Qu Qingyu sat beside the hospital bed in silence, but Zhu Xing knew he was unhappy.
“I’m sorry, I ruined your plans for today.” Zhu Xing felt a pang of guilt; he never expected that a single sip of alcohol would land him straight in the hospital.
“Is that the main point here?” Qu Qingyu picked up the cup next to him and poured Zhu Xing another glass of water.
“You gave yourself alcohol poisoning and you still dare to touch drinks? Do you really think your life is too long?” Qu Qingyu shot back, and Zhu Xing didn’t dare to utter a sound.
He didn’t even dare let his family find out, or there would be another round of making a fuss over all sorts of medical checks.
“I know I was wrong. Please don’t tell my family, okay?” Zhu Xing coaxed him ingratiatingly.
“Do you think I dare say anything? I brought you out, and you ended up in the hospital.” Qu Qingyu’s tone turned heavier. He wanted to say something harsh, but he was afraid he might end up making Zhu Xing cry.
By the time Zhu Xing finished his IV drip and his mental state had improved somewhat, it was already close to eight o’clock in the evening, and neither of them had eaten dinner.
“Don’t be mad anymore. I’ll treat you to a meal. After all, you came out today to celebrate your birthday; if you’re this unhappy, wouldn’t it just be a waste of time?” Zhu Xing tugged at Qu Qingyu’s sleeve and blinked.
Qu Qingyu couldn’t do anything with him. After the doctor confirmed there were no major issues, they were discharged directly.
Originally, Qu Qingyu had other activities planned, but with Zhu Xing winding up like this, he only wanted Zhu Xing to go home and get some proper rest, so he sent him back home a little past nine o’clock.
“You’re back so early, which means I won’t be able to wish you a happy birthday in person.” Zhu Xing traced the texture on the back of the car seat, looking sullen and glum.
“There’s a banquet tomorrow night, so saying it tomorrow is the same.”
Zhu Xing strolled leisurely through the gates of the Zhu family mansion. Looking back at Qu Qingyu, who was watching him depart from beside the car, he raised a hand and waved. Qu Qingyu didn’t make any other reaction, just quietly gazing at him.
After returning to his room, Zhu Xing watched from his window as Qu Qingyu’s car drove away into the distance, letting out a sigh with a trace of disappointment.
It was only then that Qu Qingyu finally let out a complete breath of relief, pulling out his phone to check messages from his friends.
“How is it? Is Zhu Xing alright?” A few hours earlier, Zou Ran and the others had inquired about Zhu Xing’s condition, but Qu Qingyu hadn’t had the spare attention to reply.
“He’s fine. I sent him back.”
“Alright then. Seeing how panicked you looked earlier, I thought it was pretty serious.”
Qu Qingyu looked out at the scenery flashing past the window, feeling a sense of restless agitation inside. Zhu Xing’s distressed expression and his breath seemed to still linger all around him.
“Second Young Master, are we heading straight back?” The driver respectfully inquired, interrupting Qu Qingyu’s train of thought.
“Mn.”
Zhu Xing had specifically set an alarm for 11:55 PM. Although he couldn’t wish Qu Qingyu a happy birthday face to face, sending a message right at the stroke of midnight on WeChat was still doable.
The moment the alarm rang, Zhu Xing couldn’t even keep his eyes open, but he still fumbled for his phone and sent a happy birthday wish to Qu Qingyu. Qu Qingyu seemed not to have gone to sleep at all, replying instantly to ask why he still wasn’t in bed.
He then quoted that same “Happy birthday” and replied with, “Thank you, Xingxing.”
Sleepy-eyed and failing to process the wording clearly, Zhu Xing couldn’t be bothered to type, so he recorded a voice message, sent it off, and dropped his phone to fall asleep.
Qu Qingyu had no idea what he was even expecting; since Zhu Xing felt unwell, he surely would have gone to sleep very early, and perhaps the message wouldn’t come at all.
As soon as twelve o’clock struck, numerous messages flooded in from friends, classmates, and family members.
The moment the small red notification dot lit up on his pinned chat, his movements carried a hint of eager haste as he tapped it open.
“Happy birthday.” Those simple four words made him lower his head and unable to stop the corners of his mouth from curling upward in a smile.
Tapping open the voice message, the timbre sounded somewhat hoarse: “I set an alarm. I’m so sleepy, going to sleep now, won’t reply anymore, goodnight.”
Qu Qingyu opened the chat box to send back a single line, “Goodnight, Xingxing,” before finally putting his phone down to sleep.
Early the next morning, when Zhu Xing saw the word “Xingxing,” he thought he still wasn’t fully awake, and right below it was another voice message.
It felt a bit strange. Although his family members all called him Xingxing, this was the first time someone else had done so.
[Host, yesterday’s video still hasn’t been sent out.] 520’s sudden interjection made Zhu Xing freeze mid-motion.
[I know, I know. Wait until I wash my face. By the way, what you told me before about Qu Qingyu’s ending, he gets dragged into the police station, right?] An odd, unsettling sensation welled up in Zhu Xing’s heart. The mere thought of Qu Qingyu ending up locked away and falling in love with Lin Yu left a sour taste in his mouth.
[Yes, host. In the original plot, Qu Qingyu opposed the protagonist gong and ended up weeping behind iron bars.]
[Yet right now, Qu Qingyu shows no signs of liking Lin Yu at all.] Zhu Xing carefully recalled their interactions; it seemed they hadn’t even exchanged many words. Qu Qingyu was always thoroughly aloof, though he consistently enjoyed provoking him personally.
[The plot has already been written, and all final developments will follow the established route.] The system’s voice sounded rather devoid of emotion.
[Then what if Qu Qingyu falls for someone else? For instance, for instance, me?] Zhu Xing was startled by this possibility, then hurriedly tried to gloss over his own words.
[Um, I was just throwing that out as an example! But if you’re saying everything has to follow a set path, then why do you even need me to complete tasks and advance the two protagonists’ romance?] The system fell silent because the data didn’t provide an answer.
[Characters follow established facts: Ying Chi always falls for Lin Yu, Qu Qingyu moves to kill Ying Chi on Lin Yu’s behalf, and the original body gets dealt with by Ying Chi for constantly harassing Lin Yu. From a narrative logic standpoint, the story is complete. So, without me, the plot would still complete itself. Why on earth do I need to play this role?]
Zhu Xing had long since doubted this premise. The main characters couldn’t deviate, but swapping out the cores of all four main characters with entirely different people was somehow fine? Even though Zhu Xing looked identical to the original owner, Zhu Xing certainly didn’t consider himself to be that person.
The system had never pondered this question. Crossing into small worlds to play specific roles and complete tasks was the requirement laid down by the Prime Mover, but if character trajectories couldn’t deviate anyway, this role-playing task essentially held no meaning. Everything was heading toward the pre-written plot ending regardless.
[Host, let me go ask the higher-ups about this question.] A system that was still only at level 1 was practically on the verge of crashing.
The reason Zhu Xing brought up these long-standing doubts was precisely because Lin Yu’s actions had diverged significantly from the original book. The original protagonist shou was a pure white lotus, a goody-two-shoes who would speak up for Zhu Xing even after being struck, yet through months of personal contact, Zhu Xing could clearly sense that Lin Yu didn’t match the original text. During the competition, Lin Yu had acted far too anxious, carrying an urgent drive to trap him and grab evidence against him.
The other anomaly was Qu Qingyu. In the original book, once Ying Chi and Lin Yu got together, Qu Qingyu began stirring up trouble out of sheer disdain for Ying Chi, intentionally getting close to Lin Yu. Yet currently, Ying Chi and Lin Yu were stuck to each other like glue, while Qu Qingyu acted completely unbothered. Moreover, for reasons unknown lately, his mood seemed improved to the point where he simply dismissed Ying Chi entirely and ignored him outright.
Furthermore, the two missions he had already completed also deviated from the original plot, yet the main system had never flagged them as errors. That proved the plot was entirely capable of shifting.
As for just how far that shift could go, that remained to be tested. Glancing at the video stored on his phone that the system had recorded, Zhu Xing ultimately exited the file and chose not to send it out to stir up gossip.