Chapter 63.1

Editor: SimoB

Bigshot Researcher Shi Qing took a look around his room.

As an aristocrat, his lounge was magnificently decorated even though he was staying at the Inst.i.tute.

There was some incense on the table that emitted a faint fragrance.

Shi Qing picked up the picture next to the incense and looked at it.

It was of the original owner and his father.

In this world, the author diverged from Chinese history starting from 700 years ago. Instead of shutting down the country, China actively developed itself and explored other countries, so it was able to save itself during the Great War.

After the war, the emperor at the time decided that change was necessary, which is why China became a const.i.tutional monarchy.

Both Shi Qing and the protagonist, Qin Yunsheng, were n.o.blemen.

One of Shi Qing’s foreign ancestors had been awarded a t.i.tle, but his father became a Duke through his own merit.

Usually, only those of the royal bloodline could be granted the t.i.tle of Duke, so his father was quite an outstanding individual.

Qin Yunsheng, on the other hand, came from the same family as the current Queen, albeit not from the main branch. He could be considered a royal, but because he wasn’t from the main family, Qin Yunsheng could only receive the lowest t.i.tle of Baron.

Because the Chinese royal family voluntarily gave up the right to govern the country, the power they wielded was much greater than the royals of other countries. As a Baron, Qin Yunsheng would receive a monthly stipend for the rest of his life even if he never worked. After all, this country had remained standing for 700 years and counting, so its coffers were not lacking such a sum.

However, Qin Yunsheng chose to join the army like an ordinary person, to fight for honour and glory.

If the plot hadn’t fallen apart, the protagonist would’ve been chosen as the crown prince by the elderly queen that had never married and therefore had no heirs because of his military achievements

But he had the misfortune of running into the original owner, who ended his life just like that.

Even though the n.o.bles didn’t have supreme power like before, they were still a level above ordinary people. In fact, the original owner could’ve lived a pretty good life even if he didn’t do anything.

But he had lost his mother as a child and his father was too busy with work to deal with him. Though he had nannies who cared for him appropriately, his personality was still somewhat extreme.

For example, he was a show off.

Everyone has some achievements they feel proud of in their heart. It could be something as simple as acing a test or getting into a good university.

The original owner liked to brag, but he lacked the ability to back up his words. If anything, he was an expert in how to slack off and have a good time.

If you didn’t have the ability to show off, and you really liked to show off, what should you do?

Just steal someone else’s achievements and claim them as your own. Duh.

There were many places in China for him to show off his abilities, but there was a specific reason why he picked the Science and Technology Inst.i.tute.

The woman who had just left was the original owner’s cousin. Her father wasn’t a Duke, but she was still considered n.o.bility and lived a pretty good life.

Before the original owner was born, the Duke was wholeheartedly devoted to his work and had no intention to get married. There were even rumors that he would remain a bachelor and childless for the rest of his life.

At the time, his cousin’s parents had just brought home her younger brother, and she went crying to the Duke about how her parents wouldn’t like her anymore. She begged to stay at the Duke’s residence, and her parents reluctantly agreed.

The Duke was a shrewd investor, and he was one of the richest men in the country. He thought nothing of raising a little girl.

She succeeded in staying, but she didn’t manage to develop a relationship with the Duke like she had planned. He was too busy to spare his niece a single glance.

After his marriage, the d.u.c.h.ess took very good care of his cousin. But she would’ve rather the d.u.c.h.ess not show up at all, because the d.u.c.h.ess gave birth to the Duke’s heir and completely wiped out any possibility of her inheriting the Duke’s fortune.

Then the d.u.c.h.ess died and she saw how the original owner was a bad student that liked to slack off, and her hopes were rekindled.

Which leads us to the current situation.

She was determined to enter the Science and Technology Inst.i.tute to show the Duke that she was much better than Shi Qing.

If she was a gigantic tree, then Shi Qing was a vine straining to climb up a wall.

If you compared her to this good-for-nothing that liked to pretend he was hot s.h.i.t, of course she would come out on top.

There was a reason for his cousin to consider this approach. After all, she had grown up in the original owner’s home, and she knew that just because the Duke’s blood ran through Shi Qing didn’t mean that they were close.

Shi Qing even resented his father for how busy he always was.

An estranged son with little ability, and a hard-working and motivated niece who admired and worshipped him.

The Duke really might’ve not chosen Shi Qing.

Besides, as the Duke’s eldest son, Shi Qing had the t.i.tle of Marquis now and would definitely inherit the Duke’s t.i.tle in the future.

Both of them were raised by his side, so since his position went to his son, wasn’t it fair to leave his wealth to his niece?

How could the original owner not notice how his cousin planned to use him as a stepping stone? He wasn’t a good person either, so knowing what his cousin was thinking, he deliberately acted against her.

He insisted on getting whatever she wanted and stole whatever she liked.

When his cousin joined the Science and Technology Inst.i.tute, he had to come too.

Not only would he come, he would also attain great honour, even if the honour originally belonged to someone else.

The reason why the original owner targeted Qin Yunsheng was because he saw his cousin trying to recruit him. Since then, he was very unpleasant towards his bodyguard.

And after this bodyguard exposed how he stole the newcomer’s results, he became even more of a thorn in the original owner’s side.

As the future crown prince, Qin Yunsheng wasn’t actually brainless. Of course, he didn’t just come out and say “Yes that’s right Shi Qing stole someone else’s results”, he just mentioned that he saw the newcomer working on the research.

However, the original owner still held a grudge against him for that.

After scanning through the info, Shi Qing took out his watch from his pocket and looked at the time.

Wu…

Qin Yunsheng testified for the newcomer yesterday and the original owner stormed off. He didn’t go home and slept in the lounge instead. Then, early this morning, his cousin came to pour salt on his wounds.

What a tight timeline.

The System was still worried about the difficulty: [Host, can you really do it? I don’t see a way out since the newcomer has a backup copy of his research…]

Shi Qing stood in front of the mirror and smiled as he b.u.t.toned up his lab coat.

[Tong, you have to trust in my abilities.]

When he finished, he thought about it some more and undid the top two b.u.t.tons idly. [Pull up this research and show it to me.]

The System immediately started pulling up the data and placed it in front of Shi Qing.

Shi Qing: [This newcomer really is a genius.]

What he developed was a new way to embed computer chips on complex machinery. Although it wasn’t possible to replace humans just yet, robotic pets were one possible application of this technology.

They definitely couldn’t replace the real deal in terms of companionship, but it was very good for people that couldn’t keep a real animal due to their own circ.u.mstances.

And these machine pets could also act as protectors of humanity.

Shi Qing recalled the original owner’s thought process.

Oh no, he didn’t have a thought process.

After learning about it by accident, he realized the value of the technology and used various means to make a copy and delete the original file. Then he impulsively made an announcement about it.

Shi Qing opened his laptop and began typing rapidly on the keyboard.

The System watched as its Host’s hands flew across the keyboard fast enough to leave afterimages.

System: Trembling.jpg.

[Host, what are you…doing?]

Shi Qing: [Making a little something.]

System: […]

It couldn’t understand what the Host was doing, but it seemed like it was pretty impressive.

Shi Qing kept up the pace all night.

He didn’t show up the next day either, but no one at the Inst.i.tute came to check up on him, which showed just how popular he was there.

In the end, it was the dutiful Qin Yunsheng who came over and knocked on his door.

“Mr. Shi.”

Shi Qing’s voice came from within, a lazy drawl like he didn’t have an ounce of respect for anyone. “Come in.”

With no unnecessary expressions on his face, Qin Yunsheng pushed the door open and walked in.

“You haven’t eaten all day today. Here’s your dinner.”

Shi Qing raised his eyes. When he saw Qin Yunsheng, his movements paused.

The royal family had lasted for 700 years, and there were countless beauties who had married in as concubines and queen consorts. As expected, attractiveness had been engraved in their DNA a long time ago.

He had seen Qin Yunsheng’s appearance before in his memory. As the protagonist he was, of course, very outstanding. He was conventionally attractive and his eyes were magnetic. He rarely smiled widely, preferring to quirk the right side of his mouth instead.

But now, seeing the real deal, Shi Qing found that Qin Yunsheng’s charm was not in his looks, but in his temperament.

When he was wearing that form fitting and slender military uniform and standing straight like a soldier, the forceful air he projected was almost impossible to ignore.

Chinese military uniforms were famous for being stylish.

During the Great War, some little genius came up with the idea of designing handsome military uniforms to attract citizens to join the army.

And it really worked.

Then the uniforms were improved for another 200 years. At present, they were almost two to three times better.

One look at citizen partic.i.p.ation rates in the army was all you needed to verify this.

And now, those good-looking clothes were on such a good-looking person.

Shi Qing: [Ao ao ao ao he’s so tempting in uniform!!!]

System: [C-calm down Host! The most important thing right now is to reduce the animosity value!]

Shi Qing: [I get it, I get it, I get it.]

Countless images flashed through his mind of this guy in the officer’s uniform, a banquet suit, the crown prince’s uniform, and the emperor’s regalia.

China, a rare country where all the uniforms looked great.

The only pity was that Qin Yunsheng, who according to his memories was a person who liked to smile, held only cold and emotionless animosity towards Shi Qing.

Even his lips were pursed in a straight line. It looked like he didn’t care much for the person he was a.s.signed to protect.

When he came in, Shi Qing was lying lazily on the bed. But when he saw who it was, he rolled over and sat lazily on the edge of the table.

“Open it for me.”

Qin Yunsheng didn’t get angry at being treated like a servant. He obediently took off his leather gloves, revealing his big slender hands, and opened the thermos.

The young Marquis was still as lazy and careless as ever. He picked up his chopsticks and poked at the food in the lunch box before suddenly raising his eyes.

Shi Qing’s ancestors had always been n.o.bles, and the attractiveness of successive generations had naturally improved. By his generation, he already resembled a seductive fox demon.

He stared straight at Qin Yunsheng with his beautiful eyes while his good-looking lips curled up slightly.

He asked in a straightforward manner, “Did Shi Yiyi make you do it?”

Qin Yunsheng frowned slightly, taking in the young Marquis’s disdainful gaze. His tone remained unruffled. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why bother with this pretence? Your relationship with her is obvious to anyone with eyes.”

Shi Qing dropped his chopsticks. His fox demon face was wearing a sneer.

“Why go to such lengths to target me? You even got Tan Mingyi to help you with this charade. I suppose I should thank you for thinking so highly of me.”

Qin Yunsheng’s brows furrowed more and more.

He looked at the young Marquis in front of him who was talking to himself and only saw an unrepentant wretch.

His wrongdoings were already out in the open, but he was still able to play the victim.

Without even looking down, he stood sharply at attention and replied crisply, “Mr. Shi may have misunderstood me. I’m not familiar with Ms. Shi at all.”

“Oh… Unfamiliar, huh.”

The young Marquis sneered and slowly stood up, walking over to the man and confronting him.

Only then did Qin Yunsheng notice that this young Marquis, who had always been slouched over and lazing about, was actually almost as tall as him.

Perhaps it was because they had never stood so close together before, or maybe because Shi Qing was just too slender, but Qin Yunsheng had never noticed this before.

“Qin Yunsheng, do you take me for a fool?”

Shi Qing pointed a slender and long finger at the man in front of him.

He sneered and jabbed him viciously in the chest.

Unfortunately, he had been coddled and protected since childhood. Even if he pushed hard, Qin Yunsheng, who had already been in the military for several years and had developed strong muscles, received 0 points of damage.

As a courtesy, he didn’t avoid this absolutely harmless finger.

Cold and aloof eyes locked with Shi Qing’s. A deep voice rumbled, “Not really, Mr. Shi.”

“Not really?”

The young Marquis snorted again. Only then did Qin Yunsheng realize that his lips were very red, like the colour of fresh blood.

It was true that Shi Qing’s features were beautiful enough to launch a thousand ships, but unfortunately they were at complete odds with his personality.

And now, Shi Qing, who Qin Yunsheng considered to be an already dead duck stubbornly clinging to life, smirked.

“I don’t know how you got the data from me, and I don’t really care either. But I can’t let you guys try to tarnish my reputation. Qin Yunsheng, you’re at least a Baron. What exactly did my dearest cousin promise for you to help her frame me like this? Father said you were the best when you were sent to protect me.”

The young Marquis withdrew his finger, his words full of contempt, “It seems that even Father sometimes has lapses in judgement.”

Qin Yunsheng’s hands, which were hanging at his sides, moved slightly.