But Bo Ting woke up refreshed that morning.
A solid sleep had him feeling great.
After stretching, he checked his phone first thing.
Oh, right.
This wasn’t his phone.
But since it was already open, Bo Ting habitually scrolled through all the messages on the new device.
River Ghost: “Still in Mengjia City?”
“If so, reply.”
Rebirth of Fire group chat:
“—Operations paused.”
Hm?
Someone asked “him”?
Bo Ting sat up abruptly, eyeing the “River Ghost” nickname hesitantly.
Should he reply?
Thinking of that group from yesterday who seemed to hit their neighborhood, he tested with a response.
“Here.”
Unaware Huaiya was already in Resurgence Management Office custody, River Ghost relaxed his brows, assuming it was the real deal.
“Alive?”
The curt tone carried unclear intent.
Bo Ting breathed in flower-scented air and nodded firmly.
“Alive.”
River Ghost: …
Fine.
Definitely that lunatic opposite.
Still losing it.
Without hesitation, he sent the order: “Resurgence Management Office has ops coming up. Halt hunts for now, stay quiet a few days.”
Hunts? Resurgence Management Office?
Bo Ting was even more baffled. What the hell?
All these terms from him were so weird.
Resurgence Management Office… some kind of agency?
And hunting?
Could it be that their group had collectively harassed the neighborhood yesterday just for hunting?
Bo Ting’s expression turned serious, and he felt like cursing.
This Rebirth of Fire group was so unethical, treating disturbing others’ rest like a game?
No wonder Mr. Xu had called them a bunch of scumbags yesterday. Bo Ting had originally planned to just reply with “Oh.”
But his brows furrowed for a moment, and he seriously asked one more question.
“Do you have any other plans?”
River Ghost on the other end paused. “No.”
Bo Ting: “Oh, good then.”
It seemed he could finally relax a bit these next few days.
Bo Ting touched his chin and then went offline after replying, completely ignoring the other side. This made River Ghost on the screen feel it was authentic.
His brows relaxed, and he stopped worrying about Huaiya. Instead, he looked back at Qiu Tao’s avatar.
That guy had said last night he was going to check on Target No. 1’s status, but there had been no contact since. Had something happened again?
River Ghost felt like Mengjia City was jinxing them. He cursed under his breath and had no choice but to contact others to quietly search for Qiu Tao.
After replying to the message, Bo Ting lazily got up and opened the flower shop’s door.
Miss Du was upstairs today waiting for the last pot of flowers to bloom, so she wouldn’t come down at all. The shop was left entirely to him.
The morning sunlight filtered through the glass windows into the cozy little shop, making it look just like a fairy-tale cottage.
Bo Ting stretched, then slowly toasted two slices of bread. As he turned around, he suddenly saw a line of text appear on the office desk.
Hm?
The solid wooden surface had been spotless, so the sudden appearance of something was very eye-catching.
Bo Ting instinctively looked over and saw a sentence emerge: [We agreed with Xiu Xiu and A Zhen to open a flower shop of our own someday.]
The transparent font gradually faded away. Bo Ting blinked.
The next second, the text changed to: [Xiu Xiu likes blue, A Zhen likes purple. Cultivate more flowers in those colors.]
Xiu Xiu, A Zhen.
Bo Ting recalled vaguely: These seemed to be the two girls who had been Miss Du’s previous roommates.
The memory in his mind was fuzzy.
Bo Ting felt a bit awkward.
Wait, had he just seen Miss Du’s notes?
But how could notes appear on the desk like that?
And in transparent font, no less?
He hesitated slightly. For fear of uncovering some secret, Bo Ting tapped the desktop.
Sure enough, the next second, the text on the surface vanished abruptly, as if everything he’d just seen was an illusion.
But… that made it seem even more fake.
Disappearing so quickly—did they think his eyes were faulty?
Still, he was a bit curious: Was this one of those legendary woods that changed when touched by water or vibration?
Bo Ting’s mind itched like a cat had scratched it. But since it involved Miss Du’s privacy, no matter how curious he was, he restrained himself from leaning closer.
Yet throughout the entire day, every time he turned to water the flowers and saw that pot of blue wildflowers, he thought of the transparent text on the desk.
His mind was full of Miss Du’s secrets.
Bo Ting’s expression grew strange. He took a deep breath, feeling he needed to distract himself.
But looking left and right, there were hardly any entertainment options in the flower shop. And his phone only had shopping apps.
The forum had been quiet for days, with nothing new to browse.
After hesitating, Bo Ting decided to video call Mr. Xu.
This should count as… distracting himself, right?
Anyway, no matter what they talked about, as long as he didn’t have to look at that damn enchanting desk anymore!
A few minutes later, the video connected successfully.
Xu Qinglai was in his office reviewing documents.
Just then, the phone on the desk buzzed and vibrated.
He turned to glance at it, picked up the phone, and raised a brow when he saw it was a video call.
After a brief moment of thought, he still chose to answer.
The moment it opened, Bo Ting’s familiar face appeared on the screen.
Those striking brows and eyes dazzled the eyes for a moment.
Using Mr. Xu to distract himself made Bo Ting a little embarrassed. “Mr. Xu, are you busy?”
The tone on the other end was very polite.
This eased the brows of Xu Qinglai, who had been deep in thought and somewhat fatigued. Without realizing it, a hint of amusement crept into his voice:
“Not too bad.”
“I’m in the office.”
“Mr. Xu, you’re working?”
Bo Ting was a bit surprised—it was such bad timing.
Xu Qinglai gave a light hum. “I have a meeting this afternoon, so I’m finishing the documents early.”
“Oh, I see.”
Bo Ting nodded and peered along the camera lens.
The other side of the video didn’t show a face, only a pair of hands holding a pen. Clearly Mr. Xu’s hands. Bo Ting looked a bit longer, following the black pen to the documents on the desk.
“Will keeping the video on bother you?”
Bo Ting suddenly asked.
Xu Qinglai paused, a little puzzled by the meaning behind the words, when he heard Bo Ting say: “If it doesn’t bother you, could Mr. Xu keep the video on?”
“Just leave it open without hanging up, put it by your side.”
“You keep working, and don’t mind me.”
He didn’t think there was anything ambiguous about his words at all and felt this was a great idea.
It wouldn’t disturb Mr. Xu’s work, and he wouldn’t have to look at the desk anymore.
After saying this, he slowly leaned his face closer, looking expectantly at the other side.
The false smile that Xu Qinglai always maintained on his face stuttered slightly.
Where Bo Ting couldn’t see, his brows furrowed faintly.
“Why the sudden urge to watch me work?”
Was this another one of Bo Ting’s whims, like the “Smiling Doll” last time?
This guy’s thought process was different from others’. Who could’ve guessed that sending something so ambiguously meaningful was just to compare abs?
And now… what odd idea had Bo Ting come up with?
Xu Qinglai’s phoenix eyes lowered slightly, the temperature in his fingertips cooling. He looked at the screen now, waiting for the answer from the other side.
Hm?
“Why are you asking that?”
Bo Ting thought Mr. Xu’s question was odd.
Though he’d started out wanting to distract himself, after learning Mr. Xu was busy, switching to watching him work was entirely because—
—”Mr. Xu’s fingers are really nice-looking.”
He’d actually wanted to say it the first time they met.
Mr. Xu’s fingers were slender, with distinct joints—like an artist’s hands. Even someone like him, who was as bland as air conditioning, felt envious.
How did hands like a hand model’s even grow like that?
Bo Ting admired them with the pure gaze of a straight man. He asked again: “So, does Mr. Xu agree?”
Xu Qinglai: …
“Don’t make any noise.”
His tone held a touch of helplessness. After agreeing, even he was a bit surprised at himself.
Bo Ting on the other end nodded quickly.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Xu.”
“I get it.”
Work required a quiet environment, after all. He completely understood.
Bo Ting made a zipping-his-mouth gesture and fell silent in an instant.
Xu Qinglai took a deep breath, turned back with calm eyes, and continued looking at the documents.
Soon, the secretary came in, took the signed documents, and left to distribute them.
The office door opened and closed, and the person in the video truly made no sound.
But the breathing was there every moment, drawing attention.
Xu Qinglai’s focus scattered.
After zoning out a second time, he abruptly closed his eyes. Probably influenced by Bo Ting, a stray thought popped into Xu Qinglai’s mind unbidden.
—He even mimicked human breathing pretty well.
