My CEO Harem Cultivation System

Bo Lifen didn't happen to be near the kitchen's door when it swung open—and she nearly fell on her butt at seeing Li Yang walk out without a hint of pause in his steps. There was a certain change in it that seemed to say that he meant business.

Actual business—

"Hold up, you shouldn't go to Shen Society—!" Mou Gu cried out and followed Li Yang with a frantic mode to his movements. He didn't even care that there were still some patrons in the diner.

Bo Lifen didn't like the sound and how things were looking up.

Li Yang left the restaurant and Mou Gu hesitated by the door. He rubbed his face and threw Bo Lifen a look—and just threw a towel into the floor. "Leave the plates on your tables, I'll get them later."

He chased after Li Yang.

The people in the small diner couldn't help but share looks at one another. It wasn't everyday you'd see a handsome CEO, ex-CEO, storm out of a diner and with a pink-haired guy chasing after him.

People talked.

"Were those two having a lovers argument or something?"

"Never seen the guy before."

Bo Lifen wanted to correct the people and tell them that they were completely out of their minds—Li Yang and her fucked her half an hour ago before they came here so that was an illogical conclusion.

Except she didn't say that.

Bo Lifen couldn't just shout that aloud into the restaurant to some random people who she didn't care about. Momentarily, she lifted the chopsticks full of rice back into her face and then started eating fast.

Once she was done, she got up and then left the restaurant.

...She could go home since it was pretty late. Or she could chase down after Li Yang and Mou Gu—or head directly to Shen Society. Bo Lifen rubbed the back of her neck. While she never actually stayed out of the house during these kinds of hours—she happened to tell her parents that she was going out with Ning Bi as chaperone.

For heaven's sake—Bo Lifen was a grown ass woman!

She made her choice then and there.

—-

Of all the options to live one's life—staying detached was simple.

It was too easy to become indifferent and apathetic to most things that happened around one's life. Who cared if people were starving halfway across the world?

If you put your mind to it, it was fairly easy to block out everything and pretend that nothing terrible was happening. As long as it didn't happen or managed to involve you—then it was fine. 

There were too many problems if you started to care too much—so not caring at all, choosing to ignore and remain aloof to most things was the easiest way of living life. If anything, the Li Family had done a great example of that.

His ancestors were willing to give up certain parts of their life in order to reach the pinnacle of where they were today. It meant being ready to stomp on others that tried to control you and simply doing what you wanted.

One needed a certain amount of willingness to put oneself at risk by opening up to other people and listening to them.

He didn't like that.

There was a strange unadulterated comfort in not putting any energy into something and knowing that maybe, maybe if he had put effort into it—then he could do it well.

It was almost tantamount to living one's life as an observer rather than a driver of the forces, but it was better than risks and danger.

A certain part of him could manage to stay in that kind of thinking—it was something that he may or may not have picked up while he was a kid, but even that didn't matter—but in the end, everything came down to choices.

Whatever dark and nasty thoughts that came brooding into his mind, in the end… he still chose the proper course of action that benefited him. It just happened that this time, it involved someone else and that was the strange thing.

If there was anything to hate in this world—well, he might have been able to turn a blind eye like the rest of the people… but now he cared because Ying Yue He was caught up in it. Or maybe because other people were forced into doing things not of their own doing.

It was an unfortunate reality to be in.

He never had to live as a puppet before until now… yes, so it was why he got worked up about it.

"LI Yang, wait up!"

He stared at the immediate area around him and took note that there was nobody around in the streets. Li Yang immediately sprang up into the nearest building to travel across the rooftops—completely ignoring the other cultivator who didn't want to give him answers.

He would just have to approach someone else for it.

He no longer bothered paying attention to the rambling of Mou Gu and simply kept his mind on the goal. Someone who knew about this Liu Group's whereabouts? Shen Society was the answer that came to his mind.

But would they give it?

Mou Gu said they preferred to keep things as they were. There would be too much trouble in shaking an already pre-existing system. It was similar to what happened in Telriah—he wasn't exactly against just an individual alone but a network and organization.

Something that permeated through more than just killing one bad guy. It was too complicated and he doubted that he was at the capacity to simply abolish an organization just because he felt like it.

Now that he didn't have Mou Gu trying to tell him to think more rationally—Li Yang found himself actually cooling off to think more properly and clearly.

He sighed and readjusted his destination.

If not the Shen Society then somewhere else.

—-

The streets of the black market were bustling with life even at this hour.

It was fair to say that it was even more alive.

And who stood at the center of it all? The merchants, of course!

Commerce, money and profits were his thing and through some difficulty… the Energizing Soda was about to hit the market. It wasn't as great as the actual thing and he was sure that he sold the Blossoming Root Tea at a discount, the idea of sodas for cultivators was amazing.

It was just the marketing scheme that he needed to liven things up.

Some people already tried to do it before but weren't able to do it properly without sufficient backing. As for him? He was able to do advertising at a good cost, marketing was within his fingertips.

Sure, he thought he was going to get chewed out by Liu Guiren for selling the tea when it turned out that it was one of a kind and it was squandered… but now he was going to make it up to the guy.

"Maybe I could actually retire from here," he laughed a little.

It was an odd thing to say. Once you were in this path of life, it was like climbing out of a hell pit to attempt to get out of it. There was no easy way of just dropping everything to live a normal life free from the influences of this world and the Lius.

Beep.

He blinked and picked up his phone from his pocket. There was a message from Suyin and he smiled slightly at seeing her send him a group photo with Mei and Xiaobo. The three of them seemed to be taking a vacation somewhere on an island resort.

Suyin: 'Wish you were here with us. It's really less fun now—still busy with work?'

This was one of those moments that he lived an ordinary life like them. 

Gen: 'You just want me to foot the bill.'

Still, life wasn't always so bad for Yuan Gen—compared to others in the organization, somehow he managed to prove himself as a valuable asset to the Liu Patriarch and was able to live a relatively normal life.

Compared to the traitors who turned their backs, others asked to delve into dangerous places to retrieve treasures… he was the one managing a good chunk of the black market.

There were feisty cultivators that might get mad or attempt to burn the shop down if they were upset about the prices—but he had security for that.

He returned the phone into his pocket at the sound of the wind chimes.

"Welcome to Yuan's Shop, how may I help you—"

"I need to find the head of the Liu's."

"What?" he asked in amazement. He looked at the guy and immediately recognized the Li heir—the very same guy who bought the blossoming root tea about a year ago. Still it was easy to pretend like he didn't know anything. "Pardon me sir, I think you got the wrong shop? Or place? I'm just a shopkeeper. I don't deal—"

Li Yang stared at him and started pointing out facts. "The entire black market is supposed to be owned by this Liu family—so whether or not you're in direct contact with them, you can find me a way."

"That's a little too much for someone like me, sir. You need to find an office..." Yuan Gen wondered how exactly did this guy figure out that he was the direct person that submitted files and reports to the Liu Family. Did the Shen Society tell him that?

Wait, Gen should have pretended that it wasn't the Liu,  Li Yang said 'supposed to be' and he could have pointed out another family as the owners! That was stupid of him for him to miss.

"Either you happily provide me a way to speak with them without any hiccups. Or I will have to make you do it—either way, you're still going to do it.. Let's forgo all formalities now."