Since sharing a room with Lin Yangfeng, Yan Zhen’s life had settled into a routine.
His daily schedule went like this:
6:30 AM – Begin preparing breakfast for Lin Yangfeng;
7:00 AM – Lin Yangfeng wakes up, Yan Zhen watches him eat breakfast;
7:30 AM – Lin Yangfeng leaves for class, Yan Zhen heads to his shop;
7:30 AM to 11:00 AM – Yan Zhen minds the shop, selling items while twisting threads on the side;
11:30 AM – Yan Zhen returns to their room to cook lunch for Lin Yangfeng;
12:00 PM – Lin Yangfeng returns, Yan Zhen watches him eat lunch;
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM – Yan Zhen ensures Lin Yangfeng takes a nap;
2:30 PM – Lin Yangfeng leaves for class again;
2:30 PM to 5:00 PM – Yan Zhen tends the shop;
5:30 PM – Yan Zhen prepares dinner;
6:00 PM – Lin Yangfeng returns, Yan Zhen watches him eat dinner;
7:00 PM – Lin Yangfeng watches the news while Yan Zhen cuts fruit for him;
8:00 PM – Yan Zhen starts twisting threads while watching idol dramas, with Lin Yangfeng sitting grumpily beside him;
9:30 PM – Lin Yangfeng washes up and goes to bed;
10:00 PM – Yan Zhen washes up and goes to bed.
Day after day, this routine remained unchanged. After three days, the thread-twisting sessions were replaced with weaving, and occasionally the idol dramas varied—but everything else stayed the same.
When Yan Zhen first moved in, Lin Yangfeng’s expression gave nothing away, but his emotions were in turmoil. After a few days, however, he grew accustomed to it. He simply treated it as having a roommate who was both good-looking and skilled. And truthfully, since this person appeared, his stomach—starved for thousands of years—had gradually been nourished bit by bit. His body, weakened for just as long, was now being revitalized by the Spiritual Energy permeating every muscle.
Though he was still far from his peak condition, as long as the spiritual energy food kept coming, full recovery was within reach.
But…
Lin Yangfeng had a new problem.
He had always hated owing others, yet he was acutely aware that in this era of scarce Spiritual Energy, food rich in it was incredibly rare. He didn’t know where Yan Zhen sourced so much, but he knew one thing—he was bound to be indebted to him.
So, from the very first meal Yan Zhen provided, Lin Yangfeng had been thinking of how to repay him. But before he could even deliver his first gift, Yan Zhen gave him more. He had to reconsider, planning something better—only for Yan Zhen to keep supplying him with spiritual energy food without pause. Even now that he was attending school, Yan Zhen had moved in with him, providing meals all day long…
Lin Yangfeng suddenly had no idea what to give in return. Thousands of years ago, he had accumulated some treasures, but during his famished years, he had either traded them for food or consumed them himself. Now, almost nothing remained. Material possessions from the human world weren’t an issue for him, but giving such things to Yan Zhen—how could they ever be considered substantial repayment?
At this moment, Lin Yangfeng felt deeply his own poverty.
So the question returned—what could he possibly offer in return? If this feeding continued while he had nothing to give, he…
Lin Yangfeng exhaled heavily.
Fine. He’d think about it some more.
The humans at the Special Affairs Bureau had noticed recent changes in the human world causing a rise in Spiritual Energy concentration. If anything valuable emerged because of it, he would take action himself.
Anyway, he wasn’t lacking in Spiritual Energy now.
·
Yan Zhen sat in a high-backed chair, with several small baskets placed on the table in front of him, each containing balls of thread in various colors. In his hands were two long rods strung with thread, which he was using to weave.
At the joints where the thick and thin threads met, a long stretch of dense, plush fabric had already taken shape. Its hue was pure, with a deep gray as the main tone subtly infused with other colors. At a glance, it seemed unremarkable, but upon closer inspection, it exuded a low-key luxury, shimmering with a hidden, iridescent glow.
This was a weaving technique Yan Zhen had learned online. As for the purpose? First, he wanted to knit a scarf for his Dan Zai, then clothes, pants, socks—basically, anything that could be knitted, he intended to make from scratch.
Yan Zhen pressed a subtle pattern into the fabric, thinking to himself. He wasn’t sure whether Dan Zai had been lost before or after birth, but either way, he hadn’t been able to dote on him since childhood. Now that Dan Zai had grown so big, he couldn’t let him lack anything compared to others.
So, from the very beginning of twisting threads, Yan Zhen had plucked fur from Exotic Beasts and stripped stems from Exotic Herbs, blending them together to create a powerful material—enough to fully arm Dan Zai! At this thought, he sighed softly. Dan Zai seemed to be working in some special human department now, and from what he’d heard, it wasn’t easy. He had to take good care of Dan Zai.
Just as Yan Zhen was leisurely knitting the scarf, heavy footsteps sounded from outside.
A young man walked into the shop, his face weary. He was handsome, with thick eyebrows and bright eyes—clearly someone who had once been a sunny youth. But now, he looked utterly drained.
The young man wandered through the shop, shelf by shelf, until he reached the very back, where his gaze settled on a potted plant.
For some reason, he was inexplicably drawn to it.
The plant’s leaves resembled sunflower leaves, but it wasn’t a sunflower. The entire pot was a vibrant green, fresh and eye-catching.
After staring at it blankly for a while, the young man couldn’t resist approaching Yan Zhen and asking hoarsely, “Shopkeeper, how much is this? I’d like to buy it.”
Yan Zhen looked up and glanced at the young man—decent-looking, but nowhere near as good as Dan Zai.
The moment the young man got a clear look at Yan Zhen’s face, he froze.
This shopkeeper was way too good-looking! Not even the celebrities he’d seen could compare.
“Fifty thousand,” Yan Zhen stated bluntly.
The young man was stunned. That expensive?
In regular flower shops, even the finest plants cost a few hundred at most. This little pot of greenery, barely the size of two palms, was being sold for fifty thousand?
The young man looked at Yan Zhen, feeling a wave of frustration. Did being drop-dead gorgeous give someone the right to demand exorbitant prices? He didn’t want to waste his money, but even as he thought this, his eyes kept drifting back to the plant. What should he do? He still really wanted it, but fifty thousand for a pot was just too much…
As he wavered internally, Yan Zhen spoke slowly, “Take it home and tend to it well. When it blooms and bears fruit, eat the seeds from the pods. After that, you won’t have nightmares anymore.”
At these words, the young man’s face paled.
How did this shopkeeper know about his nightmares?
Yan Zhen seemed to know what he wanted to ask, but had no desire to explain anything to him, simply saying, “Buy it or not, it’s up to you.”
The young man took a deep breath, rubbed his face, and was utterly torn.
To buy or not to buy? Real or a scam?
Author’s note: Seems like none of you guessed correctly yesterday. This mountain is a very wealthy one, but not famous at all… I’ve already described what the mountain looks like!