When they arrived home, it was already past eight in the evening.

The night wind was shut out, and the indoor constant temperature system was activated. Lin Zhu quickly couldn’t stand the heat; he took off the dark coffee-colored trench coat he was wearing and casually draped it over the coat rack in the entryway.

As soon as he turned around, he saw the man standing by the dining table. He had opened the gift box that Huang Canran had shoved into their hands earlier, and was holding the wine bottle with both hands, examining it, while saying,

“Puppy Lin, do you want to drink a little right now?”

Yan Ruoyun turned his face sideways to look over, and happened to catch sight of the blond youth rolling up his shirt sleeves while walking toward him—perhaps because he had eaten a lot of supplements during his secondary differentiation period, he was more robust than when they first met, but not bulky. He just looked…

More sexy.

Lin Zhu approached, his expression somewhat conflicted.

Whether it was his childhood memories from his original world, or the character’s past memories in the book’s world, for a very long period, they were filled with the lingering smell of alcohol…

Therefore, Lin Zhu didn’t like alcohol, nor did he like the smell of liquor. That also led to an inevitable result.

He had never personally drunk alcohol.

He completely didn’t know how to appreciate the quality of wine; he just felt it was something that made people lose their rationality and spend their days in a stupor.

But today is a special day. Lin Zhu thought to himself.

The lights in the dining room were a bright, clear white. The halo poured over the top of the man’s head, but was broken up by his overly long eyelashes, falling into those grayish-green eyes, swirling like a galaxy.

Yan Ruoyun held up the wine bottle, his peach blossom eyes gazing at him, and softly let out an inquiring “Hmm?”.

For a moment, Lin Zhu felt his heart skip a beat.

So he nodded, unable to resist raising his hand to pat the top of the man’s head, “Then let’s… drink a little bit.”

Just a little bit, to taste it.

“Okay, there happen to be wine glasses at home, they just haven’t been used for a long time.” Yan Ruoyun glanced at him, as if warning him not to cross the line, but the force in his eyes was extremely light. “I’ll open the wine, you go get two wine glasses from the cabinet.”

“Remember to wash them clean,” he added.

Lin Zhu pulled his hand back.

He silently walked toward the kitchen, nodding as he went.

Yan Ruoyun often needed to socialize, but due to his Omega identity and gland defect, he basically only took one or two small sips and would absolutely never drink excessively.

That could lead to a disordered heat cycle.

But now he didn’t need to worry so much. He watched the blond youth walking toward him step by step, smiling as he thought: After all… Lin Zhu is right beside him.

Before long.

A mellow, rich aroma of wine dispersed in the air that had been purified by the ventilation system, teasing Lin Zhu’s nose faintly.

He lowered his eyes and stared at the red liquid in his glass for a good while before cautiously bringing it to his mouth.

“Cough… cough!”

Although he possessed the character’s memory data of lingering in bars, Lin Zhu had ultimately never drunk it himself. The taste of the red wine actually wasn’t choking, but unfortunately, he simply couldn’t handle that flavor; even taking a small sip felt weird to him.

He hastily set the wine glass down, looking at the man opposite him in a somewhat troubled manner, only to see Yan Ruoyun raise his eyebrows in surprise:

“No way? Is it that spicy?”

After saying that, he took a sip and added: “It’s quite good.”

Before officially drinking, Yan Ruoyun’s spirits rose even higher. He directed Lin Zhu to turn off the dining room’s main lights, leaving only a ring of dim ambient lighting.

The man was someone who valued quality of life, having decorated the small dining room in a simple and comfortable way—a long rectangular dining table that could only accommodate two people, sitting face-to-face, with a tall floor-to-ceiling window on the side.

The moonlight outside crept under the dining table, as if competing for territory with the dim lighting, yet also blending into one.

Across a narrow table, Lin Zhu deeply gazed at the other person’s lips, which were moistened by the wine, and couldn’t help but say: “Ge, I don’t like drinking alcohol…” He paused, then continued, “But drinking it with you, I don’t hate it.”

He simply just couldn’t appreciate it.

Lin Zhu thought so, and said so.

Hearing this, Yan Ruoyun held his glass with one hand and propped his chin with the other, saying thoughtfully: “Although you don’t really need to be good at drinking… but Puppy Lin, later when we have New Year’s Eve dinner, as my husband, you’ll have to toast my parents a few times, right?”

Lin Zhu’s mind instantly blanked; he hadn’t thought of that at all.

“Practice a bit?”

After speaking, the man downed the liquid in his glass in one gulp, leaned forward, and gently rubbed his lips against the corner of the youth’s mouth. The implication was exceptionally clear.

Lin Zhu swallowed: “Mm.”

Immediately after, the two exchanged a red wine-flavored kiss.

The rich, mellow liquid was passed over from Yan Ruoyun’s mouth, and Lin Zhu swallowed every single drop down his throat.

The cold liquid gradually warmed up.

However, unable to appreciate it means unable to appreciate it. Just like a person who hates cilantro won’t suddenly fall in love with it one day; there always has to be an adaptation process.

Currently, this adaptation process was way too short, and it seemed to have no effect.

Lin Zhu licked his lips expressionlessly, then subtly wrinkled his nose. This didn’t escape the other’s eyes.

Yan Ruoyun sighed and joked: “Forget it, you can sit at the kids’ table then.”

Lin Zhu fell silent for a moment, proactively picked up the bottle, and poured more wine into his own glass. “Come here… anyway, I’ll try drinking some more.”

Yan Ruoyun stared at him and suddenly said: “Whether your sense of taste has reacted or not, I don’t know, but your face definitely has?”

A pale flush had spread across the youth’s cheeks. It wasn’t very noticeable under the dim light, but instead made him look healthier, and even softened the aggressiveness of his facial features by several degrees.

Hearing this, Lin Zhu subconsciously touched his face.

Burning hot.

Lin Zhu: “…”

Truly, you don’t know until you drink, and once you do, you’re startled.

Am I this weak? He thought.

The more Lin Zhu thought about it, the weirder it felt. He couldn’t help but cover his face with both hands, but finding the temperature of his palms too hot, he simply flipped his hands over, using the cooler backs of his hands to lower the temperature.

Little did he know that this action, in Yan Ruoyun’s eyes, was sexy and innocent to the extreme—his cufflinks were undone, the sleeves rolled up a few times to his elbows, revealing two intact forearms.

The youth’s body fat percentage wasn’t high. His bones and tendons were distinctly defined, and the blood vessels under his skin were somewhat prominent. Especially the way his arms were folded, it made the man involuntarily think of certain moments…

At those times, the blood vessels on Lin Zhu’s arms would bulge even more severely, demonstrating his ox-like strength, which made Yan Ruoyun feel terrified every time, yet unable to break free.

Thinking of this, Yan Ruoyun suddenly felt his throat go dry and itchy. After a nearly inaudible cough, he shifted his gaze back to the youth’s face.

He had discovered it long ago.

About the fact that Lin Zhu was a very contradictory person.

Although Lin Zhu’s hair color was very exaggerated, when he went to school normally, not only did he wear his uniform properly, but even his backpack was carried squarely on his back. In addition, his attitude toward studying was very proper; he was hardworking, diligent, oh, and very polite…

Seemingly uninhibited and rebellious, but actually adhering strictly to the rules.

A particularly well-behaved kid.

Who just happened to dye a head of eye-catching blond hair.

Even though this hair color didn’t make him look like a street thug, it deepened the eccentric aura around him.

Yan Ruoyun watched Lin Zhu pick up his wine glass and sniff it carefully. He couldn’t help raising his hand to smooth out the golden tips of hair falling between his brows. “Your hair is getting a bit long. How about I take you to get a haircut another day?”

He paused, then asked:
“Speaking of which, why did you dye it this color? Are you going to dye it again then?”

Yan Ruoyun always felt there was some special reason.

Lin Zhu: “…”

That sentence really hit Lin Zhu’s sore spot.

He abruptly tilted his head back, downing a large glass of red wine in one gulp. A look of deep pain surfaced on his usually expressionless face, and his tone was uncharacteristically intense,

“I absolutely, absolutely won’t dye it again!”

Hearing him say this, Yan Ruoyun grew even more curious, pressing on: “Why? Weren’t you quite fond of it?”

Before going to the Civil Affairs Bureau this morning, he had asked Lin Zhu if he wanted to go get a haircut first. The other quickly shook his head and refused.

Lin Zhu only felt his face getting hotter, and his head starting to spin. He pursed his lips and spat out a few words.

“…Because, of luck.”

Yan Ruoyun asked: “What luck?”

It was clearly something that happened just a few months ago.

Yet Lin Zhu felt a sense of unfamiliarity, as if it were a lifetime ago.

At that time, the final subject of the college entrance examination had just ended.

He retrieved his bag and walked out of the exam center. Outside the iron gates was a crowd of parents waiting anxiously. The crowd was dense, and every face wore the exact same expression.

That was called, anticipation.

It was just that not a single face was there for Lin Zhu.

He squeezed through the crowd and walked out. Reaching back, he pulled his phone out of his bag, long-pressed to turn it on, and then…

With a ding.

Lin Zhu hung his head, saying softly: “I received a promotional MMS. It was about divination. It said my lucky color was yellow, and that if I persistently wore my lucky color, I would gain good luck in the future.”

He never believed in those things, but that day, as if he had taken the wrong medicine, he actually thought about it seriously for a long time.

Lin Zhu belatedly recalled what he was thinking at that time, and then said in a tone carrying subtle grievance,

“I just hoped…”

“That I could also encounter something good, that’s all.”

So he stared at that text message for a long time. He didn’t choose to go home, but instead uncharacteristically turned into a barbershop, pointed to his own head at the ‘Tony teacher’ (barber), and directly said,

“I want to dye it yellow.”

Never did he expect that just as he pushed open the glass door to walk out, a heavy truck that had lost control tilted and crashed over.

With a massive bang.

The world turned gray in the blink of an eye.

Does this count as a good thing?

Dragged by the system into another bizarre ABO world, Lin Zhu couldn’t understand it. Especially when he learned that this world came from a melodramatic, angsty novel, and he still had to play the scumbag ex-husband who physically and mentally abused the protagonist…

Tired. Just destroy it all.

Lin Zhu found that life had finally gone crazy in a way he couldn’t comprehend. He only felt incredibly tired, really didn’t want to struggle anymore, and might as well just lie flat and wait for death.

But before he could even lie down, he was fooled by the system and, as if possessed, began the role-playing mission.

At the very beginning, he was still thinking,
Once he completed all the plots, he would be able to return to his original world with the system’s help, and he could even resurrect without any lingering side effects.

And what about Yan Ruoyun?
He wouldn’t have to die because the world collapsed either.

Just as the system said—
Between both dying and both living, of course you choose both living!

But when exactly did it start?

Lin Zhu asked himself. He put down the empty glass, raised his eyes, and crashed into those grayish-green pools opposite him. He couldn’t help but reveal a smile, sounding almost like he was complaining,

“…But I don’t want to leave now.”

Perhaps it was when he opened his eyes in the morning and could see the man’s peaceful sleeping face; or perhaps it was when he came home from school and saw the light seeping through the crack in the door; or perhaps it was when the man was lenient and indulgent with him time and time again…

Lin Zhu lowered his eyes and repeated it once more in his head,
“I don’t want to leave, System.”

But he received no response.

So, Lin Zhu raised his eyes again, smiled at Yan Ruoyun, who was equally quiet, and picked up the topic again: “I misspoke just now. Actually, I don’t regret it at all.”

“Because I slowly discovered that that divination was really accurate. After that, sure enough, I encountered a very, very lucky thing… it’s simply like a miracle.”

A few seconds later.

He saw the man’s expression gradually fall silent. Those peach blossom eyes widened roundly, as if seeing some bizarre scene, and even his tone became difficult.

“Is that so?”

Yan Ruoyun opened his mouth, speaking almost stiffly:
“But, you’re crying.”

He stared blankly for a long time, then asked:
“Then why are you crying, Lin Zhu?”

Lin Zhu inexplicably touched his face. His cheeks and palms were completely dry, and he questioned: “I’m not?”

Yan Ruoyun simply said,
“—Your eyes are crying.”