After Yan Fulang left, Ji Yunzhao pondered over how to improve the orange juice. He added some sugar, and finally felt that it tasted like the ones sold outside.
“Adding some sugar should be enough to coax him, right,” Ji Yunzhao mumbled to himself as he made another large cup.
He actually wanted to make some sweet fruit candies or chocolate, but unfortunately, the system mall did not sell such things.
In order to make the coaxing plan go more smoothly, Ji Yunzhao rummaged through the system mall for a while and bought two sound transmission stones, which were equivalent to the “Little Genius” smartwatches of the cultivation world. Children should all like this kind of thing, right?
The appearance of the sound transmission stones Ji Yunzhao bought back was different from the ordinary gray stones produced locally in the cultivation world. Their appearances could be customized.
Any color and any shape could be created, though they could only have a jade texture.
Because it was a gift to make a child happy, Ji Yunzhao planned to buy two basic versions first. Once Yan Fulang calmed down, he would let him choose how he wanted them remodeled.
However, after being busy for a while, he stepped out of the kitchen with the sound transmission stones tucked into his robes and two cups of finished orange juice in his hands, yet he still did not see Yan Fulang anywhere in the courtyard.
It was not until he dug the Beggar’s Chicken out of the small dirt mound and was preparing to open it that the youth returned, carrying his sword. With a cold face, he stood beside him without uttering a single word.
Then, with a single strike of his sword, he split open the hardened outer clay shell of the Beggar’s Chicken.
A sharp sword intent suddenly scattered in all directions, even shaving the small dirt mound completely flat.
Ji Yunzhao was speechless.
That was a ruthless strike.
The words he had prepared to coax the boy were utterly frightened back into his stomach by this sword strike.
Ji Yunzhao stared at the Beggar’s Chicken lying amidst the shattered clay shell. He did not dare to reach out to pull away the lotus leaves, deeply afraid that Yan Fulang might be in a bad mood and turn against his master.
After a long while, he spoke in a small voice, saying, “Are, are you that hungry, do not be in such a hurry.”
Yan Fulang remained silent.
The expression he had deliberately kept tense for so long almost crumbled. Yan Fulang took a deep breath, sheathed his long sword, and still without saying a word, sat down to begin unwrapping the lotus leaves.
That sword strike had been rather terrifying, but the lotus leaves inside the clay were not damaged in the slightest, remaining completely whole.
Yan Fulang’s movements were quite practiced. With a few swift motions, he carved up the chicken meat. The aroma of the meat diffused through the air, and a shallow layer of chicken broth oozed beneath the lotus leaves.
The system ran over while drooling, pacing around them and urgently meowing to press them.
Ji Yunzhao quickly pulled a large plate out from his storage bag, saying, “It is so hot, do not hold it in your hands, place it on the plate before dividing it.”
After all, it had just been pulled from a burning hot dirt mound. At least when Ji Yunzhao had attempted to open it, he had poked it several times with a small twig and did not dare to use his bare hands, even wondering if he should wrap his hands in two layers of cloth first. He had not expected Yan Fulang to dismantle it just like that.
He tried his best to search his mind for comforting words, trying to gauge the tone one should use when speaking to a child who had just passed adolescence.
But after holding it in for a long time, he only managed to squeeze out one sentence, “Did your hands get burned,”
Yan Fulang glanced at the uneasy man, but he still did not speak, merely shaking his head with restraint.
The head-on clash of emotions had come too suddenly. He had gone to practice his swordplay for a while before calming down, thinking that perhaps he had overreacted.
They were both men, so it was normal to drink water from the same cup. It was not like the dynamic between a man and a woman, where even as master and disciple, it would be best to maintain boundaries.
His long, crow-feather eyelashes trembled slightly. Yan Fulang pursed his lips, feeling nothing but awkwardness.
He was so embarrassed that he did not know how to speak to Ji Yunzhao.
The movements of his hands became more and more efficient. An entire Beggar’s Chicken was carved up according to its parts by him in just a few seconds.
Ji Yunzhao quietly observed the youth’s expression, saying, “That was fast, there is still hot rice in the pot, should I serve a bowl for you,”
Predictably, the young boy still did not answer. Ji Yunzhao had not held much hope when he asked anyway, so he left the orange juice behind and walked toward the kitchen.
“Host, you are doomed, the male lead is angry with you,”
The system turned its back on him the moment it received a chicken wing from the Beggar’s Chicken, gloating as it followed behind Ji Yunzhao with the chicken bone in its mouth.
“Oh dear, what should we do now, how will your plot progress in the future,”
Ji Yunzhao almost dumped the served rice onto the system’s head, replying, “You had better keep your eyes open when you sleep tonight,”
The Beggar’s Chicken he made himself was indeed very fragrant, and Ji Yunzhao ate with great satisfaction.
Although a tiny interlude had occurred today, the day had been pleasant overall.
The more important plot points of the early stage had been resolved, so as for the subsequent side plots of various sizes, he could just follow along as they went.
Right now, the most important thing was still.
Ji Yunzhao propped his chin up with one hand, quietly stealing a glance at the youth beside him.
Not long after, he stole another glance.
He procrastinated so much that the corners of his eyes were about to twitch before he finally made up his mind, pulled out a sound transmission stone, and poked Yan Fulang’s arm.
“Here, a small gift.”
The jade-textured sound transmission stone felt ice-cold. Enveloped by the moonlight, it emitted a faint, shimmering glow.
Yan Fulang was stunned, and after a moment of hesitation, he accepted the sound transmission stone, asking, “This is,”
“A Little Genius smart.”
The word “watch” almost slipped out of his mouth. Ji Yunzhao managed to brake just in time, making amends by saying, “It is a sound transmission stone, I specially bought the glow-in-the-dark version, is it beautiful,”
The glow-in-the-dark version was a limited edition, twice as expensive as the regular version.
The awkward little protagonist had finally spoken his first words since leaving in a huff. Ji Yunzhao was deeply moved and comforted, and without waiting for Yan Fulang’s reply, he leaned in close to him to whisper.
“Compared to the ones sold outside, is it not very different, it can also change its appearance, you can change it to whatever color and shape you like, even if you want to change it to alternate back and forth with rainbow light effects, that is fine too.”
As Ji Yunzhao spoke, he took out his own sound transmission stone and lightly clapped it against the one in Yan Fulang’s hand.
A white light flashed across the surfaces of both sound transmission stones simultaneously, looking just like a Bluetooth pairing.
“If anything happens in the future, tap the sound transmission stone and call for me, and you will be able to hear my voice.”
The moonlight spilled down from the clouds, draping over the mountains like light gauze. The young man’s lips were slightly curved, his black hair was like ink, and his long, thick eyelashes trembled gently like the light wings of a butterfly, condensing the cold silver radiance.
The mist floated over the green peaks, and the scenery was boundlessly beautiful.
“I see,” Yan Fulang finally retracted his gaze after a long time.
He lowered his eyes, concealing the emotions within them, and looked down to take a sip of the orange juice.
It was so sweet.
“No way, System, I already gave him a gift, why is he still like this,”
Ji Yunzhao leaned on the window sill, half-heartedly eating osmanthus cake, occasionally sharing a bit with the system, saying, “How many days has it been, rounding it up, it has almost been a month, why is he still treating me like air, was he this vindictive in the original book,”
His grand plan for retirement must not go wrong.
The system munched on the incredibly soft and chewy pastry, its nose entirely filled with the sweet scent of osmanthus, as it absentmindedly wagged its tail.
“First of all, it has not been a month at all, at most half a month, secondly, he treats you like air but still makes osmanthus cake for you, I hope the male lead treats me like air for once too, maybe then he will fry some more dried small fish for me.”
Aside from the osmanthus cake, a jar of peach blossom wine was also placed by Ji Yunzhao’s hand.
He took a bite of the osmanthus cake, drank two more sips of the peach blossom wine, and hummed softly, saying, “Setting food aside, have you not noticed that he avoids me whenever he sees me lately, he speaks as little as possible, and keeps a cold face all day long with barely any expression.”
“The male lead was never the lively, cheerful, sunny type to begin with,” the system did not take it seriously, adding, “Is he not preparing all three meals every day, we have not eaten the same dish twice during this half a month. Besides, Host, were you not quite annoyed when he flexed his acting skills to test your alter ego, now that he stopped doing that, should you not be happy,”
“Well, it is alright, I suppose.”
In the past, he did indeed find it a bit distressing when Yan Fulang acted that way, but even though he said that, he always felt somewhat uncomfortable somewhere.
Had his cheap disciple’s adolescence returned again?
Giving the sound transmission stone turned out to be no different from not giving it at all, as he had never received a single call request from Yan Fulang.
Thinking of this, Ji Yunzhao poured himself another cup of wine.
The pale pink liquid was contained in a frosted glass cup. The bright sunlight shone through, casting a rippling wave of light on the window sill.
Spring was drawing to a close, and the weather was gradually turning warm. The peach blossoms had already begun to fall, preparing to bear fruit, and this was the last jar of peach blossom wine in the house.
A few days ago, when Yan Fulang looked down again after seeing Ji Yunzhao, brushing past him to run off and practice his swordplay, Ji Yunzhao could no longer take it.
He could not grab the protagonist, who had not returned to normal in the first place, to cross-examine him, so he had to direct his pent-up frustration elsewhere.
He cleared a corner of the courtyard, planted some catnip, created a small pond, raised some koi fish, and even planted a few water lilies inside.
Influenced by the black cat skin, the system would often squat by the pond to scoop up fish for fun whenever it was free. After tormenting the koi, it would also drop by to take a few sniffs of the catnip, feeling incredibly comfortable.
Since a certain little cat was living a carefree life while ignoring the life and death of its host, he could only huff the cat to calm himself down.
Ji Yunzhao scooped up the system, bent down, and buried his face into the soft cat belly.
He began to nuzzle wildly.
The system was bewildered.
Its golden vertical pupils instantly widened into perfect circles. The system’s upper body dangled over the windowsill like a piece of squid-ink wide noodle, its two front paws desperately pushing against Ji Yunzhao’s head.
“Haha, Hahaha, do not tickle my sensitive spots, hahahaha, Male Lead, help, Host, are you drunk,”
“Shout all you want, no one will come to save you even if you scream yourself hoarse,” Ji Yunzhao deliberately put on a villain’s trademark evil smile and pinched the system’s pink paw pads.
The system let out a sharp meow, twisted its boneless body, and turned around to leap down from the window. Ji Yunzhao, grinning fiercely, climbed over the window to chase after it.
When Yan Fulang returned from practicing his swordplay in the back mountain, what he saw was such a scene of a flying cat and a jumping master.
The water lilies, which had only grown a few buds, were tossed into a chaotic mess, and the koi fish almost jumped out of the pond, to say nothing of the catnip flying everywhere.
Even he could not help but be startled, calling out, “Senior,”
Ji Yunzhao paused, turning his head around unsteadily.
He had just chased the system, jumping down from the wall, and ran around the pond once. His hem was soaked through in large patches, and his clothes had somehow loosened considerably.
A shallow pool of water clung to his slender collarbones, sliding across his jade-like, smooth, fair chest along with his movements, flowing deep into his lapels. His beautiful face was slightly flushed, the crimson hue spreading to the side of his neck.
Ji Yunzhao had drunk a lot of wine, entirely unaware that he had long been drunk. He glanced at Yan Fulang blearily, intending to continue chasing the system.
The system was anxious to death, yet it could not speak human words in front of Yan Fulang, so it could only run to his side, rubbing against his leg while meowing for a long time.
Ji Yunzhao followed the sound and looked over. His eyes, soaked with intoxication, lit up, and he lunged forward drunkenly, saying, “I caught you this time,”
Only with this lunge, he did not manage to touch much cat fur, but was instead caught back by the youth’s solid and powerful arm.
Yan Fulang turned his head away slightly, raising his hand to gather Ji Yunzhao’s clothes, which had almost failed to cover anything, with very slow movements.
“How much wine did you drink, can you still walk, I will support you back to rest.”
The drunk Ji Yunzhao seemed to completely lack the awareness of Yan Fulang as a person in his eyes. He did not speak either, merely frowning as he pushed him away.
“It seems I have to carry you back again.”
Yan Fulang sighed softly, wrapping his arms around the young man’s shoulders, back, and the bends of his legs, lifting him up horizontally.
His body suddenly airborne, Ji Yunzhao was dazed for a moment. He raised his face, staring unblinkingly at the youth’s increasingly handsome and outstanding features.
His undisguised gaze swept over the distinct jawline, the high nose, and the cold, serene eyes and brows.
Ji Yunzhao suddenly raised his hand, bending his finger to rap the youth on his head.
The force was quite heavy, completely unrestrained, causing Yan Fulang’s hands holding him to tighten for a brief moment.
“You are avoiding me.”
Ji Yunzhao’s voice sounded very aggrieved, carrying an involuntary soft tone due to his drunkenness.
“Yan Fulang, you actually dare to avoid me.”