His gaze darkened slightly. In the end, he only reached out his hand to fold back the collar she had flipped over earlier because of her excited gestures.

Then he went along with her wish and praised: “Mm, truly amazing.”

The atmosphere inside the car immediately became light and cheerful.

Yan Luqing, delighted by the praise, chirped happily, telling Gu Ci many funny stories, as if she wanted to share with him every single amusing joke she had heard throughout the whole day.

Because she was so happy, thinking of tomorrow’s event, she even casually invited Gu Ci: “Tomorrow there’s a Fine Arts club exhibition. Do you want to come?”

Although she had extended the invitation, Yan Luqing always felt that he definitely wouldn’t want to attend this sort of club exhibition.

Who would have thought, Gu Ci actually nodded: “I can.”

The faint voice came beside her ear. Yan Luqing looked at him in surprise: “…I thought you weren’t interested in this sort of thing.”

“Originally I wasn’t interested. Mainly…” Gu Ci said with deliberate implication, “I saw your feedback, this activity seems quite attractive. I also want to experience what it feels like to have the ‘heart go wild.’”

Heart Wild Clan Head: “……”

The car quickly returned to the villa.

Yan Luqing had been out playing all day, and on top of that had drunk a little alcohol in the evening. Adding in the joyful conversation with Gu Ci in the car, by now she was no longer that concerned about the original reason she left home—almost eighty percent of it had faded away.

At this moment, seeing the familiar environment, she remembered Gu Ci’s drowsy appearance when she saw him in the morning.

While changing her shoes, she said: “Right, I forgot to ask—what time did you get up today? Did you sleep until you naturally woke up?”

“Six o’clock.” Gu Ci’s tone was slow. “As for whether it was naturally waking up or not…”

He paused subtly, the habitual smile on his face carrying some hidden meaning.

“That you’ll have to ask your little black son.”

Yan Luqing’s footsteps halted: ??? How does he know I’m raising Little Black as my son???

Before leaving, Gu Ci had dropped that line, and naturally Yan Luqing was curious.

She immediately went to find Little Black, opening straight to the point: “Black, recall for me, what were you doing at six o’clock in the afternoon?”

“I…” Little Black thought carefully. “At that time, I was at home playing songs to listen to.” As he spoke, his tone even carried grievance. “Mr. Gu Ci said the songs I played were really awful.”

“……” Yan Luqing thought to herself, no way—Gu Ci isn’t that petty, is he? No matter how stupid Little Black got, he almost never openly disliked him.

She asked curiously: “So what songs were you playing?”

Little Black reported his playlist honestly: “Love Transaction, Unforgivable, Falling in Love with Someone Who Doesn’t Come Home…”

“……” Yan Luqing was already stunned after hearing the first few, and quickly interrupted, “Wait, you—without any romantic experience, a fine young man, actually listen to these songs???”

Then according to Gu Ci’s words, he was probably jolted awake by the awful noise, right?

She instantly understood, and even felt quite tender-hearted.

It was hard to imagine Princess Ci waking up from sleep to hear those songs—what kind of mood must that have been?

Yan Luqing instructed again: “Little Black, don’t play music out loud anymore. It’s bad for your chances of finding a girlfriend and bad for our mental health. If you really crave it, use headphones, but my advice is—don’t listen at all—”

Little Black: “?”

Yan Luqing: “Be good, this playlist shall be sealed from now on.”

After saying this she turned around and went upstairs.

Little Black remained where he was, full of confusion, unable to figure it out. He went to Big Black to complain, explained the whole sequence, and said with great grievance: “But I played songs before too, Miss Yan never said anything. Why is it that when Mr. Gu Ci says they’re awful, I’m told to seal my playlist?”

Big Black was helpless, looking at him with an expression of “my foolish little brother”: “Aren’t you always pestering me, saying the two of them are in love?”

Little Black didn’t understand: “Them being in love—what does that have to do with this? Why did she let me play before, and now not?”

“How many drinks did you have to be drunk like this…” Big Black sighed. “You sure you want to compete with Mr. Gu Ci?”

Little Black: “……”

So it turned out his favored position had always been an illusion.

Yan Luqing went back to her room, first sending Little Braids a message that tomorrow she would be bringing “the one at home” along.

[Runaway Saintess]: I’m going tomorrow.

[Runaway Saintess]: Bringing along the super handsome guy you keep thinking about.

[Little Braids]: !!!

Yan Luqing looked at those three, and knew that Little Braids could still send another three hundred exclamation marks. She ignored the rows and rows of interjections, directly changed clothes, went into the bathroom to take a shower, and after coming out, sprawled on the bed scrolling through short videos.

Under multiple factors, she hadn’t expected that while scrolling videos, she actually fell asleep.

When she woke again, it was the urge to go to the bathroom that forced her awake. As Yan Luqing drowsily walked toward the bathroom, she heard Makka Pakka’s voice calling in her mind—

“Maria! Do you want to see the reward that’s been loaded?”

Yan Luqing perked up a little, nodding slowly: “Alright, let’s see.”

She had been busy all afternoon, so of course she was curious about what exactly this so-called “helping others” reward would be.

Makka Pakka’s voice sounded somewhat faint: “This time it’s actually another grand prize…”

“No way, are you guys really this generous?” Yan Luqing felt a little strange. “Then wouldn’t that mean if I just go pick up trash or something in the future, I could also get a grand prize?”

“No no no, many rewards are just increases to your existing golden finger stats. It’s just that your luck is too good…” Makka Pakka also sounded faint. “I really don’t know why every time you manage to get the highest-grade reward. Maria, have you ever played gacha games? Are you some kind of Ou Emperor?”

Yan Luqing: “…Gacha games, whether you’re Ou or not, still cost money. I’ve only played Glory of Kings Humiliation, those kinds you can play without spending money.”

Makka Pakka gave an “oh”: “Just look at the description yourself, you can experiment any time.”

Yan Luqing looked at the words before her eyes.

Dear Maria, the world is fortunate to have you. Now please open your exclusive reward for the helping-others task—

【Divine Brush Ma Liang】

“…?”

“——Damn!” Yan Luqing instantly lost all sleepiness, swearing in excitement. “It’s about drawing!!”

“That’s right, the reward is related to your helping-others task～”

Divine Brush Ma Liang? Could it really be like the story, where whatever you draw comes true?? Then wouldn’t she be invincible!!! She was going to become Yan Ma Liang!!!

With a pounding heart and trembling hands, Yan Ma Liang covered her mouth and carefully read the description beneath those four characters… and instantly calmed down.

Of course it wasn’t that heaven-defying.

The first line read: 【Divine Brush Ma Liang: The things you draw will become real objects existing in the world.】

But reading further down, it was all restriction conditions on this basis.

The things she drew could indeed become real, but there was only a 1% probability of becoming the actual object she drew. The remaining 99% would all appear in various forms.

—For example, if she drew a tomato one hundred times, ninety-nine times it might turn into a tomato sticker, tomato-flavored candy, tomato-patterned toilet paper, a tomato-shaped piece of clothing… but only once would it actually become a real tomato.

In short, it was very random. But precisely because of this randomness, even though it wasn’t heaven-defying, it was still quite a fun toy.

Yan Luqing instantly no longer felt like sleeping. She immediately sat down on the floor and started drawing.

The drawing board could be adjusted to any size, appear or disappear at will, and automatically cloud-save progress. Brush thickness and shape could be chosen freely, pigments were unlimited—Yan Luqing felt it must be that her sincere love for Fine Arts had been read by the heavens, and so now she was granted such a golden finger that matched her heart’s desire.

She first tried drawing a crown, the kind with crystals that she most wanted to place on Gu Ci’s head.

When the drawing was complete and she clicked 【Finish】, what appeared beside her was an acrylic plaque of a crown.

Next, she drew another crown, different color and style, clicked 【Finish】, and this time what appeared was a crown-shaped cookie.

Yan Luqing picked up the cookie and sniffed it—the smell was surprisingly good, a very sweet cookie flavor.

Then she changed to something else.

Yan Luqing drew a pile of poop, and then clicked 【Finish】—

What appeared beside her was a pile of poop… in wax statue form.

A perfectly three-dimensional, flawless poop wax statue!!!

Yan Luqing nearly laughed herself flat.

After that, she went on to draw all sorts of strange things—robots, phones, computers, paper currency from various countries. From tallying the results, she discovered that the most common outcomes were keychains, acrylic plaques, and stickers.

She strongly suspected that whoever set up this golden finger must be a hall-level merchandise enthusiast.

The probability of producing an actual real object was absurdly low—only one percent, almost entirely up to luck. Out of all the different items Yan Luqing drew, only once did an actual object appear—she had drawn a small white flower like the ones she added to the wall that afternoon, and suddenly, beside her, there was really a flower.

Holding the flower in her left hand and the brush in her right, Yan Luqing was just thinking of what to draw next when her pen tip suddenly paused.

Until now she had only thought about objects, and hadn’t considered people.

“If I draw a person, what would happen?” Yan Luqing’s imagination ran wild as she asked in her mind. “Could I summon a real person?”

Makka Pakka: “…Didn’t you read the 【Note】 below carefully? Even if you draw living beings, you can’t summon living beings. Otherwise, with the randomness of this golden finger, if a mistake happened and it created some kind of monster, what then?”

Yan Luqing: “Oh, true enough.”

Even though she couldn’t summon living people, summoning other kinds of things was still pretty good!

She immediately decided—she would summon Princess Ci!

Yan Luqing began to draw Gu Ci’s face.

Because she was aiming for speed, she first drew a chibi version. After finishing and clicking 【Finish】—

What appeared beside her was a sheet of stickers. Six cute chibi heads printed on it, two per row, three rows total. Whether the quality or the coloring, it was absolutely perfect. Probably even if she paid to custom order it, she wouldn’t be able to get stickers this satisfying.

Yan Luqing held that sheet of stickers, looking left and right, the more she looked the more she liked it, the more she looked the more fun it seemed.

What was this called? This was called manually producing Gu Ci merchandise!

She drew several more pictures of his face and discovered that this golden finger even had an auto-generation system. For any character who had appeared in the book, only a few strokes were needed to automatically generate that face.

At first, everything that appeared were these “little merch” items. So she ended up with exquisite keychains based on Gu Ci’s face, phone cases printed with his face, multiple sheets of stickers, acrylic plaques… piling them around her, piling them across her whole bed.

Looking at this pile of merchandise, she wanted to try drawing a full-body Gu Ci.

—What kind of merchandise would appear if she drew a full body?

Yan Luqing was extremely excited, playing so intently that she completely lost track of time, not noticing what hour it was anymore.

Gu Ci, although he had agreed to go out tomorrow, still kept his usual late-night routine tonight.

By his side, the sleep monitoring app was open.

They had gotten home a little after ten, and at that time each returned to their own room. The app showed that Yan Luqing had entered sleep at eleven o’clock.

At the time, Gu Ci hadn’t thought much of it.

After all, last night’s results had been excellent. Tonight she had gone to bed even earlier, so it was likely to be another night of sound sleep. Add in the fact that she had said she drank a little alcohol, she would probably once again earn the title of Sleep God.

So he turned off the phone notifications, focused on the words on the computer, listening to the voice speaking from the computer.

Until just now, during a break, Gu Ci casually opened the app and saw the record.

The record showed Yan Luqing went to sleep at eleven, woke and left the bed at twelve thirty, and after that never went back to sleep—but there was no physiological data recorded either. That proved she hadn’t just been awake in bed, but rather that she hadn’t stayed in bed at all.

It was now two thirty in the morning.

Already two hours had passed.

A vein pulsed at Gu Ci’s temple—what this data meant when it appeared on someone with a history of sleepwalking was all too clear.

Expressionless, he closed his computer, picked up his phone, and left the room.

He first went to the kitchen and dining room where she had sleepwalked before, then walked a full circle around the entire first floor of the villa, but didn’t find her.

He went up to the second floor, his steps nearly soundless, searching under the faint night-lights that were dim yet enough to illuminate the surroundings—still no sign of her.

Finally, Gu Ci stopped outside Yan Luqing’s bedroom door.

She couldn’t have left the villa, so only the inside of the rooms remained.

Sleepwalking could also take place only within a room.

He waited a while, listening intently. He didn’t hear any sound from inside—the silence was nearly eerie—there wasn’t even the sound of footsteps.

At once, a strange, ominous premonition enveloped his chest.

Gu Ci lightly knocked on the door.

If Yan Luqing wasn’t sleepwalking, if she was simply awake, then surely she would come open it.

But she didn’t.

He couldn’t help frowning, and with barely a sound, he turned the doorknob. Pressing it down fully, he slowly pushed the door open—

The lights inside the room were bright.

Gu Ci’s eyes immediately fell upon the person he had been searching for all over. At this moment she was sitting on the floor not far from the bed, dressed in pajamas, wearing headphones, her fingers suspended in the air moving back and forth, as if casting a spell, or performing some secret art.

His gaze shifted, and his eyes flickered—he saw beside Yan Luqing, who was immersed in her “sorcery,” a pile of little objects that seemed to bear a human face, and also very conspicuously…

A pile of poop.

“…………”

Although his rational mind clearly knew it had to be some kind of fake toy, Gu Ci’s eyes still hardened, and he immediately turned his gaze away. As he turned, he happened to catch sight of Yan Luqing’s bed—

That bed was scattered with many things, not much different from the items on the floor.

And in the very center of the bed lay a human-sized body pillow.

That body pillow had even been placed on the pillow, as though it were lying in the bed.

Gu Ci narrowed his eyes.

Then he realized—printed on that body pillow was his own face.

“………”

Yan Luqing, thrilled with her drawing, had put on headphones to listen to music, immersing herself in her artwork, still drawing Gu Ci.

Though the auto-generation function helped, the details still had to be drawn by hand, especially a full-body, which was the most complicated. But the randomness of the merchandise that appeared made her thoroughly delighted, and she felt no fatigue at all.

But when Yan Luqing looked up in a pause between strokes, she found that at some unknown moment Gu Ci himself was standing in the doorway——his hand on her doorknob, looking at her with a face that… she couldn’t read what expression it was.

The instant their gazes met, it was as if something shattered beside her ear.

Yan Luqing, disbelieving, slowly opened her mouth; her voice was so small only she could hear it.

“Didn’t we agree… you can’t summon living things?”

How could it still trick the Saintess???

Yan Luqing immediately took off her headphones and saw a curve form at the corner of Gu Ci’s lips; in that half-smile, his gaze shifted from her to her bed.

To be precise, it shifted to the human-shaped body pillow on the bed.

That was the first attempt of the full-body Gu Ci merch she had just drawn, freshly produced not long ago.

“Don’t get me wrong!” Yan Luqing hurriedly stood up, held out an Erkang hand and waved it, “This wasn’t made by hiring someone, I drew it myself!”

“…………”

The misunderstanding only grew.