SFR: Chapter 9

Every one of Xing Shi’s classes lasted 45-60 minutes.

After the last class in the afternoon, they found the dance teacher and told him about the Z College anniversary. They wanted to ask him to help choreograph a dance.

Several teachers look at Xing Shi at the same time.

No wonder why the boss asked about Xing Shi’s situation. It turned out that the two of them went to the same school.

The boss’ alma mater held an anniversary celebration, and he would attend that day. They must pay attention to it, so they agreed readily.

The trainees cheered and sent the teacher away. They were excited to treat their good brother to dinner. Without this selfless good brother, they wouldn’t have this opportunity.

The ‘good brother’ himself dodged the arms they wanted to place around his shoulder and said, “No, I have something to do.”

He emphasized, “It is just that I won’t make an appointment tonight. You will owe it first. Don’t forget it.”

Everyone laughed and scolded him. “We won’t forget it. Hurry up.”

Xing Shi arrived at the parking lot and sent a message to Fu Xiuning.

Once Fu Xiuning got off, he looked up and saw the person standing in front of his car. At almost the same moment he looked over, the other person also looked over.

Xing Shi smiled brightly and waved enthusiastically.

There was a glow in his eyes under the street lights. Add his warm-colored clothes, and he looked bright and dazzling.

He greeted the other person. “Boss~”

[Ding.]

[Currently favorability value: -9.]

Xing Shi: “?”

The system: “!”

Fu Xiuning’s eyes deepened slightly. He responded calmly, opened the door, and got into the car.

Xing Shi followed him and reached out to fasten the seat belt.

The system murmured, “What is going on? He finally remembered that you are his savior?”

Xing Shi thought that this was a good opportunity, so he ordered directly, “I’m sleepy. Give me a second level punishment.”

The system was silent.

Xing Shi waited for three seconds. “Start it.”

The system suggested, “Why don’t you tell Fu Xiuning that you have something urgent to do and go back to sleep?”

“…I’m already in the car. If I stand him up now, won’t I lose points?”

“Not necessarily. I understand that we can’t use common sense to speculate about him.’

It held onto this -9 and said, “But one thing is probably clear. The longer you spend with him, the more he will dislike you. So let’s go back and discuss countermeasures.”

Xing Shi: “?”

Was this a psychological trauma caused by Fu Xiuning?

He refused. “No, I want to eat.”

The system knew there was no hope, so he lived in fear.

Xing Shi also knew that the second level punishment wasn’t easy to get, so he looked at Fu Xiuning. “Boss, what shall we eat?”

Fu Xiuning slowly drove out of the parking lot. “Do you want to eat anything specific?”

Xing Shi said, “I’m fine with it. I’ll follow your instructions.”

Fu Xiuning said, “Then I’ll take you to Linlan Garden to eat.”

Xing Shi didn’t recognize him but agreed, “Okay.”

He consulted the system and found that it was a membership-based Chinese courtyard restaurant. This satisfied him.

Fu Xiuning had a good reputation in school. He said he wanted to treat this person to a meal to thank him. Regardless of whether he was really grateful in his heart or not, the restaurant’s consumption wouldn’t be low in order to avoid giving people a chance to criticize him.

This was a major factor in his temporary change of words.

More than 20 minutes later, they arrived at their destination.

Linlan Garden was built in the style of an ancient courtyard. It had rockery, flowing water, pavilions, and towers, which were magnificent.

It was dark, and lanterns were hanging along the winding corridors, which were full of artistic concepts. The private rooms with ancient charm were scattered along the courtyard. The waiters were attentive throughout the whole process. The movements of making tea were smooth and the fragrance of tea was wafting.

Xing Shi heard Fu Xiuning ask about his taste and said that everything was fine.

Fu Xiuning ordered a few dishes and motioned for the waiter to go out. He lowered his eyes, picked up a teacup, and took a sip of tea.

Xing Shi happened to see this scene. He sincerely thought that apart from personality factors, this target of the strategy was indeed very good-looking. He had the temperament of being brought up by a wealthy family with good family conditions. He was pleasing to the eye.

Fu Xiuning noticed his scrutiny and raised his eyes to meet this gaze.

Xing Shi asked, “Boss, do you come here often?”

Fu Xiuning replied, “Occasionally.”

Xing Shi knew that the food in this restaurant shouldn’t be bad, so he felt relieved.

Fu Xiuning said, “Their chopped pepper fish head is a specialty. You can try it later.”

Xing Shi’s eyes lit up. “Okay!”

Fu Xiuning retracted his gaze.

After a whole afternoon of contemplation, he made a decision the moment he sent a message to Xing Shi.

He suspected that Xing Shi’s many exceptions were because the main system finally discovered that he could hear the voices of the system and the host. It deliberately brought Xing Shi here to lure him.

But if everything was really a coincidence, Xing Shi was worth exploring as the first exception in the past five years.

There was just one problem. According to the speculation over the years, the main system seemed to attach great importance to energy. Xing Shi always asked for a second level punishment. If the main system detected an abnormality, it might correct this mistake and recall him.

Unless… he often approached Xing Shi, making the main system feel that Xing Shi was useful and postpone the decision.

Thus, there were two paths before him.

First, he didn’t care whether Xing Shi’s exceptions were a trap, and he would invest resources to help Xing Shi debut now.

If he had a poor foundation, he could learn slowly. With resources to support him, according to Xing Shi’s appearance, he could become a small star, even if he couldn’t become a big star.

Then Xing Shi would be like the other hosts, working like a cow or horse outside to make money for him until Xing Shi was recalled by the main system one day.

Second, keep XIng Shi.

If Xing Shi was a trap, he would see what the main system had in mind.

If Xing Shi wasn’t a trap then his choice would be very risky. It was because he would definitely have more contact with Xing Shi in the future, and his favorability value fluctuated frequently in front of Xing Shi.

His true likes and dislikes weren’t under his control. He would be at risk of being exposed.

In fact, he was already exposed today.

He deducted 1 point when drinking porridge at noon. This was because he heard that Lin Kecheng was going to trick him, and his thinking was divergent. Xing Shi and the others didn’t know the reason, so they could only guess. However, the 1 point lost in the elevator was really problematic. Fortunately, from Xing Shi’s perspective, he had inexplicably lost 1 point before, so it wouldn’t be abrupt to lose 1 point again.

He was lucky this time, but it might not be the case next time. If Xing Shi’s system saw through it, the main system and other systems would know in an instant.

Fu Xiuning took another sip of tea, his eyes filled with emotion.

He was no longer the person who suddenly found himself attacked five years ago. Facing the hosts who surrounded him and the constantly beeping favorability notification, he pretended to be calm while trying to stay away, anxiously trying to adjust his mood and fearing that he would reveal his flaws.

Even if five years passed and he once again tried to approach the host to remove them from the system’s control, he was no longer as naive and stupid as he was in high school. He had no expectations of human nature and didn’t mind being backstabbed by the host again. He wouldn’t be disappointed.

He chose the second path.

The reason why Xing Shi changed his words temporarily today was that he wanted to know why Fu Xiuning took the initiative to find him.

Unfortunately, after watching for a long time, the meal was almost over, and he couldn’t figure out Fu Xiuning’s intention. It seemed that he really treated Xing Shi to a meal to express his gratitude for saving his life.

So that’s why he added 1 point of favorability previously when they met?

But he didn’t hear the notification of adding points after saying Fu Xiuning in the daytime. He had already glimpsed the other person’s indifference. He felt that the possibility of delayed gratitude wasn’t high.

Xing Shi thought about it and reported the afternoon’s results. “Senior Lin is very supportive, and the teacher agreed to help us choreograph it.”

Fu Xiuning could tell that this was laziness, and said, “Okay. Then you should rehearse well.”

Xing Shi didn’t see any unhappiness on his face, so he gave up the temptation and concentrated on eating.

Lin Kecheng’s message came at this time.

[Junior Brother, I told the president and others about your invitation to external aid. Everyone attaches great importance to your program, so I want you to take the time to form a group and add me and the participating trainees to it. This way, we can communicate at any time if we encounter problems in rehearsals or stage effects later.”

Xing Shi was very happy. [Okay, I’ll do it tonight.]

Lin Kecheng: [Yes. I still owe you a meal. When are you free?]

Xing Shi: [Senior, you are too polite. That isn’t necessary.]

Lin Kecheng: [No, I must treat you. If you meet Senior Fu at the company, try to invite him as well. If you run into Senior Fu in the company, try to invite him along. We, the survivor group, must have a drink [laughs.]

Xing Shi replied ‘okay’ and looked up to relay the message to Fu Xiuning.

Fu Xiuning immediately guessed Lin Kecheng’s intention. It was obviously to make an appointment with him through Xing Shi.

Xing Shi was both a member of the company and his savior. He had a special status and was a new chess piece in Lin Kecheng’s eyes.

Lin Kecheng had always considered himself the son of destiny. The system didn’t want to undermine his confidence and didn’t tell him that there were multiple hosts. Xing Shi was informed by the system, but he definitely didn’t pay attention to who they were.

Fu Xiuning stretched out his hand. “Do you mind if I take a look?”

Xing Shi handed him the phone.

Fu Xiuning saw the creation of the group. Lin Ke wanted to infiltrate the inner circle. The trainees in the group would be chess pieces to be developed.

He said, “Don’t get too close to him.”

Xing Shi was curious. “Huh?”

Fu Xiuning told him, “In a short period of time, he went from an introverted nobody to the head of the Art and Literature Department. The means he used to reach the top weren’t very glorious. You should try to have less contact with him. Today’s incident was also caused by him. He said it was for my own good, but let’s wait for the police to investigate the details.”

Xing Shi savored the information in this sentence and nodded obediently.

Then he called out to the system. “You seemed to have said that there are other hosts besides me?”

The system replied, “Yes.”

Xing Shi asked, “Do you know who they are?”

The system said, “I don’t know. I am only responsible for you.”

Xing Shi made an ‘oh’ sound before saying, “Then you say…”

Fu Xiuning handed the phone back to him.

Xing Shi reached out to take it and continued, “Is it possible that Lin Kecheng…”

Fu Xiuning didn’t hold the phone tightly, so it slipped a bit.

Xing Shi reached out, and Fu Xiuning lifted it up in time. Their hands were directly touching through half of the phone.

“…Host?”

[Ding.]

[Currently favorability value: -8.]

Fu Xiuning planned to reveal the matter of Lin Kecheng. He guessed that the favorability value might fluctuate due to Xing Shi’s alertness, so he asked for the phone in advance.

The timing was just right.

He calmly withdrew his hand while the joyful voice of the system rang in his ears.

“You touched hands, and he actually gave you 1 point!”

“Ahhh! It is the New Year!”

“My -8 is back!”