His body temperature was quietly rising again.

Cheng Huanzhen felt he needed some water to cool himself down, so he drained the tea his Little Uncle had poured for him in one gulp.

The tea, poured by his Little Uncle’s hand, tasted bitter when it first entered his mouth, but after swallowing, a lingering sweetness returned to the tip of his tongue.

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t usually have a penchant for drinking tea. But at this moment, he felt that the tea poured from his Little Uncle’s hand was very delicious.

As he drank the tea, his Little Uncle propped his cheek with his hand, tilting his head to observe him curiously.

“I…” Cheng Huanzhen’s throat was tight. “I wanted to confirm some things with you today.”

His Little Uncle followed his words and asked, “Oh? Confirm what?”

Cheng Huanzhen hesitated for a moment before asking, “Little Uncle, do you… feel that there are any changes in the world right now?”

Lin Chen was bewildered: “?”

Lin Chen: “The earth rotates normally, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west as usual, the country remains peaceful, and everything develops as normal… What changes? Has the Cheng family received some inside information, or is there a major policy change about to happen in an industry related to me?”

Oh, Little Uncle’s world hasn’t become brighter.

Cheng Huanzhen felt a bit disappointed.

His Little Uncle’s cheeks didn’t turn red. His mood seemed no different from usual. His mind was still working just as sharply…

Cheng Huanzhen suddenly felt extremely down. He lowered his eyes, poured himself another cup of tea, and drank it all in one go again.

Lin Chen noticed Cheng Huanzhen’s sudden drop in mood and asked with concern, “What happened?”

Cheng Huanzhen didn’t answer him. Instead, he silently put down the teacup and leaned his body towards him.

But halfway through leaning forward, when the tip of his nose was only a fist’s distance away from Lin Chen’s, he suddenly stopped, leaving only those pitch-black eyes staring straight at him.

Cheng Huanzhen’s gaze had always been this focused and earnest.

When staring at him, it seemed as if he poured all his emotions into it, landing heavily in Lin Chen’s eyes.

…It was a very moving, sufficiently sincere gaze.

Lin Chen always had greater patience for sincere children, just as he had always done with Cheng Huanzhen.

Patience and a straightforward gaze met quietly for three seconds.

Cheng Huanzhen suddenly pulled back a little, lowered his head, scooped a handful of sparkling things from his pocket, and held them out in front of him.

The inarticulate young man said seriously, “Little Uncle, all for you.”

The sparkling things were strawberry candies wrapped in twist-tie wrappers.

Facing a whole handful of strawberry candies, Lin Chen smiled and accepted this handful of pure sincerity, saying, “Okay.”

As if encouraged, Cheng Huanzhen leaned his head close to Lin Chen’s face again, the tip of his nose almost touching his.

Cheng Huanzhen said hoarsely, “Little Uncle, want a hug.”

Lin Chen felt that Cheng Huanzhen’s mood today was different from before.

He thought about it seriously, moved a bit away from the tea table, and said, “Okay.”

As soon as the word fell, a wild force that knew nothing of restraint suddenly pounced on him, knocking him onto his back!

Lin Chen sighed long and hard. He let himself sink into the sofa, his palm covering the back of Cheng Huanzhen’s head.

He said calmly, “I feel like I’ve been attacked by a giant dog… Do you have any clues?”

The giant furry dog didn’t make a sound, but stubbornly pressed half his body weight onto him, his arms tightly encircling Lin Chen’s arms, his head rubbing forcefully into the crook of his neck.

The tip of his nose rubbed against the side of his neck, and warm, rapid breaths drilled incessantly downwards through the gap in his collar.

Last time, Lin Chen realized that his current body was overly young and full of vigor. So, as soon as a wisp of that breath slipped into his chest, he pulled out his other hand and discreetly pressed down on the gap in his collar.

Thump. Thump.

Rapid and loud heartbeats came from the chest pressed tightly against him. At the same time, the young man’s magnetic voice called out in a low tone: “Little Uncle. Little Uncle. Little Uncle. Little Uncle…”

Lin Chen answered him patiently and gently, “It’s not very appropriate for you to call me like this in your current position. Either you get up a bit, or make your voice sound normal.”

Cheng Huanzhen’s voice hitched.

The next moment, Lin Chen felt the force circling his arms increase, the temperature rubbing against his neck become hotter, and the voice calling him became lower, deeper, more disappointed, and more urgent: “Little Uncle. Little Uncle. Little Uncle. Little Uncle…”

Lin Chen sighed softly, “Using a hug to express happiness—the hug I taught you back then wasn’t like this… Have you hugged others like this? Please, never hug any member of the opposite sex like this, especially those of your age. Ideally, don’t hug the same sex like this either; their temper and patience won’t be as good as mine, understand?”

The voice that kept calling “Little Uncle” finally fell silent for a moment.

The head in the crook of his neck also stopped rubbing for a while.

After a long time, Cheng Huanzhen spoke hoarsely, “I’ve never hugged anyone else like this. I haven’t called anyone else like this either.”

“I only want to hug you. I’ve only hugged you, Little Uncle.”

Lin Chen smiled, “Oh. Good boy. My honor?”

Cheng Huanzhen was quiet for a while again.

Ideally, he said softly, “Little Uncle, you taught me how to find my preferences before. Now, I’ve learned to find my preferences myself. Do you… want to see my latest list of preferences?”

Lin Chen was slightly surprised: “List of preferences?”

Lin Chen smiled and asked, “Have you been updating it? Sure, let me see.”

Cheng Huanzhen said, “There’s a notebook in my left leg pocket, Little Uncle. Take it out.”

Lin Chen: “You’re holding my arms so tight, how am I supposed to take it out? …That’s better. Hmm, where is your pocket?”

Within seconds, Cheng Huanzhen regretted letting his Little Uncle take it himself.

His Little Uncle’s palm carefully felt along the side of his thigh. After failing to find it with two touches, he searched towards the inner side.

Cheng Huanzhen’s body froze almost instantly.

He immediately let go of one hand and grabbed his Little Uncle’s wrist with a snap.

His Little Uncle’s wrist was very thin.

From Little Uncle, to Li Shuyun, to Lin Chen, to Wen Siheng, he had held this wrist every time, and every time he could easily circle it with just two fingers.

When clenched into a fist, he could easily wrap it entirely in his palm.

Cheng Huanzhen stiffly pulled his Little Uncle’s wrist outwards.

“…The pocket is here, Little Uncle.”

Lin Chen gave a hum of acknowledgement. He quickly found the small notebook in Cheng Huanzhen’s pocket and pulled it out.

Under such restricted space for movement, opening the notebook and holding it up to his face wasn’t easy. Lin Chen struggled a bit before finally managing to get both hands on it and open the book.

The breathing beside his neck suddenly became light and soundless for some reason.

The figure hugging him seemed a bit stiff too.

By the time Lin Chen realized these reactions, his gaze had already fallen on the first page of the booklet.

Each line on this page recorded text.

The text on the latter half of the page was just an image imprinted in his peripheral vision.

His gaze focused, landing firmly on the first two lines of the page.

Compared to the text on the latter half, larger characters were written squarely and uprightly—

“Favorite person……”

Lin Chen’s tone was very slow as he softly read out the text recorded in the notebook.

“Lin, Chen?”

The head beside his neck stopped moving completely.

Only an effortfully calm voice responded: “…Yes, Little Uncle.”

The air was quiet for a moment before Lin Chen suddenly laughed, “Good thing you showed this to me. If you had written this to anyone else, who knows where their minds would have wandered.”

He sighed softly, “Sincerity is the deadliest weapon. You can’t just show this move to anyone casually.”

He pinched Cheng Huanzhen’s back collar, attempting to peel the person off him.

But the head beside his neck remained motionless.

Cheng Huanzhen asked, “…Where would their minds wander?”

Lin Chen smiled, “It would make people think you’re gay.”

Cheng Huanzhen’s breathing stopped for about five seconds before he asked in a low, soft voice, “Then why don’t you think that, Little Uncle?”

Lin Chen thought about it with some distress and said, “Back when I was still Cheng Yiming, you liked me very much, enough to chase after me for a whole year. So, making it onto your list of favorites seems…”

He laughed himself: “Not that surprising. I really should say ‘my honor,’ Young Master Cheng.”

Cheng Huanzhen was about to bite his lip until it bled.

An impulse in his brain kept urging him to say directly and plainly to his Little Uncle: That’s right, Little Uncle, your mind didn’t wander, that’s exactly what it is.

But a rope in his brain tightly pulled back his rationality, constantly telling him coldly: You can’t, you can’t, you can’t. Little Uncle will reject you, Little Uncle won’t see you, Little Uncle won’t even be friends with you!

The two voices fought for a long time. Finally, Cheng Huanzhen only managed to squeeze out a sentence: “Don’t call me that, Little Uncle.”

“The nickname you gave Wen Shaozhuo is so special, Little Uncle.”

“…Don’t I have one?”

Lin Chen thought for a moment: “Is ‘Big Nephew’ not special enough? I’ve never called anyone else that.”

Cheng Huanzhen said hoarsely, “But you don’t call me that now, Little Uncle.”

“I want that kind of special nickname, the kind only you would use to call me, and you would only use for me.”

Lin Chen said gently, “A’Zhen?”

The impulsive voice in Cheng Huanzhen’s heart shouted that he wanted more than just this kind of nickname!

The rational and cold voice kept pulling him back: Look how much Little Uncle spoils you. If you aren’t satisfied even with this, be careful you lose even this bit of affection!

Lin Chen waited patiently for a long time, but the young man beside his neck remained silent, only his breathing quietly becoming heavier.

Lin Chen sighed silently.

Sometimes he felt he was truly a gentle person.

He exerted force with his hand, gripping the back of Cheng Huanzhen’s head, and forcibly pulled him away to create some distance.

The hard sensation that had been pressing against his thigh since just now was also pulled away.

Lin Chen, expression unchanging as if he had never perceived any of it, peeled Cheng Huanzhen off his body.

He propped himself up from the sofa, lowered his eyes, discreetly adjusted his clothes, then grabbed his coat from the side and casually draped it over himself. Today he was wearing a mid-length windbreaker; with this motion, everything above his knees was covered.

While lowering his head to button up, he said, “I’ve been out for too long. If I don’t go back, A’Shao will be worried about me.”

After putting on his clothes and standing up, he smiled and took out a strawberry candy from his pocket, handing it to Cheng Huanzhen: “Thanks for your gift. I’ll let A’Shao taste it when I get back. Are you still collecting today’s rent? Don’t go through so much trouble next time; just tell me on WeChat, and I’ll transfer it directly to you.”