Chen Wen did not know when he had fallen asleep.
He only remembered that, in a rare bout of insomnia, he had kept his eyes closed and tried to fall asleep, but sleep would not come.
He drifted in a hazy stupor for an hour or two before finally slipping into a half-awake, half-asleep state.
Then, after an unknown amount of time, Chen Wen felt something beside him.
After instinctively wrapping his arms around it, he immediately felt at ease and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
Other than his arm feeling a little sore and numb, Chen Wen felt nothing else.
The next day.
Although he had gone to bed late and had not slept very well, Chen Wen still opened his eyes right at six, driven by the inertia of his body clock.
Then he froze.
???
Jiang Qiuyi, wearing her little deer pajamas, was lying half on top of him on her side.
One leg was draped over him, one hand was clutching his dinosaur head, and her little head rested against his arm.
No wonder his arm felt so sore. Jiang Qiuyi had come over here.
But had she not been sleeping in the other room with Lin Meng?
When had she snuck in?
Chen Wen was a little baffled. He turned to look at Jiang Qiuyi's sleeping face. With half her face pressed against his arm, her cheeks looked adorably round and plump.
Looking at her delicate, tender cheek, Chen Wen instinctively recalled how Jiang Qiuyi had kissed him on the road yesterday.
As if possessed, he lowered his head and lightly touched his lips to Jiang Qiuyi's cheek.
So soft.
At that moment, Jiang Qiuyi's eyelashes fluttered. She seemed about to wake up, so Chen Wen immediately pulled back and instinctively licked his lips.
"Mm..." Jiang Qiuyi groggily opened her eyes halfway. Seeing that Chen Wen was already awake, she clumsily climbed on top of him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and acted spoiled.
Her face felt a little itchy, so Jiang Qiuyi scratched it without thinking much of it, making Chen Wen breathe a sigh of relief.
"Get up. Time for our morning run." Chen Wen patted her shoulder.
Jiang Qiuyi obediently got up, and the two of them went into the bathroom to wash up.
"When did you come over last night?" Chen Wen asked. "Did Lin Meng know?"
"I secretly snuck over in the middle of the night." Jiang Qiuyi giggled. "I couldn't sleep without you beside me~"
After washing up, they changed into sportswear and went downstairs for a stroll. After exercising, they ate breakfast and brought a portion back for Lin Meng.
"I have class this morning, so I need to go first." Chen Wen packed his schoolbag in the bedroom, then came out and said, "I won't say goodbye to her in person."
Lin Meng was sleeping soundly and had not woken up yet at this hour.
Jiang Qiuyi nodded. "Got it~ Go on, then."
The two hugged for a while by the elevator before Jiang Qiuyi saw Chen Wen off.
Seeing that Lin Meng was still not awake, she ran to the piano room to practice.
Jiang Qiuyi had specially had the piano room's walls renovated, and the soundproofing was excellent, so she did not have to worry about disturbing Lin Meng's sweet dreams.
It was not until after nine in the morning that Lin Meng groggily woke up.
Sprawling her arms across the bed, she realized that the person beside her last night was already gone.
"Up so early..." Lin Meng muttered. She fished out the phone by her bed to check the time, then buried her head in the pillow, intending to nap a little longer.
Then she smelled a fragrance coming from the bedside table.
It was the breakfast Jiang Qiuyi had bought.
"I'm a little hungry..." Lin Meng mumbled. In the end, she still struggled out of bed, changed clothes, and ate breakfast.
When she left the bedroom, Lin Meng vaguely heard faint piano music coming from the music room. She pushed open the door and saw Jiang Qiuyi sitting properly at the piano, playing the Dragon Ball theme song.
When the song ended, Lin Meng hugged Jiang Qiuyi from behind. Two great mountains pressed down on her, making Jiang Qiuyi feel a heavy weight.
"Why were you up so early?" Lin Meng said with a smile. "Now that you've slept with me, you're my woman~"
"..." Feeling a little guilty, Jiang Qiuyi pretended to continue practicing and idly tapped the keys. "What are you talking about... Who wants to be your woman?"
"This little lady doesn't know what's good for her. She needs to be punished." Lin Meng pinched and kneaded Jiang Qiuyi's little face, then asked, "Where's your Chen Wen?"
"He went to school for class." Jiang Qiuyi rolled her eyes. "You think everyone sleeps like a pig like you do."
"Hmph!" Lin Meng rubbed her cheek. "Getting enough sleep keeps you from aging early. You'll understand when you're my age."
The two chatted for a while longer, then Lin Meng packed up her things and prepared to return to her cousin's home for her luggage. She would be heading back to Hangcheng that afternoon.
"I'm off. See you in the summer." Lin Meng gave Jiang Qiuyi a loving hug, then walked out the door.
"See you in the summer." Jiang Qiuyi escorted her to the elevator and said with a grin, "Hopefully, I'll get to see someone's boyfriend by then~"
Lin Meng stepped into the elevator and rolled her eyes at her, leaving behind only one word: "Scram."
After seeing Lin Meng off, the apartment suddenly felt deserted.
Jiang Qiuyi practiced piano for a while longer, read for a bit, then ordered takeout for lunch. She planned to head to school after eating.
While eating, Jiang Qiuyi took out her phone and browsed Bilibili.
After more than a day of momentum, Chen Wen's video had already surpassed 300,000 views, more than all three of his previous videos combined.
After Ri Dangwu de Chuhe's pinned comment appeared, another wave of criticism erupted in the comments, and the situation gradually became one-sided.
Of course, quite a few of those being criticized fought back, cursing it as a bad habit of fandom culture and making the comments unpleasant to read.
But none of that mattered to Jiang Qiuyi. Neither she nor Chen Wen cared much about such things. They simply let it develop on its own; in a few days, it would probably die down anyway.
The only thing that would remain unchanged was Chen Wen's steadily rising view count.
And when she checked Chen Wen's follower count, it had already climbed to more than 80,000 in just one day. He would probably surpass 100,000 followers soon.
For a rookie content creator, that was an absolutely staggering rate of growth.
All she could say was that Chen Wen's exceptional craftsmanship, Sword Art Online's built-in traffic, and the explosion of the relationship incident had combined into something far more powerful than anyone had expected.
Seeing this, Jiang Qiuyi opened WeChat, found the account saved as "My Foolish Idiot Blockhead," typed out a message, and sent it.
Jiang Qiuyi: I just checked your Bilibili account. You're almost at 100,000 followers~
My Foolish Idiot Blockhead: Mm.
Jiang Qiuyi: Shouldn't you give us some perks for reaching 100,000 followers? How about dressing as a girl? (Snicker)
My Foolish Idiot Blockhead: No. I'll make another sword instead.
Jiang Qiuyi: Huh? You already made a sword for 10,000 followers. That's so perfunctory~
My Foolish Idiot Blockhead: I'll see if there's a more difficult one and try a different design.
Jiang Qiuyi: Oh...
Jiang Qiuyi: Then will you dress as a girl when you reach one million followers?
My Foolish Idiot Blockhead: I'm not dressing as a girl.
Jiang Qiuyi: (Boring.JPG)
[Pu Jie Ri Ji]: Not dressing as a girl.
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