Ji Mian sat on the steps in front of the door on the second floor, waiting for Duan Zhuang to return.
He waited from morning until noon, and by the time his empty stomach began to complain, he still hadn’t seen Duan Zhuang.
He had a few coins in his pocket and thought about going downstairs to buy something to eat, but he worried about missing Duan Zhuang if he left.
After some inner conflict, he decided to keep waiting.
At two in the afternoon, a steady and composed sound of footsteps suddenly echoed in the quiet hallway.
Leaning against the wall, Ji Mian’s dizzy head instantly perked up as he focused intently on the corner of the stairs in front of him.
The footsteps grew closer, finally landing with a thud on the landing between the first and second floors.
Duan Zhuang lifted his eyelids and saw the obedient-looking boy sitting at his door, his eyebrows slightly raised.
As soon as Ji Mian saw him, he immediately stood up.
However, due to not having eaten and suddenly standing up, he wobbled a bit.
Fortunately, Ji Mian managed to steady himself by grabbing the wall.
“Brother…”
He said the same thing again, sincerely but clumsily: “Brother, I want to follow you.”
Duan Zhuang, with a cigarette in his mouth, stood still, not saying a word.
After a while, he stepped up onto the next step and walked up until he reached the second step below Ji Mian, stopping and speaking in a tone that was neither cold nor warm: “Move aside.”
“…”
Ji Mian silently moved to the side of the wall, giving Duan Zhuang a very wide path.
Duan Zhuang walked past him and went upstairs.
Hearing the sound of a key unlocking the door behind him, Ji Mian lowered his head, turning his back to Duan Zhuang, feeling very sad.
Being rejected by the same person several times made it hard for him to muster the courage to speak up again.
“Hey,” the person behind him suddenly spoke.
Ji Mian looked back in confusion.
Duan Zhuang looked down at him, impatiently raising his chin: “Come in.”
Ji Mian’s mood quickly shifted from gloomy to sunny. “Thank you, Brother!”
Duan Zhuang lightly bit his teeth, looking displeased: “I haven’t said I want you yet.”
“I know. But thank you, Brother.”
“…”
Once inside, Ji Mian saw that Duan Zhuang was already sitting on the sofa. He stood awkwardly in place, unsure of what to do.
Duan Zhuang glanced at him, his gaze indifferent.
The boy had changed into a normal short-sleeved shirt and long pants, with a wound on his waist, but he still stood upright.
He was fair-skinned, and standing in the room, he looked like a young master raised in a noble family, without a hint of the worldly street atmosphere. He had a kind of “innocence” that even Mu Yuman didn’t possess.
He felt out of place here.
—He looked quite out of place. That was Duan Zhuang’s assessment.
“Brother.” Ji Mian spoke cautiously.
“Do you need me to invite you to sit?”
Ji Mian hurriedly looked for a place to sit but didn’t dare to sit beside Duan Zhuang. He quickly scanned the room, ran to the TV, and moved a small, low round stool to sit across from Duan Zhuang.
He placed his hands on his legs, sitting very properly like a job applicant in an interview.
Duan Zhuang: “…”
He didn’t want to be an interviewer.
“I’m a person who hates trouble. You’d better not cause me any trouble while you’re under me.”
Ji Mian nodded.
“This is the first point: be obedient and follow the rules. I don’t keep disobedient people around me.”
Ji Mian nodded repeatedly.
“Second, get rid of your dirty habits.”
Ji Mian: “…”
“I promise I won’t… steal anymore.” Ji Mian hesitated over the word “steal,” reluctant to believe that he had actually done something like that.
“Third, shave your head.”
“...W-why?”
“No particular reason. I just can’t stand young guys with dyed hair; it’s ugly.”
“My hair isn’t dyed; it’s naturally this way.” Ji Mian bit his lip, “But as for the hairstyle… it has indeed been permed.”
The original owner had specifically gone to the barbershop in May to get the trendiest hairstyle at that time.
“Oh. Shave it off.”
“…” Ji Mian could only respond, “Okay, Brother.”
Duan Zhuang fell silent again.
He held a cigarette in his mouth, and the swirling white smoke made Ji Mian want to cough. He didn’t like the smell; it was quite irritating.
But he didn’t dare to cough out loud.
“Is there a place to stay around here?” Duan Zhuang suddenly remembered that Ji Mian had come from dozens of kilometers away and asked.
“No, Brother.”
Duan Zhuang pondered for a moment, his eyes narrowing in thought.
He wasn’t a big philanthropist who would kindly let a homeless child stay just because he felt sorry for him. But he could tell that Mu Yuman had her intentions behind this.
For some reason, his sister was particularly fond of this kid.
At the moment, the adjacent building was fully rented out, and the only place left for someone to stay in these two buildings was the third floor of this one.
However…
Duan Zhuang was really reluctant to share a building with someone, especially one that was on the same floor.
Fortunately, Ji Mian was perceptive. Before Duan Zhuang could say anything, he said, “Brother, you don’t need to give me a good place. I just need somewhere to sleep; I can even sleep on the ground outside.”
“…”
Upon hearing this, Duan Zhuang’s face darkened.
What did this kid take him for?
He said coldly, “Go live on the third floor.”
He was giving in to this brat.
Ji Mian blinked a couple of times, so grateful he was at a loss for words.
When Duan Zhuang looked up, he met Ji Mian's dazed face, his light brown eyes shimmering like two golden amber jewels under the light, staring at him motionlessly.
It was an expression of unwavering devotion.
“…” Duan Zhuang felt his eyelids twitch and tossed him the keys, coldly ordering, “Go up.”
“Thank you… Thank you, Brother.” Ji Mian sniffed, holding the keys as if they were a treasure. “I-I will definitely listen to you.”
The boy’s tone didn’t sound like a mere promise; it felt more like a vow.
As if he would follow him for life, only listening to him.
“…Now, go up!”
Ji Mian hurried off. As he walked, he said to the system: 【My brother is really nice!】
System: 【……】
So now it’s “my brother”? That was too easy to satisfy.
The system was quite disdainful.
Inside the room, the cigarette Duan Zhuang had been holding gradually burned down.
He pinched the cigarette butt and extinguished it in the ashtray before lighting another one for himself.
“…Tsk.”
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