Chapter 23: So nice to everyone? "You two will never part,...

He slept very well and when he opened his eyes it was already past ten o'clock. It was rare for Li Xi to wake up so late.

Today is a day off. Li Xi opened the curtains and it was so gloomy outside that it looked like it was going to rain. He remembered the clothes he had hung on the balcony and wanted to bring them in. He opened the bedroom door and found that they were already folded and placed on the sofa. Yuan Zhiyan was half lying on the sofa with a game controller in his hand. He saw Li Xi and greeted him: "You're up. It's so late today."

"Good morning." Li Wei went to pick up her clothes and said, "Did you help me collect them? Thank you."

"No, it's Brother Rui Ning. He seems to have gotten up very early."

"Oh." Li Wei put the clothes back in the room. Yuan Zhiyan called out from outside: "Brother Lan, do you want to play games?"

"What game?" Li Wei walked out again, and Yuan Zhiyan had already taken out another controller. "We can play together. I haven't played for a long time. Oh my god, work really delays my playing!"

Li Xi looked around and asked, "Where are the others?"

"Brother Ruining is in the room, the other two are out."

Li Xi glanced at Tang Ruining's closed door, sat down on the sofa, and watched Yuan Zhiyan return to the Steam homepage and choose a game with great interest.

"I don't know how to play games." Li Wei said as he looked at the dazzling game on the screen.

His entertainment activities in the past were very limited. His favorite games were Tetris and Snake, classics that were widely circulated.

"You can learn it if you try." Yuan Zhiyan didn't care. He handed the controller to him and said, "Let's play this Overcooked Kitchen. It's very simple! For a while, I always asked Brother Ruining to play with me. When Brother Ruining was not free, I would ask Brother Rongxiao and Xingye. I didn't let anyone go, haha."

Suddenly thinking of Jiang Yilan who he had ignored before, Yuan Zhiyan added: "Oh yes, I never asked you to play with me before, now I finally have the chance!"

Yuan Zhiyan taught him the general rules of the game, and he couldn't wait to start the game. It is indeed not a complicated game, but for someone like Li Xi who has never played it before, it is not so easy to get started, especially since it is a game that requires cooperation between two people. Yuan Zhiyan did not open the previous basic level, but his last save, which already had a level of certain difficulty. Soon, the only voice in the living room was Yuan Zhiyan's:

"Oh, don't block my way, it's too late!"

"Don't pick up the meat that fell on the ground, pick up a new piece, speed up!"

"My dear brother, please stop chopping vegetables. The pot is going to catch fire!"

"There's only one more to go. Hurry up! Ahhhhhh it's too late!!"

Li Xi basically hadn't reacted to what was happening before the game ended in failure in a chaotic manner.

"Damn it." A faint voice of humiliation came from behind. The two turned around and saw that Tang Ruining had come out of the room without knowing when.

Li Xi humbly accepted the advice and said, "Well, it's me who doesn't know how to play."

"I say Yuan Zhiyan is a scumbag." Tang Ruining said mercilessly, "He can't even lead a novice."

Yuan Zhiyan curled his lips and handed over the handle, "Then you take charge!"

Tang Ruining sat down, reopened the game, and said to Li Xi calmly, "Take your time. This level is divided into two moving sections. Don't waste time standing there waiting when the passages are not aligned. You can prepare what you need first."

During the following game process, Tang Ruining's reminders were very concise and the timing was just right. They tried three more times before passing this level, but Li Xi already had a general understanding of the gameplay and rhythm of this game.

In the following levels, the two cooperated very well. Li Xi was very involved in the game and instantly understood why games can make people addicted. He couldn't help but imagine how happy he would be if he had these games to play as a child. When his roommate mentioned Metal Slug, he would not curiously ask him what country the movie was from, and then be mercilessly ridiculed by his roommate.

As the game progressed, the difficulty gradually increased. They got stuck at one level and couldn't get through it for several times. Yuan Zhiyan, who was watching the game, became anxious. He wished he could join in and stomped his feet to urge them to hurry up. If Tang Ruining hadn't had time to deal with Yuan Zhiyan, he would definitely have been scolded.

In the end, he still failed. Li Xi was a little frustrated. He put down the controller and sighed, "It's so difficult."

"It's already very good. This is your first time playing." Tang Ruining said, "It's much better than Yuan Zhiyan's first time playing."

"I played pretty well even though it was my first time!" Yuan Zhiyan protested, "I'm very good at this, okay?"

"Then why is it that Yilan and I can play well together, but you can't?"

Yuan Zhiyan was speechless because of the facts, "Okay, okay, you two will never break up and stay together forever, okay?"

This game is also known as "Breakup Kitchen" because couples are prone to quarrels when playing this game. Everyone who plays it knows it and basically calls it that. But Li Xi didn't know. He was stunned after hearing this, "...Ah?"

"Don't pay attention to him." Tang Ruining said, "He's just being jealous."

"Do you want to play something else?" He asked Li Xi again. Li Xi turned his head and smelled a familiar scent of plaster in the air. He looked around Tang Ruining and asked him, "Are you injured anywhere?"

"Hmm?" Realizing that it was the strong smell of the ointment, Tang Ruining replied, "No, I have an old problem with my shoulder. It hurts sometimes, so I put on some medicine."

"Don't play games for a long time if your shoulders hurt." Li Wei put the controller on the coffee table and said, "Take a break."

Time passed quickly while playing games. Li Xi glanced at the clock on the wall and said, "It's time for lunch."

They took out the dumplings from the refrigerator and cooked them. They were the ones Wei Qiyao brought him last time she visited him. They were made by Aunt Fang. Wei Qiyao said that he used to love eating the dumplings made by Aunt Fang.

After cooking a large pot, Yuan Zhiyan only ate one, then looked at Li Xi with tears in his eyes—mostly because he was burned—and asked him, "Are you selling the dumplings made by Aunt Fang? I want to buy some and bring them home next time, so I can skip a few meals cooked by my parents."

Li Xi smiled and said, "I'll ask for you next time."

The rain outside finally started to fall. Li Wei looked out the window and asked, "Did Rong Xiao and Xing Ye bring umbrellas when they went out?"

"Don't worry, you won't get wet." Yuan Zhiyan stuffed the last dumpling into his mouth, "They will call a taxi."

Li Xi turned around and found that Tang Ruining was staring at him with a bit of coldness in his eyes. Li Xi paused for a moment and looked back with a questioning look.

Tang Ruining lowered his eyes, poked a hole in the dumpling in the bowl, put it into his mouth and chewed it carefully. When he looked up again, he could no longer see any emotion, which made Li Xi suspect that he had just thought too much.

After dinner, Yuan Zhiyan went to wash the dishes, humming happily while washing. Just as the song was about to end, the sound of a bowl breaking was heard.

Li Xi ran over and saw Yuan Zhiyan squatting down to pick up the debris on the ground.

Li Xi quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him up, "Don't pick it up with your hands, are you stupid?"

He spread out Yuan Zhiyan's hand, and was relieved to see that he didn't cut himself, and said, "I'll get the broom to sweep, don't move."

Tang Ruining was also standing at the kitchen door. He said, "I'll go get it. Both of you, don't move."

He swept up the debris and went downstairs to take out the trash.

It was raining heavily outside. Tang Ruining stood under the eaves for a while, wondering what he was thinking.

When he came back, he was soaked. Li Xi looked at him in shock, "What were you doing?"

“Take out the trash.”

"Isn't the trash can just downstairs?" Li Wei turned up the temperature of the air conditioner in the living room. "Go take a shower quickly, or you'll catch a cold."

"Not here today." Tang Ruining answered slowly, still standing at the door without moving.

"If you're not here, don't throw it out in the rain. Can't you just leave it at the door first?" Li Xi said as he pulled the man in. He didn't understand how he got himself so soaked that he looked like he had been fished out of the river.

When he came out of the shower, Li Xi asked, "Have you removed the plaster? Do you want to put on a new one?"

"Um."

Li Xi still had the plaster given by Tang Ruining, so he went to get a piece.

Tang Ruining sat down on the sofa, unzipped his collar and lowered his head slightly. Li Xi gently pressed his shoulder with her fingers, "Is it in this position?"

Tang Ruining held his hand and moved him a little further inside, then tilted his head and put his face on the back of Li Xi's hand.

"Here," he whispered.

"...Okay." Li Xi waited for a few seconds and couldn't help but said, "Then can you let go so I can help you stick it on."

"oh."

In the afternoon, the three of them wanted to find a movie to watch. After a long time choosing what to watch, they finally picked "Pacific Rim".

Halfway through the film, Li Xi discovered that Tang Ruining had fallen asleep beside him.

…How can I fall asleep while watching this kind of movie? Did I get up too early in the morning?

He looked very tired with his head tilted, so Li Xi carefully put a pillow under him.

Just as he finished the difficult task of stuffing the pillow between his head and the armrest of the sofa, Tang Ruining woke up and opened his eyes to look at him.

"I want to put a pillow under you." Li Xi explained, leaning too close.

Perhaps he was still asleep, or perhaps he just wanted to know. Tang Ruining stared at the pure eyes that were so close to him, without too much emotion, and asked directly what was in his heart:

“Why are you so nice to everyone?”