Dreams

Early on the third morning, Han Wenwen was woken by her alarm clock.

She opened her eyes, shook down the thermometer on the table and tucked it under her arm, then climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

Before brushing her teeth and washing up, she checked the thermometer. It showed 37.5 degrees, a clear improvement.

Even Little Fox, who had plenty of experience with the subject of liking someone, had her moments of first love. No girl wanted to show the person she liked the unattractive side of herself.

It was just that, because she was sick and could not wash her hair or dress up, she could only work on other areas, trying her best to make herself look a little prettier.

For example, she opened her lip balm, gently rubbed it a few times with her pinky, then dabbed it onto her lips little by little.

The advantage of doing this was that it was more subtle, not easily noticed, and still effective.

Another example was wetting a comb with a little water and simply fixing her hair, then using facial cleanser to make her skin look more hydrated.

After finishing these almost useless little things, she finally lay back in bed and murmured, "He should be here soon, right? He said he'd come over this morning."

Sure enough, it was not long before Lin Zhengran opened the door with a key. The spare key in his hand had been given to him by Han Wenwen. Little Fox's reason was that if he had a key, it would save her from having to open the door for Lin Zhengran.

Of course, that reason did not stand up to scrutiny.

"You're awake?" Lin Zhengran had bought breakfast and came inside, seeing Han Wenwen lying in bed and looking at him.

The corners of Han Wenwen's mouth curved into a smile, her heart content. "Mm, I just woke up. What did you buy this morning? I want fried dough sticks."

"You didn't say what you wanted the day before yesterday. I just bought whatever. Make do with it."

Han Wenwen pressed her lips together and asked, "Then what did you buy?"

"Fried dough sticks."

Han Wenwen stared at him blankly, thinking, So this is a True Son of Heaven? How magical.

Lin Zhengran sat by the bed and saw that her complexion looked fairly good. Even her lips were not that dry anymore. "How have you been feeling these past two days? Did you take your temperature this morning?"

"Other than not being able to sleep a little at night because my mind keeps wandering, everything else is pretty good. My temperature this morning was 37.5 degrees."

"Not bad. Are you still thinking about making money? If you feel clearheaded today, we can talk about what you plan to do in the future while we're at it."

Han Wenwen did not answer right away. She knew she had not been thinking about how to make money these past two days, because every time she fell asleep, she dreamed of the person in front of her.

Only after waiting a while did she respond as if half a beat late. "Talk about what I want to do in the future? What do you mean? Aren't I going to work with you?"

Lin Zhengran ate his fried dough stick in big bites, and Han Wenwen slowly sat up too.

Lin Zhengran said, "You are going to work with me, but with Jiang Xueli and He Qing as examples, you should understand. I won't force you to do something you don't want to do. First tell me what kind of job you want, and after that I'll help you go further and further down that path."

Han Wenwen was stunned. This was different from what she had imagined. She had originally thought that working with him meant Lin Zhengran setting up a stall and her going to be an assistant or something like that.

Leaning against the side of the bed, she tilted her head and laughed. "Student Lin Zhengran is that amazing? You mean I can do whatever I want? You can help me make money no matter what?"

"Mm. That's why I've always been very envious that you all have such an amazing friend like me."

Han Wenwen was amused by him. Hugging her knees on the bed, she thought for a moment. "Then I really have to think about it properly. Now that Student Lin Zhengran puts it that way, I realize I really never thought about this before, because I know making money is hard. Most people don't have the right to choose, right?"

Lin Zhengran leaned against the bed with her, the two of them sitting very close, their shoulders almost touching.

"Then let me ask it another way. Do you have any dreams? Or what's the thing you want most?"

"Dreams?" All the things that had happened from childhood until now flashed before Han Wenwen's eyes, and for a moment she did not know how to begin. "Actually, I do." She stared at Lin Zhengran, very sincere.

"I've always wanted a home that truly belongs to me, then to stay with the person I like for my whole life, and preferably have a few little foxes with him too."

Lin Zhengran's movement of eating his fried dough stick slowed a little.

"Huh?"

Han Wenwen continued smiling and said, "But that was what I thought when I was little. After elementary school, I stopped thinking that way, because I knew I wouldn't have anyone I liked. But now that Student Lin Zhengran asks, I feel like my dream is still this."

Because it was only this year that Han Wenwen realized she could also fall for a certain person.

Lin Zhengran met her gaze and slowly opened his mouth. "So... does this have anything to do with the question I asked? Is this damn thing a job?"

Han Wenwen looked at a certain person who had no sense of romance.

She raised her head slightly to look at the ceiling, held her face in her hands, and thought seriously. "If it's work... I want a job where I can make money without leaving home. Anyway, Student Lin Zhengran said I could imagine anything I wanted, so I want a job where I can make money by playing games every day!"

"Your dream... is really common." He roasted her.

"Is that not okay? The main thing is, Student Lin Zhengran, don't be fooled by how outgoing I look. I'm actually pretty much a homebody." She counted on her fingers. "I like reading novels, playing games, and watching movies, so that's why I've always said I don't have any special skills."

Lin Zhengran asked her if she had paper and a pen. Han Wenwen took out her schoolbag and handed them to him.

Lin Zhengran wrote many things on it, and Han Wenwen saw that they were many different kinds of professions.

Lin Zhengran said, "Actually, I'd expected this before. You'd rather look for so many jobs online, helping people level accounts in games, writing fanfiction, making outfit-guide videos and all that, but even so, you never did real-life business or anything. From that, I could roughly guess what kind of work you liked."

He handed her what he had written. "I wrote down a few professions that can make money online. See if any suit you."

Han Wenwen looked them over, and almost subconsciously pointed at one of them. "If we're only talking about what I like, I like this one. It's just that I did this before too, but I didn't make any money, so I stopped."

Lin Zhengran saw the profession she was pointing at. "Game streamer? That really is a job where you can make money playing games at home."

Lin Zhengran pondered carefully.

"Now that you mention it, this might actually suit you pretty well. After all, you don't like going out, you like playing games, and if you livestream, your looks and voice can definitely hold their own too."

He suggested, "At the beginning, we can post some dubbing videos first, then start livestreaming after you've built up some popularity."

Han Wenwen looked at him. "But I'm terrible at games. I tried streaming for a few days before and realized that in gaming, nothing else matters—you still have to be skilled. Otherwise, if the audience watches long enough, they'll start cursing you out."

Lin Zhengran stood up. "That's not hard. I can teach you how to play. Dad happens to have a computer in his study. Sleep this morning, and I'll take you to my place this afternoon. We'll practice a bit first."

Han Wenwen thought about going to his house, then pretended not to be that nervous. "Student Lin Zhengran is so serious. But I only picked this at random. Can it really make money? I don't have much spending money left right now."

"Just like you said, you might not be able to do it on your own, but with me around, that's not necessarily true."

Han Wenwen looked up at him in a daze, her fingers suddenly tightening around the blanket. Then she asked the same question as before. "Since Student Lin Zhengran is so amazing, do you think the dream I just talked about can come true?"

Lin Zhengran didn't know how to answer, so he could only let out a long breath. "Although I really don't want to answer that question, since it's your dream, as your good friend, I just wish you'll get what you want soon."

Han Wenwen happily covered her mouth and laughed, practically bouncing with joy. "Thank you, Student Lin Zhengran. If that day really comes, that would be wonderful. When it does, I'll definitely thank Student Lin Zhengran properly."