Chen Zhou had always felt that an embrace was a more intoxicating act than a kiss, and the moment he was held, he truly and genuinely felt his heart skip a beat.
He had not recovered his senses even by the time he returned to his room.
[Ding-dong, ten points have been credited to your account. Please check, Host.]
The system repeated itself a second time, but the host simply remained sprawled across the bed in a daze, ignoring it entirely.
[Cough cough, Host, could you please pay attention to me for a second.]
[Huh? Oh oh oh, got it.]
Finally snapping out of his dazed state, Chen Zhou sat up and stretched his neck. He patted his face, telling himself to stop letting his mind wander elsewhere for the time being.
He recalled the process of completing his mission earlier. Encountering Cao Ying had been a genuine accident, and 126 did not seem to have anticipated it either, allowing him to accomplish the task by simply going with the flow.
[126, does that mean you do not actually have complete control over the protagonists’ actions?]
Chen Zhou still had lingering questions about the system and decided to press for answers.
[Yes.]
If that was the case, were these people virtual entities, or were they truly real like Chen Zhou himself? Chen Zhou formed a rough hypothesis in his mind, perhaps they, too, had their consciousness extracted just like him, followed by implanted memories and personalities, turning them into so-called research subjects?
What was the ultimate purpose, then? Would he ever run into these people again in reality?
Xu Nian… could Xu Nian be a real person?
[Host, what is wrong with you?] Seeing him fall silent again, 126 assumed he was cooking up some new mischievous scheme.
[Nothing.]
Temporarily pushing his thoughts aside, Chen Zhou laid back down. The memory of that embrace kept resurfacing in his mind.
Would Xu Nian feel the same way as him? What was going through his head?
Early the next morning, Chen Zhou was already up. He simply could not fall back asleep.
“Yo, Xiao Li, up so early?” Wang Qi looked somewhat surprised as he saw him walk downstairs.
“Yeah. I could not sleep anymore. Brother Wang Qi, can I borrow the kitchen?”
“The kitchen? What for?” Wang Qi cast a wary look in his direction.
“Nothing much, just going to cook,” Chen Zhou replied with an innocent expression. “Just making breakfast for everyone so you can all taste my cooking.”
“Can you actually cook?” Wang Qi looked skeptical. “Go ahead then. Just make sure you do not blow up the kitchen.”
“Got it!”
With permission granted, Chen Zhou dashed into the kitchen and set to work. He wanted to cook for Xu Nian.
A few dozen minutes later, Chen Zhou emerged to Wang Qi’s astonished gaze, carrying several aromatic dishes and a pot of congee.
“Crap, kid, you are full of hidden talents.” Wang Qi stepped closer, his eyes shining.
Absent-minded, Chen Zhou scanned the room for a specific person. “Where is my ge?”
“Oh, the boss is not down yet. Strange, he should have been here by now. Is he still asleep?”
“I will take some up to him then.” With that, Chen Zhou transferred the food into a fresh bowl and hurried upstairs in a flurry of motion.
“Hey, slow down!”
Before Wang Qi could warn him not to disturb the boss, Chen Zhou had already bolted up the steps.
Giving the door a light knock, Chen Zhou took a deep breath upstairs, preparing to speak.
The door swung open from the inside.
Xu Nian looked thoroughly like he had just woken up, his hair was somewhat messy and he was bare-chested, leaving the two of them staring blankly at each other.
In truth, Xu Nian never slept in, he had simply been plagued by dreams lately.
Ever since that recent scene, he kept dreaming of similar scenarios. In the dream, the other person stood facing away, with a slender yet healthy frame and skin noticeably fairer than his own.
Waking up drenched in sweat every single time, Xu Nian despised himself for harboring improper feelings deep inside his heart. That was why he did not know how to face the person who was always lingering by his side.
“Ge? Did you just wake up? I made some food, you should eat.”
Staring at him, Xu Nian looked at a loss for how to respond.
“Give it a try, my cooking is pretty decent.” Chen Zhou enthusiastically marketed his own food.
“Yeah. Come in.” Relenting in the end, Xu Nian stepped aside to let him pass.
Rushing inside, Chen Zhou arranged the dishes and obediently sat down to wait for Xu Nian.
After cleaning up, Xu Nian walked out and silently sat down to eat. He avoided looking at the person beside him, terrified that his gaze might give away his inner thoughts.
“Is it good?” Chen Zhou propped his chin in his hands, watching Xu Nian. “Try this one.”
Keeping his head down as he shoveled food into his mouth, Xu Nian muttered, “Yeah.” Yet the intensity of the gaze right beside him remained impossible to ignore.
Finally pushed past his limit, Xu Nian reached out, cupped the side of the young man’s jaw, and straightened Chen Zhou’s head. “Stop staring at me.”
Left with no choice, Chen Zhou could only chuckle sheepishly at the spread of dishes.
The restaurant remained packed with customers as usual, leaving Xu Nian and Chen Zhou tied up with their own respective tasks. Aside from stealing the occasional glance, they barely had any opportunity to speak.
[Host, if you keep this up, you are going to turn into a waiting-husband stone.]
[I am not.] Chen Zhou immediately denied it. [Besides, he is not my husband yet. Stop talking nonsense.]
126: […]
A thought suddenly crossing his mind, Chen Zhou asked again, [Do you think he is in the real world just like me? If I leave, what will happen to him?]
Falling silent at first, 126 eventually deliberated its response. [I cannot answer the Host’s first question. As for what happens after you leave, this world will undergo recycling. That is all I am permitted to tell you.]
Chen Zhou fell quiet. He could roughly guess what that meant, perhaps some people were just like him, leaving it an open question whether they would ever cross paths again once the world was recycled…
Yet right now, he refused to let certain things remain unknown.
“I am heading out for a bit tonight to grab some dinner. I will leave the place in your hands.”
Taking advantage of a break, Xu Nian called Wang Qi over to give instructions. “Keep an eye on Li Jia, do not let him…”
“Do not let him get bullied.”
Clueless about the trailing half of the sentence, Wang Qi scratched his head and nodded. “Ah, do not worry, Boss. That kid will not get into any trouble. I will keep watch.”
Smoking a cigarette, Xu Nian glanced toward the busy young man inside the room. At that moment, Chen Zhou was playing with a young child, laughing so hard his eyes curved into crescents.
Idiot, Xu Nian thought, lowering his head with a faint smile.
“Huh? I did not know about that?”
Unable to find Xu Nian that evening, Chen Zhou learned from Wang Qi that Xu Nian had gone out and likely would not return until late.
“Does the boss have to report his whereabouts to you? He is not a kid, hurry up and get back to work,” Wang Qi chuckled. “Stop worrying so much.”
A sense of disappointment washed over Chen Zhou upon hearing that, he had not even known Xu Nian was heading out. Glancing outside at the darkening sky, he wondered if it was going to rain.
“Brother Wang Qi, where did the boss go?”
“That restaurant by the intersection, I think. You—”
Figuring the kid was probably about to go track him down, Wang Qi turned around only to find the spot empty once again.
Grabbing an umbrella, Chen Zhou sprinted out the door. He had a vague impression of the restaurant Wang Qi mentioned and figured he could track it down.
Perhaps some friend had called him out, Chen Zhou speculated inwardly, wondering if the man drank alcohol.
After walking for roughly ten minutes, Chen Zhou reached the destination. To his surprise, he spotted Xu Nian right away, squatting alone by the roadside and smoking.
Hurrying over, Chen Zhou squatted down beside him. “Ge.”
Hearing the voice, Xu Nian turned his head sluggishly. The cigarette was burning down to a tiny stub, its acrid smell still drifting toward them. They stared at each other in silence.
Sensing that Xu Nian was in low spirits and catching a faint whiff of alcohol on him, Chen Zhou coaxed softly, “Ge, let us head back.”
Xu Nian did not move. “Why are you here?”
Realizing the man was quite drunk, Chen Zhou tried a white lie. “Um, I am here to protect you, are you coming with me or not?”
“Here to protect me?”
“Yeah.”
Shifting slightly, Xu Nian tossed away the cigarette butt and stood up somewhat unsteadily. Extending a hand, he said, “Then take your ge away.”
Finding him utterly endearing, Chen Zhou reached out to take his hand and led him along.
With the night air turning quite refreshing, Chen Zhou walked ahead while Xu Nian followed closely behind. The streets were virtually deserted, lending the surroundings a quiet, reassuring serenity.
A sudden thought struck Chen Zhou, drunkards usually did not remember things the next day, right? Halting abruptly in his tracks, he nearly caused Xu Nian to bump straight into his back.
“Ge, you are drunk, right? That means you will not remember what happened today tomorrow, right?”
Gazing down at him, Xu Nian’s handsome eyes seemed shrouded in a light mist. Stubbornly, he insisted, “I am not drunk.”
“You are drunk.”
“I am not.”
Dropping the pointless debate, Chen Zhou reached out to take both of Xu Nian’s hands and stood up on his tiptoes.
He pressed a light kiss to Xu Nian’s cheek.
“Then you probably will not remember this either.”
Xu Nian’s gaze darkened almost instantly. Before Chen Zhou could pull back, his wrists were locked in place again as a sudden spin inverted their positions, pinning him back against the wall.
“Still like him?” Xu Nian pinned both of Chen Zhou’s hands with one arm while his free hand stroked Chen Zhou’s cheek, making the young man shiver slightly.
“What?” Chen Zhou looked bewildered.
“How am I any worse than him?” Xu Nian muttered to himself, leading Chen Zhou to realize that the him Xu Nian kept referring to was probably Cao Ying.
“Stop liking him. Stay with your ge.” Xu Nian’s tone softened slightly before closing the distance, his breath brushing against Chen Zhou’s nose.
“Leave him and stay with your ge instead,” Xu Nian repeated.
Thunder cracked across the sky, signaling an incoming downpour.
Caught completely off guard by the turn of events, Chen Zhou remained frozen and utterly in disbelief.
Why would Xu Nian say something like that? Did he share the exact same feelings? Could it really be what he was hoping for?
“Why…”
Before he could finish, Xu Nian suddenly released his grip, closing his eyes as he leaned in close.
The very second their lips touched, raindrops began to fall.
A heavy rain was about to break out.
With his eyes wide open, Chen Zhou did not dare to move. Xu Nian’s lips were burning hot, carrying his familiar scent that enveloped Chen Zhou entirely. Though Xu Nian had let go of him, meaning Chen Zhou could easily push him away with a single stretch of his arm, he neither wanted nor intended to do so.
As their lips brushed, the other’s body temperature radiated higher than his own, and Xu Nian’s light stubble gently grazed against Chen Zhou’s skin. Cupping Chen Zhou’s cheek with both hands, Xu Nian executed a gesture of profound, cherished reverence.
Pulling back slightly after a moment, Xu Nian stared straight into Chen Zhou’s eyes. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled something out and pressed it firmly into Chen Zhou’s palm.
“Remember that couple we saw kissing in the village?” Xu Nian’s gaze burned with a fanatical, dead-serious intensity as his thumb stroked Chen Zhou’s eye. “Do you know why your ge kissed you?”
Palming the object in his hand, Chen Zhou guessed what it was almost instantly. It was round and smooth, a small wooden carved bird.
“Your ge fancies you. Xiao Jia, how about being in a relationship with your ge?”
“Ge will cook for you, take you out to play, and help you with work.”
“What do you say?”