Little did anyone know that not long after their friends left, Jingliu, on whom Baiheng had pinned great hopes, didn't get a single chance to go straight for the goal.
Zero watched the four of them leave, then took out the fruit candy from his pocket and stuffed it into Jingliu's hand.
Jingliu didn't refuse. She lowered her head, tore open the candy wrapper, and put the candy into her mouth.
Zero clearly heard Jingliu chewing the candy, as if she wanted to treat the candy as if it were him.
He knew that this time, she was really angry.
Zero never expected that Hua had actually been right.
Jingliu really was angry. And it wasn't just because Zero had silently prepared real estate behind her back.
When the four of them deliberately left space for the two to be alone, Jingliu looked over the courtyard's layout. As if she had misunderstood something, even the tips of her ears flushed pink. Avoiding Zero's gaze, she softly asked, "What do you mean by this?"
At the time, Zero, "..."
His expression nearly fell apart.
Zero instantly guessed what Jingliu was thinking and also realized his own mistake.
He shouldn't have given her a house.
He really had thought about taking their relationship a step further, but not like this.
Zero giving her a house wasn't because he wanted to live with Jingliu! Wait, he had no such intention at all! He wasn't hinting at anything.
Taking ten thousand steps back, even if they were going to live together, shouldn't that wait until after marriage?
Zero had read quite a few psychology books and knew very well that he should follow her line of thinking, take out a ring from his system backpack, and propose in front of the other four as witnesses.
But there were no flowers here. No candles, either.
Of course, those were just excuses. He simply felt that… things were moving too fast.
You had to take things step by step, let Jingliu understand his true personality, right? You had to give her time to think it over properly, right?
Besides, even for a short-lived species, there was no logic in proposing after only a few months of dating, was there?
Left with no choice, Zero played the role of an unromantic block of wood and said to Jingliu, "This is your house."
As expected, she got angry. The way she looked at him… how to put it? It was a bit like Jade failing to get a can of food and wanting to beat up her owner.
Zero tentatively took Jingliu's hand. Seeing that she didn't shake him off, he squeezed her palm and softened his tone.
"All right. After we finish this meal, I'll explain everything to you."
Jingliu nodded coldly at Zero, then turned and walked away.
While trying to think through other possible reasons Jingliu might be angry, Zero also dealt with the others.
He didn't want to share the details of how he and Jingliu got along with outsiders, so he spoke vaguely.
With his attention split, Zero cooked hotpot and picked food for Jingliu while seriously reviewing everything.
Aside from acting on his own initiative and making Jingliu misunderstand his intentions, the remaining issue was probably the price of the house.
Jingliu might feel a lot of pressure.
But he had mentioned before that he didn't lack money.
Zero thought that by gradually revealing part of the truth to Jingliu, everything he did should have been enough for her to accept the house.
After she saw those pieces of jewelry, he had even tried to comfort her.
Judging by the results, it didn't seem to help much.
Then he might as well just tell the truth.
After finishing the meal and seeing the other four off, Zero had already organized his thoughts.
The two of them sat by the stone table in the courtyard. Jingliu tore open another candy wrapper.
Zero looked at Jingliu.
First, he needed to admit his mistake and soothe her emotions.
He slowly spoke, "I'm sorry. I acted on my own."
"Actually, I want our relationship to go a step further."
"But not now."
Jingliu's movements paused. She didn't look up at him, still staring at the candy in her hand.
Seeing this, Zero continued, "Look, there are a lot of things missing here. There are no flowers, no candles…"
"I value our relationship a lot. I don't want every step we take to be too rushed."
Hearing this, the anger in Jingliu's heart subsided by more than half, and she looked up at Zero.
He still wore that gentle, harmless expression. Judging by his expression and tone, it was as if she were the one making a fuss.
Seeing her reaction, Zero went on, "Besides that, I hope you can think it over carefully."
Jingliu had long known that Zero habitually assumed the worst possible outcome.
But hearing these clearly pointed words, the anger that had just died down flared up again.
She controlled her tone and asked, "Think over what?"
Zero paused for a moment.
For him, laying bare his true thoughts… really wasn't an easy thing.
He thought carefully about his wording.
"To be honest, I don't know whether I can be a qualified marriage partner. I have a bad temper, and my personality isn't as… gentle as you might imagine."
Jingliu, "..."
Putting marriage aside, just as a romantic partner, there was nothing she could fault Zero for.
Every so often he sent flowers, prepared surprises for her, bought her jewelry worth who knew how many credits. And today, he had even prepared a house for her.
The moment she saw the courtyard, Jingliu instantly recalled the garden photos Zero had previously sent her.
The courtyard before her matched the style of the photo she had chosen.
Had Zero started preparing this so early? Was it… to live with her?
Very quickly, she heard him say that this was a house exclusively for her. She felt both embarrassed and angry, embarrassed at her own wishful thinking, angry that Zero had once again taken it upon himself to prepare such an expensive gift for her.
It made her feel a lot of pressure.
Jingliu didn't know how she was supposed to return such a gift.
Zero always silently prepared surprises for her. Aside from that, he had no flaws at all.
But these words of his… really surprised Jingliu.
Bad temper? Not as gentle as she imagined? What did that refer to?
Zero rarely argued with her. That counted as a bad temper?
Or was it that after several months of dating, their most intimate act was still just kissing?
That the most intimate physical contact they had was him touching her back?
Jingliu couldn't make sense of it and could only look back on the past, asking, "Bad temper? Not gentle? What do you mean?"
Zero fell silent.
Should he say that he used to want to kill all the Aeons? But now he didn't want to kill all of them anymore, just a few?
How was he supposed to phrase that? What could he replace "gods" with? No matter how he changed it, it sounded weird.
Zero hesitated before speaking,
"How should I put it… sometimes I have some… excessive thoughts."
Jingliu seemed to understand. She nodded and said in an especially relaxed tone, "Destroying the universe, right?"
Zero, "..."
Hearing that, Zero almost lost control of his expression.
Then Jingliu added, "A lot of people on the forums have thoughts like that."
She softened her voice and gently comforted Zero, "Everyone has negative thoughts when they run into difficulties. That's completely normal."
Zero, "..."
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