“Our fan-club leader.”
Wu Hui exited the app to harvest the crops he had just planted, only to find they had been stolen. In a fit of rage, he topped up his account to buy a fence.
Pei Huaiye gave a flat, nonchalant “Oh.”
Sensing something was off, Wu Hui turned his head. “What is wrong?”
Pei Huaiye stared straight ahead. “Nothing. The avatar looks quite nice.”
“Her avatar?” Wu Hui tapped back into Nian Zhi’s chat window, opened her profile picture, and wore a slightly strange expression. He pointed at the cartoon boy in a shirt and asked, “Do you know who this is?”
A distant voice came from behind him: “A mop-boy who has lost his way.”
“…” Is the world being invaded by bookworms?
Pei Huaiye did not understand. “What does that mean?”
“I do not know either,” Wu Hui switched back to his Autumn Farm game, his face innocent. “I do not understand a word of it.”
Two girls behind them stifled their laughter.
Pei Huaiye nodded and did not ask further, but he opened a search engine. A minute later, he looked at Wu Hui with meaningful eyes, but Wu Hui acted as if he felt nothing. Pei Huaiye stopped at that and brought up a different topic: “Are you free on Saturday? I am finding someone to take your measurements for the ball gown.”
“Sure.”
This design studio served the Pei family exclusively; every garment was a one-off, a limited edition luxury item that money could not buy. Measurements were only needed for Wu Hui, as Pei Huaiye already had his own data on file. When the assistant approached Wu Hui with a measuring tape, Pei Huaiye finally spoke up. “Forget it, I will do it.”
The assistant dared not object; he respectfully handed the measuring tape to him and retreated from the room.
“Why is the Senior stealing someone else’s job?”
Pei Huaiye walked over with the measuring tape. “I just remembered that helping you with measurements can serve as a form of therapy.”
“Are you wearing something underneath?”
Wu Hui was wearing a sweater. He lowered his head and lifted it. “I am wearing an undershirt.”
It was white and quite thin. The sweater was loose and drafty, and Jianqiu had nagged him endlessly to add another layer, terrified that he would get sick. After all, the system needed to record his real-time physical condition to synchronize with the client’s body once they woke up; giving the client chronic health issues at such a young age would not be ideal.
“Then take off the sweater,” Pei Huaiye said. “I will turn up the air conditioning; it is more accurate if you take it off.”
Wu Hui removed his glasses. “Help me take it off, Senior.”
Pei Huaiye, who had just adjusted the temperature, paused and turned around. “Are you sure?”
Wu Hui smiled. “Are you afraid, Senior?”
Pei Huaiye stopped acting coy. He walked in front of him, rolled up the hem of his sweater, and pulled it upward. With his thin lips near Wu Hui’s ear, he spoke in a low, husky voice: “Raise your arms.”
Wu Hui obediently raised his arms. Hidden under the loose sweater on regular days, his waist was revealed to be incredibly slender only after the clothes came off. After the sweater was removed, Pei Huaiye asked, “Are you cold?”
“Not cold,” Wu Hui curled his lips. “Would you like to use your hands to feel it, Senior?”
Pei Huaiye raised his eyelids. “May I?”
Wu Hui chuckled, exasperated. “You may.” He leaned lazily against the sofa. “You can do whatever you want to me, Senior. I have no power and no influence, and I cannot refuse.”
Pei Huaiye withdrew his hand. “I am sorry. I just want to touch you so much. Sometimes I want you to be by my side twenty-four hours a day, but since you are not, I can only endure it.”
The nights were the hardest to bear.
Wu Hui listened to his heartfelt confession and said with affection: “Then what should we do? Should you tie me to your side and never let me leave?”
Pei Huaiye: “Would you be willing?”
Wu Hui: “Not really.”
Pei Huaiye was not surprised. The confidence and poise Wu Hui displayed already indicated that he would never be an appendage under anyone’s wings; he could only be won over slowly. He picked up the measuring tape again to get down to business.
After leaving the studio, Pei Huaiye took him to a famous rooftop restaurant in the city for a meal and then strolled around until nightfall. Perhaps Wu Hui found him too pitiful, as he allowed him to hold his hand all day whenever they had the chance.
When they said goodbye at the school, Pei Huaiye did not let go for a long time. It was only when Wu Hui reminded him, “It is dark, Senior. If you do not leave now, the rumors will be updated tomorrow.”
Pei Huaiye had no choice but to let go. “Sleep early. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Senior.”
Jianqiu: “I think you are just teasing him for the sake of it.”
Jianqiu could see what Pei Huaiye could not.
Wu Hui walked back to the dormitory with a light step. “I can watch films at random, but I cannot speak at random.”
Jianqiu: “If he truly ignored your wishes and forced you to stay by his side, would you be unwilling? You clearly find it amusing as hell. Every time you play this game with the boss, even a system like me cannot bear to watch.”
Wu Hui: “Who said I was playing games with Yan Huaimin?”
Jianqiu: “The employee group chat.”
Wu Hui: “? Which group have I not added?”
Jianqiu: “The group chat that explicitly excludes you and the boss.”
Wu Hui: “…”
The news had long since spread throughout the Space-Time Alliance. Wu Hui, the employee whom their boss had personally brought back from a small world, had the boss so infatuated that he opened all kinds of doors for him, with his favoritism written plainly for everyone to see. There were over a dozen terabytes of fan fiction about the overbearing god forcing his love on him.
That night, the dormitory building lights went out. Wu Hui took one last stroll through his farm before getting ready for bed. Right before he slept, he received a message from Pei Huaiye.
Pei Huaiye: [Are you asleep?]
Wu Hui happened to be awake. [Not yet. Can you not sleep, Senior?]
Pei Huaiye: [A little.]
Wu Hui: [You should be able to sleep tonight. I let you hold my hand all day; my hand is even tired.]
He sent the message, and there was no response for several minutes. Just as Wu Hui assumed he had fallen asleep and was about to do the same, Pei Huaiye’s message arrived: [Could you come downstairs for a moment?]
Wu Hui sat bolt upright. Jiang Liexing, who was using video games to numb the pain of his broken heart, asked, “What is it? Forgot to use the bathroom?”
Wu Hui threw off the quilt. “I am going out for a moment.”
Jiang Liexing: “Why are you going out so late? It is freezing outside.”
The dormitory door opened and closed. Wu Hui lived on the second floor, so he did not even need the elevator. In two minutes, he reached the front gate of the dormitory building.
The area in front of the door was silent and empty. The overhead lights flickered, casting the man’s shadow on the ground a silhouette that looked incredibly lonely in the biting cold of the dark night. Wu Hui’s appearance broke that loneliness.
“Why are you”
Just as he walked over, he was pulled into Pei Huaiye’s embrace.