The Crown Prince Ascends the Entertainment Throne - Chapter 14

The noodle shop owner recognized him instantly. He was the one who had come in with that young man on the first day. Although he had made some disrespectful comments about the shop back then, the young man who had been eating there for the past seven days was incredibly well-mannered. He would always wipe the table clean before leaving and nod with a smile to thank the waiter when returning the bowl. He had left a very good impression on both the owner and the staff.

Consequently, their impression of Mu Lianyi was not quite as bad as it once was.

However, the tall, slender man who was currently bundled up tightly, obscuring his face, rushed in and stood before them, stiff and silent for a long moment.

“Are you here for noodles?” the owner asked.

“No, yes.” Mu Lianyi, usually so silver-tongued, became clumsy and hesitant.

He was too embarrassed to say that after parting ways with that boy, he had originally intended to respect the boy’s fate. Yet, the image of that starving, pitiful figure kept haunting him while he worked. Sometimes he thought that if a starving, dim-witted person went without help, the chance of him dying on the street was high. Other times, he told himself that the boy’s fate had nothing to do with him. As a stranger, he had already helped by treating him to a meal; his behavior was kind and benevolent, and he had nothing to be ashamed of.

But his mind kept flashing back to the sight of the boy standing on the side of the road, staring at the noodle shop with such intense longing.

Even if it were a stray cat starving to death, seeing such a look directed at rough, non-nutritious food would be hard to bear, let alone seeing it from a human being.

He had struggled with this conflicting internal state for seven days. Earlier today, just after finishing a recording session, he saw a stray cat on the side of the road that got spooked and ran away the moment it saw him. That must be a sign! It is telling me I should go check!

Mu Lianyi believed this for no reason at all.

Seven days was the perfect amount of time. It was not so long that the person would be impossible to find, nor was it so short that it would look deliberate. Mu Lianyi had a plan. If he met the boy, he would act as if it were a chance encounter and say, “What a coincidence, you are eating here too.” Then, he would casually treat him to a meal, ask if he had a job, give him some money so he would not starve, ask if he had any family or a place to live, and finally, “coincidentally” find him a place to stay.

After all, he was a perfect, kind-hearted person. These things were all just coincidental side-tasks.

Thinking this, Mu Lianyi felt relieved. As soon as work finished, he had Li Li drive him to the noodle shop to try his luck. If he was not there, he would check the bookstore.

The noodle shop owner clearly did not know how much courage it had taken for the man to step inside. Seeing his hesitant and indecisive manner, he lost patience. Recalling the young man who had been coming regularly, he asked, “Are you here for takeout? Is that young man sick since he has not come today?”

With that single sentence, Mu Lianyi’s embarrassment vanished instantly. He caught the key information and frowned.

“He has not come today?”

“That is right. That young man has been coming for seven days straight, sometimes for lunch, sometimes for dinner. Many days he came for both,” the waiter added from the side. “He is so polite. He always cleans his table, and even though he was a bit shy about paying with cash at first, he got much more comfortable later.”

“Coming for seven days.”

“Exactly! I thought for sure he would come today, but at this hour. Anyway, that means you are not getting takeout for him. I just hope he is not sick.”

As Mu Lianyi walked out of the noodle shop in deep thought, Li Li cautiously observed his expression. He looked somber, like a male lead in a tragic drama.

After pondering for a moment, Li Li asked carefully, “Boss, shall we still go to the bookstore?”

Mu Lianyi whipped his head around, startling Li Li. “Seven days! Li Li! He must have been waiting for me! He waited for seven whole days!”

This thunderous declaration left Li Li completely disoriented. “Huh?”

“He must want to repay my kindness, but he did not know how to find me, so he kept coming to the noodle shop every day!” Mu Lianyi’s expression turned joyful and moved, bordering on fanatical.

“Coming to the noodle shop, that was probably just to eat.”

“I cannot talk to an idiot like you!” Li Li was glared at fiercely by his boss, so he wisely chose to shut up.

He watched his boss’s expression shift from joy to disappointment, then to being moved, and finally to sadness. His face was like a large vat of mixed dyes; it was hard to name the color.

After a long time, he sighed and muttered, “Why did he not come yesterday?”

Li Li thought silently, You were on location in City B yesterday, and you threw a temper tantrum because you did not like a few photos.

When the car pulled up in front of Reverie Bookstore, Mu Lianyi was too lazy to roll down the window. He opened the door and stepped out, but there was no light waiting for him. The lights inside were off, and the door was locked.

“Does this crappy bookstore think they have too much money?!” The bad timing made his lungs feel like they were about to explode. “I curse you to go bankrupt soon!”

After cursing a few more times, he reluctantly slammed the door shut and returned to the car. He tossed his hat and mask aside, propped his head up in frustration, and stared out the window, unwilling to give up.

The scenery outside flowed by. Five minutes later, Li Li knew there was absolutely no chance of his boss encountering the person he wanted to see, yet he continued to glare fiercely out the window as if the scenery itself was making him furious.

Li Li did not even dare breathe loudly, but his boss started muttering to himself again.

“He did it on purpose! He is intentionally avoiding me!”

Where did he get that conclusion from? Boss, are you being a bit too willful? It clearly looks like a coincidence.

Although he complained in his mind, Li Li would never dare say it aloud.

Perhaps sensing Li Li’s rebellious thoughts, Mu Lianyi turned to stare at him. “Do you not think so?”

“I think it is definitely intentional.” Li Li chose to betray his own conscience to agree.

But Mu Lianyi did not look away. After staring at Li Li for a long time, he suddenly took a sharp breath.

Li Li knew this was the prelude to his boss’s insults and lowered his neck in preparation.

“Li Li! Did you finish my ranking yet?!”

When he spoke, it was about gaming tournaments, which made Li Li even more afraid.

For the past seven days, his boss had been preoccupied with other troubles and had not nagged him about the game rankings, which had been a relief. But now that he brought it up again, it was clear! He was just looking for an excuse to vent his anger.

“There is one more day. I will definitely finish it tomorrow, even if I have to pay extra.”

“Tomorrow! It has been several days!!!”

Li Li was swept away by a storm. His boss was using what the media called “the world’s most perfect voice,” attacking him with insults that were sharp as knives but devoid of vulgarity, piercing him relentlessly to the heart.

Back at the office, Li Li was overjoyed to receive a massive WeChat red packet. His boss’s emotions had been extremely unstable over the past few days, but because of that, his “ill-gotten gains” had steadily increased.

Sometimes, if he did not get chewed out by his boss, he felt like he had lost money and would feel uneasy all over. However, failing to resolve the ranking issue was not as simple as just getting scolded. If his boss lost his temper, he might get fired.

Considering this, he opened his side account once more and played the victim to the “pro” player.

“Ding ding ding.” After showering, Xiang Xu was drying his hair when he heard the notification sound.

[Unhappy If Not Scolded for a Day]: “Big brother! Save me! If you do not grind the rank, I am going to be hunted down!” “[Crying][Crying][Crying]”

Xiang Xu’s “man-machine integration” technique had improved rapidly over the past few days, but he was not yet familiar with the equipment and skills of this specific gaming account. He replied:

“-I will log in today to get a feel for it, and play tomorrow.”

“Good! Good! Good!”

He did not ask why Xiang Xu needed a day of preparation. It seemed the other party had an incredible amount of trust in “Xiang Xu.” It was simply a matter of, Big brother definitely has his reasons.

This made things very easy for Xiang Xu.

The account information was sent over quickly, and Xiang Xu logged in.

The character was decked out in red equipment that almost blinded his eyes.

In The Era of Divine Corrosion, red equipment was only available through microtransactions. Most of the gear on this character was limited-edition, ultra-powerful equipment that was considered priceless.

With this gear, grinding a regional tournament should be easy.

Xiang Xu was baffled. Although the tournaments in The Era of Divine Corrosion balanced stat values in the arena to ensure fairness, players who paid still had advantages. Different equipment provided different skills, and the set he was wearing had skills far superior to those of his free-to-play character.

Because of this, anyone with even basic mechanics should be able to advance in the regional tournament easily. So, why insist on finding him to play for them? If he was unreachable for so long, why not just hire someone else?

Sensing that something was not quite right, Xiang Xu began browsing the inventory. He discovered that the owner was not just a big spender, but a completionist—a prestigious SVIP99 who must have spent a fortune on the game. He checked the rankings and saw that the account was in the top ten for both combat power and spending.

While he was exploring, he noticed the friend request list flashing, the red notification dot refusing to disappear.

Xiang Xu had set his account to reject friend requests, but when he glanced at the existing friend list, he froze.

There was only one friend in that column: [The One Who Does Not Save Himself]—

—it was the very account Xiang Xu had been using, without spending a penny. The avatar was wearing cheap, inferior purple gear, and underneath it said, “This friend logged off 31 minutes ago.”

Since Xiang Xu had hundreds of friends on his own account, he had not realized that such a wealthy “big shot” was on his list.

Out of curiosity, he opened their chat history. The earliest message was: “The other party has accepted your friend request.”

The big shot added him first?!

Xiang Xu continued scrolling down with curiosity. Three seconds after the friend request was approved, the big shot had typed with astonishing speed:

“You must be using hacks! I am going to report you, you cheater! You shameless bastard! Wash your neck and wait for me!!!”

Only then did Xiang Xu notice the big shot’s ID, which was also quite fitting: [Indulging My Temper with Microtransactions].