And asking if he liked it.
Bo Ting’s mouth twitched. Staring at the unknown number that messaged through every channel, he replied honestly.
“You guess?”
The words conveying his exasperation were sent. Bo Ting pocketed his phone.
Speaking of which, today’s weather was… quite fitting?
Bo Ting turned and found it raining the moment he exited the elevator. His raincoat blended perfectly, avoiding yesterday’s tent awkwardness.
Elder Wen and Boss Zhu from upstairs came down together, sharing an umbrella for the short walk.
They spotted Bo Ting and wanted to call him over to share the rain, but on closer look, his black outfit was a raincoat, so they shut up.
“Little Bo, we need to head ahead for prize prep, so we’re off!”
Elder Wen shouted from a meter away, waving.
“Got it, Uncle Wen.”
Bo Ting nodded. After watching Elder Wen leave from afar, he pulled up his raincoat hood and strolled unhurriedly to the garden side.
Perhaps because there was nothing to do after transmigrating, and no one had to go to work, quite a few neighborhood residents were out despite the downpour.
Bo Ting even saw those four bratty kids from Building 4 playing hide-and-seek in the rain.
Who knew how many scoldings they’d get for the mud in their shoes. Thinking that, his mood oddly improved, and the anxiety waiting for Aunt Qian’s group dissipated.
Good thing award time was soon.
Bo Ting had just glanced at the kids when several ladies from other buildings approached under umbrellas from nearby.
Bo Ting smiled. On closer inspection, probably due to the heavy rain dripping from umbrella brims, the shoulders of the two aunties on the sides sagged halfway, like paper clothes soaked soft, creating an asymmetrical beauty.
Bo Ting: …
Damn.
The hellish joke came true.
The smile on his face stiffened slightly, and he found it somewhat unbelievable:
Their neighborhood really had a paper effigy dance troupe?
Immediately after, Bo Ting recalled Boss Zhu, who had turned into a sentient machine part, along with himself and Aunt Qian the paper effigy. His expression turned peculiar.
He never expected their neighborhood to have so many non-humans!
They didn’t show it at all usually.
He wondered how everyone managed to disguise themselves on a daily basis.
Bo Ting gave the auntie in front of him a strange look.
Just then, she smiled at him. “Little Bo, I heard you sent activity photos to Afen yesterday?”
“Do you still have them?”
“We want them too.”
What? The news had spread this fast?
He had only sent them to Aunt Qian last night, and before leaving, she had specifically told him not to tell anyone.
Yet by this afternoon, everyone already knew?
Bo Ting was just about to rack his brains wondering where the leak had come from when he looked up and saw the sisters’ group chat on Auntie Zhang’s phone.
—Aunt Qian’s boastful message suddenly popped up in the group.
She had precisely picked out his photo from the batch he sent, enlarged it, and photoshopped it. Clearly, she had started spilling the secret herself just ten minutes after he got home.
Bo Ting: …
Fine.
It was completely in line with Aunt Qian’s personality.
After Auntie Zhang spoke up, Bo Ting was instantly surrounded by the paper people troupe. At that moment, he had no choice but to pull out his phone.
“Everyone, don’t crowd. I’ll send them one by one.”
“Go back and photoshop them slowly.”
Upon hearing this, the aunties lined up politely without disrupting the event order, which made Bo Ting breathe a sigh of relief.
Elder Wen had just returned from the storage room with the prizes when he looked up and saw the line in front of Bo Ting. He was a bit confused.
“Little Bo, has everyone already started claiming them?”
But the prizes were still in his hands?
Upstart Bro casually explained from the side.
“Psh, they’re just lining up for photos.”
“Oh, oh.”
Elder Wen nodded as if he understood, maintaining his composed expression.
Seeing that Bo Ting was still busy, and with the temporary shelter crowded and rain pattering outside in the dimness where nothing was visible, Elder Wen casually turned on the fill light from yesterday that he hadn’t taken back, using it purely for illumination.
It was just a fill light, but as soon as he switched it on, the narrow shelter lit up entirely.
Auntie Zhang, who was receiving photos, couldn’t help but praise it.
“Who turned on the light? My eyes aren’t straining anymore.”
Bo Ting was somewhat surprised.
Auntie, even your eyes are painted on—do you have such high requirements for lighting?
He hesitated but ultimately held back from saying it.
After lifting his head and no longer staring at his phone, he finally felt more comfortable. Once he finished sending the photos, he turned—and saw Elder Wen standing by the fill light on the stage.
Caught off guard, a similar head appeared on Elder Wen’s shoulder, weighing down the skinny old man so much he could barely stand straight.
Bo Ting’s eyes widened instantly.
How did it come back?!
Hadn’t Aunt Qian swept that shadow off yesterday?
Was this a new one?
Bo Ting was bewildered for a moment, then frowned tightly, suspecting that this thing reappeared when encountering light.
But who could go a day without lights?
Wouldn’t that severely impact daily life?
Elder Wen sat at the table in front, occasionally turning to thump his shoulder due to the weight, clearly uncomfortable.
After observing for a while, Bo Ting realized the thing followed the fill light completely.
Wherever the fill light tilted, the shadow moved.
He thought for a moment. While the aunties were still huddled discussing and no one paying attention to him, Bo Ting shifted the nearby fill light to the left.
Soon, the elongated shadow head appeared on Elder Wen’s left shoulder.
As he gradually moved the fill light out of the tent, where it was battered by the pounding rain in the garden below, the shadow head on Elder Wen’s shoulder flickered, seeming somewhat unstable.
Just as Bo Ting thought moving the light away worked, the head stabilized again, utterly unaffected by the downpour, as if teasing him.
Bo Ting looked down and saw that even in the rain, a swaying water shadow faintly reflected on the ground.
Bo Ting: …
Looks like that wouldn’t work.
Even shifting it out of range couldn’t deal with this weird shadow?
Bo Ting twitched his mouth, refusing to believe it.
Elder Wen was waiting for the prize distribution team to finish sending photos. When he looked up, he saw Little Bo reaching out to place the fill light in the rain with a serious expression, striking some odd pose. He froze, then cried out in alarm.
“Little Bo, pull your hand back quick! That fill light cost a thousand bucks—don’t let it get wet!”
Oops, he got too excited with the experiment and forgot everyone was there.
Bo Ting awkwardly withdrew his hand and moved the fill light back.
Pondering what excuse to use later to turn off the light smoothly, he casually placed it behind himself without much thought.
The next second—
The stubborn shadow, which hadn’t disconnected from the light no matter what, suddenly severed the moment Bo Ting’s figure blocked it.
A patch of ground unexpectedly went dark.
Bo Ting looked up in bewilderment and saw that after losing its light source, the head on Elder Wen’s shoulder—as with the dancing aunties before—flickered twice and vanished completely.
“Hey, it seems better now?”
“This rheumatism acts up on rainy days!”
Elder Wen rubbed his shoulder and muttered in surprise, completely unaware of what had just happened.
A eerie silence fell over the air.
Bo Ting drew in a cold breath, glanced at the fill light, then at himself involuntarily.
His first reaction wasn’t how it had broken off behind him, but—did his shoulder now have an air conditioner panel too?
A human shoulder with a head, an air conditioner shoulder with a panel—fair’s fair.
So, had the shadow just transferred from Elder Wen to him?
Unfortunately, he couldn’t see it himself right now, and he frowned.
What to do? Was he going to die of heartbreak too?
Even after the prizes were distributed and the fill light turned off, Bo Ting remained hesitant about it.
Air conditioners might not have hearts, but a shattered compressor wouldn’t work either.
And there were no free AC repairs here!
Bo Ting was so vexed by his own curiosity that he felt speechless.
Why had he touched it? Why place it behind himself of all places?
Was one panel not enough?!
Damn it!
He spent the afternoon restless, and even after washing up that evening, he suffered from paranoia.
After blow-drying his hair, he hesitated and glanced uncertainly at his phone.
From Elder Wen’s reaction, he knew he couldn’t see the thing on his own shoulder, but others might.
Maybe… video call Mr. Xu to help identify it?
Mr. Xu seemed to have sharp eyes; he might spot the weird shadow clearly.
He acted on the thought.
Wearing silk pajamas and lighting only a small candle in the room to avoid direct light, Bo Ting took a deep breath and nervously dialed Mr. Xu on his phone.
It was eleven at night, just as Xu Qinglai finished his documents and prepared to rest. He rubbed his brow and was heading to the bathroom when he noticed his phone vibrating on the desk.
Unlike the usual chat notifications.
This time, it was… a video call?
The man in his shirt paused briefly. He walked over, picked up the phone, and saw the video invitation from his “netizen.”
The abrupt video ringtone kept sounding in his ear.
Xu Qinglai hesitated but accepted since he didn’t know what Bo Ting needed.
The next second, a young, cold, sharply defined face appeared on the screen.
Xu Qinglai was slightly taken aback. After hearing the familiar cool voice from the other end—
His throat bobbed, and his eyes met a pair of—slightly downcast, red-tipped, alluring peach blossom eyes.
