When Lin Zhuo woke up, twilight had already fallen.
Outside the window, the setting sun dipped below the horizon, and the lights lit up on the distant high-rises resembled faint starlight in the night sky.
The room was quiet, with the soft sound of shallow breathing hanging in the air.
Not knowing how long he had slept, Lin Zhuo instinctively reached under his pillow for his phone. When his hand brushed against nothing, he finally opened his eyes.
He had never been one to sleep this much before. Could it be that he had been too exhausted lately, causing him to spend so much time resting?
Yet even after sleeping for long stretches every day, his body still felt utterly fatigued, as if hollowed out from within, unable to muster up a single ounce of energy.
Lin Zhuo rubbed his sore eyelids and pulled back the blanket, intending to get up.
An arm rested horizontally across his stomach. Stunned for three full seconds, he forced down his rising anger.
The more he suppressed his anger, the more fiercely it retaliated.
Shoving Fu Baizhou away, he had barely started to get up when Fu Baizhou’s arm, as if equipped with a tracking device, immediately followed and locked him back in an embrace.
Enough was enough; there was no need to endure this any longer.
If he did not vent this frustration, he would end up eating two bowls less of rice for dinner tonight.
With a single kick, Lin Zhuo sent Fu Baizhou rolling out of bed. “Don’t you know that men should keep a proper distance from one another?”
This time, it certainly could not be his fault. After all, the place where he had fallen asleep was over by the balcony; it was obvious Fu Baizhou had carried him in.
Fu Baizhou rolled a full circle on the floor, woke up, and looked at Lin Zhuo. “Wife, it hurts so much.”
“It serves you right!” Lin Zhuo refused to coddle him.
Earlier, it was only because Fu Baizhou needed to recover from his injuries that Lin Zhuo repeatedly swallowed his anger.
Now that the man was healed, he naturally no longer cared whether he might hurt him.
Sometimes he really wanted to crack open Fu Baizhou’s head to see what was packed inside. To say he lacked all common sense as a human being, yet he could sweet-talk the young nurses at the hospital until they beamed with delight. To say he did have common sense, yet no matter how many times he was told that they could not sleep in the same bed, it went in one ear and out the other.
Fu Baizhou climbed back up and made a move to get back on the bed. This was the first time Lin Zhuo had encountered such a stubborn blockhead who was completely unfazed by scoldings or beatings, leaving him momentarily at a loss for what to do.
Slipping into his slippers, Lin Zhuo got out of bed, thinking that since he had no choice at the hospital, tonight he would definitely lock his bedroom door before going to sleep.
He ate a casual dinner.
Having been in this world for a week, Lin Zhuo had not yet had a chance to look around properly. Since he happened to be staying in the most bustling district of the city, going out for a stroll was just right.
He did not ask Fu Baizhou if he wanted to come along; after all, he wanted some peace and quiet on his own, and bringing Fu Baizhou meant any chance of peace went out the window.
Yet the moment he opened the front door, Fu Baizhou poked his head out immediately. “Wife, where are you going?”
Lin Zhuo reasonably suspected that Fu Baizhou had planted a radar on him.
“Going out for a walk. Do you want to come?” Lin Zhuo spoke out of mere politeness, but Fu Baizhou did not see it that way at all, his heart and mind entirely consumed by the thought that his wife was inviting him out.
“I want to go. Wife, wait for me.” Fu Baizhou went back into his room, and a minute later emerged wearing a completely new set of clothes.
These clothes had been bought for Fu Baizhou by An Wan.
Her taste was naturally exceptional, and combined with Fu Baizhou’s figure like a walking clothes rack, anything he threw on looked extraordinary.
Lin Zhuo glanced down at his own build and could not help feeling a bit sour with envy.
Walking side by side, he completely turned into Fu Baizhou’s foil.
“You should just stay safely at home instead.” Lin Zhuo regretted asking him in the first place.
Fu Baizhou could not understand why Lin Zhuo had suddenly turned unhappy again. “Wife, are you angry again?”
“I am going to anger your grandpa!”
Fu Baizhou replied, “That won’t do; my wife still has to give me children.”
Driven crazy with frustration, Lin Zhuo finally bolted out the door.
Downstairs, he bought a pack of cigarettes at a convenience store and took a couple of puffs to calm his nerves slightly.
Lin Zhuo was not a regular smoker and generally avoided smoking unless he was exceedingly agitated.
With no one around and the distant sound of children laughing drifting over, Lin Zhuo sat down on a stone step, the faint glow of the cigarette ember waxing and waning.
Fu Baizhou had followed right behind Lin Zhuo the entire way and, seeing him sit down, promptly sat down beside him.
“Fu Baizhou, did you really lose your memory?” Lin Zhuo stared at the high-rises, where the lit windows formed neat little grids of light.
This was the first time Lin Zhuo had brought up the issue of memory loss.
Judging by his reactions over this period, Fu Baizhou ought to have lost his memories. Otherwise, why would an unidentified entity possessing world-annihilating powers act like a mentally underdeveloped moron?
“I do not know. I cannot remember anything from before, so I suppose I lost my memory.” Fu Baizhou could not recall much of his past; he only knew that getting close to Lin Zhuo brought him a profound sense of fulfillment.
The sensation of his heart being completely full.
The night breeze blew cool and gentle. Since Lin Zhuo had only thrown on a thin jacket when he left the room, he could not help shivering a little from the chill.
The cigarette quickly burned down to the filter. He stood up, brushed off the dust, and walked toward the bustling crowd.
The shopping mall was extremely lively, with the first floor dedicated entirely to luxury goods such as shoes, clothes, and handbags.
There was an arcade on the fourth floor, and he planned to go check it out.
When he was little, Lin Zhuo had always envied the people sitting in front of the arcade cabinets playing King of Fighters. Later on, when he finally got to play it himself, it turned out to be just so-so.
Fu Baizhou was tall and possessed striking good looks, so the moment he entered the mall, he drew frequent, lingering glances from passersby.
Yet he himself remained completely oblivious to it.
Standing right beside him, Lin Zhuo kept his teeth tightly clenched in envy and jealousy.
Suddenly, a pair of young women approached. One of them faced Lin Zhuo and asked timidly, “Excuse me, can I get your contact info?”
Flattered and taken aback, Lin Zhuo realized they were actually not there for Fu Baizhou.
He pulled out his phone, ready to scan their QR code, when Fu Baizhou swept out a long arm, barring Lin Zhuo’s neck with hostility blazing in his eyes.
Sharp and decisive, carrying a biting chill like frost congealing on green pine.
The girl gave a start. Recovering after a few seconds, she covered her mouth and apologized, “So sorry, wishing you two eternal happiness.”
“No, I am not in that kind of relationship with him.” Lin Zhuo broke away to explain, but the girls had already hurried off out of sight.
He glared fiercely at Fu Baizhou, only to be lectured instead: “The doctor said getting angry is bad for your health and can even shorten your lifespan.”
He had not even done anything yet, and the man was already cursing him to a premature grave.
Although Lin Zhuo had not done many great deeds in his life, he had never committed any evil either; surely the heavens were not that blind.
Yet he had not suffered such a humiliating grievance in years.
Reaching the fourth floor, Lin Zhuo exchanged for five hundred game tokens in one go.
Playing the claw machine cost three tokens per turn. After walking around, Lin Zhuo picked one of his favorite machines.
Dropping in the tokens, Lin Zhuo stared intently at the claw, waited for the optimal moment, and slammed the button.
The claw successfully grabbed the plush toy by the head, but halfway up, it slipped and dropped back down.
Unwilling to give up, Lin Zhuo dropped in another three tokens, but the claw still failed to lift it.
“Let me try.” Eagerly, Fu Baizhou raised his hand.
The moment the words left his mouth, Fu Baizhou wrapped his hand over Lin Zhuo’s, pressing his broad chest against Lin Zhuo’s back and enclosing him entirely within his embrace.
Fu Baizhou’s body temperature was on the cooler side, and his dry palms rested against the back of Lin Zhuo’s hands with a faint chill.
From the very beginning, Fu Baizhou’s body temperature had been lower than an ordinary human’s. Lin Zhuo even suspected the man might be a cold-blooded creature, like a snake, after all, that was the only cold-blooded animal he could think of.
The man’s breathing brushed right against his ear, and his chin rested on Lin Zhuo’s shoulder. Yet the culprit seemed entirely oblivious to how ambiguously intimate their posture looked to outsiders.
Lin Zhuo’s brain momentarily stalled, his muscles completely locking up as he stood stiff as a puppet, letting Fu Baizhou take total control.
Pressing the button, the claw descended and clamped onto the middle section of the toy. Just when Lin Zhuo expected it to drop again, the claw locked firmly onto the plushie and refused to let go.
The machine had been programmed with a strong-grip mechanism, which usually triggered only after multiple failures. This was the first time Lin Zhuo had ever seen a strong-grip activate within three tries.
Taking credit for the win, Fu Baizhou proclaimed, “Wife, shouldn’t you give me a reward?”