After Transmigrating as the Northeast CEO's Pampered Little Husband - Chapter 50

“Cough, cough, cough…” Gu Jiaoyang hauled himself out of the earth. Half a month later, the ground that had been submerged by the mudslide was now covered in weeds. He was enveloped in spiritual energy, so there wasn’t a speck of mud on him, but being trapped beneath the surface for so long had left him feeling suffocated. His eyes, stung by the sudden sunlight, teared up slightly.

“I didn’t realise my cultivation had advanced so much. If I fought that fellow now, the outcome might be very different.” Gu Jiaoyang rubbed his face. Since he had passed out while lying face down, his cheeks were stiff from maintaining the same posture. He did a few stretches to loosen up and pulled his phone from his pocket, only to find the battery completely dead.

Modern smartphones, despite their intelligence, had the drawback of quick battery drainage. He hadn’t turned off the torch when he was searching for people, and now even a long press of the power button didn’t produce a vibration.

“I’m screwed. How on earth do I travel across a third of the country now?”

W City was neither terribly far nor terribly close to Changjing. Although the hotel was nearby, everyone there would have packed up and left half a month ago. His belongings and ID certainly wouldn’t have been left there.

They probably all assumed he was dead and gone.

“This is tricky…”

It had been a long time since Gu Jiaoyang had faced such a predicament. Right now, he was penniless and without documentation. While he wasn’t going to starve or perish, getting back home was a major problem.

“Little Zhi, how much charge do you have?”

49%. Insufficient to support spatial transference.

You have a spatial transference function?

“Bloody hell, why didn’t you say so earlier?! I wouldn’t have had to lie in the dirt for half a month; I could have just teleported back to the cabin!!!”

Gu Jiaoyang smacked his own head in frustration, sinking heavily onto the muddy debris, now covered in grass, and sighed deeply.

User… you, you never asked me.

The Overseer System’s voice sounded genuinely sheepish, suggesting it had truly just forgotten.

“Fine, let’s just figure out how to get back.”

Gu Jiaoyang sulkily tugged at the nearby weeds, contemplating the likelihood of aerial interception if he tried to fly back on his sword.

In the end, Gu Jiaoyang snapped off a branch as thick as his wrist and spent two days practising until he regained the feel for sword-riding. He flew on the wooden stick through the dense forest and stuck to the outskirts of villages, using his shrinking-the-ground technique to speed up his travel in urban areas.

“Mummy! Look, it’s a witch!!! A witch riding a broomstick!!!”

“What witch? Yes, Mummy knows. I’ll buy you a fairy wand after work. Hurry home, Mummy needs to go now!”

A little girl with two pigtails pointed at the sky and shouted. The middle-aged woman beside her patted her head and cycled off, rushing back to work in town.

“But it really was a witch…”

The little girl pouted and stomped her foot, watching her mother cycle away.

Though, that witch’s hair was very short. Maybe the dragon burned it off?

Changjing was flourishing and developed, with cameras everywhere. Gu Jiaoyang could only obediently take the money he earned from helping the police bust a fraud ring along the way, using the reward to take the tube home. He got off at Central Plaza and took a taxi. Fortunately, he had just enough cash left. It took him five days, but Gu Jiaoyang finally made it back to the Dai residence.

“I’m exhausted… I need Mr Dai’s kisses, cuddles, and piggybacks to heal my fragile, traumatised little heart!” Gu Jiaoyang took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. He had already prepared his speech in his head but then remembered Mr Dai knew he was a cultivator, so he planned to stick to a half-truth.

“Young… Young Master???”

“Oh no! The Young Master’s ghost is here!!!”

“Hey! Don’t leave, I’m actually alive! I’m not dead!” Gu Jiaoyang outstretched his hand to stop the gatekeeper who had opened the door. It took a lot of talking before the terrified old man finally let him in.

The familiar faces of Wu Ke and Mr Dai were nowhere to be found; Mr Dai was at work. Gu Jiaoyang went straight to his bedroom for a fragrant bath, then had the nanny prepare a lavish afternoon meal to comfort his lonely stomach, which hadn’t had good food in over half a month.

…

“I’m not dead, relax.” Gu Jiaoyang messaged Zhu Zhengwen from the sofa after eating. Zhu Zhengwen immediately called, crying and lamenting for ages, insisting Gu Jiaoyang find time to meet up so they could have a proper natter.

Clang!

A sound suddenly came from the side as the nanny knocked something over. Gu Jiaoyang turned his head and saw the nanny moving some dark red and pink objects outside.

The nanny had accidentally bumped the vase on the corner of the wall. Fortunately, she stopped in time, and the vase didn’t shatter, but the items in her hands scattered all over the floor.

Gu Jiaoyang glanced over and noticed some perfumes, jewellery boxes, and some unopened pink packaging bags. The item that rolled the furthest was a packet of sanitary towels from a certain brand.

“Auntie Mei? Are these…?”

Gu Jiaoyang pointed at the items on the floor and asked. He wondered why there were women’s items in the house; Mr Dai had told him when they first got together that his relatives had passed away and he was the only male owner of the house.

“Pardon the interruption, Young Master. These are Madam Qin’s things. Mr Dai asked us to throw them all away.”

“Madam Qin?” Gu Jiaoyang tilted his head, the name striking him as strangely familiar.

“Yes. During your… your time missing, Madam Qin came to stay for a few days. Oh, she’s Mr Dai’s aunt.” The nanny squatted down, picking up the items and placing them back in the box, wiping the sweat from her brow as she answered.

“Aunt? Qin Yuan?” Gu Jiaoyang didn’t ask the nanny anymore and let her continue her work.

He remembered that in the original novel, Qin Yuan was a villain with quite a substantial role. She was an important tool for Xichuan Bai to use against Gu Mian, and an obstacle blocking Xichuan Bai from getting together with ‘Stand-in Dai’.

It could be said that because of the villain Qin Yuan, Xichuan Bai, who was loved by ‘Stand-in Dai’, suffered numerous difficulties from her. She was also the reason why the later male protagonist, He Chengyuan, targeted and ruined ‘Stand-in Dai’.

The novel described Qin Yuan’s parents as having died young, and she was raised solely by her older brother. Therefore, she was overly concerned about her brother’s son, ‘Stand-in Dai’, and forbade any “slutty external goods” from approaching her nephew.

By all accounts, she seemed like an elder whose excessive protectiveness turned her into someone else’s tool.

She should be quite easy to get along with, especially since he was currently the legitimate fiancé and hadn’t crossed paths with Xichuan Bai yet.

“My little cutie here is quite domestically appealing, isn’t he!”

Gu Jiaoyang checked his reflection in the phone screen on the west side, patting his very innocent-looking face.

“But why would he throw his aunt’s things away? Do rich people just buy new ones next time?” Gu Jiaoyang decided not to think too much about it. He dismissed the issue and sent a message to Mr Dai.

Mr Dai, are you there? I’m back!

Your little cutie has suddenly appeared! Were you surprised!

Gu Jiaoyang stared at his phone for ages, but no “typing” notification appeared. Assuming Mr Dai was in a meeting, he went to browse Red Blog instead.

“What? This is awful?”

Gu Jiaoyang opened Red Blog and searched for the trending topics from the day of their competition. Sure enough, the top result was “Orange Blossom Outdoor Competition Fatal Accident: One Dead, One Missing.” The title was followed by several fire emojis. Clicking on it, he found it was a bloodbath of news.

Because of the sudden mudslide, he was “missing,” and Li Lili’s body had been found near the forest not far from the cabin. The autopsy concluded she died of cardiac arrest due to extreme shock. The dramatic headlines and heavily pixelated images attracted large numbers of keyboard experts, with thousands of shares posted below, indicating the huge sensation it had caused.

Gu Jiaoyang, indulging his curiosity about being the subject of the gossip, scrolled through Red Blog. He found that the most active group were Yan Yan’s fans. Many certified marketing accounts were using clickbait headlines claiming Yan Yan had also been harmed. Furthermore, Orange Blossom could have suppressed the incident, but because it involved a fatality, and some of the participants were Yan Yan’s fans whether genuine or not they spoke vaguely, trying to muddy the waters.

Orange Blossom, which had been diligent since its founding, was suffering an almost devastating blow for the first time. Their stock plummeted, and their rival bought up trolls for damage control. Fortunately, Orange Blossom’s long-time users were not easily swayed by the paid trolls and continued to operate within legal bounds.

“…Virus System.” Gu Jiaoyang scrolled through the chaotic information on Red Blog. More than the keyboard warriors who were madly expressing their opinions, he knew exactly what had led to Li Lili’s death.

A human life.

Gu Jiaoyang closed his phone and pinched the bridge of his nose. The moment he saw the CCTV announcement confirming Li Lili’s death, a heavy feeling settled in his chest, making it hard to breathe.

User, this isn’t your fault. But if we lose, more and more people will die, and eventually, this world will collapse, and even the novel will cease to exist.

“A human life…”

“Heh, I only wanted to switch worlds and freeload a husband, but now I have to start by being a saviour…”

“I feel like I’m losing money here.”

Gu Jiaoyang sighed, staring at his phone. His original world was colder than this one. Killing had reasonable legal protections, and the duels between cultivators were often to the death. He could observe others dying with a cold eye in that world. Why did it feel uncomfortable in this one?

“Clearly, I’ve been too comfortable for too long…”

“Mr Dai, I’m facing half the world’s malice for you, so you had better treat me well.”

Sentimental sadness was never Gu Jiaoyang’s style. So, he ate an orange to vigorously suppress the heavy feeling in his heart, resolving to be sworn enemies with the virus systems until the death of one or the other.

Dai Gucan returned home at his usual time, but today, he looked at the message on his phone and the news from his home. He sat in his dark office, lit a cigarette, crushed the menthol capsule, and held it between his fingers. The wall he had painstakingly rebuilt was beginning to crumble again. He stared blankly at the glow of the cigarette tip.

Qin Yuan had only stayed at the house for a short time before moving to a hotel. The Dai Corporation couldn’t function without him; it was his father’s and mother’s life’s work. Even if he was scarred, he had to keep it going. So, less than half a day after Qin Yuan left, he returned to the company, the pillar of the Dai Corporation.

The bottle containing his medication was in the drawer on his right. Dai Gucan crushed the fully burned cigarette into the ashtray. He reached for the pills, but his hand paused halfway and was retracted.

No need to take them…

This was better.

Dai Gucan looked at the drawer, stood up from the chair, and left the office with his clothes.

“Mr Dai is home a bit late today. I’ll go get him a glass of water.”

Gu Jiaoyang, who had been sitting at the dining table early, heard the sound of the car engine shutting off in the yard. He went to the kitchen for a glass of water and waited by the entrance for Mr Dai.

He hadn’t seen Mr Dai in a long time, and he genuinely missed him.

Gu Jiaoyang smoothed out his pyjamas, ensuring they looked clean and neat.

Click.

The door opened. Gu Jiaoyang saw the familiar figure of Mr Dai walking in and immediately broke into a bright smile, greeting him with a sweet voice.

“Darling, you’re back? Did you miss your little cutie during these two weeks I was missing? I missed you so much!”

Gu Jiaoyang walked towards the entrance, arms wide, ready to pounce, but the words that came from Mr Dai stopped him dead in his tracks.

“Don’t touch me.”

Gu Jiaoyang froze, almost losing control of his expression. He had been so preoccupied with his excitement that he only now realised Dai Gucan’s face held no joy of reunion, only icy coldness and gloom. His gaze shifted away from Gu Jiaoyang, clearly indicating he didn’t want to see him.

He also smelled faintly of alcohol, and his voice was muffled and deeply unhappy.

“What? What’s wrong?”

Gu Jiaoyang felt a sense of dread. He put the glass down on the shoe cabinet and stood there, somewhat lost.

Was he being yelled at?

Was Dai Gucan angry that he came back too slowly?

Or angry that he went missing for so long without contacting him?

“Don’t be angry, I had a good reason. Listen to my explanation, okay?”

Gu Jiaoyang explained softly, reaching out to pull Dai Gucan’s sleeve to coax him.

Smack!

“I said, don’t touch me!”

Dai Gucan instinctively slapped Gu Jiaoyang’s hand away as he reached out. After the action, he seemed to regret it, retracting his fingers slightly. Then, as if giving up entirely, he turned his head and pursed his lips.

“???”

Gu Jiaoyang was stunned, feeling the sting on his hand from Dai Gucan’s slap. He finally managed to suppress his anger and spoke through gritted teeth.

Bloody hell! I rushed back all this way, missing you terribly, and this is the attitude I get? You won’t listen to my explanation and you’re throwing a tantrum? Who are you to act like a bloody prince?

“Fine, I won’t touch you!”

You have a temper? Well, I won’t grovel to you!

Gu Jiaoyang was genuinely furious. He had been thinking about trying hard to make this relationship work, but this man was clearly insane!

I spit on you! It’s not hard to find another man, is it? Why should I need you?

Gu Jiaoyang spun around in a huff, but the next words from Dai Gucan’s mouth made him explode completely.

“Let’s break up.”

Dai Gucan slowly spoke the sentence while looking away. In the dimly lit entrance hall, his expression was unreadable.

“I dare you to say that again?”

Gu Jiaoyang clenched his fists, turned around, and forced a strained smile.

Dai Gucan didn’t respond this time. The leather handle of the briefcase in his hand squeaked under his grip. His other hand was also clenched into a fist, his palm white from the strain.

“Fine. Good then. Break up! I’m moving out tomorrow, damn it! Break up, then! Don’t think I care about you!”

Gu Jiaoyang yelled at Dai Gucan. Perhaps it was because of this body’s overactive tear ducts, but as he shouted, he began to cry. The last word broke off into several quavering sounds.

“I… not…” Dai Gucan froze, hearing Gu Jiaoyang’s choked voice. He turned around, unexpectedly faced with the sight of Gu Jiaoyang crying buckets, and his heart clenched severely. He opened his mouth to speak instinctively.

“I must have been blind… to fall for an old man like you! Waaah… I’m moving out tomorrow! You are heartless, cheating bastard!”

Gu Jiaoyang ran back upstairs, covering his face after cursing him out. He was genuinely upset, but he hadn’t expected his tears to flow so uncontrollably. If he stayed any longer, he’d lose all his dignity. Who cries so dramatically over a breakup, as if he liked the man that much?

“…”

Dai Gucan stood in the entrance hall, watching Gu Jiaoyang cry and run back upstairs, stunned for a long time.

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