"What’s wrong with it?"

"I encountered it when I was coming out. It’s a bit injured but almost healed now, nothing serious." A mouse pretending to be profound.

Xiao Qi finally realized its owner was here, perked up, and dashed over.

"Squeak squeak squeak!!"

Xin Zhu tried to reach out and pet it, but Chuzheng stopped him: "Even though it’s been confirmed they don’t carry any viruses, it’s still better that you don’t touch them for now." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Xin Zhu was puzzled: "Why?"

"No reason, I just forbid it."

"..." Xin Zhu pressed his lips together, looked down at Xiao Qi, and couldn’t help muttering, "She’s so fierce."

"Squeak squeak squeak!" Exactly! Master, don’t be fooled by her!

For a long while, the person and the mouse communicated through glass in two different languages, not knowing if they understood each other.

Chuzheng leaned against the side, watching indifferently.

Once they finished their exchange, Xin Zhu finally stood up, and Chuzheng led him to sit in a chair in the garden.

"Are you angry because I took you out?"

"Why would I be angry?" Xin Zhu curiously asked back.

"I thought you liked it there."

"...I don’t like it." It’s not like he had a choice but to live there. "But since I came out, I didn’t hear that sound... Why is that?"

"..."

Because you just have a tumor in your brain.

According to the doctor’s hypothesis, that place has radiation affecting the tumor in his brain, causing him constant auditory hallucinations.

Chuzheng dodged the question: "Would you like to live with me from now on?"

"With... with you?" Xin Zhu stammered.

"Yeah."

Xin Zhu swallowed for quite a while, not saying anything.

"You don’t want to?" If you don’t want to, it could be troublesome, and I don’t want to resort to force.

"No... not that." Xin Zhu shook his head hard: "With you... what... what would I be?"

Chuzheng slowly said: "Boyfriend."

Xin Zhu blinked, his heartbeat gradually losing its rhythm.

Did she say...boyfriend?

Are girls nowadays this bold?

-

Xin Zhu sat on the sofa in the room, staring blankly at the wall.

Not sure what he was thinking about, he lay down, covering his face, his ears turning red.

"Recently, some citizens have reported unscrupulous vendors mixing old rice with fresh rice to sell..."

The abrupt sound startled Xin Zhu into sitting up straight from the bed.

The black thing opposite him lit up, with vivid images just like the outside world.

Is this... a television?

Back in ’88, televisions existed, but they were still black and white back then.

Chuzheng came in and saw Xin Zhu staring at the television, looking a bit dazed.

Chuzheng walked over: "Did you turn it on by yourself?"

Xin Zhu snapped out of it and quickly shook his head: "No... it turned on by itself."

By itself?

Has the television turned sentient?

Chuzheng searched around beside him and found the remote control he was sitting on: "You can use the television to learn about the outside world. Press here to change the channel..."

Chuzheng briefly explained the functions of the remote control to Xin Zhu.

"Hmm..." Xin Zhu tried switching channels, watching various programs, making him feel dizzy.

Back then, how many channels could he even watch?

"What was that black thing you used earlier that you can talk on?"

"A cell phone, which is basically a telephone."

"..."

Xin Zhu got a hold of Chuzheng’s phone, again looking dazed.

Xin Zhu quickly adapted to new things, quickly figuring out the simple functions.

"What is this?" Xin Zhu pointed to an icon.

"A game."

A game?

Back in the eighties, where were games in the country, but he had heard about some foreign inventions.

But he had seen reports that those things were huge.

Didn’t expect it, now you can play games on such a small device.

"Can I play?"

"Do you know how?"

"..." Of course, Xin Zhu didn’t, but he was smart, looking at her eagerly: "Can you teach me?"

"Sure I can, but do I just teach you without anything in return?"

"I... Aren’t I your boyfriend?" Xin Zhu said this, his ears turning red, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Boyfriends need to pay too." Even siblings settle accounts clearly! I have principles!

"Then... what do you want?"

Chuzheng tilted her head slightly, making it clear. Xin Zhu’s lips parted slightly, his face turning increasingly red, and it took a while to squeeze out a few words.

"How can you be like this?"

Chuzheng looked at him calmly, as if about to write "This is how I am, what can you do about it."

In the end, Xin Zhu gave in and finally got Chuzheng to teach him how to play games hand-in-hand.

Chuzheng circled him, and Xin Zhu wasn’t quite used to it.

But the game took up most of Xin Zhu’s attention, and soon he forgot all about it, leaning comfortably against Chuzheng.

Since Xin Zhu learned to play games, Chuzheng noticed that this little guy was engrossed in games all day.

The first couple of days, Chuzheng thought he was just finding it novel and didn’t say much.

Xin Zhu had been trapped there all this time, his mental age no more than twenty.

In the present day, twenty is still considered a kid by most parents.

But soon, Xin Zhu learned to directly pull the cell phone out of her pocket.

Chuzheng: "..."

It was indeed harmful in some way.

-

"Focus on eating, no games allowed." Chuzheng took the phone from Xin Zhu’s hand.

"I was just about to beat the level..."

Chuzheng glanced at him: "What time did you sleep last night?"

"Hmm..." Xin Zhu mumbled, bowing his head to eat.

There’s an examination in the afternoon, and Chuzheng didn’t give his phone back to him.

Xin Zhu wasn’t too fond of these check-ups, but he always cooperated obediently.

After the check-up, Xin Zhu sat on the examination table, tugging on Chuzheng’s sleeve, slightly tilting his head to look at her, eyes seemingly glimmering with a pleading light.

Chuzheng had words with the doctor and handed the phone to him. Xin Zhu immediately took the phone and sat quietly to the side, appearing very obedient.

Chuzheng: "..."

Chuzheng turned her gaze back, discussing Xin Zhu’s current condition with the doctor.

His body wasn’t in much trouble, the radiation just kept his body from growing, like the freezing technology in sci-fi movies.

But Xin Zhu was even more remarkable.

Since he came out, his body had already started growing again, his height even increased by a centimeter.

The serious matter is still the tumor in his brain.

"There’s currently no sign of it continuing to grow..."

"Can surgery be done?"

"It’s a bit complicated..."

The location is tricky to operate on, and the success rate is too low.

Chuzheng glanced over at Xin Zhu: "Let’s observe for a while."

The doctor agreed: "I’ll work on a plan shortly, just in case."

Chuzheng nodded.

The doctor left with his assistant, and Chuzheng, hands in her pockets, approached: "Let’s go."

"Done talking?"

"Yeah."

"Am I going to die?" Xin Zhu suddenly spoke.

Chuzheng froze: "No."

"I just heard it."

"...I won’t let you die."

Xin Zhu gave a little smile, lowered his head, and continued playing the game, saying nothing more about it.