Chapter 59: Exclusive to Jinjiang 2/2

Such beautiful and clean clothes—who knows how those kids trampled on them?

Song Fuzhi paused for a moment and scrolled Zhang’s Weibo from the bottom to the top.

Teacher Zhang’s Weibo was always visible. He openly showed his two-dimensional image to everyone but kept his real-life self hidden.

There was so much bitterness behind these photos, but he didn’t mention a word.

Song Fuzhi silently noted down the character Zhang cosplayed for the first time; he also wanted to do it.

After roughly determining all the cosplay characters, Song Fuzhi quickly immersed himself in the hectic preparations.

With the experience from last time, he moved much faster this time. The only challenging part was squeezing in the time for filming, balancing it without affecting work, and keeping it a secret from her husband. The focus was on being bold yet meticulous.

So, when Song Fuzhi returned home recently, he seemed visibly tired. On one hand, it was due to exhaustion, and on the other hand, there was a sense of excitement, indicative of excessive mental exertion.

Shi Zhang had not returned yet, and Song Fuzhi was too lazy to cook. Unconsciously, he curled up on the sofa and fell asleep.

So, when Shi Zhang returned home, this was the scene he encountered.

Song Fuzhi lay on his side, facing the sofa, sleeping soundly. His bangs quietly hung at the corner of his eyes, looking very obedient, making Shi Zhang inexplicably think of a little falcon dumpling sleeping crookedly in a flowerpot.

However, Song Fushi clearly lacked any sense of alertness. Even when Shi Zhang walked up to him and sat down, he remained asleep, breathing steadily.

Shi Zhang involuntarily stared at him for a long time, a smile playing on his lips.

When Song Fuzhi woke up, the sky was already completely dark, with only a dim orange light in the house.

Waking up at night often brought a sense of loneliness, as if the whole world had abandoned you. Before Song Fuzhi could feel this loneliness surfacing, his forehead was kissed by warm lips.

It was warm and reassuring, instantly enveloping her.

Shi Zhang sat cross-legged on the carpet beside the sofa, gently running his fingers through Song Fuzhi’s hair. “Awake? Want to eat?”

Song Fuzhi responded with a nasal sound: “I planned to rest a bit before cooking when I came back. I didn’t expect to sleep for so long.”

“In that case, no cooking tonight,” Shi Zhang swayed his phone lazily. “Let’s order takeout.”

Song Fuzhi, surprised, asked, “Order takeout?” Both of them were health-conscious adults. Apart from occasionally exploring new restaurants on weekends, they usually cooked at home.

Today, however, they decided to order takeout, and it was Shi Zhang who suggested it. Song Fuzhi found it somewhat unexpected.

When Song Fuzhi lived alone before, he used to order takeout quite often. Being somewhat of a homebody, he found it delightful to lie down and watch a show while eating takeout.

After marriage, this had become rare. Today, unexpectedly, they were going to experience takeout again.

“It’s okay to eat occasionally,” said Shi Zhang, who had already opened the takeout app. “What do you feel like eating?”

Song Fuzhi, not holding back, leaned on the sofa and reached out to slide on Shi Zhang’s phone screen. “Let me see…”

In the end, they ordered a variety, including spicy hot pot, sushi, and soda. A miscellaneous assortment of bags arrived at their doorstep, weighing quite a bit.

Song Fuzhi placed the bags on the dining table, ready to open them, but Shi Zhang held his wrist.

“How about eating in a different place today?” Shi Zhang suggested.

Song Fuzhi didn’t quite understand. “Where?”

Shi Zhang picked up the bags and placed them on the coffee table in the living room. Sitting cross-legged on the fuzzy carpet, he patted the space beside him, looking at Song Fuzhi. “Come sit?”

“Today feels so comfortable.” Song Fuzhi smiled and went over to sit down.

Watching as Shi Zhang turned on the TV, cast the screen, and the homepage of an anime streaming site appeared, Song Fuzhi raised an eyebrow at Shi Zhang.

“What do you want to watch?” Shi Zhang looked natural, as if they did this every day. “Some of the recent anime are quite interesting. Interested?”

“Let’s try that one.” Song Fuzhi pointed to the top left corner of the TV, tearing open the utensils as he spoke. “I’ve been wanting to watch it but never had the time.”

Shi Zhang directly pressed play: “Sure, I also want to watch this one.”

Who would have thought that two wise and valiant teachers, in the dark of night, would be sitting on the floor of their living room, eating takeout, and watching anime?

What mother-seen behavior this was; if Teacher Wang were present, she would probably pick up a broom and start hitting people.

One episode was only twenty minutes, and the two of them chatted about the plot while watching, time passing quickly.

In the opening sequence before the start of the second episode, Song Fuzhi, holding a half-eaten bowl of food, burped with a smile.

“I really can’t imagine that married life would turn out like this one day,” Song Fuzhi said.

Shi Zhang also smiled. “I never expected it—enjoying yourself?”

“Enjoying it,” Song Fuzhi nodded, a bit embarrassed. “Although I never confiscated manga books from my students, I can understand them. The manga is so captivating that once you start, you can’t stop.”

Shi Zhang laughed. “Indeed, the way they depict the worlds inside is fascinating and makes people yearn for it.”

The TV played a gentle and mild opening song, like a summer evening breeze.

Song Fuzhi curled up his knees, gently resting his chin. “I don’t have much significance on my own, but watching many protagonists adventure, grow, and gain interesting and lovely things in different worlds makes me feel like I can be with them.”

He laughed a little, half of his face buried in his arms. “Am I being silly? Because we clearly live in this reality.”

“Isn’t it just silly?” Shi Zhang leaned closer to him. “I’m just as silly as you.”

“When I pretend to be these characters, I feel like I’ve temporarily escaped from this world and become one of them. But this obviously doesn’t solve any real problems, yet I keep escaping over and over again.”

They locked eyes in the music, their experiences so different yet so similar.

Song Fuzhi propped up his chin and said with a smile, “In high school, sometimes when I was doing homework, I’d daydream. I’d imagine the protagonist of a passionate manga suddenly appearing beside me, grabbing my hand and saying, ‘Stop doing homework, stop taking exams, come with me to find treasures!’ Thinking about it, I could daydream for a long time, feeling like they had really appeared, and that feeling was especially real.”

Shi Zhang laughed without reservation. “If your students knew that Teacher Song once did this—”

The next episode of the anime began, and the two soon fell silent, fully immersed in the plot.

Midway through, Shi Zhang began to lose focus.

Thinking about what Song Fuzhi had just said, a bold but fitting idea formed in his mind.

Shi Zhang quickly outlined the plan in his mind, involuntarily laughing out loud.

Song Fuzhi looked over in surprise and asked, “Why are you laughing? There wasn’t anything funny just now.”

“Ah.” Shi Zhang cleared his throat. “Nothing, just choked a bit.”

Song Fuzhi quickly immersed himself in the unfolding plot, while Shi Zhang was excited due to his own thoughts.

Song Fuzhi had once wished for 2D characters to appear in reality, and wasn’t this Shi Zhang’s specialty?

Although Song Fuzhi might not have much understanding of cosplay, Shi Zhang had a bit of confidence. He believed he could achieve the effect of bringing paper characters into reality.

Having been in the circle for so long, Shi Zhang had a good understanding of the new trends among young people.

Recently, a trend called “cosplay commission” has become popular. Customers could pay their favorite cosplayers to portray their preferred characters and receive pictures online, or even go on dates and outings together.

In simple terms, it was a cross-dimensional date with a beloved paper character.

Teacher Zhang, despite being active in cosplay for a long time, mainly did it for his own enjoyment. He rarely took on commercial commissions, let alone specifically cosplaying as a character for someone.

For the old gods of the early days, this was considered impossible. It would be hard for fans to believe.

Teacher Zhang mentioned that he retired from the circle, but he didn’t say he couldn’t provide special treatment for his husband.

While calmly stuffing rice balls into his mouth, Shi Zhang’s mind was excitedly pondering. When Teacher Song’s birthday arrived, he could cosplay as his favorite character, giving him a dreamlike birthday experience.