Edited—

It was the first time Zhou Jiayu realized that taking care of someone could actually be such a happy thing.

He chatted cheerfully with Lin Zhushui for a while. Seeing that the porcelain shards in the corner of the room still hadn’t been cleaned up, he hurriedly went to the kitchen to get a broom, wanting to sweep them clean for fear of hurting Lin Zhushui.

He had been too panicked when he smashed it earlier. Now Zhou Jiayu noticed that what he had broken seemed to be a blue-and-white porcelain vase. From the fragments, one could tell that the quality of the vase was extremely beautiful, and it was painted with beasts. It looked quite extraordinary. As Zhou Jiayu picked up the fragments, he suddenly thought of something, and his voice even carried a tremor. “S-Sir, I accidentally broke a porcelain vase. Is this thing expensive?”

Lin Zhushui sat by the bedside, his tone light and airy. He said, “The one by the window? It’s fine. Just a fake, not worth anything.”

But Zhou Jiayu didn’t believe him. He didn’t throw away the porcelain shards. Instead, when he left, he secretly carried them back to his room.

Shen Yiqiong and the others were still there, looking quite worried about Zhou Jiayu. Seeing him return, they stepped forward and asked, “Guan’er, you’re back? What are you holding in your hand?”

Zhou Jiayu said softly, “I broke one of Sir’s porcelain vases.”

The moment these words came out, the atmosphere in the room directly froze. Lin Jue was still alright, but the expressions of the other four all twitched somewhat. Shen Yiqiong said, “Wh-which one?”

Zhou Jiayu didn’t speak. He poured the porcelain shards from the bag onto the table.

Everyone gathered around and began studying which vase had been broken. Shen Musi was the first to recognize it. He only said three words: “Yuan blue-and-white…”

Zhou Jiayu’s vision went dizzy for a moment. Although he didn’t know much about collectibles, he also knew that among blue-and-white porcelain, Yuan blue-and-white was the most precious. Back then, he had even seen news saying that a Yuan blue-and-white porcelain jar had sold for several hundred million.

“Something from Jingdezhen, right.” Shen Chaosan usually didn’t like to talk, but he also spoke up now. “Mm… probably still for official use.”

Zhou Jiayu’s legs went weak, and he slowly sat down on the sofa beside him. “Is this the real thing?”

Actually, he himself felt that his question was quite redundant. With Lin Zhushui’s personality, how could he possibly keep a fake in his own bedroom?

“Haha, probably yes.” Shen Yiqiong’s laugh was quite forced.

No one said anything. In the end, it was Lin Jue who said helplessly, “Alright, Guan’er, don’t worry so much. Even if it’s real, so what? Could it be that your Sir would make you compensate for it?”

Zhou Jiayu thought to himself that he would want to compensate, but could he afford it?

Lin Jue’s eyes turned, and she giggled: “If you really want to compensate, there is also quite a valuable jar here, isn’t there?”

At first, Zhou Jiayu didn’t understand what Lin Jue meant. It was only when the other three people’s gazes fell on him that he reacted—Lin Jue was talking about him.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He really wasn’t worth that much.

“Alright, what are you thinking so much for? Don’t feel regret over things that can’t be undone.” Lin Jue said, “Guan’er, you’ll be in charge of taking care of Zhushui’s daily life during this time. The follow-up formation definitely won’t be as effective as the first one. Your constitution is special; staying by his side should have a relieving effect.”

Zhou Jiayu nodded like he was pounding garlic.

In the end, it was Lin Jue who collected all the porcelain shards and said she could take them to a specialist to see if they could be restored.

Zhou Jiayu watched with heartache, thinking that if he had known this vase was so expensive, he would have used another method to draw blood. But Lin Jue was quite good at comforting people. She told Zhou Jiayu not to overthink it. After all, Sir’s life was definitely more precious than porcelain shards. If the treatment time had been delayed and something had happened to Lin Zhushui, then it wouldn’t be a matter of just one vase.

Hearing this, Zhou Jiayu’s conscience, which had been under condemnation, felt slightly better.

So for a period after that, Zhou Jiayu would run over to Lin Zhushui’s residence every day. This time he didn’t need the little paper person to deliver the food; he brought it in personally.

And Zhou Jiayu also discovered that Lin Zhushui was actually rather childish when it came to eating. He definitely wouldn’t eat carrots or wood ear mushrooms, didn’t much like scallions either, only ate garlic if it was stir-fried, and would only eat a little cilantro if it was cooked with beef.

Zhou Jiayu took out a small notebook and wrote all of these things down.

After going into Lin Zhushui’s house more often, Zhou Jiayu discovered that before he came, Lin Zhushui’s meals had been quite perfunctory. There was a kitchen in this building, but there were no ingredients. The refrigerator was completely empty; there were actually only a few jars inside containing things Zhou Jiayu didn’t recognize. Later, Zhou Jiayu really couldn’t hold back and tactfully asked Lin Zhushui what he usually ate. Lin Zhushui said, “If I can’t eat it, I don’t eat.”

“Why?” Zhou Jiayu was truly somewhat puzzled. If this was being picky, it was a bit too much.

“Food belongs to fire.” Lin Zhushui said, “Eating it makes me uncomfortable.”

This answer stunned Zhou Jiayu. He said, “Shibo…”

“She doesn’t know.” As if knowing what Zhou Jiayu was going to ask, Lin Zhushui’s voice was indifferent. “There’s no need to let her know.”

Zhou Jiayu suddenly felt a little upset in his heart. Probably everyone thought Lin Zhushui didn’t eat things simply because he didn’t like them. They never knew it was because food caused him pain. And if it weren’t for Zhou Jiayu’s special constitution, which caused the food he made to carry yin energy, Lin Zhushui probably would never have experienced the beauty of good food in his entire life.

“Sir.” Zhou Jiayu’s heart ached terribly. He carefully asked again about what Lin Zhushui liked and didn’t like, then planned out the next day’s menu.

Being able to stay with Lin Zhushui, Zhou Jiayu didn’t find anything tiring. Every day he was blissfully happy, as if he had drunk honey.

The little paper person also began growing taller and taller. In the blink of an eye it was knee-high, but it still loved clinging to Zhou Jiayu. Sometimes it would secretly hide in Zhou Jiayu’s pocket. Zhou Jiayu would occasionally not pay attention and suddenly pull out the little paper person when reaching into his pocket, giving himself a fright.

One day, Zhou Jiayu went to cook for Lin Zhushui as usual. After arriving at Lin Zhushui’s residence, he greeted him first, then went to the kitchen. When he finished cooking and was carrying the food upstairs, before he even entered the room he heard that special sharp voice of the little paper person. Xiao Zhi was calling out: “Baba, baba, baba…”

Zhou Jiayu hadn’t expected that it had secretly followed him over again. He quickly entered the room, only to see the little paper person lying on Lin Zhushui’s shoulder, whimpering and calling out.

Zhou Jiayu said in alarm, “Xiao Zhi!”

When the little paper person heard Zhou Jiayu’s voice, it climbed down from beside Lin Zhushui and came pattering over to stick to Zhou Jiayu’s leg and start circling: “Baba, baba.”

“How did you follow me here again?” Zhou Jiayu said. “Sir… I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Lin Zhushui sat before his desk, currently drawing talismans. He paused for a moment, seeming to search for words, and finally actually said: “Very cute.”

Xiao Zhi giggled, then climbed onto the top of Zhou Jiayu’s head and excitedly tried to make a nest, not knowing that it was already several dozen centimeters tall now—Zhou Jiayu’s amount of hair was nowhere enough for it to work with.

Zhou Jiayu said in pain, “Can’t do it, can’t do it. Daddy has too little hair…”

The little paper person seemed to understand Zhou Jiayu’s words. It actually slowly stretched its head and looked over in Lin Zhushui’s direction.

Zhou Jiayu was shocked by how bold his son was.

However, Lin Zhushui’s hair was indeed quite a bit longer than Zhou Jiayu’s. Most of the time it was tied up with a hair tie. Modern men with long hair would usually seem a bit strange, but this hairstyle on Lin Zhushui made him look like a classical beauty that one simply couldn’t take their eyes off.

The little paper person was incredibly bold and actually took a liking to Lin Zhushui’s hair. Zhou Jiayu quickly grabbed it and made it give up on this idea. The little paper person whimpered aggrievedly. Zhou Jiayu said, “Be good, don’t make a fuss.”

Lin Zhushui said, “Is the ancestral tree branch that Old Xu gave you still there?”

Zhou Jiayu remembered this matter and nodded: “It is.”

“It’ll be useful when the paper person matures.” Lin Zhushui said, “Paper is also a very important medium in feng shui. Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach you how to command paper.”

Zhou Jiayu thought of the origami cranes made of paper that Lin Zhushui had released from his hand before and nodded in agreement. He also wanted to learn more things, so that he wouldn’t have to rely on Lin Zhushui for everything if he encountered something in the future.

Summer truly was a beautiful season—watermelon, popsicles, cool soda.

When the evening was cool, they could even move chairs to sit at the entrance and chat, tell ghost stories to cool down and such. The only imperfection was that when the weather was too hot, Little Huang wouldn’t let you pet it; it would explode in fur at the slightest touch.

That evening, Shen Yiqiong and Zhou Jiayu were sprawled on chairs at the entrance, chatting. Beside them was chilled watermelon and braised dishes. Shen Yiqiong was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, perfectly blending into the night. He touched his arm and muttered, “Guan’er, why do I feel like I’ve gotten even darker?”

Zhou Jiayu was dozing off and replied muddleheadedly, “You can’t get any darker. If you get any darker, I won’t be able to see you…”

Shen Yiqiong: “…”

“What are you doing!” Zhou Jiayu was startled by Shen Yiqiong’s face suddenly leaning in close. He saw two white eyeballs floating before him, flickering.

“I’m going to ask Shibo for sunscreen.” Shen Yiqiong said, “At this rate, I won’t be able to find a wife.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He admired Shen Yiqiong’s mental leaps.

Shen Yiqiong was also a man of action. The next day he went to ask Lin Jue about the brand of sunscreen, even borrowed Zhou Jiayu’s computer to go online and look at reviews, researched which brand of sunscreen was the best to use, and finally settled on a certain brand, placing an order on a shopping website.

“It should arrive tomorrow.” Shen Yiqiong said, “I think I can still be saved.” His expression was a bit conflicted. “Next month is my birthday. As an adult, I can’t be this dark.”

Everyone in the room was silently eating and didn’t respond to him. It was unclear whether they felt Shen Yiqiong didn’t need saving and could be directly dragged off to be buried, or whether they thought what he said made sense.

The next day, Shen Yiqiong’s package arrived as expected.

He happily went to the entrance to get the express delivery, then happily bounced back and announced in the living room that he was going to unbox it.

The others in the room were all doing their own things and didn’t pay attention to this little shidi whose emotions fluctuated greatly due to his skin tone.

Zhou Jiayu was also cooking in the kitchen. He had just cracked an egg when he heard a mournful scream come from the living room. This scream came from Shen Yiqiong’s mouth, sharp and piercing, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.

Zhou Jiayu was so startled that his hand trembled. The bowl he was holding fell directly to the ground and shattered into two pieces.

“Fuck, fuck, what is this thing!!!” Shen Yiqiong had originally been sitting on the sofa, but now he rolled and crawled off the sofa, running far away before stopping. “What is this thing?!”

Everyone came over upon hearing the sound. Zhou Jiayu also put down what he was doing and went to the living room. The moment he entered the living room, he saw Shen Yiqiong’s express delivery box lying on the ground. Something seemed to have spilled out from inside, while Shen Yiqiong stood on the ground nearby, looking at the box with eyes full of terror.

“What?” Zhou Jiayu walked toward the box and quickly saw what had spilled onto the ground.

Those things were scattered on the ground in pieces, densely packed. At first glance it was unclear what they were, but looking carefully, Zhou Jiayu’s scalp directly exploded: “Fingernails?”

“They’re fingernails!” Shen Yiqiong said from the side, “I fucking even saw blood on the nail roots!”

This really was a large patch of fingernails. Every piece seemed to have been forcibly pulled out, and there was even dried blood stuck to the nail roots. Judging from the shape of the nails, there were probably both men and women, because Zhou Jiayu saw that on a few of the nails, there was still gorgeous nail polish applied.

The others also gathered around. Seeing this floor full of nail covers, their expressions weren’t too good.

“How could there be fingernails? What did you buy, Shen Yiqiong?” Shen Musi asked.

Shen Yiqiong was on the verge of tears: “I just bought some sunscreen. Can fingernails be used for sun protection?”

Everyone was speechless.

“Are you sure this is your package, that you didn’t grab the wrong one?” Shen Musi asked again.

Shen Yiqiong said, “Only one package arrived today. I saw my logistics said it had already arrived here…” But right after he said this, his phone rang. After answering the call, he said: “Ah? My package arrived? At the guard station? Okay, I’ll go get it…”

The other four all had rather complicated expressions. Shen Yiqiong let out a dry laugh: “W-well, it seems I really grabbed the wrong one.”

But although he had grabbed the wrong package, this box of fingernails was clearly not ordinary. Shen Musi sighed, went to the side to get a broom, and calmly swept all the fingernail covers into the box, tidying up the living room.

“We generally don’t accept packages here,” Shen Musi explained to Zhou Jiayu as he tidied. “Unless it’s something we bought online ourselves, and even then we have to time it with the delivery to go get it.”

“Because people send packages here?” Zhou Jiayu caught the hidden meaning in Shen Musi’s words.

“Yes.” Shen Musi said, “Sir’s identity is special. There are many who like him, and many who don’t. So the things in packages are usually all sorts of strange things.” After he finished cleaning up, he casually placed the box on the table. “Some packages even contain burial clothes inside. It’s not like taking them would do anything, but it still feels uncomfortable.”

Zhou Jiayu looked at the box. “What do these people mean by sending this to Sir?”

“Who knows.” Shen Musi said, “But I heard that before, someone wanted to invite Sir to come out of seclusion to help them, was refused by Sir, and then bore a grudge, constantly sending packages here. Of course, we never opened them and sent them all back.”

It seemed that if not for the coincidence of Shen Yiqiong also needing to pick up a package today, this package would have been sent back too. But some things really were just that coincidental; no one could have predicted it.

“What should we do with this package?” So many fingernails always gave people an unpleasant association. Zhou Jiayu asked.

“Let Shibo take a look first. Fingernails don’t necessarily belong to living people; they might also be pulled from dead bodies.” Shen Musi truly lived up to being the eldest shixiong; from beginning to end he remained completely calm upon seeing these things. “Once it’s confirmed there’s no problem, just throw it in the garbage.”

Zhou Jiayu nodded.

When Lin Jue came here in the afternoon, she also learned about the fingernails. However, she didn’t seem very interested in the package and first asked Shen Yiqiong if the sunscreen had arrived.

Shen Yiqiong nodded and said it had arrived, but when applied to his body it always felt like it had the smell of correction fluid.

Lin Jue laughed. “That’s still better than getting a tan.” She casually sat down on the sofa and pulled over the cardboard box placed at the corner of the table, seeing the small half-box of fingernails inside. “This is it?”

“Yes.” Shen Musi nodded.

Lin Jue furrowed her brows, reached out and picked up a piece.

“What is it?” Shen Yiqiong asked.

Lin Jue studied it carefully for a moment and said, “Mm… they should be human fingernails.”

“Wow, are they from dead people or living people?” Shen Yiqiong had also recovered by now and stretched his neck over to peek at the things inside the box.

“Both?” Lin Jue swept a glance over the box. “Tsk, troublesome.”

Shen Yiqiong already regretted buying sunscreen. If he hadn’t bought sunscreen, he wouldn’t have gone to get the package; if he hadn’t gone to get the package, he wouldn’t have grabbed the wrong one; if he hadn’t grabbed the wrong one, then…

“Alright, alright.” Lin Jue waved her hand at Shen Yiqiong. “Your skin tone really does need some sunscreen. Otherwise I’m afraid that one night you’ll suddenly disappear.”

Shen Yiqiong: “…” That’s too much.

Lin Jue noted down the tracking number on the package and said she’d have Lin Po investigate the origin of this cardboard box. She also told them not to go get packages recently—who the hell knew what weird things were in those packages.

This matter ended just like that, and no one paid it too much mind.

Zhou Jiayu also told Lin Zhushui about Shen Yiqiong buying sunscreen. After hearing this, Lin Zhushui actually said, “Is he that dark?”

Only then did Zhou Jiayu remember that Lin Zhushui couldn’t see. He laughed. “Hei-zai really is especially dark.”

Lin Zhushui said, “Mm…” He seemed to be imagining just how dark Shen Yiqiong was.

Seeing this, Zhou Jiayu couldn’t help but laugh again. He discovered that as long as he was with Lin Zhushui, his mood would be especially good. No matter what they talked about, he would unconsciously reveal a smile.

Because he often came to Lin Zhushui’s residence, Zhou Jiayu gradually became familiar with this house. Although the house was large, it didn’t make people feel afraid; instead it had a serene atmosphere. The only imperfection was that on the side of the first-floor corridor hung several paintings of fierce beasts. Every time Zhou Jiayu passed by there, he always felt a chilly draft behind him.

Among these fierce beasts were tigers, giant eagles, flood dragons, and flying serpents. When he walked through that section, he would jog the whole way until he reached the stairs before feeling a bit better.

Originally Zhou Jiayu thought this was his imagination. But then one day, he was holding Xiao Zhi in his arms and trotting past there when he suddenly felt something trip his feet, and he fell to the ground. Then his back seemed to be stepped on by something. The little paper person let out a scream, jumped up and rushed to Zhou Jiayu’s back, seeming to intend to protect Zhou Jiayu.

However, when Zhou Jiayu got up from the ground, he discovered that Xiao Zhi was gone. Behind him was completely empty; there was nothing at all.

“Xiao Zhi? Xiao Zhi?” Zhou Jiayu panicked, calling out the little paper person’s name and searching everywhere, but Xiao Zhi was nowhere to be seen. Zhou Jiayu rushed directly to the top floor and said to Lin Zhushui, who was practicing talismans in the study, with a trembling voice: “Sir, Sir, Xiao Zhi is gone!”

Hearing Zhou Jiayu’s words, Lin Zhushui immediately stopped his brush. He said, “Gone?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Y-yes, right downstairs. I just accidentally tripped on the first floor, and then Xiao Zhi was gone…” Xiao Zhi called out “baba, baba” every day, and he also treated this little thing as his own son. Now seeing it disappear, he was naturally frantic with worry.

After hearing Zhou Jiayu’s description, Lin Zhushui showed an expression of understanding. He sighed. “Really disobedient.”

Zhou Jiayu thought Lin Zhushui was talking about him and said mournfully, “Sir, I’ll be obedient, I’ll be obedient. Please help me find Xiao Zhi. I’ll listen to whatever you say.”

Lin Zhushui’s expression paused slightly. He then slowly walked up to Zhou Jiayu and naturally patted his head. “Mm, good boy.”

The two of them went to the first floor. Zhou Jiayu hadn’t even said where on the first floor he had tripped when he saw Lin Zhushui directly walk toward the corridor, then reach out and lightly tap the paintings hanging on both sides of the corridor. “Let it out.”

Zhou Jiayu followed the direction of Lin Zhushui’s finger and looked at the painting. He discovered that in that ancient-style ink wash painting, something incongruous had appeared at some point. A little paper person identical to Xiao Zhi was riding on the tiger in the painting, with an expression completely engrossed in petting fur.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Was he hallucinating?

“Hurry up.” Lin Zhushui frowned.

After his tone became somewhat stern, Zhou Jiayu heard a tiger’s roar. Then, a great wind arose in the corridor. Zhou Jiayu was blown by the wind until he couldn’t open his eyes. When he opened them again, he was greatly startled by the scene before him. He saw that in the corridor there had actually appeared a fierce tiger with glaring eyes and a white forehead. This tiger’s fur was an ink-black color like a wash painting, the patterns on its body slightly lighter. Its pupils were vertical as it coldly glared at Zhou Jiayu.

Zhou Jiayu reflexively wanted to retreat, but saw Lin Zhushui directly slap the tiger on the head. “Again?”

The tiger’s expression instantly became aggrieved, as if saying “I’m also a tiger, what do you want me to do?”

Lin Zhushui said, “Don’t scare him.”

The ink-wash colored tiger whimpered aggrievedly. Its pupils dilated, and it slowly lay down, placing its head on its forelegs, with an appearance of “fine, fine, fine, you’re amazing, you have the final say.”

The little paper person popped out from the tiger’s back, bouncing and jumping on its body. “Wittle tiger, wittle tiger. Pet pet, pet pet.” Who knew who it had learned this from; whenever it saw fluffy things it wanted to rush up and pet the fur.

Zhou Jiayu couldn’t help but feel envious. He… also wanted to pet.

Lin Zhushui had already guessed Zhou Jiayu’s thoughts and slightly nodded. “Pet it.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Really?”

Lin Zhushui said, “Mm.”

Zhou Jiayu rolled up his sleeves and rushed forward.

Tiger: “…” Why did it have to be so bored as to scare people? Now look what happened.

Zhou Jiayu petted the tiger’s fur, his eyes full of stars. “The fur is so hard, not nice to pet at all.”

Tiger: “…” If it’s not nice to pet then stop!!

“Hehehehe, but it’s still quite fun.” Zhou Jiayu giggled foolishly. “I touched the tiger’s butt.”

Lin Zhushui: “…” His thin lips parted slightly. “Alright, go back.”

The tiger was as if granted a great pardon. Zhou Jiayu was reluctant to part. He probably didn’t know that if he hadn’t said that sentence just now, he could have happily petted it a while longer.

__

Author’s Note:

Zhou Jiayu: I like petting tigers…

Lin Zhushui: Not allowed to pet anymore.

Zhou Jiayu: Why QAQ

Lin Zhushui: Only allowed to pet me.

Zhou Jiayu’s face turned red.