At the staff entrance on the mansion’s first floor, Duan Yan was trying to talk his way in.
Kevin was tall and slim, dressed in a fitted suit and a pale-pink shirt. Light makeup accentuated his delicate features. His inner lash lines were carefully defined, and his flirtatious eyes regarded Duan Yan with the suggestion of a smile.
“It’s not that I don’t want to help. But you know the mansion’s rules. If someone isn’t registered, they can’t enter.”
“I’m not using the main entrance. This is the staff entrance, and I work here, don’t I, Kevin?”
“You work here. He doesn’t.”
Kevin glanced at Song Liang a few steps away.
“If I let him in and something happens, I’m the one who gets into trouble.”
“It won’t,” Duan Yan said quickly. “I already spoke to Manager Zhou on WeChat. You just need to let us through.”
Kevin cleared his throat and said nothing.
With no other choice, Duan Yan took out his phone and sent him a generous red packet. Only then did Kevin relent.
“Call him over,” he said with a smile.
The expense pained Duan Yan, but he thanked him with a smile before calling Song Liang over.
“This is Kevin, our supervisor. He’s in charge of our department.”
Song Liang looked at the meticulously groomed man before him and replied calmly, “Mm.”
“What do you mean, ‘mm’?” Duan Yan snapped. “Say hello to Kevin!”
“It’s fine. We’re all colleagues.”
Kevin discreetly studied the young man.
His black outdoor jacket and baseball cap were so plain they looked shabby. At first glance, he might have been heading out for a hike. Yet even that outfit couldn’t conceal his arrestingly handsome face.
His features looked gentle, but nothing about him suggested an easy target. Instead, there was an edge to him everywhere.
It wasn’t an overbearing, aggressive edge. It was an innate strength, a lofty self-possession that made one want to conquer him.
“Jason, is this classmate of yours applying to be a waiter, or…?”
“…”
Song Liang looked around.
“Who’s Jason?”
“Me.”
Duan Yan rolled his eyes.
“My English name. Everyone who works here needs one. You’ll have to choose one too if you get in, understand?”
He turned back to Kevin with a smile.
“If we’re going to Manager Zhou, he obviously isn’t applying to wait tables.”
“I see. He wants to work as a host.”
Kevin gave Song Liang an ambiguous smile.
“But you know our standards are high. We don’t take just any stray off the street.”
Duan Yan’s smile began to falter.
“What do you mean, Kevin?”
“Nothing in particular. It simply isn’t convenient today. You saw the cars outside. We have an important guest—a very important guest. First thing this morning, we were told not to admit any strangers. I’m sorry, Jason. It’s not that I don’t want to help.”
“But we’re using the staff entrance—”
Kevin interrupted with a smile.
“Why don’t you contact Manager Zhou again? He’s very busy right now, though. I couldn’t say whether he’ll have time for you.”
Even Duan Yan could tell he was being deliberately obstructed.
“What’s that supposed to mean? You’ve brought people through the staff entrance for interviews before. Why can’t I?”
Kevin scoffed.
“Do you think we’re the same?”
Duan Yan was furious.
He had already paid. There was no reason to let Kevin play him like this. He shoved him aside, then pushed Song Liang through the entrance.
Kevin naturally tried to stop them, only for Duan Yan to shove him to the ground.
“You’ve lost your mind!” Kevin shouted. “Causing trouble here?”
“Go report me if you dare!”
Duan Yan pulled Song Liang inside. When Song Liang glanced back, he assumed the young man was worried.
“It’s fine. He won’t report us. He took my money, so he can’t say anything.”
Song Liang wasn’t worried about being reported.
He was simply wondering why Duan Yan hadn’t followed up with a kick. If Kevin couldn’t speak, he naturally couldn’t report anyone.
Duan Yan was still complaining.
“He thinks having a wealthy patron gives him the right to bully everyone. Bastard! He just sees that you’re his type, only better-looking, and wants to make things difficult. Shameless.”
He pushed Song Liang into the staff lounge.
“I’ll find Manager Zhou. Stay here. Don’t wander off.”
Once Duan Yan had stormed away, Song Liang looked around the lounge.
It was cramped.
Even his rented apartment had three bedrooms and two living areas. This lounge was just one small room, with a damp smell from having gone too long without ventilation.
Without hesitation, Song Liang walked out and headed down the corridor.
Just as Duan Yan had said, Songlan Mansion possessed considerable substance.
Its exterior was already impressive, and the furnishings inside were exceptionally luxurious—sometimes in ways an ordinary person wouldn’t recognize.
Song Liang couldn’t recognize them either, but he had a system.
Although 3085 lacked knowledge of the story beyond the original owner’s perspective, it had finished loading the small world’s basic structure.
It knew the materials used in these luxury furnishings inside out. Genuine leather, snakeskin, relief carvings, fragrant rosewood, fine hardwoods—it explained them all to Song Liang.
He didn’t take in a word.
He was thinking about his game.
Eventually, he found a corner of an open-air balcony on the second floor. A potted plant stood right at the bend, providing excellent cover.
Song Liang settled there and started gaming.
3085 no longer wanted to discuss his gaming addiction. There was no point. Instead, it asked about the matter at hand.
【Are you really going to work here?】
It wasn’t concerned about its host’s chastity. Given his fighting ability and temper, no one could force him to do anything he didn’t want to.
It was simply worried that someone who raised hell everywhere he went would cause trouble in a place like this. He might kick another important NPC and send the instance difficulty soaring to S.
If that happened, it might as well hang itself inside his head.
Song Liang answered distractedly, “This place is fun.”
3085 was defeated.
Fun? What was fun about it? Who entered this line of work for entertainment?
It was about to complain when a woman’s mocking voice sounded outside.
“Lost both parents, then landed himself a wonderful father. Xiao Ji really is lucky.”
The name Xiao Ji might as well have been a trigger word. Both man and system paused.
Song Liang: 【Do you have an eavesdropping function?】
【That’s beyond the available scope. This is only a beginner instance.】
Fine, then.
Song Liang muted his game and concentrated on listening.
“Exactly. Xiao Yi’s accident was clearly caused by Xiao Ji’s mistake, and he ruined the marriage alliance with the Qiao Group too. Yet Xiao Yi acts as though nothing happened and still takes him to meet business partners. Same family, very different fortunes.”
This speaker was a man.
He sounded young, perhaps in his twenties. His voice was casual, but thick with self-mockery and malice.
“If Xiao Yi weren’t too young to have a son that age, I’d suspect Xiao Ji was his biological child.”
For some reason, the voice sounded familiar to Song Liang, as though he had heard it before.
Before he could think further, the woman spoke again, still mocking.
“So what if he were? When has that man ever cared about family?”
Silence immediately fell outside.
After a long pause, the woman asked, “What exactly happened that night? Why was Xiao Ji late?”
“…How would I know? Maybe some little lover held him up.”
“Do you think everyone’s like you? I heard the robbers attacked at an abandoned dock near Yalong Bay. I’ve never heard of robbers operating there.”
“Who knows? Maybe they were traveling criminals. Or illegal arrivals.”
“Illegal arrivals in Yalong Bay?”
The woman sounded exasperated.
“Why didn’t they just smuggle themselves straight into the city center?”
The man fell silent.
A moment later, the woman spoke again, a chill entering her voice.
“This has nothing to do with you, does it?”
“Are you crazy? What would it have to do with me?”
“Why are you getting so worked up? I only asked. You’ve been acting out of character—you didn’t even go to the hospital to ingratiate yourself.”
“Who’s ingratiating himself? I just couldn’t be bothered. I wouldn’t get to see him anyway, so why go?”
As soon as he finished, footsteps sounded outside, followed by a third person’s voice.
Song Liang could vaguely make out something about arrangements being complete.
The man seemed bored. With a brief “I’m leaving,” he departed the balcony.
The remaining two discussed work. After listening to a couple of sentences, Song Liang stopped paying attention and considered what he had just heard.
Song Liang: 【Those two are both members of the Xiao family. The person who actually controls Songlan Mansion is a Xiao too.】
【Correct.】
Song Liang: 【Don’t tell me every NPC that needs unlocking belongs to the Xiao family?】
【Not necessarily.】
He also remembered that the book featured several other powerful families besides the Xiaos. They played substantial roles later in the story.
【Wait until they leave before you come out.】
Song Liang nodded and was about to settle back into his game when his phone screen lit up.
Incoming caller: Duan Yan.
In the next instant, an anguished singing voice rang across the entire balcony:
“If you’re willing to peel back my heart, layer by layer by layer, you’ll discover, you’ll be amazed—you’re the secret I’ve buried deepest inside~”
Song Liang: “…”
【…】
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