NHWSG chapter 72

Ten minutes later, in the first-floor duty room, Sheng Zhao poured a cup of hot water from the water dispenser and handed it to Hu Huanyang, then sat down opposite him.

The two of them looked at each other in silence, Sheng Zhao inscrutable while Hu Huanyang looked lost and disoriented. After a while, Sheng Zhao finally spoke up, breaking the silence in the room.

“Hu Huanyang,” Sheng Zhao said, “I think he might be trying to hit on you.”

If it weren’t for the fact that the person sitting opposite him was his deeply affectionate Xiao Zhao, and not someone outside his boss’s circle, Hu Huanyang might have been tempted to throw the cup of water at him.

“Xiao Zhao,” Hu Huanyang said with a heavy heart, “Just because you’re gay doesn’t mean everyone else in the world is.”

“Nonsense.” Sheng Zhao, as a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, naturally couldn’t stand such accusations. Irritated, he retorted, “My guess is based on actual circumstances. Otherwise, tell me, why would Zhang Jian, a so-called heir to the lineage of a prestigious celestial master, come and tip you with hundreds of thousands of dollars for no reason?”

Hu Huanyang was caught off guard by Sheng Zhao’s directness, and his confidence dwindled considerably. He sighed, hesitated for a moment, and fell silent.

The little fox felt wronged, and in a moment of distraction, Sheng Zhao even felt like he “saw” his fox ears droop.

“If that’s really the case, then so be it,” Sheng Zhao sighed as well, saying, “What’s the big deal? Just consider it hanging out together. You guys got along well before— are you afraid of him?”

“No.” Hu Huanyang shook his head and said, “I’ve heard about the relationship between the fox clan and them.”

“Then why worry?” Sheng Zhao couldn’t understand, asking, “From your expression, one would think Zhang Jian is some kind of ferocious beast.”

Hu Huanyang felt it difficult to express himself. What could he say? He could tell that Zhang Jian had been spending a lot of time in his livestream room lately. Even though he didn’t say anything and only donated money, his keen fox instincts saw through the deeper meaning behind his unusual behavior.

“I don’t understand what he’s up to,” Hu Huanyang said with a bitter face. “He’s a Heavenly Master, I’m a monster, we have no relationship, so why does he keep coming around for no reason?”

“I think you don’t need to be so afraid. Just relax a bit,” Sheng Zhao comforted generously. “Maybe he’s just here to woo you.”

“Hu Huanyang:”

Absolutely no sense of comfort, thank you very much.

As a fox spirit who had been navigating the human world for many years, Hu Huanyang had a deep understanding of its dangers. He couldn’t be bothered to engage with this ordinary human who was so gay. After seriously pondering for a long time, he came up with a reasonable guess.

“I think he’s here to monitor me,” Hu Huanyang said.

“Pfft—” Sheng Zhao almost sprayed water all over the table, completely puzzled as to how Hu Huanyang suddenly veered off onto this unfamiliar path.

Could it be that Hu Huanyang was suffering from paranoia? Sheng Zhao wondered suspiciously.

“He’s definitely worried that I’m up to no good, thinking I’m using demonic arts to bewitch people’s hearts, which is why the viewership in the livestream room is so high,” Hu Huanyang said, feeling more and more possible as he spoke. He couldn’t help but feel wronged, “How could he think that of me! It’s clearly just a racial advantage.”

Sheng Zhao didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Based on his shallow understanding of Zhang Jian, he always felt that the other party was a very straightforward person. If he suspected a monster of harming people, he would rather take direct action than adopt such a roundabout method— just like he did with Xing Yingzhuo in the beginning.

But obviously, Hu Huanyang, who was currently immersed in social anxiety, couldn’t listen to reason. So Sheng Zhao could only reluctantly respond with a couple of “mm”s and suggest, “Since that’s the case, why not just skip it and ask for leave?”

“No!” Hu Huanyang, who knew what convoluted thoughts were going through his mind, suddenly stood up, gritting his teeth, “I have to prove my innocence. If he wants to attend, then so be it!”

Sheng Zhao: “…”

Alright, knowing there’s a tiger in the mountains, one tends to head towards the tiger. Such cunning, truly worthy of being known as a race of treacherous and crafty individuals, Sheng Zhao thought numbly.

Of course, to preserve Hu Huanyang’s fragile self-esteem, he didn’t have the heart to sarcastically comment on this.

The livestream platform scheduled the annual meeting on Christmas Day. Due to Xing Yingzhuo’s peculiar security rules, Hu Huanyang had already informed the platform in advance that he would skip the evening party and only attend the daytime annual meeting.

At first, Sheng Zhao was very curious about this “private meeting” between Hu Huanyang and Zhang Jian. He secretly gloated several times behind Hu Huanyang’s back. He had originally wanted to hitch a ride on Hu Huanyang’s invitation, but by the time it came around, he found himself unable to extricate himself from his own situation, so he had to regretfully give up the chance to get up close and personal with gossip.

The reason was simple— Xing Yingzhuo was… becoming more and more dependent on him.

The boasts Sheng Zhao had made to the other monsters in the building had inexplicably come true, showing that boasting did have some merit.

After the onset of winter, although Xing Yingzhuo adamantly refused to admit that he was affected by the seasonal habits like the ordinary snakes outside, he did become much lazier. He would laze around in the house all day long, barely moving, and seemed to be asleep for twenty-four hours a day. He would wake up, stagger around for a meal, and then go back to sleep.

At first, Sheng Zhao thought his behavior was very cute, with a rare kind of docility. Occasionally, he would boldly take advantage of his sleep to sneak up and give him a kiss or two.

But gradually, he realized that things were starting to go in a rather wrong direction.

Sheng Zhao wasn’t sure if Xing Yingzhuo was drawn to heat sources or if his possessiveness was skyrocketing during this particular period. In any case, after the second snowfall, Xing Yingzhuo officially stripped Sheng Zhao of his job responsibilities— he wasn’t allowed to leave the house.

Xing Yingzhuo was like a big black dragon guarding his treasure. He kept a tight watch on Sheng Zhao, hardly allowing him to leave the house except for necessary activities like grocery shopping or taking a walk. Wherever Sheng Zhao went, Xing Yingzhuo followed closely, even if it meant lying on the sofa listening to news, he had to have his head on Sheng Zhao’s lap.

Although Xing Yingzhuo was usually unreasonable and possessive, he had never acted like this before. While Sheng Zhao was pleased, he also felt a bit worried, fearing that Xing Yingzhu might be unwell. So, after two restless days, he secretly opened a shopping app on his phone like a thief and entered a reptile pet store, purchasing half an hour of consultation with the store owner.

Of course, Sheng Zhao didn’t go crazy enough to tell the poor shop owner the truth. Instead, he made a slight alteration in his explanation, referring to Xing Yingzhuo as a pet snake with another “new female snake he bought.”

As he typed out these words in the chat box, Sheng Zhao shivered with a chill, thinking that he had made quite a sacrifice for Xing Yingzhuo, even being willing to adopt such a bizarre narrative.

Luckily, Xing Yingzhuo was fast asleep and completely unaware of his embarrassing act. Otherwise, he probably would have woken up and hung Sheng Zhao out of the window for three days and nights.

“Well… depending on the different pet situations, there may be different habits,” the poor pet shop owner, completely unaware of who he was dealing with, earnestly replied, “It’s possible that due to low metabolism, some abnormal situations may occur, and the specific reflection depends on the actual situation of the pet.”

Sheng Zhao glanced at Xing Yingzhuo lying on his lap, typing heavily in the chat box, “But he keeps clinging to the female snake, can’t even leave for a moment. Is that normal?”

The poor pet shop owner didn’t notice anything wrong with the use of the word “he” and replied solemnly, “It’s normal. Some animals with partners may lose some basic sense of security during this period, so they need to stick to their partner to ensure their mating rights.”

Sheng Zhao’s eyes flashed at the phrase “mating rights,” and his ears began to heat up.

He hurriedly thanked the shop owner and then shamefully turned off his phone, pressing the screen against the coffee table and covering his face with his hand.

The news replay on the TV ended, replaced by an obscure TV channel. The TV show started with a dazzling gunfight scene. Afraid of waking up Xing Yingzhuo, Sheng Zhao quickly grabbed the remote and turned down the volume by two notches.

Xing Yingzhuo’s physiological habits were very peculiar. Occasionally, when he needed to be awake, he could go without feeling sleepy all day, even going out in minus six or seven degrees without any problem, looking refreshed and showing no signs of being cold-blooded.

But once there was nothing to do at home, he would reveal his true nature, wrapping himself in a blanket and lounging on the sofa, occasionally cuddling Sheng Zhao and dozing off.

So much so that Sheng Zhao had several times wanted to wake him up and ask whether he was genuinely tired or just pretending.

Overall, Xing Yingzhuo in his semi-hibernation state was quite easy to handle. He would sleep three times a day, wake up for lunch and dinner, stay awake for a while after dinner, usually until two or three in the morning. During this time, he would be alert and coherent, aside from being a bit more clingy than usual.

But during his daytime sleep period, he would occasionally get a bit confused.

Perhaps due to Sheng Zhao’s lack of vigilance by his side, Xing Yingzhuo rarely felt alert, sleeping through any noise Sheng Zhao accidentally made.

Sheng Zhao even once noticed in surprise that during the period when Xing Yingzhuo was half-awake from his slumber, he sometimes couldn’t distinguish whether he was human or a snake.