His first inner reaction was similar to those several times before—

As expected.

You could always believe in the “surprises” Yan Luqing would bring.

Every time she was caught red-handed, she would be tangled and embarrassed, knowing clearly that she could never possibly explain herself to him, yet still racking her brains to find poor excuses for herself—it was always very amusing.

Gu Ci liked teasing her into speaking.

But he hadn’t expected that, while teasing her, he would suddenly see that gaze of a little animal’s disappointment. Because it was so vivid, some part of his body inexplicably caved in—like a table supported on four legs, suddenly becoming lame in one.

He straightened up from the doorframe, the subtle sound drawing Yan Luqing back to herself.

“So late and you’re still not asleep—are you still going tomorrow?” Gu Ci reminded her, “That exhibition.”

“…Ah?” The sudden change of topic caught Yan Luqing somewhat off guard. “Oh, we’ll still go… since it’s open all day, even if we just go for the afternoon it’s fine.”

Gu Ci nodded in agreement, then said: “Then rest early.”

And then, pulling at her doorknob, he seemed to turn, about to leave.

In Yan Luqing’s mind, countless questions instantly flashed: Leaving already? Why such a sudden turn? Why didn’t he keep asking? He still hadn’t gotten her answer yet, had he?

“Hey—wait a minute!”

Just before the door closed, Yan Luqing called out to him.

Gu Ci turned back: “What is it?”

Although she didn’t know why he had suddenly changed his mind and decided not to stay to continue “harsh interrogation,” Yan Luqing still felt that letting him see such a scene… wasn’t very good.

“It’s just…” She swallowed, “after all, all these things are related to you. If keeping them makes you uncomfortable, then… how about I give them to you?”

“Give them to me?” Gu Ci’s gaze swept over that body pillow as tall as himself, and the pile of little items on the bed, then lowered his eyes to Yan Luqing, smiling slightly: “No, I don’t have that kind of strange hobby of wanting to look at a body pillow with my own face on it.”

“……”

“You should keep them as mementos.”

While helping her close the door, he said with an indistinct tone: “After all, I see you’ve nearly enshrined it—this is a treatment that even I myself don’t have.”

“……”

Gu Ci went downstairs back to his room. Before reopening his computer, he first unlocked his phone.

There was a WeChat message left unreplied, sent by Wei Chi.

【Peach Blossom Late to Bloom】: Play a game, Laozi? I’m so noob I can’t sleep.

The time was five minutes ago.

This was exactly the time when many male and female university students queued for ranked games late at night—most likely he had just suffered several losses in a row.

Gu Ci didn’t want to play, originally intending to refuse directly, but then suddenly thought of something, lowered his head, and typed a few words.

【word】: Let’s make a hypothesis.

【word】: If you made a human-shaped body pillow of someone, what would be the reason?

【Peach Blossom Late to Bloom】: ? Of course it’s because I love her so much, I want to sleep with her. What other reason could there be?

“……”

Gu Ci suddenly felt an urge to sigh.

Such a simple truth, yet that certain person completely couldn’t connect the dots.

He no longer paid attention to what Wei Chi said after, and looked at the sleep-monitoring software. On it, the various human data began to appear—heart rate, breathing rate, and so on—indicating that a certain person was already lying in bed.

Gu Ci then locked his phone and opened his computer.

Just then, a video call popped up.

“Uncle.” Gu Ci looked at the man on the screen and greeted with a smile, “I had something come up just now.”

“Mm, it’s fine, the second meeting hasn’t started yet.” The man said, “I called to ask when you’re planning to come home, so I can arrange some people in the villa to take care of you.”

Gu Ci was silent for three seconds: “Not for the time being.”

The man was taken aback: “Last time you said not needed, now still not needed, you—”

He wanted to say more, but Gu Ci suddenly diverted the topic, interrupting him: “Uncle, have you seen Doraemon?”

The man looked confused, but still nodded and answered: “Yes, a little boy and a little blue fat one. The little blue fat one was quite amazing, could produce many things, even travel through time, always helping the boy.”

The man suddenly added: “Right, I once asked you a question.”

“I remember.” Gu Ci paused slightly. “You asked me… whether I believed that there really was a Doraemon in this world.”

“Hahaha,” the man laughed, “that’s exactly word-for-word what your uncle asked. Do you know what you said at the time? You didn’t even answer me—you turned it back on me, said I was childish, said I was daydreaming. Back then, how old were you? I was just using the words I’d use to tease other children to tease you, but it had absolutely no effect.”

Gu Ci smiled faintly, the pitch-black pupils of his eyes reflecting a gentle sheen under the glow of the screen.

Yes.

No one would believe.

The him who hadn’t believed as a child also would never have thought that one day in the future, there would truly appear by his side a Doraemon.

Falling from the sky, carrying her pocket, filled with countless inconceivable treasures, bouncing and skipping as she broke into his world.

After Yan Luqing had coped with the body pillow’s real person last night, her taut nerves instantly slackened. She fell asleep quickly without even tidying the bed, and dreamed nothing through the night.

When she awoke, every cell of her body clamored with comfort. Yan Luqing felt so comfortable it was unbearable, thinking with her eyes still closed: lately, her sleep quality was truly incredible.

Then she prepared to open her eyes and get up.

But the first thing she saw was the body pillow in front of her—directly facing the pillow’s head—that head printed with the face of a certain great beauty, with uniquely beautiful, distinctive eyes, and that half-smiling, half-not, alluring expression.

“…………”

Early in the morning! Who could endure this stimulation!!!

This won’t do, won’t do!

Yan Luqing flushed crimson in an instant, springing upright from the bed as if popping up. She had originally been hugging the back of the body pillow, and her first reaction was to immediately let go and push the pillow away—

So the body pillow printed with Gu Ci rolled twice on the bed, then slipped from the edge and fell to the floor.

When it fell, it almost made no sound, landing on its back, with the side printed with Gu Ci’s face facing upward.

This outfit of his was one Yan Luqing had painstakingly drawn herself—white shirt, black trousers, her own handiwork, hitting perfectly on her aesthetic.

The longer she looked, the more she felt a surge of guilt and reluctance.

She suddenly thought: isn’t a body pillow meant for hugging?

What’s wrong with hugging a body pillow to sleep?

Besides, Gu Ci had already discovered it. She’d offered to give it to him but he refused, even told her to keep it—then what was wrong with her hugging it to sleep?

Yan Luqing immediately got out of bed and picked the pillow back up, patting it on the left, patting it on the right, then placed it back onto the bed again as if it were a princess.

Last night after Gu Ci left, she had given rise to the thought of throwing away all these little merch items. But it had only been a thought—soon after, she’d fallen asleep.

Because she had felt embarrassed that Gu Ci had seen them, felt that deep inside he must surely mind, felt that the indifference and magnanimity he showed were just for show.

But now she regretted it.

This was the paper person she had liked for so long, and at this moment his full set of exquisite merchandise was placed right before her—brand new, without any smell, without any flaw, workmanship close to perfect, the full set of merchandise.

Who could resist?

Even if the magnanimity Gu Ci displayed was fake, even if deep inside he didn’t want her to make these things—

That was Gu Ci’s business. What did it have to do with her Princess Ci merchandise?

Yan Luqing, when doing things, sometimes did not seek logical consistency. As long as she had her own logic, she could, with perfect confidence, act according to that logic.

So not only did she pick out from her little merch one Q-version phone case that she really liked to put on her own phone, early in the morning she even sat right on the floor and began to draw.

Again and again, persevering without rest, until the room produced a real object, wafting with a strange plant-like fragrance—only then did Yan Luqing at last get what she wanted.

She was overjoyed, carefully put the item away, then opened the door and went downstairs.

Yan Luqing’s waking time was not much different from Gu Ci’s. The two of them had both stayed up late, so their first meal upon rising was lunch.

Perhaps because all that needed to be said had already been said last night, their conversation held no awkwardness at all, and was surprisingly natural.

After eating, the two of them went separately to change clothes in preparation to head out. When Yan Luqing came downstairs, she found Gu Ci already waiting in the living room.

At the first sight of him standing there looking toward her, she suddenly froze.

She didn’t know if it was coincidence or not…

The clothes Gu Ci was wearing now were eighty percent identical to those on the body pillow—the only difference being the twenty percent that wasn’t, because he had added an outer coat.

Yan Luqing, who had nearly succumbed earlier that morning to the beauty of the pillow, now saw the real person, and realized that a living person in motion was far more handsome than the body pillow.

Extremely handsome—so handsome she wanted to shout “Princess Ci forever the God!”

But today she still had an important mission.

Blinking herself out of being lost in beauty, Yan Luqing quickly walked up to Gu Ci, stretched out her hand, and handed him the little gift she had carefully made.

“I saw you never use a phone case,” she said with a beaming smile, “so I’m giving you one. Let’s put on our new cases together before we go!”

“……”

Yan Luqing’s complexion was excellent, clearly showing she had slept very well. Gu Ci himself had received a congratulatory message from the software that morning—“You must be the reincarnation of the Sleep God!”—as its evaluation.

He had even gone out of his way to search whether this “Sleep God Reincarnation” was something terribly common, a generic evaluation given for any score.

But he found it wasn’t, not in the least.

So few could sleep this well, let alone continuously receive such a rating.

Yet she had delayed quite a while before coming downstairs.

What she had been doing during that time—was it related to this?

Gu Ci met her gaze for two seconds.

Yan Luqing hadn’t taken long upstairs, as she was always quick about going out, seldom dawdling, her makeup light. Today her lipstick was rather bright, setting off her porcelain-like skin.

When she smiled with those eyes, it was very easy for one to believe she truly bore no ill intent.

“I haven’t had a phone case since the beginning,” Gu Ci said with a light smile, “why so kind today?”

“…What, I need to pick a special day just to give a gift?” Yan Luqing widened her eyes, afraid her hard work would go unappreciated, and thrust the phone case forward again. “It’s just a phone case, what more could it mean—hurry up and put it on!”

Though she said it was just a phone case, one could hear her excessive happiness in her tone.

Gu Ci raised his hand to take it, lowered his gaze.

The pattern looked like it had been drawn with paintbrush strokes. The details weren’t especially refined, but the colors were handled well.

The background of the phone case was very ornate, resembling a palace.

But right in the center of that palace, on a chair that looked like a king’s throne, was drawn…

He narrowed his eyes to make it out.

…It was a bundle of bamboo shoots.

And on top of the bamboo shoots was actually a diamond-studded crown.

At this moment, Yan Luqing had opened the Miracle CiCi dialog-box effect, and as she wished, she saw atop Princess Ci’s head the outline of a magnificent crown dialog box slowly appear—and then, inside, three characters popped out—

???