Wen Bai calmly shifted his gaze.
The long-haired woman had finished paying with her friend.
"Miss, here is your receipt."
"Thank you."
Taking the shopping bags and receipt, they began to walk out.
"You don't know..."
They were two shelves away from Wen Bai's position, and in the blink of an eye, they were nearing the door.
Wen Bai sidestepped, intending to weave past the person in front of him and follow.
Ji Tianzong was taller than Wen Bai. He took two steps to the right, completely blocking Wen Bai and obstructing his path.
"Who knew you slept for so long? You could break the world record for the longest sleep! It's too unscientific. Indeed, sleeping is good for you. Your hair looks even more lustrous."
"I think so too..."
Wen Bai strained his ears to listen.
Sleeping?
"What? You don't want to see me?"
Ji Tianzong took a few steps forward and leaned in slightly, their distance becoming somewhat ambiguous.
Wen Bai looked at him expressionlessly, neither avoiding nor yielding.
What did this person want?
The deliberately narrowed distance made Wen Bai uncomfortable.
It felt like walking through a place and getting caught by a spiderweb, a sticky web clinging to him. While it didn't cause much trouble, he felt an urge to get rid of it immediately.
Wen Bai was displeased, and his way of expressing it was simple.
He tilted his body and head back, then forcefully rammed forward.
Stubborn.
"Ouch..." Ji Tianzong clutched his sore chin with one hand, his fist relaxing and then clenching again.
Wen Bai casually grabbed the nearest object on the shelf and shoved it into Ji Tianzong's hand.
"Don't get so close to me if you have nothing else to do. Take your time selecting."
His indifferent voice brushed past Ji Tianzong's eardrums.
Ignoring the surprised and speechless look on the other man's face, Wen Bai turned directly, went around the shelf, and left the store.
Although he hadn't been delayed for long, the woman had vanished by the time he chased after her.
Dinner time.
Wen Bai and Su Ying sat opposite each other.
All the dishes on the table had been moved from the center, conspicuously closer to Wen Bai.
Wen Bai glanced at the person opposite him, who was holding a bowl and eating slowly and methodically.
He swallowed the fish in his mouth, chewed on his chopsticks, and tilted his head slightly: "I met 'good-looking hair' outside today."
Su Ying moved a plate of vegetables, which was closer to him and seemed isolated, to Wen Bai's side: "Oh?"
Then he took the plate of ribs from in front of Wen Bai: "Don't just eat meat all the time; eat some vegetables too."
Wen Bai frowned and pushed the vegetables away with his finger, clearly disgusted: "It looks a lot like the 'good-looking hair' in your basement."
"Mm, it might be her. She's from this city."
As he spoke, Su Ying sighed, used his serving chopsticks to place food into Wen Bai's bowl, his eyes full of disapproval, his gentle voice revealing his dissatisfaction: "You didn't eat a single bite of the vegetarian dishes I made yesterday."
It was important not to discourage Su Ying's enthusiasm for cooking, so Wen Bai immediately took a large bite, swallowing it whole, and forced himself to eat a bit of the vegetables in his bowl.
He glanced at Su Ying. Seeing that the other man seemed satisfied, he quietly pushed the remaining food to the bottom of his bowl.
After burying the food, Wen Bai pondered, then asked, "You're keeping them locked up just to look at them?"
"Prolonged unconsciousness also affects their bodies. This is not a long-term solution."
Moreover, and most importantly, those "collections" no longer held the same attraction for him.
Su Ying glanced at the person diligently eating in front of him.
His satisfaction was almost overflowing.
After dinner, Su Ying cleared the tableware and took it to the kitchen.
Wen Bai went to the basement for his usual visit to check on the male protagonist.
As expected of a male protagonist, he was protected by laws.
Even a strong sedative that was effective on adult men had its effects greatly diminished when used on him.
Yu Yang's periods of unconsciousness were becoming shorter and shorter. It was as if his body's cells were rapidly adapting to Su Ying's medication, devising countermeasures and developing antibodies.
After injecting Yu Yang again and replenishing his nutrient solution, Wen Bai deeply felt that this was not a viable solution.
Yu Yang's unconscious periods would become even shorter, and he couldn't always be on guard. Although he had replaced the ropes with ones as thick as his arm, he still vaguely felt that the basement wouldn't be able to contain him.
Currently, Ji Tianle and Lin Shuangshuang's relationship was very stable.
But System 001 had said that human emotions were fickle.
Strike while the iron is hot.
Wen Bai sat beside Yu Yang, looking at the man who, despite being unconscious, still had his eyes closed and his brow furrowed, as if resisting the medication.
He took out his phone and sent a message to Ji Tianle: I think you guys can get married soon.
Ji Tianle replied quickly: Wen Xiaobai, I realize you're my real brother!
Then he called: "Wen Xiaobai, do you think Shuangshuang and I are a match made in heaven! Honestly, I think so too. From the moment I first saw her, I knew she was the one I wanted to spend my life with..."
"So when are you proposing?" Wen Bai impatiently interrupted him, getting straight to the point.
When this was mentioned, the confident Ji Tianle became a little timid: "Isn't this too fast? Shuangshuang hasn't graduated yet, and I don't know if she wants to get married so soon..."
Wen Bai pondered how to give Ji Tianle courage.
"She's so wonderful, if you don't hurry, someone else might snatch her away..." System 001, sensing the host's thoughts, began to prompt in Wen Bai's mind.
Wen Bai repeated after it: "She's so wonderful, if you don't hurry, someone else might snatch her away. Imagine, when Shuangshuang graduates, she'll have her diploma in one hand... and her marriage certificate in the other. Ideally, with a baby on the way..."
Wen Bai stopped mid-sentence, feeling something was off.
"Where did you see this?" Wen Bai asked System 001.
System 001: "Contributing to the Protagonist's Emotions: Instigating the Protagonist's Three Hundred Tricks. It's the number one bestseller on our system's bestseller list. I bought it a while ago but never had a chance to use it."
Ji Tianle, unaware that Wen Bai had stopped talking, continued to fantasize about the future on the other end of the phone, chuckling happily.
Sounds good... really good!
Su Ying finished tidying the kitchen and took out some fruit, the knives already placed on top of them.
Because of his recent indulgence, Wen Bai's appetite seemed to have increased considerably.
He hesitated for a moment, realizing he shouldn't overfeed him.
He put the knives back and also put the fruit away.
The doorbell rang.
Hm?
Through the video intercom, he saw a man in a suit and bow tie.
He walked to the door and opened it.
The man wore white gloves and carried several exquisitely packaged bags.
"Is this the home of Mr. Wen Bai?"
"Yes."
"Hello, I am your love-love exclusive delivery butler, delivering to your door. These are the items you purchased today," the man handed over the bags, then took out a pen and receipt. "This is the receipt, please sign."
Su Ying took the stacked, beautifully packaged shopping bags, accepted the pen, and signed with a few quick strokes.
His gaze then casually fell upon the receipt.
Su Ying raised an eyebrow slightly.
The gift bags were not sealed, only loosely tied with black satin ribbon, allowing a glimpse of the boxes inside.
Su Ying took out the four or five boxes from the open bags. Each box was adorned with large, delicate pink bows.