Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Zhu Yin: “…”
She quietly regarded the man sitting upright on the sofa, reading through some documents.
“Young Master, our contract doesn’t say I’m forbidden from stepping through the front door with my left foot.”
Shen Dongjun raised his eyes.
Strange as it sounded, the moment he first saw Zhu Yin, an inexplicable feeling had arisen in his mind. The woman before him would bring something unexpected into his life.
And it would definitely not be the sort of surprise he wanted!
Han Qingzi’s words had shut him down yesterday. After a night’s sleep, that feeling had only grown stronger.
He decided Zhu Yin had to go!
He said coldly, “Everything in the Shen family is mine to decide. Butler Zhu Yin, I called Grandfather. Since he likes you so much, you can work at the old residence instead. It makes no difference.”
[I’m getting her out of here today, no matter what!]
Zhu Yin heard him say it in his mind.
She sighed and asked earnestly, “Is there really no room for negotiation, Young Master?”
Shen Dongjun opened his mouth. “Auntie Xu, see Miss Zhu Yin–”
The rest of the sentence stopped on his lips.
To be precise, it was not only Shen Dongjun’s words that stopped. Auntie Xu, hurrying over in concern after hearing the commotion, froze as well. So did Old Deng, who was watering the garden. The spray hung suspended in midair, refracting rainbow halos beneath the sunlight…
Someone had pressed pause on everything. Invisible time had been seized by an even more unfathomable, formless presence, arrested in that single instant.
Only the black-haired girl standing in the hall and the pink ball on her shoulder remained outside the frozen time and space.
Barbara was stunned.
Zhu Yin might be a brand-new employee, but wasn’t Barbara itself a rookie system that had only just started working?
Even this mission world was a low-difficulty world meant for interns!
It stared blankly at its host’s pale, soft palm. At some point, an old, mottled brass clock had appeared there. It heard her mutter softly,
“I wanted to discuss this with you nicely. You’re the one who refused to be reasonable.”
As she finished speaking, her slender finger gave the hand a gentle nudge. The verdigris-covered pointer trembled backward by one mark.
The scene spun rapidly like flowing water.
.
Shen Dongjun sat on the sofa and picked up the documents. His vision inexplicably went dark for an instant.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking he must not have rested well last night.
Light footsteps approached from afar. The new butler, dressed in a black gown, walked in as naturally as could be. “Good morning, Young Master.”
She was slender, her eyes curved in a smile, and her lips held a relaxed, cheerful expression. Even wrapped in a somber, heavy dress, no one could have found her stuffy or dull.
Shen Dongjun was not moved by the smile in the slightest. Instead, the inexplicable sense of danger in his heart grew stronger.
And then a bewildering thought struck him. How had she just come in? Why did it seem as though he had not seen her move at all? He really must not have slept well.
He set the papers down and said in a low voice, “Butler Zhu Yin, your smile is too bright. It’s dazzling me. Leave my sight immediately, and don’t come back to work at the Shen residence.”
Zhu Yin’s smile dimmed a little. “Young Master, you’re being unreasonable.”
Shen Dongjun found the accusation ridiculous.
He said coldly, “In the Shen residence, my word is reason!”
The person before him asked with complete seriousness, “Young Master, what must I do to satisfy you so you won’t fire me?”
Shen Dongjun answered decisively, “No matter what you do, you must leave the Shen family today!”
This time, Barbara saw clearly: its host had taken the little brass clock out of her dress pocket!
Was it an item?
An item capable of time reversal?
Barbara immediately opened the System Store, whose products were listed from top to bottom in ascending order of price.
It flipped through page after page before finally finding abilities and items with similar functions.
Every price had a long string of zeros behind it.
In the time it took the rookie system to search the store, the tyrannical CEO picked up the papers beside him for the third time.
Before he even looked at them, he frowned and squeezed his eyes shut.
He felt a little dizzy.
In the time it took him to rub his temple, someone had appeared silently in front of him.
Shen Dongjun jumped. Focusing his eyes, he saw that the new butler had entered at some unknown point. She stood ramrod straight, her smile sincere without being overly warm.
“Good morning, Young Master.” Her voice was neither loud nor soft, gentle and soothing. “Breakfast is ready. You may go and enjoy it.”
Shen Dongjun badly wanted to find fault with her, but no matter how closely he looked, he could find nothing wrong.
He scoffed softly. Did he need a reason to fire a butler?
Steadying himself, he prepared to announce it.
Zhu Yin suddenly spoke. “Young Master, I advise you to think very carefully before you say anything.”
Shen Dongjun immediately seized on an excuse. “Who gave you the nerve to speak to me that way? I hereby announce that you are fired as of–”
Tick. Tock.
Shen Dongjun picked up the documents in his hand for the fourth time.
He saw Zhu Yin.
He frowned.
He was just about to find fault with her when his vision suddenly went black, and he pitched forward.
“The Young Master has fainted! Call the doctor!”
The Shen residence dissolved into chaos. Even Han Qingzi, who had been catching up on sleep in the bedroom, was alarmed and hurried downstairs.
Zhu Yin watched her sit anxiously beside Shen Dongjun, clasp his hand tightly, and stare at him with worry written all over her face.
Han Qingzi’s mind was completely blank. Panic overwhelmed her. The man who was usually so vigorous and commanding now lay curled weakly on the sofa.
Her whole body trembled faintly.
At that moment, someone gently patted her shoulder.
Han Qingzi flinched and looked up, her clear, wide eyes filled with helplessness.
Meeting those eyes, Zhu Yin could not help feeling a little guilty.
She comforted her in a low voice. “Don’t worry. He’s fine.”
That did not sound very convincing, so she hurriedly added, “I know a little medicine. Really. The Young Master is simply exhausted. He’ll be fine after some sleep. Trust me, Young Madam.”
That, of course, was not the truth.
As the male lead of this world and the target of her current mission, Shen Dongjun had drawn Zhu Yin’s notice yesterday. His measurable spiritual sensitivity rating was abnormally high.
In a supernatural world, he would undoubtedly possess the perfect natural constitution for attracting ghosts.
Zhu Yin had reversed time four times with her item. No one else had felt a thing, but Shen Dongjun was different.
He did not know exactly what had happened, yet unlike everyone else, he could not remain wholly unaware of everything that had taken place.
Zhu Yin had reversed time four times.
Completely unprepared, Shen Dongjun had glimpsed a corner of a vast and mysterious world and endured four scouring passes through the torrent of time.
It would not cause any serious side effects. It might even bring considerable benefits to his soul. It was just that… uh… he would probably be dizzy for a few days.
The family doctor arrived quickly. After a cursory examination, the doctor concluded that there was probably nothing seriously wrong. Still, to be safe, Shen Dongjun was soon taken to the hospital for a comprehensive examination.
Naturally, the tests revealed nothing.
Shen Dongjun woke soon enough, but he developed severe symptoms. Whenever he opened his eyes, all he saw was an enormous, chaotic, bizarre world spinning at tremendous speed.
“Urgh–”
The once-imperious eldest young master of the Shen family leaned miserably over the side of the bed and squeezed his eyes shut.
Naturally, he was hauled away for another, even more thorough series of examinations.
The results showed that he was healthy. From a medical standpoint, no illness could be found.
In the end, the doctors could only speculate that Shen Dongjun had overworked himself. They advised him to maintain proper nutrition and rest quietly for a while.
This was despite the examination report showing that the eldest young master of the Shen family was in robust health, without the slightest sign of physical weakness.
Shen Dongjun remained incapacitated for ten full days.
Unable to open his eyes, he naturally could not attend to anything. He had even less time to concern himself with the insignificant “nobody” Zhu Yin.
Butler Zhu Yin successfully kept her job.