Chapter 108: Formatted!
When Shen Si looked up after finishing his work, he saw that Ling Ling had already fallen asleep.
The boy was sleeping very comfortably on the sofa.
His little face was rosy, and because of the way he was lying, the hem of his shirt had ridden up slightly, exposing a flat, fair little stomach. His slim waist looked so narrow it could be held in two hands.
There was no way to tell, just by looking at him, that the entire coffee table full of snacks had all been devoured by this little guy.
“You should be thanking me for giving you a body that can eat as much as it wants without any burden.”
The man walked over on his long legs and said in a low voice, “Of course… I like it very much too.”
He bent down and softly called Ling Ling’s name a few times.
The little system showed no sign of waking up.
“Hey, wake up.”
Shen Si reached out and touched the little system’s soft cheek with one finger.
Probably because his face felt itchy, Ling Ling scratched at it unconsciously, frowned, and grumbled as he rolled over.
Then turned his butt toward the man.
Shen Si: “…”
“Ling Ling, I ate all your snacks.”
Shen Si brought out his trump card.
The moment he said that, Ling Ling woke up on the spot and sat bolt upright. “Leave some for me!”
He turned his head and met the man’s eyes.
Their gazes met.
For one brief moment, the air froze.
Ling Ling: “…”
Shen Si: “…”
After a few awkward seconds, Ling Ling scratched at his bird’s-nest hair. “Why did you wake me up…”
That question was actually a little too much.
Strictly speaking, it was his family doing business with the Gu family, and his senior was only here because Ling Ling’s father had invited him to help.
But his senior was just too capable, and Ling Ling himself knew nothing about business.
There was absolutely no chance for him to get involved.
So the little system simply let himself become a carefree salted fish who ate his fill and then slept happily.
He could not have asked for more.
This was supposed to be a vacation world, after all. There was no way he was going to work!
Running into his senior here was already incredibly lucky. He was capable, kind-hearted, and willing to help him. Otherwise, his father definitely would have pinned him here to study contract terms.
The moment he thought about the dense lines of text in those contracts, the little system’s scalp started tingling.
So whenever the other called him, he got nervous.
He was afraid his senior had seen how comfortably he was sleeping and wanted to swap shifts with him.
“Don’t worry. I only woke you up to go eat.”
Shen Si answered briefly.
Then he glanced at the coffee table piled with emptied snack wrappers and raised a brow. “Though judging by the look of it, you probably don’t need to.”
“I do, I do!”
The moment Ling Ling heard there was food, his eyes lit up. He touched his little stomach. “I can still fit more!”
Shen Si let out a quiet laugh. “I don’t believe that.”
“Unless you let me feel for myself.”
He had only been joking, but unexpectedly, the simple-minded little system actually took him seriously.
Ling Ling took the man’s hand and honestly placed it on his own stomach, his expression utterly sincere. “Go ahead. Is it soft?”
Shen Si’s eyes darkened, and his voice became a little hoarse. “Soft…”
Ling Ling curved his eyes in a smile. “That’s right. If it’s soft, that means it’s empty inside, so I can still eat another meal!”
“…Is that so?”
The skin under his hand was smooth and slippery. Although the little guy’s waist and abdomen were very slim, there wasn’t much muscle there.
The feeling of it was incredibly soft…
Shen Si shifted the position of his hand.
“…”
As Ling Ling felt the cool palm slowly stroking his stomach, moving lower and lower, his little face turned red, but he couldn’t bear to make a sound.
The memory of that night was stirred up again.
Back then, the other man had also pressed close to his stomach like this, leaving one kiss after another, until Ling Ling had felt so good he cried…
This time, though, the man withdrew his hand.
He withdrew it very suddenly, without any warning.
Just like that—if he said no more, then there was no more.
Ling Ling raised his head and looked at him with watery apricot eyes. Without realizing it, his tone carried a faint note of complaint. “…You’re not continuing?”
The little system lacked human emotions and had very little concept of shame. If he wanted something, then he wanted it.
Naturally, he also had no idea that the way he looked right now was no different from acting spoiled.
Shen Si’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He lowered his eyes to hide the storm in them and curled his lips into a smile. “Continue what? Weren’t you hungry?”
“Come on. Let’s go eat.”
“…”
Ling Ling felt strangely disappointed.
It was weird.
He couldn’t find the reason for his bad mood, yet somehow even food didn’t seem that interesting anymore.
Then what was interesting?
What had just happened?
“Is it polite to only show people the back of your head?”
Sitting in the car, Shen Si turned his head and looked at the boy in the passenger seat, who was staring out the window in a daze.
From the moment they got into the car, the little system had seemed dull and unhappy.
As if he had some little thought or little secret in his mind.
He kept staring out the window.
So from Shen Si’s angle, all he could see was a round little back of the head.
Although the back of the little guy’s head was cute too.
Still, what needed teaching had to be taught.
Shen Si said, “Turn your face this way.”
Ling Ling was obedient. When told to turn, he turned right back, but he still didn’t look at the man. His eyes stayed unfocused, staring straight ahead.
His lips were even pouted high up.
Shen Si: “…”
“Your mouth is sticking out so far you could hang an oil bottle on it. What exactly are you sulking about?”
His tone sounded like he was scolding a child.
Ling Ling felt rather wronged. Tugging at the hem of his shirt, he complained, “Just now, what you were doing felt really good. Why did you suddenly stop?”
“…”
Shen Si took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. “Do you even know what you’re saying?”
Ling Ling looked confused. “Am I not allowed to say it?”
Didn’t humans love expressing themselves?
When they finished eating, they said they were full. When they woke up, they said they slept well. Even after taking a bath, they’d sigh about how comfortable it felt.
So why was it that when it came to him, he wasn’t allowed to express it?
His senior really had made him feel good just now.
Shen Si knew there was no point trying to explain it to the foolish little system. Irritated, he clicked his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “Don’t you know how to feel embarrassed?”
“!”
Ling Ling immediately tensed up.
Did that mean he’d been exposed?!!
He couldn’t let his senior discover that he wasn’t a real human!
As a system, he only vaguely knew the word existed, but he didn’t really understand what being embarrassed was supposed to look like.
That day in the walk-in closet, his senior had taught him what shyness meant.
Was embarrassment the same thing as shyness?
In the current situation, how was he supposed to react?
Ling Ling felt guilty and didn’t dare look directly into the other’s eyes. His gaze darted around wildly as he tried to steer the topic away.
But the other wouldn’t let him.
Shen Si leaned closer and grabbed his chin. “Look at me.”
Ling Ling swallowed and obediently looked at him.
His face was so honestly innocent it almost hurt.
But his cheeks were turning redder and redder in a very suspicious way.
“Answer me. How do you feel right now?” Shen Si asked in a low voice.
“M-my heart is beating really fast… my face feels hot, and my body too…”
Ling Ling himself had no idea what was wrong with him. Even his breathing had become rushed, and he stammered as he spoke. “I-I don’t know, it’s weird…”
All they were doing was making eye contact at close range.
So why did his body suddenly feel hot and tingly, like it had gone completely out of his control?
Shen Si was very satisfied with the little system’s current state. His fingers lightly stroked the boy’s burning cheek.
“When a certain person gets close to you, it’s possible to feel exactly like you do now. That’s what being shy feels like. We already talked about that before. Did you forget?”
Ling Ling wanted to shake his head to show that he hadn’t forgotten, but his chin was still being held, so he gave up.
In a small voice, he asked, “…Then what about embarrassment?”
The man laughed. “It’s about the same. Just a little stronger than shyness. Maybe if you start thinking about something that ought to be blocked out in your mind, then you should feel embarrassed.”
Ling Ling suddenly understood. “So that’s what it is!”
That had really scared him.
His heart was beating so fast he thought he might be sick.
According to the system’s data, his current state felt a bit like a human having a fever.
So after all that, it turned out to be embarrassment.
It was true that just now he had thought a tiny little bit about something that really shouldn’t be aired… just a tiny little bit…
“Stop daydreaming nonsense.”
Suddenly, Shen Si tapped him lightly on the head.
Ling Ling jumped. “…How did you know?!”
Could his senior read minds?!
“It’s written all over your face.”
Shen Si couldn’t read minds, but the innocent little system showed everything on his face. He was very easy to read.
Ling Ling slowly let out a breath of relief.
That scared him to death.
He’d almost thought his secret of not being human had been discovered…
The little system’s expression—half dazed, half cautious—hadn’t hidden anything at all. His little face had flashed through a whole rainbow of emotions in an instant.
“Pretty cute, actually.”
Shen Si curled his lips and leaned closer. To his credit, he still remembered to ask, “Do you mind?”
“W-what?”
Ling Ling didn’t understand at first.
But even though he asked, the man didn’t answer. He only looked at him without blinking.
His senior was a really good person.
He could be trusted.
So the simple-minded little system shook his head. “If it’s Senior, I don’t mind anything…”
Before he could finish, the man sealed his lips with his own.
The little system’s pupils suddenly shrank.
All he could see was the other person’s face enlarged so much that it became blurry.
His cheeks heated up little by little, and very quickly the warmth spread through his whole body. His heart pounded so fast it felt like it was about to leap out.
The little system thought: Oh no, oh no, I’m going to burn to death!
That night in the hotel, it seemed like his senior had kissed him too.
But back then, because of the alcohol and the drugs, his consciousness had been far too hazy. Compared with what he felt emotionally, he’d paid much more attention to the physical pleasure.
He hadn’t felt at all like this now—like his heart was suddenly tightening, as if someone had gripped it in their hand and was toying with it.
Strictly speaking…
This counted as his first kiss, right?
So this was what a human’s first kiss felt like. How strange and amazing!
Perhaps because he sensed Ling Ling’s thoughts drifting away, the man pressed the edge of his teeth against his lip and ground lightly.
Their lips finally separated just enough to leave a thin gap for speech.
“Do you know what embarrassment feels like now?”
Shen Si asked him in a low voice.
As he spoke, their breaths mingled between them.
Ling Ling’s face had already turned so red that he looked like he was about to overheat, but he still answered obediently, “I know…”
It felt like his CPU was about to catch fire.
Danger level: at least five stars.
Shen Si let go of the dazed little thing. “Not bad. You learn pretty fast.”
In the system’s understanding, every time a task was completed, it should push the plot forward and earn a corresponding reward.
He’d been praised, so why was there only verbal recognition?
“You said I learn fast… doesn’t that come with a reward?”
Ling Ling asked foolishly, with the kind of persistence that came from occupational habit.
Shen Si raised a brow. “Yes.”
“There is.”
Without waiting for Ling Ling to ask what the reward was, he suddenly felt a coolness at his waist and stomach.
He was wearing ordinary casual pants that day, with an elastic waistband.
At that moment, the man’s long fingers hooked at the edge of his waistband and tugged it downward as if by accident.
“That really is convenient…”
Shen Si’s eyes were full of amusement. “Since I’m rewarding you anyway, let’s review once more what embarrassment means.”
Ling Ling instinctively shrank back against the passenger seat.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to.
It was just that in a place like an underground parking garage, where people came and went, all the senses seemed magnified, making him strangely nervous.
“A-are we doing this here?”
Ling Ling asked tentatively, pressing his legs tightly together.
Shen Si said, “This is only review. What exactly are you thinking about?”
“A human brain is a very strange thing.”
Shen Si curled his lips and stared unblinkingly at the boy in front of him, not missing a single micro-expression on his face. “After learning something new, it produces a forgetting curve.”
“If you don’t review it while it’s still fresh, you’ll forget it very quickly.”
“But if you review it a few more times, it’ll get engraved into your mind, and then you’ll never forget it again.”
Ling Ling clutched the man’s solid arm and gasped for air. “Senior…”
“Hm?”
Shen Si’s tone remained calm, so calm that no one could possibly guess what his hand was doing.
Ling Ling’s bright apricot eyes had turned watery. His lips were parted as he panted urgently, and the tip of his pink tongue pressed against the edge of his lips. Soft, mosquito-like sounds escaped from his mouth.
He helplessly shook his head while murmuring “Senior” over and over.
“If you say stop, I’ll stop.”
The man smiled, his tone gentle.
At once, Ling Ling bit down on his lip and even stopped shaking his head.
He wasn’t stupid.
If it felt that good, why would he say no?
He only felt a little embarrassed that he kept taking advantage of his senior again.
At first he’d wanted to ask if the other wanted help too, but when Ling Ling saw the veins standing out on the man’s wrist, he suddenly felt like that wasn’t such an easy favor to return.
Compared to him, the other man lasted so long it made his scalp tingle.
His palms would probably end up rubbed raw…
Forget it, forget it.
The little system closed his eyes and accepted the other’s service with total peace of mind.
In the dim underground garage, the luxury car parked in the corner rocked ever so slightly.
The boy in the passenger seat arched his body into a beautiful bow, trembling faintly.
Who knew how long passed before a flash of white suddenly burst through Ling Ling’s mind.
He slumped back against the seat, breathing hard, still unable to fully recover. With unfocused, watery eyes, he stared blankly at the man’s hand.
The man pulled out a tissue and slowly wiped each of his white-jade fingers clean, one by one.
The little system, who hadn’t understood what embarrassment was just a short while ago, suddenly felt like his whole body was on fire.
If his CPU had nearly burned out during the kiss just now,
then this time it had already exploded!
Tilting his head, Shen Si looked at him. “You really are honest. You didn’t say stop even once.”
Ling Ling’s face was still completely red, but he stubbornly held his ground. “Weren’t we supposed to review?!”
“And?” Shen Si didn’t expose him and generously left him a little dignity. “Did you memorize it now?”
Ling Ling nodded rapidly. “Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm!”
If he ever felt embarrassed again in the future, he’d definitely be able to tell immediately!
“Pretty smart.”
Shen Si reached into the car’s mini-fridge, pulled out a can of iced drink, and tossed it to him. “That’s part of the reward too. Catch.”
“Thank you, Senior…”
The moment Ling Ling got the cold drink, he pressed it straight to his burning cheeks to cool himself down.
Then his eyes shifted, and while the man started the car, he suddenly asked, “Senior, what’s your name? Tell me again!”
“This counts as review too!”
The little system emphasized it, thinking himself very clever.
Shen Si raised a brow high. “Oh? So now you’ve learned how to play tricks on me?”
Ling Ling hurriedly shook his head. “That’s not a trick.”
“Then what is it?”
“It’s…”
Ling Ling pinched his fingers into two tiny little finger-hearts. “It’s because I want to understand Senior’s feelings!”
That answer sounded a little oily.
Even the little system himself looked down on it.
The little hearts lasted only a second before falling apart.
But Shen Si’s eyes darkened, and his expression became a little more serious. “Why do you want to understand?”
“…”
Ling Ling froze.
He’d never thought about that.
Why did he want to understand?
Usually, only people who were very close wanted to understand each other.
So what kind of relationship did he and his senior have right now?
It didn’t seem quite like friendship…
Nor was it a colleague relationship.
Then what was it?
Shen Si looked at the troubled little system and coldly said, “Until you figure that out, don’t expect me to tell you.”
Ling Ling: Wah…
The gloomy mood from not getting his senior’s name vanished completely the moment they arrived at the restaurant.
“I’ve wanted to eat here so badly!!!”
Ling Ling excitedly grabbed the man’s hand. “This place is super famous on the review app, but it’s membership-only and you need a reservation. I couldn’t book it, so I had to give up.”
Finally having a human body, the little system was determined to eat every delicious thing possible.
Shen Si lowered his eyes to look at the way the boy’s hand was holding his, and his mood became very good.
He turned his hand and held the other’s in return.
Not giving the little guy any chance to pull away.
“Senior, you’re such a good person!”
The moment Ling Ling thought about the good food waiting for him, he handed the man another “good person” card.
Shen Si, who had only felt happy for a few seconds, got smashed in the face with a good person card again: “…”
Hand in hand, the two of them walked into the restaurant.
The moment they entered, a waiter stopped them. “Gentlemen, I’m very sorry, but the restaurant has been reserved tonight. We cannot receive any other guests. Please come again another day.”
Ling Ling frowned. “That’s not right. We made the reservation first, didn’t we? Shouldn’t you at least check the booking records?”
His senior was very reliable. If he said he’d made a reservation, then there was no way it was wrong.
“Yes, sir, you did indeed make a reservation, but our restaurant has been booked by an important guest tonight. Please come another day. We’re very sorry.”
The waiter bowed to them.
He was polite, but the meaning behind it was very clearly please leave.
“Does your restaurant not follow the rule of first come, first served?”
Ling Ling’s brows knit together.
As a system, he hated people who didn’t follow the rules.
The waiter didn’t explain any further. He only repeated once again, “We’re very sorry!”
Ugh, how annoying!
Ling Ling pouted. “What’s the point of apologizing? You’re just being politely dismissive!”
“Sorry about that!”
The waiter remained unmoved, like oil and salt couldn’t penetrate him. All he knew how to do was apologize.
His attitude looked respectful, but somehow it made people feel even more irritated.
It felt more like perfunctory brushing-off, as if he were saying, Yes, we know we’re wrong, but we’re absolutely not changing it.
Pouting, Ling Ling turned to look at the man beside him.
Only to realize he was smiling.
Shen Si wore a gentle smile and said warmly to him, “Remember how you feel right now. This is anger.”
Ling Ling: “?”
Shen Si said unhurriedly, “Even though your face is red and your heartbeat is speeding up too, do you feel how there’s a lump of frustration stuck in your chest? That heavy, stifled, uncomfortable feeling?”
Ling Ling: “???”
Was this really the time for that?!
Shen Si seemed to think he didn’t understand, so he even lowered his voice and kindly added, “Anger feels different from the embarrassment just now, doesn’t it?”
“…”
Who cared about that right now?!
Of course he knew he was angry.
At a time like this, how did Senior still have the mood to give him an emotional education lesson?!!
Ling Ling guessed that if he looked in a mirror right now, his expression would probably be a rainbow of colors.
His senior was a good person.
But could it be that he was too good?
Faced with something this unfair and rule-breaking, he didn’t even get angry?!
From now on, Ling Ling was definitely going to protect Senior properly, in case he was too kind and got bullied by other people.
“Wait here. I need to make a work call.”
After saying that, Shen Si stepped aside to make a phone call.
He still had the mood to think about work?!
Ling Ling was fuming. He glanced into the restaurant.
No matter how good the food here was, just because they didn’t follow the rules, he was never coming back again!
When Shen Si came back after the call, Ling Ling immediately grabbed him. “Let’s go.”
Shen Si raised a brow. “Not eating anymore?”
Ling Ling sniffed. “Didn’t they reserve the place? If we can’t get in, then I don’t want it anymore. Let’s go somewhere else.”
“It’s fine. We can go in.”
Shen Si gently rubbed the back of the boy’s hand with his thumb, signaling for him to calm down.
The waiter heard that and came to block the entrance again. “Sir, I’m sorry, but you really cannot go inside.”
Shen Si said mildly, “Oh?”
The waiter had worked in a high-end restaurant for years, and somewhere deep down he had developed a kind of arrogance he shouldn’t have had. Since ordinary methods weren’t enough to drive the guests away, he simply dropped the polite act and put on airs.
No more apologies. He said directly, “Unless you’re the owner of this restaurant, no one is going in tonight.”
Shen Si’s face remained expressionless. “You’d better verify who your owner is now.”
The waiter: “?”
Was this a joke?
Surely a restaurant this large couldn’t change owners overnight?
At first he didn’t care, but the man before him was not only strikingly handsome, he also carried an extraordinary bearing and an aura that made people not dare meet his eyes.
It actually made the waiter want to verify it.
Half-believing and half-doubting, the waiter slipped off to the side and made a phone call.
One minute later, his phone slipped from his fingers and hit the floor.
It shattered into pieces.
At the same time, the restaurant manager rushed out in a panic. “President Shen, welcome! I had no idea you were coming to inspect things today. I’ve made you wait—it’s entirely my failure!”
Shen Si’s attitude remained lukewarm. “Can we go in now?”
“Please, please do!”
The manager bent nearly ninety degrees at the waist, looking as though he wished he could physically carry the two of them inside.
The waiter had only just recovered from the shock of learning he had offended the new owner, and now he, too, bent into a sudden ninety-degree bow.
With a crack, he threw out his back.
He didn’t dare care whether his waist would ever recover or how badly his phone had shattered. Suppressing the pain, he forced a smile. “Please! Please, both of you!”
At this point, how could it still be up to him whether they got in or not?
Shen Si said nothing. He simply held Ling Ling’s hand steadily and led him inside.
Watching the two of them walk away, the waiter wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Before he could even sigh in relief, he heard the restaurant manager say, “You’re fired.”
The waiter: “…”
Well. This time, he was the one who couldn’t get into the restaurant anymore.
Jobs were so hard to find these days!
He didn’t want to be unemployed!!!
Shen Si led Ling Ling to an elegant seat by the window.
Ling Ling stared at the man in front of him. “Because we couldn’t get in, you bought the whole restaurant?”
“You like the food too, don’t you?”
Shen Si didn’t think much of it. “If I end up not liking it, I can always sell it again.”
Ling Ling blinked. “…So this is the legendary power of money?”
His family wasn’t lacking money either.
But they weren’t so crazy that they would buy a restaurant just to eat one meal.
His dad’s money didn’t fall from the sky!
The little system suddenly felt the need to reevaluate what the term playboy rich kid really meant.
Compared with that, didn’t Senior seem even more extravagant than him?
What Shen Si had actually wanted to say was that money wasn’t always??—not always all-powerful.
It was just that he was the Main Core.
He held supreme authority over the rules themselves.
Normally, he wouldn’t break the operating rules of a small world. But since the restaurant had violated the rules first, what was wrong with him making a small adjustment to an unimportant rule with a flick of his finger?
Of course, there was no need to tell the little system any of that.
Shen Si looked at the innocent little thing in front of him and noticed that the other’s eyes were sparkling—but not because he was looking at Shen Si.
Ling Ling was completely focused on studying the menu.
The unpleasantness from before had long since vanished.
Now the little foodie system stared at the rich dishes listed on the menu, swallowing repeatedly, so excited that his eyes looked ready to sprout little hearts.
Shen Si: “…”
Wonderful. Apparently, he ranked lower than a menu.
