Li Xiuchi was in the middle of a fierce firefight with Jiang Zimo. At the sound of that, he glanced over leisurely—and froze. A shot rang out, and the character on his screen was killed.
“Hahaha, you lost!” Jiang Zimo crowed. “Hurry up and call me Dad!”
Just then, Xie Shijin walked in from outside. He wore a black windbreaker and black trousers, his tall, graceful figure drawing plenty of eyes the moment he entered.
Jiang Zimo immediately bragged to him. “Come look! I killed Li Xiuchi.”
Xie Shijin glanced at the screen, then noticed Li Xiuchi wasn’t looking at the computer at all. He turned his head and saw two pretty girls on Wei Yu’s phone. The girl on the left had a pure, innocent look, with naturally downturned eyes that made her seem especially guileless.
After a brief pause, Xie Shijin looked away, uninterested.
He pulled out the gaming chair beside Jiang Zimo and sat down, then took his phone from his trouser pocket.
WeChat: 99+.
He raised an eyebrow. Naiyou Paofu had actually sent him that many messages.
But when he opened the chat, he found that Jiang Zimo had added him to a group for gaming together. The group was buzzing with conversation.
Xie Shijin: “……”
Frowning, he set the group to Do Not Disturb. “Don’t add me again.”
“I heard this group has tons of pretty girls,” Jiang Zimo said.
Xie Shijin: “.”
He couldn’t be bothered to answer. Scrolling down, Xie Shijin finally found the little golden-point cat, buried beneath all the messages.
The chat was still sitting on that long string of eggs.
It was now ten in the morning, more than an hour since she’d sent the message.
Going by the past, she should have come looking for trouble by now, or sent him a whole pile of bills to pay.
Jiang Zimo watched him on the sly. Seeing that his screen was open to his chat with Naiyou Paofu, he said gleefully, “Well, well. That girl with the cutesy voice hasn’t messaged you at all. Don’t tell me she’s really dumping you?”
Thinking of the girl’s soft, sweet voice when they’d talked on the phone yesterday—so different from the deliberately high-pitched, girlish voice she’d used before—Xie Shijin said, “Don’t call her that.”
Jiang Zimo froze.
That was something. Xie Shijin was actually starting to stand up for her.
Meanwhile, Wen Xiao had only shown her face briefly before leaving again. Fang Ruman sat down in a chair and got back to chatting on the phone with her boyfriend.
Wen Xiao had helped her grandparents farm when she was younger, so she knew the process well.
She planned to ride her little electric scooter out to buy some seeds. She called out to Fang Ruman, but Fang was so caught up in the sweetness of love that she didn’t hear.
Wen Xiao didn’t bother with her and set off on the scooter.
A few minutes’ ride from her house brought her to the street, where shops lined both sides.
The original Wen Xiao had hardly ever left the house, so Wen Xiao had to look into the shops one by one. Before long, she found one selling vegetable seeds.
She bought some Shanghai bok choy, which could still be planted in autumn. Then she turned around and bought some fertilizer and farming tools before heading home.
By the time she returned, Fang Ruman had finished her video call and was sitting there playing on her phone. Seeing what Wen Xiao had bought, she exclaimed, “Are you planning to stay in the countryside for the rest of your life?”
“I’m not doing anything else, anyway.”
Wen Xiao took two chocolate cones out of the red plastic bag hanging on the hook. “Here. Chocolate flavor.”
Fang Ruman’s eyes lit up. “Eight yuan each! Are we made of money or what?”
Wen Xiao smiled. “Don’t get too emotional.”
“Bestie, I’ll support you for the rest of my life.”
The two of them dissolved into giggles.
“I’m heading back to Beijing tomorrow,” Fang Ruman said. “Come visit when you have time. I’ll show you around properly.”
Fang Ruman was two years younger than Wen Xiao and was still in college. Her family was fairly well-off, and she’d gotten into a university in Beijing through the arts entrance exams.
“Sure.”
Wen Xiao didn’t refuse.
After they’d eaten, Fang Ruman offered, “I’ll help you turn the soil.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a hoe was handed to her.
Fang Ruman: “……”
“Wen Xiaoxiao, you planned this all along, didn’t you? No wonder you—such a stingy miser—were willing to buy me ice cream!”
Wen Xiao smiled sweetly. “You have to bait the trap if you want to catch the prey.”
When she smiled, her clear eyes curved into crescents. They were bright and watery, like a mischievous little cat pleased with a prank.
At the sight of that smile, Fang Ruman couldn’t stay angry. As expected, it was impossible to get mad at someone pretty.
Fang Ruman: “You’re so devious. Devious as a wide sweet-potato noodle.”
Wen Xiao protested, “Who describes a person like that?”
Bickering as they went, the two headed toward the back door.
Wen Xiao remembered something, picked up a little shovel, and sent Xie Shijin a photo.
Naiyou Paofu: Labor is the greatest glory.
Naiyou Paofu: [photo.jpg]
Xie Shijin didn’t reply instantly this time, but Wen Xiao didn’t mind. He usually took ages to reply to the original owner’s messages anyway.
This little patch of land had been abandoned for a long time and was overgrown with weeds.
Wen Xiao set her phone down nearby to record.
She’d deliberately picked out a pale-yellow floral sundress with thin straps and tied a narrow red ribbon around her neck, decorated with a big red flower. She’d curled her hair slightly and left it loose down her back.
Fang Ruman noticed. “You’re filming a video while you hoe the ground?”
“Yeah. I’m thinking of becoming a content creator.”
There was no phone stand at home, so she had to prop her phone on a rock. She’d just ordered a stand and would make do until it arrived.
“Content creation is pretty popular these days. Several pretty girls in my class post videos online. One of them has over a million followers.”
Fang Ruman watched her. The girl’s shoulders and back were slender, and her skin seemed to glow white in the sun.
Leaning on the hoe, Fang Ruman rested her folded hands on the top of its wooden handle. “All you used to do was play games, wasting a face like that. Now that you’ve finally learned to put it to use, I’m pleased.”
“Your Majesty is too kind.”
After adjusting the angle, Wen Xiao took a photo first, then put a cute bunny mosaic over her face and sent it to Xie Shijin.
Naiyou Paofu: Please accept today’s outfit~
Naiyou Paofu: [photo.jpg]
After sending it, Wen Xiao tapped the video-recording button. “All right, let’s get to work.”
Fang Ruman pursed her lips. “When are you two planning to meet in person? I want to see what the man who’s got you so lovestruck actually looks like.”
Wen Xiao felt guilty. She wouldn’t dare meet him in person; he could kill her in a matter of minutes.
She answered evasively, “We should date for at least a year, right?”
In the novel, Ruan Zhiqin finished her postgraduate studies and started working at a hospital. That was where she met the male lead, who had been admitted with acute gastritis, and the two became involved from then on. The heroine was still in college now, and they hadn’t met yet. The plot hadn’t even started.
Wen Xiao wasn’t sure how long she could keep dating Xie Shijin. She could only hope that when the truth came out, the male lead would take their little bit of history into account and let her off.
“A year?” Fang Ruman gaped theatrically. “So you two are really just having a platonic relationship? Can that guy actually hold out?”
“Probably…”
Xie Shijin could barely stand her. How could he possibly want anything else from her?
He was probably desperate to dump her already.
Fang Ruman fell into thought. “Then I suspect that guy’s not just ugly—he’s impotent, too.”