When Qin Siyang returned to the room, Yu Ziying was already gone, only Hu Chan remained.
Hu Chan sat on the sofa in his pajamas, having already washed up.
But instead of going straight to bed like Li Tianming would've done, he waited for Qin Siyang. Very polite.
"If you're tired, go to bed first," Qin Siyang said, "I still have to wash up."
"No need, I'll just sleep on the sofa."
"The sofa?", Qin Siyang glanced at the small couch inside the room.
Even if two of them were pushed together, Hu Chan would have to curl his legs to fit.
"You're already here, don't sweat the details. But if word gets out that you and I are sharing a sofa, I'm afraid your believers would tear me apart on the forums."
After hearing that, Hu Chan realized he was right. His restraint might actually cause Qin Siyang trouble.
So he nodded and agreed, "Alright. Thank you."
Since the day had been relatively easy and his mood was good, Qin Siyang took a bath in the tub.
While soaking, he realized something interesting.
Normally, people think that taking a bath is a way to relieve fatigue, that you only want to soak when you're tired from work.
That's what Qin Siyang had always believed too.
Until he got a bathtub in his own apartment.
He found that when he was truly exhausted, he only wanted a quick hot shower before collapsing into bed, just to end the damn day as fast as possible.
It was only when he wasn't that tired, or when he was in a good mood, that he felt like spending half an hour, filling the tub, adding bath salts, soaking for thirty minutes, rinsing off afterward, and leisurely going to bed.
That made Qin Siyang realize, spending time to enjoy life was a kind of luxury.
He lay back in the tub, eyes closed in comfort, still savoring the taste of that bowl of vegetable and egg drop porridge.
"Vegetables for vitamins, egg for protein, porridge for carbs. Easy to digest, and well-balanced," Muttering to himself, he couldn't help but smile again.
Then he remembered how much work he still had to do, and sighed.
"If only every day could be like today, where I'm in the mood to take a hot bath."
"Oh well, drink while the wine's here, enjoy today first."
.
.
.
After a long, satisfying soak and another round of washing up, Qin Siyang finally stepped out of the bathroom, only to find the lights still on.
Hu Chan was still sitting on the sofa.
"What, you're not going to bed? Didn't I put out the pillows and blankets already?"
"I didn't know if I should sleep on the outside or inside, so I was waiting for you to decide."
Qin Siyang raised a brow, "You're that particular? When we went out hunting gods together, you didn't seem so fussy."
Hu Chan smiled bitterly, "Back then, our lives weren't in your hands."
Qin Siyang gave him a teasing look, "I said it before, you're a prodigy among prodigies. Seems that title's value keeps going up."
Hu Chan didn't argue, "Maybe. I've spent years living under other people's roofs, and I've also lived the kind of life where one word from me made others obey. I guess I've learned to bend and stretch."
Qin Siyang waved a hand, "Then sleep inside. Someone else has slept there before, I'm used to that spot."
"Someone else? Don't tell me you've been—"
"What nonsense? Li Tianming slept there for a few days when we first came to South Glory."
"Oh, Professor Li. Alright then."
Hu Chan got into bed and pulled the blanket over himself.
Qin Siyang sneered, "Really, a guy with a brain full of dirty thoughts like you, and you're supposed to be a Holy Son?"
Then he walked over to the calendar hanging on the wall.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Blue Star Calendar Year 2010, June 19]
[Western Calendar: Saturday]
[Lunar Calendar: Year of Gengyin, Fifth Month, Eighth Day, Unfavorable for all matters]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
At Qin Siyang's request, the guesthouse staff had hung a tear-off Blue Star calendar on his wall.
It wasn't that he was sentimental, he just felt that tearing off a page at the end of the day gave life a certain sense of ritual.
"'Unfavorable for all matters,' huh? Good thing I didn't actually do anything today."
Then he looked over his shoulder at the already-dozing Hu Chan and muttered, "The only thing I did of my own accord was save those two. Hopefully that won't bring me trouble later."
Putting his palms together, Qin Siyang silently prayed that the gods wouldn't punish him with misfortune just for helping someone.
Though, truth be told, he wasn't even sure which church he should pray at, or which god to pray to.
"Feels like I should go ask a God to lift my bad luck one of these days. Lately, it's been one hurdle after another, never-ending."
As for which god to pray to, he already had an idea.
He'd pray to all the famous ones, whichever worked best, that's the one he'd worship. Let the Gods compete for the job based on results.
Midnight had passed, it was officially the next day.
Qin Siyang tore off the page.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Blue Star Calendar Year 2010, June 20]
[Western Calendar: Sunday, Father's Day]
[Lunar Calendar: Year of Gengyin, Fifth Month, Eighth Day, Auspicious for alliances, burials, and betrothals; Inauspicious for business openings]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Qin Siyang stared at the calendar for a while.
"Alliances… none for me. Burials… haven't killed anyone in a while. Betrothals? Nope, things with Wen Shu aren't that far yet."
"'Inauspicious for business openings'? Doesn't really apply either," He shrugged.
Looked like today's calendar had nothing to do with him.
Then he turned off the lights and got into bed.
As he closed his eyes, the image of that bowl of vegetable and egg porridge came back to mind again.
After savoring the memory a dozen or two times, he finally decided to rest.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, his brow furrowed.
He opened his eyes again and looked at Hu Chan, who lay beside him pretending to sleep.
"You brat, why aren't you asleep yet?"
Hu Chan opened his eyes and looked back, "How did you know I wasn't asleep?"
"Who breathes that unevenly when they're asleep?"
"I think my breathing's pretty even…"
"That's what you think. If you're gonna fake it, at least snore a little. You've been lying there awake so long it's making me nervous. You're not planning to kill me in my sleep, are you?"
"I'm not that much of a beast. You saved my and Protector Yu's lives, how could I kill you? I'm just afraid I'll talk in my sleep and say something I shouldn't."
'Ah, so that's it.'
He'd scared himself with Qin Siyang's little white lie earlier.
'Poor kid.'
"Alright then. You rest first. I'm going to sleep."
Once Qin Siyang's snoring started, Hu Chan finally let out a breath of relief.
'Living under someone else's mercy… really is miserable.'
'Owing Qin Siyang such a huge debt, how am I ever supposed to repay it?'
Then again, he thought, 'Qin Siyang seems naturally gifted at exploiting people, he has already taken plenty of advantage of me.'
Chances were, before Hu Chan even thought about how to repay the favor, Qin Siyang would have already planned how to make him work it off.
Really, what a curse. Ever since tagging along with Qin Siyang, he'd been getting the short end of the stick every day.
Hu Chan glanced once more at the sleeping Qin Siyang.
"What a formidable opponent."
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.