Facts proved that some things truly cannot be talked about too often.

The topic of who the child would resemble had been discussed many times between Lin Zhu and Yan Ruojun, but genetic inheritance is a profound science; only when the melon is ripe and falls can the answer be revealed.

Then again—in most cases, a newborn infant doesn’t look particularly beautiful; they can almost be described as a “red-skinned big peanut.” Trying to see who the child looks like at this stage… is truly difficult.

So, when Yan Ruojun, with a pale complexion but smug eyes, said, “Puppy Lin, the baby is carved from the same mold as you,” Lin Zhu didn’t believe it. At most, he was half-doubting.

But as time passed and the child grew, their features gradually became clear. As Lin Zhu held the baby to burp them, he had to admit that the man had not exaggerated. And the offhand joke he had made during the Spring Festival seemed to have come true, stepping step by step into reality.

This early morning, the cold air of early autumn hovered over the city, the cold fog blurring the silhouettes of the distant mountains, and the mountain villa was draped in a layer of serene white gauze. The sunlight was cold.

In the Yan family’s main residence, the door to the bedroom at the end of the second-floor hallway was tightly shut. The curtains blocked out the pale light, and on the large bed in the center of the room lay two men sleeping entwined, their limbs tangled under the quilt, sharing each other’s body heat.

Thump, thump, thump!

A dull sound of running footsteps suddenly rang out in the corridor. Following that, the lock of the bedroom door, which had been closed all night, emitted a rustling noise. After a long while, the lock clicked, and the door was pulled open. A bit of light darted in, casting a slender shadow on the floor.

The shadow approached the large bed step by step.

Yan Ruojun was lying on his side, a strong, lean arm draped under his neck, the forearm hooked up, his palm resting exactly on his jaw, his index and middle fingers gripping an earlobe. It was a gesture filled with possessiveness.

The man was awakened by the noise. His hand under the quilt nudged back limply, and he asked in a daze, “Puppy Lin, didn’t you lock the door?”

“And… have you put your pajamas on properly?”

Several years had passed, and Lin Zhu’s schedule was no longer as precise as it had been during his senior year of high school, plus he had been up very late with the man the night before…

He was dazed for a few seconds before sitting up, sleep-heavy, and looking straight toward the corner of the bed. His serious tone was laced with helplessness.

“Lin Yaoyi.”

He said the name, paused deliberately, and then continued, “You are not allowed to use hairpins or other things to pick the locks of other people’s rooms. How many times do I have to tell you?”

At the edge of the bed, the little girl wearing a yellow nightgown first tucked her sunflower hairpin back into her hair, then climbed onto the bed using both hands and feet. Hearing her Ge’s lecture, she raised her round face and explained in a small voice:

“I’m a bit picky about beds. I don’t sleep well when the environment changes.”

The girl’s eyebrows were very light; she had single eyelids with slightly upturned corners. When she lifted her upper eyelids to look at someone, a large amount of white showed. Her face was exquisite and childish, but her demeanor was uncontrollably cool. She was a proper little rebellious kid.

Lin Zhu watched her nimbly climb onto the bed and then, across the quilt, crawl onto his lap. He spread his long arms, scooped her into his embrace, and continued his lecture.

“Do I need to remind you?”

“You live here half the year. This isn’t a strange environment. Besides, it was you who said you wanted a room of your own, which is why we started sleeping in separate rooms ahead of schedule.”

The girl nestled in Lin Zhu’s arms, her small hands tugging at his collar. Suddenly, she stepped on the man’s thighs and climbed to the other side, lifted a corner of the quilt herself, and climbed into the arms of the man who was feigning sleep, deliberately letting out a huge yawn.

Lin Zhu: “…”

That part definitely didn’t come from him.

Lin Zhu was silent for two seconds before pursuing another issue.

“Lin Yaoyi, today is not the weekend. Why are you still at home and not changed into your school uniform?”

Speaking of this, the little girl blinked her gray-green eyes open and explained very quickly, “My head hurts. I asked Grandma to call in sick for me.”

Simple explanations weren’t enough; she poked her head out from under the quilt, used one hand to pull at her shoulder-length hair, and balled the other into a fist, extending her index finger to poke her own head.

“Ge! I don’t know why, but whenever I go to school and read, this place hurts so much!”

Lin Zhu was silent again: “…”

Half a minute later, he said coolly, “You’re only in kindergarten.”

Two or three months ago, Lin Zhu had graduated from college, and the family of three had returned to the city to settle down. Just in time for Lin Yaoyi to reach the right age, he and Yan Ruojun had discussed it and sent her to a private kindergarten.

Born into a family like the Yans, Lin Yaoyi had many senior educational experts helping with her enlightenment from kindergarten, including literacy and logical reasoning. Theoretically, she was excellent, even a child prodigy, but Lin Zhu really hadn’t expected…

The two top students had actually birthed a book-hating little rascal who got a headache just by seeing a book, always looking for excuses to skip school.

He lifted the quilt and got out of bed. “Ge, let Ge sleep a little longer. I’ll take you to school.”

Hearing this, Lin Yaoyi immediately supported her head with both hands, looking devastated: “No! I’m really not feeling well!”

“…Pfft.”

The man who was closing his eyes to rest finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. He let out a very light chuckle, his voice muffled under the quilt, and said quite casually, “Since she’s already called in sick, let her stay home for a bit longer.”

Lin Yaoyi nodded frantically, almost shaking off her hairpin.

Lin Zhu stared at the big one and the small one under the quilt and couldn’t help but sigh. He saw the man lazily stretch out a hand and gesture, “Come over and sleep with us.”

Lin Zhu took his hand and also slipped under the quilt.

They slept until past nine o’clock in the morning.

Lin Yaoyi had woken up half an hour ago. She was too energetic to lie still, so she had slipped downstairs by herself to play.

Lin Zhu and Yan Ruojun stood together in front of the vanity to wash up. He glanced at the man in the mirror and said, “Ge, don’t always spoil Lin Yaoyi. She’s really too naughty now.”

Yan Ruojun was thirty-four this year. His face hadn’t changed much, but there was more depth to his features. Childbirth had left many subtle traces on him, but the most obvious was the tender pink scar on his lower abdomen.

At this very moment, the surgical scar, covered by the hem of his shirt, was covered in hickeys and bite marks—deep and shallow, layered over one another. They were all marks left by Lin Zhu the night before.

The young man in the mirror had shed the boyishness from four or five years ago; his features were mature, and that unreasonable aggressiveness seemed to have been softened by family life, making his temperament more refined. It could probably be summarized as the ease of a married man.

Yan Ruojun glanced at the man in the mirror, rinsed his mouth, and leaned over to hug Lin Zhu’s waist, kissing his Adam’s apple several times. “Puppy Lin, the daughter is only four. I hope she has a lively and healthy childhood. Being a little more relaxed is fine.”

In front of their child, the two had a deep tacit understanding. Lin Zhu didn’t call Yan Ruojun “Ge” in front of her, and Yan Ruojun didn’t call him “Puppy Lin” in front of their daughter; both of them inexplicably carried an image burden as fathers.

“I think she might be a bit too lively and relaxed,” Lin Zhu said, speechless. “Have you forgotten two months ago, when we first returned… she…”

The young man brought up old business. The dead memories began to attack Yan Ruojun. Both of them held their breath in unison, their eyes revealing a numb, “living dead” expression.

At that time, they had just brought the child back to the mountains. The elders in the house would take the child out every day, so they didn’t have to worry about her at night. To be honest, having a child really affected their private life. Plus, Lin Zhu was busy with graduation and work, as well as another matter, so they hadn’t been intimate in a long time.

Seeing a god-sent opportunity, Lin Zhu couldn’t help but be a bit reckless, and Yan Ruojun was even more insatiable.

However, they crashed hard.

One night, after Lin Yaoyi woke up, she wandered to her fathers’ door. Hearing indistinct voices inside, she picked the lock.

“Big Papa, Little Papa…”

A very intense sound of “combat” came from inside the room. At the same time, Lin Yaoyi heard her Little Papa crying tragically, saying intermittently, “Puppy Lin, Husband, stop hitting so hard…”

Fortunately. Fortunately, they reacted in time, and the child didn’t see anything she shouldn’t have, but it was embarrassing enough.

When Lin Zhu was questioned by his daughter, tears in her eyes, with a series of soap opera lines like, “Why is Little Papa crying so sadly under the quilt? Big Papa, are you abusing Little Papa? Are you getting a divorce? Am I going to become an unwanted child?”…

Lin Zhu took several deep breaths before answering:

“That’s not it.”

The man had already curled up from head to toe in the quilt to escape reality.

Lin Zhu stood firmly by the bed, forcing an explanation: “Because Little Papa wasn’t listening, I was educating him…”

“Just like when you did something wrong last time,” he said with difficulty, “I educated you the same way. You cried very sadly at the time, but it actually didn’t hurt at all, right?”

Lin Yaoyi covered her butt and said gloomily, “It still hurt a little bit!”

Lin Zhu managed to smooth things over with much effort. However, two days later, at the dinner table where the whole family was gathered, the child was fussing about not wanting to go to school, her eyes full of tears. Yan Ruojun laughed and teased, “You’re a little crybaby.”

The father and daughter often bickered playfully.

The child wouldn’t accept defeat. She pouted, turned her head abruptly toward Lin Zhu, and blurted out, “Big Papa, Little Papa is bullying me again! Hurry up and catch him and spank his butt! Make him a big crybaby!”

“—Just like that night!”

Lin Zhu: “…”

Yan Ruojun: “…”

Under the gaze of the other elders at the table, they urged as if everything were fine, “Eat quickly, go to school after you finish.”

In reality, they were sweating profusely.

Two months later, recalling that incident, the smile on Yan Ruojun’s face stiffened. He changed his tune: “Indeed, a deadbolt can no longer stop her. This problem really needs to be educated properly.”

“I won’t stop you anymore.”

Lin Zhu stared at the man, suddenly lifted him onto the vanity, and whispered into his ear, “I heard her say she wanted to go to the flower fields. She won’t be back for a while.”

The two caused a scene in the bathroom, fully waking themselves up.

In the afternoon, Lin Zhu was hand-writing invitations at home. He had met quite a few people during his four years of college, including friends with whom he had a good relationship, and it took a lot of effort to contact them one by one.

Halfway through writing, he suddenly received an international call from his high school classmate, Huang Canran.

“Seatmate! I’m preparing to return to the country!”

The two hadn’t lost contact over the years. Lin Zhu laughed and said congratulations, then extended an invitation: “I’m holding a wedding ceremony next month. Do you have time to attend?”

Huang Canran on the other end of the phone: “…”

Shrimp, computer, not a buddy.jpg

Who was the person who got their marriage license before graduating from high school?!

Lin Zhu eerily understood that silence. He coughed twice and explained: “It’s a makeup wedding ceremony. I’ve been preparing for it for a long time. Will you come?”

“Of course!”

On the other end of the phone, Huang Canran couldn’t help but rub his hands, excited: “Seatmate, as a witness to your romance, can I be the emcee?”

Lin Zhu thought for a moment and replied: “My daughter also wants to be the emcee. For this, she is willing to endure the headache and enrolled in a ‘Little Host’ extracurricular training class. How about… you two compete for the position?”

Huang Canran: “No…”

Huang Canran: “Seatmate, you…”

Huang Canran: “Forget it…”

The little sister couldn’t be messed with. It wouldn’t be bad if he were just a flower boy.

On the day of the wedding, it was a rare, beautiful day.

Lin Zhu had insomnia for the first time in a long while. He sat in the dressing room, his mature male body wrapped in a white suit. With every gesture, the fabric outlined his tall, smooth lines, full of allure.

“Please help cover my dark circles.” He smiled slightly.

“Mr. Lin, your skin is very good. I can’t see any dark circles at all,” the makeup artist said, brushing near him and looking carefully for a long time before asking with a smile, “Are you too nervous?”

“I’ve been in this business for a long time, and many people have pre-wedding anxiety.”

Lin Zhu nodded: “Perhaps.”

He picked up his phone to check the time over and over again. Once the makeup artist confirmed, he hurriedly walked out of the dressing room with his long legs.

The wedding was held in a church. Both sides of the walkway, built in a Western European style, were planted with bright, brilliant sunflowers. In the distance, it was a vast expanse of golden flower sea.

Lin Zhu reached the open-air venue. His gaze subconsciously swept over the passing guests and instantly caught the back of the man in the white suit standing deep in the flower sea.

He was familiar with every inch of that silhouette.

He couldn’t help but speed up his pace and run toward the man.

Closer, even closer.

Lin Zhu saw the sunlight dancing on the man’s shoulders, and every sunflower bloomed enthusiastically. His heart was scorching hot, and for the first time, he called out the full name:

“—Yan Ruojun!”

As soon as the words fell, after four years, the system’s inorganic electronic voice rang in Lin Zhu’s mind, bringing a ripple-like trance.

“Congratulations to the Host for successfully playing the ‘Ex-Husband’ role and smoothly completing the key plot points of this sub-world. System N001 is settling the accounts for you…”

“Settlement passed.”

“Task reward [Rebirth] has been issued. Does the Host wish to return to the original world and redeem the reward? [Yes/No].”

Lin Zhu ran unswervingly toward the man, as if rushing toward his lucky star, his wordless answer scattered in the wind.

A few seconds later, the system’s broadcast sounded again.

“…Redeeming lifelong residence rights for Host Lin Zhu.”

“Task completed. ‘Ex-Husband’ role-playing system automatically unbound. Progress 10%, 20%, 50%… 100%…”

Lin Zhu suddenly saw a white light orb dragging a slightly smaller blue light orb flying out from his forehead. Following that, he saw the white light orb circle in front of him, the electronic voice rising and falling, lively and cheerful.

“Host, the day to say goodbye has finally arrived. This ‘Tong-tong’ is off to save the next endangered sub-world!!”

“System, goodbye…”

The white and blue streams of light disappeared in a flash.

Lin Zhu withdrew his gaze and let it fall back on the man less than half a meter away. Seeing that the other party had also just turned his head, he couldn’t help but stroke his face and ask, “What are you looking at?”

The man smiled slightly and replied:

“Two little butterflies.”

Lin Zhu pinched his cheek and leaned in, his heavy, panting breath spilling onto the man’s lips, moist and scorching.

He kissed Yan Ruojun, saying:

“Ge, look at me.”

The man was held in his arms, his peach-blossom eyes squinting, the sound of his smile swallowed by Lin Zhu’s kiss, sounding like the faint purring of a small creature that had had enough sun.

“Umm… Puppy Lin, squat down, squat down.”

“Hmm?”

“The little rascal is looking over!”

“Be careful, she’ll report us for kissing in secret.”

“…”

The breeze blew past, the golden flower field swaying its waist, hiding a sweet little secret—

You are the only miracle, come from a distant star sea.

…

The two light orbs traveled through several data routes.

The blue light orb suddenly felt something was wrong and hurriedly asked: [Senior, this doesn’t seem to be the way back to the General Bureau…?]

The white light orb didn’t even look back: “Ah? Why go back to the General Bureau to report for duty? We are on a long-term serial mission. There are still many endangered sub-worlds waiting for us to ‘harvest’… cough, rescue!”

“Can’t an intern have a little bit of career ambition!”

[…I don’t want to hear that from you, thank you.]

It wouldn’t give up and added tactfully: [That… Senior, why don’t we go back to the General Bureau? I can do a program check-up while I’m at it, so as not to affect the mission.]

The white light orb flatly refused: “No way. What if the System Maintenance Department detects that I faked the books? Then wouldn’t you be dead for sure?”

Blue light orb: [???]

At this moment, the white light orb explained cheerfully: “Because I have a criminal record, my system account was frozen. There was no other way, I had to borrow your points card to exchange and trade.”

“Oh, that was the time you suddenly went into hibernation~” It explained nonchalantly, “Your points card fell out by accident, but you might not remember it.”

Blue light orb: […………..]

Wasn’t that because you knocked me unconscious?!

Suddenly, the white light orb slammed on the brakes: “Awesome, detected a qualified Host, locking coordinates! Let’s go!”

In the process of data leap, the blue light orb struggled to twist its body, twisting into an S, then into an O, leaving a bleak blue afterimage.

[S O S]