Xu Zhi saw the exaggerated expression on Zhou Mu’s face for the second time in just a few minutes.
Zhou Mu had a tough and steady appearance, and such an exaggerated expression seemed like something that shouldn’t appear on such a face, which made Xu Zhi somewhat uneasy.
“Father?” Zhou Mutou tilted his head slightly to one side and repeated Xu Zhi’s words.
“Yes,” Xu Zhi looked away with a guilty conscience, staring at Zhou Mu’s hand casually resting on his knee, “You can call me that.”
There was a brief silence in the room, and then suddenly, Zhou Mu laughed out loud.
Xu Zhi furrowed his brow and lifted his head, only to find a slight curve at the corner of Zhou Mu’s mouth, and his eyes had a subtle sparkle.
It has to be said that this is a smile that is difficult for anyone to look away from. After all, the male protagonist of the novel has quite superior physical attributes.
But this expression is not appropriate for this circumstance.
Unfortunately, Xu Zhi, who had a bad temper, happened to be in this mood, and he was the one who made Zhou Mu laugh.
“Why are you laughing?” Xu Zhi’s only trace of guilt was gone. His tone became calmer, and the air that had become more relaxed stopped flowing again.
“Don’t be angry,” Zhou Mu sat up straight and wanted to get out of bed, but then paused as if he remembered something. He asked Xu Zhi, “Can I get out of bed to talk?”
Xu Zhi stared at him without expressing his opinion.
Zhou Mu added, “My legs are a little numb.”
Xu Zhi thought that he was not an unsympathetic person, so he thought about it and agreed.
Zhou Mu got out of bed for the first time today.
He was very tall, and Xu Zhi felt a bit oppressed when he stood up. Xu Zhi regretted his decision for a second and then took a step back nervously.
But Zhou Mu didn’t come over, as Xu Zhi thought. He moved his legs slightly and stood up straight beside the bed.
Perhaps it was because Zhou Mu seemed safe so far. Xu Zhi was distracted and thought for a moment that this person’s height was in line with the setting he had written in the character outline.
“Tell me,” Xu Zhi came to his senses and asked dissatisfiedly, “What are you laughing at?”
Zhou Mu seemed to want to laugh again, but Xu Zhi’s expression was too serious, so he didn’t laugh in the end but looked like he was thinking.
When Xu Zhi was waiting impatiently, he asked seriously, “How old am I in your novel?”
“27 years old.” Xu Zhi said.
“Then how old are you this year?” Zhou Mu asked again.
“What does it have to do with you?” Xu Zhi was not satisfied with Zhou Mu’s inquiry into his personal situation, and his tone sounded like he had just eaten ten pounds of dried chili peppers.
“I guess you aren’t older than me,” Zhou Mu was not discouraged by his harsh tone and asked tentatively, “23 years old?”
Xu Zhi said nothing.
“24 years old?” Zhou Mu guessed again.
“25 years old?”
“26 years old.” Xu Zhi finally announced the answer with a gloomy face.
Zhou Mu laughed again. He lowered his head slightly, as if explaining something to a child who couldn’t understand at all, “So, do you think a 27-year-old adult would…”
He paused for a few seconds, probably thinking of a more appropriate way to express himself.
“Would you call someone ‘father’ to someone who looks much younger than you?” Zhou Mu still asked.
Xu Zhi also reacted. His ears suddenly became very red, but he still said firmly, “I created you.”
After saying this, he began to gain confidence and intensified his teasing, “So, in terms of logic, I am indeed your father.”
Zhou Mu still kept looking down at him. He didn’t have any special reaction after hearing this, but he nodded seriously.
He looked at Xu Zhi very attentively, which made Xu Zhi feel that Zhou Mu must have listened to his words.
In this unusually tense atmosphere, it’s quite rare that Xu Zhi’s thoughts have wandered. He can’t help but think of a term: nestling complex.
‘This is difficult’, Xu Zhi thought.
“Then father,” Zhou Mu really didn’t refute anymore, “Can you tell me about me? I don’t know myself very well yet.”
When he said this, there was a good balance of confusion and curiosity in his tone, but there was no nervousness or shock.
He seems to have accepted the fact that he is a character in the novel well. He was only a little surprised at the beginning. At least his mental resilience is much better than that of the author, Xu Zhi.
This left Xu Zhi feeling very frustrated, as if he were the most ignorant and had the poorest mental resilience in the world.
And from now on, it seems that Xu Zhi has the upper hand in the conversation between the two, but in fact, it is Zhou Mu who has always been in control.
Zhou Mu was like a successful player who took the initiative in a fair and open manner.
“Father?” Zhou Mu urged again.
“What are you up to!” Xu Zhi replied angrily. He walked a few steps in place and shouted again, “I heard you already!”
Zhou Mu asked again patiently, “So can you tell me about me now?”
Thinking that the files in the laptop had disappeared with Zhou Mu’s arrival, Xu Zhi scratched his hair irritably but had no choice but to tell him the story from memory.
“You are Zhou Mu; you are 27 years old; you are…” Xu Zhi’s voice stopped.
When constructing this character, he had many ideas. There is no doubt that Zhou Mu is a very thick character.
As an author, he should be very familiar with the characters he writes about, but at this time, Xu Zhi couldn’t tell any settings about him.
Facing someone like Zhou Mu, who was alive and standing in his bedroom, talking to him about what kind of person he was, made Xu Zhi feel strange.
It was like getting the answer key for an exam, taking the exam, and then realizing you were working on a completely different set of questions, with an added level of difficulty.
“What’s wrong, father?” Zhou Mu seemed to be doing it on purpose. calling father left and right until the word buzzed in Xu Zhi’s ears like a persistent insect.
“Shut up.” Xu Zhi turned his head in frustration and said in a cold voice.
Zhou Mu shut up obediently.
“The manuscript is gone.” Xu Zhi said in a low voice, sounding a little unsure but also like he was explaining himself.
“Huh?” Zhou Mu responded.
“So you…” Xu Zhi said reluctantly, “…you can express yourself freely first.”
“Okay, father.” Zhou Mu agreed calmly.
Then there was silence between the two of them.
For the first time, Xu Zhi experienced firsthand what it felt like to shoot himself in the foot, but it had to be said that when Zhou Mu made such a fuss, the original nervousness and anxiety disappeared.
He raised his head slightly and looked at Zhou Mu, sizing him up blatantly.
Zhou Mu made no attempt to dodge, and when Xu Zhi’s gaze shifted from his chin to his eyes, he even raised an eyebrow as if he had mastered this skill on his own.
Xu Zhi felt that he was being teased.
Maybe Zhou Mu didn’t mean this, but in Xu Zhi’s eyes, it was like this. After all, this was the male protagonist in his novel, and everything happened because of his preferences.
Xu Zhi thought idly that it felt okay to be teased by such a person.
“Xu Zhi.” Zhou Mu suddenly called him.
“Huh?” Xu Zhi came to his senses and did not lose his temper because he disrespectfully called his father’s name.
After all, Zhou Mu’s voice was pretty good, so calling Xu Zhi made him feel more comfortable than calling him father.
“I’m a little hungry,” Zhou Mu said suddenly. As he spoke, he raised his finger and pointed at the square electronic clock on the table, “It’s almost 12 o’clock.”
“You want to eat too?” Xu Zhi blurted out, his tone even a little surprised, but then he reflected on his hasty remarks for a second.
There is no doubt that Zhou Mu should belong to the human camp in terms of species classification, and he is already an adult.
And humans need to eat.
“Do you have any misconceptions about me?” Zhou Mu said, sitting back on the bed easily, holding his arms back, and looking up at Xu Zhi.
The distance between the two people lengthened. Zhou Mu’s long legs were propped on the ground casually. He was not wearing socks, and his soles were on the light gray carpet, very close to Xu Zhi’s feet.
He was wearing a light gray robe with the collar open wide, and his tightly packed abdominal muscles extended all the way to where it closed.
Xu Zhi’s Adam’s apple moved up and down, and he moved his feet slightly.
He couldn’t remember the last time he was alone with a stranger, so he became nervous again.
The specific expression is that the heart was beating very fast.
“Maybe you’re not even human,” thought Xu Zhi, with one part of his brain pondering that perhaps his anxiety was acting up again, and the other part dealt with Zhou Mu casually.
Although even he wouldn’t believe that statement himself.
“Could be,” Zhou Mu did not object to this statement. He nodded, “Then do you want to take me for a checkup?”
“Sure.” Xu Zhi said.
He gave Zhou Mu five minutes to prepare, and then took a taxi to the hospital. Modern medical technology can provide authoritative answers to the above speculations.
Xu Zhi has a very close friend who runs a private hospital. The friend himself is a psychiatry expert and has made great achievements in the field of psychological counseling. Xu Zhi thought that he might need some psychological counseling.
