Striving for Science C98 pt2

"Building a snowman." Unlike the rough-and-tumble Shen Chang'an, Dao Nian used a small carving knife to meticulously sculpt the snowman's fingers, then used real gems to make a bracelet for the snowman.

Shen Chang'an: "..."

For the next few days, the courtyard wouldn't be swept. They'd let the snow melt naturally, maybe they could find a couple of gems that hadn't been picked up.

After two hours, the snowman was finally finished. Shen Chang'an looked at the lifelike snowman and took out his phone to take a picture.

"This is the most exquisite and expensive snowman I've built in my twenty-plus years." Shen Chang'an took off his gloves and posted the picture to his Moments.

Chang'an: Didn't expect it to snow in Wuming City. Built a snowman with my beloved. My beloved is so talented, even the snowman they built is so exquisite. [Picture]

The post received countless likes and comments shortly after it was posted.

Cai Ran: Hehe, men.

Wu Wei: Asking for a picture of the sister-in-law.

Panpan: That's this year's latest scarf from a big brand, you're using it to wrap a snowman? I really don't understand how rich people spend their time.

Ding Yang: Kick over this bucket of dog food.

Seeing the single dogs start to feel jealous, Shen Chang'an was satisfied. He tucked his phone into his coat pocket and said to Dao Nian, "After the snow melts, remember to pick up the gems."

No matter what, he hadn't forgotten about the gems.

Seeing Shen Chang'an give his scarf to the snowman, Dao Nian took off the scarf around his own neck and put it on Shen Chang'an: "There are many gems at home, don't worry about this."

"No matter how many gems there are, they're still gems." The warm, fuzzy scarf wrapped around his neck, Shen Chang'an took Dao Nian's hand, "Let's go inside, it's too cold outside."

"I think..." Dao Nian looked at the side of the snowman, "We should build another one."

"Why?" Shen Chang'an was puzzled.

"One snowman is too lonely, they should be a pair so they have company." Dao Nian lowered his head and started digging in the snow.

Shen Chang'an: "..."

Is this a fairy's straight-man style of romance?

Shen Chang'an spent another hour with Dao Nian building the other snowman. It was already dark, and the lights in the yard were on. Shen Chang'an took out his phone, took a picture of the two snowmen, and continued to post it on his Moments.

Chang'an: My beloved said that snowmen should be in pairs. Sigh, there's no way around it, I have to build another one for him.

Ding Yang: Forget it, I should block you.

Wu Wei: Bro, don't show off.

With such a good lover, why not show off? Shen Chang'an happily pulled Dao Nian back into the house, took off his thick coat, and the two of them sat around the hot pot.

"I remember the first time I ate with you, I thought these dishes were delicious. I always thought it was because you were rich, so you bought high-quality ingredients." Shen Chang'an ate the blanched tripe, "I didn't expect it was because these dishes weren't grown by humans."

Dao Nian put the blanched duck intestines into Shen Chang'an's bowl. He sat next to Shen Chang'an, his face tinged with a gentle color: "So it was because of these dishes that I left a deep impression on you?"

"Not really." Shen Chang'an shook his head, "You don't know, the first time I saw you, you were sitting in the sun, but you were brighter than the sun."

The sun that day was so fierce, and Dao Nian was so handsome. He couldn't understand why no one was willing to help him.

Thinking back now, he suddenly felt that maybe it was fate.

The sun?

Hearing this adjective, Dao Nian raised an eyebrow noncommittally. It was the first time anyone had described him like that.

The soup base in the pot was bubbling and boiling. Shen Chang'an turned his head and looked at the two snowmen in the yard, suddenly smiling: "It's so good."

"What?"

"Building snowmen and eating hot pot with you in the snow, hiding in the air-conditioned room with you to eat ice cream and drink tea in the summer, it's a very happy thing." Shen Chang'an rubbed his slightly full stomach, "Dao Nian, can we keep living like this?"

Old Zhao, Liu Mao, Shen Tu, and the others at the same table lowered their heads when they heard this.

Dao Nian looked at Shen Chang'an, whose face was full of happy smiles, and nodded: "Okay."

"You have to keep your word. If you break your promise..." Shen Chang'an paused, "If you break your promise, I'll curse the heavens every day, curse them for being blind, for not letting us be together forever."

Dao Nian: "..."

Everyone else: "..."

***

After dinner and a shower, Shen Chang'an, wearing pajamas, sat cross-legged on the bed, smiling at Dao Nian: "Dao Nian, can you turn into a panda so I can hug you?"

Dao Nian's movements froze slightly. He looked at Shen Chang'an: "You don't like how I look now?"

"I like it!" Shen Chang'an nodded. "But you're also cute as a panda."

Dao Nian stared at him for a while, then walked to the bed and transformed into a round, chubby panda.

"Hey, strange..." Shen Chang'an pinched Dao Nian's fluffy ears. "I remember the dark circles under your left eye were bigger. Why are they the same size today? Did I remember wrong?"

"You remembered wrong." Dao Nian affirmed. "You must have remembered wrong."

"Oh..." Shen Chang'an hugged the entire panda ball into his arms, occasionally stroking Dao Nian's back or tail. Dao Nian, the entire bear, lay stiffly in Shen Chang'an's arms, not daring to move.

"I came back a little late this afternoon." Shen Chang'an blew hot air towards the panda's ears, and saw the ears twitch, which was incredibly cute.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing much, just met someone... who claimed to be an old acquaintance." Shen Chang'an rested his chin on the panda's fluffy head. "I told her I'm with you, and she seemed very unhappy."

Dao Nian's ears stopped twitching, and even the fur on his body drooped.

"But who am I? I'm all about love over friendship, of course." As if not noticing Dao Nian's strangeness, he continued, "I told her I want to be with you, and no one can stop me. She said I'm so devoted to you, be careful you don't cheat on me. I said even if I'm cheated on, I'm willing to accept it. In the end, she was so angry she left."

"Besides, you wouldn't cheat on me, right?"

Dao Nian: "..."

Before Dao Nian could answer, Shen Chang'an kissed the panda's fluffy mouth: "I'm so devoted to you, are you touched?"

Silver light flickered, and the panda in his arms transformed back into a human. Dao Nian turned around and hugged Shen Chang'an into his arms.

"Chang'an, I would never hurt you in the slightest." Dao Nian reached out to cover Shen Chang'an's eyes, gently touching his lips.

With his eyes covered, Shen Chang'an didn't struggle, but instead reached out to hook Dao Nian's neck: "The snow is so heavy today, I think we should do some exercise that makes us sweat."

The person holding him froze.

Shen Chang'an didn't intend to let him go, and pulled him down: "My dear boyfriend, dare you?"

Dao Nian released his hand from covering Shen Chang'an's, and leaned down to kiss his slightly upturned lips.

***

"This snow, it'll probably last another day or two." Old Zhao stood under the eaves, looking at the two snowmen standing side by side in the courtyard, and said to Liu Mao behind him without turning around, "It's freezing cold, what are you doing out here?"

"Then what are you doing out here?" Liu Mao retorted.

Old Zhao snorted and said nothing more.

"Chang'an came back today, your expression was a bit off after you got close to him."

"Nothing." Old Zhao shook his head, "You're thinking too much."

"Old Zhao, we've worked together for so many years, I can guess what you're going to have for dinner just by the way you shake your spoon." Liu Mao wouldn't buy it, "If there's really nothing, what are you squatting here for, guarding the snowmen for the master?"

"What's wrong with guarding the snowmen for the master, these two snowmen were built by Chang'an and the master together, the master likes them very much." Old Zhao squatted on the ground, holding two snowballs in his hands, refusing to engage with Liu Mao's words.

Liu Mao argued with him for a while, seeing that he really didn't want to talk, he turned and went back into the house.

A while later, Shen Tu came out, he stood beside Old Zhao: "You felt it too?"

"Yeah." Old Zhao nodded.

Before the Heavenly Court disappeared, he and Old Zhao were both gods with titles, and they were also family deities of the same system. Family deities are gods who guard the peace and harmony of a family, so they have a special connection to gods of the same system.

When they first saw Shen Chang'an, they discovered that he was a human who had passed the test of the God of Wealth, and should have been rolling in money, but he was living an ordinary life.

Today, when Shen Chang'an came home, they sensed a very strong presence of a bedside deity on him.

Shen Tu had personally seen Shen Chang'an treat the bedside deity as an ordinary old woman, carrying her across a crossroad, but even so, he still sensed such a strong presence on Shen Chang'an.

"It's the scent of the bedside deity's tears." Old Zhao sighed, "She deliberately left this on him."

"What does she want to do?" Since the fall of the Heavenly Court, many gods have disappeared because of its demise. Bedside deities, with their weak divine power, have basically all disappeared. Shen Tu didn't know how the bedside deity maintained her divine body, but since they could sense her presence on Chang'an, the master must have already noticed it.

But the master didn't say anything, so they could only pretend that nothing had happened.

"I'll go find her and ask." Shen Tu's face changed several times, ready to go find the bedside deity.

"Wait." Old Zhao said, "We haven't worked together for many years, we don't know what happened to the bedside deity, we don't even know if she's friend or foe, or if there's anyone else behind her, you're going to risk losing a door god if you go there rashly?"

"There are no old door gods like me in the world anymore." Shen Tu laughed sarcastically, "What's the difference between more or less?"

"Alright." Old Zhao nodded, "Then go, if you accidentally die, I'll go introduce the master to a broom god I know to take your place."

Shen Tu retracted his foot that had already stepped out, he glared at Old Zhao: "You said that, then I won't take that risk."

***

The snow fell all night, the gray-clothed man looked at the shivering old woman and sneered: "No one came, your plan failed."

"Please, my lord, calm your anger." The old woman shivered and knelt before the man, "Heavenly Dao is ruthless, perhaps it's because... because he's there, the other colleagues dare not leave."

The man in gray sneered, "I hope so."

As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished into thin air.

The old woman sat dazed on the snowy ground for a long time before slowly getting up. She walked to a crudely shaped statue and, with trembling hands, brushed away the snow that had accumulated on it.

"Old man, you wait, I will find a way to restore your immortal body."

"I will find a way."

***

When Shen Chang'an woke up from his sleep, the sky was already bright. He lay in bed, recalling the exercise he had done with Dao Nian last night, and buried his head under the covers.

"Chang'an," Dao Nian asked, "Are you awake?"

"Not yet," Shen Chang'an covered his face with the blanket.

He, Shen Chang'an, perhaps could change his name to Shen Hao.