LABMY CH18

When Wei Zhenge woke up, he didn’t rush to wash up and eat breakfast as usual to squeeze in time for a practice exam before morning classes.

He sat on the bed, his gaze shifting to the study desk by the window—more precisely, to the drawer of the desk.

The drawer was closed, but he could clearly “see” the pair of headphones and several practice booklets inside. He knew he wasn’t mistaken; this was his drawer. He knew exactly what was inside.

At that moment, Wei Zhenge froze.

He was about to move out. Soon, this wouldn’t be his drawer anymore.

He got up, pushed open the door, and turned to look at the bedroom next door. Jian Yuanbai’s door was open, but the room was empty.

Off to work already?

With that thought, Wei Zhenge walked to the living room in his soft slippers. On the coffee table lay a pile of rough stones and a stack of papers.

It was impossible to miss. At first glance, he spotted a piece of jade embedded within one of the stones, its green color exceptionally vivid. However, instead of picking up the jade, he reached for the papers beside it.

“You don’t need to move out. I’ve left.”

“I’ve signed the property transfer agreement. The house is now under your name. These raw jade stones are also yours—they’re the ones you hadn’t finished cutting.”

“I’m not good at saying goodbye, so…”

The ink after the word “so” was heavy, as if the writer had paused for a long time before continuing:

“Goodbye.”

Wei Zhenge carefully folded the note and looked at the property transfer agreement and the red property deed beneath it.

He couldn’t understand.

He and Jian Yuanbai hadn’t known each other for long, so why would this man go so far as to leave him a house?

Wei Zhenge didn’t have many friends, nor anyone to confide in. After thinking it over, he opened his phone’s chat app. The last conversation he had was thanking Tong Lerong.

He hesitated, then typed:

W: “Do you know why a person would take care of someone, help them in every way, and even give them expensive gifts without asking for anything in return?”

Just as he was about to send the message, he paused.

He knew that Tong Lerong liked him, but he had no intention of accepting her feelings. To avoid giving her false hope, he had been keeping his distance from her.

At this moment, that thought made him realize something else.

He deleted the message, opened his browser, and searched:

“Can a man like another man?”

Five minutes later, Wei Zhenge closed the page with a strange expression.

…So, when Jian Yuanbai kept asking him whether he would start dating, was that… a confession?

He wasn’t worried about him falling in love and affecting his studies.

He wanted to… date him?

Separation is good, Wei Zhenge thought to himself.

After all, he’d never been in a relationship, but he was certain of his orientation—he liked women.

However, he couldn’t accept such an expensive gift for no reason.

He dialed Jian Yuanbai’s number, only to hear a cold, robotic message: “The number you have dialed is no longer in service.”

The message he sent also bounced back with a bright red exclamation mark.

His expression darkened.

After notifying his teachers that he was taking the morning off, he changed into casual clothes and headed straight to Jian Yuanbai’s company.

“You’re saying… Jian Yuanbai handed over the company to you for temporary management?” Wei Zhenge sat in the conference room, unable to believe what he was hearing as he looked at the middle-aged man across from him.

The man nodded. “Yes. I don’t know where Mr. Jian is now, but…”

Seeing the confusion and panic in the young man’s eyes, the man sighed. “Mr. Jian probably won’t be coming back. There’s no point in looking for him.”

The man naturally knew that the teenager before him would be his future boss. However, as per Mr. Jian’s instructions, he wouldn’t reveal this fact until the boy graduated from university.

The young man had just turned 18, and his mind wasn’t mature enough to handle running a company. Nor did he have the time for it.

Mr. Jian had pulled him out of the mud, and the man was willing to repay that kindness by managing the company well—not just for Jian Yuanbai, but also for his own salary and bonuses.

At that moment, across the street from the company, on the second floor of a café, Jian Yuanbai was casually chatting with the system.

“He actually came to the company to find me. He does care about me,” Jian Yuanbai said with a smirk.

The system replied coldly, “If a living person suddenly disappears, anyone would try to find them.”

“Isn’t it about time to leave this world?”

Jian Yuanbai avoided the question and asked instead, “Do you think Little Pillow will walk out of the company looking all disappointed?”

The system sneered, “Of course. He’ll definitely look heartbroken.”

Just as the system finished speaking, they both saw Wei Zhenge walking out of the company entrance—calm and composed, without a trace of emotion.

“…See? He’s faking it,” Jian Yuanbai insisted, closing his eyes.

__

As soon as Wei Zhenge returned to the apartment complex, Jian Yuanbai entered the building across from him, one floor higher, and set up a telescope on the balcony.

The system couldn’t stand it anymore. “Do you realize how creepy you’re acting right now?”

Jian Yuanbai let out a long sigh, “You wouldn’t understand… when a son travels thousands of miles, his mother worries.”

“Little Pillow is about to live alone. Shouldn’t I see if he can manage?”

The system was speechless: “Jian Mama, if you care so much, why not stay?”

Jian Yuanbai: “Good boy, I feel like we’re not in a mother-son relationship. If it’s too awkward, you can call me Dad.”

At that moment, with no one around, the system suddenly popped out and heavily slammed onto Jian Yuanbai’s head. The golden cat lay on his head like a cat pawing at something, “I’ve told you before, you can only stay here for one more year.”

“Leaving now or a year later makes no difference. My mission is over, and he doesn’t need me anymore.”

“Wei Zhenge turned eighteen and has both the ability to see through things and a family. The Wei family can barely control him now. Plus, he has a private tutor and can avoid school while preparing for the college entrance exam. As long as he wants to study, this year won’t make much of a difference.”

The golden cat lay on Jian Yuanbai’s head, its glass-like cat eyes gazing at the floor where Wei Zhenge lived, “It’s different. He’ll be lonely.”

Jian Yuanbai had done too much, far exceeding the role he was assigned to play. His departure wouldn’t feel like getting rid of trouble as the storyline suggested.

Instead, it would make Wei Zhenge sad.

Not to mention, he was leaving without saying goodbye.

The system’s voice was soft and vague, and Jian Yuanbai didn’t catch it. “What did you say?”

The cat on his head remained silent, and the system’s voice in his mind also disappeared. One man and one system fell into silence.

Jian Yuanbai had been following Wei Zhenge for six days. Today was the seventh day.

As usual, Wei Zhenge would go out at noon to buy groceries and go for a night run at 9 p.m., listening to either words or music through his headphones.

Jian Yuanbai never knew Wei Zhenge had a habit of night running. He also didn’t know he liked eating blueberries and would always buy some fresh ones. Wei Zhenge would occasionally buy breakfast but never bought fried dough sticks, which Jian Yuanbai often bought for him.

In fact, he couldn’t see much. Wei Zhenge spent most of his time at home studying and doing practice exams. With the curtains drawn, even a telescope couldn’t reveal much.

Moreover, Jian Yuanbai found it quite perverted to use a telescope to watch his Little Pillow at home, so he rarely used it.

At 9 p.m., Wei Zhenge, wearing a blue hoodie, appeared downstairs on time. He put on his headphones and started his night run. The neighborhood was expensive, spacious, and well-landscaped, so his run was limited to a few laps around the community.

Jian Yuanbai watched him from upstairs. After a while, he said to the system, “We’re leaving, Tiantian.”

His Little Pillow was living well, with a healthy and stable routine. He could take care of himself and even cooked his own meals every day.

There was no reason for Jian Yuanbai to stay.

The system in his mind remained silent. Wei Zhenge finished his run but stood at the entrance of the building for a long time without going up.

Jian Yuanbai tried to catch one last glimpse of Wei Zhenge through the telescope. He saw his Little Pillow tilt his head up, seemingly looking at the window of the room Jian Yuanbai once lived in. A tear fell from the corner of his eye, but before it could fall, Wei Zhenge wiped it away.

He lowered his head and walked into the building.

…

The first time Jian Yuanbai saw Wei Zhenge cry was in a hospital bed. With a high fever, his face was burning red, and tears silently rolled from the corners of his eyes as he sobbed like a helpless little animal after a storm.

At that time, Jian Yuanbai thought, “I want to hold an umbrella for him.”

This was the second time he saw him cry. After his night run, with a bit of sweat on his forehead, Wei Zhenge looked up at the window of the room where Jian Yuanbai used to live. His beautiful face was calm, but he wiped away the tear before it could fall.

In that moment, Jian Yuanbai suddenly realized that Wei Zhenge rarely showed his vulnerability. Even when abandoned by his family and left to be cared for by outsiders, he remained calm. He only cried unconsciously when he was in a coma. And this time, he wiped his tears before they could fall.

“Ding-dong.”

The doorbell rang.

Wei Zhenge wondered who would be knocking on his door so late at night. He opened the door while thinking.

Jian Yuanbai stood at the door, looking a bit nervous. “I wanted to ask you—”

“Yes,” Wei Zhenge interrupted before he could finish. “I think I might fall in love early.”

“That’s great!” Jian Yuanbai’s face lit up with joy. He didn’t need to find another excuse to stay.

Wei Zhenge’s heart skipped a beat. Did he really like him that much? Just because he might agree, Jian Yuanbai was this happy?

Realizing his identity, Jian Yuanbai coughed awkwardly, trying to act serious. “I mean, as your former guardian, I can’t let your studies be affected by an early romance during your senior year.”

“No matter what, I have to stay and watch over you until the college entrance exam is over.”

“So, during this time, can we live together again?”

Wei Zhenge blinked in confusion. “Sure.”

Jian Yuanbai, full of energy, declared, “Don’t worry, I will strictly monitor you and crush any signs of an early romance in the cradle!”

Wei Zhenge looked at him deeply and said, “Thank you.”