The next day at noon, Ji Mian's door was knocked on.
As soon as he opened the door, it was still Duan Zhuang, still the same two words—“Come down.”
Ji Mian obediently followed him down.
This time, there was no one else in Duan Zhuang's room.
“Is Yuman not here?” Ji Mian asked.
“She went back to her hometown to see the elders.”
“Oh. Don’t you need to go back to your hometown, Brother?”
“Not going back. They’re all dead.”
Ji Mian's eyes widened in shock for two seconds before he stammered, “Sorry, Brother, I didn’t mean…”
“Believe it?” Duan Zhuang chuckled. “I was just kidding.”
“……” Ji Mian frowned tightly. “Brother, it’s not good to joke about things like that.”
Duan Zhuang’s smile faded, and he coldly tugged at the corner of his mouth. This kid was actually lecturing him?
Ji Mian fell silent for a while, suddenly feeling a bit confused.
Since Yuman wasn’t here, why did his brother call him down?
He suddenly had a flash of inspiration and said, “Brother, have you eaten yet? Did you want me to go buy lunch?”
That was the only reasonable explanation.
“……”
Duan Zhuang bit down hard, the half cigarette in his mouth rising with the tension in his jaw.
Every time Ji Mian spoke to him, Duan Zhuang felt like his last name wasn’t “Duan,” but “Zhou,” as in Zhou Bapi (the miser).
Was he really treating this kid harshly?
Duan Zhuang thought back carefully. Hadn’t he just asked Ji Mian to run errands and carve some wood?
He even provided him with a place to stay and would occasionally give him a little salary—something Ji Mian didn’t even want.
“Brother, just tell me what you want to eat, you don’t need to come up here specially…” Ji Mian was considerate. “It’s too much trouble.”
Duan Zhuang’s tightly clenched jaw relaxed then tightened again, emitting an almost inaudible cold snort from his nose.
“It’s the New Year,” he said.
Ji Mian: “?”
“Which restaurant do you think is still open downstairs?”
“……”
“……Oh, right.”
Duan Zhuang extinguished the cigarette and said, “Go to the kitchen and serve the food.”
Once Ji Mian entered the kitchen, he discovered that there were already three dishes on the cutting board. Among them were half a fish left over and a pot of dry pot shrimp, which had been heated in the microwave. Next to it was a pot of freshly cooked white rice, filling the kitchen with the aroma of rice.
Duan Zhuang was a good host, reheating the leftover food from the night before for his guest and cooking a pot of white rice.
However, Ji Mian didn’t see anything wrong with this. He didn’t consider himself a guest but a diligent little underling. Whatever “big brother” gave him to eat, he would eat.
He only looked at the steaming green pepper and egg dish on the cutting board, marveling: apart from fish, big brother could cook other dishes too.
As for himself, he could barely manage to fry an egg without burning it.
Ji Mian brought the dishes to the table, placing the chopsticks neatly on the edge of Duan Zhuang’s bowl.
The first meal of the New Year—though it was leftovers.
Ji Mian ate slowly, but surprisingly, Duan Zhuang wasn’t much faster than him. He leisurely peeled shrimp and picked at his food, reflecting the laid-back demeanor Duan Zhuang had always exuded.
Ji Mian’s cheeks bulged with rice as he gazed at the half fish on the table and the two chopsticks that Duan Zhuang always avoided.
Yesterday, with Mu Yuman present, the dining table had been lively, and Ji Mian hadn’t noticed this.
Today, with just the two of them men left, it was an unspoken competition of silence, and Ji Mian’s eyes lingered on the dining table for a long time before he realized: it seemed his brother didn’t eat fish.
“Brother, don’t you like fish?”
Duan Zhuang’s chopsticks paused for a moment before he threw out a few precious words:
“There are bones, hard to pick.”
Duan Zhuang hadn’t eaten fish since he was very young. After choking on a fish bone once, his grandfather had poured vinegar down his throat to help.
To put it in popular internet terms, he had a “childhood trauma” regarding eating fish.
If it weren’t for Mu Yuman insisting that Ji Mian liked fish and forcing him to buy one, Duan Zhuang would never have allowed it to appear on the dining table.
“Oh.” Ji Mian nodded and said, “Then maybe your tongue is just too clumsy.”
Duan Zhuang: "......"
He scoffed, "Oh."
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced across the table at Ji Mian’s fish bone plate:
There was nothing else in the plate, just white, intact fish bones stacked high like a small mountain of bones. They were picked clean.
Duan Zhuang twitched the corner of his mouth, feeling convinced. He raised his head and looked at Ji Mian’s lips, which were currently pressed together, completely oblivious to the fact that inside was a tongue capable of disassembling a whole fish.
What kind of tongue did this kid have?
……
The New Year passed just like that.
Sun Qi returned from his hometown, wearing a new cotton jacket. As soon as he arrived at the door of the wood carving shop, he swept his gaze inside and turned excitedly to Duan Zhuang, “Brother, is Lu Dan back?”
“She’s here.” Before Duan Zhuang could respond, Ji Mian stood up from behind the cash register.
It turned out he had been squatting down below, organizing semi-finished products.
Sun Qi pursed his lips. This brat didn’t even leave for the New Year.
“Brother, I’m going to see Mu Jie. I brought back two boxes of specialties from my hometown this time.”
Duan Zhuang lounged in the rocking chair, swaying leisurely, and glanced at him.
Sun Qi winked at him: “Don’t worry, brother, one box is for you.”
“…… Get lost.”
Ji Mian smiled with his eyes curving from behind the counter.
After the laughter, he silently pondered over his upcoming tasks.
By counting his virtual age, he had just turned 17 after the New Year.
Mu Yuman was 23 this year by virtual age, and Duan Zhuang was only one year younger than her.
Given the age difference between the original character and Mu Yuman, "Ji Mian" was supposed to express his feelings for Mu Yuman only after reaching adulthood.
Ji Mian calculated the days in his mind. The task given by the system was to confess his feelings when he turned 18, and the people here seemed to be accustomed to counting by virtual age.
That meant in another year, he would have to complete an important task milestone.
【My task seems quite easy.】 he said.
There was only one task milestone in a year.
Seeing him so relaxed, the system felt something was off: 【You don’t think just confessing a year later will be enough, do you?】
【…… Isn’t it?】 Ji Mian hesitated to ask.
【…… No!】
Both fell into silence.
After a long while.
【Are you emotionally clueless?】 The system gasped, almost choking on its divine energy, 【Your character is supposed to be deeply in love with Mu Yuman. What does it mean to be deeply in love? Of course, you need to establish your presence, serve her tea when she's sick, and ask about her well-being when she's lonely……】
【Did you think that if you suddenly confess a year later, Mu Yuman would feel your deep affection? Wrong! She would only think you’re a whimsical, irresponsible, and very lewd teenager!】
Ji Mian pressed his lips tightly together, arguing for himself: 【But didn’t you say to wait quietly?】
【You’re supposed to wait quietly. However, your “quiet” needs to be seen and noticed. You need everyone around the female lead, as well as yourself, to believe that you love her deeply. Only then will the final task score be higher, and the benefits for both of us will be greater.】
【With the points earned, you can be reborn.】
【……】
【I understand.】
Ji Mian put down what he was working on, walked out from behind the cash register, and said to Sun Qi, “Brother Sun, I’ll go with you.”
“Huh?” Sun Qi looked confused. “Who wants to go with you?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Mu Jie. I want to go visit her too.”
Duan Zhuang’s gaze swept toward him.
If he remembered correctly, it seemed they had just seen Mu Yuman when she returned the day before yesterday...
Sun Qi was particularly unsympathetic, especially towards Ji Mian, the “Lu Dan” who had once stolen from him. He said, “Oh, it has nothing to do with me.”
Faced with Sun Qi’s attitude, Ji Mian only shyly smiled, still thick-skinnedly waiting for him.
His mind was sharp; after hearing the system’s words, he suddenly understood.
In other words, his task wasn’t just to perform for Mu Yuman; it also included the people around him.
He had to show that he liked Mu Yuman, but he also needed to be careful not to come off as too deliberate; otherwise, his deeply affectionate persona could easily turn into “clingy,” which would backfire.
Going with Sun Qi was just the right balance; it wouldn’t make Mu Yuman feel sudden or uncomfortable. By the time he confessed a year later, all this “nonchalance” would serve as proof of his affectionate character in the eyes of others.
The system silently nodded.
Good, its clueless host finally got it!
—
Note
Mu Jie (穆姐): An affectionate term meaning "Sister Mu,"
Lu Dan (卤蛋): Translates to "braised egg," a nickname given to Ji Mian by Sun Qi
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