Li Shujin stroked the panda cub, utterly unable to put it down.
She had only ever seen pandas in the zoo before, and this was her first time getting such a close-up encounter.
Her excitement was beyond words.
Tiedan rubbed back and forth against Li Shujin's trouser leg a few times before trotting back to Chen Muye.
"Little cutie, come here," Li Shujin coaxed, waving at Tiedan.
But Tiedan had eyes only for Chen Muye and remained completely unmoved.
Li Shujin picked up the feeding bottle again, hoping to feed the panda cub some milk to lure it back.
Tiedan didn't even spare it a glance. With no other choice, Li Shujin took out her phone and forcefully snapped a photo with the panda cub.
After finishing her cuddle session with the "cat," Li Shujin bid farewell to Chen Muye in deep satisfaction.
Before leaving, she took two more bags of fruit from her car and gave them to Chen Muye.
Inside the house.
Chen Muye stared at the two bags of fruit, at a loss for what to say.
The two bags Li Shujin had brought him yesterday were still unfinished.
And now she brought two more.
His refrigerator was practically going to overflow.
Perhaps Li Shujin didn't realize that he, living alone, could never eat this much fruit.
Chen Muye sorted through the fruit, picking out the bananas that he didn't care much for and putting them in a separate bag.
Then, carrying a large bag of bananas, he walked over to Jiang Yourong.
"Sister Rong, there's too much fruit. I can't finish it all, so you should take some."
How could Jiang Yourong possibly have the face to take Chen Muye's fruit?
She hurriedly declined, "No, no, I don't need it!"
Knowing he couldn't finish it and that leaving it would just cause it to spoil, Chen Muye insisted, "Sister Rong, just take them. Don't be so polite."
"No, no, really, I'm fine."
"If you don't need them for yourself, you can eat them."
A thought crossed Jiang Yourong's mind, and she suddenly burst into a chuckle.
With a completely earnest expression, Chen Muye urged, "Just take them."
Blushing bright red from laughter, Jiang Yourong looked at the bananas in Chen Muye's hand. Taking them felt awkward, but refusing them felt just as awkward.
Canton-style or not, Chen Muye couldn't be bothered to argue; he simply placed the bag on a nearby table. "Sister Rong, remember to take these later."
With that, he walked back to his room.
Even though the Forestry Bureau had given him a daily accommodation subsidy of five hundred yuan, he knew Tiedan wouldn't hurt him, so he decided to just stay put and avoid wasting the money.
He picked up a change of clothes and got ready to take a shower.
He had to admit that having an injured hand was thoroughly inconvenient.
While showering, he couldn't do his usual slow-motion posing with his left and right hands, and it felt like something was missing.
It took a tremendous amount of effort just to finish washing up.
Chen Muye lay on his bed, scrolling through his phone.
He saw that Li Shujin had posted a Moment.
The post read:
[So happy, I got to pet a cat today!]
Attached were a few photos of her and Tiedan together.
Beneath her post, countless simps had already liked and commented.
Chen Muye had no intention of acting like a simp.
However, his relationship with Li Shujin was somewhat special.
He silently gave it a like, then put down his phone and went to sleep.
......
......
......
On the other side.
After washing up, Li Shujin took out her diary.
February 1st
Today is my second day knowing Chen Muye. He is as cheerful as ever, completely undaunted by cancer.
However, his hand is injured. Grandpa says he accidentally hurt it while practicing martial arts.
Misfortunes truly plague the unfortunate, and the hemp rope always breaks at its thinnest spot.
To think that heaven would continue to torment Chen Muye right at the end of his life. He is so pitiful.
Yet Chen Muye doesn't seem to make a big deal out of it.
Such an open-minded attitude toward life is truly worth learning from.
Today Grandpa brought him over for dinner, and because his hand was injured, I fed him.
His life is nearing its end.
I want him to eat more.
So I fed him plenty of food.
Fortunately, he ate it all.
(Paused for ten seconds)
After dinner, I walked him home and gave him two bags of fruit. I wonder if he finished yesterday's yet.
What a pity. The only thing I can do is this much. At the time, I thought to myself: if only I were a miracle doctor.
If that were the case, I certainly wouldn't let Chen Muye's young life slip away so easily.
Yesterday, his wish was simply to live a healthy life.
Such a simple wish.
I want to save him, but I am utterly powerless.
(Sighed, paused for half a minute)
Perhaps the heavens were moved by my sincerity.
Today, I got to pet our national treasure, the panda, with my own hands.
I'm so happy!
I will continue to help Chen Muye until the very last day of his life.
......
The next day.
At eight o'clock in the morning, Chen Muye was woken up by a throbbing pain in his wrist.
He got up, washed up, and prepared to go out for breakfast.
He saw Jiang Yourong sweeping the floor.
Chen Muye offered a polite greeting: "Morning, Sister Rong."
A smile graced Jiang Yourong's face: "Morning!"
For some reason, she now felt like laughing the moment she laid eyes on Chen Muye.
He glanced at Tiedan and saw it was still fast asleep on the sofa.
Chen Muye didn't bother it.
With Jiang Yourong around to look after it, he left the house with a clear conscience.
After having breakfast,
Chen Muye found an open space, intending to practice the Taiji Guiding Technique.
Yet, after several attempts, he found it completely impossible to get through a single complete set of the routine.
If a gentle practice like the Taiji Guiding Technique wouldn't work, Xingyiquan was even further out of the question.
For a moment, Chen Muye felt rather melancholic.
He focused his mind.
Ding!
[Name: Chen Muye]
[Lifespan: 132 days]
[Aptitude: 8.8]
[Physique: 7.7]
[Mental Strength: 7]
[Available Attribute Points: 1.3]
[Cultivation Manual: Taiji Guiding Technique (Second Realm: Glimpsing the Threshold 30%), Xingyiquan (Second Realm: Glimpsing the Threshold 9%)]
He poured all 1.3 accumulated attribute points into his physique, instantly sending his physique soaring to 9.
At the same time, Chen Muye felt a wave of warmth radiating from his wrist.
The wrist that had just been swollen like a steamed bun actually subsided quite a bit.
He tested moving his wrist; it didn't hurt nearly as much.
Could adding points to physique actually treat physical injuries?
He didn't dwell on it.
He once again attempted to practice the Taiji Guiding Technique.
This time, it took him over forty minutes, but he finally managed to complete an entire set of the Taiji Guiding Technique from start to finish.
Although a bit slow, being able to finish it completely was enough.
There was still pain in his wrist, but it was tolerable and nowhere near as excruciating as before.
After a short rest, Chen Muye continued.
By noon,
he had practiced the Taiji Guiding Technique a total of 4 times.
He focused his mind.
Ding!
[Name: Chen Muye]
[Lifespan: 140 days]
[Aptitude: 8.8]
[Physique: 9]
[Mental Strength: 7]
[Available Attribute Points: 0.4]
[Cultivation Manual: Taiji Guiding Technique (Second Realm: Glimpsing the Threshold 42%), Xingyiquan (Second Realm: Glimpsing the Threshold 9%)]
He once again allocated the 0.4 attribute points to his physique.
The swelling on his wrist subsided a bit more.
After finishing lunch, Chen Muye skipped his midday nap and continued practicing the Taiji Guiding Technique.
He practiced all the way until six o'clock in the evening.
In total, he practiced 8 times.
After completing each set, he allocated the attribute points to his physique.
Through a day of hard work,
his physique reached 10.2, surpassing that of an average person.
The swelling on his wrist had completely vanished, though the dull pain lingered.
It seemed that adding attribute points to his physique could only alleviate the injury somewhat and couldn't completely heal his bone fracture.
That evening, because of his injury, Grandpa Li firmly refused to let Chen Muye practice Taiji with him.
Chen Muye didn't say anything.
Although his hand had improved a lot, his recovery was hardly normal, and exposing it wouldn't be a good thing.
Just as he was about to head out for dinner,
Rumble!
The roar of a sports car echoed through the air.
Chen Muye was very familiar with this sound.
Because just yesterday, he had ridden home in this exact car.
He glanced toward the community entrance.
Sure enough, it was Li Shujin driving her Porsche 911 over.