At this time, Shen Er'an was still relatively easy to read.

Jiao Bai moved the wontons the server had brought over closer to himself. He set off a butterfly effect, so would Shen Er’an still turn out to be a rbtlazf in the future…?

Also, he changed his number so Li Jue couldn’t reach him anymore. It was unclear how the Li Jue would enter the stage.

“You’re not going to ask me about what happened in the lounge?” Jiao Bai picked up a wonton, blew on it, dipped it in vinegar, and ate it in one bite.

Shen Er’an was inspecting his own bowl of wontons, checking for spring onion pieces.

Jiao Bai’s tone was relaxed, with a touch of playful, sly teasing among friends. “If you don’t ask, I won’t tell you.” He ate three wontons in one go and said, “Delicious.”

Shen Er’an was momentarily stunned. The person across from him had a look of satisfaction and happiness on his face. A hint of confusion appeared in Shen Er’an’s lowered eyes.

It was just wontons. What was there to be so happy about?

Shen Er'an took a bite of the wonton, and the corners of his lips turned downwards. The filling was small and the skin was thick. How was this delicious? It wasn’t delicious at all.

“Try dipping it in vinegar,” Jiao Bai suggested earnestly. He was two years older than Shen Er'an so he sometimes thought of him as a younger brother.

Currently, Shen Er'an’s activity level was the highest so Shen Er’an should receive the greatest amount of his enthusiasm.

Jiao Bai watched Shen Er'an dip his wontons in vinegar, his eyes unconsciously showing fatherly affection, which quickly disappeared. He then began to ponder the significance behind activity levels.

For example, closeness level[1]. When players formed a team in a game, each collaboration would increase the closeness level by a bit. The closeness level served as the evidence and significance of the victories and losses they shared together.

Favorability level, on the other hand, had a different sort of meaning, referring to good impression, fondness...

In that case, activity level was something different again.

Jiao Bai suddenly stopped blowing on his wonton. Did activity level refer to interest… His friend’s interest in him? His heart started to race. It was quite possible!

Jiao Bai reviewed the details his entire plan.

He made use of the fact that Shen Er'an had learned from the old lady that he was just a okzxsghmf. He deliberately deceived Liang Dong in the restroom, making him act as an intermediary to pass on those vulgar remarks to Shen Er'an. This, in turn, reinforced the image of him being merely a toy for others' amusement.

Next, he overturned his own image by ingeniously solving a challenging problem, thereby catching Shen Er'an’s attention.

The step after that was becoming Shen Er'an’s roommate and intentionally revealing certain private matters and little habits. The goal was to let Shen Er'an see the reformed image he had crafted—one that was free from decay and yearning for the light, with a love for learning and life, and filled with hope for the future.

That paper dragonfly was the finishing touch.

That dragonfly was the most important thing in Shen Er'an's life.

At that time, Jiao Bai was just one paper dragonfly away from being sentenced to death. He didn’t step on it and picked it up carefully.

So, instead of receiving a punch, he received an opportunity to live and a glimmer of hope.

In fact, the more Liang Dong talked about how trashy he was in front of Shen Er'an, the more Shen Er'an’s interest in him grew.

It was a bit like reading a book or watching a TV drama—when others describe something differently from what you see, you want to find out what exactly they’re talking about.

So, that mandatory mission in the lounge was probably a case of quantitative changes leading to qualitative changes. It was the cumulative effect of his previous actions that produced that result.

Jiao Bai speculated that Shen Er’an identified himself with him, and thought that they were the same kind of people. They had family but it was the same as having none. Despite this, they longed for familial love and showed it the sincerest reverence.

Due to previous interactions and observations, Shen Er’an became more interested in him and wanted to know what kind of person he was.

This reasoning made sense. Alright, activity level refers to interest.

The friends list suddenly appeared in front of Jiao Bai.

Whoever had the highest activity level received a “茭” golden seal, making it appear majestic, formal, grand and full of the sense of ceremony[2].

The seal was now next to Shen Ji’s name, who was second on the list. His activity level was… 37.

“Cough—”

Jiao Bai choked on a mouthful of wonton soup.

Rghs, 37? How did it get to 37? What did he do tonight? Aside from accidentally locking eyes with that old azrszqc and then running away, he didn’t do anything else, right?

Could it be that the way he looked when he ran away dazzled the old azrszqc’r eyes?

The area just above Jiao Bai's tailbone instinctively started throbbing in pain. When someone’s activity level increased, it meant that they wanted to remove Jiao Bai’s mask and expose his true self.

Old dog Shen didn’t think it was worth his time and effort to understand someone. He only wanted to etbj him.

‘Only’ what fucking ‘only.’

Jiao Bai couldn’t even eat his wontons anymore. He finally acheived a rosy flush on his face from the steam and the food, but now it had vanished completely.

The activity level increasing was a good thing. Once it reached 50, he would gain privileges and the situation would only improve. Jiao Bai tried to comfort himself with this thought but it was utterly useless, he still felt a chill from the inside out.

Since this was the method to raise that old bastard’s activity level, if he just went along with it, would the activity level max out in one go?

But what if didn’t increase, but it actually decreased instead?

That was very possible.

Moreover, his body was still an unripe fruit[3].

The old bastard disliked eating unripe fruit the most. The endless, desperate wailing and crying made him lose his appetite. It was also troublesome and he couldn’t enjoy himself to his heart’s content

Jiao Bai fell into deep thought. Why was he even pondering this issue here? After all, that was the notorious Big Eater King Top who struck terror into the Little Bottom realm of South City.

Jiao Bai said the second half of the sentence directly out loud[4].

After saying that, he glared at Shen Er’an, who had looked over at him with dark, piercing eyes. What are you looking at? You’re going to be one in the future too!

Shen Er'an didn't understand why this person suddenly had burrs all over his body. He put down his chopsticks, and the layer of wonton oil on his pursed lips made him look like a simple, innocent boy next door, completely devoid of the darkness and fifth of a powerful family.

“The wontons, don't taste good??

“Not great.” Jiao Bai’s appetite was affected, but it had nothing to do with the wontons—it was all the old azrszqc’r fault.

Shen Er’an's gaze drifted between the half-eaten wontons in front of Jiao Bai and his gentle downturned eyes, which the steam had given a hazy dreamlike look. After a moment’s pause, Shen Er’an spoke in a voice that was both low and clear, “What you’ve ordered, try your best, not to waste.”

Upon being lectured by someone younger than him, Jiao Bai’s cheeks flushed red. He clicked his tongue and muttered, “…Got it.”


[1] 亲密度 (qīnmì dù) – means ‘degree of intimacy’ or level of closeness – measures how close people are to each other.

[2] 茭 (jiao) is Jiao Bai’s surname

[3] A vhqfhm

[4] The Chinese sentence structure is different so what he says out loud is “notorious Big Eater King Top”