Chapter Summaries

After Zhao Danshi went to pick up his longtime crush Li Ping from a bar, the two spent the night together at a hotel. Zhao Danshi left before dawn, unsure whether Li Ping had recognized him.

• Zhao Danshi worked late, clashing with his supervisor over demands to cut materials that could create safety risks.
• A bartender called Zhao Danshi from Li Ping’s phone and asked him to collect Li Ping, who was drunk at Sail Bar.
• Zhao Danshi brought Li Ping to a hotel instead of taking him home, then stayed to look after him.
• Li Ping grabbed Zhao Danshi and kissed him, and they slept together after Zhao Danshi asked whether Li Ping remembered him.
• Zhao Danshi woke before five, dressed quietly, and slipped out of the hotel while Li Ping was still asleep.

After falling ill, Zhao Danshi quit his demanding job and began completing his departure procedures, though his supervisor tried to persuade him to stay. Riding home beneath blooming trees, he heard a strange voice introduce itself as Watcher.

• Zhao Danshi woke with a fever, told Supervisor Liu he was resigning, and spent the day resting and taking medicine.
• After his fever broke, Zhao Danshi drafted a resignation letter and went to the company to complete his departure procedures.
• Supervisor Liu tried to change Zhao Danshi's leave to sick leave and urged him to reconsider, but Zhao Danshi refused and began handing over his work.
• Zhao Danshi declined his colleagues' farewell drinks because he was still sick, finished a design drawing, and left work on time.
• Zhao Danshi rode a shared bicycle home beneath blooming silk floss trees and heard a voice identify itself as Watcher.

Zhao Danshi learned that an intelligent entity called Watcher had bonded with him and needed his help gathering energy. As Zhao Danshi prepared to leave his job and move to another city, he thought about Li Ping and wondered whether Li Ping had been conscious when they last met.

• Zhao Danshi returned to his rented room and questioned Watcher, who explained that it had bonded with him six days earlier and needed energy.
• Zhao Danshi contacted his college roommate about a job opening in another city and arranged for his luggage to be received there.
• Zhao Danshi told his landlady he planned to move, and she offered to hold his room for two weeks.
• Zhao Danshi's supervisor burdened him with extra work after he refused to withdraw his resignation, but Zhao Danshi completed the procedures early.
• Zhao Danshi's colleagues treated him to a farewell meal, then arranged for Xiao Li and another colleague to take him home after he drank too much.
• In the taxi, Zhao Danshi wondered whether Li Ping had been conscious but unable to move when Zhao Danshi had picked him up.

After hearing from his grandfather, Zhao Danshi traveled from X City to his remote hometown to visit him. As he reached the village, Watcher sensed that the area had plenty of energy.

• Zhao Danshi answered his grandfather’s call, learned that his grandfather accepted him, and promised to visit the next day.
• Zhao Danshi booked a ticket and made the long journey by train, bus, and tricycle back to his mountain village.
• On the tricycle, Zhao Liwei and the villagers told Zhao Danshi about the elderly people left behind and recognized him as Manzigong’s grandson.
• Yazi Mei gave Zhao Danshi tomatoes, and Zhao Liwei refused to charge him for the ride.
• Zhao Danshi walked toward his grandfather’s home while Watcher remarked that the village had plenty of energy.

Zhao Danshi returned to the countryside and reunited with his frail grandfather, Manzigong, spending the evening sharing a meal and catching up. After speaking with his boss and hearing that Senior Li Ping had asked about him, Zhao Danshi went to bed wondering why he could not sleep.

• Zhao Danshi asked Watcher about Bio-Energy and learned it could come from living beings, including plants, without harming them.
• Zhao Danshi reached Manzigong's old home and reunited with his grandfather, who welcomed him and prepared dinner.
• Zhao Danshi helped Manzigong tend the fire, ate a lavish meal with him, and washed the dishes afterward.
• Zhao Danshi told his boss he would stay with Manzigong for a few more days and promised to bring back local chili peppers.
• Zhao Danshi's boss mentioned that Senior Li Ping had been asking about him, and Zhao Danshi brushed off the possibility that anything was happening between them.
• Unable to sleep after eating too much and thinking about home, Zhao Danshi lay awake in bed.

Zhao Danshi spent the day accompanying his grandfather to visit A-Xiang in the hospital, then took him to lunch and shopping in the county town. He ended the day by persuading his reluctant grandfather to accept a warm pair of boots.

• Zhao Danshi made egg fried rice for breakfast, and his grandfather told him that A-Xiang had suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.
• Zhao Danshi accompanied his grandfather to the county hospital, where they visited the unconscious A-Xiang and his family discussed his recovery and future care.
• Zhao Danshi took his grandfather to a lamb restaurant for lunch, and they packed up the food they could not finish.
• Zhao Danshi and his grandfather went shopping, but Zhao Danshi found no suitable clothes and instead chose a warm pair of leather boots for his grandfather.
• Zhao Danshi bargained the boots down to 800 yuan and persuaded his grandfather to accept them as a chance for Zhao Danshi to be filial.

Zhao Danshi spent five days helping his grandfather in the fields before preparing to return to work, but the sight of his lonely grandfather made him reconsider. After learning from Watcher how it could help him farm and sell produce, he returned to the village and decided to stay a few more days.

• Zhao Danshi learned that his grandfather's peppers contained valuable Bio-Energy, but refused to give them to Watcher because they were his grandfather's property.
• Zhao Danshi helped his grandfather pick peppers and finish farm work, gaining a deeper appreciation for how hard the old man labored.
• After five days, Zhao Danshi left with a suitcase of food and dried goods his grandfather had packed for him.
• While waiting for the bus, Zhao Danshi asked Watcher how it could help if he stayed in the village to farm, and Watcher offered fertilizer, Spirit Spring Water, and sales information in exchange for Bio-Energy.
• Zhao Danshi turned back, returned to the courtyard, and told his delighted grandfather that he planned to stay a few more days.

Zhao Danshi decided to stay in the countryside for six months, freelance as a designer, and try growing vegetables after learning about the village’s abandoned farmland. His grandfather reluctantly agreed to help him start, and Zhao Danshi ended the chapter preparing to clear several nearby plots.

• Zhao Danshi told his boss he was leaving his job for the time being and offered to take freelance design work.
• Zhao Danshi toured the village and its abandoned fields, then asked his grandfather about farmland rental costs and considered growing crops.
• Zhao Danshi planned to grow autumn vegetables while continuing design work to support himself.
• Zhao Danshi persuaded his grandfather to let him stay and farm for six months, starting with about three acres.
• Zhao Danshi inspected nearby plots with his grandfather and decided to buy herbicide to clear the weeds.

Zhao Danshi prepared his fields and began farming with the Watcher’s help while continuing to earn money through design work. After a bout of nausea, the Watcher told him he was pregnant, leaving him shocked and scrambling to hide the news from his grandfather.

• Zhao Danshi settled into village life, hired workers to plow and ridge his land, and planned to grow vegetables for the New Year market.
• Zhao Danshi spent his Bio-Energy on the Watcher’s fertilizer and learned that it could scan plants for problems at a cost in energy.
• Zhao Danshi accepted design jobs from friends and classmates, maintained a steady income, and hoped to save enough to build a brighter house for his grandfather.
• Zhao Danshi suddenly became nauseated by steamed fish, then ate porridge and pickled vegetables after his grandfather thought he had caught a cold.
• The Watcher told Zhao Danshi he was pregnant, and he hurried to his room to conceal his shock from his grandfather.

Zhao Danshi learned that Watcher had made him pregnant with a gestational sac after his one-night stand, likely with Li Ping, and struggled to decide whether to keep the child. He told Grandpa he might have a child, but when Li Ping called, Zhao Danshi panicked, blocked him, and deleted him on WeChat.

• Watcher told Zhao Danshi that he was pregnant because it had given him a gestational sac, and explained that the child could be born after about five months.
• Zhao Danshi weighed whether to keep the child and worried about the pregnancy, birth, and how to get medical care without revealing his situation.
• Zhao Danshi told Grandpa that he might have a biological child, and Grandpa welcomed the child and urged him to take responsibility for the pregnant partner.
• Zhao Danshi pretended to call his partner, then told Grandpa she did not want to see him and mailed the supplements Grandpa had bought to friends.
• Li Ping called Zhao Danshi, who refused to answer, blocked Li Ping's number, and deleted him on WeChat.

Zhao Danshi explained to Li Ping that quitting his job had nothing to do with their night together, then focused on his pregnancy while Watcher urged him to seek medical help. He contacted his childhood friend Ran Yuanyao and arranged to visit him in W City to explain his complicated situation in person.

• Li Ping called Zhao Danshi after being blocked and asked whether he had left his job because of what happened between them, and Zhao Danshi reassured him that it was unrelated.
• Zhao Danshi returned to farm work in his hometown, avoided online design jobs, and turned down his boss's offer to visit.
• Watcher told Zhao Danshi he needed a C-section and explained that the Marketplace could provide medical help if he spent enough Bio-Energy to unlock it.
• At Watcher's urging, Zhao Danshi called Ran Yuanyao, his childhood friend, and they discussed how Zhao Danshi had lost contact with him after coming out.
• Zhao Danshi told Ran Yuanyao he would travel to W City the day after tomorrow and promised he would not run away this time.

Zhao Danshi visited Ran Yuanyao and revealed that he was pregnant after a drunken hookup with Li Ping. Ran Yuanyao arranged secret medical tests and insisted Zhao Danshi stay with him until they understood how to protect his life and handle the pregnancy.

• Zhao Danshi traveled to W City to visit Ran Yuanyao, who met him at the station and noticed his protruding belly.
• Zhao Danshi told Ran Yuanyao he was pregnant, then explained Watcher’s role and how he had conceived with Li Ping.
• Ran Yuanyao examined Zhao Danshi, felt the baby move, and decided to arrange blood tests and a confidential ultrasound.
• Ran Yuanyao studied medical papers while Zhao Danshi rested at his home, and the next day he secretly collected Zhao Danshi’s blood, urine, and stool samples for testing.
• Ran Yuanyao urged Zhao Danshi to stay with him, while Zhao Danshi asked to return home after the tests to help his elderly grandfather.

Ran Yuanyao arranged secret testing for Zhao Danshi’s samples and considered secretly using an operating room, while Zhao Danshi struggled with the pregnancy and sought Li Ping’s views on having a child without a relationship. The chapter ended with Zhao Danshi deciding he would raise the child alone, as Ran Yuanyao warned him that it might be difficult.

• Ran Yuanyao asked Shao Jitong to secretly send Zhao Danshi’s samples to the lab, and Shao Jitong later delivered results that seemed abnormal and possibly indicated pregnancy.
• Ran Yuanyao asked Shao Jitong about secretly using an unused operating room for Zhao Danshi’s minor surgery, but Shao Jitong warned him to follow proper procedures.
• Zhao Danshi experienced worsening aches and vigorous fetal movements, and Watcher suggested that the child might be soothed by hearing the other father’s voice.
• Zhao Danshi called Li Ping and asked what he thought about having a child without an emotional foundation; Li Ping said the child should be aborted if possible or born out of wedlock if not.
• Ran Yuanyao found Zhao Danshi after the call, and Zhao Danshi said he had decided to raise the child alone.

Li Ping learned that Zhao Danshi was expecting a child and struggled with jealousy over the possibility that Zhao had moved on. As Li Ping faced pressure from his family and work, he decided to visit Zhao Danshi, though his friend warned him not to interfere before deciding what he wanted.

• Li Ping asked college acquaintances about Zhao Danshi, and Wei Borong reassured Zhao that there had been no fight between him and Li Ping.
• Li Ping arranged time off, but his brother Li Sheng told him their father wanted him to lead the Hengshi project and reminded him of a blind date.
• Li Ping refused to attend the blind date and remembered how he and Zhao Danshi had slept together after he kissed him while drunk.
• Li Ping told Yao Jingming that he felt jealous and planned to visit Zhao Danshi, claiming he feared Zhao was being deceived.
• Yao Jingming urged Li Ping to leave Zhao alone until he had made up his mind and asked why he had kept Zhao waiting for years.

Li Ping went to Zhao Danshi’s hometown and learned from his grandfather that Zhao Danshi’s girlfriend was expecting a baby, leaving him convinced Zhao Danshi had deceived him. Back home, Zhao Danshi returned from W City, weighed how to care for his pregnancy and use Watcher, then discovered Li Ping had visited and urgently called him.

• Li Ping drove to Zhao Danshi’s village and, after asking about him, learned from a villager that he was believed to have a girlfriend and be close to marriage.
• Zhao Danshi’s grandfather told Li Ping that Zhao Danshi had gone away to care for his pregnant girlfriend, and Li Ping left in shock.
• Zhao Danshi and Watcher calculated that removing the child would require about eleven thousand Bio-Energy, but Zhao Danshi decided he could not give up his senior brother’s child.
• Ran Yuanyao reassured Zhao Danshi about the surgery, and Zhao Danshi returned to his hometown after agreeing to go back to W City in a little over a month.
• Zhao Danshi learned that the vegetables he and his grandfather grew were selling exceptionally well, and he planned to buy some to supply Watcher with Bio-Energy.
• Zhao Danshi’s grandfather confirmed that Li Ping had visited, so Zhao Danshi rushed to his room and called Li Ping.

Zhao Danshi worried that Li Ping had stopped responding, but focused on harvesting and selling his family’s vegetables. He sold an entire truckload at a premium price and promised his grandfather he would earn one hundred thousand yuan from farming next year.

• Zhao Danshi repeatedly called and messaged Li Ping, explaining that he had no girlfriend and that Li Ping was the only person he had ever loved, but Li Ping did not respond.
• Zhao Danshi inspected the vegetable plot with his grandfather and decided to sell some bok choy and plant another batch for the New Year.
• Zhao Danshi and Spoon loaded vegetables into a rented truck, and Zhao Danshi went to the county market to sell them for 5.5 yuan per jin.
• Customers who tried Zhao Danshi’s bok choy praised its flavor and returned to buy more, allowing him to sell the whole truckload, including the less attractive vegetables.
• Zhao Danshi told his grandfather about the successful sale and pledged to return to city work if he failed to earn one hundred thousand yuan next year.

Li Ping returned from a business trip and called Zhao Danshi after reading his message, whereupon Zhao Danshi told him he was carrying Li Ping’s child. Li Ping remained stunned and doubtful but agreed to go meet him.

• Li Sheng asked Li Ping to handle a troubled project in Q Country, and Li Ping accepted because his nephew was ill.
• Li Ping and his team resolved the project crisis, returned home, and received three days off.
• After retrieving his personal phone, Li Ping saw Zhao Danshi’s message and called him for an explanation.
• Zhao Danshi bought vegetables from rural farmers to exchange for Bio-Energy while trying to gather enough within twenty days.
• Zhao Danshi told Li Ping that he had lied to his grandfather and that Li Ping had a child with him.
• Li Ping insisted he had never been with anyone else, then agreed to visit Zhao Danshi to learn the truth.

Li Ping rushed to Zhao Danshi’s hometown, while Zhao Danshi spent the day collecting vegetables for Bio-Energy. When Zhao Danshi returned home, he revealed that he was pregnant with Li Ping’s child.

• Li Ping drove to Zhao Danshi’s county town and spent the night there after learning Zhao Danshi was still away working.
• Zhao Danshi collected and paid for a truckload of cabbages, radishes, and radish leaves, which Watcher calculated yielded Bio-Energy.
• Li Ping visited Zhao Danshi’s grandfather and waited at the house while Zhao Danshi continued gathering vegetables.
• When Zhao Danshi returned, Li Ping noticed his exhaustion and protruding belly and asked if he was sick.
• Zhao Danshi took Li Ping into his room and told him that he was pregnant and the baby was Li Ping’s.

Zhao Danshi revealed to Li Ping that he was carrying their child after a gestation sac had been implanted in him, and said he planned to raise the child alone. Li Ping wanted him to move to X City for better care, but Zhao Danshi refused, and Li Ping rushed to find him the next morning when he learned he was watering vegetables.

• Zhao Danshi showed Li Ping the child moving in his belly and explained how he had become pregnant.
• Zhao Danshi said he would stay in the countryside until the child was full-term, then seek a doctor's help to deliver the child and raise him alone.
• Li Ping agreed to share Zhao Danshi's bed for the night and offered to take him to X City, but Zhao Danshi refused because they were not lovers.
• Li Ping felt the child kick beneath his hand while Zhao Danshi slept beside him.
• The next morning, Li Ping learned Zhao Danshi was watering vegetables at the foot of the western mountain and hurried out to find him.

Li Ping watched over pregnant Zhao Danshi as they worked and tried to persuade him to move to X City, while balancing his family company’s demands. Zhao Danshi refused, insisting he would not rely on Li Ping and wanted to stand beside him openly and honestly.

• Li Ping took over carrying water and watering the vegetables, then warned Zhao Danshi to avoid dogs because he was pregnant.
• Zhao Danshi enjoyed a hearty breakfast, and Li Ping worried that the salty food was unhealthy for him.
• Zhao Danshi and Li Ping pulled weeds together, and Li Ping told his brother Li Sheng he would return to the company on Monday after initially asking for two months off.
• Li Ping decided that bringing Zhao Danshi to X City would let him care for him while managing work, but Zhao Danshi firmly refused to leave his farm and depend on him.
• Zhao Danshi told Li Ping that he liked him and wanted to stand by his side openly and honestly, not use the child to gain material or emotional benefits.