Yan Qiongyu had stopped here by accident, carrying only enough various medicines and some personal belongings on him. Although he would not be staying here for too long, he still needed to buy clothes for the next few days.
He casually picked out some clothes to change into, then entered another shop—first a bedding store, then an interior decoration shop, and finally a furniture mall.
He walked into the mall and, at a glance, spotted suitable items. He confirmed the purchase with the guide machine beside him, selecting as he walked, without hesitation or delay, and once finished, he took out an anonymous universal card and spent a large sum without batting an eye.
Although he had walked through more than half of the mall and bought many things, because his purchasing speed was too fast—the process was almost just one glance, one choice—Yan Qiongyu and Wang Luan arrived at the place where they had separated earlier at the same time.
Wang Luan had gained a large pile of parts. Seeing that Yan Qiongyu was only carrying two bags of clothes in his hands, she said, “You only bought this little? Do you need me to accompany you to take another look?”
She was a little suspicious that Yan Qiongyu was being so frugal because he had no money on him. She calculated her own little stash—buying some things for Yan Qiongyu would still be more than enough.
Because when they had first crash-landed on the wasteland star, they had suffered from having no energy, after she was taken back, the first thing she did was put some energy stones on herself. Yan Qiongyu had even given her advice—bring the expensive ones.
So later, when she suddenly left, she used the energy stones on her to exchange for her first sum of funds. Adding her own accumulated little stash, it was still manageable.
Yan Qiongyu probably wouldn’t mind being a kept man, right.
Yan Qiongyu said, “No need. I also bought some other things. Later, the mall will deliver them back.”
Only after returning home did Wang Luan realize just how much his “some” actually was.
Those large pieces of furniture replaced some of the old furniture in the house. These had all been left behind by the previous owner. When Wang Luan had bought the place, for convenience, seeing that most of the furniture was still usable, she had not replaced them. Now, Yan Qiongyu replaced them all in one go.
Upstairs and downstairs, including beds, wardrobes, sofas, and even a full set of kitchen utensils—Wang Luan stood in her own house, watching the delivery robots busily install everything, as the entire house became completely renewed.
Wang Luan: The kept man is actually me.
After the furniture was replaced, the delivery robots still did not stop. Decorative carpets and hanging paintings with local characteristics were also placed one by one into every corner of the house.
The high window glass that had previously been broken at one small corner—because this window was not used much, Wang Luan had been lazy and had not replaced it—was also changed this time by Yan Qiongyu. He even specifically chose a piece of colored patterned glass.
“At this position, the sunlight will just shine onto this high window. After changing to colored glass, this spot on the ground will just reflect a patch of colorful flower patterns.” Yan Qiongyu looked with satisfaction at the final effect.
There was also a partition door that was taken down and replaced with a new one, because Yan Qiongyu said, “The color of this door is not harmonious with the overall decoration of the house.”
This door had been from when Wang Luan was repairing a machine earlier. She wanted to test whether it had been fixed, sat on it to start it, and as a result, accidentally rammed and broke the doorframe. She had no choice but to casually install one.
She lived alone, and although she herself also felt that the newly replaced doorframe did not quite match, she did not want to make trouble for herself by replacing it again.
Wang Luan watched as her make-do house became refined, surprised that Yan Qiongyu was able to find so many unsatisfactory places.
A guest pointing here and changing that in the house would normally be something annoying, but the completed result was something Wang Luan damn well liked very much. As a result, she could not say a single word, only staring eagerly at the drastically changed home.
Yan Qiongyu said, “Miss Wang Luan, do you like how the house looks now?”
Wang Luan said, “…I like it.”
Wang Luan also received more than ten outfits that Yan Qiongyu had picked out for her. The clothes, shoes, and accessories were all coordinated, with all kinds of styles—both dresses and pants included. Each set had its own distinct character, mainly focused on comfort and simplicity.
Having lived here for a year, Wang Luan was not lacking in clothes, but her clothes were highly similar, looking as if they had been born from the same mother, and her matching skills were equivalent to none.
In the past, when she lived in the Wang household, there were dedicated personal servants responsible for coordinating her clothes. They were all styles that looked high-end and luxurious but that she herself did not like. Now, when she chose on her own, she lacked creativity—repairman mass-market styles with no surprises at all.
At times like this, Wang Luan wondered how Yan Qiongyu knew what kind of things she liked. In the past, when they spent time together, he had not really paid attention to these preferences of hers.
Damn it, even the shoe size was correct.
Yan Qiongyu said, “Do you like the clothes I picked out for you?”
Wang Luan said, “…I like it.”
While eating, Wang Luan rummaged through the kitchen and pulled out new tableware that she did not know when Yan Qiongyu had arranged to be put in—bowls and plates with big pumpkin and butterfly pea flower patterns. They were not delicate, but they were very distinctive.
Holding the pretty tableware, she looked at it left and right, unable to put it down. Yan Qiongyu swayed over and asked with a smile, “Do you like it?”
Still unable to lie, Wang Luan answered painfully, “I like it!”
The newly replaced bedding in the bedroom was very comfortable to lie on. The new mattress let a person sink in easily, the fitted sheet felt silky smooth with a strong clinging sensation. When Wang Luan lay down, she felt as if she had been sealed by the new bed.
The person lying beside her still had that same smiling look as he asked her, “Do you like it?”
Wang Luan nodded.
“That’s good.” Yan Qiongyu turned off the light. “Please look at this.”
The newly replaced lamp slowly emitted a soft glow, like the moon in the sky.
“The feature of this lamp is that it waxes and wanes with time, like a real moon,” Yan Qiongyu introduced.
Wang Luan realized that Yan Qiongyu really lived in a very refined and particular way, and that he had a great sense of life’s pleasures.
On the wasteland star, there had been nothing at all, and he had made do without saying anything. In the Wang family’s mansion, with such luxurious decorations, she had never seen him show any fondness, let alone personally make changes he liked. Yet he had transformed her place so well.
“I’m very used to life here and don’t have any special requirements for the environment. I thought it was already quite good before, so you don’t need to deliberately put in so much effort to improve my living environment,” Wang Luan said.
“I only hope that Miss Wang Luan can live more happily here.” Yan Qiongyu’s hand rested on hers. “In fact, the care you’ve given me far surpasses what I’ve given you.”
“You mean back on the wasteland star?” Wang Luan sighed. “There was no choice. In this world, I’m an alpha.”
This slightly conflicted tone amused Yan Qiongyu, and he said, “I know that Miss Wang Luan, in your own world, is a ‘female,’ just like me in this world. Between us, it seems there shouldn’t be anyone who bears more responsibility to take care of the other… I don’t like accepting care from others, nor do I like caring for others. Miss Wang Luan broke my habits—very impressive.”
Wang Luan thought to herself, you’re the impressive one. You even cured my stress response. Not only the stress response—even my vigilance response is gone. I easily lost half of my blanket.
She mulled over Yan Qiongyu’s words for a long time, then suddenly understood. “So what you mean is, in my world I’m the ‘wife,’ and in this world you’re the ‘wife,’ so we shouldn’t get hung up on roles and should just directly be each other’s wives?”
Yan Qiongyu: “…………” He was, for the first time in a long while, choked by Miss Wang Luan’s astonishing statement.
How should he put it—this didn’t seem to be what he meant, but thinking about it, it did seem to be somewhat what he meant.
In the end, Yan Qiongyu could only sigh. “Miss Wang Luan is truly a language genius.”
Wang Luan replied, “I’ve made some progress, at least.”
Yan Qiongyu praised her politely. “Well said. Don’t say it again next time.”
Through their hands held together, he could feel Wang Luan silently shaking with laughter, and understood that she had done it on purpose.
“Miss Wang Luan, could you move a little closer? I can’t reach to hold you,” Yan Qiongyu asked.
Wang Luan was puzzled. “You didn’t ask me yesterday.” You just did it.
Yan Qiongyu spoke honestly with a smile. “When I’m confident that Miss Wang Luan will agree, I’ll ask first.”
So when you’re confident, you go through the motions and ask to put on a show of false politeness, and when you’re not confident, you don’t ask and just act first—truly worthy of you, Yan Qiongyu.
Wang Luan talked until she fell asleep. What she said later, she couldn’t remember clearly even in a daze. Only just before falling asleep, a thought surfaced in her mind: Did she used to have this much nonsense to say? Did Yan Qiongyu used to say this much nonsense?
It seemed not.
She still remembered that Yan Qiongyu had injuries on him, and after that, she no longer let him go out, stewing classic postpartum nourishing soups for him every day.
As a patient, Yan Qiongyu lay on a rocking chair, looking at the lush vegetable garden, living a leisurely life like retirement.
Wang Luan picked a kind of locally distinctive green bean from the garden and handed it to the idle Yan Qiongyu. “Help me shell the beans.”
Yan Qiongyu then lay back in the rocking chair, a basket of beans resting on his legs, shelling them unhurriedly. After shelling one, he would even pinch the bean and hold it up to the sunlight to look at it, appraising it as he said, “It’s a standard perfect circle, looks good, qualified.”
“This one’s deformed, what a pity.” He raised his hand, about to throw it away.
Wang Luan was speechless and shouted over there, “Even if it looks ugly, it can still be eaten. You can’t throw it away!”
When she had him help tear leafy greens, every strip of greens he tore was symmetrical. Meanwhile, at Yan Qiongyu’s feet, four bugs he had found in the greens were laid out to dry—each one had been dissected, their deaths miserable.
Was he really bored to this extent?
And why was there a ray gun placed beside his hand?
Puzzled, Wang Luan carried her basket to a corner of the vegetable garden, preparing to pick something tasty.
She had planted a kind of plant here similar to cherry tomatoes. The flavor was sweet, but unfortunately, flying insects with bodies like birds often came to secretly eat the ripe fruit, resulting in poor harvests all along.
This time, when she arrived at that corner, she discovered a scatter of flying insect corpses on the ground. Each corpse had a piercing wound, with scorched marks along the edges caused by a ray gun.
Wang Luan: …She understood what the ray gun by Yan Qiongyu’s side was for.
