Giving him a drink

"Any more questions?"

Zhong Xuezhi was quite generous, looking ready to share everything he knew. "If you have any, ask them all at once. Save me answering in installments."

Of course, that generosity also served his own little agenda. After all, while Mu Yi asked questions, he had a chance to learn about him in return.

He could take the opportunity to dig deeper into Mu Yi's background.

Mu Yi, however, shook his head and replied, "Not for now."

Mu Yi planned to find opportunities to learn about the other things himself once they entered the city. There should be some informative handbooks or something.

What a shame...

Zhong Xuezhi sighed inwardly in disappointment, but none of it showed on his face.

He moistened his slightly dry throat and said, "All right, then bring me that bitter sun tea cooling over there. I'm parched."

Answering all those questions really had taken a lot of talking. Mu Yi obediently did as asked and brought the cooled tea over to Zhong Xuezhi.

However, Zhong Xuezhi was currently marinating the cold dishes, and both his hands were covered in dressing.

Fortunately, Zhong Xuezhi didn't fuss over it. He simply tipped his head back slightly and said, "Just stick it up to my mouth."

With his lips slightly parted, his four little feline fangs, two above and two below, were clearly visible.

Mu Yi hadn't been willing to wait on him, but the sight of those fangs abruptly changed his mind.

I'm just feeding my own pet. Nothing wrong with that.

With that thought, Mu Yi awkwardly brought the rim to Zhong Xuezhi's lips, then supported the side of the cup and gave him a rather rough drink.

Zhong Xuezhi gulped twice and nearly choked. "Slow down, will you? You're pouring it straight down my throat."

It was Mu Yi's first time waiting on someone, and he was already being criticized. His fierce side immediately surfaced. "Shut up! Or I'll pour it over your face!"

"Okay." Zhong Xuezhi immediately behaved, holding the rim between his lips as he continued drinking.

The commotion they made drew over everyone else in the team.

Wenren Jin spoke first, his tone positively suggestive. "Captain, look at you. It hasn't even been two days, and you've already reached the intimate hand-feeding stage."

Qiu Cai loved joining in the teasing most, clicking his tongue nonstop. "Oh my, getting all red in the face just over a drink."

Du Jing scratched his cheek and chimed in, "He really is."

An Beize said nothing, only chuckling twice as his curious gaze darted back and forth between them, his little eyes remarkably lively.

Zhong Xuezhi immediately pulled away from the rim and broke into another fit of coughing, demonstrating exactly why his face was red.

Then he took two deep breaths, looked up at them sidelong, and said, "What? Has Daddy not given you lot enough drinks before?"

"Making a fuss over nothing."

Qiu Cai stuck out his tongue. "We're just joking..."

Wenren Jin curved his alluring eyes into a smile. "I'm certainly not joking~"

"Shoo, shoo!" Annoyed, Zhong Xuezhi began waving them away like dogs. "Have you all got nothing to do? Do you want dinner or not?"

"We do, we do. We're going, we're going, hehe..."

Having enjoyed the show, they promptly turned and scurried off, whispering among themselves and laughing as they went.

Zhong Xuezhi hissed and turned away, unable to bear watching. "Honestly, they never act serious."

How did I end up leading my team into this sorry state?

In a rare moment of self-reflection, Captain Zhong looked up and told Mu Yi, "They're used to running their mouths. Don't take it to heart."

"I'll call a little meeting after dinner and straighten them out..."

Mu Yi lowered his eyes to Zhong Xuezhi and, surprisingly agreeable, replied softly, "It's nice."

In another world, there had also been a certain little group who never acted serious around one another.

He wondered whether his sudden disappearance would leave them bored.

Never mind. I was always the only one who got bored.

Mu Yi stopped dwelling on the past and brought the cup back in front of Zhong Xuezhi, playing along with their joke. "Want another drink, baby?"

"Fuck..."

That one word, "baby," sent a shudder through Zhong Xuezhi, and even his voice trembled involuntarily. "Don't you start too. I haven't even got a free hand to rub away these goosebumps... sheesh..."

Mu Yi chuckled under his breath, thinking that with a captain like this, it would be a miracle if his people acted serious.

He didn't tease him any further. Instead, he set the cup aside, bent his knees, and sat back down on his original boulder.

There was nothing he could help with at the moment, because he knew how to do absolutely nothing related to cooking.

All he could do was sit there and zone out.

However, he rarely zoned out and lacked experience getting into that state.

So, much like trying to coax himself to sleep, he spent ages working up to it without managing to empty his mind completely.

One moment he thought about the past, the next about the present.

Comparing the two, his current life was naturally more to his liking.

After all, this world was so fresh, with countless unknown things waiting for him to explore.

Perhaps this was what people meant by "having something to look forward to"?

It felt pretty good.

Mu Yi had just reached that conclusion when five strong, slender fingers suddenly waved in front of his eyes.

"Hey! What are you spacing out for?" Zhong Xuezhi braced one hand on his knee and waved the other back and forth in front of Mu Yi's face.

Mu Yi blinked and quickly came back to himself.

He looked up at Zhong Xuezhi and drawled, "What, has Captain Zhong decreed that I'm not allowed to zone out?"

Some people simply had inexplicably languid voices, and they didn't bother enunciating every word precisely, their delivery shifting between soft and emphatic.

When someone like that said the brief words "Captain Zhong," they always sounded strangely captivating.

Zhong Xuezhi couldn't help twitching his ears before saying, "Who's stopping you from zoning out? I'm calling you over to eat."

At the mention of food, Mu Yi glanced toward the center of the rain shelter and only then noticed that the makeshift dining table built from stones was already laden with dishes.

He had no idea where they usually stashed all those pots, bowls, and utensils to carry them around.

Holding the last pot of soup, Zhong Xuezhi straightened and called to him, "Go wash your hands, then come over."

Mu Yi nodded slowly. Several seconds passed before he finally got up at a leisurely pace and shuffled over to the makeshift washbasin to wash his hands.

When he looked up afterward, he saw that the others at the table had already started laughing and fighting over the food, elbows and chopsticks vying with one another.

They made quite a racket. It was lively, too.

Suddenly, Mu Yi didn't want to go over anymore.

But in the next moment, Zhong Xuezhi abruptly raised his hand and rapped each of them on the head, scolding, "Not everyone's here yet! What's the rush?"

Then he turned to hurry Mu Yi along. "Mu Yi, what are you just standing there for? Come over!"

Mu Yi shook the water droplets off his hands and casually shuffled over to the spot beside Zhong Xuezhi.

The stone table was low, and there were no stools, so Zhong Xuezhi moved a relatively even log beside Mu Yi's feet and said, "Conditions are rough. Make do."

Mu Yi didn't complain and sat straight down.

As soon as he sat, Zhong Xuezhi produced a pair of wooden chopsticks and a spoon as though by magic and handed them over.

"Here. I carved them while waiting for the soup to boil. Not bad, right?"

Mu Yi searched his hazy memories from when he'd been zoning out. That did seem to have happened.

He took the chopsticks and spoon, then glanced at the soup basin in front of him. It was probably his temporary rice bowl.

"Thank you." Mu Yi was unusually polite.

Zhong Xuezhi smiled, his eyes narrowing, and thought that this little brother was quite likable when he wasn't causing trouble or being prickly.

Then, a second later, the little brother told him, "Don't smile at me. You'll ruin my appetite."

Zhong Xuezhi: "..."

[Zhong Xuezhi: Want to see a magic trick? The disappearing smile.]