Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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As a person with nothing to do, Jing Yuan seemed to be quite happy with his leisure time.
He was only concerned with others in his past life, so in this life he was just staying at home and doing nothing, which seemed pretty good.
Actually, Jing Yuan wasn’t without work. His business partners in the US had been hoping to collaborate with him, as it was the end of the year globally and everyone needed to boost sales. However, Jing Yuan was determined to sever ties with the past. His previous business ventures were too risky, and now that he was back with his family, he didn’t want them to be dragged down.
But seeing how motivated his younger brother was, he found himself itching to try it himself. Jing Yuan squatted by the grass and finished his last puff of cigarette.
What should I do?
At this time, Jing Yuan’s younger brother in China sent him a WeChat message.
Brother: Boss, you pay us salaries every month but don’t give us any work to do. We all feel really bad. If you want to take a break, than you better give us unpaid leave.
Jing Yuan also had many subordinates in P City; otherwise, his investigation and surveillance of Xiu Lingfei and the Longteng Group wouldn’t have been so easy. He was used to being in control; back in those small outskirts of M Country, he seemed to know everything.
The same thing happened when he returned to P City. His underlings were scattered throughout the city, so Jing Yuan told them to find other jobs while he continued to pay them.
Jing Yuan thought for a moment.
Is there anything that is neither dangerous, nor shady, nor illegal?
He racked his brains but couldn’t come up with anything. Most of the things he could do were office jobs, devoid of any real substance. He couldn’t do any of the things he wanted to do.
Pochinki[1] is so boring.
Jing Yuan sent a message in their WeChat group.
Jing Yuan: Think of something fun and not too shady to do, something that doesn’t require sitting in an office. A reward will be given to whoever’s suggestion is adopted.
The group chat was buzzing with excitement, and the younger members were all racking their brains to figure it out.
After a while, he still hadn’t received any good suggestions. Jing Yuan was idly fiddling with his phone when he heard meowing coming from the other side of the grass.
He looked up and saw the little black cat squeeze through the gap in the fence. It didn’t come closer but just meowed at him.
Jing Yuan smiled. “Come here, A Huang. Do you want Jing Xuan’s dinner again?”
The little black cat stretched and then meowed as it ran towards Jing Yuan. Jing Yuan loved cats, but in his past life, he hadn’t kept one even after becoming emperor, all for the sake of his public image. Now that he saw one, he naturally liked it. He picked the kitten in his arms, intending to head straight back to the villa, but as soon as he reached the door, the little stray cat immediately jumped down and ran away.
This cat had a wandering, free spirit.
Jing Yuan didn’t insist. He went into the villa and turned on the TV on the smart control screen on the wall, when his phone rang again.
The caller was another underling. “Boss, I have a great idea.”
“Tell me about it.” Jing Yuan lowered his head to change into his slippers.
“You see, one of our original businesses was selling intelligence, right?” the younger brother said. “Selling intelligence here won’t work, but we can change our approach and become detectives. Opening an investigation agency would be a much safer option.”
“Detective?”
Jing Yuan thought about it and realized it made sense; isn’t that what detectives do— investigate and sell information?
It could be considered as an alternative.
He turned off the phone, took a bottle of wine from the refrigerator, sat on the sofa, and happened to see the international news channel, where the president of country A was attending some kind of ceremony.
Jing Yuan stared at the television screen, and suddenly he was inspired.
A fun, legitimate, and office-free industry— he could start a private bodyguard company.
The quality of bodyguard companies on the market varied greatly. Most celebrities’ bodyguards came from just two or three of the largest private companies, while other bodyguard companies were generally not very competitive.
Thinking about it carefully, this whole thing was really interesting, legal yet thrilling. With his methods, a year should be enough for him. After all, he already had his underlings, and the company could be up and running quickly in its early stages.
Jing Yuan found something for himself to do, and he did it right away. That afternoon, he took his underlings to look at the site.
Meanwhile, Jiang Shining was in a meeting at the company. There were a lot of meetings, big and small, at the end of the year.
The manager was giving a work report when her phone vibrated. She opened it and saw it was the 4T group’s WeChat group buzzing.
The four young men, having finished their busy schedules for the past few days, squeezed in some time to rehearse their new dance. They also tagged Jiang Shining in the group chat, giving her all sorts of updates on their recent excellent work. Jiang Shining smiled slightly; she naturally understood that they were seeking praise.
She didn’t know what the relationship was like between artists and bosses in other companies, but the four members of the group clearly didn’t treat her like their boss, more like elementary school students waiting for praise from their teacher.
The group’s main dancer: Ning Zong, when we did a show last time, all the seniors praised us!
The group’s lead vocalist: But we kept your words in mind and avoided arrogance and impetuosity, so we performed very calmly!
The group’s center: Yeah, the leader is great too, but when we’re not fully awake in the morning, he keeps spraying water on us. Ning Zong, can you do something about him? [frustrated]
The group’s leader: …[smile] This doesn’t need to be mentioned.
Jiang Shining curled the corners of her lips into a smile.
Her sons are all grown up and mature. The energy and vitality of these teenagers was truly delightful.
Jiang Shining: Your hard work is evident from the company’s revenue.
The four kids laughed for a while.
Being a celebrity was indeed very lucrative. Of these four young male stars, only one came from a well-off family; the other three were from humble backgrounds. Yet, these days, boys who had just come of age were already able to buy cars and houses for their families.
Kids: Boss Ning, we’ll work hard to earn more money next year! Boss, please give us more gigs!
Jiang Shining: Work should have a balance of relaxation and rest. Being too tired will also drain your energy. It’s just good as it is now.
After turning off her phone, Jiang Shining checked the four boys’ schedules for the month. No wonder they were back to dance practice; their new song’s music video was scheduled to start recording today.
I’ll go see them and bring Zou Yu along.
When Jiang Shining arrived in the afternoon, the four of them were already in the studio, and the director seemed to be talking to them.
This music video focused on first love, innocence, and purity. Therefore, the four young people wear different styles of white and light-colored tops, exuding youthful energy.
Looking back at Zou Yu, she had the typical first love face.
Absolutely perfect.
During the afternoon shoot, the four boys became even more focused when they saw Jiang Shining arrive. Although it was their first day of filming, the progress was quite good.
Jiang Shining originally planned to have a get-together with them at the company cafeteria that evening, but the director said the view would be exceptionally good tonight and they needed to be taken to the mountains to shoot night scenes. Work was important, so Jiang Shining arranged to meet them after the music video was finished.
In the evening, her assistant called to say that Mu Xu— the agent of Zou Yu’s target actor for Best Actor— had agreed to participate in their program. However, his schedule needed to be adjusted, and it would be best to finalize a specific time as soon as possible.
This was another mess. They needed to wait for the other invited celebrities to respond, schedule their appearances, and discuss the script and process of the variety show in detail.
After he finished his work, he looked up and it was already 7:30 pm.
Jiang Shining drove home, and as soon as she opened the door, the aroma of food wafted out; Jing Yuan had finished cooking. He was the only one in the house, so it seemed Jing Xuan hadn’t finished work yet.
“You two are really busy people.” Jing Yuan said, wiping his hands, and came over to take Jiang Shining’s clothes and bag.
Jiang Shining glanced at the dining table and saw that five dishes, a soup, and a salad had all been prepared.
“Jing Xuan hasn’t come back yet?” Jiang Shining said, “Give him a call, or the food will get cold.”
“That’s perfect, I’ll feed his portion to the cat.” Jing Yuan smiled.
Behind him, the oven beeped. Jing Yuan turned around, opened the oven, and took out the food with gloves.
What did you do?
“I baked cakes and egg tarts for Guoguo,” Jing Yuan said casually.
As a former emperor, was it really a good thing to be so domestic?
Jiang Shining felt a sense of relief, as if her child had grown up and become reliable. And just as Jing Yuan placed the cake on the table, Guoguo, drawn by the aroma, came running down from upstairs.
“Mom!” she greeted Jiang Shining, “I missed you so much!”
Then, without stopping, she headed straight for the table.
Jing Yuan reacted quickly, grabbing Guoguo by the back of her collar as if he were pinching a kitten.
“Go wash your hands first.”
The little girl ran to the bathroom to wash her hands.
Jiang Shining washed her hands at the vegetable washing area, and Jing Yuan casually handed her a tissue.
“I’ve figured out what I want to do. But it’ll probably be up to you for my first job.”
“What are you going to do?” Jiang Shining asked curiously, wiping her hands.
“I want to start a private bodyguard company,” Jing Yuan said. “What do you think?”
Jiang Shining thought this was a good idea; otherwise, given Jing Yuan’s personality, he definitely wouldn’t be able to get used to a peaceful daily life. Letting him run a company and train people would also help him expend his excess energy, saving him from constantly finding excuses to ‘spar’ with Jing Xuan.
“I think it’s great,” Jiang Shining said. “Once your first batch of subordinates are trained, all the security personnel for the artists in my company can be replaced by you. I’ll recommend you to a few friends in the industry, and you’ll be halfway into this circle.”
Clearly, Jing Yuan thought the same thing.
As the two were talking, the door opened again, and Jing Xuan walked in, bringing with him the chill of the evening air.
“I got home late again today,” he said helplessly, taking off his coat. “The company’s so busy at the end of the year. What are you guys talking about?”
“Jing Yuan wants to open a private bodyguard company,” Jiang Shining said with a smile. “That way, he won’t bother you so much by constantly coming to your company.”
“Does your company need it?” Jing Yuan asked, a smirk playing on his lips.
“What would a video company like ours need bodyguards for?” Jing Xuan changed his shoes, then smiled. “Not bad, not bad, I can save on your basic salary. Now that you have something to do, you don’t need to be a cleaning staff member in my company anymore?”
“No, this is called suspension, and suspension still requires salary.”
These two people, bickering over basic wages, were quite different. One casually mentioned buying a private jet, while the other could immediately invest in and buy land to start a company. They were not short of money at all, but they insisted on squandering that pitiful one or two thousand yuan just to argue.
“Stop joking around, let’s have dinner together.” Seeing the two of them going on and on, Jiang Shining interrupted helplessly.
“Wash your hands!” Guoguo, who was already sitting at the table, said immediately.
Jing Xuan smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll wash my hands.”
The family sat around the table, creating a lively atmosphere. The sounds of bowls and chopsticks filled the air.
“You can start your own company, but I have one condition,” Jing Xuan said.
“What are your requirements?” Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow.
“You still have to be in charge of dinner.” Jing Xuan laughed. “That way, my basic salary won’t be wasted.”
Jing Yuan thought the same thing. Now Jiang Shining and Jing Xuan only came back after dark, and if he didn’t go home soon, it would be too late to cook dinner.
“Okay.” Jing Yuan chuckled. “Boss Wang, do you need a boxed lunch? Should I bring you one too?”
“Are you serious?” This time Jing Xuan was genuinely surprised. He never expected Jing Yuan to have such a domestic side.
“If you really eat it, I dare to actually make it.”
“If you really do it, I’ll really eat it!”
The two brothers seemed to be arguing again over this trivial matter. The next morning, before Jing Xuan went to work, Jing Yuan handed him a pink cat-shaped lunchbox.
“Take it, a love-filled bento,” Jing Yuan said innocently.
Jing Xuan: …
Jing Xuan: “You can’t take Guoguo’s lunchbox!”
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Don’t worry everyone, the royal brothers’ storyline isn’t over yet. As for the Sword Saint… we’ll have to wait until the young marshal appears before we see anything (facepalm).
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[1] Pochinki is a premier, high-risk “hot drop” city located in the center-west of PUBG’s Erangel map. Known for its dense, high-tier loot and central location, it acts as a, frequently contested “gunfight arena” attracting numerous squads for intense close-quarters combat.
