Chapter 48 – “Is it because you want to kiss me?”

Jiang Que cried and clutched his clothes, asking him to teach him.

At this moment, not to mention just teaching him about “liking,” even if Jiang Que said he wanted the stars in the sky, Shen Tazhi would immediately invest in a rocket to help him pick them.

He hugged Jiang Que tenderly, unable to help but start reflecting on whether his behavior of always making Jiang Que figure things out on his own was too difficult for him.

Jiang Que was originally a monster who didn’t understand emotions, but in this lifetime, for some reason, he didn’t have as much malice towards him, always sticking to him. However, fundamentally, his understanding of human emotions was still somewhat vague, especially positive emotions like “liking.”

His ability to understand to this extent was already impressive, even far exceeding Shen Tazhi’s initial expectations – at first, he thought Jiang Que would lose interest in this somewhat difficult question before long.

Thinking of this, Shen Tazhi completely dispelled the idea he had initially of letting Jiang Que explore on his own and softly agreed:

“Okay, I’ll teach you.”

Jiang Que stopped crying, his black eyes looking at him like this, smiling with bent eyes after confirming that Shen Tazhi had truly agreed and wasn’t just stalling: “Alright then, you can’t back out.”

Shen Tazhi suddenly felt like he had made a risky decision.

Late at night, midnight.

The tired Jiang Que fell asleep hugging Shen Tazhi, with only a dim night light illuminating the darkness quietly in the room.

This was after Jiang Que said he wanted to get used to the light, and Shen Tazhi deliberately adjusted the bedside lamp settings, dimming the lights significantly. He had prepared many similar designs at home to gradually adjust the brightness little by little, allowing Jiang Que to slowly adapt to normal lighting conditions.

Today was the first day of turning on the bedside lamp, and Jiang Que didn’t have any extreme reactions, appearing to have already adapted.

Thinking back to when Jiang Que suddenly took off his sunglasses in the office to scare Shen Liushi earlier, Jiang Que at that time only slightly squinted his eyes and could open them again.

It seemed like Jiang Que was starting to get used to the light, which was a good thing.

Thinking this, Shen Tazhi looked at the sleeping Jiang Que in his arms, still unable to fall asleep.

When Jiang Que suddenly cried earlier, he panicked and didn’t have time to think deeply. Now, upon careful reflection, he felt that something was off.

What exactly was wrong…

Shen Tazhi looked at Jiang Que’s sleeping face with tear marks, pondering.

At that moment, the mobile phone on the bedside table suddenly vibrated.

Shen Tazhi picked up the phone and saw it was a progress report email and the teaching schedule for the next class sent by Du Lulu. After quickly scanning through it and confirming that there was nothing special happening in the class, he put down the phone.

Wait a minute.

Shen Tazhi finally realized what was wrong.

Because he had encountered a difficulty he couldn’t solve on his own and wanted to seek help, he cried. Wasn’t the scene just now, and the scene when Jiang Que pretended to cry during the first lesson, exactly the same?

Could it be that Jiang Que was pretending to cry again?

Turning to the side, Shen Tazhi frowned and rolled up the sleeve of Jiang Que’s sleepwear.

In the light from the bedside lamp, he could clearly see that Jiang Que’s arms were clean and white. He rolled up the sleeve of the other arm, where there was still a faint bruise left from the last time he pinched himself, but there were clearly no new injuries.

Shen Tazhi checked Jiang Que’s abdomen, back, and even his calves. This annoyed Jiang Que, who was dreaming, and he rolled out of his embrace, trying to get rid of the disturbance that came from nowhere.

Having checked all the possible places that could have been pinched, Shen Tazhi fell into contemplation.

There were no injuries on any of these areas… Could it be that this time Jiang Que was really crying out of grievance?

No matter how much he thought about it, he felt that something wasn’t quite right. Although the Jiang Que of this lifetime seemed less wary in front of him and more straightforward, fundamentally, he still had a strong and fierce personality. So, it felt strange for him to cry so easily.

But Jiang Que had absolutely no injuries on him. Suspecting him just because of that one instance of pretending to cry last time seemed a bit excessive.

While Shen Tazhi was contemplating, Jiang Que, who had rolled out because of his fiddling around earlier, rolled back over because he missed the warmth of his embrace and firmly wrapped his eight tentacles around him once again.

Shen Tazhi caught Jiang Que, feeling helpless, thinking that no matter what, he should just handle it as if Jiang Que had really cried.

After all, whether Jiang Que had cried for real or fake, in the situation just now, he would have agreed to help.

The next day.

Jiang Que woke up refreshed, stretched lazily after realizing the bed was empty, got up, quickly freshened up in the bathroom, and then rushed downstairs to find Shen Tazhi.

“Shen Tazhi! I’m awake, you promised me yesterday to teach me what it means to like someone!”

Jiang Que said as he descended the stairs.

Shen Tazhi, who was making breakfast in the kitchen, heard Jiang Que’s voice and walked out of the kitchen. He was then directly pounced on by the rushing Jiang Que.

It was only seven o’clock, and usually at this time Jiang Que would still be lazing in bed. It seemed like he was really looking forward to learning what it means to “like” with Shen Tazhi.

But how should he teach him…

Shen Tazhi, holding Jiang Que, felt a bit troubled.

After pondering the issue of Jiang Que’s fake crying last night and thinking all night about how to teach Jiang Que about “liking,” he concluded that he should show Jiang Que a healthy love between two people who like each other.

But where could he find two people to perform a healthy love demonstration for Jiang Que? Shen Tazhi thought and only came up with some romantic movies.

Watching movies could work, but Shen Tazhi didn’t think that a few simple movies could make Jiang Que understand what it means to like.

He couldn’t really hire a loving couple to demonstrate for Jiang Que, right?

“Shen Tazhi? Why aren’t you speaking?”

Jiang Que’s voice interrupted Shen Tazhi’s thoughts.

Shen Tazhi came back to his senses, smiled, and said: “I was just surprised that you woke up so early today. Have breakfast first, and after breakfast, I’ll think about how to teach you.”

“Okay.” Jiang Que obediently went to the kitchen to bring out breakfast.

Today’s breakfast was red bean porridge and egg pancakes. The porridge was slowly stewed in a small pot by Shen Tazhi last night while waiting for Jiang Que. The red beans were soft, fragrant, and sweet, with several pieces of rock sugar added. Jiang Que had two bowls in a row and even commented while eating:

“The red bean porridge is delicious too, sweeter than the mixed grain porridge I had before.”

He was referring to the mixed grain porridge Shen Tazhi had given him when they were underground. Shen Tazhi chuckled and said, “Because I added a lot of sugar to the porridge. The mixed grain porridge I gave you before was bought from outside, the ingredients were fixed, definitely not as sweet as homemade.”

Jiang Que took another bite of the egg pancake and nodded approvingly, “The food you make is the most delicious.”

Thinking about learning how to cook with Shen Tazhi, he remembered that he wanted to learn how to bake cookies from him. Since he woke up early today, he said, “Shen Tazhi, you mentioned teaching me how to bake cookies before, and I still want to learn that.”

“Sure.” Shen Tazhi had just finished eating and got up to put the bowl in the dishwasher while looking for the ingredients to make butter cookies.

Matcha powder, low-gluten flour, sugar… but there was no butter.

Shen Tazhi was about to send a message to ask the assistant to bring some over when suddenly he had a new idea for teaching Jiang Que.

“Like” is also a kind of emotion. Jiang Que doesn’t understand it because he hasn’t seen many positive human emotions in the abyss. After coming out, the only people he has interacted with are Shen Tazhi and the members of the Anomaly Investigation Department.

He has seen too few people and too few emotions, which is why he is in the current situation of not understanding anything.

What if he took Jiang Que out for a walk? Would this situation improve?

Thinking about this, Shen Tazhi put down his phone.

He said to Jiang Que outside the kitchen, “Que Que, we don’t have enough ingredients to make butter cookies. Do you want to go out with me to the supermarket to buy them?”

There is a large chain supermarket at the entrance of the community, not too crowded usually, close to home, and with a lively atmosphere, making it a good place for a first outing.

It happened to rain heavily yesterday, but today was a sunny day with warm sunshine, not too hot in the morning, and the air quality was good, perfect for going out.

“Go to the supermarket?” Jiang Que repeated in confusion, then asked, “Is this also part of the process of learning to ‘like’?”

“Yes,” Shen Tazhi smiled.

“In that case, I’ll go.” Jiang Que agreed immediately, and asked eagerly, “Can I hide my tentacles in my backpack and go out with you?”

After finishing the remaining porridge in a few mouthfuls and taking the bowl to the kitchen, he searched from the corner of the sofa for the small backpack that he had thrown into the corner last time he came home.

It’s not that Shen Tazhi was unwilling to get him a larger backpack, but even if Jiang Que’s tentacles were shrunk, they were still one meter long and the volume of eight coiled tentacles was not small. If they wanted the tentacles to be fully accommodated and able to move freely, only a large mountaineering backpack would do.

However, carrying a mountaineering backpack out would be too conspicuous, attracting too much attention, and might accidentally reveal his secret, which would not be a good thing. After searching around, Shen Tazhi found that a flexible backpack was the most suitable for Jiang Que, also matching his apparent age.

Watching Jiang Que struggle to stuff his tentacles into the backpack, Shen Tazhi couldn’t help but smile at first, but then felt a little heartache.

If a solution couldn’t be found, and Jiang Que wanted to integrate into human society, he would have to keep his tentacles hidden and carry a backpack all the time.

For now, he could still pass as a high school student, but what about later? When Jiang Que grew taller and older, carrying a backpack all the time would be difficult to explain.

Leaving Jiang Que at home all the time was obviously not an option. Shen Tazhi rubbed his forehead, thinking he needed to find a solution quickly.

Jiang Que, who was busy stuffing his tentacles, had no idea what Shen Tazhi was thinking. He was earnestly arranging the order of his tentacles.

When he twisted his tentacles last night, he didn’t hold back, so now that poor little twisted tentacle stings sharply when coiled up. Luckily, it’s still within his tolerance range. As long as he arranges them properly and places this tentacle on the top without being pressed, it won’t be too uncomfortable.

Jiang Que touched his aggrieved tentacle and thought to himself that he needed to find a way to get some of the medicine Shen Tazhi gave him last time to ease the pain. Otherwise, his tentacle would hurt for several more days.

His little tentacles are quite delicate.

Both of them had already washed up and changed clothes. Once Jiang Que had stuffed his tentacles and put on his sunglasses, they could head out directly.

Before leaving, Shen Tazhi was still a bit worried and confirmed once again, “The supermarket is right at the entrance of the community, there might be a few people inside, are you okay with that?”

“It’s fine.” Jiang Que was changing his shoes, responding cheerfully.

Having seen many humans, how could he be scared by a few people in the supermarket?

They didn’t need to buy much, just lacking some butter. Shen Tazhi also intended for Jiang Que to gradually interact more with human society, so they decided to walk to the supermarket.

It was Jiang Que’s first time walking out of the community. Before this, he always traveled back and forth in Shen Tazhi’s car. While in the car, his thoughts were mostly on Shen Tazhi, so he found the scenery in the community quite novel.

“Shen Tazhi, look, there are many birds on the ground ahead.”

Jiang Que stopped in his tracks, grabbed Shen Tazhi’s sleeve, and pointed to show him.

It was early in the morning, past the time for morning jogs and dog walks. The people in the villa area were either driving to work or still asleep, so there were very few people on the road. Only a few small birds were pecking at grass seeds on the ground, occasionally chirping crisply.

“Hmm.” Shen Tazhi obediently stopped and followed Jiang Que’s gaze to look at the sparrows that he had always taken for granted and never paid attention to before.

“Such fat birds, can we eat them?”

Shen Tazhi: …

A hint of poetic sentiment rose in his heart, but Jiang Que’s words swept it away. He helplessly smiled and said, “Que Que, those are sparrows. Are you planning to eat your own kind¹Jiang Que’s name is written with the word 雀 . Same as the one used for the word sparrow?”

“They are also Que Que?” Jiang Que was surprised.

Shen Tazhi smiled, “Yes, they are also Que Que.”

Jiang Que frowned and just pulled Shen Tazhi forward, saying, “Then let’s not look at the forest scene later. I don’t like it.”

Shen Tazhi let Jiang Que pull him forward, laughing happily from behind, “What’s wrong? Weren’t you just saying you wanted to eat them?”

Jiang Que glared at him, “You’re bullying me, I already said that only I can…”

“I can only call you Que Que.” Shen Tazhi interjected.

He patted Jiang Que’s head, chuckling, “Alright, why are you still arguing with sparrows, and wasn’t it you who first called them ‘Que Que’? I was referring to sparrows from the beginning.”

Jiang Que recalled and realized it was true. Not wanting to be unreasonable, he grunted and forgave Shen Tazhi, “Fine, it’s like that, then I won’t count it as you bullying me.”

Shen Tazhi struggled to hold back his laughter.

Along the way, Jiang Que looked at flowers, grass, and marveled at the dandelions that could be blown away. They took their time, taking more than forty minutes to walk a short journey that should have taken only ten minutes to leave the community.

Shen Tazhi didn’t rush him, as it was still early. He accompanied Jiang Que, occasionally greeted by elderly ladies out for their morning exercise. They complimented Jiang Que, even though most of his face was covered by sunglasses.

The residents in the villa area mostly knew each other. The high society of the capital city was well aware that Shen Tazhi had recently brought back a high school boy and pampered him immensely. Seeing Jiang Que carrying a backpack, they naturally guessed his identity.

Living here required a keen sense of observation. No one wanted to offend Shen Tazhi over trivial matters, so compliments came naturally.

They encountered several people on the way. Jiang Que began to feel a bit embarrassed by the praise and started hiding behind Shen Tazhi’s back when meeting new people.

“Mr. Shen, what a coincidence, good morning – oh, the child hiding behind you is so handsome and shy, really cute.”

Jiang Que: …

How can they praise this too?

Humans who compliment others are terrifying.

After being bombarded with compliments by the fourth person they met, Jiang Que completely abandoned his leisurely thoughts of observing the community. Adjusting his sunglasses, he put on a stern expression, grabbed Shen Tazhi’s hand, and briskly walked away.

Watching Jiang Que’s discomfort, Shen Tazhi teased, “Embarrassed now?”

Frowning, Jiang Que remembered the compliments and shivered, “They weren’t sincere.”

“The lady who greeted you earlier with her dog was actually thinking she didn’t expect you would like this type of guy, considering plans for her own son.”

“The man who was there at the beginning, he actually looked down on you, didn’t quite approve of your behavior, but due to your relationship, he still had to greet you.”

Jiang Que summarized a few people’s thoughts concisely and concluded, “Disgusting, let’s hurry up and leave.”

Shen Tazhi paused for a moment, he had thought that Jiang Que had never been so uncomfortable with compliments before, which was why he kept hiding. He never expected it was actually because he found it disgusting.

Right… this kind of flattery that reveals ulterior motives at a glance, Jiang Que must not like it.

Thinking about this, Shen Tazhi didn’t delay any longer and quickened his pace with Jiang Que, finally arriving at the supermarket.

It was already eight o’clock, the supermarket had just opened, and there were morning promotions like discounted eggs, so many elderly people who were out early had come to the supermarket to grab eggs.

Shen Tazhi pushed a small cart with Jiang Que and directly avoided the crowd, heading towards the baking area.

“We’re short of butter for making cookies, but we also don’t have much matcha powder and low-gluten flour at home. If you plan to make more later, let’s buy some other ingredients this time – do you have anything you want to eat?”

Shen Tazhi looked towards Jiang Que as he spoke, only to see that Jiang Que, who had just been eager to push the cart, had stopped at some point, staring intently at the goods on the shelves.

“Que Que?” Shen Tazhi walked back in confusion, “What are you looking at?”

“Chocolate.” Jiang Que pointed to the shelf, “The same one you gave me before, Shen Tazhi, I want this.”

Following his finger, Shen Tazhi saw that the chocolate on the shelf was the same one he had given Jiang Que in the abyss earlier. He smiled and said:

“If you want it, just take it, and pick out anything else you want to eat.”

Although there were already plenty of snacks at home, all of which he had personally chosen, letting Jiang Que pick out some was also nice.

Jiang Que was indeed very happy at the suggestion. He hesitated and picked several chocolates and milk candies, as well as a few boxes of colorful gummy candies, but ultimately reluctantly put them back when Shen Tazhi mentioned that there were more varieties of snacks ahead.

They all looked so delicious, and he wanted them.

“If we go ahead, can I buy some more snacks today?” Jiang Que sought Shen Tazhi’s opinion.

The money belonged to Shen Tazhi, so if he didn’t agree, he wouldn’t choose any.

“Sure.” Shen Tazhi agreed with a smile, “But don’t choose too many, we didn’t drive here today, and if we get too much, we won’t be able to carry it all.”

“Mhmm.” Jiang Que nodded, directly abandoning the small cart he had just been eager to push, and headed straight towards the area marked ‘snacks’.

Shen Tazhi reluctantly took over the abandoned cart, following Jiang Que’s steps, and said from behind, “Slow down, don’t bump into people.”

Jiang Que slowed his pace a bit upon hearing this, looking ahead at the road.

Then, he suddenly stopped.

Near the snack shelves, there was a man and a woman selecting snacks. They were also pushing a shopping cart. The woman was a bit short, unable to reach the snacks on the top shelf, so the man behind her reached out to get them for her.

Helping her grab something was not a big deal, but the woman, who seemed a bit shy, blushed and looked down. The man noticed her discomfort, put the item in the cart, lightly chuckled, then leaned down to touch foreheads with the girl.

The next moment, he embraced her and kissed her.

How could they kiss so openly in public!?! Jiang Que was shocked.

He stood nearby, unsure of whether to move forward or backward, frozen in place, feeling his ears burning.

Although he had seen more explicit scenes in the abyss before and didn’t think much of it, the sight before him made him want to look away for the first time.

Shen Tazhi, pushing the cart behind, arrived a bit slower and asked strangely, “What’s…?”

He couldn’t finish his sentence because he also saw the scene in front of them.

Startled, Jiang Que, like a child caught peeking at something they shouldn’t, quickly hid behind Shen Tazhi, stumbling to explain, “I, I didn’t expect them to suddenly… suddenly kiss like that…”

Kissing, how could they do that?

His reaction was a bit loud, disturbing the couple kissing in front. They quickly left upon noticing someone approaching, leaving Jiang Que and Shen Tazhi alone in the vast snack area.

Although the couple had left, Jiang Que still felt his cheeks burning. He was even hesitant to look at Shen Tazhi now.

He couldn’t understand the emotions and atmosphere between the couple just now. It was neither malicious nor harmful, just a feeling that made one blush and heart race. He didn’t know how to handle such emotions.

Jiang Que heard Shen Tazhi chuckle softly ahead, making his already red ears even redder.

What’s so funny, why is he laughing at him, Shen Tazhi is so annoying.

As Jiang Que muttered silently in his mind, Shen Tazhi turned around, bent down, and looked at Jiang Que, who was leaning on the small cart with flushed cheeks.

“Que Que,” Shen Tazhi smiled, “Could you tell what emotions those two people just now had?”

Honesty, Jiang Que shook his head. He really couldn’t tell.

Just as he was about to add that he could see everything else, Shen Tazhi chuckled again.

“Those two are partners.” Shen Tazhi dropped a bombshell on Jiang Que with a light tone.

Today, he was dressed in a casual white shirt with a loose light blue short-sleeved jacket, both made of simple cotton and linen material, looking gentler and more relaxed than usual. Seeing him smile like that, Jiang Que found himself unable to look away.

Intentionally mimicking the man from earlier, Shen Tazhi lightly touched foreheads with Jiang Que.

This was the closest they had ever been, so close that Jiang Que could see his own reflection in Shen Tazhi’s pupils.

“Kisses between partners are not just on the cheeks, Que Que. When you said you wanted to be partners with me, did you also want to kiss me like that?” Shen Tazhi asked with a light smile.

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  Jiang Que’s name is written with the word 雀 . Same as the one used for the word sparrow