That afternoon.
Chen Shu returned to the dormitory with two cut stems of Illumination at Night and a vase he had just bought.
"Brother Chen, you're back?"
"Mm."
"You even bought flowers!"
"Yeah."
He washed the vase, filled it halfway with water, put the flowers in, and set it on the new shelf in his bedroom. The room brightened at once—it went from an ordinary, cozy bedroom to one with a touch of refinement.
It gave the place a little sense of occasion.
The flowers slowly released their fragrance. The citrus-and-lemon scent was fresh and faintly tart, a little invigorating, neither unpleasant nor cloying. It was wonderfully refreshing.
Meng Chunqiu poked his head around the doorway.
"Brother Chen, what elegant taste."
"..."
Chen Shu smiled, walked over, and shut the door.
He sat back down and opened the Ancient Cultivator Group chat, intending to idle there for a bit. But with his girlfriend, whom he wasn't dating yet, watching, he suddenly felt awkward.
"Ah..."
If he'd known, he should have played dumb even after figuring it out—
Even now, remembering all the coy things he had said made his fingers clench and his toes curl. But because it was Qingqing, once that mortifying embarrassment passed, he felt a strange, inexplicable thrill.
Was there something a little wrong with him?
"Hmm..."
He might as well keep working on the Runes.
Chen Shu's Golden Bell Shield was almost finished. Once he delivered it to the Arena owner, he would get another large sum of money.
Lately, he had set aside an hour every day to design Martial Artist Runes. With so much else to do, an hour was already a third of the time he spent on Swordlight Art and half the time he spent on short videos. It was a lot.