"Would being together with a man affect Li Yihan that negatively?"
Chi Zhao's question was directed to the system. After a brief silence, the system's voice resounded.
[This world is not as progressive as the world that you grew up in. If this was to be publicly exposed, it would lead to some very bad consequences...]
The environment that Chi Zhao grew up in was one to two hundred years ahead of this world in its civilization. It was the same for their progressiveness. In his world, man and woman, woman and woman, and man and man could all be together. When each child reached puberty, the first problem that troubled them was how to determine their sexual orientation. It was not like this world, where they had to rack their brains for ways to hide their sexual orientation.
Chi Zhao had been crouching on the ground. When he heard the system's answer, he lowered his head, spread open his two legs, and sat on the floor, "And here I thought..."
[Thought what?]
He had thought that this world's homosexuals and heterosexuals were the same. After all, Li Yihan had developed feelings for him so easily.
Chi Zhao's heart felt uncomfortable. He hadn't thought that Li Yihan would also need to experience the pressure of public opinion to be with him. When he lowered his head, deep in thought, gradually there were no voices downstairs. After a minute passed, the system cried out,
[Li Yihan's coming! Li Yihan's coming!]
Are you sure that it was Li Yihan coming? And not the grim reaper?
The stairs were covered with thick carpeting, he made no sound at all as he made his way up. When Chi Zhao raised his head, Li Yihan had already walked up to him. He arched a brow, "Why are you sitting here?"
Then he stretched his hand out towards Chi Zhao. After staring at that hand for two seconds, Chi Zhao placed his hand on top.
He was pulled up effortlessly. Chi Zhao averted his gaze guiltily, "Um...Mister, did Er Ye leave?"
"He's gone," Li Yihan's gaze was fixed on him, "You still haven't answered me, why you are sitting here."
After a moment's pause, he asked again, "Qi Yuan, did you hear anything?"
Chi Zhao shook his head very naturally, "No. I did want to eavesdrop, but by the time I came out, there were already no voices downstairs."
Li Yihan's hand habitually cupped Chi Zhao's nape. Chi Zhao had already become accustomed to it. He thought that this was Li Yihan's little quirk. Some people liked to hold hands, some people liked to link arms, and some people—like Li Yihan—liked to touch other people's nape. However, this time was different. After he heard his words, Li Yihan's hand slid slightly, slowly moving over to where Chi Zhao's Adam's apple was.
Chi Zhao subconsciously gulped, and his Adam's apple moved as well. Li Yihan's gaze fell on the place that he was caressing. A long time afterwards, he chuckled.
"Go down then, you still haven't finished watching your show."
...
Excluding this visit, the members of the Li family never appeared again. Chi Zhao didn't notice this. He thought that the members of the Li family didn't care about this matter. On the contrary, they cared about it like their lives depended on it. But Li Yihan didn't let them appear before Qi Yuan, because the performance was already over. There was no need for the other actors who hadn't gone up on stage yet to appear.
Recently, the corporation had more and more matters to attend to; there were also more and more internal problems. Li Yihan did not understand why. All the problems occurred in succession. Even the annual profit was lower by a significant amount from the previous year. At first he thought that there was someone stirring up trouble. After looking into it, there wasn't anyone. He could only chalk it up to bad luck.
The system—the only one that knew the truth—kept its mouth shut, deeply hiding its merits and name.
Since the plot had advanced, then the Li Corporation's circumstances would also need to gradually come out into the open. Only in this way would the situation of 'when it rains, it pours' be created after Qi Yuan's betrayal of Li Yihan was exposed.1
The system was smug for only two days when its logic was thrown awry. Because although the problems all appeared, Li Yihan was like a superhuman. With barely any effort at all, he had already resolved everything. If this was any other time, the system would definitely be shaking in excitement and yelling internally. It would sing praises and flatter a business talent like Li Yihan with all its might. But right now, the system was going mad.
If the problems were all handled, then how would Li Corporation go bankrupt???
The system finally experienced what Chi Zhao felt when he saw that changed will.
Just like this, a human and a system sank into an emotional slump.
...
There was a big business deal that needed Li Yihan to be there in person. He went on a business trip. However, since he still had to go to school, Chi Zhao didn't tag along. Before he left, Li Yihan left two temporary bodyguards behind for Chi Zhao. The bodyguards followed him wherever he went, they were incredibly professional and dutiful.
At 2pm in the afternoon, Chi Zhao sat in the warm and cozy cat cafe. He came out to meet other males behind Lil Fatty's back.
With one hand petting a purebred British Shorthair cat, Chi Zhao looked out the window blankly. His mind was completely filled with one problem.
"...The will's been changed, and the green hat failed. I want to take back my previous words. Li Yihan is not a great Samaritan, he's a pervert and a masochist. I've already gone to such lengths and he's still not the slightest bit mad, is this humane?!"
"It's fine that he's not mad, whatever. But what about my mission? Does failing consecutively for two plot points mean that the whole mission failed? Then everything I've done was useless and a waste of time?"
"I sacrificed so much, from my body to my heart. Yet Li Yihan didn't give me any face at all, causing two plot points to fall apart in one shot. He's too much!"
The system: "..."
[Don't be so downhearted, we still have other chances.]
'I have nothing left to live for' was written across Chi Zhao's face, "What other chances do we have? The plot has already collapsed to a total mess. I even suspect that if I go on the bed with someone else in front of him, he wouldn't even blink."
...Now that was an exaggeration.
[The more important scenes are at the back. Perhaps Li Yihan doesn't have as high expectations for his other half's physical loyalty. But he has very high expectations for the mental loyalty of the people around him. I did research on this. There was a secretary who betrayed Li Yihan and was directly sent into jail. She was sentenced to serve twenty years of jail time. This was a girl, too. He dispatches someone to visit that girl every month to tell her how well the man she loved the most and his current wife were doing.]
[He even bribed that girl's jailmate to torture her everyday. That girl had committed suicide so many times. Unfortunately, she was saved every time by that jailmate of hers. She couldn't die at all.]
Chi Zhao was dumbstruck, "Wow...Then she must have caused Li Yihan to lose a great deal of money, right?"
[Mn, when she was a spy, the corporation lost five hundred thousand.2]
"...Did you miss a couple zeroes?"
A watch that Li Yihan bought already had a starting price of two million yuan.3 And he had a drawer full of luxury watches. Fifty ten thousand, this would be equivalent to five yuan in Li Yihan's eyes, wouldn't it?
[That's why, you now understand how much Li Yihan despises spies, don't you? As long as you sell the data to Chang Qing, when he finds out, he will definitely be furious. You can do it, host. I believe in your abilities. You will definitely be able to let Li Yihan hate the fact that you're not dead!]
Chi Zhao: "..." He'll do his best.
Just as he was conversing with the system, a middle-aged woman dressed luxuriously walked into the cafe. She surveyed the surroundings, her gaze finally locking onto Chi Zhao's figure. She walked over coldly. The two henchmen didn't recognize her, but her hostility was blatant enough. They promptly acted, intending to shoo her away. Perceiving this, the woman hastily cried out, "Let go of me, I am Li Yihan's aunt!"
The three characters 'Li Yihan' immediately drew Chi Zhao's attention. He raised his head and met that middle-aged woman's gaze. After a moment's consideration, he called out to the two henchmen, "Stop, let her come."