For people from Guangdong and Guangxi, breakfast seems to be a rather ceremonial affair. The breakfast stalls in Guangzhou are always bustling with noise and excitement in the morning.
Shan Chong went to get breakfast for Wei Zhi, who obediently sat at the table to save their seats. She rested her chin on one hand, pretending to casually observe the office workers passing by on the street outside. With her other hand, she frantically typed on her phone:
[Little Chirp: I need to ask something – what’s up with my boyfriend today?!]
[Little Chirp: He’s driving me crazy this early in the morning!]
[Little Chirp: Did something happen last night that I don’t know about? Spill it! Don’t pretend to be asleep. I know you have class this morning and must be up by now to head to the ski slopes!]
She fired off three questions in quick succession.
Backed into a corner with no escape, the other party soon replied:
[CK Backstab: Sis, you’re asking me about your boyfriend?]
[CK Backstab: Nothing happened. When I got back to the apartment last night, Master was already asleep.]
[CK Backstab: Did he go see you this morning? What did he do?]
[CK Backstab: Actually, never mind. I don’t want to hear about your sappy love life.]
[CK Backstab: Tsk, I was wondering why he was gone when I woke up. Ah, really! He didn’t even say goodbye. I’m heartbroken! Living under the same roof, yet he’s asleep when I return and gone before I wake… Wah!]
Wei Zhi: “…”
As Wei Zhi was about to type more, the man set down some xiaolongbao and soy milk. He broke apart a pair of chopsticks, checked for splinters, and handed them to her.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Who are you chatting with so happily this early in the morning?”
Wei Zhi picked up a bun, took a bite, and stomped her foot as the hot soup scalded her. She quietly tucked her phone back into her pocket and made up an excuse: “Nothing, just asking Jiang Nanfeng about Lao Yan’s situation.”
Shan Chong didn’t press further.
He picked up his chopsticks and skillfully opened two bun skins, placing them upright to keep the soup from spilling out and to let them cool. As he pushed them toward Wei Zhi, his phone screen lit up.
The man put down his chopsticks and glanced at his phone.
[CK Backstab: (Image) Is this okay?]
The image showed his chat history with the little junior sister. Shan Chong quickly scanned it, quite satisfied.
[Chong: It’s fine. Thanks for your trouble.]
[CK Backstab: No, no—]
[Chong: Fan Service 3.]
[CK Backstab: …]
As Backstab wailed on the other end about not being “Fan Service 3” and how that manga character had a broken waist design, Shan Chong put down his phone. He didn’t eat much breakfast himself, just a few small wontons from a bowl. The entire basket of buns and the remaining wontons all went into Wei Zhi’s stomach. It had been a while since she’d eaten breakfast to the point of wanting to lean against the wall to walk—
Setting down her chopsticks, she cradled the bowl and gulped down the last bit of soy milk. Despite having just eaten her fill, she still complained: “If you weren’t my boyfriend, I’d wonder why you’re even here. Getting me up early for breakfast, then barely eating anything yourself while I’m stuffed… It’s like when we were in school, and we’d agree to watch TV together the night before an exam, but I’d watch TV all night while you secretly did practice papers—”
She rambled on.
Shan Chong was long accustomed to her chatter, letting it wash over him like background noise. His eyelashes didn’t even quiver as he took a napkin and wiped her mouth, asking, “Finished eating?”
Wei Zhi snatched the napkin from his hand and mumbled an affirmative.
The man stood up to pay the bill, returning with several bags of packed buns.
Wei Zhi looked puzzled. “What’s this about?”
Shan Chong: “I bought these for them.”
Wei Zhi: “Since when did you become a food delivery guy… Will they even dare to eat the buns you bought?”
Shan Chong: “I’ve always done this.”
Wei Zhi: “…”
As she stood up, the man’s hands holding the buns swayed slightly. He turned towards the apartment, walking while lazily saying, “I’ve always been like this, buying things fairly for everyone, not favoring anyone… Remember those candied hawthorns from Xinjiang—”
He glanced back at her.
Sure enough, he saw her lips parting and closing, looking like she had something to say. He paused briefly, raising an eyebrow: “You didn’t think that candied hawthorn was bought just for you, and I included them to avoid suspicion, did you?”
Wei Zhi: “…”
Yes, she did.
So what?
Where’s my knife?
…
The gym was near Shan Chong’s apartment. Before going there, he distributed the buns to Backstab and the others.
He did indeed distribute them, but when handing the buns to Backstab, the man glanced at the young girl standing not far away and said in a low voice: “Twenty yuan per basket, no delivery fee. WeChat or Alipay? Let me know when you’ve transferred, and I’ll deduct one point.”
Backstab: “…”
Before Backstab could speak, Wei Zhi had already pattered over, hugging the man’s arm and peeking out from behind him to look at her senior brother: “Why aren’t you saying thank you?”
Backstab: “?”
He was supposed to pay for them, why say thanks?
Wei Zhi turned to the man: “Don’t buy for them next time, they’re impolite.”
She paused. “Just buy for me.”
Shan Chong’s lips curled into a smile, and he hummed in agreement.
Seeing his little junior sister’s protective yet obedient expression, Backstab felt a pang of distress—
After all, they had once been allies in the Secret Keepers Union, jointly guarding Otaku Madam’s secret. Although he had now defected under pressure (of recognition), seeing her still naively protective made him feel heartache on her behalf.
Couldn’t she open her eyes wide and look at her boyfriend before feeling so content and coquettish…
Had she seen this cold-blooded skiing machine smile as much since she met him as he had today alone?
Didn’t she know that when things are unusually abnormal, there must be something fishy going on?
Hadn’t she sensed something was off? How could she ask me, and when I said nothing was wrong, she believed it? Can a man’s words be trusted like that?
Look at him, holding back a belly full of mischief waiting to deal with you, and you’re still defending him.
Backstab felt like pounding his chest, truly afraid that Shan Chong would mess with Wei Zhi’s state of mind—
The plot and update frequency of “18 Postures of Cultivation in Another World” had finally returned to normal.
If the Otaku got annoyed by him again, the serialized plot might go off the rails once more, or the update schedule might become erratic…
Backstab sighed.
“What are you sighing about?” Wei Zhi asked.
“Chong-ge doesn’t have class today?” Backstab asked. “Are you two going out somewhere?”
Hearing this, Wei Zhi’s face reddened slightly.
Backstab: “?”
Backstab: “I just asked where you’re going, why are you blushing?”
Wei Zhi didn’t speak, just tugged on Shan Chong’s sleeve.
Shan Chong cast a lazy glance at him and casually answered, “It’s a day off. We’re going to the gym.”
Backstab: “Who goes on a date to the gym? Are the movie theaters closed or are the malls shut down? Can’t you be a bit more normal?”
Shan Chong: “You’re quite nosy.”
After saying this, he thought for a moment and turned to ask Wei Zhi: “Do you want to go?”
When the man asked this question, his face didn’t show much expression, as if he was genuinely asking for her opinion. However, his black pupils seemed to sparkle a bit in the hallway light.
This made Wei Zhi blush even more. She saw another layer of meaning in the man’s eyes—their trip to the gym had a premise, didn’t it? Like some kind of secret code, only they understood, this “going to the gym” business…
She blinked, as if mesmerized by his eyes, and nodded dazedly.
The man’s lips curled up slightly to show his satisfaction.
Backstab raised his hand and tapped the little junior sister’s forehead: “You’re done for, completely under Master’s control! One look from him and you forget who you are!”
Wei Zhi looked confused: “Who am I?”
Backstab inhaled sharply.
Shan Chong interjected from the side: “My girlfriend, of course.”
Wei Zhi’s legs went weak. She took his hand on her initiative, not even glancing at her senior brother anymore, and said with a smile that crinkled her eyes: “Let’s go. We’re done talking to him.”
The man nodded: “Alright.”
Watching helplessly as his little junior sister seemed to be brainwashed by Master’s smile, completely forgetting her mission to spread happiness and knowledge, Backstab was left speechless.
He even considered getting plastic surgery.
…
During working hours on a weekday, the gym was always empty early in the morning.
If there was one place in the world where Wei Zhi wouldn’t insist on tagging along with Jiang Nanfeng, it would probably be the gym… This was her first real visit to such a place, and the peculiar aroma of sweat and steel that permeated the air almost made her stumble.
Now she understood how “Gym Diary” became so popular.
How to put it? The smell wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but it was the scent of fermented hormones scattered in every corner, layered and transformed.
As she pondered the highlights of her peer’s work, the person next to her put down his bag and started to undress, lifting off the black hoodie he wore on the outside to reveal a white short-sleeved t-shirt underneath—
Wei Zhi just happened to turn her head casually.
Accidentally, she caught a glimpse of the man’s taut, evenly distributed abs beneath the white t-shirt that had been pulled up along with the hoodie…
Her pupils trembled slightly, not quite processing how the fan service could come so quickly.
Oddly enough, her first thought was to take a picture with her phone and send it to Ms. Yang. Surely after seeing this, she would agree (to their relationship).
But before Wei Zhi could take out her phone, her body had already acted ahead of her brain—
As the man was pulling off his hoodie, he felt something soft and slightly cool land on his lower abdomen. He instinctively paused, then quickly removed the hoodie, tossed it aside, and looked down.
He saw his little girl, who had been sitting properly in the chair, now leaning over with one hand supporting her body, the other resting on his waistband.
Her soft fingertips pressed against his lower abdomen.
A few seconds of silence passed.
Realizing what she was doing, Wei Zhi blushed furiously, her hair standing on end. The groundhog in her mind let out a scream of embarrassment that could shatter the solar system—
Her fingers quickly retracted, grasping weakly in the air.
A few seconds later, she reached out and yanked the man’s upturned t-shirt down!
“Be-be careful not to catch a cold!” she said in a voice tighter than usual. “How can you be so careless when taking off your clothes!”
Shan Chong raised an eyebrow.
It was the first time in his life someone had described him as “careless,” which was quite novel.
He glanced at her without exposing her, and after six sets of warm-ups, he took out a resistance band. He hooked it onto a random large piece of equipment, then attached the other end to his thigh muscles and sat back.
Squats.
Each time he sat back, the group of thigh muscles that had already been warmed up would tense due to the exertion. Wei Zhi squatted nearby, watching, occasionally hearing his slightly heavier breathing.
During another squat, she had been obediently crouching at his side, but after some hesitation, she did something she had wanted to do when she saw him in the phone video but couldn’t. She shifted her position to the front of the man.
The pants he wore today weren’t completely skin-tight.
It must be said that she had actually seen a certain part before (although in dim light) and had even personally… measured it, but it must be said that in broad daylight, with just a layer of fabric between them, to suddenly catch a glimpse—
It still had quite an impact.
Wei Zhi raised her hand to press her nose bridge, a bit distracted. As the man squatted down, her eyes inadvertently caught the outline of a certain… personal shape protruding due to the movement of his pants.
Wei Zhi thought she should eat something nutritious tonight to replenish her body.
Just then, Shan Chong stood up straight.
Wei Zhi: “?”
Wei Zhi: “You can continue, don’t mind me.”
Attempting to change the subject.
Wei Zhi: “What does this movement train?”
“Core,” the man’s voice carried a low magnetism after exercising. “Didn’t you want to learn carved turns before? Come here, I’ll teach you?”
Wei Zhi did want to learn that, and hearing him mention it now made her heart flutter. She maintained her squatting position and shuffled closer to him. As she approached, she was almost overwhelmed by the scent emanating from his body—
After exercising, the human body’s scent becomes more intense… That smell certainly wasn’t pure cologne, but rather the natural scent of a person, mixed with sweat and his inherent aroma. It was an unfamiliar yet familiar scent, one she had detected on him countless times before.
He reached out to lift her from the ground, and the wave of heat hit her face. She instinctively clung to his arm and buried her face in his chest.
Her heart was pounding.
No matter how many times they embraced, each hug still felt precious to her.
Hugging his waist, she tightened her arms and buried her nose in his chest, taking a deep breath: “I wanted to do this when I saw you in the video last time.”
As she spoke, she looked up and tiptoed to kiss his chin.
Shan Chong, ever mindful, glanced around the gym. It was still just the two of them, so his gaze became a bit lazier. He used his slightly rough fingertips to brush her cheek: “What’s with the coquettishness?”
The man’s voice was husky.
Sexy as hell.
In this daze, Wei Zhi found herself fitted with the resistance band, feeling the support on her thighs. The man’s hand was behind her, supporting her back.
“Sit back, I’m holding you so you won’t fall. Sit back more, don’t let your knees move forward. Feel the force in your thighs and lower abdomen, tighten your core… It’s the same principle for carved turns. Fold, core, if your core loosens, everything falls apart.”
As he spoke, he was right behind her.
His hands gripped her waist, his palms scorching hot.
The warm, moist breath of his words was right at her ear, and she could even feel the vibrations in his chest.
“Don’t get distracted,” he said. “Think about how those people you saw on the ski slopes were skiing. You can practice on your own when we get back. The resistance band is just an aid—”
The man stepped away as he spoke.
She tried to figure out where her core was and did a few repetitions on her own.
A bit distracted, she was thinking about how those experts on the ski slopes folded their bodies when she suddenly heard a rustling sound beside her. She reflexively turned her head to look and saw Shan Chong sitting nearby, slowly unwrapping a piece of milk candy she had given him yesterday and popping it into his mouth.
Wei Zhi watched as the candy disappeared between his lips.
As he bit into it, the man’s tongue curled slightly, and she caught a glimpse of his tongue tip between his lips and teeth.
Wei Zhi stood up, her mind blank for two seconds. She jumped out of the resistance band and walked in front of him.
The light in front of him was blocked by the shadow of the little girl. The man sitting there looked up and met her bright eyes. He paused for a moment and asked, “What are you looking at? Do you want one too?”
Wei Zhi nodded vaguely.
The man made an “oh” sound and didn’t refuse.
He reached up and grabbed the drawstring of her hoodie, and she leaned down accordingly.
The man’s breath, sweet with the scent of milk candy, wafted over her upturned nose. Wei Zhi’s eyes widened slightly, her almond-shaped pupils filled with confusion, until the next moment when her lips were captured by his.
Her already slightly parted teeth were easily pried open, and the candy, which had been bitten to release its sweet fragrance and had become a bit hard, was pushed into her mouth along with his tongue tip—
But he didn’t rush to let her go.
The large hand holding her drawstring even applied a bit of force. The man’s tongue tip curled around hers, smoothly delivering the candy past her teeth, as if reluctant to part, lingering for a moment longer…
The force that had made her bend down disappeared.
In Wei Zhi’s daze, she saw the man smiling at her with curved eyes, saying softly, “It’s the last one. You can have it.”