Chapter 23: Shen Yan’s Morning

Chapter 23: Shen Yan’s Morning

Lately, Shen Yan had been sleeping later and later.

Last night he gamed until one in the morning, then tossed and turned until almost three before finally drifting off.

And all the while, a thought gnawed at him.

That fox spirit—what was her real goal?

To eat people?

Or maybe use her cute-girl disguise to lure prey and drain their yang energy?

Or… could she really just want to blend into human society?

…There was no way she was here to repay kindness, right?

Ring ring ring~

His alarm went off. Without opening his eyes, Shen Yan groped blindly and swiped at the phone a few times.

Somewhere in the haze between dream and waking, he thought he heard the clack-clack-clack of a keyboard, the clicks of a mouse.

Confusion lasted barely a second before his head flopped to the side and he sank back into sleep.

Meanwhile, Chen Shiyu sat at his desk, eyes flicking to him once, then back to the clock in the corner of the screen. Still early.

“Shishi~ what do you want for breakfast?”

His mom cracked the door open, whispering.

“I already ate~” Shiyu chirped back.

“That’s fine, eat some more. I’ll go buy it for you.” Auntie shot a glance at her son snoring in bed and sighed. “Look at him, sleeping like a pig. And look at you, up at the crack of dawn, even went out for a morning run.”

Shiyu really did have too much energy to burn. When she woke earlier than her mom, she worried about her restless impulses getting out of hand, so she simply went for a jog.

Like an overexcited puppy that needs a walk—better to run outside than wreck the house.

Except she’d barely made it two blocks before Auntie, on her way to the market, spotted her and dragged her enthusiastically back home.

“Hmm… then maybe… meat buns?”

Shiyu had always liked meat, and ever since becoming a fox, her cravings had only grown stronger.

“Alright, I’ll buy some. Call Shen Yan to get up later.”

“Okay~” Shiyu answered sweetly, then happily turned back to the game.

She was using Shen Yan’s account to play CS. It had a bunch of cheap skins, plus one folding knife worth maybe a thousand or two. Had this guy dumped all his allowance into cosmetics?

Peeking at his game library, she found plenty of hidden gems—“Little Red Car,” “Summer Winter Songs,” “Full Catgirl Set,” “Magical Girl”...

Judging by the playtimes, though, he’d never even opened most of them.

Except for “Little Red Car,” with over a thousand hours logged. Shiyu could already imagine what that contained.

Ring ring ring~

The alarm blared again. Shiyu turned, eyes sparkling, waiting for his reaction when he finally woke to find her there.

But Shen Yan didn’t even twitch.

Alright then. No mercy this time.

She stood, walked over, grabbed his buzzing phone, and shoved it right up to his ear.

Squatting beside the bed, she smothered her giggles.

Let’s see you ignore this!

“So noisy…”

His head throbbed. Frowning, Shen Yan reached out just like before, blindly groping to silence the alarm.

And smacked his palm right down on top of Shiyu’s head.

Still half-asleep, his index finger kept swiping back and forth against her hair, as if searching for the screen.

When the alarm kept blaring, he cracked his sore eyes open—only to see a round, adorable face filling his entire view.

Instinctively, he gave her head a couple of absentminded pats.

“….”

Soft. Surprisingly nice.

Shiyu froze. Heat rushed to her cheeks, scarlet spreading fast.

With a flustered huff, she swatted his hand away, tossed the phone onto his chest, and spun on her heel, scurrying back to the desk to bury herself in the game.

“You… what are you doing here?”

Fresh out of sleep, Shen Yan’s voice came out low and husky, even deeper than usual.

Chen Shiyu didn’t reply. She just kept her gaze fixed on the computer screen, legs curled up on the chair.

But through the faint reflection on the monitor, she could clearly see Shen Yan sitting up in bed—bare-chested.

Though he played ball occasionally at school, he wasn’t the type to train seriously. His body didn’t show any defined muscles, let alone abs. Just a reasonably balanced, perfectly average figure.

Shiyu pursed her lips in disdain. Hmph, even my old body had a bit of muscle.

—Though that was just from being way too skinny.

Before she could sneak a few more glances, Shen Yan hurriedly threw on a T-shirt.

The boy was clearly flustered, sitting there awkward and stiff. Gone was the fake bravado he sometimes showed when teasing her.

Shiyu blinked thoughtfully. Yeah, this is more like the real him. Back when the “original” me used to flirt with him, all he ever did was blush like a tomato and pretend to be calm by saying something ridiculously straight-laced.

But she herself had once been a man—she couldn’t bring herself to shamelessly reenact those kinds of “seductive moves.”

Shen Yan lingered, uncomfortable, then finally noticed Shiyu wasn’t even looking his way. Relieved, he grabbed his clothes from the nightstand and scrambled for the door.

“I’m… going to wash up.”

Yet even in that brief glimpse, Shiyu had caught sight—thanks to the monitor’s reflection—of what lay beneath those oversized shorts.

Her eyes went wide. Holy crap! No wonder that nympho predecessor of mine kept trying to drag him into bed!

Any girl who saw that would be drooling all over him…

Flustered, Shiyu scrubbed her face with both hands, forcefully shoving away the weird, intrusive thoughts of that “pervert predecessor.”

“Breakfast’s ready, come eat!”

“Coming!”

Breathing out slowly, Shiyu shut down the computer and headed downstairs.

On the table, Auntie had already laid out a full spread—soy milk, meat buns, fried dough sticks, and even a bag of shrimp chips, every young girl’s guilty pleasure.

“Did Shen Yan wake up?”

“He’s washing up,” Shiyu replied, sitting down obediently with the kind of sweet, well-behaved smile that perfectly fit Auntie’s mental image of her. “This is way too much for me though…”

“No worries, eat what you can. Want sugar in your soy milk?” Auntie returned with a jar of white sugar.

“Mm! Just a little.”

“Weekend’s coming soon. Come over to my place—we’ll wrap zongzi together. Bring your mom too.” Auntie rested her chin in her palms, eyes curved in a warm smile. “You like sweet ones, right? Auntie will make extra for you.”

‘Actually, I like the meat ones…’

“Yes~” Shiyu nodded sweetly.

Here, both sweet and savory zongzi were common. None of that ridiculous “Sweet vs. Savory War” like online.

But tofu pudding? Always sweet. Period.

As breakfast went on, Auntie peppered her with questions nonstop.

“Your brother’s coming back for the Dragon Boat Festival, right? He skipped Labor Day.”

“Your mom’s at work again? That job barely pays three thousand a month, isn’t really worth the trouble… she never even has time to shop with me.”

“And your dad? Still away on business trips? At least he’s not stuck overseas like Shen Yan’s dad—otherwise he’d never come back.”

Shiyu’s smile stayed sweet, but inside she was exhausted. She answered politely, brushing off as best as she could.

At last, Shen Yan came downstairs. “Mom, what’s for breakfast?”

Finally, Auntie’s attention shifted. “Honestly, look at you, sleeping half the day away. From now on you’re getting up early to go running with Shishi!”

“…Morning run?” Shen Yan blinked, glancing at Shiyu suspiciously. “Fine then. If you’re running, call me too.”

He frowned. What is this fox spirit plotting now?