FOBTS CH75

Chapter 75: Physical Checkup

Having already met the distant uncle three times, the distant aunt six times, and the distant uncle twice, Jian Yuheng once again started his enthusiastic greetings under the half admiring, half thinking “Are you a weirdo?” gaze of his older brother.

“Hey, auntie, come inside,” Jian Yuheng said. “Give me the gifts in your hands; this bag’s about to break.”

“Hello, uncle,” Jian Yuheng said. “Yes, I graduated with a master’s in business administration. Want me to give you a live demonstration of management skills?”

Jian Feng (older brother): “…”

How can the little brother be both polite and impolite at the same time?

Stopping and starting as they walked, Jian Yuheng finally recognized all the distant relatives.

“Long time no see, Yuheng has grown so much,” said the uncle. “And he’s so sensible.”

“Got engaged yet?” asked the distant uncle. “Have you found a favorite omega?”

Jian Yuheng nodded repeatedly: “Sort of. He’s busy with work and didn’t come today.”

“What does he do?” The aunt’s gossip spirit was ignited.

Jian Yuheng: “Time-reversal.”

Distant aunt: “?”

“Stair exercise coach, report summary expert, wood carving destroyer, self-esteem terminator…” Jian Yuheng said, “He can do a lot of things.”

Aunt: “?”

Is this kid even speaking Chinese? Not a single phrase makes sense.

The time-reversal pause lasted a while, but Jian Yuheng finally led the guests into the house and had tea served.

His phone buzzed with a few new messages.

[Song Ruochen]: Is my boyfriend enjoying his super long vacation?

[Jian Yuheng]: Got called home to receive relatives.

[Song Ruochen]: Relatives on top of relatives!

“Go chat with your uncle,” Mom Rong Xin passed by. “Why are you always looking at your phone and smiling?”

Jian Yuheng put away his smiling mouth but couldn’t hide the laughter in his eyes.

“You seem more understanding than your brother,” Rong Xin said.

“?” Jian Yuheng asked, “Mom, did you just scold two people at once?”

“Your brother can’t do without Yan Ci, but he’s not good at expressing himself,” Rong Xin said. “I don’t know why, but I feel like things have gotten better recently.”

Jian Yuheng: “Haha.”

Someone is making progress.

“When you’re free one day, you can bring your little lover home,” Rong Xin said. “Proper etiquette is necessary; you can’t neglect the guest.”

“I do want to bring him,” Jian Yuheng said, “but I’m worried about Uncle Da’s psychological endurance.”

“What does Uncle Da have to do with it?” Rong Xin glared.

“Nothing, nothing,” Jian Yuheng said. “After the Chunxin launch event is over, I’ll bring him home.”

At noon, on the film set ground, Lu Yunye lay thinly stretched out.

“Secretary Song works fast,” the cameraman praised. “The whole shoot was done in just one morning.”

Cameraman: “It’s just that our Xiao Lu seems completely drained.”

Song Ruochen: “Not bad.”

After all the time reversals, it was enough for him to find ways to bring out Lu Yunye’s acting skills—

One scolding, two yelling, three promising.

“Get up.” Song Ruochen walked by and kicked Lu Yunye’s calf. “Xiaoshi’s new product spokesperson.”

“Others film endorsements and take the money and leave,” Lu Yunye said weakly, “I film endorsements and take my life with me.”

Before being forced into Song Ruochen’s project, he always thought that the day he announced his retirement would be the only chance he’d make the trending searches.

That’s the life of a mediocre actor.

Now, if he’s not on the trending list that day, people think the trending list is boring, not abstract enough.

“Keep it up, Secretary Song.” Lu Yunye clenched his fist. “Our new product will definitely sell well, right?”

“How so?” Song Ruochen asked. “Are you planning to wholesale products with your endorsement fee? Assistant Gong, get a calculator.”

“Okay, boss Song.” Gong Huo said.

Jian Yuheng just arrived at the filming site when he heard Lu Yunye shout “No!!!”.

The pests at Xiaoshi came out to cause trouble today.

“Chenchen,” Jian Yuheng called out, shaking the bag in his hand towards Song Ruochen’s direction. “Bought some canelé.”

Song Ruochen rushed over, ignoring all obstacles.

Lu Yunye: “Ah… pfft, uh.”

One actor’s vitality dropped a bit.

“My brother said this shop is pretty good; I haven’t tried it yet,” Jian Yuheng said. “You try it.”

He always felt that Song Ruochen didn’t just like eating, but was curious and wanted to try everything.

So now he preferred to buy a variety of snacks for Song Ruochen to try, and indeed, Song Ruochen was happier each time.

He had mastered Song Ruochen’s happiness code skillfully.

After hesitating for five minutes, Song Ruochen gave one to Assistant Gong, and another to Lu Yunye.

“Assistant Gong, you’re off work.” Jian Yuheng said. “I drove over, I’ll pick up Secretary Song.”

“Okay, Second Young Master.” Assistant Gong said.

Song Ruochen got in the car, chewed on some snacks, and realized the route Jian Yuheng was taking looked unfamiliar.

“This is a shortcut,” Song Ruochen commented.

“You driving would be a dead end.” Jian Yuheng said.

Song Ruochen: “?”

Why attack people?

Soon, the car stopped in front of Dr. Liu Cheng’s private clinic.

“Why are we here?” Song Ruochen asked.

“Let the doctor check your wound recovery,” Jian Yuheng said. “Also, ask about your genetic disease.”

“Oh, okay.”

He sat properly in the chair, waiting for the doctor to examine his wound.

“Your neck is fine now,” Dr. Liu said. “The marks will fade quickly.”

“Mr. Jian did a good job with the temporary mark this time,” Dr. Liu said. “Follow this standard in the future.”

Song Ruochen: “…”

[It’s all good, our little grape said he really liked last time too.]

“Ah, shut up!” Song Ruochen said aloud.

Jian Yuheng: “?”

[ Ding dong. ]

Dr. Liu: “Mr. Jian did a good job with this mark.”

Jian Yuheng: “I’ll keep trying.”

“Secretary Song, I’m going to draw some blood to test your pheromone levels,” Dr. Liu said.

“Okay,” Song Ruochen said.

[ (withered) ]

“Too dramatic, the drama king,” Song Ruochen said in his heart.

“The test results will come out tonight,” Dr. Liu said. “I’ll send you the data report then.”

“Thank you, doctor,” Song Ruochen said politely.

“Your leg wound is almost healed too,” Dr. Liu said. “Second Young Master has always wanted to teach you swimming; now you can get in the water.”

“Oh…”

Jian Yuheng actually remembered all along.

“Then let’s play a little tonight,” Song Ruochen said happily.

–

After dinner, Jian Yuheng took a work call. Halfway through, he glanced out the large floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room and saw Song Ruochen sitting by the pool with his back to him.

Since the little squatter Grape didn’t have a swimsuit, he didn’t go into the water. He simply rolled up his shorts and sat by the pool, kicking at the water playfully.

“System, transmigrating into a book is so fun,” Song Ruochen said. “Big company, big mansion, big pool.”

[cm.]

Song Ruochen: “……”

This system really wasn’t very professional.

[It’s loose now. You can scratch it off to see. Want to?]

“No!” Song Ruochen rejected it outright.

Who wanted to feel something like that through numbers?

“Delete it,” Song Ruochen said.

Out of sight, out of mind.

He kept kicking at the water while picking up his phone to browse online.

Song Ruochen: “?”

[What’s wrong, Grape?]

“Xiaoshi’s press conference hasn’t even started, and it’s already getting slammed,” Song Ruochen said.

Two minutes ago, a burner account with the ID “XiaoshiGiveBackMyBloodSweatMoney” had posted an image and text targeting Xiaoshi and its soon-to-be-released product from Xiaoye.

@XiaoshiGiveBackMyBloodSweatMoney: I used to be an employee at Xiaoye. Here’s my badge as proof. The wages were really low, and people from Xiaoshi would often come over acting like they knew everything, pointing fingers and criticizing our designs. In the end, they took all the credit for our work and kicked me out of the company. Don’t buy from Xiaoshi or Xiaoye — this is the bottom line for us workers.

Song Ruochen: “0.o?”

Who are you?

Just before a product launch, a post like this drops? Shouldn’t Xiaoshi’s CEO be using their main account to respond?

And in just two minutes, it’s already at 999 shares? This could get ugly.

Under the moonlight, the little secretary sat quietly by the pool, his fair calves submerged in the water. The water and moonlight added a soft glow to his skin.

He kept his head down, staring at his phone screen, oblivious to the fact that his pant legs were damp from the water.

Still on the phone, Jian Yuheng had been watching him for a while without realizing it. He hung up, walked through the courtyard, and stopped at the edge of the pool.

Jian Yuheng: “Why didn’t you—”

[Ding dong.]

Back in the living room, Jian Yuheng almost tripped and smacked into the glass door.

Jian Yuheng: “…swim?”

This floor-to-ceiling window — can the system take it back?

He glanced at the phone screen again and resumed his work call.

—

Back to a few minutes before the post was made, Song Ruochen had opened the chat with Group Leader Jin of Xiaoye’s R&D team and presented the situation as his speculation.

[Group Leader Jin]: Secretary Song’s guess is reasonable. Xiaoshi and Xiaoye really might get smeared before the press conference.

[Group Leader Jin]: Should we have some R&D staff post early about our work environment and salary to get ahead of the narrative?

[Song Ruochen]: No.

Explaining will just escalate things into an online war. Most netizens only believe the first thing they see — unless—

[Song Ruochen]: “I used to be an employee, low salary, design theft, got kicked out”— let’s use that format and post a burner complaint first.

[Song Ruochen]: Once the real attacker acts, we’ll copy their wording and flood the official Xiaoshi account with 2,000 similar posts.

[Group Leader Jin]: Got it…

[Group Leader Jin]: Secretary Song, your way of doing things always gives me anxiety.

—

Having finished his call while enjoying the beautiful view outside the window, Jian Yuheng walked smoothly over to the little secretary’s side.

Just then, his phone buzzed again.

[Jian Feng]: What’s going on with our official account?

[Jian Yuheng]: Let me see.

On Xiaoshi Group’s official account—

That “I used to be a Xiaoye employee…” message had now appeared 2,000 times under different IPs.

Other comments followed—

@ItsAJujube: Customer service, please.

@XiaoJinLovesResearch: I’m dying laughing. 2,000 accounts? Since when did Xiaoye have that many employees? It’s a branch office — the entire staff is fewer than 500, okay?

@WorkingNow: No need for this. Xiaoshi and Xiaoye treat us great. There are several ice cream machines, no overtime, and Secretary Song is always the first to leave. Poor Xiaoshi. I’m gonna buy multiple units of the new product now.

[Jian Yuheng]: …

[Jian Yuheng]: It’s fine.

Looks like the handiwork of a certain Grape.

[Jian Yuheng]: Xiaoye absolutely doesn’t have any wage arrears. Have legal check out who’s behind the smear.

[Jian Feng]: Yes, Second Young Master.

[Jian Yuheng]: ?

After spending so much time with Song Ruochen, he felt like something had rubbed off on him.

—

Successfully pulling off his prank, Song Ruochen stood up, delighted — and promptly slipped with a splash into the pool.

Jian Yuheng: “Hey—”

[Ding dang.]

Worried he’d lose his “hard work,” Song Ruochen clambered back to the pool’s edge — only to fall in again.

Jian Yuheng: “…”

Jian Yuheng followed him into the water, scooped him up from behind, and pushed him toward the edge of the pool.

His shirt clung to him, soaked through, turning semi-transparent and outlining his slim waistline.

The flustered little mischief-maker scrambled up the ladder.

“When you’re stepping, try checking first if it’s actually the ladder,” Jian Yuheng offered helpfully.

Song Ruochen’s flailing feet stilled. One uncertain kick landed somewhere unexpected — drawing a low grunt from Jian Yuheng.

“Secretary Song, are you doing this on purpose?” Jian Yuheng asked through gritted teeth, grabbing him by the waist and lifting him onto the pool’s edge.

“Huh?” Song Ruochen froze.

Then he suddenly realized and his cheeks gradually turned red.

No! He was kind-hearted! Why would he kick someone over… that?

“Oh my god.” The dripping Grape changed the subject. “I almost died.”

“You panicked too much,” Jian Yuheng said, sitting beside him. “Water levels have been low lately. Today’s depth probably only reached…”

He touched the center of Song Ruochen’s forehead with a wet fingertip. “Here.”

“It reached here,” Song Ruochen retorted. “Of course I panicked. What, do I have a blowhole on top of my head?”

Jian Yuheng: “…”

The alpha raised a hand and covered Song Ruochen’s mouth.

Song Ruochen: “Mmph?”

“Don’t talk,” Jian Yuheng said. “Give me a little romantic atmosphere, President Song.”

It felt like the house had been invaded by some kind of mischief sprite, swinging by every day.

Song Ruochen: “Mmph!”

Fine.

Under the moonlight, the dripping Grape and Hawthorn sat side by side.

“Dr. Liu messaged me earlier,” Jian Yuheng said, releasing his hand.

“What did he say?” Song Ruochen asked.

“See for yourself.” Jian Yuheng handed him the phone. On it was a medical report.

[Pheromone levels unstable. Temporary marking can only suppress the genetic condition briefly.]

“What does that mean?” Song Ruochen asked.

“Secretary Song,” Jian Yuheng said, “you might need my full marking.”