“……”
There was silence around them once more.
Sinai slowly looked up at his near face, and the sound in her throat seemed to fade away.
She hadn’t really expected a scene like this to happen.
She wasn’t one to give people notes.
Norton was the only one.
If he saw that no one else, including Ying and Su Man, had notes, he wouldn’t be able to tell how she felt about him, would he?
“Yes.” Sure enough, Norton spoke again, his voice faint, “Only curse me.”
There was a full thirty seconds of silence before Sinai thought of wording, and she said, word for word, “It’s a nickname for your love.”
Norton raised his eyes and slowly repeated, “Love, nickname, nickname?”
“We young people of the new generation, you understand, have always followed the maxim ‘to beat is to kiss, to scold is to love’.” Sinai said with her eyes wide open, “The fact that I’ve made a note for you alone means I love you the most.”
She said it as if she believed it herself.
Norton’s eyes narrowed tighter, his focus different, “Your new generation of young people?”
Sinai had relaxed, “I’m only in my twenties, how am I not a new generation of young people?”
“Calling me old in a different way.” Norton smiled, “And calling me shameless, that’s fine.”
Sinai: “……”
This man, why was he so careful and calculating.
She didn’t even say anything about how he used to lift her up with one hand.
“Guess I should beat you up and scold you more in the future.” Norton shoved the phone back into her hand slowly, “It would show my affection and love for you, and it would show-”
“I, an old shameless man, am learning to lean in like your new generation of youngsters.”
Sinai: “……”
Not wanting to talk to him, she tucked her phone away and went upstairs, hugging her pillow.
“Hey.” Behind her back, Norton lifted his chin and asked, “What do you want to eat tomorrow morning?”
Sinai ignored it.
She realised that she was just too soft on him to be bullied by him over and over again.
But then again he did treat her well.
So in the process, her feelings for him, not to mention being smoothed out by time, only grew deeper.
Sinai had always been sensible, and emotions that had no future would be wiped out by her in advance.
Something had to be done.
Sinai closed the door with a bang, leaving no gap.
“……”
Norton’s eyelashes dropped and his lips tugged, his expression cold.
One minute he was saying he loved him, and the next he was changing his face.
He used to tease her like that, and she’d argue with her.
How could it be that it hadn’t been that long ago that she had changed?
Could it be that children were all so temperamental?
Norton frowned and thought for a while, so he dialed a video call to Ying Ziyi.
It took seven or eight rings before the call was answered.
Norton glanced at it and saw that the background was still the office of the experimental base: “You’re busy so late too?”
It was already half past nine, but Ying Zidian had no intention of stopping.
“The drawings aren’t finished yet, so I can’t rest.” Ying Zidian didn’t look up, “Put in your words quickly.”
“……”
Norton was quite convinced.
He had just hit a wall with Sinai, and was stymied again with Ying Zigei.
One was the one that had beaten him into submission in the first place.
He was only after the strongest.
The other one?
Fine, count him in willingly.
Norton’s voice paused, “How are the two children’s tempers? Fussy?”
At the mention of her almost two-month-old baby, Ying’s brow softened: “Very well behaved, no need to worry, Changle is lively, but also very understanding.”
Before, she would not have thought that she would get married and have two good and lovely little children.
Now, she had only one obsession left
To invent a space carrier, break out of the galaxy and go to another universe to meet her best friend.
Jun Muxia.
This name made Ying Ziji’s heart stir slightly.
This was her only friend in life and death in another universe after being sent there by Fu Yunshen.
To put it mildly, she would have met Jun Mu Shallow at first because she had failed to count out this person and had an initial interest in researching.
After that she followed Jun Muxiang to various places, again out of curiosity, to see why she couldn’t count it out.
Only after that did they become friends.
They became friends.
Ying Ziji’s eyelashes trembled and she sighed softly.
I wonder if Jun Mu Sha is doing well now.
“Also.” Norton was silent for a few seconds, “Your children are naturally not normal people.”
He was asking the wrong person.
“Did you have another fight with my aunt?” Ying replaced a blank sheet of paper, “I hear that you are still thinking about it and want to be my grandfather?”
Norton: “……”
He admitted his mistake in a second, “Sorry, I’m hanging up, just pretend I didn’t ask anything today.”
It was then that Ying raised her eyes.
She looked thoughtfully at the blacked out screen for two seconds, then fed back Norton’s unusual reaction to Fu Yunshen as it was.
They had been in voice chat.
“Is there something wrong with him, wanting to have a baby alone?”
Alchemists had that ability too.
Gender was not an issue.
Fu Yun Shen paused and curled his lips, “Maybe, maybe?”
Well, his girl, in some aspects of her emotional intelligence, was still a negative number.
But he wasn’t going to explain either.
In matters of emotion, outsiders couldn’t help much.
“It’s almost the weekend, I’m going to pick you up in G the day after tomorrow.” Fu Yunshen paused, “These days, have you seen anything?”
Ying Ziji knew he was referring to the future, whether she had seen her and Jun Muxiang meet up.
She shook her head slightly, “I have never been able to see anything about me, I can only speculate.”
“But I have a hunch that it’s soon.” Ying Zigui whispered, “I’ll have the drawings done the day after tomorrow, you can accompany me to the alchemy world next month, I’ve seen those materials that Norton brought, they are indeed useful, they might be for building the cosmic carrier
She wanted to, to meet with Jun Muxia.
She also had to tell her that what she had said to her at the beginning had come true.
“Good, I haven’t been to the alchemy world yet.” Fu Yunshen smiled low and slow, “She must be looking for you too, just like I am.”
“I’m quite worried about her too.” Ying Ziji was silent for a moment, “You also know that after I died there, their enemies are also very powerful, no weaker than us.”
Fu Yunshen’s voice was gentle, “Yaoyao, as long as she still remembers the pact she made with you, nothing will happen to her.”
He hadn’t met the good friend she was talking about, but he could tell from her description that they possessed the same tenacity and perseverance.
Would fight to the death for the person they were trying to protect.
“Well, speaking of which, it seems that she has another engagement with me.” Ying thought about it, “Let’s talk about it then, I’ll continue with the drawing first.”
What was it.
She gave it a miss.
**
Sinai was quite free these days.
People in other areas on the third basement level were all walking around when they saw her.
Apparently the gun she had pulled out that day had scared Annie into incontinence and had hit the others pretty hard.
But Annie didn’t dare to come to the experimental base anymore.
When she did, she had to hide in the experimental area.
“You’re a disgrace.” Celie sneered, “Where are your brains? You’ve lost your brains over jealousy? How advanced is the technology in the lab site that allows someone to bring a gun in?”
She slapped her teacup down heavily on the table, “And getting an inspector team, only to have you almost sent to a mental hospital yourself, what the hell were you thinking?”
Annie opened her mouth and mumbled, “I just …… can’t stand to look at her, and she’s got problems too.”
“How does a normal person get connoted a few times and just shoot them?”
At that, she couldn’t help but winced and cursed.
Sinai was the psycho.
“Whether she would have shot or not, you shouldn’t have been so direct!” Celie’s voice was stern, “It takes a knife to kill someone without bloodshed so you can take yourself out.”
Annie pursed her lips, “What should I do now that this has happened?”
Celie faded, “I have my own way, you’ll know in a few days, if she’s not thrown out of the lab, she’ll be wasted.”
The first researcher position had been decided long ago and there was certainly no hope.
The other fellows were all fighting for the second spot.
So was Celie.
Sinai’s appearance had given her a crisis like no other.
There was no shortage of power faction struggles anywhere.
Although Celie had joined the cosmic carrier experiment project, she was not optimistic.
With the current level of human technology, it was really a pipe dream to invent a cosmic carrier.
She would come here to study and expand her network, and it was not her concern whether the cosmic carrier could be built or not.
There were also plenty of places she could go when she left the experimental base.
Both the International Centre for Physics and Norton University had offered her employment.
“Keep your peace these days.” Celie warned heavily, “Don’t miss my business.”
Anne obediently responded, retreating in shame.
**
Another week pa*sed and the countdown to 2023 was on.
The day before Christmas Eve, Sinai received a number of invitations.
She only replied to Charlotte’s messages, and she declined all of Alfonso’s and other invitations to dates of the opposite sex.
Sinai managed to finish replying to the messages and as if remembering something, she looked up, “What did you say the other day, about Christmas?”
Despite her determination to cut off her feelings for him, she sometimes still held out hope.
This week, he had cooked all three of her meals a day.
“Hanging out with people my own age on Christmas Eve.” Norton spoke, “I’m not home, take care of yourself.”
Sinai hmmed, “I know, already have a date.”
Norton sensed the detachment in her attitude.
“Angry?” Norton lifted his eyes, “If you don’t mind, I’m an old shameless man, I can keep you company on Christmas Day.”
“Mind, very much so.” Sinai blew on his tea, nonchalantly, “Old shamelessness leave us youngsters alone, what if I become as shameless as you?”
“……”
Sinai sipped his tea while going upstairs.
A bit of self-deprecation.
What was she thinking, and what was she hoping for.
It was so silly.
**
The next day.
Sinai went out as promised.
She and Charlotte met up after dinner to watch the fireworks.
“Teacher, you’re not in a good mood today?” Charlotte was perceptive, “Did something happen?”
“If you like someone, but they only see you as a junior.” Sinai paused, “What should I do?”
“Treat you like a late bloomer?” Charlotte blinked and hit the nail on the head, “Is that the three hundred year old guy?”
“……”
Sinai chose to abandon the exchange and changed the subject, “Let me invite you to go shopping in the mall later, I have my VIP card.”
With that, she rummaged through her bag, but couldn’t find where the card was.
She wrinkled her brow in thought and then remembered that she had gone to buy clothes for Norton yesterday and had left her card inside the bag of clothes as well.
“I forgot my card.” Sinai said, “Shia, wait for me, I’ll go back and get it.”
“Okay, okay.” Charlotte answered in one breath, “Teacher, do you want some peace nuts? I’ll go and collect them from the front.”
The two separated.
Ten minutes later, Sinai returned to the cottage.
The town was celebrating Christmas Eve and the streets were decorated with lights.
The cottage was the only one without any light, alone.
She fumbled with the lights and then found her card on the sofa.
As she was about to leave, she heard a “thud” from upstairs.
Sinai was stunned, and her first thought was that there was a burglar in the house.
But since Norton had moved in, he had placed a number of alchemicals around the cottage, so no one could get in.
After thinking about it, Sinai went upstairs, unscrewed the knob of Norton’s bedroom door and turned on the light.
The room was monotonous, with only black and grey colours.
On top of the black carpet, there was a man lying.
Sinai’s eyes changed, “What are you doing lying on the floor?”
There was no response.
“Get up, didn’t you say you weren’t going to be home today?” Sinai bent down to pull him, “What for?”
Her hand almost burned as soon as it touched his body.
She scowled again.
Oh no.
A high fever had set in.
But could a Sage get sick too?
Sinai didn’t have time to think about it, so she went to the bathroom and got a wet towel to cover Norton’s forehead, and immediately called Ying Zigui.
When the call came through, she immediately said, “Ying, do sages get sick too?”
“Hm?” Ying Zidian said, “Of course, except for their long life span and their special ability to withstand disasters, sages are no different from ordinary people.”
“They can get hurt and they can get sick, only they heal themselves quickly.”
She paused, “What happened?”
“He’s got a fever.” Sinai wrinkled her nose, “It doesn’t look like it’s healing itself.”
“Don’t worry, aunt.” Ying spoke, “It’s not life-threatening, just do as I say, just get the normal fever medicine for him first, if the fever doesn’t go down in an hour, you give me the word and I’ll come over.”
“Okay.” Ending the call, Sinai immediately went to find the medicine.
Halfway through, she sent Charlotte another message of apology.
Sinai was smart.
Seeing Norton in this state, she was able to guess that it should be some kind of injury that Norton had sustained during the eight months or so he had gone to the alchemy world.
She hadn’t had much contact with alchemists, but she had been turned into a child for ten years because of a random pill from a sage magician.
Alchemists were indeed scary.
It was just that being surrounded by sages had given her a misconception in her thinking already, that sages were invincible beings.
But ignoring the fact that top ancient martial artists and top alchemists were also capable of inflicting fatal damage on them.
Sinai slung one of Norton’s arms over her shoulder and struggled to move him towards the bed.
Norton had the type of body that was fleshy off and skinny on.
She hadn’t really thought that he was so heavy.
It took a good ten minutes of tossing and turning before Sinai was able to lift Norton onto the bed.
After a three-second rest, she went back for the medicine cabinet.
The last thing in the villa was medicine, and Norton had plenty of bottles and jars.
“Good boy, take your medicine.” Sinai coaxed like a pet, “Take your medicine to get better.”
Norton’s eyes were closed and he didn’t respond at all.
The shredded hair on his forehead was damp against his forehead, beads of sweat rolling down in drops, sliding down his chin to his slender neck and finally into his collarbone, disappearing.
To cool her off, Sinai helped him undo a few buttons.
Sinai had to admit that his body was also perfectly formed, with smooth muscular lines that didn’t belong to a supermodel.
It took another half-hearted effort before she could give him the medicine.
He lay quietly on the bed, his handsome features pale, giving rise to a sense of broken vulnerability in a trance.
Sinai thought of the big golden she used to have.
He was always so majestic and imposing.
Once, after getting sick in the rain, he crouched in his kennel, waiting for her to feed him, his eyes pitiful.
So, he had a scene like that too.
Sinai began to think about whether she should take a picture of him, so that she would have something to blackmail him with later.
After thinking about it for two seconds, she gave up.
She was such a kind person, she didn’t want to be in the same boat as this old shameless man.
With a sigh, Sinai picked up a few wet towels and prepared to go to the bathroom for a change.
Before she could fully get up, a hand suddenly clasped her wrist.
The strength was so great that she had no chance of breaking free.
Sinai was pulled onto the bed in a flash, and then her whole body was imprisoned.
Like a drowning man clinging to the only driftwood, the man did not let go, and his arms continued to tighten.
His body was still rolling hot.
The next second, Sinai dropped to her feet.
She was pinned beneath Norton.