By the time Wen Di woke up, it was already early morning the next day.
He instinctively rolled over, making quite a bit of noise. No one called him to get up, so he mumbled sleepily, “Five more minutes, please~”
Who he was pleading with, he didn’t know.
He reached out to pull the blanket, tugging once, then again—huh—empty? Where was the blanket?
Wen Di’s eyes snapped open, and the memories from the middle of the night instantly flooded back into his mind. His eyes widened in fear as he quickly covered his mouth. Right in front of him was the underside of the bed, making his heart race with anxiety.
It wasn’t until 193 spoke: 【Lu Jieyang has left. You can come out now.】
Only then did Wen Di heave a huge sigh of relief, scrambling out from under the bed. “He’s gone? When did he leave?”
193 didn’t answer him.
Remembering he had slept under the bed all night, Wen Di felt both angry and upset. How could anyone sleep on the floor? Glancing at the time on the wall, he realized he had actually slept for nearly five hours!
He pinched his body here and there. Sleeping on such a cold, hard floor should have left him sore, but after rubbing himself, he discovered—huh? Why wasn’t he uncomfortable at all?
He stretched and kicked his legs, feeling no discomfort whatsoever, as if he had just woken up from sleeping in a bed.
Unable to figure out why, he glared at the bed Lu Jieyang had slept in and angrily kicked it twice. While kicking, he nervously glanced toward the doorway, afraid someone might catch him.
After venting his frustration, he took off his cloak and remembered the glass marble he had hidden deep under the bed earlier. He crawled back under to retrieve it, then hurried back downstairs to his room.
Back in his room, Wen Di stuffed both his coat and the marble into the wardrobe.
After washing up, he pretended to have just woken up and went downstairs to the kitchen.
As a hidden minor boss, his task was to lure Players into breaking taboos. This identity and mission, of course, couldn’t be discovered, so it had to be carried out in the “shadows.”
As an NPC—the innkeeper—this was his mortal identity. Accordingly, he also had to fulfill his mortal tasks, which included:
Preparing three meals a day for the guests.
Maintaining the cleanliness of the inn.
Mourning his deceased husband.
Arriving in the kitchen, he tied on an apron and opened the refrigerator.
The snow had fallen even heavier last night and had only just begun to melt. The kitchen had no heating and no door, leaving it chilly. After rummaging through the fridge for ingredients for a while, Wen Di’s fingers turned bright red from the cold, and he couldn’t find any gloves.
He quickly grabbed the ingredients, tossed them onto the table, and turned on the faucet to run hot water over his fingers, finally warming them up a bit.
After thinking it over for a long time, he decided to make the simplest thing: sandwiches. There was bread, vegetables, salad, and eggs. As for meat… he’d go out later and catch a few caterpillars, hehehehehe.
While frying the eggs, he stood far away from the pan, afraid of getting splattered by oil, but that didn’t stop the oil from flying everywhere. He made a fuss, and the whole kitchen clattered as if a battle were taking place.
He didn’t listen to a single instruction from 193.
Shouting, “Where’s the lid?!”
193: 【On your right.】
Wen Di: “It’s not on the left?! Wuwu, I can’t find it!”
193: 【】
After frying the eggs, he was covered in sweat. Glancing at the time, he saw it was almost nine o’clock. Worried that the people upstairs might wake up and see him catching caterpillars, he rushed to the backyard without delay.
The backyard was full of greenery, so catching a few caterpillars shouldn’t be difficult. Even if he couldn’t find caterpillars, ordinary bugs would do.
Soon, he spotted a curved caterpillar under a green tree trimmed into a round ball.
It was dark and motionless.
He reached out, his small face slightly pale, cautiously leaning closer. Just when he was still far from touching it, the caterpillar suddenly wriggled—
“Ah!”
Wen Di screamed in fright, his foot slipped, and he fell to the ground, his bottom immediately aching.
Tears welled up in his beautiful eyes.
“Wah!”
He covered his mouth to hold back his sobs and said to 193, “Let’s find another one. This one is too ugly.”
193 was momentarily at a loss for words.
Soon, he found another one—not a caterpillar, but an insect with wings, motionless on the edge of a flower bed. Wen Di began cautiously approaching it from five meters away.
Just when he was still far from touching it, someone suddenly pressed up against him from behind, leaning close to his ear and asking slowly, “What are you doing?”
At the same time, the insect fluttered its wings and flew away.
Wen Di was startled, his foot slipped, and he stumbled sideways. The person behind him reacted swiftly, wrapping an arm around his waist.
With a pull of the arm, the two were pressed together, one in front and the other behind.
Wen Di was flustered. Though he hadn’t fallen, his bottom seemed to ache again. Then he heard the person behind him ask, “Are you okay? Did I scare you?”
The tone was gentle, tinged with concern.
Wen Di snapped back to reality, turned around, and tried to push the person away.
He couldn’t budge him.
He pushed again—
The other person let go on his own.
Looking up, he saw it was Lu Jieyang.
The same Lu Jieyang who had made him sleep under the bed last night!
“You!”
Just as Wen Di was about to scold him, his hand was suddenly grabbed. The other’s palm was very broad, easily enveloping his palm and his reddened fingers. Wen Di froze for a moment, unable to break free in time, before hearing him say:
“Why are your hands so frozen? It’s so cold outside. Why aren’t you wearing gloves?”
Wen Di froze again, looking up to see Lu Jieyang’s handsome brows furrowed with excessive concern.
“I couldn’t find my gloves!” Wen Di said.
Earlier, while cooking, he had also wanted to wear gloves, but he only found one dirty glove in the firewood pile, which he absolutely didn’t want to wear.
The little ghost was bundled up thickly, wearing a cotton hood that wrapped him from head to toe like a chubby doll. Only his hands were exposed, frozen until his fingers were bright red.
If they stayed frozen much longer, they might develop calluses.
His small face was pale, wrapped in the hood, with his cheeks flushed pink from the cold, making him look utterly endearing.
“Why aren’t you staying in your room?”
“It’s all because I was cooking for you,” Wen Di huffed.
Lu Jieyang led him inside by the hand. Wen Di couldn’t pull his hand back and reluctantly glanced back at the insect, which had landed on the flower bed again. After a few seconds, he thought regretfully—it’s so ugly, I’ll find another one next time.
Lu Jieyang’s palm was very warm. By the time they reached the corridor, Wen Di’s hand had warmed up a little.
“Wait for me here.”
Wen Di waited in place for a few dozen seconds before suddenly realizing—why should he wait? Why should he listen to Lu Jieyang?
So he turned and ran.
Running into the kitchen, he saw two people standing there. Yao Nana was pinching a sandwich Wen Di had left on the table with two fingers, her face full of disdain. “Who made this? It’s so ugly. The egg is burnt—how can anyone eat this?”
Liu Yajun leaned in for a closer look and said, “Probably meant for the dogs.”
Yao Nana replied, “I haven’t seen any dogs around this inn.”
Wen Di angrily rushed in and shouted, “That’s exactly for you to eat!”
Yao Nana was taken aback, then immediately snapped, “Are you calling us dogs?!”
Wen Di replied, “I never said that. You said it yourselves.”