36th Meow

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“Pfft…”

This time, He Yunzhou finally couldn’t hold back and laughed in front of Huo Zheng.

Huo Zheng, who should have felt very embarrassed, didn’t know what had gotten into him. The moment He Yunzhou laughed out loud, all his stiffness and awkwardness disappeared. Then, inexplicably, he started laughing along with He Yunzhou.

“It’s all your fault for making me eat too much.”

Of course, Huo Zheng still wanted to save some face on the surface.

He pretended to be annoyed and muttered to He Yunzhou—perhaps not even realizing that he could become a bit childish in front of He Yunzhou if he wasn’t careful.

“Alright, la. My fault…” He Yunzhou had also unknowingly adapted to this bit of childishness in Huo Zheng.

He raised his hands and made a gesture of surrender to Huo Zheng.

Under the light, when Huo Zheng looked up at him, there seemed to be tiny twinkling stars in his eyes.

He Yunzhou’s heart fluttered like a little bird, its wings trembling suddenly inside his chest.

Before he could react, he had already blurted out, “Since we’re so full, shall we go for a walk later?

The Xingfu Garden Community in City A can only be regarded as an ordinary residential area, but not far from it was an old, free public park. Although it had been built many years ago, the greenery there was quite nice, making it a rare, leisurely place for walks and relaxation in the urban jungle. He Yunzhou wasn’t the type to always be on social networks. Still, even so, he often saw other residents in the community group chat greeting each other, and taking their families for evening walks in the park, which seemed quite warm and pleasant.

However, despite having lived in this neighborhood for many years, He Yunzhou, being a complete otaku, never had the idea of wandering around the park alone…

It was only because Huo Zheng was beside him today that this thought suddenly popped into his head.

And this suggestion really felt like something that would come from a foggy mind after a meal.

As soon as He Yunzhou’s words fell, he saw Huo Zheng’s eyes widen in surprise.

“A walk?”

The man, extraordinarily handsome, dressed in an expensive suit, looking like he had just walked out of a romantic TV drama, showed a slightly bewildered expression to He Yunzhou.

“……”

As soon as He Yunzhou saw this look on Huo Zheng’s face, he instantly regretted his impulsiveness a bit.

Indeed, for someone like Huo Zheng, finding time to go to a high-end gym for weight training under a personal trainer’s guidance seemed more likely. Someone of his stature really didn’t seem to fit with the idea of a “free public park” or “post-dinner walk.”

“Ah, well, I was just saying. You don’t have to take it seriously. You must be very busy these days…” Before Huo Zheng could speak again, He Yunzhou, feeling his cheeks warm up, quickly explained.

But what He Yunzhou didn’t expect was that his impulsive invitation turned out to be surprisingly appealing to Huo Zheng.

“Actually, I’m not very busy today.” Huo Zheng quickly responded to He Yunzhou

“…And I did eat quite a lot today, just as you said. Going out for a walk sounds pretty good.” He said.

He Yunzhou: “Oh, I see…”

With Huo Zheng making it so clear, He Yunzhou couldn’t possibly go back on his words and say “Let’s not go.”

Although He Yunzhou really couldn’t understand why Huo Zheng would accept his somewhat foolish invitation…

Oh well, maybe even someone as wealthy as Huo Zheng occasionally wanted to experience a bit of ordinary life.

He Yunzhou said to himself in his heart.

…

In any case, half an hour later, He Yunzhou and Huo Zheng, now in a change of clothes, found themselves, quite inexplicably together in the park.

The park wasn’t particularly large and didn’t have anything special about it. If there was something to mention, it was that the park, having been built a long time ago, had very dense vegetation and particularly tall trees.

What made He Yunzhou regret even more was that today’s weather wasn’t very good. The air was so humid it felt like you could wring water out of it any second. Probably for this reason, there weren’t many people strolling around in the park.

However, as soon as Huo Zheng, dressed in high-end casual clothes and sporting silver hair, appeared in the park, he immediately drew all the attention of the few passersby present.

“Wow, look at that person…”

“…So handsome.”

“Is he a celebrity…”

…

After passing by a few people, He Yunzhou keenly heard their whispered conversations behind him.

This caused him to frown involuntarily.

Stares…

Whispers…

All of this made him physiologically uncomfortable.

If his regret about going out was at a 30 when they first left, it had now shot up to a 100.

Especially when he inadvertently glanced back and seemed to see someone taking out their phone to snap pictures of him and Huo Zheng.

He Yunzhou’s temple throbbed, and without thinking, he grabbed Huo Zheng’s wrist and led him off the main walkway of the park, heading down a smaller path.

“Sorry, there were a bit too many people there just now.”

After hurrying along for a while and seeing that there was no one around them, He Yunzhou finally breathed a sigh of relief and released Huo Zheng’s hand.

“It’s alright.” Huo Zheng stared at his wrist for a while and then spoke in a somewhat subtle tone.

He Yunzhou couldn’t help but look at him one more time, feeling that the Huo Zheng at this time didn’t seem quite the same as before.

Unfortunately, the light here was too dim, and Huo Zheng’s face was shrouded in shadows, making it hard to see his expression.

Of course, He Yunzhou couldn’t fully focus on Huo Zheng either.

After calming down, He Yunzhou looked around and felt a sudden pang of anxiety.

Given that there was no one around, it meant that he and Huo Zheng had wandered into a secluded corner of the park. The park’s management was already poor, and these remote corners were even more neglected. The gravel path was in disrepair and rarely cleaned, and the roadside vegetation looked like it hadn’t been trimmed in years, almost covering their feet.

A sparsely populated park with old, dim lights, combined with the lush spring growth of vegetation and trees, created an eerie atmosphere with shadows swaying in the wind.

From any angle, this was not a good place for an post-dinner walk.

Having grown up in the mountains, these park paths weren’t much of an issue for He Yunzhou.

But for Huo Zheng, this was practically a survival challenge.

As He Yunzhou was worrying, Huo Zheng, unaccustomed to the rough terrain, tripped and almost fell flat on the ground. Fortunately, He Yunzhou reacted quickly and caught Huo Zheng, preventing his expensive clothes from getting muddy.

“Are you okay?” He Yunzhou helped Huo Zheng up, his heart almost jumping out of his chest. “The lighting here is too poor… Never mind, you should hold onto me later.”

Let’s go back—

He Yunzhou turned around, intending to make this suggestion.

But just then, Huo Zheng’s pleasant voice rang out. “Don’t you think the scenery here is beautiful?”

The green-eyed man seemed completely unaffected by his own wretchedness and the surrounding poor environment, even speaking with a hint of sweetness.

Meanwhile, He Yunzhou, standing next to him, had a lump in his throat and almost couldn’t breathe.

He Yunzhou: “Ha?”

He skeptically looked around at the darkness, unable to understand the rich man’s definition of “beautiful scenery.”

Yet Huo Zheng continued to chuckle softly next to his ear, “The breeze is also quite nice.”

With a “smack,” He Yunzhou quickly killed a small bug that had flown onto his arm with the wind.

“…Haha, yeah.”

He hesitated, giving a half-hearted laugh.

After a pause, he couldn’t hold back and quietly replied, “Tonight might not be the best time for a walk. I think when the weather is better, this place should be quite nice, considering all the trees. But the maintenance here isn’t great. Next time, let’s choose a path that’s easier to walk on…”

He Yunzhou’s voice trailed off as he spoke.

He noticed that Huo Zheng was looking at him.

“What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?” He Yunzhou asked, bewildered.

Huo Zheng seemed to laugh softly.

“Nothing.” He replied strangely.

“A bit better weather?” Huo Zheng seemed to be talking to himself, “Actually, I think today’s weather is quite good.”

“What?”

He Yunzhou looked at Huo Zheng in shock, his confusion reaching a new height.

In this humid and stifling weather, Huo Zheng actually thought it was “quite good”?

Oh, right, maybe… maybe he was trying to give himself an excuse? After all, He Yunzhou was the one who suggested the walk. Faced with this situation, Huo Zheng was being considerate by not complaining and instead trying to make the best of it.

After some thought, He Yunzhou managed to somewhat understand Huo Zheng’s reasoning.

“You don’t have to force yourself…” He said to Huo Zheng with a mix of amusement and helplessness.

At that moment, Huo Zheng suddenly noticed something. He abruptly stopped under a large, gnarled tree that looked perfect for a horror movie prop.

“What is it?”

“Look here—”

Huo Zheng pointed to the root of the large tree. A ground light barely illuminated a small area, just enough to light up the roots of the tree.

At the base of the tree, there were a few lines of crookedly carved words.

[Yaomeng Xueling likes Yedehuo

We will never part]

Huo Zheng stared fixedly at the lines.

“Always like ah…”

He gently chewed on the line in his heart.

“If you’re with the right person, I guess every day is good weather.”

Huo Zheng said softly.

And his voice happened to overlap with He Yunzhou’s muttering.

“Scribbling like this is really unethical. Not breaking up would be an insult to this tree.”

…

He Yunzhou and Huo Zheng stood in front of the tree, falling into a strange silence.

“Well, I just think that young people in love…”

Shouldn’t destroy trees.

He Yunzhou mumbled, just trying to ease the atmosphere, when a drop of water fell at just the right momeny.

As if the heavens were mocking Huo Zheng’s earlier remark about the weather being good, it started raining heavily in the dark night.

He Yunzhou: “…”

He Yunzhou, pulling Huo Zheng along, ran frantically through the park and back to his apartment building.

Unfortunately, although he ran fast, the night rain came down heavily and quickly. By the time he pressed the elevator button, water was dripping from He Yunzhou’s sleeves, and his face was covered in rain and leaves from the bushes. He could barely open his eyes, and being thoroughly soaked, the breeze in the lobby made him feel freezing cold, making him look extremely bedraggled.

He Yunzhou was filled with apologies to Huo Zheng and a strong desire to get home.

“I think we should either eat less at night or find another way to digest our food.”

He Yunzhou complained to Huo Zheng, his face pale as they waited for the elevator.

He was certain that, as an otaku, he was completely incompatible with parks.

What he didn’t notice was that after hearing his words, Huo Zheng’s eyes suddenly deepened. It was precisely because of this that when the elevator arrived, He Yunzhou found Huo Zheng’s behavior odd—he rushed into the elevator to press the button for the twenty-third floor, but Huo Zheng suddenly reached out and blocked his finger.

“Do you… want to come to my place for a cup of coffee?”

At some point, Huo Zheng had moved close behind He Yunzhou. Maybe because of the rain, his voice was a bit hoarse.

He Yunzhou turned his head, looking at Huo Zheng in shock.

“Do you know what time it is?” He Yunzhou waved his phone in front of Huo Zheng, “Drinking coffee at this hour, are you planning on not sleeping?”

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The author has something to say:

He Yunzhou: …Besides, I still need to hurry home to feed the cats!