I Can Still Salvage It

Shen Mian was shocked by Pei Zhiyi’s words.

He really didn’t know that Pei Zhiyi was struggling with such thoughts while staying by his side.

His face turned slightly red. He felt that his confession was like a naive boy stumbling into an adult-only area, while Pei Zhiyi, although not saying anything inappropriate, gave him a vague sense of the hidden passion beneath his restraint.

He let go of Pei Zhiyi’s clothes and pulled the bed cover instead. That deep blue silk bed cover was chosen by him and Pei Zhiyi together. It was decorated with camellias, blooming inappropriately on that winter night.

But he also felt a bit sorry for himself. He lowered his head and asked Pei Zhiyi, “Am I really that clueless… You like me so much, but I’m like a fool who knows nothing. If I had realized it earlier, you wouldn’t have had to go through so much pain.”

He sighed with disappointment, feeling that Pei Zhiyi was right about him being foolish.

He had experienced such pain in his short-lived secret love, while Pei Zhiyi had endured it for three or four years, pretending to be a deeply affectionate big brother every day.

Just thinking about it made Shen Mian feel suffocated.

However, Pei Zhiyi shook his head.

He hugged Shen Mian tightly again, resting his chin on his shoulder in a completely relaxed and dependent posture.

“The current situation is already better than I had imagined. It was my own decision to fall in love with you. Even if you never accept me and keep your distance, it’s on me,” Pei Zhiyi said seriously. “So don’t feel guilty. You don’t owe me anything.”

He truly believed that.

Love is between two people, but a one-sided crush is personal responsibility. There is no law in the world that guarantees a response when love is confessed. Shen Mian loving him back was already the greatest stroke of luck in his life.

Shen Mian listened and felt a warm sensation in his heart. He hugged Pei Zhiyi back.

They cuddled together like two swans with their necks intertwined.

Shen Mian blushed and thought of the phrase “ear nibbling and cheek rubbing.”

…

However, just a moment later, the flat and rigid voice of system 007 broke the silence in the room.

It seemed as if it had been holding back and finally found the right moment to interrupt them. It quickly announced, “Congratulations to the host Shen Mian and the host Pei Zhiyi for completing a special mission: mutual confession. Reward: 100 points.”

Shen Mian was stunned by that huge reward. Wow, 100 points, more than all the previous special missions combined.

But before he could rejoice, Pei Zhiyi frowned and raised an objection, “Only 100 points? I remember when you connected us, you mentioned two conditions: accumulating 1000 points or achieving mutual affection and being willing to risk life and death together. We have fulfilled mutual affection so will he finally get his health back?””

System 007 remained calm and slowly replied, “Please recall, the second condition requires two tasks to be completed simultaneously: achieving mutual affection and being willing to risk life and death together. You have only fulfilled the former. If you want to achieve the second point, your affection values for each other must reach 100, and you must withstand trials without separating before completing the mission.”

Shen Mian felt greatly disappointed.

He thought his life was saved just now.

Perhaps he had been too busy recently, and he was preoccupied with his self-proclaimed “unrequited love,” sometimes forgetting that he was a “patient” hanging on by a thread.

He glanced at Pei Zhiyi, who had a cold expression and seemed even more upset than him.

However, Shen Mian understood system 007’s words and felt they made sense. If confirming their love was enough to complete the final mission, it would be too easy, and nothing comes easy.

As if having a rare pang of conscience, system 007 added, “After confirming your love, the points accumulated will be doubled. Both of you currently have affection values of over 90, and it’s possible to surpass 100 before completing the mission. Please continue to work hard, hosts.”

After saying that, system 007 muted itself. Shen Mian felt that as a love system, it seemed to have no patience in dealing with lovey-dovey couples and was faster at escaping than anyone else.

Shen Mian raised his hand and pinched Pei Zhiyi’s face, saying, “Alright, don’t dwell on it. The points will be doubled, and as long as we keep making efforts, we can achieve the final victory.”

Reluctantly, Pei Zhiyi responded with an “Mmm.”

He held Shen Mian’s hand but still felt a sense of emptiness inside.

Although he saw hope now, the disease that had been forcibly suppressed in Shen Mian was still like a ticking bomb between them. Unless Shen Mian fully recovered, he wouldn’t be able to remain calm.

With system 007’s interruption, they didn’t embrace each other again but lay back under the covers.

This time, Shen Mian didn’t only sleep next to him but pressed himself against Pei Zhiyi.

His face rubbed against Pei Zhiyi’s shoulder, and his restless hand played with Pei Zhiyi’s shirt button.

He was even more unable to sleep now, his eyes shining like two light bulbs in the dimly lit room.

He felt that that day was really strange as a lot had happened. Before he was single, and now because he stole a kiss from Pei Zhiyi, he smoothly went from single to in a relationship?

He was too lucky! If only he had kissed him earlier!

Shen Mian regretted it and felt like he had missed out on so much.

His hand secretly slid down and slipped between Pei Zhiyi’s fingers, using his fingertips to tease him, asking, “Did you really like me when I was fourteen or fifteen?”

It wasn’t that he underestimated himself, but he recalled that a few years ago, he was just a silly kid who didn’t know anything about love. He would argue with Shen Yu every day, and the greatest pleasure in life was eating ice cream after finishing a game.

Shen Mian thought for a moment, his expression turning slightly subtle. He couldn’t think of anything worth liking about himself back then.

Pei Zhiyi, on the other hand, kept his eyes closed and responded with an “Mmm.”

Shen Mian was even more puzzled. “Brother, don’t you think you were a bit perverted? How could you have liked me when I was so young? I was about the same age as Shen Yu back then.”

Was Pei Zhiyi perverted?!

Pei Zhiyi: “…”

He opened his eyes and looked at Shen Mian with an indescribable expression, then turned the question back on him, “Then why, when you were fifteen, did you always want me to hold you? How many guys of your age would still want to be cuddled by their childhood friends?”

He phrased it tactfully. Not only did Shen Mian sleep in his arms back then, but if he got bitten by a mosquito, he would ask Pei Zhiyi to scratch the itch for him. To avoid doing an assignment, he would sit on Pei Zhiyi’s lap and call him “big brother.” The list of misdeeds and clueless seduction was endless.

He even suspected that he had been turned on by Shen Mian back then.

Now it was Shen Mian’s turn to be speechless.

Because he was currently lying in Pei Zhiyi’s arms as his boyfriend.

He closed his mouth reluctantly but felt a bit proud. He playfully held Pei Zhiyi’s finger and smiled at him tenderly.

His smile was infectious, as if all the good things in the world were happening to him.

Pei Zhiyi couldn’t help but smile too, but he still pressed Shen Mian back into his embrace. “Sleep, no more fussing.”

Shen Mian thought it was simply impossible. How many adolescent young men could sleep at such a time in their lover’s embrace?

As a new couple who had just shared their deepest feelings, they were wasting that long night by sleeping!

He used his gaze to reproach Pei Zhiyi.

Unfortunately, Pei Zhiyi didn’t catch it and asked, “Do you want me to heat up some milk for you?”

Shen Mian thought, “…” You’re the one who looks like a glass of milk.

He closed his eyes, feeling a bit sulky, and muttered to himself that a good boyfriend should know how to tend to his partner.

But perhaps because lying in Pei Zhiyi’s arms was too comfortable, the faint scent of familiar shower gel permeated the sheets, making him feel at ease.

He unknowingly fell asleep.

On the other hand, after half an hour, Pei Zhiyi silently and skillfully got up and took a cold shower.

It was really a test of willpower to have a newly confirmed relationship partner lying in his arms.