Strands of ambiguity began to appear amid the tension.
Li Shuoxing couldnât help but swallow his saliva. ââŠCub, wait. Listen to me. I can explain.â
Su Mingqian: âMm.â
Li Shuoxing: âIn, in fact, even though the names written on it are Su Mingqian and Cunxing, you and me, Iâm not the one who wrote it.â
âI donât think the writing style is very similar either,â Su Mingqian reassured.
Li Shuoxing: âItâs the system. Everythingâs the systemâs fault. The system took a template from the internet and put my friendâs writing style into it. The book just now is Deer Over Fragrant Grassâs. She writes harem streams, so there are some strange things in the article. But donât misunderstand. Itâs all very pure, and thereâs nothing, really nothing.â
Su Mingqian responded again, âMm.â
Both sides were silent.
Not out of embarrassment, butâŠ
Li Shuoxing was silent for a few seconds. He couldnât help but raise his hand, tugging at his collar and wiping away the faint sweat on his neck. âCub, Iâm a little hot.â
Su Mingqian let out a low cough and quietly tugged at the clothes clinging to his body. âActually, Iâm feeling a little hot too.â
Li Shuoxing then looked around. âIs it just my imagination? Why does it feel like the room turned pink?â
Su Mingqian raised his head slightly and looked around.
He noticed that the roomâs ceiling was covered with a layer of floating pink clouds, that the fireplace in front of him had lit up with pink flames at some point, and that wisps of pink smoke were coming out from there.
Su Mingqian sniffed.
It wasnât sweet, just hot and dry.
âItâs not an illusion. Itâs a real change,â he replied.
Li Shuoxing couldnât help but mutter, âWhy would there be a change like this? It doesnât say that the aphrodisiacâs pink in Deer Over Fragrant Grassâs article.â
Su Mingqian: âMaybe you wrote itâŠâ
Li Shuoxing: âMe?â
Su Mingqian chuckled. âDidnât you write in your article that the rusty copper strip would mark the most precious treasure pink, causing Su Mingqian to stop and look around whenever he sees pink?â
But I couldnât possibly think that the aphrodisiac is the most preciousâ
Li Shuoxing didnât say this out loud, because, when he looked at Su Mingqian, his thoughts took a turn.
Itâs true that the aphrodisiac isnât precious, but the person it affects is certainly the most precious.
The moment he realised this, a small flame appeared in Li Shuoxingâs throat. He couldnât swallow it down, even after swallowing several mouthfuls of saliva. Li Shuoxing was so stirred up that his mouth went dry, and his voice was slightly hoarse. âCub, your face is a little red.â
Su Mingqian replied without moving a muscle, âXimu, yours is too.â
Li Shuoxing opened his mouth, then closed it.
It seemed unnecessary to say too many superfluous words at this point.
He lifted his hand to take hold of Su Mingqianâs wrist and, without exerting any force at all, Su Mingqian was already seated beside him on the sofa.
Li Shuoxing leaned down and first dropped a kiss onto the corner of the otherâs eyes.
Su Mingqian closed his eyes, and his eyelids trembled slightly.
He clung to Li Shuoxing like a small animal, his body shaking a little.
Li Shuoxingâs kiss then fell onto the corner of Su Mingqianâs mouth. This time, the trembling was gone and a soft chuckle escaped from his lips. Those fragile qualities disappeared in a flash, and Su Mingqian was once again filled with mature charm.
That charm was like adding fuel to the fire.
Their bodies moved closer together, and they felt the heat and urge in each other.
We both want it.
Li Shuoxing realised that he didnât have to hold back at all.
Without a word, he picked Su Mingqian up straight away, left the living room that had turned pink, and went straight into the bedroom.
There wasnât any pink in the bedroom.
But, with the kissing picture high up on the wall, right in front of the bed, the temperature here wasnât much lower than the outside, if not even hotter.
Li Shuoxing carried Su Mingqian onto the bed. As the soft bed held them, he thrust his hand into Su Mingqianâs hair.
He particularly liked his slightly curly hair.
Circling around bends, hooking fingers, entangling hearts.
He unbuttoned two buttons on Su Mingqianâs clothes, and, like a dragonfly skimming onto water, left a trail of light kisses on the personâs neck, then listened to his soft gasps and felt the slight vibrations.
âMingqian, Iâd like to ask you a more academic question,â he said into Su Mingqianâs ear.
Su Mingqian opened his mouth to speak, but struggled a little to control his voice so that it wouldnât tremble. âWhat?â
Li Shuoxing nibbled on the knot of the otherâs throat. âCan something like aphrodisiac really get into the game?â
Su Mingqian: ââŠHa!â
He let out a low gasp and then smiled. âThereâs no need for aphrodisiac in the game. Aphrodisiac is used to stimulate hormones, and hormones are produced by the pituitary gland. If the game wants people to feel something, it could just stimulate the brainâŠâ
Li Shuoxing found that Su Mingqianâs answer made a lot of sense.
But it wasnât the one he wanted.
Li Shuoxing: âI donât think thatâs the case.â
Su Mingqian looked over suspiciously.
His grey eyes were watery, like a foggy lake in deep winter, so hazy and deep that it compelled people to plunge in and find out what was going on before resting.
Li Shuoxing took the manâs fingers and began to kiss them one by one. âThe fact is, you are my aphrodisiac.â
The flush on Su Mingqianâs face spread to his body.
He continued to answer, âLove causes people to secrete love hormones, and love hormones can make people impulsive, soâŠâ
Li Shuoxing asked with interest, âSo?â
Su Mingqian replied seriously, âSo, if you were to put it that way, thereâs actually no problem.â
His hands hooked around Li Shuoxingâs neck and he kissed him, tenderly and lingeringly.
Just like everything that followed.
âŠ
Two hours later, Su Mingqian went offline first to do some cleaning.
Li Shuoxing reluctantly watched Su Mingqian disappear in the game. Then, he got dressed and prepared to go offline as well. Before he went offline, he didnât forget to call out to the system:
âAsk, are you there?â
The system didnât respond.
Li Shuoxingâs hands didnât hurt anymore, his legs didnât ache anymore, and when he thought about the document, he didnât want to throw up anymore. He sighed. âSystem, youâre good.â
[System: âŠ]
Ask took a look at the system log. A section of it had just been coded.
Before that coded part, the content read:
[Su Mingqian thinks that aphrodisiac is pretty fun.]
[Su Mingqian instructs the system to run a simulation.]
[Su Mingqian asks for a pink background, pink clouds, and pink flames.]
The system considered whether to give the player a hint.
But before it could do that, Li Shuoxing had already continued, âBut better still, itâs Deer Over Fragrant Grass. Sheâs truly a wonderful person. Iâm going to go offline and give her a reward.â
[System: âŠ]
The system looked at the funding gap for the third phase in the background, and created a lot of redundancy.
But, Li Shuoxing had already gone offline.
Li Shuoxing fulfilled his promise, opening Terminal on the spot and throwing money at Deer Over Fragrant Grass.
A silver treasure chest flew across the bookshelf.
Another silver treasure chest flew across the bookshelf.
Yet another silver treasure chest flew across the bookshelf.
Five silver treasure chests flew in a row, shaking the whole Terminal Food Group.
Deer Over Fragrant Grass: â??? @Caramel Ximuâ
Calm Egg: âDamn, Eunuch has money!â
Interfinger Storm: âActually, Iâm also very short of money. Eunuch, you see, can you sponsor me a little by the way?â
Li Shuoxing didnât reply to any of the messages in the group. But, only at the very end, he wrote a heartfelt and meaningful sentiment to Deer Over Fragrant Grass: âGo Brother Deer, youâre the best.â
***
April was over, and May arrived with the summer heat.
May 20th.
The Fire War rewards were fulfilled.
Social media across the web collectively dropped Su Mingqianâs opening screen from midnight onwards.
Li Shuoxing had been waiting for this moment for a long time.
He opened them all in unison, recorded them all in unison, and looking at Su Mingqian on the screen, dressed in a white wedding suit with a cane and a pocket watch, all entwined with red roses, and a little Xingxing sitting on his shoulder, his heart burst with joy!
The composition and elements of this promotional image were drawn by the artist from the concept and the material heâd given.
In addition to those things, there was his most personal part.
The little Xingxing sitting on his shoulder was carrying a sign in his hand that said âI love youâ. At first glance, this confession seemed to be addressed to all users who saw the opening screen, but it wasnât really.
Or rather, wasnât exactly.
The sign in Xingxingâs hand was slanted a little, in the exact direction of Su Mingqian.
The sign was facing Su Mingqian, and the words written inside it were, of course, facing Su Mingqian.
520 <sup>1</sup> 520 is Chinese slang used to say âI love youâ. äșäșé¶ [wÇ Ăšr lĂng], which means five two zero, sounds similar to æç±äœ [wÇ Ă i nÇ], which means I love you. , I love you.
The effect of the joint opening screens on social media across the web was unexpectedly great.
Night Tour quietly approached him at noon. âXimu, do you have the feeling of counting money until your hands cramp?â
Li Shuoxing: âNo.â
Night Tour didnât believe him. âFrom the omnichannel sales, your article has already surpassed the previous highest omnichannel single-book single-day sales of one million, and itâs just noon. The situationâs like this and you still donât have the feeling of counting money until your hands cramp?â
âMoneyâs not the point. The point is the opening screen. Donât you think it really does get more beautiful the more you look at it?â Li Shuoxing said dreamily.
Night Tour: ââŠâ
He was inexplicably unable to continue the conversation, so he moved on to the normal things. âAlthough your word count is still low, just over a million, the trend is really good. Weâve also just communicated with the wireless side, and you have an omnichannel recommendation next week. Weâll see how much revenue you will eventually stabilise after a round of recommendation. If thereâs one third, it feelsâŠâ
He let out a thoughtful sigh.
Li Shuoxing also let out a thoughtful sigh.
They werenât quite thinking the same thing.
Night Tour: âXimu, I know youâve been bursting updates a lot lately, but Iâm telling you, you canât drop the ball, at least for this half month, understand?â
Li Shuoxing: âThe big screen ad on the Bund at night must be great. I want to go, I want to see it.â
Night Tour: ââŠâ
Shit, I canât talk at all!
The sun had become hot during the day, but it was still chilly at night. The long river was a firework-woven cheongsam <sup>2</sup> The cheongsam, also known as the qipao, is a type of body-hugging dress of Manchu origin. It is a high-necked, closefitting dress with the skirt slit partway up the side. . It reflected the colourful neon of the buildings along the banks and was dotted with the boats coming and going, wrapping around the delicate beauty and making her look gorgeous.
Li Shuoxing was on board a luxury cruise ship with many tourists.
This cruise ship was a cruise ship for couples. Everyone who came on board invited their partner, and he did too. He invited his mobile phone and sat in the viewing seat on the deck, waiting for the big screen advertisement tonight.
At eight oâclock, the lights changed and the advertisement officially started.
The social media opening screen picture from before had become an incredibly huge dynamic video advertisement, appearing on the entire building.
As early as the moment when the advertisement started, Li Shuoxing had taken out his phone and stood against the cruise shipâs railing, capturing the super huge cub advertisement in front of him at various angles, and excitedly saying to the super mini cub in his phone:
âCub, do you like this video? Iâm so happy to see you combined with the city Iâm familiar with. I have a feeling of intimacy from my heart, as if youâre living in this city too, like meâŠâ
Su Mingqian looked for a while.
He silently went into the game, did some tinkering, then came back out, and said to Li Shuoxing, âXimu, look at the big screen carefully.â
Li Shuoxing was a little puzzled. âIâve been looking at it the whole time. Whatâs the matter?â
âYou have to look carefully,â Su Mingqian stressed.
With that, he got into the game.
On the cruise ship, Li Shuoxing did as Su Mingqian said and looked at the big screen carefully⊠As he looked, he suddenly noticed that the Su Mingqian on the screen moved. His gaze fell across the screen to him, and his hand, which had been hanging at his side, suddenly lifted up and lightly touched his lips, then threw a distant flying kiss to Li Shuoxing.
âThump, thump.â
The heart jumped heavily twice. It was the sound of a heartbeat.
At the same time, Li Shuoxing also heard a couple of puzzled voices from beside him.
âDid the cartoon character in the ad just throw a flying kiss?â
âNo, I donât think so. I remember that he didnât do that when I watched it earlier. You see, he isnât doing it now either.â
Li Shuoxing lowered his head.
He watched the video heâd recorded on his phone.
In it, the Su Mingqian on the big screen looked towards him with a small smile on his mouth. His arm lifted up and his fingers tapped on his lips⊠Then, the tiny Su Mingqian also climbed out. He appeared on the video and called out to Li Shuoxing, âXimu~â
Li Shuoxing: âCub!â
Su Mingqian: âXimu, I want to tell you two things. One is that my rehabâs almost over. I can walk freely and exercise normally now.â
A great surprise suddenly came!
Before Li Shuoxing could congratulate him, Su Mingqian continued.
âOne more thing. May 21st in North America is when the lab will announce Ask to the world. You have to come over. I have something very important to give you.â
He paused, then said with a smile:
âXimu, do you remember a short story you once wrote? Itâs called, Writing God .â
1
520 is Chinese slang used to say âI love youâ. äșäșé¶ [wÇ Ăšr lĂng], which means five two zero, sounds similar to æç±äœ [wÇ Ă i nÇ], which means I love you. 2
The cheongsam, also known as the qipao, is a type of body-hugging dress of Manchu origin. It is a high-necked, closefitting dress with the skirt slit partway up the side.