Chapter 14: I Hope He’s a Bit More Clingy to Me.
“…You mean this is all for me?”
The little zombie didn’t quite understand what Shi Changyuan was saying. He looked at him, puzzled, and hesitantly reached out to take the items.
Seeing that he hadn’t grasped his meaning, Shi Changyuan simply ruffled Lin Ling’s hair. “Yes, for you. I’ll help you carry them.”
“Is that all it means?”
As if sensing something, the little zombie followed his intuition and asked again, hoping the human would give him a clear answer.
“I can’t say.” Shi Changyuan gave the young man a gentle push on the back, signaling for him to keep walking.
“You’ll have to wait for Lingling to figure it out himself.”
Seeing that the evil human refused to tell him after several inquiries and insisted on being mysterious, the little zombie huffed twice and then put it out of his mind.
“Since you said I can buy anything, then I’m going to buy some more.”
Lin Ling looked at the person beside him and asked deliberately, “This won’t bankrupt you, will it?”
Seeing Lin Ling’s mischievous expression, Shi Changyuan smiled and said playfully, “Isn’t this being paid for with Lingling’s salary advance?”
The little zombie: ?!!!
“For real?!”
Hearing this, the young man’s eyes widened. He looked at the things in his arms and stammered, “Doesn’t that mean I’ve already spent my entire salary?”
“It’s not as exaggerated as spending it all.”
“It’s only about half a month of Lingling’s meal money.”
Shi Changyuan deliberately drew out his words, emphasizing a few of them to make sure the little zombie in front of him didn’t miss the point.
“Meal money!!!”
The little zombie let out a wail, mourning his lost meal money. Then, as if he had made a firm decision, he said to Shi Changyuan, “Looks like next month, I’ll just have to mooch off you for meals.”
As he spoke, Lin Ling moved closer to Shi Changyuan and said pitifully, “I’ll eat anything you feed me. Professor Shi won’t refuse, right?”
“Even if there’s no meat?”
With that question, Shi Changyuan could feel the little zombie in front of him seem to shatter into pieces, then painstakingly put himself back together.
A single “I can do it” was filled with the sorrow of a carnivore.
“Just teasing you.” Shi Changyuan let out a laugh, unable to keep a straight face any longer.
“Teasing me?”
Lin Ling blinked, his mind racing. He glared at the person beside him, having caught the main point.
“First, tell me, where were you teasing me?”
“Was it from the salary advance, or from not giving me meat? Answer me quickly, this is very important to me!”
“Lingling can decide where it starts from.”
With that, he patted the little zombie’s head and smiled. “Let’s go back.”
Getting this answer from Shi Changyuan, the little zombie was instantly happy. When he got back, he would have to calculate carefully where to start from to fleece him for a good sum.
He’d consider it compensation for mental distress!
After finishing their shopping and returning, Lin Ling began his journey of decorating his room.
Besides the small trinkets, he had also bought some spray paint to change the overall color scheme of the room.
He liked his room to look warm and cozy, not like Professor Shi’s room, which was dominated by black and gray.
Originally, Lin Ling was just adding his favorite furniture to his own territory, but for some reason, those colorful little things would unconsciously wander over to Shi Changyuan’s side.
They were placed together with other items that clashed completely.
“Why is my cup over here?”
“I looked for it for a long time yesterday. I thought I’d lost it and was about to buy a new one.”
Lin Ling’s voice came from the kitchen. He ran into the study holding the cup. Shi Changyuan only glanced at it before saying, “Who was it that overslept the other morning and was about to be late, only had time to drink some milk, and then left the empty cup on the entryway cabinet?”
“I washed it for you and just put it on the cup holder.”
“Oh, right.”
The little zombie remembered and scratched his head, a bit embarrassed.
And in the following days, it wasn’t just cups, but also plates, bowls, and chopsticks…
The rug and slippers placed at Shi Changyuan’s door, and the gradually abandoned true entrance to this apartment.
Lin Ling’s belongings slowly but surely took over half of Professor Shi’s home.
But who knew if this wasn’t the result of Shi Changyuan’s deliberate indulgence?
“Professor Shi, I want to discuss something with you.”
Hearing the little zombie use this title, Shi Changyuan knew he was up to no good.
He calls him “Professor Shi” when he needs something, and “evil human” when he doesn’t.
“Look, since I always come over to your place to eat, can I move my dining table away?”
“It’s not being used anyway, and it takes up a lot of space.”
The little zombie leaned over the other side of the desk, stretching his head forward. He pushed aside the reports and books in front of Shi Changyuan and “discussed” with sparkling eyes.
The result of “discussing” things this way was predictable. Professor Shi had no room to refuse.
And so, by the time Miao Xue discovered the trickery behind the housing arrangement, it was already too late.
It was as if Lin Ling had moved out of Shi Changyuan’s apartment, and yet, as if he hadn’t.
Time ambled on, and soon it was the beginning of winter. The cafeteria gave everyone a box of dumplings.
The little zombie lay in bed and did a quick mental calculation.
The plan to find Shi Changyuan a new pet had to begin. He had to go back before the heavy snow.
If Auntie Man woke up and didn’t see him, she would probably be scared.
At this thought, the little zombie immediately got up and knocked on Shi Changyuan’s door.
“What’s wrong?”
Shi Changyuan opened the door. He seemed to have just finished showering, was wearing a bathrobe, and his hair was still dripping. His features held a casual and languid air completely different from his daytime demeanor, and even a strange sense of pressure.
The little zombie’s mind instantly went blank, all his questions forgotten.
“You…”
Lin Ling had no idea where to look.
His gaze first instinctively met the eyes of the person he was talking to, but Shi Changyuan usually wore glasses, which hid many of his subtle emotions behind the lenses.
But now, his attention was immediately drawn to those deep, handsome eyes, and he forgot what he was going to say.
Not good, not good.
So the little zombie’s gaze shifted to the other’s chest, but the collar of the bathrobe was anything but modest.
Th-That seems even more inappropriate.
Lin Ling hurriedly looked away, trying to focus on something else.
Like the water droplet at the tip of his hair?
But he had only stared at the droplet for a few seconds before it slid down, landing on the bridge of his high nose.
“N-Nothing, let’s talk tomorrow. Good night.”
Lin Ling shrank back, about to turn and leave, but was held in place by a hand.
“You’re already here.”
“Help me dry my hair.”
Shi Changyuan said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“O-Okay.”
The little zombie thought, seeing as Shi Changyuan has dried my hair and tied it in little braids before, I’ll help him out too.
So Lin Ling had Shi Changyuan sit on the living room sofa, then expertly retrieved the hairdryer from Shi Changyuan’s bathroom and, mimicking his previous actions, stood behind the sofa.
The “whirring” sound of the hairdryer was hypnotic. Neither of them spoke, and the atmosphere seemed a bit too harmonious, which made Lin Ling suddenly think it was a good opportunity.
“What kind of pet do you like?”
The little zombie’s question was abrupt, but Shi Changyuan didn’t react much.
He half-opened his eyes, glanced at Lin Ling’s face, then his gaze slowly moved to the top of his head, to the hair color that was somewhere between gold and black. He chuckled softly and said casually, “A long-haired, chestnut-colored kitten.”
The “long-haired, chestnut-colored kitten” himself was completely unaware and committed this overly specific description to memory.
“What about its personality?”
Lin Ling continued to ask, trying to get all the information in one go.
“It has to be obedient, but not too obedient.”
“With a little temper of its own.”
Hearing this description, the little zombie gasped.
This description was as unreasonable as an impossible client in the design field.
“Anything else?”
Lin Ling blinked, deciding to give him one last chance.
“Hmm…”
At this, Shi Changyuan seemed to think for a moment, then spoke as if making a wish.
“I hope he’s a bit more clingy to me.”
