Wei Chen’s biological clock kicked in right on time, but he stayed awake for only a brief moment. Tucking the blanket around himself, he drifted back to sleep.
Gu Liang woke up ahead of Wei Chen’s second awakening. The moment he opened his eyes, their faces were practically touching, with warm breaths fanning across his forehead. A single twitch on his part only caused Wei Chen to hold him even tighter.
Without needing to recall, last night’s events were right there in his mind. He calmly pulled back his leg that was resting over Wei Chen’s waist without feeling awkward after over a decade together, Wei Chen had seen every side of him, and this was merely adding a drunk episode to the list.
Prying off Wei Chen’s hand draped over his waist, he slowly pushed himself up and bit hard down on the guy’s ear: “Wei Chen!”
Unexpectedly, Wei Chen neither cried out in pain nor opened his eyes. Acting as if nothing had happened, he drawled lazily: “Biting someone else’s ear will make you wet the bed.”
“Bullshit.”
Gu Liang immediately unclasped his teeth and began arguing with him.
“You tried it back when you were two years old. I remember it clearly. Don’t believe me? Go ask your mom or my mom.”
“You remember stuff from age two? What an extraordinary memory.”
“Yep. After a certain someone wet the bed back then, he even tried to pull off my pants to make me the scapegoat.” What Wei Chen was stating was a true story, and having truth on his side gave him an air of complete confidence. “If you’re getting up, hurry up and get down. I’m going back to sleep.”
Gu Liang thought about it for a second yeah, that was something he would do.
He snuck a glance at Wei Chen, who had a completely candid face and was already settling in to fall asleep.
Exposing his embarrassing secret and still expecting to get a good sleep? In your dreams.
He kicked Wei Chen off the bed in one swift motion. “Go take a shower before sleeping!”
Wei Chen: “…”
Knew there’d be a stunt like this.
Wei Chen hadn’t expected there to be such a massive hot spring pool here, which was supposedly fed by natural spring water.
When he mentioned taking a shower, he was brought straight here. Over a dozen maidservants stood on both sides of the pool, dressed just like ancient maidservants.
Without exaggeration, he felt that even an emperor didn’t get this level of royal treatment.
He could even spot a gorgeously dressed fourteen-year-old child laborer among the servants.
“All of you, out.” Sitting on the warm jade couch beside the pool, Wei Chen waved his hand with a breezy smile and raised eye corners, looking effortlessly charming. “I want to bathe by myself.”
That fourteen-year-old girl turned red in the face, then hung her head in disappointment, looking as if it were a tragic regret that she couldn’t bathe Wei Chen.
Wei Chen noticed but simply smiled without saying anything. Only after everyone had left did he strip off his clothes, step into the water, and complain to 2002 in his mind.
“What’s up with this world? Kids are so precocious, she’s only fourteen!”
System 2002: “Mr. Wei Chen, in our world, fourteen is already the legal marriageable age.”
Wei Chen: “…You guys mature pretty early over there.”
System 2002: “Mm, that’s why I’m already married.”
Wei Chen was shocked: “You’re only fourteen?!”
System 2002: “No, Mr. Wei Chen. If calculated by the time progression of your world, I am already over forty years old.”
“So you’re roughly the same age as me?”
“Pretty much,” System 2002 replied. “Except I’m already married.”
“Okay, I get that you have a wife, no need to flex.” Wei Chen soaked in the pool feeling extremely cozy, casually playing with the flower petals and osmanthus twigs floating on the water surface.
“I think you might want to hear about the love story between me and my wife.”
“No, I don’t.” Wei Chen shifted his thought, “Wait a minute… aren’t you a Playboy/Harem System?”
“Yes.”
“So you have 108 wives?”
“What are you talking about, Mr. Wei Chen? I only have one, and I love him very much.” Toward the end of the sentence, System 2002’s tone completely shifted the lifeless mechanical voice distorted into sweet, sappy lovers’ talk.
Wei Chen felt his goosebumps awakening. “Alright, shut your mouth, and I’ll shut mine. We won’t interfere with each other.”
“Fine, but don’t blame me for not warning you someone has already snuck into your hot spring pool.”
With that, System 2002 vanished. Wei Chen immediately caught the extremely faint rustling sound of fabric; the intruder was likely barefoot.
He kept his eyes closed, leaning against the edge of the pool as if he were asleep.
The person approached very quickly. Wei Chen caught a whiff of intense, suffocating floral perfume and realized instantly: this was the scent from those servants earlier. Someone had actually turned around and come back.
“Young Master…”
The female voice was squeezed out in a charming, soft, and sweet tone, but to Wei Chen’s ears, it only made his ears feel uncomfortable.
“Let me help you…”
Wei Chen lunged aside, dodging the girl’s attempt to throw herself into his arms. “Not needed!” The girl splashed straight into the water, getting water all over his face.
The girl’s muffled scream was submerged underwater. Wei Chen felt this was simply terrible, he had just wanted to take a nice bath.
System 2002 suddenly muttered: “How come even this plotline got triggered early?”
“What plotline?” Wei Chen threw on a bath robe first, grabbed a towel from the edge of the pool to wipe his hair, and was just about to stand up when a soft hand landed on his shoulder: “Young Mas…”
Just then, Gu Liang’s shouts echoed from outside: “Ah Chen, Ah Chen! Wei Chen!”
Great, now he knew what plotline this was.
When the door was pushed open, Wei Chen acted fast and wrapped the messy, drenched girl behind him using the bath towel.
Strong light seemed to pour in from outside, illuminating every corner of the room with absolute clarity. From this specific angle, however, it looked as though Wei Chen were tenderly holding a delicate beauty in his arms.
“Wei… Chen…”
Gu Liang’s eyes widened, and what blurted out of his mouth was: “You’re actually secretly dating someone behind my back?!”
Wei Chen: “…”
His childhood friend’s focus was truly out of the ordinary.
“This is a misunderstanding.” Wei Chen released the girl and took three steps back, avoiding her like the plague.
“I can explain.”
“What happened? Speak.” Gu Liang sat with his legs crossed, flipping his hair back and resting a hand on his knee, looking completely like an overbearing president.
“Actually, I’m not very sure myself.” Wei Chen wiped his hair until it was half-dry before answering: “I’m going to change my clothes now. Ask her yourself.”
The little girl beside them was trembling, looking as if she might faint at any second, tear after tear dropping down while letting out suppressed sobs.
Shaking his head, Wei Chen stepped into the inner room.
Seeing him leave, Gu Liang immediately hopped down from the wooden chair. Hands behind his back, he paced around the girl while inspecting her with a critical gaze.
The girl was indeed pretty and delicate, still wrapped in the bath towel Wei Chen had draped over her, but Gu Liang just couldn’t find her appealing in any way.
Plain and ordinary no matter how he looked at it, she didn’t seem worthy of Wei Chen.
“You won’t do.” Gu Liang spoke bluntly, “How could you like Wei Chen? Secretly dating is wrong, and trying to use improper methods to achieve it makes it even more wrong.”
He felt there was nothing wrong with his tone, yet the girl trembled even harder, suddenly collapsing to the floor with a heavy thud.
Sobbing intermittently, she whimpered: “Young Master Gu, I… I know I’m not worthy of our young master, but I truly love him.”
“What do you mean ‘your’?” Gu Liang felt annoyed hearing that. “You don’t even have the surname Wei.”
The girl: “My name is Wei Yao.”
Gu Liang: “Your name is Feed Medicine (Wei Yao)? What a weird name.”
“I mean, my surname is Wei.” Wei Yao extended a delicate hand from under the bath towel, gently tugging at Gu Liang’s pant leg while looking up at him at a 45-degree angle. Her eyes overflowed with tears that threatened to fall, looking exceedingly pitiful. “You can’t humiliate me like this. I genuinely love the young master.”
Gu Liang didn’t know her surname was Wei, nor did he know all servants in the Wei family were given the surname Wei.
He was simply deeply shocked: “When did I humiliate you?”
Young Master Gu usually only acted unreasonable toward Wei Chen, and he didn’t need any high-level skills to succeed. He found it unbelievable that someone could distort black and white to such an extent.
How could she tell blatant lies with her eyes wide open?
“What are you guys doing?”
Wei Chen emerged from the inner room at some point, already fully dressed, though still using a towel to wipe his wet hair.
In his mind, he thought: Maybe I should just shave my head into a buzz cut drying hair is such a hassle.
“Young Master…” Wei Yao’s call sounded desolate and melodious. She glanced at Gu Liang, even putting on a tone of helpless heartache.
It actually made Gu Liang feel as if he were the villain breaking them apart.
Frowning, he glared at Wei Chen with sharp eyes.
Wei Chen looked completely clueless: “What’s wrong?”
Gu Liang, who had barely turned fourteen, had no idea how to handle a situation like this. On one side was his best friend, and on the other was seemingly his friend’s woman it felt like he shouldn’t intrude.
Even if Wei Chen’s secret dating behind his back was wrong, he should still act like the bigger person and forgive his friend’s secrecy.
“Forget it.” Gu Liang shook his head and sighed: “Even if it’s a puppy love, you should step up and take responsibility like a real man. Have some accountability and be responsible.”
Wei Chen was even more bewildered shouldn’t Gu Liang be saying these words to his future overbearing-president self?
“I won’t tell your mom and the others… You…” Gu Liang cast a complex glance at Wei Chen, “You take care of yourself.”
With that, he turned and left.
For some reason, as Wei Chen watched his departing back, he felt he could almost read a sense of lonely desolation off of him.
System 2002 provided a real-time update, reporting that not far after Gu Liang walked off, he bumped into Chen Youming. Amidst the fragrant scent of blooming osmanthus, Gu Liang poured out his grievances while Chen Youming offered comfort, advice, and a warm hug.
“I really didn’t expect Gu Liang to act out the female lead’s entire storyline.” System 2002 marvelled: “Even though it’s brotherhood, the dialogue is practically identical! Quite faithful to the original even the jealous departure was manifested in a different form. Life is truly miraculous.”
Wei Chen: “Can you change to a different voice before speaking with emotion?”
System 2002: “No way. My true voice can only be heard by my wife. I’m afraid you’d fall in love with me.”
“Forget it then, I’m not gay.”
Wei Chen didn’t really want to deal with this mess.
Across both his past and present lives, he hated dealing with romantic entanglements above all else. In his eyes, if two people fit, they stayed together; if not, they said goodbye. Why did there have to be one-sided affection and endless drama?
Even though he was exceptionally sharp and could spot green teas and white lotuses from a mile away, faced with someone so shameless, he genuinely didn’t know how to handle it.
Pondering for a moment, Wei Chen suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.
He pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
While Wei Yao was striking dramatic poses with expectant eyes, he spoke into the phone: “Hello, Mom…”
The light of expectation in her eyes died out instantly.
Half an hour later, Mrs. Wei cursed up a storm while directing the servants to drag the girl out. Her vocabulary was astonishingly colorful without a single repetition, making even uninvolved bystanders listening nearby want to reflect on their lives in tears.
Before Wei Chen left, Mrs. Wei didn’t forget to inspect him with a strange look, then asked cautiously: “Son, should Mom teach you a few things about life?”
“No need at all.”
Wei Chen waved his hand, “I’m going to find Gu Liang to clear things up.”
“True, how could a girl like that be worthy of you?” Mrs. Wei showed a loving expression: “Though Gu Liang must have been quite shocked. I’ll give him the talk next time.”
“…Mm, he probably needs it more.” Wei Chen quickly slipped away.