Chapter 57: Exquisitely Beautiful

Shen Shilang’s undershirt was wide open, revealing his entire abdomen. Just below that were his underpants.

At this moment, he felt the waistband of his underpants loosen slightly.

To his surprise, Su Jinshi was actually trying to undo his underpants!

Shen Shilang, flustered, clutched at his underpants, his face flushed red. “Jinshi!”

“Shen Shilang!” Su Jinshi called out, mimicking his tone. “It’s New Year’s Eve! Won’t you let me enjoy a good meal?”

Shen Shilang held onto his underpants for dear life. After a long pause, he finally muttered, “You can only look… but you can’t… can’t taste…”

Su Jinshi took a deep breath, exclaiming in disbelief, “Shen Shilang, I didn’t expect you to be so knowledgeable! Tell me, have you been secretly looking at dirty pictures or reading erotic novels?”

Although Shen Shilang had never heard of “dirty pictures,” he could guess from Su Jinshi’s words that they were probably similar to the “forbidden drawings.”

Shen Shilang said with a red face, “I don’t need to look at those things. I understand basic common sense.”

Su Jinshi snorted twice in amusement. Taking advantage of not being face-to-face, she spoke without restraint, grinning, “If I could appear in front of you, I’d definitely feast to my heart’s content.”

“You… you…” Shen Shilang’s face reddened even more, feeling a surge of restlessness. He quickly pulled at the blanket and said, “Weren’t you going to keep me company for New Year’s?”

“Alright, although I’d prefer to spend New Year’s in bed with you,” Su Jinshi replied.

Shen Shilang: “……”

Su Jinshi chuckled mischievously, sounding like a rogue. She finally let Shen Shilang off the hook. “Did you eat much for dinner? Are you still hungry? If you have an appetite, I can get you something to eat.”

“Okay,” Shen Shilang finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. “I didn’t eat much for dinner.”

So Su Jinshi went to check the online shop and was surprised to find new Spring Festival items available.

A New Year’s Eve dinner set.

Su Jinshi: “… As expected of you!”..

Of course you would profit off this.^[1]System

While saying this, Su Jinshi spent 1000 gold coins to buy a New Year’s Eve dinner set.

Fortunately, these 1000 gold coins came from the upgrade reward, so she didn’t need to spend her own money.

The system seemed to have calculated the portion size perfectly for Shen Shilang alone. The set wasn’t large.

Each dish was exquisitely presented on small, palm-sized plates, but the quality of the dishes lived up to the 1000-coin price tag.

The wine was a sweet rice wine with almost no alcohol content.

Su Jinshi looked at it, then put the stronger liquor back in the wine cabinet and took out a bottle of rice wine instead.

She also took a few slices of beef and a small fried yellow croaker from her leftover New Year’s Eve dinner and put them on a small plate.

She had eaten quite well earlier and couldn’t eat more now, but she just wanted to accompany Shen Shilang while he ate, so she only took a little.

Even though Shen Shilang couldn’t see her.

Su Jinshi carried these back to the bedroom, placed them on the small round tea table, and positioned her phone on a stand, adjusting it to a more comfortable angle.

“I’m back!” Su Jinshi excitedly announced to Shen Shilang, who was already sitting properly at the table. “I just went to get some food, and I brought a bottle of rice wine for myself too. Although I can’t appear in front of you, I’ll drink with you.”

Shen Shilang felt a warmth in his heart. This was the first time since the fall of the Shen family that someone had accompanied him during this time of year.

“Shen Shilang, did you usually stay up for New Year’s Eve in previous years?” Su Jinshi asked.

Shen Shilang shook his head, looking at the moonlight outside the window. “With no one left in the family, there was no reason to stay up.”

The elders stay up to bid farewell to the old year.

The young stay up to pray for their parents’ longevity.

But with no one in his family, who could he pray for?

Su Jinshi felt a pang of sadness and said, “Then from now on, I’ll stay up with you for New Year’s Eve, okay?”

“I’ll pray for your blessings, wishing you safety, health, and a smooth life ahead,” Su Jinshi said softly.

Shen Shilang paused for a moment, feeling as if something was stuck in his throat, an indescribable sourness welling up inside him.

Yet his heart was filled with an emotion that seemed to be called happiness and security.

He suddenly stood up, went to the desk, lit a lamp, spread out some paper, weighed it down with a paperweight, and said to Su Jinshi, “Jinshi, let me draw a portrait of you.”

Su Jinshi’s motion of drinking rice wine halted, the cup lingering at her lips for a few seconds before she put it down and said, “How are you going to draw me? You don’t even know what I look like.”

“You can describe yourself to me,” Shen Shilang began to grind the ink eagerly. “I’ll draw based on what you tell me.”

Su Jinshi blinked, quickly grabbing a hand mirror. Looking at her face in the mirror, she said somewhat self-consciously, “How do you know what I’m saying is true? What if I’m not good-looking, but I describe myself as a beauty?”

Shen Shilang was really too handsome, and Su Jinshi felt she was far inferior to him in looks.

Shen Shilang was surprised, not expecting Su Jinshi to say this.

He then chuckled softly, “I don’t care about conventional beauty standards. I just want to know what you look like. You understand me so well, yet I don’t know your appearance.”

Su Jinshi replied, “Although I’m not as good-looking as you, I’m still presentable.”

Shen Shilang smiled, “Then describe yourself to me? Let’s see how close my final drawing is to you.”

Su Jinshi looked in the mirror, trying to describe herself as objectively as possible.

As Su Jinshi described, the portrait on the paper became clearer and more detailed.

Shen Shilang was skilled in drawing and worked quickly.

Every stroke was clean, sharp, and precise.

After the final stroke, Shen Shilang looked at the portrait on the paper.

The beautiful and lively appearance of the woman came to life on the paper.

Shen Shilang’s eyes curved slightly as he smiled and asked Su Jinshi, “Does it look like you?”

Su Jinshi looked at the portrait in surprise, “It really does look about seventy to eighty percent like me. I didn’t expect you to draw so well just from my description.”

Su Jinshi couldn’t help but think that they were now somewhat like online friends.

Except that instead of exchanging photos like internet friends do, she had given Shen Shilang a portrait.

Shen Shilang carefully examined Su Jinshi’s appearance in the drawing and said, “You said you were just presentable, but that’s really being too modest.”

“You think I look good?” Su Jinshi knew Shen Shilang wouldn’t say anything negative, but she still couldn’t help feeling a bit nervous.

Shen Shilang smiled at her. Although it was just rice wine, it had tinged his cheeks with a faint blush.

His curved eyebrows seemed to sparkle with starlight as he looked at Su Jinshi tenderly. He nodded to her and said with absolute certainty, “Exquisitely beautiful.”

Su Jinshi blushed at Shen Shilang’s words, but she couldn’t help feeling happy inside.

Shen Shilang lowered his head, his eyes falling on the portrait.

He didn’t share his current thoughts with Su Jinshi.

Now he had come to believe that Su Jinshi wasn’t a ghost, but a person living in another world who could somehow communicate with him.

He thought, since Su Jinshi could communicate with him across different worlds, there must be a way to connect their worlds and truly come together someday.

Shen Shilang’s heart lifted with hope. There had to be a way.