The Real Young Master Wants To Get Married First When He Returns Home Chapter 15

Chapter 15: A Face-Slapping Protagonist Suits Me Better

Zhao Yingying: What’s wrong?

Since it was inconvenient to join a voice call during the livestream, Zhao Yingying and Xu Cheng could only communicate through their three-person group chat. Zhao Yingying, who was patrolling the bullet comments, saw Shen Li suddenly sneeze and immediately sent a message.

Zhao Yingying: Is the AC set too low? Turn it up two degrees.

Xu Cheng: Maybe put on a jacket. The neckline of that maid outfit is a bit too wide. You’ll catch a cold.

The AC is at 26 degrees, the streamer said. Unable to pick up his phone to reply in the group chat, Shen Li could only glance at the screen and lean toward the streaming assistant, pretending to respond to the bullet comments. He said nonchalantly, The neckline is a bit low, but you guys aren’t even paying attention to my god-tier gameplay anymore.

As for the actual comments… Shen Li couldn’t even bring himself to look at them.

The streaming assistant displayed the comments line by line. Shen Li felt his eyes ache just looking at them, and another glance made his skin crawl, as if someone were licking him through the screen.

Better not to reply. Shen Li felt a wave of revulsion. They were a bunch of creeps; if he replied, they would only go crazier. He didn’t want to get involved with these perverts. He felt like if he slapped them, they would probably try to lick his hand.

Can Xiao Li-wife slap the camera on beat? I really want to be slapped by my wife /drool.

A comment that just floated by confirmed Shen Li’s suspicions. It made his hair stand on end, leaving him with no choice but to maintain a cold, aloof persona and continue ignoring the unsightly messages.

There was simply no way to respond to them.

Shen Li enlarged the game interface, covering the streaming assistant window. Only then did the computer screen look tolerable again.

Watch this move. Everyone record this so you can review my god-level reasoning later, Shen Li said, preparing to show off.

He had personally created more than half of the models and data for this game. Few people knew it better than he did.

He dragged the mouse to pan the camera around, guiding the viewers. Shen Li clicked the cursor twice on a key area before continuing, From this position, we open this box first. The password should be the one from the newspaper in the room outside. Let’s open it and see… it says a Ms. Luo—oh, that should be the female ghost who just jumped us—after exterminating a family of six, she went… went home for dinner?

??? Went home for dinner?

Is that right? She went home to eat after killing a family of six?

Did that family of six steal her lunch?

Is the dev team insane?

Is the dev team called the Rice Bucket Studio?

Even though the livestream was filled with lechers only interested in the streamer’s beauty, they couldn’t help but react to such a plot description.

Be quiet… The comments were truly blaming the dev team unfairly. Zhao Yingying and Xu Cheng, the only remaining members of the studio, didn’t remember a plot point about going home for dinner either. Upon hearing this, they both spammed question marks in the group chat.

However, Shen Li couldn’t be bothered with them or the livestream right now. His mind was entirely on the messages appearing on his phone, which was propped up behind the computer.

The Xu Hag: Come home for dinner tonight.

The Xu Hag: [Image.jpg]

The Xu Hag: Don’t try anything funny.

If it were just Ms. Xu telling him to come home for dinner, Shen Li wouldn’t have cared at all; he would have acted like he hadn’t seen it. But his grandmother was in her hands.

In the photo, Old Lady Xu was lying in bed, looking stiff as someone pulled her up to take the picture.

Shen Li recognized the person; it was a servant from the Shen family. The bed was the one he used to sleep in. He hadn’t expected Ms. Xu to be so cruel to her own mother, dragging a sick old lady out of the hospital and throwing her into an attic just to manipulate her son.

The comments were still scrolling, and in the group chat, Zhao Yingying and Xu Cheng were asking if something had happened. Shen Li felt exhausted—not physically, but mentally.

Ever since he was brought back by the Shen family, he had been pushed around. Pushed to go to school, pushed to come home, pushed into a substitute marriage, and now he was being pushed to go back and face whatever manipulation or lecture they had in store.

Ms. Xu had sent him many messages before, which he had ignored or brushed off.

But today, there was no escaping it.

I’m ending the stream early. Ultraman is fighting a monster and trashed the streamer’s house. I’m running for my life, Shen Li made up a random excuse and shut down the stream. He truly had no energy to deal with the people in the chat right now.

The group chat noticed something was wrong. Messages flooded the screen asking if he was feeling unwell.

Shen Li: I’m fine. Just ran into some trouble. I’ll handle it myself.

He forced himself to reply before turning off the phone and tossing it aside.

Ms. Xu’s messages affected his mood too much. He had said it a thousand times, but she was still his biological mother. Occasionally, he couldn’t help but wonder: if she hated him so much, why did she choose to give birth to him in the first place?

On the other side, Zhao Yingying’s feminine intuition told her that his mood was off. She called him immediately.

Talk to me, Zhao Yingying said in her bossy, big-sister tone. Who offended you? Tell me, and your Sister Ying will go settle it right now. She sounded like a loyal hero of the underworld.

The dark emotions rising in Shen Li were scattered by her words. He couldn’t stay depressed.

The old hag wants me to go home for dinner, Shen Li said, leaning back into his chair. Don’t you think she’s sick? She knows we’ll just end up fighting if I go back, yet she insists on dragging me back to get angry.

Your mom? Zhao Yingying rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She already pushed you out for a substitute marriage, and now she wants you back. What’s this? Is it that classic web novel trope where the ‘True Young Master’ leaves in total disappointment, and then the whole family regrets it and begs him to come back? Is your mom living in a web novel?

Who knows? Maybe she’s hit menopause and is losing it. Seriously, you need to read fewer novels.

Shen Li was powerless to guess Ms. Xu’s thoughts. He could never understand the convoluted thinking of those people; he wouldn’t be able to learn their way of speaking—where one sentence held ten different hidden meanings—in this lifetime. But even if he didn’t understand, he knew it definitely wasn’t the tragic ‘True vs. False Young Master’ scenario Zhao Yingying loved.

Wish me some luck, okay? I don’t want to be the True Young Master in those stories who gets tortured by his family until he’s half-dead, only to hold back tears and think, ‘Oh, they’re my family, I have to give them another chance.’ Then he loses the other half of his life being tormented, leaving a bunch of murderers to wail at his grave.

Even if it has to be a ‘True vs. False Young Master’ story, I’m applying to be the one in a face-slapping counterattack novel. Can a powerful boss descend from the heavens to love and dote on me, someone who only has eyes for me? Someone who insists on giving me money and people, using their sincerity to move me and their wealth to please me? Someone who supports my career and helps me counterattack until I’m stepping all over my original family’s faces? Shen Li felt he hadn’t said enough and added, My requirements aren’t high. Just the average looks of a classic male lead in a web novel will do.

Zhao Yingying laughed for a long time before she could stop. She asked what he was going to do tonight.

Shen Li sighed helplessly. Go back. What else can I do? My grandmother is in her hands.

There was nothing Zhao Yingying could do about this. It wasn’t something money could solve. No matter how rich she was, she could help Shen Li support his grandmother or move her out.

But… Ms. Xu was Old Lady Xu’s biological daughter. Legally and logically, she had the standing to take her mother away at any time. No matter who intervened, it wouldn’t help.

This was why Shen Li was so obsessed with building his own career. Ms. Xu was Old Lady Xu’s daughter, but he was her biological grandson. Only when he had his own career and money could he fight for a path to freedom for himself and his grandmother from the Shen family and Ms. Xu.

Maybe you should ask President Gu, Zhao Yingying said after thinking for a while. Ask him to help you. He seems to like you quite a bit.

Zhao Yingying was, after all, an underage girl with beautiful dreams and fantasies about love and marriage. She only knew that Gu Yunzhao seemed satisfied with the marriage and had given Shen Li a house and money.

In her eyes, when two people entered a marriage, it was a vow of life and death.

Shen Li smiled bitterly. Although he was a bit dense when it came to romance, he had a basic sensitivity to whether someone actually liked him.

Gu Yunzhao looked at everyone with intensity. His peach blossom eyes could look at thin air and seem deeply in love. Shen Li had been dazed by them before.

He could fully believe that Gu Yunzhao liked his face. When he acted spoiled or cute, Gu Yunzhao was always indulgent.

But did Gu Yunzhao actually like him? The answer was a definite no. He was merely a vessel for beauty. Gu Yunzhao wasn’t curious about his life or his personality; he only liked his young, clean beauty.

He had never missed the look in Gu Yunzhao’s eyes when he watched him—the look of appraisal, appreciation, and the weighing of pros and cons.

You’re thinking too much, Shen Li sighed again. He just looks too gentle, so a tiny bit of sincerity looks like a mountain of affection.

Bargaining chips should be saved for critical moments. When it’s truly important, I can borrow his influence, but otherwise, I shouldn’t waste the little affection he has for my face. Shen Li stood up to change his clothes. I need to figure out what to wear for this family dinner.

…

When Gu Yunzhao returned home with things in hand, the house was already empty. The problem child who lacked discipline was already in a car heading back to his own home.

Shen Li: Brother, my mom called me home for dinner OWO

So annoying.

Shen Li was truly annoyed. He sighed in the taxi, sighed when he got out, and was still sighing as he stood in front of the Shen Family Villa.

Even though he didn’t know exactly what Ms. Xu wanted, it definitely wasn’t anything good.

When a person knows something isn’t good but still walks right into it, isn’t that a form of masochism?

Shen Li thought mournfully: Ms. Xu must be a violent Sadist, otherwise why would she be so obsessed with forcing others to play these games with her? But, Mother-san, I’m a respectable man.

The food at the Shen family was enough to make one lose their appetite.

Shen Li bit his chopsticks and cursed inwardly. Could these two old people stop talking in circles? He really didn’t want to play this guessing game. Eating a meal shouldn’t feel like solving a puzzle.

Xiao Li, eat some food. Mr. Shen, who was busy caring for Shen Zhao, looked over. Seeing Shen Li’s bowl empty while he stared blankly biting his chopsticks, he used the serving chopsticks to give him a portion of pine nut wood ear mushrooms.

Using me to show off his fatherly love, Shen Li thought, lowering his head and rolling his eyes openly.

Eat, Ms. Xu’s attention also shifted over, but she was too lazy to even move her chopsticks, expressing her maternal love purely with her voice.

Where is my grandmother? Shen Li was tired of acting with them. He put down his chopsticks and spoke bluntly. Did you really drag me back just for a meal?

Little Brother Xiao Li, cough, cough, cough… Shen Zhao hadn’t even finished half a sentence before he started coughing. Mr. Shen and Ms. Xu didn’t need to act now; their parental concern was genuine. The two were so anxious they forgot to eat, one rubbing his chest and the other patting his back, terrified he might be uncomfortable.

Shen Li was speechless again. He rolled his eyes and complained in his head: Shen Zhao isn’t sick when I’m not here, but the moment I arrive, he starts coughing. It’s like I’m his personal allergen.

Are you going to say it or not? Those two treated Shen Zhao like their heart and soul, but Shen Li had no such inclination. He felt a wave of disgust and just wanted to finish this and go home. Even though he had to serve a semi-familiar Gu Yunzhao at that home.

But compared to these two lunatics in the Shen family, Gu Yunzhao’s moods at least had a standard. He was much easier to coax.

Seeing that Shen Li was about to leave, Shen Zhao finally caught his breath. He gave a shy, delicate smile. Little Brother Xiao Li, I was the one who wanted to see you, so I asked Mom and Dad to call you back for dinner.