu Zhengdu turned to look at Shang Que, slightly confused. His heart suddenly twinged in discomfort. Could it be that Shang Que had been……completely heartbroken? He didn’t want his daughter anymore either?

He hesitated for a moment before tentatively asking, “Boss, you’re……?”

Shang Que didn’t make eye contact with him. Instead, he turned his head away and kept a hand in his pocket. He stared off into the distance and, using a nonchalant tone, answered, “I thought that if we weren’t together, Peppa would probably want to follow you around more.”

A row of question marks appeared over Yu Zhengdu’s head. He almost did a spit-take on the spot.

Wait no. Could the act Shang Que be putting on right now be……part of the plotline regarding a battle for custody following divorce?

Yu Zhengdu became temporarily bewildered. Should he say, as expected from the Ghost King?

Though Shang Que swore that he had never planned on agreeing, from dating to raising a child, from raising a child to divorce, their entire romantic plotline was extremely complete. Not even one plot hole existed.

“I hope that you will be able to bear the responsibility of being a single father,” Shang Que continued. “Don’t ignore our daughter because I’m no longer by your side.”

A mouthful of blood was stuck in Yu Zhengdu’s throat. He almost choked to death. A long time later, he facepalmed and said, “Got it. I’ll take good care of Peppa.”

“You don’t need to worry either. I’ve set up a protective field around Peppa. Prior to her birth, nothing will happen,” Shang Que added. He glanced at the big white duck again, gaze sharp. “You know what to do, right?”

The big white duck tucked its wings in and lowly quacked.

After giving his orders, Shang Que finally nodded with satisfaction. He glanced at Yu Zhengdu and softly coughed. “I’ll be leaving now.”

“Un.” Yu Zhengdu nodded, “Take your time.”

Shang Que stood in place, unmoving. A pause later, Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help staring at him in confusion: “?”

Shang Que casually scanned his surroundings before calmly speaking up again. “Don’t you have any work related things to report to me?”

“Not yet.” Yu Zhengdu smiled and looked at him. “When I do, I’ll send them to you over WeChat.”

“It’s hard to be concise over the Internet,” Shang Que said. “It’d be better to come discuss in my office if you have questions.”

Yu Zhengdu: “Okay.”

Shang Que waited a moment more. Upon realizing that the other truly had nothing else to say, he could only turn away. “Then I’ll leave now.”

Yu Zhengdu: “Un.”

As such, Shang Que took a step forward with his long, straight legs and elegantly prepared to leave. Merely two steps later, he thought of something else. He stopped and turned around to say, “Even though Peppa is staying with you, I still have the right to come see her, I assume?”

Yu Zhengdu faintly smiled. “Of course.”

Shang Que nodded. “Then I’ll still come regularly for her fetal education.”

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help asking, “By ‘regularly,’ you mean?”

Shang Que lowly said, “Just once a day.”

Yu Zhengdu: ……I almost believed your bullshit.

After reaching an agreement on his visiting schedule for his daughter, Shang Que finally left, satisfied.

Yu Zhengdu couldn’t help facepalming once again. As soon as he turned around, he noticed Liu Wei staring at him, perplexed. “Leader, why did Boss Shang give you a chicken nest?”

“That’s not a chicken nest,” Yu Zhengdu said. “That’s a breeding nest. We’re hatching an egg.”

“Ah, is that so……” Liu Wei scratched his head. He turned to look at the breeding nest and became bewildered once more. “Wait a minute. Leader, if you’re hatching an egg? Why is there a duck in here?”

Yu Zhengdu was too embarrassed to say that it was because geese were so aggressive, even ghosts couldn’t catch them. Thus, he vaguely asked, “Is there a problem?”

“Of course.” Liu Wei’s entire being was lost. “Leader, you aren’t from a village, so you don’t know, but ducks don’t hatch their own eggs?”

Yu Zhengdu fell silent for a moment. “……Is that so?”

Liu Wei stared at that peaceful duck. His expression made it seem like he had witnessed some miracle of nature. “Leader, back where I’m from, duck eggs all get hatched by female chickens……”

More accurately speaking, domesticated ducks didn’t hatch their own eggs. Because humans had discovered, during the process of domestication, that ducks who hatched their own eggs were skinnier and laid less eggs, they had long since started training ducks to stop hatching their own eggs. Additionally, they replaced ducks with incubators to hatch the ducks’ eggs. After generations of training, current domesticated ducks no longer hatched their eggs themselves.

But obviously, not everybody knew this. At least, Yu Zhengdu and the group of ghosts at Luofeng didn’t.

Liu Wei lamented, “What has this duck experienced?”

Threats and intimidation from the Ghost King, probably.

Yu Zhengdu stared at this diligent duck who was hatching an egg with no complaints. His expression didn’t even change as he said, “I suppose this duck might have an extreme amount of maternal love.”

“Well, that’s not entirely impossible.” Liu Wei pondered for a moment and reluctantly accepted this explanation. He also came up with a supporting argument for it. “After all, in the really beginning, ducks did hatch their own eggs. Though it’s rare right now, there will still be one or two who occasionally want to nest.”

His gaze remained on that quiet duck. He couldn’t help tsking in wonder. “Leader, not only does your duck have maternal love, it’s also very well behaved.”

Yu Zhengdu nodded with a slight smile on his face, “Un, she’s a good duck.”

Just as he finished speaking, he heard the duck “ga——” once, then watched her stand up. Her bright little eyes stared at Yu Zhengdu, furiously sending a silent message.

Thus, Yu Zhengdu told Liu Wei, “She’s about to poop. I haven’t prepared a duck bathroom for her yet. For today, just temporarily take her to the bathroom in the office.”

Liu Wei looked at Yu Zhengdu. Liu Wei then turned to look at the duck. His expression became shocked. “Your duck knows to use the bathroom at scheduled times?”

“Un,” Yu Zhengdu calmly nodded. “I told you, she’s a good duck.”

This wasn’t even in the bounds of “good duck.” This was already a godly duck, right?

In a daze, Liu Wei watched as the duck hopped off the table and waddled behind him. Just as he was about to lead it to the bathroom, he instinctively turned around to glance at the egg the duck had been hatching. And then, his eyes widened again.

“Leader, this isn’t a duck egg, right?” Liu Wei pointed at that gigantic white egg and asked.

“I never said it was a duck egg.” Yu Zhengdu caressed Peppa. “This is a goose egg.”

There was a breath caught in Liu Wei’s throat. After a long time, he finally squatted down while trembling and stroked the big white duck’s feathers. “Little duck, what have you experienced?”

It was fine that a duck was hatching an egg. But the fact that it wasn’t even hatching a duck egg…… Was this actually an overabundance of maternal love or was it the deformation of duck nature?

“Ga——” The obedient, well-behaved big white duck suddenly spread its wings and slapped Liu Wei across the face with a wing. Then, it used its beak to peck, aiming straight at Liu Wei’s palm.

“Ao——” Liu Wei howled. “Leader, there’s something wrong with your duck!”

Shang Que spent an entire morning in his office, agitated. He checked WeChat every few minutes. The managers of every department had all taken turns asking about work, but he still hadn’t received the message he wanted.

He replied to each manager, then approved all the reports that had been submitted. After finishing all this, he had nothing to do and instantly became extremely agitated again.

Shang Que thought about it and simply decided to log in and look around Weibo.

The past few days, he had been submerged in the sweetness of romance (?). It had been quite a bit since he had used Weibo. As soon as he logged in, he received a considerable amount of notifications.

He never checked his comments and reposts. He only checked a few select private messages.

As soon as he clicked into his inbox, he realized that Professor Shen Wenrong from Diyang University had sent him a bunch of messages again.

Previously, because Shang Que had used one of his fake accounts to diss the historical drama《Old Dreams of Bianliang》over having too many bugs in their plot, he had gotten cussed out by the drama’s fans and ended up on the trending topics list. Eventually, a history professor at Diyang University, Shen Wenrong, had publicly confirmed Shang Que’s historical viewpoints. Due to this, Shang Que’s professional image became accepted by the public. Given the double temptation of his face and talents, he received many fans.

After this incident, Shen Wenrong maintained contact with Shang Que. Later on, Shang Que had also explained a few difficult problems regarding Song history to him. Because of this, Shen Wenrong always hoped to invite Shang Que to attend their academic discussions. However, Shang Que had never agreed.

Shang Que glanced at the private message Shen Wenrong had sent him and discovered that the other was sticking to protocol, as expected. He had once again invited him to attend a conference. This time, though, it wasn’t an academic discussion. Instead, it was a symposium open to the public that had been organized by lovers of Song history.

Shang Que offhandedly looked over it before coldly rejecting Shen Wenrong again. Then, he continued staring at his WeChat.

Yu Zhengdu still hadn’t messaged him.

By lunch, Shang Que finally couldn’t hold himself back anymore. The past few days, Yu Zhengdu had eaten lunch with him everyday. Now, it was almost mealtime, but Yu Zhengdu still hadn’t said anything.

He pondered a bit and placed an order using a takeout app. After, he shared a red envelope link with Yu Zhengdu.

My Broke-ass Boss:【Sent that by mistake】

My Broke-ass Boss:【However, if you’re also ordering takeout, you can grab the red envelope.】

A long time later, Yu Zhengdu finally responded.

Yu Zhengdu:【No need. I’m eating with Liu Wei and them downstairs】

Shang Que: !!! He had already found others to eat lunch with!

My Broke-ass Boss:【You still haven’t reported your work to me yet】

Yu Zhengdu:【Wrapped up the system’s matters. There isn’t anything I need special permission for over the next few days】

Yu Zhengdu:【[File: to-do list]】

Shang Que clicked into Yu Zhengdu’s document to check. On it, Yu Zhengdu’s schedule for the upcoming few days was listed. He discovered that Yu Zhengdu wasn’t purposefully not reporting to him – the other honestly didn’t need to.

This was the first time Shang Que felt that it wasn’t necessarily a good thing that his employee was so good at his work.

Just as he was being glum, Lu Lingxi patched an internal call to him. Shen Wenrong was calling.

Shen Wenrong naturally brought up the meeting he had mentioned in his private message. He said, “Boss Shang, this isn’t a normal meeting. Several private collectors will be attending with their collectibles. We’ll be able to see many antiques from the Song Dynasty that usually aren’t available for the general public to see. Don’t you feel tempted at all?”

Shang Que: “Not at all.”

Shen Wenrong momentarily didn’t know how to respond. In embarrassment, he said, “Why are you so against these events? This isn’t even work. Just treat it like a vacation.”

Shang Que was in the midst of examining Yu Zhengdu’s work schedule. Upon hearing this, a lightbulb went on in his head. A smile appeared on his face. “No, this is work.”

Shen Wenrong hurriedly said, “It really isn’t……”

“It is work.” Shang Que brightened up and said, “Professor Shen, I can attend. However, I’ll need to bring an employee along.”

As soon as Shen Wenrong realized that he was willing to attend, he instantly became overjoyed. How could he reject Shang Que’s request? He immediately agreed, “Of course. That won’t be a problem.”

On the other side, Yu Zhengdu had been in the middle of eating lunch when his WeChat lit up again.

My Broke-ass Boss:【Go on a business trip with me the day after tomorrow】

Yu Zhengdu:【For what?】

My Broke-ass Boss:【Attending a symposium about Song history】

Yu Zhengdu:【……That’s part of my job description too?】

My Broke-ass Boss:【Yep. I just added it to your to-do list】

Yu Zhengdu: “……”

Once a capitalist, always a capitalist! Even turning into ghosts can’t change their exploitive natures!

The author has something to say:

Peppa: Ga! Dads, don’t get divorced!

(Review Ch43 for content about Professor Shen Wenrong)