ASFSODS 13

Zhou Yunbai’s livestream:

[What?! What do you mean sleeping?!]

[Sorry Xiaobai, I’m gonna go check this out real quick! Be right back!]

[WTF? Sleeping?]

[OMG, girls, I finished watching it! That was so spicy!]

[? What spicy, hold on, I’m getting a weird feeling about this…]

Some viewers in the stream hadn’t been too interested in the whole “sleeping” thing, but once someone called it “spicy”, everyone’s curiosity shot up like Everest.

In the first-floor living room of the little house, Wen Chi was curled up under a thin blanket. His body was slightly hunched, and the soft pajama pants had ridden up a bit, revealing a portion of his pale and slender calf.

The boy was fast asleep. Jiang Siheng was leaning back against the couch, relaxed, with his left hand resting on Wen Chi’s shoulder. It gave off a kind of protective and almost possessive vibe.

Everyone: “……” Okay, yeah, they were literally just sleeping on the couch.

Wen Chi didn’t even know when he had fallen asleep. He had been messing with his phone and casually chatting with Jiang Siheng. The atmosphere had been so relaxed that he probably just nodded off mid-conversation without realizing it.

When he woke up, Jiang Siheng wasn’t beside him. The hair he had finally managed to tame that morning was a mess again. Wen Chi brushed the 50 grams of hair with the rebellious spirit of 100 pounds.

Whatever.

Wen Chi wandered around in his slippers on the first floor but didn’t see Jiang Siheng anywhere. Still groggy from sleep, he stopped in his tracks when he saw Jiang Siheng coming downstairs, standing there blankly as the man walked up to him.

Jiang Siheng glanced at Wen Chi’s messy hair and couldn’t help but laugh. He reached out to ruffle it and it still felt amazing.

Seeing Wen Chi’s dazed expression, he asked, “What’s up?”

“I thought you went out.” Probably because he had just woken up, Wen Chi’s normally bright and clear voice had a soft, sticky tone to it, making Jiang Siheng’s heart turn to mush.

“I didn’t go out. Just went upstairs to take a call.” Jiang Siheng took hold of his wrist and led him back to the couch. “Are you hungry?”

Wen Chi checked in with himself and then nodded. “A little bit.”

He noticed how the man’s large, warm palm wrapped around his wrist. That warmth seeped into his skin and spread through his whole body, like he was burning up from the inside.

Trying to act casual, Wen Chi pretended to reach for his phone, pulling his wrist free. But once he had the phone in hand, he didn’t even unlock it—just tapped the screen to light it up.

Jiang Siheng raised an eyebrow and said, “I’ll make some noodles in a bit. Just something simple, and then tonight I’ll take you out for dinner.”

Wen Chi, confused: “Ah, okay. It’s not just something.’”

Still… Why were they going out for dinner tonight?

“Mhm.” Jiang Siheng headed to the kitchen area, and Wen Chi followed behind.

Wen Chi: “I’ll help, I’ll help~”

Jiang Siheng took out a pack of baby bok choy and two eggs. He called it a simple bowl of noodles, but the ingredients were far from plain.

Wen Chi helped wash the bok choy while sneaking glances at the man frying eggs beside him.

He thought he was being sneaky, but Jiang Siheng caught every glance.

After placing the second soft-boiled egg in the bowl, Jiang Siheng turned and looked at Wen Chi. “Why are you sneaking peeks at me?”

Wen Chi was startled and dropped the bok choy in his hands. He quickly picked it up, laughing nervously, “No, I wasn’t sneaking!”

“Alright, not sneaking.” Jiang Siheng humored him. “Then what do you want to ask me?”

Since he was being so direct…

Wen Chi cleared his throat, put down the bok choy, and stepped a little closer.

Now standing much closer to Jiang Siheng, he asked, “Teacher Jiang, why are we going out to eat tonight?”

Jiang Siheng: “……”

Wen Chi blinked at him, looking genuinely curious about the reason for the dinner.

Wen Chi’s livestream:

[Confirmed: our boy is a total homebody]

[Wen Chi: Nooo—why do we have to go out (painful face)]

[Help, I’m just like him. If I don’t have to go out, I won’t. And if I do, I need a reason.]

[Because he’s taking you on a date, duh!!!]

Sangsang sat on her little stool, thinking about the eight hundred excuses she had used in the past just to get Wen Chi out of the house. She sighed wearily.

Then she heard Jiang Siheng say to Wen Chi, “Because I want to take you on a date.”

Huh???

Wen Chi blinked. “A date?”

Jiang Siheng smiled and nodded. “What, you thought everyone wasn’t around today because they’re all at work?”

Wen Chi: ovo

The water in the pot started to boil. Jiang Siheng tossed the washed bok choy into a strainer, dropped the noodles into the pot, and continued, “I know you don’t like going out, so we could totally have a date right here at the house but I still want to take you out for dinner. Everyone else is out eating, and you should get to have that too.”

Main livestream:

[So Teacher Jiang does know Xiao Chi doesn’t like going out]

[How do you not marry someone like Jiang Siheng???]

[I’m obsessed. Jiang Ge is so gentle and kind]

[Yeah, he planned an at-home date just because Wen Chi doesn’t like going out]

[Honestly, if someone told me I had to be out all day, I’d be exhausted unless there was a solid reason]

[Same. Unless it’s work, getting me to leave the house is a pain]

Honestly, Wen Chi’s brain nearly short-circuited. It took him several seconds before he finally processed it. “So today is… our first date?”

“Mhm. You didn’t know?” Jiang Siheng asked amusedly.

“I had no idea. I thought today was just about exchanging gifts…” Halfway through the sentence, Wen Chi suddenly remembered the gifts. “Ah! The gift!”

Just as he was about to dash upstairs, Jiang Siheng pulled him back. “Eat your noodles first. There’s no rush.”

Wen Chi thought about it. “Alright.”

Cooking the noodles didn’t take long, but Wen Chi wasn’t about to waste even a second—he filled the time by bombarding Jiang Siheng with questions about dating and gift-giving.

“So Teacher Jiang, aren’t you supposed to give me a gift too?”

“I always thought it was about exchanging gifts.”

“I really don’t like going out, I’m a total homebody, but if you really want to, I can go with you.”

“Can I put a little chili sauce in the noodles?”

“Where are we going for dinner tonight? Do I need to dress up? I actually brought a suit!”

Wen Chi kept chattering beside him, and before Jiang Siheng could answer one question, he’d already jumped to the next.

Jiang Siheng patiently answered them one by one before finally responding to the last one. “No need to dress up. Wear whatever you like.”

Wen Chi lit up. “Really? Then can I wear Crocs?”

“Crocs?” Jiang Siheng looked puzzled.

Wen Chi pulled up a photo to show him. “Like those beachy Crocs. Push the strap up and they’re slippers, push it down and they’re… uh… sandals.”

Jiang Siheng didn’t even blink. “Sure.”

He kept saying yes to everything, making Wen Chi feel a little awkward. “I was kidding. I wouldn’t actually wear Crocs.”

After finishing the fancy noodles cooked by Movie Emperor Jiang, Wen Chi went back to his room to pick an outfit for the evening.

His clothes were mostly casual. Compared to other celebs who wore outfits worth tens of thousands, his mix-and-match wardrobe—some pieces just a few dozen yuan, the most expensive only a few hundred—looked pretty cheap.

But he figured he wasn’t popular or relevant enough for anyone to care about his fashion choices.

After a long while, he finally picked something out. Looking at the set neatly laid out on the bed, he started wondering if maybe it was time to buy some new clothes.

Around 6:30, Jiang Siheng knocked on Wen Chi’s door. Only after Wen Chi gave permission did he open the door and walk in.

Wen Chi was putting on his jacket. Seeing Jiang Siheng enter, he asked, “Are we heading out?”

“Mhm.” Jiang Siheng looked at the boy in front of him, now dressed in a plain white T-shirt and loose jeans. His messy hair had been smoothed down with water. He looked fresh and clean, like the wholesome boy next door.

“Okay.” Wen Chi quickly threw on his jacket, grabbed his phone and other essentials, and stuffed them into his dumpling-shaped bag.

Jiang Siheng went out first to get the car ready. Wen Chi had waited for him to leave so he could slip the gift into his bag.

After changing into sneakers and double-checking all the appliances and windows, he finally headed out feeling reassured.

“Teacher Jiang, I’m coming!”

Wen Chi happily climbed into the passenger seat. Jiang Siheng rested one hand lazily on the steering wheel. When he saw Wen Chi holding a little yellow duck water bottle, his eyes twitched.

Was he really taking a kid out on a playdate?

Pop—the bottle lid flipped open, the straw sprang up, and Wen Chi took a huge sip of water, looking utterly content.

Jiang Siheng stared at him for a few seconds longer before finally starting the car.

Fine. If he had to bring a kid along, so be it.

How was even the way he drank water this cute?

Wen Chi had no idea Jiang Siheng had just had a moment where he almost mistook him for a child. Bringing a water bottle was just a habit for him.

After driving for a little over ten minutes, they arrived at the restaurant. Wen Chi got out of the car and looked at the place in front of him—he finally understood why Jiang Siheng had said he could wear Crocs.

The restaurant looked kind of like a countryside farmhouse, but not quite. Still, it had that travel-destination eatery feel to it.

Wen Chi spotted a family also arriving. One of the taller boys—probably the older brother—had come in wearing slippers.

Wen Chi’s livestream:

[Whoa, where is this?]

[!!!! Teacher Jiang actually brought Xiao Chi to a restaurant called “Stack and Fun”]

[“Stack and Fun” is the name of the restaurant?]

[That name is hilarious lololol]

[#laughcry# The name’s a little weird, but the food is amazing]

[It’s just a little pricey, and not in the city center]

Just like the comments, Wen Chi looked up at the sign reading 【Stack and Fun】 and found himself really curious why the owner picked that name.

Jiang Siheng parked the car and saw Wen Chi standing in the courtyard, zoning out. “What’s up?”

Wen Chi turned his head, eyes filled with curiosity. “Teacher Jiang, do you know why this restaurant is named that?”

Jiang Siheng noticed a tuft of hair sticking up on the back of Wen Chi’s head. He reached out and pressed it down. “No clue. Maybe the owner wasn’t thinking straight when they named it.”

“Ohh.” Wen Chi was so soothed by the head patting that his eyes nearly squinted shut. If he had a tail, it’d be wagging like crazy.