Bai Youwei snapped back to herself and smiled. “No, it’s just… it’s rare to hear something that actually makes sense come out of your mouth.”

Tan Xiao scratched his head, grinning broadly. “It was just a random guess. Heh~”

The three of them rode the elevator up together to the twenty-third floor.

The security door was shut tight, and the key had long since been lost somewhere, so Shen Mo detached the paper doll figure from his wrist, transformed it into a blade, and picked the lock with no effort at all.

Whatever material these game-awarded items were made of, they made short work of any type of metal in everyday life.

He opened the door. The apartment inside was tidy — aside from a layer of accumulated dust, nothing was in disarray. Even the bed sheets lay so smooth that barely a crease could be seen. Clearly, the person who lived here was meticulous and disciplined.

Bai Youwei wheeled herself around the apartment in a circle, clearly pleased. “Let’s stay here,” she said.

“You sure?” Shen Mo smiled. “Twenty-third floor — getting in and out isn’t convenient.”

“But there’s an elevator.” Bai Youwei explored each room with enthusiasm. “At least it’s a place you know well. I think it’s perfectly fine here. Tan Xiao, what do you think?”

“Works for me.” Tan Xiao had no objections. “It’s not like we actually sleep and eat here — that’s all in the Dollhouse.”

“If neither of you have a problem with it, then it’s settled.” Shen Mo surveyed the space with a smile. “Find somewhere to rest. I’ll go get things to clean up. Even if we’re eating and sleeping in the Dollhouse, this place still needs tidying.”

“I’ll help!” Tan Xiao volunteered with enthusiasm.

Shen Mo grabbed a broom and dustpan, tossed Tan Xiao a rag, and the two men got to work efficiently.

Bai Youwei wheeled herself into Shen Mo’s bedroom, eyes wide with curiosity. One moment she was rifling through the desk drawers, the next she was opening the wardrobe — the concept of “privacy” appeared to be entirely absent from her vocabulary.

Shen Mo walked in to find Bai Youwei reading his notebook.

He had no habit of keeping a diary — the pages held nothing but meeting records, dry and dull as could be, yet Bai Youwei was reading them with evident delight.

Shen Mo slipped the notebook out of her hands and gave her a light tap on the head with it. He smiled and asked, “Can you even make heads or tails of this?”

“Your handwriting is really nice,” Bai Youwei looked up at him, eyes bright. “Hardly anyone has good handwriting anymore. Did you practice specifically?”

Shen Mo put the notebook back in the drawer. “As a kid, I took a two-month interest class at a youth center.”

Bai Youwei: “Just that?”

Shen Mo smiled. “What did you think it would take?”

He stepped around her and stripped the dusty sheets and pillowcases from the bed with practiced efficiency, dropped them into the laundry basket, then opened the wardrobe to find fresh ones.

The wardrobe was short on color — at a glance, it was mostly black and white, or shades of dark and light gray. Even the bed sheets were plain stripes and checks.

Shen Mo found a set with blue-gray vertical stripes and spread them across the bed, then turned to find Bai Youwei gazing at him quietly.

He smiled, walked over to her, and braced his hands on either side of the wheelchair. “Disappointed? Your boyfriend is just an ordinary, by-the-book kind of person.”

“Not at all.” Bai Youwei smiled back. “I did make a new discovery though.”

Shen Mo: “What discovery?”

Bai Youwei said, “I discovered that I love you — which is why an ordinary person like you has so many brilliant qualities in my eyes.”

Shen Mo laughed softly, and leaned down to kiss her.

Their breath mingled. The temperature in the room imperceptibly rose.

Bai Youwei grew warmer and warmer, a thin sheen of perspiration forming on the tip of her nose. She pushed lightly against Shen Mo, pulling back, a little breathless. “Who turned on the air conditioner?” she complained.

Shen Mo shook his head and said nothing.

Then continued kissing her.

From outside the room came Tan Xiao’s puzzled voice: “Shen Mo! How do you turn on your TV? This remote isn’t doing anything!… Oh wait, this might not even be the TV remote…”

—