The temperature has dropped quite a bit these past few days. The sunlight outside the window looks dazzling, but the wind blowing in through the window makes one feel a slight chill.

Before heading out to work each day, Geng Zimo would open the windows in the balcony, kitchen, bathroom, and his bedroom to let in fresh air. The whole house would be bright and airy, giving a feeling that it was a great time. The only exception was Su Kun's room.

These past two days, his room has been in this state from morning to night - windows closed, both layers of curtains drawn tightly. The sunlight, already not as penetrating as in the height of summer, was blocked even more by the two layers of thick fabric, leaving little remaining.

Every time Geng Zimo entered his room, he felt it was dark and gloomy, quite unpleasant. Only a fellow like Su Kun could tolerate this kind of environment without sunlight for extended periods.

"It's convenient for activities this way." This was Su Kun's response to Geng Zimo's questions and speechlessness.

So Geng Zimo could only twitch the corner of his mouth and say, "Are you a groundhog?"

Unfortunately, the person being mocked was completely oblivious and continued to make his bedroom even gloomier.

After resting in bed for two or three days, Su Kun had slept all he needed to, so these past few days, his energy has been especially good.

In the morning, he could get up before Geng Zimo without an alarm, then go wash up while shaking his head and swaying, and incidentally make breakfast for Lord Geng who had taken care of him for two days. After seeing Geng Zimo off, he would return to his room, summon Gu Yan out, chat about the human world, and improve their relationship.

Ever since being saved on the road, his feelings towards Gu Yan had changed again. If before, it was truly letting go of his guard and being willing to accept and get to know this ghost who barged into his peaceful life, then now, he was treating Gu Yan as a special friend, the life-saving kind.

Human emotions are hard to grasp to begin with, and Su Kun was no exception. Sometimes change is just a matter of a gesture or a glance.

Especially with his personality of "if you respect me an inch, I'll respect you a foot" and "if you give me a flatbread, I'll give you the whole workshop". At that critical juncture concerning his life, Gu Yan reached out his hand in time.

So he decided, from now on, he would always extend his hand to Gu Yan, as long as Gu Yan needed, as long as he could give it. His life was saved by him, what else couldn't be given away?

"Even if you want my life, no problem." Su Kun sat in front of the computer desk and solemnly said to the coffin.

A few seconds later, five short fingers pried open the coffin lid, and Gu Yan floated out with a deadpan face.

Ever since he swallowed so many remnant souls, although he still couldn't become corporeal, there was progress. Besides the changes in his outline and transparency, the biggest difference was that he could come out during the day now.

Of course, the prerequisite was the light couldn't be too strong, not directly exposed to the bright sun.

This was the fundamental reason Su Kun had been turning his bedroom into a darkroom these past few days.

Because he felt that, as life-saving friends, he couldn't not understand his background. So with the intention of enhancing their mutual understanding, he would coax (.....)  Gu Yan out every day like luring a rabbit out of its hole.

Although this move was a bit silly, it had to be said it was quite effective. At least, through the efforts of these two days, he learned about the dynasty Gu Yan used to live in, his identity, status, many of the things he experienced... and even the little cat that used to freeload in Gu Yan's courtyard before disappearing.

Of course, he also told Gu Yan about his various experiences from childhood to adulthood, even embarrassing things like still wetting his pants twice up until first grade.

Gu Yan himself was not someone who liked to reminisce about the past with others, but he didn't mind Su Kun's behavior. After all, he wasn't deliberately prying, but stating his intentions openly and honestly, whether to say it or not was up to Gu Yan himself.

He had struggled on the battlefield and in officialdom for so many years, growing all the shrewdness he needed to, but after silently watching so much trickery for so many years and finally getting trapped himself and losing his life, his disgust for those things had reached a peak.

In this world, there was no officialdom, no battlefield, no emperor and subjects, no colleagues... While losing all the people and things he was familiar with, it was also like taking off a burden he had carried for a long time. So his reticent personality, compared to before, was even more pronounced.

Anger was anger, happiness was happiness, if he didn't want to talk he didn't have to force himself to speak... Gu Yan found that when he was too lazy to use the mind that used to turn so quickly before, his life became unprecedentedly simple and relaxed.

And Su Kun was completely different from the people he used to interact with. His personality was much more direct, sometimes so frank it seemed a bit foolish, but he also didn't carelessly say things all day to ruin people's moods. After getting along with him for a long time, Gu Yan felt his state of mind was becoming brighter day by day.

"Really!" Seeing Gu Yan come out of the coffin and silently stare at him with an inscrutable expression, Su Kun thought he didn't believe him and couldn't help but emphasize, "Even my life is okay!"

After he said that, he thought for two seconds, then sheepishly raised his paw and added, "Well, I believe you no longer want my life now, right? Your food sources are so abundant - ow~~"

Before he could finish, he saw Gu Yan float over without a word and press down with his paw. The icy cold sensation startled him into howling.

Su Kun took a hissing breath, adapted to the temperature of Gu Yan's fingers, wriggled a bit awkwardly, then resentfully looked at Gu Yan. He was about to say, "Next time you touch me can't you give a heads up first?!"

But then he heard Gu Yan say flatly with a deadpan face, "For now, I have no intention of taking your life, this is enough."

"What's enough?" Su Kun didn't react for a moment.

Gu Yan slowly lowered his gaze, staring at his hand pressed on Su Kun's jade pendant.

Su Kun: "...Okay, I understand." Meaning for now, you're satisfied with just copping a feel, right?

"Wait!" He suddenly remembered Gu Yan's wording just now, "What do you mean by 'for now'?!"

Having absorbed all the dark energy from Su Kun's jade pendant, Gu Yan felt his mood could be considered joyful. He retracted his paw, lifted his eyes to look Su Kun up and down, and said, "It means for now."

Then he turned around and drifted towards the coffin, the corners of his lips carrying a faint smile he himself didn't notice.

Su Kun, whose expression was completely unreadable: "......" QAQ

However, this "un-plea-sant" little episode was quickly thrown to the back of his mind, because after 9 o'clock, he received a call from the express delivery guy.

Su Kun hurriedly went downstairs in his slippers, and a few minutes later, he came back up and returned to his room, carrying a fairly large express delivery bag. He took the scissors from the table and, instead of his usual rough method of tearing and ripping, cut a long enough slit along the edge of the bag and took out a set of clothes in a transparent plastic bag inside.

This was a set of custom-made clothes ordered online, about the same size as normal baby clothes but not as babyish. The style was very simple, similar to the set Su Kun was wearing himself - a white short-sleeved T-shirt with light blue jeans, clean and refreshing... oh right, and a pair of underwear.

Su Kun held up that small triangular piece and chuckled obscenely a couple of times.

He went to the kitchen to get an old stainless steel basin, then rummaged through a drawer and found a lighter. He returned to the bedroom, knocked on Gu Yan's coffin without waiting for him to come out, then sat down and burned the set of clothes in the basin.

As he burned them, he thought to himself: Customizing a set like this is more expensive than the one I'm wearing, fuck! This is burning Chairman Mao...

Gu Yan was in the coffin, sorting out the remnant souls that had just been absorbed into his body. He held his breath and let them slowly flow over the jade at his heart again and again. With each pass, the resentful and evil energy brought by those remnant souls diminished a little, until finally being filtered out completely.

By the time he felt there was nothing unusual left in his body and crawled out of the coffin again, more than ten minutes had passed since Su Kun's summons.

"What do you need me for?" Gu Yan saw that Su Kun was sitting in front of the computer desk, the chair turned to face the coffin, with a basin between his feet in which he was burning something. Inside was a pile of ashes, with a few sparks on top that flickered a couple of times before going out completely.

"Done!" Su Kun clapped his hands and sat up straight, looking at him. He wrinkled his nose and said, "I've been sick of the sight of your bloody rags for a long time. You were a general in your previous life after all. The clothes you're wearing now are so tattered you look like a beggar. No wonder I couldn't guess what you did for a living at first."

"So?" Gu Yan looked down at the clothes he was wearing. There were knife-cut holes everywhere. It indeed didn't look good. But this person only found it an eyesore now. Just how slow was he?

"So I got you a new set." Su Kun snapped his fingers.

He had originally just wanted to show off a little. Who knew that with the snap of his fingers, two things clattered down on Gu Yan's head, unsurprisingly hitting him on the head again.

Pulling down the white cloth that was half-covering his eyes, Gu Yan shook it out in his hand, then looked it over front and back before draping it over his elbow. He then bent down to pick up the other item that had fallen on his foot and examined it for a moment.

Su Kun: "......" Fuck, one piece is missing again!

He was just about to complain that the airdrop was always delayed when he saw that small black extremely material-saving triangular underwear descending from the sky and floating down to land on top of Gu Yan's head.

Su Kun: "I'm gonna die...... how can it be so accurate!" =_= Luckily Gu Yan doesn't know what that is for now.

......

But he will eventually find out!

A few minutes later, after Su Kun explained where all these things were worn, Gu Yan looked at the underwear that had landed on his head earlier and was now lying in his hand. His eternally expressionless face finally showed signs of cracking.