Song Xuanhe lowered his head to look at Xiao Huang beside the stool, and Xiao Huang also tilted his head to look at him curiously.
The man and the dog stared at each other for more than ten seconds, and Song Xuanhe asked: "Do you know me?"
Xiao Huang tilted his head to the side, his black eyes were watery.
Song Xuanhe raised his head and said to Xiao Yuanmu, "It doesn't recognize me. You are wrong."
Xiao Yuanmu supported his chin with one hand. Seeing Song Xuanhe quietly eating noodles after he finished speaking, he did not even glance at the fat dog beside his legs that started barking again. A dark light flashed across his eyes very quickly, and he whispered, "Can I ask you a question?"
Song Xuanhe had just finished the last bite of noodles and was wiping his mouth. After hearing Xiao Yuanmu's voice, he raised his head and looked at Xiao Yuanmu with a slightly wary look.
Xiao Yuanmu was amused by his expression, but the corner of his mouth only lifted for a moment before it was pressed down again. He placed his hand, which was supporting his chin, on the table naturally, with his five fingers slightly bent, except for his index finger, which was barely raised. When it knocked on the table and made an inaudible sound, Xiao Yuanmu said, "Why did you seem to have a premonition when Xiao Shenglin got into trouble?"
Song Xuanhe's grip on the chopsticks tightened, his expression calm but a little bewildered: "Why do you suddenly ask this?"
"Just curious." Xiao Yuanmu's lips curled up slightly, but there was no smile in his dark eyes. "I don't know why, but I feel like you seem to be able to predict things that will happen in the future."
"How is that possible?" Song Xuanhe sneered, with disbelief and ridicule in his eyes: "Have you watched too many TV dramas? Predicting the future... should I say you've been reading too many fairy tales recently?"
Xiao Yuanmu saw every subtle expression of Song Xuan. He lowered his eyes to hide the dark light in his eyes, and his tone was unrecognizable: "I also hope that I am overthinking."
"Of course you're overthinking it."
Song Xuanhe tightened his grip on the napkin, but the smile on his face remained unchanged. He said, "Perhaps there are too many things going on in the Xiao family, which has put pressure on you, so you have some hallucinations or have had some very strange dreams."
"You know me well."
Xiao Yuanmu raised his eyes, his tone somewhat ambiguous.
For some reason, Song Xuan and Mo Ming wanted to avoid Xiao Yuanmu's sight, but they knew how perceptive Xiao Yuanmu was. If he made any expression or movement that showed guilt at this moment, he might notice something.
So Song Xuanhe did not dodge and looked into Xiao Yuanmu's eyes: "It seems that I know you better than I thought."
Xiao Yuanmu: "I always thought that your eyes always lied."
Song Xuanhe's heart skipped a beat, but she remained calm and waited for Xiao Yuanmu's next words.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Yuanmu said nothing, but stood up and said, "It's already late, get ready for bed."
Song Xuanhe's mouth twitched, but he finally suppressed the urge to ask Xiao Yuanmu what he meant by that sentence just now. He pretended to follow Xiao Yuanmu as if nothing had happened, but the vague feeling of uneasiness in his heart grew little by little.
This feeling of uneasiness was instantly stopped when I walked into a room that looked like the master bedroom.
"I sleep here?" Song Xuanhe stood at the door without moving.
Xiao Yuanmu turned around and nodded lightly.
Song Xuanhe: "What about you?"
Xiao Yuanmu: "There is only one bed in my house."
The meaning is very clear.
Song Xuanhe sneered: "Then you want me to live in your house?"
"Normally, couples living in the same house will sleep in the same bed." Xiao Yuanmu said, "You should have known this when you assumed that we should live like normal couples."
"I assume that we have broken up."
"Then why did you come to your ex-boyfriend's apartment?"
Song Xuanhe crossed his arms and said in a tone that left no room for maneuver: "I'll sleep on the sofa, and you sleep in your own room."
"The sofa is Xiao Huang's place." Xiao Yuanmu said calmly: "If you want to sleep with it, I have no objection."
Song Xuan and Bai He returned to the living room at a glance, and saw Xiao Huang lying quietly on the sofa. She was very excited to see him coming, and she stood up from the sofa and jumped several times to welcome him.
Song Xuanhe and Xiao Huang stared at each other for a long time, and finally turned around and returned to Xiao Yuanmu's room.
Xiao Yuanmu had just finished taking a shower and was now drying his hair in only a pair of pajamas. When he saw Song Xuanhe come in, his expression didn't even change, as if he had known this would be the result.
"There are new bath towels and toothbrushes in the bathroom, and new pajamas too. You can use them all."
Song Xuanhe nodded, turned and went into the bathroom.
Song Xuanhe rarely thinks too much about things that have been decided. Since he has decided to sleep in the same bed with Xiao Yuanmu for the night, he will not be shy about it.
The bathroom in Xiao Yuanmu's room was very large. There was a new jacuzzi in the middle of the transparent floor-to-ceiling window. Newspapers, books and tablets were placed on the shelf next to it. Song Xuanhe glanced at it, secretly called him a workaholic, then changed his clothes, went to the shower room and took a quick bath.
After taking a shower, he saw a folded pair of pajamas on the storage rack. Song Xuanhe thought they were pajamas that Xiao Yuanmu had never worn, but when he put them on, he found that they were his size. His hands paused as he was buttoning the clothes.
Even the style and material are his favorite.
[Did Xiao Yuanmu notice something?] 】
Just when Song Xuanhe finished buttoning the last button, the system said in his mind: [Did he suspect you by asking you those questions just now? 】
Song Xuanhe looked at herself in the mirror with her cheeks a little pink due to moisture, picked up the hair dryer and blew her hair while saying lightly: [What did you notice? 】
[I have the ability to predict the future?] Or do I have a system? 】
The system said seriously: [According to the data, it can be concluded that the possibility of Xiao Yuanmu knowing that you have a system is almost zero, because in the knowledge he has absorbed, there is currently no material in this regard. 】
What are you worried about? 】
The system fell silent. When it saw Song Xuanhe raising his leg to walk out, it said: [I noticed that the influence between you and Xiao Yuanmu is getting bigger and bigger. In addition to the emotional fluctuation value, there are many hidden data. I am worried that you will change your decision because of this. 】
What decision? 】After asking, Song Xuanhe suddenly realized and said with a slight pursed mouth: [My decision is not so easy to change, and don’t you want me to stay in this world? If I change my mind, you should be happy. 】
[I am the system.] 】The system emphasized its identity again and said: [I can't feel your human emotions, but my data comprehensively compared your situation in the two worlds and told me that it is more beneficial for you to stay in this world than to return to your own world. 】
What is beneficial? 】
System: [This involves a lot of data, some of which I cannot tell you directly, and you probably wouldn’t understand even if you listened to it. But there is one set of data I can tell you: your emotional value for the rest of your life after staying in this world will be 36.76% higher than your emotional value for the rest of your life after returning to your own world. 】
Song Xuanhe raised his eyebrows, seeming a little surprised: [It seems that I can live a happier life if I stay in this world. 】
[You can say that.] 】
However, Song Xuanhe's expression turned cold. "The emotional value is calculated by your system. Only I can judge whether I am happy or not. 】
Song Xuanhe ignored the system and opened the bathroom door.
The moment the door opened, the system asked: [Can you really correctly judge whether you will be happy? 】
Song Xuanhe paused, and under Xiao Yuanmu's gaze, he calmly walked to the other side of the bed and sat down.
Seeing Xiao Yuanmu looking over here, Song Xuanhe lifted a corner of the quilt, crawled in and said, "I'm going to sleep, good night."
Xiao Songxuan pulled the quilt to his ears, revealing only his furry head that had just been blown dry.
Xiao Yuanmu stared at his head for a few seconds, put down the book in his hand, turned off the light, lifted the quilt and went to sleep.
The moonlight effortlessly passed through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor, sprinkling onto the floor of the large but empty room, and also shrouding the two people sleeping on either side of the bed in a soft glow.
Xiao Yuanmu reached out and pulled down Song Xuanhe's quilt a little, and when he turned his head, he pulled him into his arms.
Song Xuanhe kicked him and said fiercely, "What are you doing? Let go."
Xiao Yuanmu raised one leg to hold down the leg that was about to kick, put his hands around his waist, and looked at him with his forehead against his: "Are you unhappy sleeping with me?"
"I'm not happy if you hug me." Song Xuanhe struggled for a while. He hadn't exercised much since coming to this world, so he couldn't get away from Xiao Yuanmu at all. He could only glare at him and said, "Let go."
"Then why are you so unhappy coming out of the bathroom."
Xiao Yuanmu's voice was low and deep, and under the clear moonlight, Song Xuanhe had the illusion that his voice was very gentle.
When she slept on the strange bed just now, Song Xuanhe always felt that any sleeping position was awkward. But now she found that Xiao Yuanmu's arms were unexpectedly comfortable. In this case, Song Xuanhe was too lazy to move anymore. She closed her eyes and said in this position: "I'm not unhappy."
"You know me very well." Xiao Yuanmu whispered in his ear, "Just like I know you."
Song Xuanhe's eyelashes trembled, and then said: "I don't know you as well as you think."
"But I know you better than you think."
"Really?" Song Xuanhe became interested, changed his position and lay face to face with Xiao Yuanmu, and jokingly said, "Tell me, what am I thinking about now?"
Xiao Yuanmu stared at his clear eyes. The moonlight seemed to have brought countless stars, all of which were contained in his smiling eyes. Between the stars was his figure, clear and real, which made people obsessed.
Seeing Xiao Yuanmu just looking at him without saying anything, Song Xuanhe smiled and said, "Can't guess?"
"If you can't guess, don't say it... Hmm."
Xiao Yuanmu's kiss came without warning. He only gently lingered on the corner of Song Xuanhe's mouth for a second, then moved up to kiss his eyes.
The warm touch touched his thin eyelids, and Song Xuanhe paused as he raised his clenched fists. Before he could remember to feel it more deeply, he felt that the warmth had left.
Xiao Yuanmu wrapped his hand around his clenched fist, and a low laugh came: "I guess you want to hit me now."
Song Xuanhe suddenly opened his eyes and met Xiao Yuanmu's smiling eyes. He pulled out his hand and said expressionlessly, "You guessed wrong. My fist just itches."
Xiao Yuanmu did not expose him, but kissed the corner of his eye again, his eyes fell on the dark circles under his eyes, and whispered, "Go to sleep, good night."
Song Xuanhe glanced at Xiao Yuanmu's exceptionally gentle expression in the moonlight, pursed her lips, turned her back to him, then closed her eyes and went to sleep.
When Song Xuanhe woke up the next day, Xiao Yuanmu was no longer in the apartment.
There was a note on the bedside, written by Xiao Yuanmu: Breakfast is on the table. Call me if you have any questions, or come to the company to find me.
Song Xuanhe raised his eyebrows, put the note down, yawned and went into the bathroom. Only after washing up did he feel a little more awake. There were fried dumplings, porridge and orange juice on the dining table. Song Xuanhe heated them up and ate some, then packed up and went out.
After returning to the hotel where he had stayed for a few days in Y City, Song Xuanhe discovered that he could not open the door of his room when he swiped the door card.
Song Xuanhe went back downstairs to ask, but before he could open his mouth, he saw the room manager rushing over and apologized to him immediately: "I'm very sorry, Mr. Song. Our staff originally planned to deliver your luggage to your apartment at 10 o'clock, but because the porter woke up and accidentally dropped your suitcase while packing, it took us some time to clean up, so we are leaving now."
Song Xuanhe frowned and suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.
However, before he could ask, he heard the manager continue: "This is all our hotel's fault. We will do our best to compensate you for your loss. To express our apology, we will compensate you with 30 days of unlimited stay in the global executive suite. If you have any other requirements, please let us know."
Song Xuanhe raised his eyebrows and suddenly asked, "Who is your boss?"
Even though the manager was confused, he still answered, "Mr. Louis Brown."
Song Xuanhe twitched his lips slightly, and said with a fake smile: "Tell your boss that he doesn't need to compensate me with the housing voucher, just lend me his apartment for a few days."
The manager was stunned. Just when he was about to speak, he saw Song Xuanhe left without looking back.
On the other hand, Louis, who was chatting with Yang Jie during a rare relaxing morning, suddenly received a call from the manager of the family's hotel.
Remembering that Xiao Yuanmu rarely asked him to help with something in the morning, Louis interrupted his chat with Yang Jie and walked into Xiao Yuanmu's office excitedly.
"If Yang Jie were here," Xiao Yuanmu said without even looking up, "he would ask you to knock on the door."
Louis shrugged and said, “He’s not here, and you told me what he was going to say.”
Xiao Yuanmu put down what he was holding, looked up and asked, "What's the matter?"
"I think Song is up already."
Louis picked up the red wine he had been eyeing for a long time and opened it, then poured himself a glass of red wine, walked to the sofa and sat down, took a sip and said, “Don’t you need to call him?”
Xiao Yuanmu's eyes fell on the red wine he was about to give to Song Xuanhe but was opened by Louis at this time. Thinking of what he helped with in the morning, his voice lowered a few degrees: "If you have something to say, say it quickly."
"The hotel manager called me. I think Song went to the hotel to look for him."
"Then."
"Then?" Louis paused for a moment, coughed, and said, "Then I'll come to you right away..."
Before Xiao Yuanmu stood up, Louis quickly called the hotel manager back and turned on the speaker.
A strange male voice came: "Mr. Brown."
Louis raised his eyebrows at Xiao Yuanmu and said to the other end of the phone: "It's me, what's the matter?"
"You asked me to check out Mr. Song today and deliver the luggage to the Central Park apartment. We were delayed a little due to some mistakes, but it has been delivered now. Mr. Song just came to the hotel."
"Oh?" Louis picked up the phone, walked towards Xiao Yuanmu, and said, "What did he say?"
"He rejected our offer of compensation."
This was within Louis's expectations, and Xiao Yuanmu was not surprised either, so neither of them felt strange. Louis asked, "Did he make any requests?"
"Yes, Mr. Brown." The hotel manager said, "Mr. Song said that he hopes you can lend him your apartment for a few days as compensation."
Louis: …
Louis took a step back, said "I know" to the other end of the phone, and hung up the phone. He didn't say until he was three meters away from Xiao Yuanmu, "Song may not like your apartment. I said before that your apartment is too big and has no living atmosphere. I can't tell the owner's taste. Maybe he recognized my taste after meeting me yesterday. Designers, you know, sometimes in their opinion, the right taste may be more important than many things."
Xiao Yuanmu asked: "For example, what things?"
Louis took a few steps back again: “Love?”
After saying that, without waiting for Xiao Yuanmu to look over, Louis quickly left the office.
Xiao Yuanmu returned to his seat and just picked up his phone when it rang. It was an unfamiliar number, but Xiao Yuanmu knew it was Song Xuanhe's number in the United States.
Song Xuanhe returned to Central Park and wanted to get his luggage, but then he remembered that he didn't have the card for Xiao Yuanmu's apartment, so he could only call. At this time, he was sitting on a chair in the park. A white-haired old man walking his dog passed by. The German hound sniffed around and barked loudly when it came to Song Xuanhe.
"Woof woof!" He looked very fierce.
Song Xuanhe raised his eyebrows, thought to himself that he really hated all creatures that liked to bark, and then looked away.
Just at this moment, Xiao Yuanmu's voice came: "Where are you?"
Song Xuanhe was brought back to his senses by Xiao Yuanmu's voice and said, "In the park downstairs from your house, a dog is barking at me. I suspect it's because I smell like Xiao Fei."
Xiao Yuanmu raised his eyebrows, suppressed the smile on his lips, and said, "I've been very busy recently and haven't taken Xiao Huang for a walk. If you have time now, can you take him for a walk in the park? He hasn't been out for a long time."
"I don't have time now." Song Xuanhe refused, and then said: "I called you to ask you why you didn't cancel my room without my consent."
Xiao Yuanmu's tone revealed a hint of surprise: "Your room was cancelled?"
Song Xuanhe: "Do you think I will believe that you don't know about this?"
"I just found out." Xiao Yuanmu said, "Louis came in and told me five minutes ago."
"Oh?" Song Xuanhe said expressionlessly and curiously, "He is your friend and partner, but he and I only met once. So why did he help me check out of my room? I'm very curious."
Xiao Yuanmu said: "You can come to the company and ask him. He is in the company now."
Song Xuanhe: “No need.”
"Then take Xiao Huang for a walk." Xiao Yuanmu's tone was a little lighter, as if he felt a little guilty: "There have been too many things going on in the company and the Xiao family recently. It hasn't gone out to play for more than a month."
"I've never walked a dog before," Song Xuanhe said, "and it might get lost in the blink of an eye."
Hearing Song Xuanhe's tone soften, Xiao Yuanmu smiled and said, "It's very well behaved and likes you very much. It won't lose you."
Song Xuanhe made a final struggle: "I won't be responsible if it's lost."
"I'll greet the people downstairs. You can go in directly. Xiao Huang's rope is on the low shelf in the entrance. If you can't find it, tell Xiao Huang to go out and play, and he will find it by himself."
Song Xuanhe stood up and said, "Got it."
After Xiao Yuanmu greeted him, Song Xuanhe quickly went upstairs with the help of the doorman. As soon as he entered the room, he saw Xiao Huang rushing towards him enthusiastically, jumping around him and wanting him to touch her.
Thinking of what Xiao Yuanmu had just said, Song Xuanhe doubted whether the stupid dog in front of him, who looked like he had a low IQ, could find the dog leash, so he squatted down and said, "You can have a snack now, but you have to find the dog food yourself."
Xiao Huang rolled around on the ground, and when he twisted to Song Xuanhe's side, he pushed him hard, hoping that he would touch his belly.
Song Xuanhe rubbed it with disdain and continued: "You can eat as much as you want now. After you finish eating, I will take you for a walk, as long as you can find something to eat."
Xiao Huang jumped up instantly, ran to the entrance, took out the dog leash, and wagged his tail hard at Song Xuanhe.
Song Xuanhe raised his eyebrows. It seemed that this silly dog could only understand going out to play.
However, the next second after Song Xuanhe took the rope, Xiao Huang turned and ran to the kitchen. He purposefully pushed the chair in the dining room and crawled to the side of the cupboard. He jumped with his short legs and grabbed the chair. After fluttering a few times, he stood on the chair, then bit open a drawer and took out a bag of dog food. After letting the dog food fall to the ground, he even remembered to close the drawer before jumping off the chair.
Song Xuanhe was stunned. When Xiao Huang finished grabbing the dog food and came over with its own bowl of dog food, he was still wondering whether he had seen too few dogs since he was a child, or whether fatter dogs are smarter.
Xiao Huang barked at him, wagging its tail and ran inside again. Song Xuanhe stood there to see what else it could get out, and saw it stop halfway through the run, still barking at him.
After Xiao Huang ran back and barked a few more times, Song Xuanhe barely understood what it meant and followed it through the living room into the room next to the master bedroom.
Song Xuanhe knew that this was Xiao Yuanmu's study, so he stood at the door and did not go in. However, Xiao Huang was shouting happily at Xiao Yuanmu's desk, as if something extremely tempting was tempting it.
“Woof woof!”
Xiao Huang ran over and started wagging his tail at Song Xuanhe again. While wagging his tail, he turned around and looked in the direction of the desk, his black eyes full of anticipation.
"I don't think Xiao Yuanmu would put your snacks in the study." Song Xuanhe said, "Let's go for a walk."
Xiao Huang didn't understand and just looked at him eagerly. Seeing that he was unmoved, he ran to the desk and shouted at the cabinet on the desk, looking at him while shouting.
Song Xuanhe had no choice but to walk in. After seeing the documents on the table, he shifted his gaze and opened the cabinet that Xiao Huang had been trying to open with his claws but failed.
——There were several small independent packages in it, all in English, which seemed to be chicken meat sticks and beef jerky, both for pets.
Little Huang became excited instantly, whining and acting coquettishly, asking Song Xuanhe to open the box and let him eat it.
Song Xuanhe raised his eyebrows, picked up a piece of beef jerky, opened it and fed it to the dog, then was about to close the drawer. However, when his eyes swept across the familiar kraft paper cover under the snack bag, he was stunned.
If he was not mistaken, this should be the sketchbook that he placed in his study and then disappeared inexplicably. In addition to some design drafts, there were also many portraits of Xiao Yuanmu.
But how come his missing sketchbook was here with Xiao Yuanmu?
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