Wanderer of the Zerg

Chapter 47: Time Flies

After seeing off Posie, Ellis felt anxious and suddenly didn’t know how to face Male Lord.

Male Lord’s promises and Male Lord’s tolerance—how fortunate he was to meet someone like that.

But he feared that he couldn’t match Male Lord’s treatment of him.

However, he needed to learn to trust, just as Male Lord said; they still had a long road ahead of them.

Even the deepest feelings can be worn down by trivial matters.

Only by relying on each other could they face the future with a fearless heart.

He took a deep breath and faced Male Lord. “Male Lord, how about we go to the cinema in South Town tomorrow night?”

Xi Tian smiled. “Sure.”

As the clock ticked away and the calendar pages turned, spring quietly departed from Boulder with its skirt held high. Summer arrived with its fiery passion and vibrant dresses, dancing its way in. Before they knew it, summer was half over.

Boulder, located in the temperate zone of the kenna star, experiences mild winters and hot summers.

Now entering the hottest period, every household in town was cooped up at home, clinging to their air conditioners to survive.

Xi Tian was the same. In the intense heat, he would sweat profusely with the slightest exposure to warmth. Xi Tian, who cared deeply about his appearance, was troubled and reluctant to go out during the day.

In the yard, a small patch of land was filled with colorful, delicate flowers, occasionally visited by butterflies and bees. On the right side of the yard, a small wooden house was built against the fence. Inside lay a yellow and white stray dog, commonly seen around Boulder. The dog was listless, clearly exhausted by the scorching sun.

About a month ago, Xi Tian had taken a liking to eating dinner outside. After preparing the meal and bringing it to the outdoor table, he would always find that a bit of food was missing—sometimes a bun, sometimes a small piece of fried fish.

After several occurrences, Xi Tian and Ellis noticed the issue. At first, they thought it might be a mischievous young animal playing tricks, but they soon realized it couldn’t be a young animal. Occasionally, they would find leftover food scraps on the grass, and young animals, no matter how mischievous, would never leave things lying around.

One day, Ellis placed the meal on the table as usual. Xi Tian, hiding behind the glass door of the house, saw a furry little dog standing at the gate, cautiously looking around. After confirming there was no danger, the dog scampered up to the table. For convenience, they used a small, low table. The dog expertly put its paws on the edge, grabbed a piece of food closest to the table’s edge, and ran off.

Xi Tian laughed upon seeing this and called Ellis over to watch. It was indeed a not-so-greedy little dog.

The days passed leisurely. Since there was nothing to do, Xi Tian decided to keep the little animal, adding a bit of fun to his life.

Life in the small town was very peaceful. Occasionally, there would be a big news event, but these were the topics of conversation at the dinner tables throughout the town. The local newspaper reported that an interstellar company planned to purchase some school land outside Boulder for investment. During the gatherings in those days, those with investment awareness gathered to discuss whether to buy one or two plots of land there and resell them at a higher price. Xi Tian found it amusing.

In the end, the news sank without a trace, like a stone thrown into a pond.

In Boulder, gatherings were very frequent—holiday parties, wedding parties, colleague parties, study parties, and so on. Any reason could justify a gathering. At these gatherings, people sang, danced, ate, and drank. Sometimes, when two people were too lazy to cook, they would simply go to the supermarket to overhear where a party was happening, pretend to be friends of the party host, and sneak in to avoid making dinner.

However, they had only done this once. There were too few people in the town, and doing this repeatedly would eventually lead to trouble.

Xi Tian and Ellis once encountered a familiar face at a gathering and were almost recognized. They sneaked out, hand in hand, running into the night until they were out of sight of the house, unable to stop laughing.

Xi Tian had cleaned out all the books he was interested in at the town’s bookstore and fell into a long period of book drought. He lost interest in food and daily life, his gaze becoming vacant. At this time, Ellis had become infatuated with upgrading novels. The scene reminded him of his future self, enduring a similar book drought.

He then consulted a few females he had been friendly with during this time. After dismissing unreliable ideas like playing games, using physical charm to distract Male Lord, or finding someone new, Ellis concluded that these methods were meant to divert Male Lord’s attention. Recalling his university days and the artistic situations involving Male Lord, Ellis suggested that Xi Tian could try learning to draw.

Coincidentally, Xi Tian had thought about this early on and became interested. He visited an art studio, choosing to learn cartoon sketching from among various seemingly impressive options. Indeed, Xi Tian had wanted to draw since elementary school.

Boulder valued children’s education, with many tutoring classes for young ones in the town. Xi Tian spent each day among a group of little ones, attentively listening to the teacher’s lessons. He even collected many of the little red flowers given by the teacher. During the final competition, his work was displayed on the exhibition board. Ellis secretly took photos of these and saved them on his personal terminal.

Once he finished learning the basics, Xi Tian began researching on his own at home. In his notebooks and on paper, he often saw cute cartoon characters in the margins. Ellis even endured the snail-paced internet speed of his home star, changing his long-unused social media profile picture to a chibi drawing made by Male Lord.

At the same time, skill points also increased in baking. Orange mousse, soft cookies, and chocolate muffins became common treats for guests at home. Since Ellis avoided sweets, Xi Tian would make him some savory snacks instead. Sometimes, Xi Tian accidentally mixed these savory treats with the sweet ones meant for children. The little ones who loved sweets were too polite to spit them out, so they had to force themselves to eat them, and after that, whenever they visited Xi Tian’s home again, they refused to eat any cookies, no matter what their parents said.

After living here for over three months, life had become quite routine.

Xi Tian, in the air-conditioned room, was busy making orange mousse suitable for summer. Recently, when he focused on something, he completely blocked out any external information, and nothing could disturb him.

Ellis, meanwhile, lay on the sofa, reading novels and eating fruit. After all, aside from the three daily meals, there wasn’t much for him to do in the kitchen. He went to the gym three times a week, and with no concern about changing shape, they mostly went about their own business without disturbing each other.

With the sleep routine having been adjusted, Ellis was no longer sleepy during the day and was full of energy. The heat outside made everything steam, reducing his interest in outdoor activities, and he spent his days idly, waiting for nightfall, in a repetitive cycle.

Their life was indeed quite languid, but since both of them were in the same state, neither spoke about it, and they remained focused on their own kind of idleness.

Xi Tian placed the frozen orange mousse into soft silicone molds, poured in the remaining mousse, and put it in the freezer.

With his mind relaxed, the surrounding noise slowly came to his attention.

He sighed deeply, rubbed his back, and went to find Ellis.

As soon as Ellis saw Xi Tian rubbing his back, he understood immediately, put down his novel and fruit, sat up, and was then pounced on by Xi Tian.

Ellis was used to this by now, clearly Xi Tian was exhausted again. He straightened up and began massaging Xi Tian’s back.

“Back at our house, we definitely need to rebuild the kitchen countertop! It’s so low that you have to bend over for a long time, it’s really torturous.”

Ellis had heard Xi Tian complain about this before. Clearly, this kind of physical strain had become the biggest enemy of his dedication to his interests.

“Not everyone is as tall as you, Male Lord.”

“What’s the use of being this tall? It’s hard to pick out clothes.”

Xi Tian continued to complain, but his back pain eased significantly. He turned over, hugged Ellis by the neck, and Ellis obediently leaned down, receiving a kiss from Xi Tian.

Recently, Xi Tian had gotten a new dark blue nylon apron, which was convenient for cleaning. However, the apron would make a rustling noise when it rubbed against his body.

Feeling a bit more energetic, Xi Tian got up from his partner.

“What kind of snack did you make this time, Male Lord?”

“Frozen sweets. They need to be kept for a couple of hours. You’ll definitely like them.”

“Are they savory?”

“They’re sweet and tangy. Savory ones don’t taste good frozen.”

“Then I’ll skip them for now,” Ellis made a gesture of regret and reached for the fruit on the side, but Xi Tian snatched it away.

“You don’t have a choice; you must eat them.”

The fruit had already been bitten by Ellis, but Xi Tian didn’t hesitate to take a big bite from the same spot.

Ellis hesitated, then chose to remain silent.

“I really don’t understand you. Are you so bothered by me biting the fruit?”

“It’s not that. It’s just that I’ve bitten it. Aren’t you bothered by it, Male Lord?”

“What’s the big deal?” Xi Tian gave Ellis a fruit-flavored kiss. “You mind this? It’s the same as me eating the fruit earlier. Are you disgusted?”

If you are, I won’t kiss you again.

“No, not at all,” Ellis shook his head repeatedly. His own concerns were nothing compared to what Xi Tian thought of them. So why be bothered?

“Male Lord, I just received another invitation card for a gathering. It’s from someone I can barely remember. They’re having a celebration for their kid passing their first exam.”

Xi Tian had a strange expression. “They’re using that as a reason for a gathering?”

“Have you not received all kinds of invitations recently?”

Ellis shrugged and sighed theatrically.

“Bill told me that it’s his colleague, so he has to go.”

“Bill, I’ve never really understood why you got along with him, but since he’s going, let’s go in the evening.”

“Thank you for understanding, Male Lord.”

Ellis gave Xi Tian a humble bow, as a devoted attendant would.

“Oh, got it.” Xi Tian’s tone was flat, but he smiled.