Chapter 4

In the crowded, bustling snack street, Chi Shen expressionlessly slammed the fish knife down on the table, producing a crisp sound.
The bald man helped the middle-aged woman up; then, seeing three or four customers lined up at the stall and Chi Shen still not moving, he exploded: "Chi Shen, are you fucking stupid? Why are you just standing there! Your mom fell and you didn't even help her up, and there's customers and you can't be bothered, are you off your rocker again?!"
"Your mom...", the one who fell was Chi Shen's mother? Qiao Zhenzhen's eyes widened in shock. Before she could react, she saw Chi Shen grab two black plastic bags and walk toward him expressionlessly.
Qiao Zhenzhen had just knocked down his actual mother; seeing him come, she felt suddenly guilty. "Um..."
As soon as she spoke those two words, Chi Shen was already in front of her, dropping to one knee right before her.
…What is he doing? Kneeling? Qiao Zhenzhen was so frightened she forgot to breathe.
The next second his hand suddenly closed around her slender ankle.
It was a September evening; even the air felt dry and oppressive, yet his palm was ice-cold, a chill that cut through the heat and wrapped her entire ankle. On the back of his pale, bloodless hand, a faint red smear stood out starkly.
"Lift your foot."
The young man's voice was hoarse and rough, as if it had traveled across ten years to reach her. Qiao Zhenzhen stared down and saw his other hand holding an open plastic bag, waiting beside the ankle he held.
"Chi Shen! Chi Shen!"
The bald man kept shouting; with customers growing impatient, Chi Shen didn't even turn his head, focusing on holding the bag open. The bald man was about to rush over and give him a dressing-down, but the middle-aged woman stopped him.
"Where are you going? Can't you see they're conning the girl?" the middle-aged woman snorted, eyeing Qiao Zhenzhen from head to toe. When she noticed the bracelet on her wrist, a flash of greed crossed her face. "This could be a real catch."
The bald man hesitated, then, seeing how she was dressed, rubbed his hands together and laughed.
Qiao Zhenzhen was still dazed until Chi Shen tightened his grip; she snapped back to herself and, following his movement, lifted her foot into the plastic bag. He kept his gaze down, wrapped her shoe snugly, tied a quick slip knot, and opened a second bag.
This time, before Chi Shen could speak, Qiao Zhenzhen hurriedly put out her other foot; standing on one leg was unsteady, and she instinctively steadied herself by touching his shoulder.
Chi Shen's back went rigid and the fingers holding the bag trembled slightly. She kept her foot in the bag for a long moment without him moving, and, curious, she called, "Chi Shen?"
Chi Shen's eyelashes fluttered; after a moment he tightened the knot, but his fingers were unsteady and he tied it so it wouldn't come undone.
Qiao Zhenzhen waited quietly. When he stood up she said, "Thank you."
Chi Shen stared at her, his gaze deep and cold, a gloomy presence like a watching serpent.
She swallowed and tried to think of an explanation for why she was there, but after a long moment couldn't come up with a plausible reason.
The version of herself before leaving the Qiao household lived in a big house and shopped at upscale malls; life was like a beautifully wrapped, hollow gift, a world apart from these grease-splattered streets. She felt she didn't belong here; she shouldn't be stained by this worldly, crass air.
"I followed you here." With no excuse to offer, Qiao Zhenzhen decided to tell the truth.
Chi Shen took a step back.
Qiao Zhenzhen sighed helplessly. "Scared you again, didn't I?"
Chi Shen said nothing; his dark pupils reflected her face clearly.
She sighed again, about to explain more, when he spoke in a hoarse voice: "Let's go."
She hesitated, and seeing the brief flash of rejection in his eyes, she obediently nodded, slung on her backpack, turned away alone, and walked back the way she had come, slowly.
After a while she couldn't help looking back and suddenly met Chi Shen's gaze. He seemed surprised she had turned; his eyes flickered, but he did not look away.
"I'm off! You go back!" Qiao Zhenzhen called with a smile and a wave, then turned and left.
Chi Shen watched the curve of her smiling eyes. His thin lips pressed together once more and his face darkened. He stood like a statue for a long time as her figure faded away.
"What are you standing around for? Come help!" the bald man barked.
Chi Shen lowered his gaze, turned back to the chopping board, and continued working, gutting, cutting, then bagging the pieces.
The bald man, annoyed by his cold manner, kicked the nearby bucket and spat, "Always that wooden face, like someone owes you eight million. If it weren't for me and your mother, you'd have starved to death, you ungrateful wretch!"
"Alright, it's just two fewer fish, don't go cursing people every five minutes," the middle-aged woman, suddenly less harsh, said between chewing sunflower seeds. "Finding a rich daughter-in-law is much more important than selling fish. Preferably an only daughter, once she marries, the money will be ours."
"Give me a break. Do you really think rich people are stupid? A fling maybe, but if it comes to marriage, their parents would be the first to object."
"So what? If she gets pregnant, even if he objects he'll have to agree."
The two of them chattered back and forth, growing louder, while Chi Shen's expression remained indifferent, as if he heard nothing.
"Oh my God, what did you do? You've turned it into mince!" the customer complained when he saw the blood-smeared board. "I don't want it chopped like that."
Chi Shen stopped the knife and looked at him without expression; his pale face spattered with blood, white and red stark against one another. The customer swallowed. "P-please wrap it up for me."
Chi Shen was silent for a long time, scraped the fish from the board into the trash, and chose another one for him.
Before he knew it, night had fallen and the streetlights came on.
When Qiao Zhenzhen got home, it was completely dark; she walked in and ran straight into her mother.
Seeing her mother suddenly ten years younger made her eyes sting, and the whole day's anxiety finally sank away. "Mom."
"Where did you run off to? Not answering calls or texts ,you were going to give me a heart attack!" Qin Jing breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her, though her brow stayed tightly furrowed.
Qiao Zhenzhen hesitated, took out her phone and glanced at it. "It was off. I didn't get anything."
Qin Jing shot her a look as she muttered and slipped off her high heels.
Qiao Zhenzhen leaned on the shoe cabinet, smiling at her. In her early forties, Qin Jing kept herself so well she looked only about thirty; every hair in place. Even when going out to fetch her daughter, she insisted on lipstick and high heels.
Nearly twenty years as a socialite had left her without much of the everyday grit, yet like most housewives her age she loved to nag and complain about her husband and children. The old Qiao Zhenzhen had been fed up and argued back every day, but times change, after seeing Qin Jing become utterly silent and withdrawn after the divorce, she realized how much she missed the woman she used to know.
“What are those on your feet? Plastic bags? They’re filthy, how dare you come in like that? Get them off and throw them away! The maid just mopped the floor and you’ve tracked dirt all over it. You really don’t have a bit of consideration…” Qin Jing glanced up and met Qiao Zhenzhen’s smiling eyes, and her remaining complaints died in her throat.
“Mom, I missed you so much.” Qiao Zhenzhen said it and, opening her arms, suddenly hugged her. Given another chance, she vowed to protect this version of her, not let her wither like a rose ripped from the soil as she had in her previous life.
Qin Jing paused, then patted her on the back. When she let go, Qin Jing asked anxiously, “Have you been bullied at school?”
“No, I’m fine.” Qiao Zhenzhen answered.
Qin Jing frowned. “Then what’s this about, ”
Qiao Zhenzhen looked at her delicate brow and pretty face and grinned like an idiot.
Qin Jing couldn’t help it and laughed too, scolding affectionately as she did, “Are you stupid or what.”
“Mom, I asked the driver to bring you milk tea. Did you get to drink it?” Qin Jing liked sweets, especially milk tea and egg tarts.
Qin Jing nodded. “Don’t bring it next time; it’s always cold by the time it gets back.”
“Cold?” Qiao Zhenzhen snorted.
When she left, Zhao Lianqiao was still at school, it wasn’t hard to guess where the driver had been.
“Is something wrong?” Qin Jing asked.
Qiao Zhenzhen came back to herself. “Ah, no, Mom, I wanted to tell you something.”
“What is it?” The mother and daughter hadn’t spoken so calmly in a long time; Qin Jing asked immediately.
Qiao Zhenzhen: “Can you change the driver who picks me up and drops me off?”
“Sure.” Qin Jing nodded.
Qiao Zhenzhen hesitated. “You’re not going to ask why?”
“It’s just changing a driver, what’s there to ask,” Qin Jing said with a sideways glance. “You’re not the sort to make a fuss, if you asked to switch him, he must have made you unhappy.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Qiao Zhenzhen brightened.
She’d smiled more than usual today, and Qin Jing was in a good mood too. The two of them ate together amiably. Qiao Zhenzhen yawned and went back to her room; after washing up she lay in bed and replayed everything she’d experienced since being reborn.
After a while she sighed, “Are those two really Chi Shen’s parents? Why don’t they look anything like him?”
“Genetics is a kind of mystery; Chi Shen might just have been lucky.” Xiao Ba answered inside her head.
Qiao Zhenzhen pursed her lips. “Even if it’s mysterious, there should be similarities, right? Are you sure Chi Shen is their biological son?”
“Plotlines that weren’t in the original text, Xiao Ba can’t confirm.” Xiao Ba replied.
“It’s not right to make cruel assumptions, but they’re so harsh to Chi Shen, doesn’t feel like how you’d treat an only son.” Qiao Zhenzhen muttered.
Xiao Ba: “Not everyone is cut out to be a good parent.”
“True.” Qiao Zhenzhen turned over and raised another question. “By the way, my mom was so happy just now, why didn’t any affection points appear?”
“Affection produced by people who are blood relatives of the host is invalid and will be automatically filtered by the System.” Xiao Ba answered.
Qiao Zhenzhen hesitated. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier? You weren’t lying to me, were you?”
“…Xiao Ba wouldn’t dare!” The electronic voice immediately went meek.
Qiao Zhenzhen was amused by its tone; after laughing she adopted a stern expression and warned, “If you’re hiding anything else, you’d better spill it now. If you patch things for me again next time, I won’t accept it.”
“There isn’t much else,” Xiao Ba said, then paused and added, “Oh, about the pause-time function: each subsequent use increases the cost by 5 points for every thirty seconds. For example, if this time a thirty-second pause cost 10 affection points, next time the same thirty-second pause will cost 15 points; a one-minute pause will cost 30 points, and so on.”
“Why are you only telling me this now?!” Qiao Zhenzhen shot up.
Xiao Ba, feeling guilty: “Because the host didn’t ask.”
“Anything else?!” Qiao Zhenzhen frowned.
Xiao Ba’s electronic voice sounded faint: “The lifespan-extension function also scales every ten years. For example, in the first decade, 10 affection points can buy one month of life; in the second decade it takes 20 points to buy a month of life…”
Qiao Zhenzhen felt her vision go dark. “If I want him to live to ninety, would I have to spend 70 affection points for each month during the final ten years?”
“…Yes.”
“Why don’t you go and steal them!” Qiao Zhenzhen snapped angrily.
“The affection cost for other functions is fixed.” Xiao Ba tried to patch things up.
Qiao Zhenzhen snorted and sat sulking alone.
Ten minutes later she calmed down. “I just used the last ten affection points; I need to find a way to collect them fast.”
She had once thought the pause-time ability was useless, but after saving Chi Shen today she’d changed her mind. Pause-time costs affection points, and buying extra life for Chi Shen also costs affection points, she had to start accumulating them as quickly as possible.
“Collecting affection from other people is too slow, focus on Chi Shen!” Xiao Ba perked up again. After following Qiao Zhenzhen for a day, it had clearly found the secret formula.
Qiao Zhenzhen agreed, resting her chin on her hand in thought. “But his affection is so unpredictable. Before I could get points for a single remark; today I even followed him home and nothing happened.”
“Humans are the most complicated creatures, being hard to read is normal. Getting 10 points just by saying something was lucky,” Xiao Ba comforted her.
Before the words finished, a notification tone sounded,
[Affection +20, Current total: 20 points]
Xiao Ba: “……”
Qiao Zhenzhen was silent for a moment, then asked seriously, “…That was luck too?”
Xiao Ba was silent for a long while. “According to system analysis, it was Chi Shen’s. When the affection appeared… he was staring at his hand.”
Qiao Zhenzhen: “?”
In the pitch-black night, a windowless, unairconditioned room was thick and humid. On a desk made from two planks, a small lamp glowed.
Beneath the lamp the boy sat in silence, staring at his right hand. His fingers rubbed it unconsciously; any lingering warmth had long since vanished, but the memory of that soft touch remained.