“You did that?” Ning Sui asked 001 in his mind.
“How could it be me?” 001 sounded genuinely puzzled. “I don’t even have that kind of function.”
The waiter, frightened out of his wits, kept apologizing. Ning Yuanming pulled out some tissues and furiously wiped his face, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get clean.
His hair was completely soaked, milk tea dripping down his forehead and ears. The pearls in the drink even seemed to have slipped down his collar, sticking to his clothes in a clammy mess.
No matter how he wiped, it was useless. Finally, he crushed the tissue into a ball and threw it onto the table, glaring at the waiter. “How do you even carry drinks?!”
“It’s fine, you can go,” Ning Sui said, pushing the terrified waiter gently aside and signaling for him to leave quickly.
“Ning Sui, you did that on purpose!” Ning Yuanming shouted, eyes blazing with fury.
“What does that have to do with me?” Ning Sui said innocently. “Maybe you didn’t check the almanac before leaving the house today. Could be you’re just having a bad luck day, not fit for going out.”
After saying that, he kindly pulled out a few tissues and stood up slightly, handing them over. “Here, wipe it off quickly. It’s still snowing outside, don’t catch a cold.”
Ning Yuanming was speechless.
He could feel his blood pressure rising; his chest was heaving violently. Yet somehow, without thinking, he still reached out and took the tissues Ning Sui handed over, wiping his hair again.
The people around them were all watching now. Seeing him with his head covered in milk tea, everyone was trying hard not to laugh.
Ning Sui, for his part, wasn’t laughing, but his expression looked as if he were worried that Ning Yuanming’s bad luck might infect him.
He subtly leaned back in his chair, inching further away, and that very movement made Ning Yuanming even angrier.
“You think you’re clever, don’t you?” Ning Yuanming snapped, his voice trembling.
“You keep playing these little games, pretending to be innocent. If you really have the guts, then don’t ever come back to the Ning family! Do you think you’re so important? After you were married off to a vegetable, do you know how many times Mom has even mentioned you?”
Ning Sui looked at him calmly. “I never planned on going back anyway. That house, those people, if you want them, they’re all yours.”
“…”
The utter indifference in his tone made Ning Yuanming feel as though he had punched a pile of cotton. There was nowhere for his anger to go.
The pearls were still rolling down his sweater, cold and sticky. He felt absolutely miserable.
Grabbing another few tissues, he wiped his chin roughly, gave Ning Sui one last glare, and stormed out of the milk tea shop in humiliation.
In Ning Sui’s mind, 001 gave a low whistle. “A’Sui, not bad. Your combat power today is impressive, you really got under his skin.”
Ning Sui’s lips almost curved up, but then he suddenly slapped his thigh in frustration. “Wait a second, did that brat just leave without paying?!”
001 was silent for a long moment. “…Seriously?”
But milk tea was milk tea, he wasn’t going to waste it. Ning Sui leisurely finished his own cup, then went to the counter and paid for all eight drinks on the table.
Including Ning Yuanming’s.
“My heart aches,” Ning Sui muttered as he handed over the money. “A’Tong, note this down for me. Next time, I’m collecting those twenty eight yuan from him.”
001 could only stay silent.
The waiter, still pale from shock, hadn’t expected the customer to be so understanding and was grateful beyond words, thanking him repeatedly.
When Ning Sui pushed open the glass door to leave, he glanced once more toward the table they had sat at. Something still felt off.
Had something tripped that waiter, maybe?
But when he looked down, the floor tiles were spotless and dry. There was absolutely nothing that could have caused the tray to suddenly tilt like that.
After Ning Sui and Ning Yuanming left, a few tables away, Xu Tianxing finally lowered the menu he’d been using to cover his face.
He had noticed earlier that evening how Ning Yuanming had rushed out of their dorm, clearly going to meet someone.
The two of them were half on bad terms now, Ning Yuanming hadn’t said a word to him in days.
That much was normal. But for him to sneak out to meet someone while avoiding their other two roommates made Xu Tianxing suspicious.
So he’d quietly followed.
He hadn’t expected to overhear all of that.
The first part, about the eldest son of the Ji family, he understood. He knew Ning Sui had married in place of Ning Yuanming.
But the rest of the conversation… that was where things got strange.
What did Ning Sui mean by “that family, those people, if you want them, they’re all yours”?
It sounded as if that family had once belonged to Ning Sui, and later had been taken away by Ning Yuanming.
But wasn’t Ning Sui just a relative of the Ning family?
And Ning Yuanming’s words were odd, too. Normally, when a person mentions their mother, they’d say “my mom.” But in that moment, Ning Yuanming didn’t.
It almost sounded as if “Mom” was someone they shared.
But how could that be possible?
Maybe he was just imagining things, maybe his growing dislike for Ning Yuanming had made him overly suspicious.
Still, despite trying to reason it away, Xu Tianxing couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. His instincts told him that Ning Yuanming was hiding something big.
When Ning Sui got home, he immediately began packing for the upcoming camping trip.
His two roommates were both excited about the university’s annual third-year outing. Ning Sui wasn’t particularly thrilled about it himself, but the money was already paid, and wasting money was absolutely against his principles.
The only problem was that the trip would last three full days, three whole days during which he wouldn’t be able to touch his comatose husband even once.
Just thinking about it made him feel strangely melancholy.
He consoled himself with a firm resolution: tonight, he had to make up for it, touch enough to last him three days.
With that thought, he called Assistant Zhou and asked him to drive along for a big round of pre-trip shopping.
Ji Yucheng had been lying in bed the entire day, waiting patiently for his little wife to come home.
He had imagined that the moment Ning Sui returned, he would come straight upstairs to see him.
But to his surprise, as soon as he came back, before even taking off his coat, he dropped his schoolbag, called for Assistant Zhou, and went right back out the door again.
The great Young Master Ji could only lie there, listening to the sound of the car engine starting, then fading away into the distance. The long wait that followed stretched endlessly before him, every minute dragging like an eternity.
“Host, do you want to watch something?” 009 asked in his mind.
Normally, Ji Yucheng would have refused. For a long time, 009 hadn’t had enough energy to connect him to any real outside information.
It could only sense what was happening within a very limited range. But now that its functions had been restored by more than half, it had even regained its projection ability.
It could download entire libraries of films and television shows and play them directly inside his mind.
The only pity was that, as a system, it couldn’t eat popcorn or drink cola. Otherwise, it would have loved to experience that kind of human pleasure firsthand.
The life of a man trapped in a vegetative state was dark and painfully long. Before Ning Sui came, Ji Yucheng had somehow learned to accept the endless monotony of lying there motionless.
But after the arrival of his little wife, that dull tolerance had been completely destroyed.
“Just pick something random,” Ji Yucheng said without much enthusiasm.
He wasn’t interested in television. The Ji family owned an entertainment division, and he knew every formulaic trope by heart.
Ninety-nine percent of the so-called romantic dramas on the market were so predictable he could guess every plot twist with his eyes closed.
“Got it,” 009 said eagerly, bringing up one of its favorite eight o’clock dramas.
Ji Yucheng didn’t really care for family melodramas, but at least the noise of people arguing and crying on screen filled the silence. It made his world feel a little less still, a little less empty.
He watched a few scenes here and there, but his attention kept drifting back to the villa downstairs. He kept calculating how long it would take before Ning Sui returned.
“Host,” 009 suddenly said, its voice filled with amusement. “Don’t you think we look like a housewife waiting for her husband to come home, passing the time by watching TV?”
Ji Yucheng was silent for a long moment. Then the vein on his temple twitched hard. “Turn it off. I’m done.”
He had never expected one careless comment to make him snap like that.
009 quickly tried to make up for it. “Come on, just watch a bit more! Your little wife isn’t here to see, it won’t hurt your image!”
“Off…. ” Ji Yucheng said coldly, his tone brooking no argument.
“…”
009 wanted to cry. Its own loose mouth had gotten it in trouble again.
It obediently shut off the projection, leaving Ji Yucheng’s mind once more wrapped in silence and stillness. Then it sulked off to a corner of his consciousness to watch something by itself.
Watching dramas was only fun when you had someone to comment with. Watching alone as a system was just plain lonely.
Thankfully, half an hour later, Ning Sui finally came home. Ji Yucheng heard the familiar sound of the front door opening, footsteps crossing the marble floor, the rustle of shopping bags.
The corners of his soul’s mouth curved upward before he could stop himself.
Then he realized what he was doing and quickly forced the smile down again, telling himself sternly that such behavior was unbecoming for a dignified, noble young master.
He felt like a giant dog wagging its tail at the sound of its master’s return, and the thought made him feel slightly ashamed.
From the sidelines, 009 could only stare wordlessly.
Honestly, its host’s sense of pride was too much. No one could even see his expression, his real body hadn’t moved an inch for months! Who cared what face he made in his own head?
Meanwhile, Ning Sui was thinking only about one thing: he had three days of the camping trip ahead, three days when he wouldn’t be able to touch his husband at all. He had to make up for it tonight.
As soon as he put the shopping bags down, he dashed upstairs. His footsteps flew over the steps, practically taking three at a time. Within moments, he was in the master bedroom, already starting to run warm water to bathe Ji Yucheng.
Hearing that quick, eager rhythm of steps, Ji Yucheng felt all the bitterness of the day melt away, replaced by a soft, honey-like sweetness that spread through his chest.
009 couldn’t help but sigh. “He’s been gone less than a day, actually, not even nine hours. He left at eight this morning, came back just before five, and he’s already missing you this badly?”
Just looking at the way Ning Sui ran, one could feel the urgency in every movement. If someone didn’t know better, they might think he was sprinting toward a lottery prize worth five hundred million.
Ji Yucheng didn’t reply. He didn’t have to. Ning Sui was already at his bedside.
He could feel those familiar warm fingers, trembling with impatience, fumbling to undo his clothes as though he wanted to devour him whole.
By now, Ning Sui had become quite adept at bathing his comatose husband. What had once been an awkward task was now something he did with ease and familiarity.
The butler had long since stopped helping, he had quietly decided that this was Ning Sui’s job now, and Ning Sui was more than happy to take it on.
“I’d give you a hundred baths if you wanted,” Ning Sui said cheerfully, pinching his husband’s handsome, pale cheek with affection. The more he looked, the happier he felt.
Although Ji Yucheng was heavy and difficult to move, each bath gave Ning Sui far more experience points and money than anything else he did. With rewards like that, how could he possibly complain about being tired?
Ji Yucheng’s heart felt soft, so soft it might dissolve.
009 really couldn’t bear to watch anymore. Just as it was about to crack a joke, Ji Yucheng’s deep voice spoke up inside his mind, “Do you have anyone who’d be willing to give you a hundred baths?”
009 fell silent instantly.
No, it did not. Absolutely not.
After Ning Sui finished bathing him, he dressed Ji Yucheng in clean pajamas and carefully lifted him into the wheelchair. Then he pushed him downstairs for dinner.
The dining room in the villa was next to the floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the garden and the wide stretch of winter lawn.
Outside, the garden lights had come on, spreading a warm golden glow over the snow piled in the corners and the blooming winter begonias. The scene was breathtakingly beautiful.
That evening, Old Master Ji happened to be home. He hadn’t been around much lately, and tonight he’d come back to check in on his eldest grandson.
When the car stopped on the lawn, he glanced toward the villa and froze.
Through the large glass windows, he could see three figures seated at the dining table.
Ji Yucheng sat with his back to him, dressed neatly in a set of soft cotton pajamas, his head tilted slightly forward.
One of his hands rested on the armrest of the wheelchair, his fingers interlaced with Ning Sui’s. From that angle, it almost looked as though he had awakened, sitting there quietly, sharing a warm dinner with his spouse.
The old man’s breath caught in his throat. His chest tightened, and he hurried forward with quick, unsteady steps. By the time he reached the door, his knees nearly gave out, and he had to brace himself against the wall to stay steady.
But when he finally stepped inside, he realized the truth.
His grandson had not awakened. Ji Yucheng’s eyes were still closed, his face calm and unchanging.
Ning Sui and the butler were simply dining beside him, as they always did, treating him as if he were still right there with them, still alive, still part of the family dinner.
Old Master Ji was speechless.
In the past, during mealtimes, Ji Yucheng had always remained upstairs in his room. After all, a man in a vegetative state couldn’t eat; he could only survive through nutrient fluids delivered intravenously.
But he truly hadn’t expected that Ning Sui, just for the sake of having dinner, would not only bathe Ji Yucheng and change him into fresh clothes, but even bring him downstairs to join them.
His emotions surged from shock to disbelief, and his gaze unconsciously dropped to where Ning Sui was holding tightly onto Ji Yucheng’s hand.
For a long moment, his heart felt tangled and complicated, an odd mix of confusion and something else he couldn’t quite name.
As soon as the old master entered, the butler immediately stood up. “You’re home, sir.”
Normally, when Old Master Ji wasn’t around, Ning Sui insisted that the butler sit at the same table for dinner.
The young madam was easygoing and never cared about such formalities. But Old Master Ji was different, he upheld every rule of decorum.
The butler didn’t even dare to sit down when he was present.
Ning Sui was startled by the sudden appearance of his grandfather-in-law. He turned around at once and called out softly, “Grandpa.”
“It’s fine,” the old man said, waving a hand. “Go on, you two continue eating.”
He took off his coat, walked over, and pulled out a chair to sit down at the table. “Pour me a glass of warm water,” he told the butler.
“Yes, sir.” The butler quickly retreated into the kitchen.
Old Master Ji’s gaze returned to Ning Sui’s hand, still clasped tightly around Ji Yucheng’s. The sight made Ning Sui a little embarrassed, but he didn’t plan to let go.
After all, they were already married. And wasn’t the old master himself the one who had hoped Ning Sui would show more affection toward Ji Yucheng?
The old man was quiet for a while before finally asking, “Why did you bring Yucheng down for dinner too? It’s just a short mealtime, ten, fifteen minutes at most. Even if he’s upstairs alone, it shouldn’t make much difference, should it?”
His tone wasn’t critical; in fact, there was no blame in it at all. He had often thought about his eldest grandson, lying there motionless day after day.
If the boy truly had some sliver of consciousness left, wouldn’t that endless stillness eventually drive him to madness?
But of course, that was only a fleeting thought. A person in a vegetative state couldn’t possibly be aware of such things.
He hadn’t expected, however, that the young man they’d brought into the family, this Ning Sui, would actually take that fleeting thought and turn it into action.
Bringing a comatose man down to the dining table, sitting him there beside them as though he were simply joining them for a meal, no matter how one looked at it, the sight was strange, even faintly absurd.
Ning Sui, of course, couldn’t exactly explain the real reason. He couldn’t tell Old Master Ji that he was leaving for a three-day camping trip soon, and that he wanted to hold his husband’s hand as much as he could before he left.
So he could only smile a little awkwardly and answer with sincere seriousness, “Because I like him too much, Grandpa. I can’t help wanting to keep him by my side all the time.”
The old man froze.
His hand slipped, and the teacup nearly fell to the floor.
He didn’t understand the ways of young people’s love these days, but he was definitely shocked to his core.
Next to him, the “vegetative” grandson turned bright red from head to toe, like a shrimp being dropped into boiling water.
Good heavens. His little wife could actually say such a thing to his grandfather’s face? That was far too much.
If Ji Yucheng had truly been awake at that moment, he would have schooled his features into their usual cold calm, pretended he hadn’t heard a thing, stood up with all the aloofness of a mountain god, and walked straight into the bathroom.
There, he would have crouched down in mortified silence, his ears burning red to the tips while his fingers tangled helplessly in his own hair.
So that’s what it was?
He had thought his little wife brought him downstairs simply because he didn’t want him to be lonely, lying alone in that silent room upstairs. He had thought it was out of kindness, a wish to let him feel included, to give him a sense of presence.
But no, it turned out Ning Sui had only done it because he was reluctant to leave him, because he couldn’t bear to be apart for even a little while before his trip.
Just a few minutes of dinner, a fleeting fifteen minutes at most, and he still wanted to hold his hand that whole time.
His little wife was even more… even more…
“Even more of a pervert,” 009 muttered dryly.
Ji Yucheng fell silent.
If he could have moved, he would have buried his face in his hands.
Author’s Note:
Mini Theater:
Ji Yucheng: Pull up the company’s contracts for me. I want to see the progress on each project.
009: No way! Systems aren’t allowed to look at mortals’ business affairs!
✦ ✧ ✦
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
A mysterious coffee offering may increase translator happiness by 37%. Probably.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · The WeddingChapter 2 · New Target!Chapter 3 · Moved OnChapter 4 · Personal Information of Ji YuchengChapter 5 · Liked Ji Yucheng for 3 Years?!Chapter 6 · Love Rival?!Chapter 7 · Domineering PossessivenessChapter 8 · Obviously Very CuteChapter 9 Part 1 · Can’t be SeperatedChapter 9 Part 2 · Can’t be SeperatedChapter 10 · A blonde Guy…Chapter 11 · Dangerously Close to love?Chapter 12 · Confrontation with Ji ZhilinChapter 13 · Accidental DiscoveryChapter 14 · System 009 upgradedChapter 15 · Battery charging!Chapter 16 · Young Master was MiserableChapter 17 · Did Ning Sui treat you like this before?Chapter 18 · Was this what happened last night before you went to bed?Chapter 19 · He really got to the bottom of thisChapter 20 Part 1 · Don’t look at him, he was shocked too!Chapter 20 Part 2 · Don’t look at him, he was shocked too!Chapter 21 · Because I like it so muchChapter 22 Part 1 · Pull up your pantsChapter 22 Part 2 · Pull up your pantsChapter 23 · Why does it sound like he’s jealousChapter 24 Part 1 · I will protect himChapter 24 Part 2 · I will protect himChapter 25 · He’s quite gentleChapter 26 · Young Master Ji suddenly started to stutterChapter 27 · Ning Sui’s timeChapter 28 Part 1 · They ran away as soon as they were scaredChapter 28 Part 2 · They ran away as soon as they were scaredChapter 29 Part 1 · Are you looking for death?Chapter 29 Part 2 · Are you looking for death?Chapter 30 · Hurry up and say your last wordsChapter 31 · Ji Yucheng collapsed into his armsChapter 32 · Mr. Ji, I never expected you to be such a good person.Chapter 33 · He’s so well-behaved when He sleeps…Chapter 34 · His expression was incredibly varied in an instantChapter 35 · How could it be Ning Sui?Chapter 36 · Does the young wife only like people in a vegetative state?Chapter 37 · State-based controlChapter 38 · The young master was so happy he dropped his phoneChapter 39 · You were 37 minutes lateChapter 40 · I don’t plan to get a divorce.Chapter 41 · Otherwise, would it be your turn?Chapter 42 · Both perverted and cuteChapter 43 · If they sneak away again, I’ll hold them even tighterChapter 44 · I sprained my ankle tooChapter 45 · A cat jumping on a lion’s head to play with fire.Chapter 46 · Your young master has fainted!Chapter 47 · Sui Sui, come downChapter 48 · Are you going to lock me in there?Chapter 49 Part 1 · I love you, Ning SuiChapter 49 Part 2 · I love you, Ning SuiChapter 50 · Give the snowman a heartChapter 51 · Miss you.Chapter 52 · To hold in one’s mouthChapter 53 · You are in the cloudsChapter 54 · Ning Sui hugged him for the first timeChapter 55 · Can you sit on my lap?Chapter 56 · It’s either you or it’s not.Chapter 57 · From this moment on, I am your vegetableChapter 58 · Young Ji YuchengChapter 59 · They kiss tirelessly.Chapter 60 · RipplingChapter 61 · You want to compare this?!Chapter 62 · It’s 001!Chapter 63 · I like everything about it.Chapter 64 · It seems to have been filled up a little more.Chapter 65 · Wedding rings should be exchanged between the couple.Chapter 66 · Love-struckChapter 67 · Why can’t we even be apart for a day?Chapter 68 · PerfectChapter 69 · A lifelong contract was madeChapter 70 · Extra 1Chapter 71 · Extra 2Chapter 72 · Extra 3Chapter 73 · Extra 4Chapter 74 · Extra 5Chapter 75 · Extra 6Chapter 76 · Extra 7Chapter 77 · Extra 8Chapter 78 · Extra 9Chapter 79 · Extra 10Chapter 80 · Extra 11Chapter 81 · Extra 12Chapter 82 · Extra 13Chapter 83 · Extra 14