The warmth of Duan Zhihan’s fingers seeped through his clothes onto his waist. Where they pressed, the fabric dented in slightly, and his waist instantly went weak.
Jiang Li struggled to push the hand off his waist, but the moment he did, the man clamped down again, hugging him tight: “Something’s coming.”
This cowardly human.
The little robot felt exasperated with the person behind him, and he had no intention of being held like this indefinitely: “Let go of me, I’m going to turn on the light.”
“Turn on the light?”
“It should disappear once the lights are on.” He guessed the spiritual entity feared light.
Before he could even move, the timid human spoke in a low voice: “What am I supposed to do if you leave?”
Jiang Li didn’t want to comfort a human the way a nanny robot would, but since Duan Zhihan wouldn’t let go, he had no way to get out, so he forced himself to say patiently, “Stay close to me.”
Only then did the man release his grip on Jiang Li’s waist.
He remembered the study had two light switches, one by the door, one on the wall where the picture frame hung.
The door was too far right now, so he planned to head to the wall switch instead. It wasn’t far, he just needed to be careful of the broken glass on the floor, and careful of this human’s screaming.
Jiang Li stepped out of the narrow passage bit by bit, and just as he cautiously approached the wall, there was a click—
The study lights came back on, revealing Duan Zhihan standing by the switch, looking magnificently composed.
“Isn’t Teacher Duan not scared anymore?”
“I reasonably suspect he hugged the little one on purpose”
“Teacher Duan, your character’s falling apart!”
“That’s Best Actor-level performance right there”
Jiang Li grew suspicious: “You dared turn on the light yourself?”
Duan Zhihan explained with a completely straight face: “Extreme fear can push out hidden potential.”
“Welcome, everyone, to another episode of talking nonsense with a straight face”
“He probably just didn’t want Jiang Li to get cut by the glass”
“Who would’ve believed I’d be shipping something on a divorce show, even fanfic couldn’t come up with something this absurd”
“So what’s that intersex fic called again?”
Jiang Li studied Duan Zhihan’s expression, sensing something off but unable to pinpoint it. He forced himself to focus on the study instead.
Sure enough, once the lights were on, the spiritual entity had vanished, but the study was left in ruins.
Bloody handprints marked the walls in a horrifying way, the chair’s stuffing had been violently torn out, it looked exactly like a child’s prank gone wild.
Jiang Li’s gaze slowly landed on the photo frame lying on the floor.
The frame had fallen off the wall hard, the glass protecting the photo shattered into pieces, red crayon scrawled across the entire family portrait.
Duan Zhihan bent down to pick up the photo and, seemingly lost in thought, lowered his eyes: “What a shame.”
Jiang Li sensed a sudden, intense emotion radiating from the man, it was just a family photo, after all.
He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you really like family that much?”
Duan Zhihan set aside the emotions of his past life, and since his wife rarely showed interest in him, he seized the opportunity to display his devoted-husband credentials: “I love family very much. If my wife didn’t want me out in the spotlight, I’d be happy to be an ordinary stay-at-home husband.”
“Model example of devoted-husbandhood, Duan Zhihan”
“Perfect answer”
“Why is Teacher Duan pledging his loyalty in front of Jiang Li? Something’s off between these two”
“Anyone got an analysis for us?”
Jiang Li lowered his eyes as he listened to Duan Zhihan’s words, his heart sinking bit by bit.
When they’d accidentally gotten married, Duan Zhihan had spent seven out of every ten days filming out of town, clearly, filming mattered most to him.
He’d assumed Duan Zhihan had always been this way. Turns out it wasn’t that he disliked family, he just didn’t like Jiang Li that much.
If this had happened right after their divorce, he definitely would have been angry, but by now he’d already come to terms with it.
There hadn’t been much affection between them to begin with, so divorcing wasn’t much of a loss. He couldn’t demand the man like him, just as he couldn’t save the withering rose nebula.
Jiang Li lifted his beautiful cat eyes, his lashes trembling lightly, and quietly created distance between himself and Duan Zhihan.
He continued searching the study.
There were a lot of papers in the study, and he couldn’t tell which were useful, so he scanned them all into his memory.
One particular document stood out, a letter the husband had written to a friend, describing how, after their child found a toy in the storage room, strange incidents started happening in the house. First the water pipes ran dry, then red graffiti appeared on the walls.
They’d assumed it was just the child’s mischief and hadn’t taken it seriously at first, until they saw a pair of bright red eyes under the bed, and asked their friend if they knew any exorcists.
For some reason, this letter had never been sent. The little robot pondered the reason as he walked out of the study.
He arrived at the door of the neighboring nursery.
The nursery lights weren’t on. Just as he was about to step in, the human behind him spoke quietly: “I’m scared.”
“That’s got nothing to do with me.”
He walked in indifferently.
The next second, the man gently tugged at his sleeve.
Not gripping his wrist firmly, but pulling at his sleeve instead, like a timid little fox.
The little robot’s heart softened, and he responded stiffly: “Give me your hand, then.”
The moment he finished speaking, the man grasped his hand, holding on as firmly as if he’d taken hold of something precious.
“They’re holding hands!”
“Aaaaaaaaah they held hands!”
“Everyone’s losing it, and I’m the only one calmly watching the replay”
“You’re not alone”
The little robot led the timid human into the nursery and turned on the wall light.
The light was a harsh white incandescent bulb. The room was filled with toys, puzzles, model kits, and Lego pieces scattered across the floor.
He didn’t see much damage in the nursery, only a brand-new plush toy that had had its mouth roughly stitched shut. The spiritual entity seemed to strongly dislike this toy.
He’d hoped to find useful written material in the nursery, but he’d overestimated the recording abilities of human children, all he found on the wall was scrawled quadratic equations.
Jiang Li had no choice but to pull Duan Zhihan out of the room, and the moment they stepped through the door, a baseball bat came flying straight at him.
The bat was moving too fast for the little robot to dodge in time. He could only hope his body was sturdy enough to withstand the blow.
Just as he thought he was about to be hit, the human beside him shielded him, and he heard the crack of the bat striking the man’s back!
Robots didn’t need protecting by humans, but this human had protected him anyway.
He said, “You’re such an idiot.”
Duan Zhihan replied, “I’m such an idiot.”
The man’s chest trembled faintly as he spoke. Jiang Li closed his eyes.
The man really was a good human, kind to everyone. Even when Jiang Li said something too harsh, he responded with gentle patience. Disliking him was simply because the man didn’t like him back.
Since he’d already made peace with the past, there was no need to keep sparring with him, might as well treat him as an ordinary friend.
The little robot let go of some of his coldness: “Are you okay?”
His voice was too quiet, easily drowned out by Ruan Yan, who came rushing over, his eyes reddening: “Teacher Duan, I didn’t mean to! I just got so scared I threw something.”
“Throwing objects around is way too dangerous”
“I actually had a decent impression of Ruan Yan before, but this move really ruins that goodwill”
“If Teacher Duan hadn’t shielded Jiang Li, that hit would’ve landed on him instead”
“Wasn’t he on the second floor? How’d he end up on the third?”
Ruan Yan was overcome with regret.
He’d originally been searching for clues on the second floor with Qi Hui, but since most of the second floor consisted of the guests’ rooms, there wasn’t much to explore there, so he’d thought of coming up to the third floor for extra screen time.
The moment he arrived on the third floor, he was startled by a severed head on the ceiling, and seeing something emerge from the nursery, he’d instinctively grabbed the baseball bat and thrown it, only to hit Duan Zhihan.
Ruan Yan kept apologizing: “I really didn’t mean to. Is your injury serious? Should I ask the production team for medicine?”
“It’s fine.”
Ruan Yan couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Fortunately Duan Zhihan wasn’t holding it against him, looked like his efforts to get close to Duan Zhihan were paying off.
But then he suddenly realized Duan Zhihan had been speaking to Jiang Li the whole time, and his heart sank.
Duan Zhihan glanced over at him, his expression utterly flat, before finally addressing him: “Don’t let there be a next time.”
Ruan Yan nodded immediately in fright.
Although Duan Zhihan hadn’t held it against him, a chill still crept through his heart, this man’s polite surface masked genuine distance. His flattery was completely useless here, it was hard to imagine anyone Duan Zhihan would ever truly care about.
Everyone downstairs came rushing up at the commotion.
An Zhiqing, concerned, handed his own bruise-and-sprain ointment to Duan Zhihan, seizing the moment to suggest: “It’s getting late, and Zhihan’s injured too. Why don’t we rest for today?”
“You’re the one who wants to rest, aren’t you”
“Reported: someone’s slacking off”
“Just like me, always showing up late and leaving early”
“I’m not as timid as An Zhiqing”
Because Duan Zhihan was injured, even though Xu Jiawen had reservations, he didn’t voice them. Everyone returned to their own rooms to rest, and the livestream ended for the night.
An Zhiqing explained how to use the ointment to Duan Zhihan: “Apply this to the wound, and I guarantee you’ll be all better by tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Duan Zhihan watched the boy’s retreating figure.
“No need to thank me for this.”
An Zhiqing thought Duan Zhihan was being far too polite. After finishing, he glanced around and only then realized everyone else had already left.
The two of them were alone in the vast corridor, and something in the shadows seemed to be watching them.
An Zhiqing’s legs started shaking again: “This show’s going to give me a heart attack.”
“Don’t scare yourself.” Duan Zhihan comforted calmly.
An Zhiqing marveled at Duan Zhihan’s composure, no wonder he’d won Best Actor at such a young age. He bravely made his way downstairs.
They parted ways on the second floor. An Zhiqing returned to his room while Duan Zhihan continued walking on.
As he passed Jiang Li’s room, the door suddenly opened, and the ice-blue-haired boy handed him a bottle of medicine: “Take one if it hurts.”
Seeing that Duan Zhihan had taken the medicine but still showed no sign of leaving, Jiang Li suppressed his rising impatience and, in the tone of an ordinary friend showing concern, asked, “Is something wrong?”
If An Zhiqing had still been there, he would’ve been utterly stunned, this young, composed Best Actor lowered his eyes and said, “I’m scared to sleep alone.”