It was in the afternoon when Zhan Weiyang was hiding in Zhan Weiguang’s bathroom on the third floor to take a bath when he suddenly heard a mechanical, metallic, cold female voice.
He was asleep at that time, and his body slid down unconsciously, and his mouth and nose were submerged under the water. Then he heard the female voice say: “The Beginner’s Love System activated, Username: Zhan Weiyang, Gender: Male, Age: 17 years old, Height: 174 cm.”
Zhan Weiyang woke up abruptly, his body suddenly diving downwards. He thrust his head out of the water, crouching at the edge of the bathtub, coughing painfully.
The female voice did not let him get away and continued: “System Task: Achieve a beginner love status. Task Target: The first person you encounter at the school gate on the first day of school.”
The water on his head slid down Zhan Weiyang’s face. He lifted his hand and vigorously wiped the water off his face, trying to open his eyes wide as he searched the bathroom.
The bathroom was small and surrounded by light green tiles. Zhan Weiyang could not find a woman talking or a loudspeaker.
“User initial score: 50 points; Positive progress in the love status adds points, Negative progress deducts points; Task full score: 100 points; when the score is deducted to 0 points, the Punishment System will be activated.”
“What Punishment System?” Zhan Weiyang asked in confusion.
The voice didn’t answer him.
The surroundings suddenly became quiet, just like how it was originally on the usual summer afternoon. The sun shone in from a small ventilated window above the bathroom, accompanied by the annoying chirping of cicadas. It was a tranquillity exclusive to summer.
Zhan Weiyang drained the water from the bathtub and climbed out of the bathtub. He had just fallen asleep while soaking in the water and suddenly woke up when he choked on the water. He was still in a daze. His legs and feet were sore, and he sat on the edge of the bathtub for a while. After recovering a bit, he stood up, put on slippers, and reached for the towel and clothes hanging nearby.
When he came out of the bathroom, Zhan Weiyang wore a large T-shirt that covered his buttocks and only a pair of underwear underneath.
He put the towel on his arm and was about to walk towards the stairs when he suddenly heard Zhan Weiguang calling him from behind, “What are you doing?”
Zhan Weiyang turned around.
Zhan Weiguang stood at the door of his room, wearing a sports suit and holding a basketball in his hand. He approached Zhan Weiyang until he was in front of him, then looked at his wet hair and asked in a not-so-friendly tone, “Did you secretly use my bathroom?”
Because Zhan Weiguang was taller than Zhan Weiyang, Zhan Weiyang had to raise his head when talking to him. The water droplets on his hair that had not yet been dried slid down his cheeks, and he said, “Yeah.”
Zhan Weiguang said with a stern face, “I’ve said it many times. No sneaking into my bathroom to take a bath.”
Zhan Weiyang spoke calmly and explained, “Only the third floor has a bathtub.” The two bathrooms on the first floor were both without bathtubs.
“Then you shouldn’t—” Zhan Weiguang’s words were cut off suddenly by a voice from downstairs. It was Pei Qing calling him from the staircase on the second floor.
So he just glared at Zhan Weiyang, walked toward the stairs, stuck his head out and said, “Qing ge, just wait for me for two minutes. I’ll be down soon.”
Zhan Weiguang threw the basketball to the ground and walked past Zhan Weiyang into the bathroom.
Zhan Weiyang glanced at his back again, decided not to pay attention to him, and walked downstairs.
Pei Qing was standing at the stairs on the second floor. He was waiting for Zhan Weiguang to go out to play ball, but it was Zhan Weiyang who appeared on the stairs.
After Zhan Weiyang saw Pei Qing, he paused, nodded and greeted, “Qing ge.” Then he lowered his head and continued walking down.
Pei Qing is the son of Zhan Weiyang’s aunt. He is not her biological son but was brought here by his aunt’s remarried husband. Therefore, although Pei Qing is the older cousin of both Zhan Weiyang and Zhan Weiguang brothers, he had no blood relation to the Zhan family with whom he shared the surname.
In September, Pei Qing, who had become a senior, would start an internship at a Futures Investment1Futures investment refers to the trading activities in the futures market with the aim of gaining profits from price differentials, also known as speculative transactions. company not far from Zhan Weiyang’s home, so his aunt called Zhan Weiyang’s father, Zhan Pengcheng, half a month ago and said she wanted to let Pei Qing stay with Zhan’s family for a while.
Zhan Pengcheng immediately agreed in a light tone.
So yesterday afternoon, Pei Qing took the high-speed train across the city alone, dragging his suitcase and stayed at Zhan Weiyang’s house.
Pei Qing’s father and Zhan Weiyang’s aunt had been married for three years. Zhan Weiyang also met Pei Qing three times in total, all during the Chinese New Year. The two of them spoke no more than ten sentences in total.
He didn’t know Pei Qing at all.
Pei Qing was obviously not close with Zhan Weiyang either.
He was getting ready to go out and play basketball with Zhan Weiguang. Similarly, dressed in sportswear, he was even taller than Zhan Weiguang. His figure had already lost the slender build of adolescence, exuding a youthful and agile charm. With broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long and well-proportioned legs, his young and handsome face was truly admirable.
Zhan Weiyang pulled on his slippers and stepped down the stairs step by step with his bare legs. When he passed by Pei Qing, he turned his head to compare the height difference between himself and Pei Qing and then continued walking towards his room.
Pei Qing leaned against the wall at the corner of the stairs, only nodded as a greeting when Zhan Weiyang passed by, and then looked away.
Zhan Weiyang returned to his room, reached out and closed the door.
The air conditioner was still on in the room, and the temperature was set a bit low. The window in front faced the garden on the first floor. He walked to the window and felt the heat penetrating the tightly closed glass, hitting him with a mix of warmth and coldness—just like an egg sizzling on a flat pan.
Zhan Weiyang quickly realised that this metaphor was not that appropriate. After thinking about it, he couldn’t find a better description, so he had to give it up.
The voices of Zhan Weiguang and Pei Qing talking and the sound of their footsteps going downstairs were heard outside the room.
Zhan Weiyang pressed his forehead against the warm glass and kept looking downstairs. When he saw Pei Qing and Zhan Weiguang walking outside with basketballs, he wondered why they didn’t invite him to play basketball, considering he also knew how to play. He turned and walked towards the bed, diving headfirst into the soft bedding.
He wanted to continue his unfinished sleep.
Before he was about to fall asleep, Zhan Weiyang suddenly heard the beep, beep sound, like the sound of some instrument starting up. He thought of the Beginner’s Love System and was inexplicably panicked. He struggled to wake himself up, but his brain seemed too tired. After struggling for a few seconds, Zhan Weiyang finally couldn’t resist the strong sleepiness and gave up the struggle and fell asleep.
He slept through the whole afternoon.
When Zhan Weiyang woke up again, the sun was no longer so bright. He turned over, grabbed the quilt to cover his cold legs, yawned and wanted to continue sleeping.
However, there was a knock on the door, accompanied by Zhan Pengcheng’s gentle voice, “Yangyang, are you sleeping?”
Zhan Weiyang raised his head and responded, “Mmn.”
Zhan Pengcheng said, “Hurry up and get up. We’ll go for dinner in a while.”
Zhan Weiyang promised him loudly, “Okay.”
Zhan Pengcheng then said, “I’ll wait for you downstairs.” After saying that, the sound of his leaving footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Zhan Weiyang rolled out of bed, opened the closet and found a pair of shorts. He hesitated and changed into long pants. He sat on the edge of the bed and put them on his legs, then opened the door and walked out.
The author has something to say:
Happy New Year!
Notes:
Hello hello~
I’m here because of Mel’s recommendation in discord~
I eyed this series around 1-2 years ago when my friend recommended the series to me, but at that time, I was working on Garfield’s and planning to pick up Morbid Addiction then later saw someone already picking it up, so I nawp myself from this series.
But maybe I’m destined to pick up this series coz years later, the TL stopped updating, and this series is being requested to me, kek
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