After Transmigrating as the Northeast CEO's Pampered Little Husband - Chapter 12

Although Gu Jiaoyang logged off swiftly, the viewers who had entered his stream were anything but calm. On one side, the old viewers maintained their relentlessly negative “anti-fan” mindset, while on the other, the newcomers were driven by curiosity. The moment Gu Jiaoyang left, the exposé thread about the streamer “Gu Yangyang” on the Chenghua forum shot to the top.

All the old smear posts were immediately resurrected by the black fans, complete with links. Today’s new stream footage was also smartly screen-recorded and uploaded by savvy users.

The new viewers were full of goodwill towards the beautiful youth glimpsed in the recording but then wavered with doubt after clicking the links the haters provided. Finally, they were enraged by the black fans’ aggressive attitude, which included cursing people’s ancestors, and launched into a full-blown discussion.

This meant that several neutral viewers, who had wandered into the thread for no reason, were actually pushed closer to Gu Jiaoyang’s side by the widespread venom of the haters.

Chenghua was already considered a leader among entertainment apps, and because of its wide reach, a large portion of its user base had a high level of education. A higher educational standard often correlated with better manners, so even if the posts revealed some truth about the streamer’s “dirt,” these netizens, who couldn’t stand the nasty, vitriolic comments, wouldn’t let the haters get away with it.

After all, Gu Yangyang hadn’t actually done anything truly heinous, so the earlier wave of mass mockery and trolling was instantly cut down by half.

This brief return to streaming was enough to infuriate the person behind the scenes, who had spent a fortune buying up clickbait and homepage spots. He suffered diarrhoea for two days and smashed his keyboard and mouse. Given that Chenghua was a top platform, its self-proclaimed elite keyboard warriors charged a much higher price than those on Weibo, and half his investment had now inexplicably gone down the drain.

He would have been mad not to be angry!

Nevertheless, the majority of the viewers still believed it wasn’t the same person. Although the appearance was similar, the platform’s default beauty filter was so powerful that everyone assumed the person they saw couldn’t be the streamer himself.

Regardless of the storm raging online, Gu Jiaoyang tossed his empty snack wrappers into the bin, tidied his desktop, and lay quietly on his bed, waiting for dinner. That small handful of snacks couldn’t possibly fill the belly of a cultivator, after all. He still needed a proper evening meal.

He sipped some yoghurt, sprawling out while he counted his total assets. Adding the annual allowance sent by his nominal parents, Gu Jiaoyang calculated with a wiggle of his little finger that he had sixty thousand yuan in cash.

That was just the liquid money. If he counted the house and those various inexplicable electronic products and collectibles, it rounded up to nearly one million yuan!

A windfall from heaven!

It’s all mine!!!

Gu Jiaoyang lay happily on the bed, legs crossed, giving a sigh of blissful contentment at the prospect of a wonderful life where he could eat whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.

The companies under the Dai Group typically operated standard nine-to-five hours with one day off on the weekend. However, as President, Dai Gucan never stuck to a strict schedule, so he usually arrived home at eight o’clock.

The chef naturally tailored dinner to the master’s schedule. Once notified, dinner was served at 7:50 PM, the rich aroma drifting all the way up to the third floor. Gu Jiaoyang, who never knew what ‘full’ meant, sprang up from the bed, straightened his clothes and messy hair, and, dragging his slippers, was lured downstairs by the scent.

And so, as soon as Mr. Dai arrived home and changed out of his clothes, he immediately spotted the little lazy cat sitting obediently at the small dining table next to the kitchen, propping his chin up with his hands on the table, eyes fixed eagerly on the dishes the chef was bringing out one by one.

He was at least polite; he hadn’t started eating before Dai Gucan returned.

Seeing the boy’s shameless gluttony, Dai Gucan’s heart softened marginally. Since his parents had died when he was eight, what he had always returned home to was a pre-laid table with a solitary chair next to it. Now, seeing this scene of domestic vitality someone waiting for him to eat felt strange and unfamiliar.

“Mr. Dai is back! You must be tired from work! Can I start eating now?” Gu Jiaoyang grabbed his chopsticks the moment he saw Dai Gucan return. In a transparent attempt to hide his eagerness, he used the two thin sticks to feebly shield his face, his cat eyes timidly looking at Dai Gucan.

“Mhm, go on,” Dai Gucan chuckled inwardly. Setting aside the chaotic unpleasantness of before, the kitten was indeed young and energetic, and rather endearing.

The hand wash by the sink was pine-scented the kind of reliable, traditional scent an ‘older gentleman’ might favour. Normally, Dai Gucan would push the dispenser and use it without a second thought, but after wetting his hands today, on an odd impulse, he diverted his hand to the strawberry-scented hand wash dispenser next to it, which was clearly marked ‘Free Sample’.

The sweet, artificial scent of strawberry filled his nostrils the instant he pressed the pump. It was a sugary aroma, exactly like a youthful teenager, the kind whose smiles were also sickeningly sweet.

Dai Gucan wiped his hands with an expressionless face, holding his hands as if they weren’t his own, and walked to the dining table to sit down.

Because the dining table that came with the villa’s renovation was a long, Western-style one, it felt especially empty when Dai Gucan ate alone. So, he had installed a small square table next to the kitchen, permanently set with one mahogany chair.

Gu Jiaoyang’s arrival as the “second master” was clearly unexpected. Only one chair had been bought, as Dai Gucan never thought he would let anyone eat in his home he usually dined out in hotels.

Gu Jiaoyang had therefore moved a chair from his own room. The assistant didn’t dare intervene with his choice, only watching helplessly as he brought down the plastic chair with the cartoon cushion.

Years of routine were thus unexpectedly shattered. It looked as though a highly disciplined adult home had acquired a spoiled and doted-upon child.

“Mmm… Auntie’s cooking is super delicious! This is amazing!” Gu Jiaoyang never knew how to be affected. The moment Dai Gucan gave permission to start, he eagerly picked up his chopsticks and plunged them into a cod fishball, stuffing it into his mouth. Having grown up inland, seafood was expensive for him, and they had never had the spare money to buy a variety of common foods, so he rarely ate it.

By the time Dai Gucan started eating, Gu Jiaoyang had already stuffed himself like a little hamster frantically hoarding food. His cheeks were bulging, but his eyes were still greedily fixed on the dishes in front of him.

Despite the hurried pace, he didn’t drop a single crumb, nor did he get any oil on the outside of his mouth. His table manners were, surprisingly, rather attractive, and watching him brought an appetite. Dai Gucan couldn’t help but scoop up a few extra mouthfuls of rice himself.

He hadn’t realised a meal could be so lively.

The Dai family dinner usually consisted of four dishes two vegetables, one fish, and one meat—enough for Dai Gucan alone. Now that there was a small glutton, two more meat dishes had been added to the table, clearly catering to the young boy who was still growing.

Gu Jiaoyang ate quickly. The portion of the dishes closest to him was already spotless. As the master of the house, Dai Gucan had only touched about a third of the dishes nearest him, leaving the rest for Gu Jiaoyang.

Because it was a square table, there was inevitably a close side and a far side for the dishes. Gu Jiaoyang wasn’t brazen enough to stand up and reach for the dishes in front of the other person, but he was starving and could only stare longingly, periodically glancing at the dish while eating his own food.

It was a plate of braised pork, stewed with potatoes, with a colour that was neither too dark nor too light a perfect caramel brown. It shimmered under the light, making Gu Jiaoyang swallow hard.

In wealthy households, because the tables were large and the seating generous, dishes were often served individually, like in Western cuisine. This way, each person had their own portions, avoiding the awkwardness and hassle of having to stand up and reach across the table for a favourite dish.

The chef was so used to preparing meals for Dai Gucan alone that she had forgotten to portion the food.

Dai Gucan was amused by the little glutton’s spirited eyes. He deliberately picked up a piece of braised pork and ate it, and, sure enough, he was met with an even hungrier stare from the boy.

He could only tease him for a moment. Dai Gucan slid the plate of braised pork forward, making it easier for Gu Jiaoyang to reach, indicating that he wasn’t possessive of the food.

Gu Jiaoyang was stunned by Dai Gucan’s thoughtful gesture. A wide smile spread across his face, and he immediately pushed the dishes in front of him towards Dai Gucan in return.

It was only fair to return the favour.

Though the food was still generally positioned closer to Dai Gucan.

Having craved the braised pork for a long time, Gu Jiaoyang unceremoniously reached for the meat with his chopsticks, eating several mouthfuls of rice with it in quick succession.

The Dai family’s rice bowls were worth mentioning, too: while not excessively deep, they were certainly wide, and half a palm’s depth was enough for them to be used as soup bowls. Gu Jiaoyang particularly loved the feeling of eating from such a large bowl. In his previous world, spiritual crops were scarce but filling, and a fist-sized bowl was enough to feel full, but his mouth never got to fully enjoy the process.

He never thought he would meet a fellow gourmand Dai Gucan was apparently one, too.

Gu Jiaoyang found his ‘fiancé’ more and more pleasing as he ate. Tsk, tsk, he thought, when someone’s that handsome, doesn’t that help the food go down?

As they ate, the small proximity meant that their chopsticks were bound to collide at some point. Dai Gucan, who had just calmed down to properly enjoy his meal, reached out to pick up a piece of braised pork, just as Gu Jiaoyang reached for the exact same piece.

Clashing over the same piece inevitably led to them looking up at each other along the line of their chopsticks. Dai Gucan stiffly lifted his head and, seeing the surprise in the glutton’s eyes, felt a strange twinge of guilt, quickly followed by a flush behind his ears.

Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, Dai Gucan had a peculiar feeling of being caught out, worried that the other person might think he was incredibly fond of meat and was trying to snatch it.

Gu Jiaoyang, too, was initially surprised, and sheepishly withdrew his chopsticks. But what slowly dawned on him was the image of Dai Gucan raising his eyes in that split second.

It’s said that certain moments most powerfully showcase beauty: raising one’s eyes, glancing back, looking from the side…

The instant Mr. Dai raised his gaze kept replaying in Gu Jiaoyang’s mind. It felt as if Mr. Dai’s long, thick eyelashes had brushed over him from head to toe.

It sent a curious flutter through him.

Thump… thump…

Damn it, why is he so handsome!

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