The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal a.s.sistant
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
Chapter One Hundred and One
Su Yuyang seemed to notice what Ling Miao was worried about. He consoled, "I promise I didn"t plagiarize, but Heavenly Domain does have some problems."
Even hearing Su Yuyang"s rea.s.surance, Ling Miao couldn"t let it go. Su Yuyang reached around Ling Miao"s head to press it into his shoulder. He kissed Ling Miao"s hair and said, "Xiao Miao, I promise you that I"ll give you—and everyone—an answer tomorrow."
"Really?" Ling Miao asked uncertainly.
Su Yuyang laughed lightly. "I wouldn"t lie to you. But now there is something more important than plagiarism that I have to explain to you."
"What?" Ling Miao honestly couldn"t think of anything more important than explaining the plagiarism issue to the readers. Su Yuyang took Ling Miao"s hand and put it on his stomach, his other hand going to Ling Miao"s waist. He said aggrievedly, "Xiao Miao, I"m hungry."
Ling Miao"s lips parted slightly. He seemed to be thinking of some unsavory things! Su Yuyang couldn"t hold back a laugh. "What are you thinking of? My stomach is hungry, not my… some other place. Unless you want to…" Su Yuyang said some extremely flirtatious things into Ling Miao"s ear, the warmth of his breath making Ling Miao"s ears turn red.
Ling Miao"s face burned. He s.n.a.t.c.hed back his hand and said, fl.u.s.tered, "Then let me go. I"ll make food."
Su Yuyang bent down and kissed Ling Miao"s forehead before letting him go.
As Ling Miao"s silhouette disappeared before him, Su Yuyang"s smile also disappeared. He clicked on his favorite contacts list in QQ, then went into a group where he found that person—Tang Xuan.
Aside from Tang Xuan, Su Yuyang didn"t know of anyone who could log into the author dashboard for Destruction of Heaven (the book the callout post reported Heavenly Domain as plagiarizing) and who would call him out for plagiarism so many years after Heavenly Domain was finished.
Destruction of Heaven was the abandoned book Su Yuyang and Tang Xuan had started writing together.
Su Yuyang clicked into a chat window and sent a message to Tang Xuan.
3000WPH: I was wondering why you came to look for me after five or six years had pa.s.sed. Seeing the forum post, I realized you figured out that Shu Yang and Su Yuyang were the same person. So you came to me and asked to reconcile, with a motive.
Tang Xuan: So what if I know?
3000WPH: You posted the forum thread, didn"t you?
Tang Xuan: Mm? What thread?
3000WPH: Don"t act like you don"t know. Since I"ve found you, that means I"m sure it"s you. You changed ProfessionalHoleDigger"s pa.s.sword too, right? It"s not like you don"t have a forum account. Why use mine?
Tang Xuan: Yours? That name belongs to both of us.
3000WPH: Since it belongs to both of us, then tell me the new pa.s.sword.
Tang Xuan: But now the name is mine. If you came to me about the account, you can go back now.
3000WPH: Edit the thread. If you don"t, wait for me to punch your face.
Tang Xuan: Ah, punch my face? You"ll be punching your own face, probably. Heavenly Domain took some of its setting, plot, and content from Destruction of Heaven. You can"t deny that.
3000WPH: I know you spent a lot of blood and tears on Destruction of Heaven"s setting, plot, and content. And Heavenly Domain is indeed a spinoff of that. You had a hand in Heavenly Domain"s success. If you want to take a cut of the profits from Heavenly Domain, I don"t mind.
Tang Xuan: How much? A hundred thousand or a million? Or ten million?
3000WPH: Ten million? Tang Xuan, don"t go overboard. A million. That"s my bottom line.
Tang Xuan: I"m going overboard? Su Yuyang, the one going overboard is you! Without Heavenly Domain, would you be as successful as you are now? Without Destruction of Heaven, would you have been able to write Heavenly Domain? Don"t play the fool. Everything you"ve achieved today was brought about by Destruction of Heaven. You think you"re getting rid of me with just one million? You earned five million in the last year alone!ｹ
3000WPH: In that case, we don"t need to talk further. But I still advise you to edit your thread or ask the moderator to delete it.
Tang Xuan: Su Yuyang—fifteen million. Any less than that and you can wait to be ruined!
Su Yuyang was currently taking screenshots. When he saw Tang Xuan say this, he only smiled coldly.
3000WPH: A single plagiarism callout thread will ruin me. Tang Xuan, are you really that naive?
Tang Xuan: What about you cheating people out of their feelings? You"re gay but you wooed a woman and let her fall in love with you. That woman"s Yan Li.
3000WPH: Don"t drag other people into our matters!
Tang Xuan didn"t reply.
3000WPH: Tang Xuan, I know you"re reading this. If you really drag Yan Yan into this, I"ll fight you to the death!
Tang Xuan still didn"t respond. Su Yuyang looked at his gray icon and yelled, "f.u.c.k it. It was the right choice to hide myself in the first place!"
The moment Ling Miao walked in he heard Su Yuyang cursing up a storm. He glanced at Su Yuyang"s expression again: Su Yuyang looked calm but his gaze radiated murderous intent. Ling Miao felt a chill and his hand trembled, causing the chopsticks to fall to the ground.
Su Yuyang was dragged back from the haze of rage by the sound of the chopsticks. .h.i.tting the floor. He saw Ling Miao"s panicked expression, mixed with fear, and hurried over.
He picked up the chopsticks and caressed Ling Miao"s face: "You look so panicked."
The more gentle Su Yuyang"s smile, the more worried Ling Miao felt. He held onto the hand Su Yuyang had placed on his face, looked up, and asked, "You can"t solve it?"
"It"s not a big problem. You"ll know tomorrow." Su Yuyang caught hold of Ling Miao"s hand in return and walked toward the dining table.
After lunch, Su Yuyang immediately contacted Yan Li in the hopes that she would be willing to stand up at the right time and slap Tang Xuan in the face. But he dialed both her numbers and got only the answering machine. He then got Ji Linxi"s number from Ling Miao, but similarly got the answering machine.
"d.a.m.n it, what are these two up to?" Su Yuyang stared at his phone and felt a sudden impulse to dash it to the ground.
Calm down, calm down! Su Yuyang internally warned himself. f.u.c.k, have I been influenced by Ling Miao? Why do I start panicking the moment things go wrong?
Ling Miao looked at Su Yuyang pacing back and forth in the room and started to get dizzy. He quietly stood in Su Yuyang"s way. Su Yuyang didn"t notice and crashed into him with a thunk, sending Ling Miao stumbling back several steps.
Ling Miao regained his footing and cursed under his breath. Su Yuyang thought he was cursing him and said apologetically, "Sorry, did I hurt you?"
Ling Miao waved a hand to indicate he was fine, causing Su Yuyang"s worries to diminish a little. Ling Miao glanced at Su Yuyang"s dogged look—he cried to the heavens and they didn"t answer; he cried to the earth, which also gave no response. Ling Miao actually started laughing: "Su Yuyang, this is the first time I"ve seen you panic like this. It"s like you need to go No. 2 but can"t find a toilet and can"t do it outside either."
Su Yuyang rolled his eyes at Ling Miao and said haltingly, "It"s your influence. You still dare laugh."
Ling Miao"s face fell and he pretended to be angry. "Oh, in that case, I"d better leave you. If you stay with me too long you"ll start to struggle with your writing too."
"Go!" Su Yuyang hugged Ling Miao and said tyrannically, "Where are you going?"
"Go where? To Feng Ji"s, of course!" Ling Miao hummed.
"Feng Ji?" Su Yuyang"s eyes lit up, and he bent down and kissed Ling Miao hard. "Dumb cat, you"re smart sometimes, too!"
Translation notes:
[1] 1 million yuan: 144K USD; 5 million yuan: 719K US