The Scum Gong Villain Returns to Work - Chapter 2

No matter what thoughts were harbored in the dead of night, dawn inevitably arrived. The weather grew increasingly chilly, and Yu Sui woke up in a room devoid of heating, his hands inside the quilt chilled to the bone.

Today was the weekend, and Yu Sui worked part-time at a magic bar. On weekdays, he only worked the night shifts, but weekends required full attendance.

The advantage was that the bar was warmer than home. Yu Sui pulled open his wardrobe; his thicker clothing clearly hadn’t had time to be purchased yet or rather, he was still waiting for whichever unspecified flash sale or heavy discount the online merchants might run.

Among a pile of cheap, flimsy performance suits, along with a uniform collection of washed-denim jackets and pullovers, he fished out a black overcoat with a relatively decent cut, hung it over a stool, and then got up to head to the bathroom to wash up.

The water heater model was far too antiquated; running hot water required draining half a washbasin’s worth of cold water first. Biting down on an elastic hairband, Yu Sui casually gathered his hair in front of the mirror, reached out to twist the faucet, and splashed the cold water directly across his face.

System 058 also woke up from standby, popping out to idle about and follow its host everywhere. Yu Sui returned to the bedroom, shed the thick, pilling sweater he had been wearing, and changed into a thin, black, high-necked wool sweater as an inner layer one that served no other purpose than looking good.

058 couldn’t help chiming in with a snarky remark: “Aren’t you going to freeze to death dressing like that, buddy?”

Yu Sui was meticulously untying his hair and rebinding it in front of the mirror. Hearing this, he replied with an air of absolute innocence: “If I don’t dress nicely, how am I supposed to seduce Yu Baihua?”

Drawing a system salary while bearing the anxieties of a mother hen, 058 was momentarily choked by his bold and uninhibited phrasing. It couldn’t help but experience the weary sentimentality of an aging parent watching their child get married no, wait, that should be marrying into a family…

Yu Sui scooped the round sphere off his shoulder, stood up to confirm in the full-length mirror that he indeed looked “appetizingly handsome,” and then headed out the door with his bag in tow.

Returning to the system space, 058 watched Yu Sui board the bus. The window glass beside his seat was veiled entirely in condensation; Yu Sui traced a rose with his finger upon the frosty pane, peering through the layers of petals at the bustling streets and alleys of the city.

“Long time no see,” he muttered.

If he didn’t return soon, he feared he might forget himself.

If there was ever any mission Yu Sui had failed at over all these years, it was undoubtedly the one involving Yu Baihua.

Yu Sui had always maintained an exquisite grasp of the boundaries required of a villain, ensuring the trauma inflicted upon the protagonist never reached the point of utter despair. To this day, he still couldn’t fathom why that somewhat pampered and willful young master, Yu Baihua, had suddenly set fire to his own home back then, causing the world to collapse.

He merely wondered occasionally where exactly he had gone wrong.

Yu Sui was born emotionally detached; otherwise, he wouldn’t have adapted so seamlessly to his line of work, yet trying to romance Yu Baihua?

Amidst the jolting, bumpy journey, Yu Sui found himself involuntarily pondering what kind of feeling “liking” actually was.

He could perhaps kill Yu Baihua once more, but making Yu Baihua fall in love with him was a task for which he had very few leads.

Compared to Yu Sui, who was deep in contemplation over ultimate philosophical questions, 058 was conscientiously digging through the mission records of their previous run. Although following Yu Sui had led to smooth sailing through countless difficult missions, gradually breeding in 058 the habit of slacking off and coasting wherever possible, the majority of the time it still diligently maintained archives.

Yu Sui and Yu Baihua’s very first meeting had taken place at the magic bar where Yu Sui worked part-time. That day, Yu Baihua had thrown a furious temper tantrum over a casual gambling match at the establishment next door and stormed out. By a twist of fate, he wandered right into the place where Yu Sui was employed. At the time, Yu Sui was performing a card trick on stage, and upon seeing the newcomer enter, he invited him up on stage for an interactive segment.

A deck of cards, shuffled and reshuffled, given a flashy fancy cut followed by another riffle, finally fanned out obediently in Yu Sui’s hands into a pristine, ordered sequence from Ace to King by suit. This was the magic technique known as false shuffle devoid of any auxiliary props, relying purely on the magician’s tactile sensitivity and foundational skill. A deck of cards, no matter how it appeared to be shuffled or manipulated, left every single card’s position entirely unaltered down to a millimeter.

The “Yu Sui” who would have naturally existed in this world was merely a magic enthusiast working part-time jobs, but the present Yu Sui possessed the flesh and blood of the genuine, world-class genius magician Yu Sui himself.

His hands were striking, his face handsome, and his card-handling even more mesmerizing.

Yu Baihua stared at him for a long moment before stating:

“Accompany me to play a round right now. Name your price.”

At this hour, the bar had no customers yet. Pushing open the door, Yu Sui found the lights still unswitched, with the tables and chairs that hadn’t been cleared away properly at the end of yesterday’s session piled up in a messy heap. The early-arriving staff members were busy cleaning up. The bartender, Kevin, looked up from organizing glasses behind the cocktail counter and let out a cheerful whistle upon spotting him.

“Not bad, little Yu, looking mighty sharp today.”

Yu Sui set down his bag, picked up a rag from the side to help wipe down the tables, smiled, and replied:

“Haven’t bought my winter coat yet.”

Kevin jokingly teased him: “Looking this sharp today, who knows, you might just run into a wealthy sugar mummy who takes pity on you and buys out a whole wardrobe for you.”

Yu Sui pondered this for a moment, nodded, and offered a soft smile:

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a sugar mummy.”

Kevin didn’t dwell on the subtext of his words, seamlessly shifting topics as he continued chatting idly back and forth with him.

This magic bar was named Yin Cause. Its signature feature was hosting magic performances to warm up the venue. The regulars who frequented the place were a relatively fixed crowd, and business was generally quiet; compared to the thriving, bustling clubs lining the rest of the street, it lacked any real renown. Yu Sui’s duties were light; on weekends when foot traffic peaked, he helped the servers with ordinary chores during the day, and performed magic at night to liven up the atmosphere.

As the sky gradually darkened and the last lingering traces of twilight vanished entirely, neon lights burst forth across the street with impatient eagerness. The blue-purple sign reading Yin finally stood out with a degree of prominence amid the nocturnal gloom. Before peak hours arrived, Yu Sui sat atop a high stool, idly sipping the glass of absinthe Kevin had mixed for him. The bar’s lighting refracted through the melting ice cubes floating within the pale-green liquor, casting a shimmer deep into Yu Sui’s eyes that lent his amber-tinted pupils a faintly bewitching allure.

The bar’s sound system was playing Breathe:

“I feel the pages turning, I sense everything shifting far too fast I see the candle burning down, Before my eyes.”

The exact moment the female vocalist sang the line “Before my eyes,” the entire establishment plunged into a simultaneous, universal hush. Breaking the habit of a lifetime, the normally boisterous bar miraculously fell entirely silent, devoid of any second sound save for the lingering vocals.

Following that, Yu Sui could even clearly hear the light, crisp chime of the door chimes as the entrance was pushed open, followed by the sound of heels striking the floor, walking toward him step by step.

One step, two steps, three steps.

Before my eyes, right before my eyes.

With casual indifference, Yu Sui drained the remaining liquor in his glass in a single gulp, then turned his head to look at the man sitting down beside him.

Yu Baihua.

He had come after all.

Yet the person before him had changed so drastically that Yu Sui failed to match him up with his memories at first glance. Yu Baihua radiated a sickly pallor, his dark hair half-brushed back, his tailored suit jacket buttoned meticulously across his slender waist. A tiny mole near the outer corner of his eye lifted slightly at present, a cold, icy smile faintly tracing the curve of his lips.

“Do you know me?” Yu Baihua tapped his fingers against the tabletop, signaling Kevin to serve him a drink, and looked directly at Yu Sui to pose the question.

Whether in his past life or the present, with 058 by his side, Yu Sui could always instantly recognize Yu Baihua at a glance. It was just that in the previous life, Yu Baihua had been nothing more than an unbridled young master whom no one outside their immediate circle recognized. But nowadays to say nothing else anyone in City A with even slightly well-connected intelligence networks knew precisely who he was.

“I do.” Yu Sui turned, leaning back against his chair with his hands folded gently beneath his striking chin, tilting his head with a curved smile. His affectionate, drooping eyes possessed an extraordinary magnetic pull, conveying an impression of boundless, rippling tenderness utterly breathtaking.

He answered Yu Baihua’s question in a soft murmur, his tone carrying an inexplicable hint of lingering fondness.

“Young Master Yu… President Yu.”

“Young Master?” Hearing that, Yu Baihua let out a soft, low chuckle as though he had just heard something immensely amusing, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Yu Sui remembered that his back line used to be soft and full, but now he was truly far too thin, visible right through the exquisitely crafted suit material. His shoulder blades jutted out sharply, looking as though they were about to beat their wings and take flight.

“It’s been a long time since anyone dared call me that.” Yu Baihua raised his head with a pleasant smile directed at Yu Sui, “I’ve missed it.”

His demeanor right now appeared gentle and ordinary, resembling someone catching up with an old friend rather than the malicious and unhinged figure of rumor. Kevin slid the bespoke cocktail named Pearl across the counter toward him, shooting Yu Sui a look that clearly communicated: Not bad, kid, you’ve actually managed to catch the eye of a major bigwig.

Reluctantly parting with a bottle of Burgundy Chardonnay, Kevin opened it for Yu Baihua, fearing someone of his stature wouldn’t be able to stomach the standard cocktails favored by ordinary patrons. Yet in the end, Yu Baihua didn’t spare so much as a glance for the wine or anyone else, continuing instead to chat effortlessly with Yu Sui about everything under the sun.

Maintaining his persona, Yu Sui feigned a cautious demeanor as he answered Yu Baihua’s questions, trying his best to project humor and wit. To someone as sharp and worldly-wise as the current Yu Baihua, the nervousness and yearning hidden beneath his forced composure were entirely transparent, though he deliberately chose to say nothing.

Yu Sui sighed inwardly, thinking to himself that people weren’t nearly as easy to deceive once they grew up; conversation alone required a great deal more effort.

Outwardly, two people from vastly different worlds spent a short while chatting quite congenially. Eventually, growing weary of the charade, Yu Baihua stopped talking and simply sat in quiet contemplation, staring fixedly at Yu Sui with all traces of a smile vanished from his face.

Yu Baihua thought to himself that the initial Yu Sui hadn’t been all that cunning, nor was he entirely unassailable. Yet he had still been deceived for seven full years.

Standing up, he decided it was all thoroughly uninteresting and cast an indifferent, cold glance at the subordinates standing behind Yu Sui.

Before anyone could make a move, the cautious reserve on Yu Sui’s face abruptly vanished. Handing his own cocktail glass over to Yu Baihua, the corners of his eyes drooping slightly, he spoke with a trace of lingering regret:

“Technically speaking, the wine should be properly decanted by now, but my hands are far too cold, you’ll have to make do with this.”

Indifferent to the drink, Yu Baihua watched as Yu Sui took it back to cradle and toy with it in his palm; it turned out he wasn’t trying to taste a vintage he couldn’t afford, but rather warming the wine for Yu Baihua with the heat of his own palms.

Yu Baihua gazed at the glass offered to him, its rim gripped by slender, artistic fingers knobbly, graceful, and pleasing to the eye. Hands like those belonged on a magnificent stage, playing tricks with cards between his palms. Magicians had always cherished their hands above all else, yet Yu Sui invariably committed all sorts of improper sacrifices on Yu Baihua’s account.

Uncontrollably, Yu Baihua’s mind flooded with memories of the past.

Pausing for a fraction of a moment, he finally reached out, took the glass, and drained it in a single swallow. And whatever business he had originally intended to carry out was abandoned right there.

Yu Baihua didn’t cast another glance at the place, turning and striding away without the slightest trace of lingering attachment. Yet from his retreating figure, Yu Sui could detect a faint hint of a hurried escape.

Yu Sui smiled and shook his head.

Shortly after Yu Baihua and his subordinates departed, an assistant returned, handed a shopping bag over to Yu Sui, and spoke with impeccable politeness:

“President Yu asked me to pass along a message: the weather is getting cold, remember to add more layers.”