Shi Linchuan turned off the stove.

The rice porridge in the pot was steaming hot and thick.

With his eyes lowered, he unexpectedly recalled the story of “boiling a frog in warm water.” He had initially thought he was the one boiling Xie Jinghe in a pot, never expecting that Xie Jinghe had actually turned the tables and steeped him instead.

Yet he was the one who had made the first move, so now he had nowhere to argue his case.

Even calling the police wouldn’t help.

How would he even describe the case to the police then?

Tell them that during his intentional attempt to harm Xie Jinghe, the victim stole his heart instead? Judging by the laws of the mortal world, Xie Jinghe was acting in self-defense and hadn’t broken any laws whatsoever.

“Take them out.”

Hearing the patter of Xie Jinghe’s footsteps as he shuffled over in his slippers, Shi Linchuan didn’t turn his head. He merely gestured with his chin toward the two bowls of plain porridge he had just ladled out, giving a soft command.

“Oh.”

Hearing this, Xie Jinghe immediately changed direction, taking two steps from behind the man to his side. In a great mood, he carried the bowls out of the kitchen, showing not a single trace of leg pain.

The food on the table was very simple.

Two bowls of plain porridge, a dish of mixed greens, and a bowl of braised beef.

Shi Linchuan didn’t have much of an appetite. He simply held his porridge bowl and took small sips, occasionally picking up a couple of bites of greens with his chopsticks. His gaze landed straight on Xie Jinghe across from him, watching as this fellow drank porridge like water, making short work of half the bowl of braised beef in no time.

In all fairness, Xie Jinghe’s table manners weren’t unseemly, nor did he make unpleasant noises. After all, having entered the entertainment industry, every move an artist made could be exposed under the spotlight. Thus, he had specifically learned proper etiquette and learned it well.

“I haven’t eaten all day, I’m starving.”

Noticing that the man kept staring at him, Xie Jinghe, who had just sat down after scooping his third bowl of porridge, hurriedly explained, “Besides, you haven’t made me braised beef in a long time, so I only ate a little extra. Plus, I haven’t had much work recently…”

Shi Linchuan raised an eyebrow, his meaning abundantly clear:

Are you sure it was only ‘a little extra’?

Xie Jinghe decoded this micro-expression without hindrance. Neither embarrassed nor flustered, he also picked up a piece of beef with his chopsticks and fed it to the man, bringing it to his mouth—presenting a full-on attitude of borrowing Shi Linchuan’s flowers to offer to his Buddha.

“It’s really delicious!”

Shi Linchuan cast a side-glance at him, opening his mouth to take it in.

The beef was sliced very thin; a few gentle chews left a lingering fragrance between his teeth and lips. Shi Linchuan quickly swallowed it down, taking the opportunity to roll his eyes at Xie Jinghe, “As if I wouldn’t know?”

Born into wealth in his past life, he had spent all his time receiving elite education, never touching these trivial household chores. During his three years of marriage to Xie Jinghe, in order to maintain his gentle husband persona, Shi Linchuan had put a lot of effort into this area, and now he was thoroughly proficient at it.

To be precise…

Habit had become second nature as well.

In the end, the meal concluded with clean plates.

Xie Jinghe very consciously cleaned up the dishes, placing them into the dishwasher, and then took a dishcloth to wipe down the dining table. Seeing the man dissolve two cups of medication, he hurriedly said, “I don’t feel uncomfortable anywhere, so I probably didn’t catch your cold. Do I still need to drink this?”

The ceramic cups Shi Linchuan used to mix the medicine were a matching pair.

One black, one white, these big-bellied ceramic cups each had half a pink heart printed on their surface, forming a complete heart only when joined together—looking somewhat tacky.

Xie Jinghe had bought them online during their dating period.

“Just as a precaution.” Shi Linchuan set the two cups on the table he had just wiped clean, pushing one of them in front of Xie Jinghe. Hesitating for a couple of seconds, he still continued, “Once you finish drinking…”

“You should head back.”

Xie Jinghe’s fingertips had just touched the wall of the cup. Hearing these words, his movements instantly froze. Immediately after, he heard the man say: “After all, we’re already divorced, and we got the divorce certificate right under the eyes of the entire nation. There’s no reason for us to remain tangled together unclearly.”

Shi Linchuan stared at the black cup in front of himself, speaking seriously.

Finishing his sentence, he paused and added:

“Thank you for coming to take care of me.”

“Can we leave it at that?”

Regarding the end of his marriage with Xie Jinghe, Shi Linchuan felt somewhat relieved—at least it hadn’t turned too ugly. There were no filthy secrets hidden beneath the marriage, nor had it escalated into a criminal case.

Even the weather on the day of their divorce was utterly mundane.

“I don’t want to.”

Along with that voice, a hand barged into Shi Linchuan’s sight.

This hand pushed the white ceramic cup containing the mixture back, aligning it side by side with the black ceramic cup once more. Thus, the heart that had been torn in half by the man returned to its original state, still steaming with hot water vapor, the amber medicinal liquid swaying slightly, dazzling one’s eyes.

Shi Linchuan fell silent for a moment, then spoke again:

“I’m doing this for your own good.”

He slowly raised his eyes, watching the person across from him lowering his head, using the dishcloth to scrub that small area in front of him back and forth. The overhead light shone down, making the tabletop exceptionally glossy, as if even a mosquito standing on it would slip and break a bone, yet it couldn’t reflect Xie Jinghe’s expression.

Slightly different from what Shi Linchuan had imagined…

Actually, Xie Jinghe didn’t feel that heartbroken, nor did he consider himself humble or pathetic for desperately trying to draw closer to the man. The source of his confidence was precisely the man’s awkward, subtle, yet undeniable love—like a hidden world beneath a glacier.

Mysterious and vast.

So Xie Jinghe was activating his little brain.

Given:

I love Linchuan.

Linchuan loves me.

And, Linchuan’s views on love and marriage are extremely negative.

Subconsciously touching the bite marks and kiss marks on the side of his neck, he suddenly remembered the man’s various states while sick last night—different from his refined gentleman persona over the past three years, and different from his twisted, perverse behavior over the past two months. That was a clingy, candid, and flustered side the man had never shown before…

These complex emotions were like little secrets buried deep in the soil by the man, left ignored for years. Once breaking through the earth, they timidly swayed their tender branches and leaves at Xie Jinghe, as if a clap of thunder or a single raindrop could scare them out of their wits.

Xie Jinghe couldn’t help sneezed.

Hearing this sound, Shi Linchuan pushed the white ceramic cup over once again.

“Drink it quickly, it’s getting cold.”

Seeing Xie Jinghe’s head remaining lowered, Shi Linchuan suspected this person might have been hurt to tears by his words again, feeling a bit unsettled inside. Just a short while ago, he could still dispassionately watch Xie Jinghe being spun around by him and weeping bitterly, even using his fingertips to wipe the wet tears from the other’s face to taste them in his mouth…

His feelings for Xie Jinghe hadn’t changed.

It was just that his heart seemed to have been warmed and softened by Xie Jinghe.

Whenever this person cried, his heart would rain too.

Therefore, staring at Xie Jinghe’s chestnut hair that was slightly bedhead-tangled, Shi Linchuan intended to say something casually to ease the atmosphere—like “Do dummies catch colds too?”—but just as his mouth opened, before the words could leave…

He heard Xie Jinghe suddenly say out of the blue,

“Can we still be friends after getting divorced?”

“Some people can be friends after a divorce, but we can’t,” Shi Linchuan took back his original words, following his topic down, “It might sound a bit narcissistic to say this, but you still seem to hold expectations for me right now. How can you move forward like this?”

Xie Jinghe: “I don’t want to move forward. You’re the one forcing me to move forward.”

Hearing this, Shi Linchuan casually raised his ceramic cup to take a sip of the medicine, tasting nothing at all, only to hear Xie Jinghe make an astonishing declaration:

“Then if we can’t be friends, can we be friends with benefits first?”

“Cough, cough!“

Shi Linchuan was caught completely off guard and choked on a mouthful. His narrow eyes swept sideways, glaring straight at Xie Jinghe, venting his anger in a scolding tone: “Say that again! What do you want to be with me?”

Xie Jinghe pulled his neck in, repeating in a small voice:

“We’re all divorced adults; when there are needs, they have to be resolved.”

Either way, he wasn’t going to sever ties completely.

Shi Linchuan felt the veins on his temples throb wildly. Crossing his arms, he was almost angered into laughter. “Xie Jinghe, you’ve really got something. After getting divorced, instead of thinking about dating properly, what are you pondering? Friends with benefits? You actually dare to say that!”

Xie Jinghe talked back meekly:

“You told me to say it.”

As he spoke, he even used the dishcloth in his hand to wipe away the few drops of medicine the man had accidentally choked out.

Shi Linchuan had a massive headache.

He glared fiercely at Xie Jinghe, who was busy acting obedient and docile.

After a long while…

Shi Linchuan suddenly raised his head, his Adam’s apple rolling rapidly up and down, the veins on his neck bulging slightly with extreme tension. He questioned in utter frustration: “Xie Jinghe, do you really have to hang yourself on this crooked tree of mine?!”

After a few seconds…

The overhead light was blocked by someone.

Xie Jinghe stood up quietly behind him, his upper body leaning slightly forward, his two arms wrapping around his neck like deadly vines as he responded softly in a whisper: “Who told you to be so handsome? One look at you and I can’t even move my legs…”

“It’s all your fault.”

Xie Jinghe wrinkled his nose, speaking as such.

Inside the system space.

The white light ball sticking to the optical screen instantly leaned back.

“Oh ho, the Shi-style blame-shifting phenomenon has infected another person!”

However, in the next second…

The optical screen was automatically blocked, displaying a wall of mosaics.

At the same time, as the subsystem determining task completion, the blue light ball suddenly sensed the call of destiny. An inorganic ding was about to pop out, only to be frightened right back in by the lethal virus line the white light ball pulled out from its belly.

The blue light ball: Swallows all bitterness in silence.

A single kiss ignited everything.

With a backward pull of Shi Linchuan’s hand, Xie Jinghe immediately spun around from behind him, sitting onto his thighs. During this, the two’s lips seemed to be stuck together with superglue, unable to be torn apart.

They lingered in the living room for a long time.

When standing up to walk toward the bedroom, Xie Jinghe didn’t forget to remind the man between heavy pants to finish the medicine that was almost completely cold.

The end result was…

One cup of medicine, shared between two people.

From the living room to the bedroom doorway, clothes and pants were scattered all over the ground, lying in disarray, yet nobody paid them any mind.

The two had left too many memories in this apartment. The moment Shi Linchuan pushed Xie Jinghe down onto the double bed, this person wriggled his waist, pulling out two items from the bottom drawer of the nightstand, and even held them up to ask him with a flushed face:

“Linchuan, could these have expired?”

Shi Linchuan leaned down, taking the items from his hand while kissing him, responding intermittently: “If they’ve expired, what do you plan to do? Stop?”

Xie Jinghe’s breathing was unsteady: “Of course not.”

“If they’re expired, then just don’t use them.”

“You rarely use them normally anyway.”

Hearing this, Shi Linchuan couldn’t help letting out a soft chuckle. Standing up, he leaned close to his ear and whispered, “That probably won’t work tonight. It’s been a while since we last did it. If I don’t use them…”

“Can you handle it?”

Xie Jinghe seemed to remember certain memories from the past, hurriedly wrapping his arms around the man’s neck and nodding repeatedly in lingering fear, agreeing, “Then you’d better use them.”

The weather in Tongcity was far too cold.

Even though the heater was running in the bedroom, it didn’t affect certain items. Shi Linchuan warmed them with his hands first before using them on Xie Jinghe, speaking in a raspy voice:

“They haven’t expired. The shelf life is five years.”

“…”

The sky outside had turned thoroughly dark. The mid-to-high floors were far removed from the noise of city traffic, yet as a gust of wind swept past, the entire world fell into silence, followed by a sudden clap of thunder, immediately succeeded by the pitter-patter of rain.

Xie Jinghe’s voice was blended within it.

A winter rainstorm had arrived suddenly.

Yet Shi Linchuan felt…

He had already waited for a very long time.

This night was long.

Xie Jinghe was drenched in sweat, his mark-covered shoulders exposed outside the quilt. He caught his breath in a mess like this for a long time, and when he opened his eyes again, he found the man looking at him with a very complex expression.

The two looked at each other in silence.

Suddenly…

The man closed his eyes, as if resigning to his fate.

“I lose to you.”

“Xie Jinghe, you’re the first losing business deal I’ve ever made.”

At the exact same time…

Shi Linchuan summoned the system in his heart.