WBICDPH Chapter 82

Chapter 82 — Warm Pillow, Cozy Covers

Lin Jin finished washing the little pup, set him back on the ledge by the tub, then picked up the fruit wine and snacks he had prepared earlier and leisurely took a sip.

Comfortable—far too comfortable.

He closed his eyes to savor it. When he opened them again, he noticed the steam rising from the water seemed thicker than before. Feeling carefully, the water also seemed a little hotter.

“Huh? That’s amazing. The water got warmer.”

Lin Jin set down his cup and snacks. Feeling it was a bit unfair to eat alone, he took out some fried meatballs he had stored earlier, broke one apart, and fed a piece to Qiuqiu while muttering,

“I was just thinking the water was getting a little cool, but felt too lazy to heat more. Didn’t expect it to warm itself back up. Soaking in perfectly warm water the whole time—this is bliss.”

“?”

Xiao Lanqi snorted softly but still reluctantly opened his mouth to eat the meatball.

“Man, I haven’t relaxed like this in ages.”

Lin Jin stretched and let out a long sigh.

He leaned comfortably against the edge of the tub, holding a warmed cup of fruit wine and taking small sips.

After a while, he glanced at Qiuqiu, who also had his eyes closed, resting, and suddenly spoke as if to himself.

“Kiddo, you know what my biggest dream growing up was?”

Xiao Lanqi opened one eye to look at him, waiting for him to continue.

Although Lin Jin was asking him, he didn’t look his way. He stared absently at the wine in his hand.

“I just wanted a home like this.”

After a pause, he added quietly,
“My own home.”

His voice softened.

“It didn’t need to be big or fancy. Just mine—somewhere that could hold me. When I first graduated from college, I had no money and student loans hanging over me. You know what loans are? Debt. I could barely survive myself and still owed people a ton of money. My first job had a miserly boss. I woke earlier than the chickens and slept later than the dogs, crammed into a tiny rented room with others. Every day it was just instant noodles—two cups a day. Sometimes I’d splurge and add a sausage.”

“I still don’t know how I got through that time. But I was lucky. Things slowly improved. I found a better boss, got a decent job, paid off my debts, and even saved some money. Then I carefully picked out a new place to rent.”

A faint flush colored his cheeks—whether from heat or alcohol, it was hard to tell.

“The day I moved in, I happened to get my year-end bonus. I splurged on a bottle of wine, soaked in the tub while drinking… That was the second-happiest moment of my life. Know what the first was? Payday. Hahaha…”

“I think I’m strange. Sometimes I really want to live—to work hard and earn a home of my own. But then I think, even if I have a place, it’s still just me inside—holidays, New Year—always alone. So I’d volunteer to cover coworkers’ shifts and watch fireworks by myself. No one remembered my birthday. Every year, only the phone company sent me birthday wishes. I went everywhere alone. If I died somewhere outside, no one would even notice.”

“At times like that, I just wanted to die. Whenever I saw tragic news stories on my phone—families ruined, terrible disasters—I couldn’t help thinking, it should’ve been me. If I could die in their place, that’d be better. No one would cry for me anyway. If I died, it’d be fine.”

“…”

Xiao Lanqi tilted his head slightly, watching Lin Jin in confusion.

The lunatic was saying strange things again.

What bonuses? What noodles? What debts?
And why keep talking about dying? No one was asking him to die. Charging into danger was one thing, but why talk about death even while soaking comfortably in hot water?

Lin Jin finished a large cup of fruit wine and poured himself another.

This bath was far too pleasant. He had planned to get out once the water cooled, but whenever the temperature dropped even slightly, it warmed itself again. It was so effortless and comfortable that he kept wanting to stay longer.

He took another big gulp.

The wine was a gift from Miss Hua, brought from Chixia City. The fruit used was top-tier—only a tiny amount is produced each year. Half went to the imperial capital; the rest was distributed locally, with very little reaching the market. Plenty of people couldn’t buy it even if they had money.

Hua Nanzhi owned too many rare treasures like this. At first, Lin Jin had been amazed, but eventually he got used to it.

The wine really was delicious—rich fruit aroma, sweet and tangy, almost like juice drinks from the old world. He even wondered whether it had any alcohol at all; it didn’t feel strong.

Boldly, he downed another cup. Feeling it was bad form to enjoy something so good alone, he dipped a finger in the wine and held it near Xiao Lanqi’s mouth.
“Here, kiddo. Try it—just a sip. It’s great!”

Get lost.

Xiao Lanqi turned his head away in disdain.

“Huh? That’s not enough for you?”

Lin Jin’s eyes had grown misty, his cheeks faintly flushed. He poured the last of the wine into the cup.
“Here, sweetheart. Drink from this.”

…Drunken fool.

Xiao Lanqi rolled his eyes at the cup shoved near his nose but reluctantly took a small sip.

What is this? Way too sweet. Don’t like it.

“Tastes good, right?”

Lin Jin grinned, drained the cup himself, then casually tossed it aside.

He rubbed the puppy’s small head. After a moment, he leaned closer and whispered near his ear,

“Hey, I’ll tell you a secret.”

“?”

Xiao Lanqi raised a brow slightly.

“I’m not from this world.”

A little dizzy, Lin Jin rested his head on his arm against the tub’s edge and half-closed his eyes.

“I came from another world. That place is completely different. I don’t know if I can go back. I don’t know if I should go back…”

“I kind of want to. It’s much safer there. No ghosts, no demons, no terrifying blood-prison formations.”

“But I also don’t really want to. I want to stay here. To me, this place feels more like home. It’s lively here. Really. I can’t bear to leave you… and I can’t bear to leave…”

His voice grew softer and softer until even with Xiao Lanqi leaning close, the words were unclear.

Not from this world? Then, where was he from?

Xiao Lanqi had never heard anything so strange. But thinking about it, Lin Jin often used odd words and phrases.

At first, Xiao Lanqi thought he’d been imprisoned too long and couldn’t keep up with human trends. Later, he realized those strange expressions were used only by Lin Jin and by a fellow surnamed Han.

So was this drunken nonsense—or drunken truth?

Did this man simply like wild imagination, or did he truly come from somewhere else?

Xiao Lanqi watched him, eyes dimming thoughtfully.

Forget it. Whether he came from the heavens or underground, what did it matter?

Who cared where a piece of meat came from? Once eaten, it was all the same.

With that thought, Xiao Lanqi climbed onto the tub’s edge and hopped down.

He shook the water from his fur and headed for the bed to rest. After a few steps, though, he paused and looked back at the other person still in the tub.

The drunk had fallen asleep. Wouldn’t soaking all night be dangerous?

If he drowned, he drowned. Free meat.

The little pup lifted his head proudly and walked off decisively—only to return moments later as a man with long, loose curls, his face sour.

Wet strands and thin braids clung together messily, dripping water.

A droplet slid past his brow, fell from his lashes, briefly catching the faint glow of his teal eyes before dimming as it dropped.

Irritated, Xiao Lanqi untangled hair caught in the silver ornaments by his left ear, then grabbed Lin Jin’s outer robe from a nearby rack and tossed it into the tub to wrap him up.

One arm slid behind Lin Jin’s back; the other reached beneath the water to hook behind his knees. He lifted him horizontally.

Water streamed from the fabric like rain in the small tub. With a simple spell, Xiao Lanqi dried both the clothes and the person.

“Idiot. Falling asleep in water—how did you even survive this long alone?”

Frowning, he weighed the person in his arms.

“Light as kindling. Not even heavier than my blade.”

He carried Lin Jin to the bedside and bent to set him down. But as he straightened, his hair suddenly tugged painfully, and he stumbled back.

His knee hit the floor, silver ornaments clinking loudly. Another face filled his vision at close range, and the scent of fruit wine grew stronger.

Xiao Lanqi felt oddly uneasy.

When he usually rested in beast form beside this person’s pillow, waking up to that face was normal. But this felt different—strangely off.

Not wanting to linger, he reached to free whatever had snagged him. The tiny silver ornaments in his hair had tangled with Lin Jin’s.

“….”

What a hassle.

Even drunk and asleep, this man was troublesome. Maybe he wasn’t human at all but a new demon subspecies—Xiao Lanqi mentally named him “Troublemaker.”

Too impatient for delicate work, he almost cut Lin Jin’s hair off outright—then remembered humans’ fussy rules about preserving one’s body.

What’s there to preserve? You don’t mind risking your life.

If I shaved you bald, what could you do?

After an internal struggle filled with silent complaints, Xiao Lanqi rolled his eyes, decisively cut off his own hair, then patiently untangled the rest from Lin Jin’s.

Annoying. Annoying. Annoying.

Kneeling by the bed, he spent what felt like a lifetime of patience freeing the knots, barely resisting the urge to burn all the hair off in frustration.

Once done, he immediately incinerated the severed hair and ornaments to ashes with emerald flame and scattered them away.

He meant to rest, but then noticed the uncleared water and unattended tub.

Infuriating!!!

You bathed. You drank. You slept. I handle the cleanup?
Am I your servant?!

With fierce movements, he hauled the tub out, dumped the water, shoved it into a corner, then returned to shut the door.

Before shifting back into beast form, he yanked the blanket over Lin Jin.

Drunken fool. Don’t freeze to death.

Turning back into a puppy, he planned to step over Lin Jin and settle on the inner side of the bed—only to be grabbed mid-step.

At first, he thought Lin Jin had woken, but seeing his eyes still closed, he realized it was an unconscious movement.

Lin Jin rolled over and pulled Xiao Lanqi into his arms.

Wrapped only in a robe, Lin Jin’s collar loosened, revealing the clear line of his collarbone.

Xiao Lanqi stared at the neatly shaped bone and, for some reason, remembered how it had looked faintly pink in the hot water earlier.

After a moment’s thought, he lifted his chin and gently rested his small head there.

Tch. Probably not much meat on it—but it made a decent pillow.

And…

Though the fruit wine tasted cloyingly sweet,

Its scent was pleasantly fragrant.