Ch 26 (3/3)

The news of Song Yucheng carrying on with business as usual made Xu Muzhi very mad when he heard about it. He'd thought that Song Yucheng cuckolding him had been the worst, but he had not expected that Song Yucheng would actually try to compete with him in business.

The main focus of Xu Muzhi's business was indeed on the entertainment industry, but in recent years, he had slowly started expanding in other areas. Holiday accomodations for tourists were the trend now, and Xu Muzhi wanted to strike while the iron was hot and build a chain of hotels.

According to the plan that Xu Muzhi's subordinate had laid out, a resort hotel very similar to the one in "Swapping Lives" had been designed, riding on the popularity of the programme. However, the plan had only just been written when Song Yucheng had stomped all over it.

Song Yucheng was planning on building a guesthouse.

"Heh heh, family-owned guesthouses run by a group of regular people? They can't even provide standard basic service and they want to try to grab a slice of the pie. What overreaching peasants," mocked Xu Muzhi.

The aide next to him made no move to agree with him and gave him a reminder instead. "President Xu, it's rumoured that Young Master Chu will be working with him."

"Chu Rong?" Xu Muzhi suddenly thought of the latest app the Chu family had launched. It seemed to be a platform related to rooms. If Chu Rong planned on working with him…

No. He would definitely work with him. Song Yucheng was like an opiate to Chu Rong; he was bewitched. Plus, Li Zhao was a well-known prince in his circles, and he had thrown away his dignity for Song Yucheng in insisting on being Song Yucheng's little brother. He kept saying 'our Brother Song' all the time, and anyone who said anything negative about his big brother was immediately attacked. He was even more difficult to deal with than a rabid dog. Song Yucheng had been pulled right into the inner circles of Beijing, and the fact that Song Yucheng had taken back his inheritance from his scummy relatives meant that he was nouveau riche, even though his foundation of wealth was unstable.

The past matter of Song Yucheng being a kept pet was what made Xu Muzhi most angry. Who would have thought that Song Yucheng would have his name washed clean of it? Back then, he had been a toy, picked off the streets like a puppy. Now, he was being called a man of deep love.

In the eyes of many people, Song Yucheng had tolerated all mistreatment because of his love for him. Xu Muzhi knew what the reality was.

Song Yucheng was the one who was most sly. He could bite a chunk out of him whenever he wished, and he had been obedient only because he had not come of age yet. Song Yucheng was rebelling right away now that he got the chance to do so.

Chu Rong had said before that he had been blind to not see how wonderful Song Yucheng was. This was simply a misconception — it was not that he was blind, but that everyone else was blind.

Thinking that, Xu Muzhi decided that he must correct this Song Yucheng, just this once, otherwise he would be not living up to this 'cuckold' label which had been placed on him.

Xu Muzhi made his move, and he did it swifty and aggressively. Renovations were about to begin on the resort hotel, and he was going to tie it in with a promotion with "Swapping Lives". It was still ranking high in popularity, so a large amount of traffic was coming in even when the hotel had not started running yet.

Song Yucheng, on the other hand, was keeping things under wraps and it looked like he was keeping quiet and away from the spotlight because he could not beat his competition.

Interestingly enough, Song Yucheng was quiet but Chu Rong, as a partner, was surprisingly busy. Chu Rong's movements were actually quite thought-provoking to most people.

He had actually brought someone into the entertainment industry, and the first project he'd got was an online variety show. It wasn't just this — Chu Rong had planned this online variety show to set the foundation for promotion for Song Yucheng's guesthouse.

It was rumoured that the filming location of this online variety show of Chu Rong's was going to be in the guesthouse that Song Yucheng renovated.

The Chu family ran a media company but they were more skilled in the matters of public relations. And the Chu family tended to specialise in the large screen, so variety shows are quite rare for them.

So, even an outsider could tell that this great venture of Chu Rong's was not about money at all. It was simply to make Song Yucheng happy.

Even so, they were not very optimistic about his chances.

The fight between Song Yucheng and Xu Muzhi was a lost one in the eyes of the people in the industry. Xu Muzhi had Ludwig as his backer. Ludwig rarely lent a hand as Godfather to Xu Muzhi, but he was sure to lend help because of principles.

Xu Muzhi had been quite aggressive in his search for a partner to work with too. He hired a design company which was most famous in the industry, and the designers involved in the project were all people who had won national prizes.

In comparison, Song Yucheng had just a group of ordinary newbies. Song Yucheng's parents had been leaders in the industry but Song Yucheng was a complete outsider. He could still pull the wool over the eyes of the general public but he was no match for true insiders in the industry.

"I'm gonna predict that the Chu family is going to lose money this time."

"I don't think so. That app's operating model and the concept behind it is good, and even if Song Yucheng does not deliver the company can just move on to work with Xu Muzhi. Or maybe they can move their focus elsewhere. They can do lots of things."

"I think it's unlikely. Chu Rong is the object of desire for Xu Muzhi, and Song Yucheng has a history with Xu Muzhi. Chu Rong is going around with Song Yucheng now, so Xu Muzhi is getting reaaaal cucked. Why would he be the hero to pick up the pieces?"

"That's not right. He did like Chu Rong for a long time. Didn't you hear what they said? Xu Muzhi is more or less a failure now, but we just don't know how big of a failure he is. He got out of detention recently and he got a new plaything already. But see, his new plaything didn't look like Chu Rong anymore. He obviously looked like Song Yucheng…"

"That's no surprise. I'd be tempted too if I had a person like Song Yucheng. Xu Muzhi can just go choke on his loss. Tsk, tsk, tsk. He had him by his side for years and the little bird flew away before he could touch it."

The discussions all went back to the old topic of Xu Muzhi getting cuckolded. The fault was not with the gossipers though, because this thing which had happened to Xu Muzhi was just so outlandish.

Few people did not play around in these circles, but only Xu Muzhi had had his plaything come back and bite him in the ass. The thing of note was that Song Yucheng was a very capable person, and he had very obvious cuckolded Xu Muzhi, but Xu Muzhi had been unable to touch him. He couldn't be more stupid and cowardly.

Even so, after all the gossiping, the discussion went back to the collaboration. They were still not optimistic about Song Yucheng's ability to compete with Xu Muzhi.

Meanwhile, Song Yucheng was sitting with Ludwig, having tea while listening to Ludwig's subordinate report about the latest trends. Song Yucheng had had several more opportunities to meet with Ludwig after the time the System had shown him the problem of the soul parameters. There was no helping it, that curiosity killed the cat. Song Yucheng had only heard of split souls in novels, and he wanted to see it with his own eyes now that it had really happened in this world. He was curious about Ludwig and Chu Rong's real identity.

Also, just what sort of existence was this that it could split itself into two in this sort of real world? Could they also be people from the Transmigration Head Office?

No matter how curious he was, he could not let his work slide. He still had to work when it was time to work.

And so, when Song Yucheng heard that all the people thought that Xu Muzhi would likely be infallible when he had Ludwig as his Godfather backing him up… He found it difficult to drink the tea he had in his hand.

Now that things had come to this, Song Yucheng felt a little sorry for Xu Muzhi, especially since he was the one who had plotted all this. The poor man. Even the leg he had clung on to for years was going to kick him away without hesitation. Just thinking of it made Song Yucheng feel that he was quite tragic.

He put down the teacup and asked Ludwig, "Isn't he your Godson? You know that he's going to be hit bad by this. Why aren't you helping him?"

Ludwig's answer was quite serious. "He's going to be your Godson in the future too so it's very normal for you to discipline him. Besides, the child will only know how to reflect on himself when he's fallen hard."

"A hard fall indeed. But the money he will lose is still going to go into your pockets, and multiply too. That's too much, especially from you, as his Godfather." Song Yucheng looked at Ludwig as he spoke, and a touch of appreciation flashed in his eyes.

Mmm, he was scrumptious. Ludwig was dressed today in a style that really fit with Song Yucheng's aesthetics. A standard three-piece suit in subtle colours, and simple tailored lines which highlighted his elegance and good looks. His tie was neat, and his shirt, all buttoned up, beckoned for someone to unbutton it.

This man had a natural sexiness. Ludwig's smokey grey eyes slowly grew dark with Song Yucheng's eyes on him.

His eyes grew dark not with fear or with nervousness, but with excitement. His control over himself, however, was very tight, and he kept his desire hidden.

Song Yucheng looked away when he had his fill of Ludwig's good looks.

Hmm. Spending the afternoon with a beautiful person while enjoying some black tea was quite nice. Plus, that scum Xu Muzhi didn't even have his backing now. There was not going to be much meaning in playing with him.

Song Yucheng decided to speed up.

On Xu Muzhi's end, the construction process for his project was also going to start very soon. The building had already been built after all, and it was just lacking the design and publicity for the business. However, just as Xu Muzhi was about to go all out, he received a piece of news which shocked him.

Song Yucheng's guesthouse concept was going to be announced, and the date of the press conference he had arranged was on the same day as his! Song Yucheng had also asked someone to pass a message on to him.

"Here's a piece of good news — you're going to be cucked again!"