11 Wake up.

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Zhang Xingxu retorted, “What for?”

Wen Dong replied, “What do you mean ‘what for’? To shine and radiate! You know so much about plants, you’re practically a walking encyclopedia, aren’t you?”

Her tone was emotional and sincere, the light in her eyes flashing right into Zhang Xingxu’s.

He looked away. “Not interested.”

“Not interested, yet you carry that pot of jasmine up and down every day, caring for it better than yourself?”

The tip of her chopsticks slipped, and the crispy sausage slipped through the gap.

Zhang Xingxu looked up. “Do you like me? So concerned about my business?”

???

Wen Dong’s eyes widened. “I like you?!”

“Which eye told you I like you? Stop being so narcissistic!” She snatched his bowl, quickly picked a few dishes, then carried the pot away. “You’re not allowed to eat from this pot anymore!”

Infuriating!

She had kindly offered him advice and strategy, yet he thought she liked him?

Even rumors aren’t made up like this.

For the next half month, Wen Dong never mentioned looking for a job again.

Between them, it was as if a barrier had been erected. Aside from her occasionally reminding him to dry the floor when cleaning, they barely spoke and ate separately.

Just when Wen Dong thought they would continue living in mutual indifference forever, the bathroom light exploded.

It was ten at night. After finishing her shower, she accidentally pressed the wrong switch while turning off the lights. The bathroom heater light flashed on briefly, then suddenly exploded with a bang, startling her into a scream. Darkness fell everywhere, the living room lights going out as well.

She reached for her phone to turn on the flashlight. Glass shards lay scattered on the floor, one cutting her instep, drawing a bit of blood.

She was barefoot; her slippers were filled with shards and completely unwearable.

“What happened?” Zhang Xingxu’s voice came.

Wen Dong steadied herself against the wall, legs weak, voice trembling, “The light exploded.”

He swept the flashlight across the floor, frowning slightly. “You get out first.”

“Step on my shoes.” He took two steps forward into the shards and reached out to her.

The bathroom was narrow; Wen Dong practically pressed against him as she stepped out.

She tilted her head slightly, accidentally brushing against his clothes. A faint scent of soap drifted to her nose.

Clean to the point of being bland.

Just like him.

Zhang Xingxu led her back into the living room, pitch dark except for the faint glow of her phone’s flashlight.

“It’s probably a circuit breaker trip. Where’s the fuse box?”

Wen Dong: “By the wall to the left of the door. I covered it with a tapestry.”

Zhang Xingxu went to check, then returned to clean the broken glass in the bathroom.

“Got a utility knife? We need to take the light apart first.” He asked as he came out.

Wen Dong found a wallpaper cutter from a compartment and handed it to him. “How did it explode? I didn’t use a warm light.”

“The bulb shattered when it got cold.” He paused, taking the knife from her hand. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I was standing to the side.”

He handed her the flashlight. “Light it up.”

His torch was small but bright, illuminating the bathroom thoroughly.

Probably one of his many mountaineering gadgets.

Zhang Xingxu stood on a stool, slid the knife blade into the gap, pried up a corner, and removed the aluminum panel. Then he took down the surrounding panels and extracted the heater light.

“Got electrical tape?”

“Should be.”

Wen Dong disliked tidying up; many miscellaneous items were packed away in the cabinet, both useful and useless. After searching, she found a roll of black electrical tape, then asked, “Need a screwdriver?”

“No.”

Zhang Xingxu pulled the wires down, wrapped them securely, cut the tape with the knife, then stepped down from the stool.

Wen Dong stared in slight surprise at the now empty ceiling section. “Is that it?”

“Flip the breaker back on. We’ll get someone to replace it tomorrow.” He picked up the stool and left.

Wen Dong followed, clutching her clothes with slightly tightened fingers. “Thanks.”

“Tomorrow you cook.”

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He refused her thanks and gave her a new task.

Wen Dong was silent for two seconds, then cautiously probed, “Then buying the light… shall we split it?”

Zhang Xingxu didn’t even look back. “I’ll buy it.”

The living room lights flickered back on the next second.

As Zhang Xingxu was about to return to his room, his glance fell on her leg, hesitation flickering in his eyes. “Remember to disinfect that wound.”

Wen Dong looked down and noticed the bloodstain on her foot.

A bit alarming.

Fortunately, the cut wasn’t deep and was easy to treat.

She sat in the living room, applying iodine to her leg, letting it dry, then wiggled her leg before switching off the light and going to bed.

The next day was the weekend. After a grueling week of single rest days, Wen Dong woke up feeling refreshed, ignoring the foot injury as she changed clothes to go buy groceries. She found Zhang Xingxu in the living room, studying something intently.

“You’re up so early?”

Zhang Xingxu looked up at her voice, closed the installation manual, and softly answered, “You going out?”

Wen Dong pulled out her grocery tote. “Yeah, didn’t I say I’d cook today?”

She noticed something odd and glanced toward the bathroom. “The installer didn’t come with you?”

Zhang Xingxu carried the heater into the bathroom and replied from behind, “The store is short-staffed.”

The installer was originally only available in the afternoon, but Zhang Xingxu had glanced at the instructions and just brought the parts himself, not even leaving the installer’s number.

“Can you install it?” Wen Dong followed him. “Should I call property management to send someone?”

“No need.” Zhang Xingxu refused.

Wen Dong put down her bag and went to wash her hands.

The sink was outside the bathroom. Her face reflected in the mirror as she bent to scoop water and rubbed her face; droplets fell from her eyelashes. “Are you always this self-reliant?”

She patted her face and wiped with a towel. “As if asking for help would be a death sentence.”

“Of course, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.” Wen Dong balled the towel and tossed it in the trash. “If you were stranded on a deserted island, your independence would ensure you survive until rescue. I wouldn’t last—I’d be bored to death before the rescue arrived.”

“You can live alone. I can’t.” Wen Dong squeezed out toothpaste and began brushing.

With toothpaste foam in her mouth, her words were muffled: “In that, I actually admire you.”

Zhang Xingxu remained silent.

The room was quiet for a long moment, only the faint hum of the electric toothbrush.

Wen Dong spat out the foam and rinsed. “No work, no gaming, no videos… how do you pass the days?”

He hadn’t spoken to her for half a month.

She was so bored she was practically growing mushrooms, messaging Tian Cheng and Yu You all day.

Zhang Xingxu was about to say something when Wen Dong immediately made a “stop” gesture. “Please don’t say things like ‘I care about you’ or ‘I like you’ again. If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine, but don’t twist my words!”

She finished brushing, put the toothbrush away. “I’m just curious. Not only you—if it were any friend around me, I’d ask the same. Don’t overthink it.”

She wiped water from her mouth, grabbed her bag, and left.

Before going out, she didn’t forget to flip the circuit breaker back on.

Throughout the entire conversation, Zhang Xingxu hadn’t uttered a single word.

Wen Dong seemed not to need his response.

At lunch, Wen Dong made the long-missed mushroom and chicken leg braised rice, along with stir-fried greens and tomato egg soup.

They ate silently, the quiet so heavy Wen Dong was shaking her leg under the table.

It was too quiet; she had never eaten so silently before, feeling like she was in prison.

Just as she was wondering whether to put on a variety show as background noise, Zhang Xingxu suddenly broke the silence. “Could you stop shaking?”

Wen Dong stiffened, stopping her leg. “Did I shake you?”

Wait, something was off — that sounded like he was picking a fight.

Zhang Xingxu said, “The table’s moving.”

Wen Dong: “The Earth’s still spinning.”

“…”

Great, that sounded even more like a fight.

Zhang Xingxu put down his chopsticks, turned to look at her with a serious expression, as if wanting to have a proper talk. “Are you trying to say that one cannot step into the same river twice?”

Wen Dong: ?

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Two seconds later, she suddenly realized, “Wait! I’m not trying to discuss philosophy or physics with you.”

Zhang Xingxu hummed softly and picked up his chopsticks again. “That topic’s worth discussing.”

Though it sounded casual, Wen Dong gave him no chance. “Save it for later. Let’s eat first.”

After the meal, they played rock-paper-scissors to decide who washed the dishes. Wen Dong won.

Zhang Xingxu busied himself in the kitchen.

Wen Dong picked out a movie to cast onto the portable TV.

Her finger paused on a Japanese family film. Suddenly, she remembered something and turned to ask Zhang Xingxu, “Why did you wash the dishes last time?”

That was unusual.

He disliked troubling others and hated being troubled.

That was obvious from the start when she asked him to help hang the laundry.

But last time, she waited for him to come home and open the door, and after dinner, without a game of rock-paper-scissors, he actually washed the dishes?

Zhang Xingxu said, “You cooked, so I wash the dishes in exchange.”

So last night he helped her, and today she was to cook to repay him.

He didn’t wash dishes proactively because he felt he owed her nothing?

Wen Dong laughed. “Do you carry a notebook to keep daily accounts?”

Zhang Xingxu neither confirmed nor denied. “Nothing wrong with that.”

“But you still owe me once.” He added.

“Owe you what?”

“I replaced the bathroom heater.”

Alright, he paid for that, so he did owe her.

Wen Dong put down her phone and walked over. “How do you want me to repay you? Cook you a meal?”

“Sure.”

“Not tonight,” Wen Dong said. “My friend’s coming this afternoon; we’ll go out to eat. You can just eat downstairs by yourself.”

“Oh, that’s my former roommate Yu You. You two chatted on the rental platform before.”

Zhang Xingxu looked away. “Don’t know her.”

He didn’t know her, but that didn’t stop Yu You’s enthusiasm.

Wen Dong finished the movie and went to the high-speed rail station to pick up Yu You, arriving just on time.

They strolled along Furong Street and finally settled at a hotpot restaurant.

Yu You asked about Zhang Xingxu’s situation. Wen Dong waved her hand and summarized with four words: “Mute groom.”

Yu You laughed uncontrollably and insisted on seeing what he looked like.

After dinner, they enjoyed some fresh air before heading back.

By coincidence, Zhang Xingxu was in the living room filling water when they returned.

Tall, curly-haired, with a proud posture—that was Yu You’s first impression of his back.

“Zhang Xingxu,” Wen Dong called out, introducing, “This is my friend, Yu You.”

Zhang Xingxu turned at the sound and nodded slightly. “Hello.”

Then turned back to watch the water level.

Yu You’s lips twitched, eyes blinking rapidly. She pulled Wen Dong aside, whispering, “How is he 187.4 cm? He’s a solid 187!”

Wen Dong tugged her sleeve. “Later. Change your shoes first.”

The next few hours, the two chatted endlessly—from Zhang Xingxu to the scandalous son of the hot boy group’s capitalist, then to dreams of winning the lottery, buying a house, and keeping male models—talking until two-thirty in the morning.

But at four o’clock, in the darkest hour before dawn, before even the farm’s roosters crowed, Wen Dong was woken by a cold, stern voice.

Her eyes half-open, she was terrified to find Zhang Xingxu standing gloomily at her bedside.

“Come with me.”

She was so frightened she thought she was dreaming.

She got out of bed, found her slippers, just about to ask what he wanted, but as she stepped into the bedroom after him, her eyes widened and she pinched her thigh hard, gasping in pain.

Zhang Xingxu crossed his arms, his gaze sharp enough to kill.

“Get her off my bed.”