Don’t Covet the Beautiful System!! - Chap 78
At this moment, how should he speak?
Countless chaotic thoughts flickered in Pei Qingyuan’s mind. He clearly saw the moonlight above his head pouring down from the sky like a waterfall. He inexplicably remembered every late night when he came home from school. The math problems he pondered on in his heart when passing by this street, the complicated formulas and numbers that occupied half his mind. Meanwhile, Ji Tong sat in the back, sometimes chatting with him and sometimes just quietly grabbing the corner of his clothes.
If Ji Tong was silent, Pei Qingyuan would occasionally look back and see the top of his head as he quietly ate snacks with his head down or stared at the passing scenery on the street corner in a daze.
Tonight’s moonlight was clearer than it was back then.
He also had questions that were harder to find answers to.
The evening wind on the summer night ruffled the same soft, short hair. Pei Qingyuan was only one step away from the thin back. He was immersed in his hot heartbeat and still didn’t know which sentence to choose as the beginning of the story.
He seemed to have forgotten how to speak.
In the next second, the wandering young man heard this extremely light footstep and turned around. The moonlight smudged from his hair all the way to his eyebrows, spreading over the bright and smiling eyes. His childhood appearance could vaguely be seen in his strange facial features, but his complexion was fairer than when he was a child.
This time, he didn’t have to raise his head. As long as his eyes were slightly raised, he could see the appearance of the person in front of him.
Ji Tong stared at the host’s face, which was a little less youthful than a year ago. Then he suddenly whispered, “Do you want to cry?”
Seeing the host’s stunned appearance at this moment, he couldn’t help thinking of the day of their first encounter. The 17 year old boy was surrounded by countless lights and noisy words. Complex and difficult waves also surged in his eyes.
Thus, this was the first thing he said to Pei Qingyuan.
The grown-up Pei Qingyuan still didn’t answer this question.
In the silence with only a few cicadas making noise, he remembered the same day and asked in a slightly hoarse voice, “What’s wrong with you?”
It turned out that the host also remembered this initial conversation.
Ji Tong’s smile became even more intense when he heard this and he replied very cooperatively, “I can’t find a home.”
A new paragraph started to spread.
These words came out and there was a burst of warmth from his wrist.
“Let’s go home.”
The slender finger with well-defined bones grasped the wrist that seemed a bit too pale and led him in the direction of the house.
For the first time, Ji Tong realized that the palm of the host was so hot.
The homeless boy who was picked up stayed obediently on the back of his bicycle and watched the familiar scenery slowly flow away.
Tonight’s host was exceptionally quiet.
The thin corners of his clothes fluttered in the wind. During the time when the host couldn’t see his nervous expression, Ji Tong asked anxiously, “Do I look strange?”
Why did the host stop talking at the first sight of him?
In fact, he always felt that such a self wasn’t good-looking. Still, it was rare to live again. If he had the opportunity, he still wanted to become what he was familiar with.
Pei Qingyuan responded quickly, “It isn’t strange.”
He paused before asking, “Why did you choose such a form?”
Ji Tong had already prepared for this and spoke nonsense, “It is generated based on the average face of an 18 year old male. However, the database might not have been updated for a long time and I was infected with a virus previously. This means the effect might not be accurate…”
The host’s answer was pleasant.
“Your appearance isn’t average, it is special.”
Ji Tong could hear the sincerity in the host’s voice. He first happily dispelled his apprehension and made another note for the host in the diary.
Unexpectedly, he discovered the type that the host liked by mistake.
It should be a slightly sick type.
Or perhaps he simply liked people with fair skin or those who were shorter than him.
It was hard to say. In short, write it down first.
Once the host’s emotional plotline unfolded, he would know what type of person the host liked.
In any case, it was fine as long as the host didn’t like this appearance.
Following Pei Qingyuan home and looking around at the host full of cute things, Ji Tong couldn’t help thinking that people really could become childish when in the form of a child.
In the past, he was a child and he could do whatever he wanted without any scruples, even if it meant acting cute to the host. Now he had grown up and had to restrain himself.
Thus, Ji Tong didn’t run around the house the moment he returned home as usual. He stood at the entrance, a bit hesitant and not knowing how to take the next step.
He secretly looked at Pei Qingyuan, who was locking the door. For the first time, he looked at the host with almost level eyes and he felt it was very different from before.
There was a subtle sense of strangeness and shyness in the air.
Hua Hua’s eyes widened when he saw a stranger enter the house. Then he smelled a familiar breath and quickly ran over, throwing himself into the arms of the stranger.
Ji Tong caught him in surprise.
Usually, Hua Hua pounced on the host first. It was because the host was obviously more beautiful than a child.
He looked at Hua Hua with a foolish smile on his face and rubbed his chin against the top of his furry head.
Very good. Cats followed the owner and liked the same type.
Ji Tong was rubbing against the cat’s face when he heard the host’s voice ringing in his ears, “Measure your height?”
…His smile froze suddenly.
He didn’t want to expose that he was only 179 cm.
Seeing the host’s serious expression, Ji Tong quietly sighed and stood in front of the giraffe.
Pei Qingyuan lowered his head slightly and his palm touched the top of his head. Ji Tong obediently dispelled the idea of tiptoeing and involuntarily held his breath.
Once he let go of his hand, Ji Tong also turned around and saw him take a pen to draw a line on the giraffe height sticker.
The high and low scratches merged together. The height sticker used by only one person suddenly showed the traces of another person.
Pei Qingyuan stared at these lines. “You said that many human families do this.”
Of course, there should be more than one member in the family.
It was only then that Ji Tong realized his intentions and was inexplicably happy.
It would be better if his line could be drawn on top of the host’s lines.
“Do you want a late-night meal?”
“No…” Ji Tong originally wanted to maintain his fresh, mature image. Then after thinking about it, he still resisted the temptation. “Don’t do too much.”
The host expertly walked toward the kitchen.
The strangeness disappeared.
Ji Tong was still Ji Tong, just grown up.
Tonight, before he went to sleep, he specially rummaged through the closet for a long time and chose the clothes to wear when he woke up tomorrow.
Given that Fu Yinyin and Fang Hao couldn’t see it, he decided to wear the style chosen by the host first.
In the next room separated by a wall, Pei Qingyuan’s long-awaited dream finally came on this uneasy night.
A blank room, a huge mushroom, a teenager sitting against the backlight and a black smart assistant on the bedside table.
This time, the dream that had been lingering for a long time suddenly had a clear face.
The boy sitting in the light heard the door open at the same time as him.
The boy’s back trembled and he couldn’t wait to turn his head with excitement and joy. It was as if he had been waiting for this day for a long time.
He turned around for the first time.
Pei Qingyuan saw a pale face that was smiling.
It was Ji Tong when he grew up.
The door slowly opened. There were many people in white coats standing outside the room, echoing Pei Qingyuan’s inaudible words everywhere.
Then he finally reacted. This was a hospital room.
It was a white, sterile ward.
The young man put down the book in his hand. He hugged Xiao Mei, who already looked a bit old, and passed by the invisible Pei Qingyuan. He tentatively walked toward the lively world.
The moment he walked out the door, the brilliant air instantly rushed into his lungs. He looked like he wanted to cough but he tried to hold back.
The doctors and nurses smiled and gathered around to congratulate him. Some held notebooks to carefully record his state, some used cameras to record the scene and one held a large bouquet of fragrant flowers but was hesitant to approach.
The boy took the initiative to walk toward the flowers. He stretched out his hand like he wanted to hug the freshest bouquet but he couldn’t help coughing violently.
The people around him were flustered. In the sudden chaotic footsteps, Pei Qingyuan saw that the boy was still smiling. Physiological tears overflowed from the corners of his eyes but his eyes followed the bouquet of flowers that were getting further and further away.
At the very least, he wanted to stay in the colorful world of flowers.
After waking up from the dream, Pei Qingyuan couldn’t forget that look for a long time.
He saw the grown-up Ji Tong, so the lonely boy in his dream had a face.
The system that had grown up and had a legal identity could integrate more naturally into human society and have independent, interpersonal relationships. Thus, the boy in the dream also walked out of the room and into the world.
It still sounded like a reflection of reality.
But was this really just his imagination of the system?
He didn’t know.
The memory hadn’t slipped away yet, so Pei Qingyuan wrote down all the details of the dream.
Then he changed his clothes and went out. He wandered the quiet streets in the early morning and finally walked to a flower store that he had never stopped at before.
In the breeze that brushed his cheeks, he picked flowers in a jerky manner.
Once Ji Tong stepped out of the room wearing refreshing new clothes, he accidentally saw a bouquet of flowers still stained with dew on the coffee table in the living room.
If it wasn’t for Hua Hua with the love heart on his butt rolling around next to the vase, he would almost think he was in the wrong house.
The host was making breakfast in the kitchen. Ji Tong knocked on the glass door and asked curiously, “Host, did you go out to buy flowers in the morning?”
“Yes, it is to welcome a new life.” Pei Qingyuan took off his apron. “Breakfast is ready.”
In fact, he didn’t know why he went to buy flowers.
He just thought that a vase of flowers looked better than the bouquet that couldn’t be approached in his dreams.
Ji Tong obviously liked this new decoration that appeared at home. He turned his head to look at the vase on the coffee table at least 20 times during breakfast.
Pei Qingyuan guessed that he carved the appearance of each flower into his heart.
However, he felt that the system should see more scenery.
It was more than the bouquet of flowers and more than the model cake in the glass window.
Once he reached out to hold the pale wrist with a cold body temperature in the hot evening breeze, only this thought remained in his mind.
After breakfast, the two of them went to the police station to complete the script process. Ji Tong reapplied for an ID card. Since the information in the system showed that he was an adult and a homeless orphan, the police didn’t decide where he would go without authorization. They respected his personal wishes.
So after registering Pei Qingyuan’s information, they first let Ji Tong leave with this kind person.
It was hot summer but comfortable air conditioning was flowing in the bus. Ji Tong sat in the window seat and looked down at the paper receipt in his hand for receiving his ID card. Then he looked up at the scenery outside the window.
Pei Qingyuan always subconsciously moved his gaze to the young man beside him.
Ji Tong was wearing the clothes he had bought a few months ago in preparation for today.
It was a feeling that was hard to put into words.
When these clothes were picked in the mall, he had imagined the scene when it was worn, the system that had become an adult and the future that should be clearly defined.
But at this moment, he couldn’t even see his clearly chaotic mind.
Pei Qingyuan silently followed the gaze of the young man beside him.
Ji Tong was still curious about the world. He would still focus on the clouds in the sky and the flowers on the roadside. However, he would no longer say it excitedly like a child.
The sunlight outside the window filled his eyes and gently swayed over his fluttering eyelashes.
Pei Qingyuan instinctively asked, “What shape is the cloud today?”
“The one on the left looks like an elephant, the elephant that was floating in the sky on your birthday.”
He asked so Ji Tong described it enthusiastically. “The cloud on the right has no shape and it is scattered in the sky. I like the wisp in the corner like a rolled-up petal.”
Pei Qingyuan listened quietly to this serious voice before hearing himself ask a bit jerkily, “Do you want to see the bigger world?”
“Huh?”
Ji Tong looked surprised and finally retracted his gaze from the clouds in the sky. It just happened to crash into the other person’s emotional eyes.
“Let’s go on a trip together.”
