Chapter 5: The Return Trip

Lin Jindu’s performance in the Moments was meant for Yu Yizhi.

Despite the vast ocean between them, he didn’t realize he was the one who ended up performing in front of Yu Hui.

The system kept buzzing in his ear:

[Less than four days left until the end of the month.]

[You’re about to be overdue. Overdue on your loan and overdue on your task! If that happens, it’s no longer electronic companionship; it’ll be in-person companionship.]

[You need to find out the hotel information of the male lead quickly, buy a plane ticket, and fly over. Then sneak into the male lead’s room, hide under his bed, silently complete your sleep companion task, and amaze everyone.]

“Will I be arrested in a foreign country in the end?”

The system remained silent.

Lin Jindu went to the bathroom and washed his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and spoke slowly, “Breaking and entering is illegal. We need to have boundaries no matter what we do.”

“So, let’s put it in a public place… Hmm, let me think. How about a hospital? I’ll just make the person faint, and then I can legally accompany them.”

“…”

Why don’t you suggest doing it at a cemetery for a grave companion?

Hunger transformed Lin Jindu from a lamb into a wolf with a gleam in his eye. “What if, I mean, what if White Moonlight suddenly appears in front of the male lead? What do you think his first reaction would be?”

[Surprise.]

“What if it’s at night?”

[Scared to death.]

Well, saying “scared to death” might be an exaggeration, but if you suddenly see someone who has been dead for a long time, you’re likely to be shocked and take off running on the spot.

Lin Jindu sneered, “People like to show off. I want to see how much he loves.”

Late at night, Lin Jindu and the system brainstormed with the lamp on.

Lin Jindu leaned over his desk, writing while conversing with the system.

“Plan A: Wait for Yu Yizhi to return. I’ll sneak into his room and hide under the bed to relax.”

After all, as long as he accompanies for a total of six hours, it’s enough.

Hotel breaking and entering is illegal, but going into a room in his own villa, which Yu Yizhi paid for him to stay in, doesn’t fall under that category. He wanted to respect the other person’s personal rights while fulfilling his lover’s obligations.

“Plan B is a contingency plan with flexibility. If the sneaking fails, and I get caught or something else goes wrong, I’ll have to use tricks to scare the target unconscious. So, from the beginning, I need to disguise myself as White Moonlight.”

Lin Jindu and White Moonlight had some similarities in their appearances, and with the help of makeup, it wouldn’t be difficult to create a convincing disguise.

However, the timing was crucial. He had to deliver a fatal blow before Yu Yizhi realized that someone else was impersonating him.

System 40: [The prerequisite for practical operation is that the male lead returns to the country within four days.]

Lin Jindu smiled, “That’s not difficult.”

Gurgle~

His stomach grumbled.

He lay back down to reduce energy consumption and fell asleep.

The next morning’s breakfast consisted of skimmed milk and half a boiled egg. After finishing, Lin Jindu went to the small garden.

The butler was inspecting the flowers in the garden, considering whether to have the gardener trim them again before Yu Yizhi returned.

Lin Jindu, wearing a brightly colored shirt, strolled over, resembling a flower butterfly fluttering in the flowers. “Good morning, old buddy.”

“…”

“I’m taking a walk to lose weight and take a few beautiful photos.” Lin Jindu held a selfie stick, tilted his head and smiled for photos. At the same time, he made sure the butler entered the frame and then posted to his Moments.

Having eaten his fill and considered the issue thoroughly, this time Lin Jindu finally remembered to block the male lead’s brother.

【Er Mu】: Turns out I’m a drunken butterfly~ (Butterfly.jpg) (Bee.jpg)

The butler hadn’t reacted yet when the “flower butterfly” had flown away.

Lin Jindu flew to the kitchen.

The head chef was preparing ingredients for lunch and, upon seeing him, immediately opened his arms to protect the roast chicken behind him like a mother bear protecting her cub.

“You can only eat what the nutritionist has arranged.”

While speaking, his eyes were fixed on Lin Jindu, as if he was afraid Lin Jindu would snatch away the plate of vegetables from the kitchen.

Lin Jindu: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away. I just want to help with cooking. If I can’t eat, at least I can satisfy my appetite by looking at it.”

The head chef initially refused, but wherever Lin Jindu went, he followed. He kept commenting, “It’s quite troublesome to peel the skin of tomatoes like this. You can blanch them in hot water first… Oh my, there’s a bit of dirt on this vegetable that wasn’t washed properly. I can even see it with a magnifying glass…”

The chef raised his eyes and saw Lin Jindu indeed holding a magnifying glass, carefully inspecting the leaves.

Work couldn’t proceed normally, and the chef had a headache. “Fine, you can help with the salad.”

Even if he snacked on a few vegetable leaves, it probably wouldn’t make him gain weight overnight.

The reality turned out to be much better than Lin Jindu had expected.

Lin Jindu rolled up his sleeves and began washing the vegetables. He didn’t make any unnecessary moves, but when he was plating the dishes, he used tomato sauce to create a few small hearts on one of the plates.

He took a picture and updated his Moments.

【Er Mu】: A loving lunch prepared for everyone.

Meal times were scheduled, and the butler and maids gradually took their seats. When they saw Lin Jindu also sitting down, some of them frowned to varying degrees.

As the dishes were served, Lin Jindu deliberately placed the plate with the small hearts in front of the butler.

“Food tastes better when shared.” Lin Jindu pointed to his own plate. “Don’t worry, I’ll only touch the food on my plate for weight loss.”

After sending the post, he raised his phone again to ensure everyone was in the frame. At this moment, the important main courses like roast chicken had not yet been brought to the table. The salad on the table was quite conspicuous, especially since he had chosen a seat close to the butler. The unique heart shapes attracted even more attention.

The astute butler immediately sensed a conspiracy.

Today, every time Lin Jindu took a photo, he made sure to include himself conspicuously in the frame.

The butler remarked, “You want to create the illusion that I’m making Mr. Yu wear a green hat.”

The statement stunned everyone at the table.

While Lin Jindu was busy updating his Moments, he nodded openly at the comment. “It’s not you making Yu Yizhi wear a green hat; it’s me trying to please you. I’m trying to make him green with envy.”

This time, he didn’t use honorifics and directly addressed the male lead by his name. After hitting the send button, he smiled at everyone.

Due to his frank admission, the others didn’t know what to say for a moment.

Wang Sheng was the first to snap out of it and scolded him for being morally corrupt.

The butler sneered, “Mr. Yu is not a fool. He won’t be deceived by such petty tricks. You’re pursuing me, what’s your aim? Is it because I’m old, because my parents are deceased, or because I have a solitary personality?”

He was naturally unsociable and a dedicated workaholic.

He concluded with a cold laugh, “Besides my monthly salary of two hundred thousand, I have nothing else to offer.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the gazes of everyone at the table were fixed on him, as if he had just radiated a brilliant light.

The butler’s grip on his fork almost slipped.

Lin Jindu looked at the butler and said, “Gold always shines.”

Making someone else shine wasn’t difficult either.

In H country, Yu Yizhi had just finished a meeting and was waiting for Yu Yizhi to join him for lunch. His secretary was also at the table.

He had just reposted a news article related to the meeting and absentmindedly checked his Moments.

Today, Lin Jindu had taken over his Moments.

Yu Yizhi only glanced at it briefly and immediately deduced the message the other party was trying to convey from the clues in the photos.

“Stupid.”

It was clear that Lin Jindu was trying to provoke jealousy in him by involving the butler.

Yu Yizhi couldn’t understand what kind of ridiculous idea the substitute they had found this time had come up with. After returning to the country, he had to make sure this person left as soon as possible.

The secretary suddenly stood up politely.

Yu Yizhi realized something and quickly put his phone away. “Brother, you’re here.”

He had been sitting by the door, browsing through Moments when he saw the content.

Not sure what he was thinking, Yu Yizhi asked his secretary, “If your blind date partner is almost ten years older than you and has a serious personality, would you consider it?”

The secretary was momentarily puzzled, not understanding why the deputy CEO suddenly cared about his personal life. However, he continued the conversation, “Is the other person divorced? Do they have children?”

“No,” replied the secretary.

“What about the monthly salary?”

“Two hundred thousand.”

“Can you be more specific about his serious personality?”

“He’s very clean, to the point of having a bit of OCD. He doesn’t have much family, and his work is quite busy, with few days off.”

“What about his appearance and physique? He’s not overweight, is he?”

“He pays great attention to his appearance.”

The secretary’s eyes lit up, and she instantly felt that compared to this, even the CEO wasn’t as attractive. As far as she knew, there were quite a few people in this circle who lived extravagant lifestyles.

So she smiled and asked, “Are you trying to set me up with someone? If the conditions are like this, I can consider it.”

Yu Yizhi hadn’t expected this response.

He frowned and said, “The person I’m talking about is quite cold and uninteresting. He has never even had a girlfriend and just goes through the monotonous routine of work day after day.”

“Is he stingy?”

“Not really, because he’s too busy with work to spend money. He even donates to charity organizations every year.”

The secretary said, “Sounds like a blue-chip stock!”

“…”

On the side, Yu Hui remained silent throughout, picking up his teacup and taking a sip.

Seeing that the secretary was showing genuine interest, Yu Yizhi said, “Your personalities are extreme opposites.”

The secretary shook her head and said, “You don’t understand. People with conservative and uninteresting personalities can’t resist enthusiastic and outgoing individuals. It’s called complementarity.”

People naturally like to find qualities in others that they lack themselves.

Yu Yizhi fell silent for a moment and then asked, “What if there’s a young and attractive person using clumsy methods to aggressively pursue someone, do you think they can succeed?”

Yu Hui glanced over and, combined with the earlier content of Moments, roughly deduced what had happened.

The secretary was still excitedly clapping her hands. “I guarantee you, it’s a hundred percent possible!”

“…”

Losing his appetite, Yu Yizhi had a lot of his last dish left.

With the memories of Lin Jindu’s Moments fresh in his mind, Yu Hui calmly said, “Don’t waste food.”

Yu Yizhi took a few more bites.

After the meal, Yu Hui returned to the hotel first, while Yu Yizhi stopped the secretary and instructed her, “Things here are almost settled. Book the earliest flight back to our home country for me.”

The secretary was puzzled, “Didn’t you say you were going back next week?”

Yu Yizhi’s expression became complex. “You don’t understand.”

If he didn’t return soon, he was afraid that in a couple of days, he would see the substitute he had just welcomed into his home on Moments, officially announcing a relationship with the butler.

“I need to order a vintage shirt for myself. I remember the butler mentioned that Yu Yizhi likes this style… What color should it be? White, right? He’s called ‘White Moonlight,’ so wearing white should fit the theme.”

Lin Jindu was browsing the internet for equipment.

System40 provided crucial information about White Moonlight: [Teardrop mole; Tian Ni Fang.]

It still had information about the main characters.

“No need to order cosmetics. I can help with that. It provides a 10% boost to the realistic appearance buff. The fee is ten thousand per use.”

Lin Jindu raised an eyebrow. Was it really this versatile?

[My abilities are limited to appearance and voice. In other words, these functions are designed to help you get closer to White Moonlight and be a perfect substitute.]

Tian Ni Fang was a store that White Moonlight favored.

Lin Jindu checked online and found that the clothes from this store were not cheap.

“Speaking of which, it’s almost the end of the month. Shouldn’t I get paid? The fifteen-day trial period is over, so I should settle this first.”

After posting something to provoke Yu Yizhi, Lin Jindu didn’t want to approach him directly. Instead, he forwarded an article about an employer maliciously withholding wages from temporary workers, trying to send a subtle message.

He emphasized important matters three times and shared three similar articles, but Yu Yizhi didn’t show any response.

This time, Lin Jindu didn’t block anyone.

In H Country, Yu Hui noticed his wage claim actions and pondered for a moment.

He possessed top-notch hacking skills but had chosen to act as a canary. He couldn’t help but wonder if Yu Yizhi had offered an exorbitant price.

In his personal life, Yu Hui could turn a blind eye, but if the monthly amount exceeded twenty million, he would have to intervene in this absurd matter.

[Yu Hui]: How much did my brother pay you?

When Lin Jindu saw the message from the male protagonist’s brother, he was momentarily stunned and took a few seconds to reply.

【Er Mu】: Twenty thousand H coins.”

【Yu Hui】: Daily wage?

【Er Mu】: Monthly wage.

【Yu Hui】: …

【Er Mu】: I better hide for now. The butler called me to weigh in, probably because he noticed that I took two pieces of salad leaves and a bag of salad dressing from the kitchen. (I’m running away.jpg)”

Author’s Notes:

Irresponsible Theater:

On the surface:

Lin Jindu: I’m just a simple canary, not interested in competing in food and drink.

Yu Hui: …More like a slightly foolish little sparrow, can’t even eat enough.

In reality:

An angry canary

€€

Lin Jindu: Today, you left me hungry, tomorrow I’ll make sure you end up in the hospital.

Yu Yizhi: ??? Where did this food-hunting eagle come from? So aggressive.

From Baidu Baike: Food-hunting eagle: Has a large, hooked beak, short and laterally flattened. It is named for its ferociousness when pecking at monkeys.

Lin Jindu: I’ll peck to death the “monkey” who doesn’t pay up! You’ve wasted your evolution!