IRDLZ Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Xiao Zhou had just driven the car onto the lawn outside the villa and called to ask if Ming Qingqing was up yet, he was there to pick her up and take her to the set.

After hanging up, Xiao Zhou gripped the steering wheel, turned the car around, and waited patiently.

No matter how much imagination he had even if you gave him the creativity of a hundred sci-fi directors, he would never have guessed that at this very moment, Ming Qingqing was not alone in the villa.

Ming Qingqing stood at the entrance, giving Xiao Fu a long list of instructions with lingering concern.

"I've prepared a phone for you. No password needed just swipe to unlock." She handed Xiao Fu a senior-friendly phone about the size of two palms and said, "Tap the bottom-left square to search, the second one to make calls, my number is already saved in there and the third square to send texts."

Xiao Fu looked at the phone with delight, holding it with both hands.

Ming Qingqing continued, "Don't touch electrical appliances casually, especially not with wet hands, you could get electrocuted."

Xiao Fu was still examining the phone in his hands.

Ming Qingqing: "Hey."

Xiao Fu quickly nodded: "En."

"There's a swimming pool and a gym in the basement. You can use the treadmill—set it to the slowest speed and practice walking."

Xiao Fu's eyes lit up instantly: "En-en! Wa!"

"I don't have any outdoor scenes or night shoots today, so unless something unexpected comes up, I'll be back in the evening... Don't bother making dinner. I'll order some clothes for you online, they should arrive around 3 p.m. with a delivery person. But don't open the door—I'll have them leave it outside the gate."

Xiao Fu hugged the phone, continuing to "en-en-en."

"And what about lunch—can you eat human takeout?"

Xiao Fu, feeling that he was already being too much trouble, quickly pointed toward the kitchen, signaling that he could make something for himself and that she didn't need to worry about him.

At the very least, there were still leftover buns from the morning.

Besides, the weather had been warming up lately, and more birds were flying overhead. Compared to Earth's vegetarian foods, Xiao Fu actually preferred various kinds of walking birds and fowl.

...

With all these worried instructions, more than ten minutes had slipped by.

Ming Qingqing thought back, she had covered everything she could think of. It might not have been perfectly organized, but it was fairly comprehensive. There shouldn't be anything else to add for now.

She gave one final reminder: "Don't forget to practice writing the characters I gave you. Work hard on your handwriting I'll check it when I get back tonight."

Xiao Fu nodded, not forgetting to hand the insulated food container back to Ming Qingqing, looking at her expectantly.

Ming Qingqing: "..."

Three black lines appeared on her forehead as she reluctantly accepted it.

She bent down to change her shoes, wrapped her scarf around her neck, and opened the door. She couldn't help but glance back.

The little zombie still stood at the entrance, watching her leave. He held the phone in both hands, his tall figure framed by the dark blue hood bunched up behind his neck, looking a bit pitiful.

The floor lamp at the entrance cast a warm glow across the little zombie's pale face.

Even though he knew she would be back in the evening, there was still a faint, barely concealed reluctance in his gray-blue eyes.

Ming Qingqing's heart stirred.

She couldn't remember where she had read it, but she recalled a saying: the degree to which you love a thing or a person largely depends on how much time and energy you've invested in it.

It's precisely because of the time and energy you've poured in that it becomes especially important to you.

Ming Qingqing deeply agreed with that.

Before yesterday, the zombie boy in front of her had still been synonymous with the word "non-human" in her mind—her feelings toward him had been nothing but fear and pity.

But after a night together—the blow-drying and the breakfast incident, he had gradually come to acquire more and more labels in her eyes.

He had become three-dimensional, tangible.

And upon reaching out, she discovered that he was made of flesh and blood after all.

So maybe there were many others of his species in the world, but only this one—standing right here, blushing, shy, earnest and sincere was special to her.

Ming Qingqing didn't want to admit that after just one night of keeping him, she had already developed so much worry for him.

She schooled her expression, grabbed her keys and phone, and stepped out the door.

Ming Qingqing opened the car door and got in.

Xiao Zhou looked at her with confusion: "Overslept?"

Ming Qingqing touched up her hair in the rearview mirror, checked her makeup, and said casually, "No."

Xiao Zhou asked, "Then why were you so late coming out?"

He glanced at his watch: "It's already 7:30. If we rush over to the set, we'll be half an hour late. You've never been late in all your years of filming. This is the first time."

Ming Qingqing felt a twinge of guilt, she couldn't exactly say she'd been held up by a clingy little "puppy," could she?

But she didn't show it and only muttered vaguely, "I put my eyelashes on backwards, so it took a while."

Xiao Zhou drove the car out and then glanced at the insulated container on Ming Qingqing's lap: "What's that?"

Ming Qingqing certainly had no intention of actually bringing the oddly shaped buns to share with her colleagues on set, so she said, "Oh, this is my breakfast from this morning. I messed it up, so I'm taking it out to throw away."

"You should've said so earlier—I haven't eaten breakfast yet." Xiao Zhou's stomach had been growling from waiting for Ming Qingqing, and he couldn't help but reach over, open the container on her lap, and grab one.

Ming Qingqing tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Xiao Zhou had already taken a big bite.

"Blergh."

Ming Qingqing: "..."

Xiao Zhou slammed on the brakes and pulled the car over to the right side of the winding mountain road. He stared in disbelief at the misshapen bun in his hand: "What the hell is this? Qingqing, you didn't make this, did you?"

"No way." Ming Qingqing wasn't about to take the fall for the little zombie. "I ordered takeout."

Xiao Zhou rolled down the window and spat it out: "Sorry, I know this is kind of littering, but I really couldn't help it. You could kill someone without even using poison just hand them one of these."

The bun really was terrible, Ming Qingqing had found it hard to swallow too. But hearing Xiao Zhou say that, she felt a little unhappy.

"Watch your words. It can't be that bad—at least the cook put in hard work."

Ming Qingqing closed the lid of the container: "You're not getting any more."

Xiao Zhou: ???

Had his superstar caught a fever today?

Back at home, Xiao Fu was alone and quickly fell into a daze.

Before this, when he wasn't hunting birds or hungry, he had loved basking in the sun on clear days, or teleporting to the unmonitored rooftops of high-rise buildings, gazing curiously at the reflective glass curtain walls that sparkled like countless stars, the car flows that crisscrossed like countless waterfalls, and the bustling Earth crowds that moved like ants.

All of this had been novel to him, fresh out of his shell—as if a vast world awaited his exploration.

But now, Xiao Fu felt that none of it was interesting anymore.

None of it was as fun as being by Ming Qingqing's side and talking with her.

Staying by Ming Qingqing's side, he sometimes felt overjoyed, sometimes at a loss, and more often than not, sad and dejected.

Yet even so, Xiao Fu was addicted to this feeling, clinging to it like a drug.

And as if driven by some biological instinct, he wanted to get even closer to Ming Qingqing.

For instance, now that Ming Qingqing had left home, he had no interest in anything else. He crouched at the entrance, staring at the door, his mind full of when she would come back.

Every now and then, he would poke the senior phone with one finger, and as soon as it lit up, he would tap the call and text icons one by one, checking if she had called or messaged him.

It was strange.

No one on Kelafulin acted like this.

Did anyone on Earth act like this?

Xiao Fu didn't know whether these abnormalities were caused by magnetic fields, a terminal illness, or assimilation into Earth's human ways.

He couldn't find any answers on Baidu either.

He wanted to ask someone else, but he was all alone on Earth, without a single friend.

So, he could only let his heart keep acting up.

Holding the phone to his chest, Xiao Fu let out a wistful sigh.

He decided to set aside all those chaotic, bittersweet, murky emotions in his chest for now. The most pressing task was still to learn how to speak and walk properly.

Xiao Fu glanced at the time on the phone, it was now 11 a.m. He had been crouching at the door for three and a half hours. There were still eight hours until Ming Qingqing came back at 7 p.m.—he needed to use his time wisely.

He first teleported down to the basement and, sure enough, found the treadmill Ming Qingqing had mentioned in the gym.

Xiao Fu felt a bit lost facing this huge machine.

He carefully extended a finger, intending to explore the buttons on it.

Just as he reached out, the senior phone in his arms lit up with a whoosh.

Startled, Xiao Fu quickly looked down.

There, in the top-right corner of the text message icon, a "1" had appeared.

He tapped it open with his clumsy fingers. The sender was Ming Qingqing.

His heartbeat quickened again.

Excitedly, he poked the message open with his index finger.

It turned out to be a diagram of the treadmill sent by Ming Qingqing—an MMS picture clearly marked with which buttons to press to turn it on, which to adjust the speed, and a note telling him the initial speed was set to level one, so he didn't need to adjust it—just turn it on.

A warm current immediately flowed through Xiao Fu's heart.

He immediately tried to reply with a message, his spirits soaring.

Xiao Fu held the senior phone in his left hand and used the index finger of his right hand to poke at the keys, one grid at a time.

But after trying for ages, he still hadn't typed out a complete sentence.

He checked the time—five minutes had already passed.

Would Ming Qingqing think he didn't care about her if he didn't reply within five minutes? And she might also think he was clumsy and inept for not even being able to type.

In a panic, Xiao Fu quickly sent over a single "en."

Even after sending it, he didn't relax. He kept staring at the phone screen, hoping Ming Qingqing would reply.

But after a full twenty minutes of staring, no new message appeared.

Though a little disappointed, Xiao Fu didn't take it to heart. He opened the message Ming Qingqing had just sent him and read it over carefully, his heart filled with warmth. At last, he could do what Earthlings did—exchange texts with Ming Qingqing.

His blue eyes sparkled, and he felt a surge of motivation.

He gently set the phone aside, wrapping it in his jacket like some precious treasure, then stepped onto the treadmill with a series of creaks.

Following the instructions Ming Qingqing had sent, he turned it on to level one.

The running belt beneath him began to slide slowly.

Even though it was only level one, for Xiao Fu, whose limbs weren't very coordinated, it was still a bit too fast.

He fumbled and nearly fell.

But soon, he noticed a camera in the corner of the gym ceiling—

Xiao Fu understood how such cameras worked. The footage here could be viewed on the other side of the monitor.

Had Ming Qingqing sent him the treadmill instructions just now because she had seen him come down to the basement gym through the monitor?

Was she still watching now?

Xiao Fu's whole body jolted. His face flushed bright red, and he immediately became alert and serious.

Summoning every ounce of his focus, he put on a solemn expression and began marching proudly on the treadmill.

After a couple of steps, he even tried to imitate Earthlings by placing both hands on the treadmill handles, bending his arms to do a push-up.

But he vastly overestimated his limb coordination fresh out of the egg—with a thwack, he slipped and slid onto his knees, banging his forehead on the running belt.

"..."

Scrambling back up in a fluster, Xiao Fu's face turned beet red, steam practically rising from his head. He wished he could turn into an egg on the spot and bury himself somewhere.

...

Over on the set, it was a break between scenes.

The production assistant ran over to the star's van and called out, "Miss Ming, your next scene is up."

There was no response from inside the van.

The PA found it odd and called out to Xiao Zhou, who was handing out drinks in the distance.

Xiao Zhou hurried over, pulled open the van door, and called Ming Qingqing out.

As the door swung open with a clang, both of them saw Ming Qingqing clutching her phone, watching a video on the screen and stifling laughter whatever she was watching, she was smiling in a way that was nothing like the cool, aloof diva she usually was.

The PA was stunned.

Ming Qingqing quickly snapped back to her senses.

She swiftly put on her sunglasses and reverted to her usual aloof demeanor, turning off her phone and stepping out of the van. She said calmly to the two of them, "Sorry about that, I was watching my silly cat on the security camera and lost track of time."

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