"You've been too busy with work recently to play gas, so I picked up a lot of materials for you. Tonight, you can use them to build lots and lots of houses."
"Sure."
Chen Miao couldn't help but laugh as he rushed over and took Lord Miao into his arms. "I'm going to build you a big house tonight!"
Their giggles during the playful scuffle echoed through the living room.
The dog lying on the carpet wagged its tail and bounced around happily at the sight, while the fat cat lying on the balcony sunbathing just lazily turned its head to glance at the two fussing on the sofa before looking away again.
...
And so, a few more years passed.
Sitting alone in the ssy living room, Chen Miao looked sowhat disheveled. Without turning on the lights, he curled up on the sofa, as if hiding in the darkness of the night.
The company had gone bankrupt.
Due to one of his overly bold decisions, he'd lost his fortune.
He'd kept the news to himself, not wanting to tell Little Miao, not wishing to burden her with the stress. But every ti he ca ho and saw Little Miao's smiling face, he felt a pang in his heart, feeling as if he'd let Little Miao down.
Because of his failure, he had dragged her back into the past with him.
He'd chosen to separate.
This ti, he was resolute.
Little Miao, along with the dog and fat cat, left. Overnight, their once lively and warm ho felt desolate. Nothing was missing, yet it seed like everything was gone.
The floor was littered with empty beer cans.
The ashtray on the coffee table had overflowed; burnt cigarette stubs and ash scattered around it. In a daze, he fired up the survival building ga he used to play with Little Miao.
It was a two-player ga.
Players needed to control characters, gathering various materials on a deserted island to build a house in a chosen location to fend off monster attacks.
He often played this ga with Little Miao, sotis all night long, and their laughter would fill the living room continuously.
But this ti, he was playing as Little Miao's character.
The character's backpack was stuffed with all sorts of materials, enough to have built three warehouses just to store the surplus.
Seeing these overflowing materials, he abruptly realized that since his business failure, he hadn't played the ga with Little Miao for a long ti. He hadn't even seen her play. He had thought she had stopped.
Now it seed that she must have continued playing when he was out during the day; she just hadn't told him.
In a trance, Find your next read at empire
he picked up the controller and started gathering materials on the lone island.
One.
Two.
Three.
Just ten minutes into collecting materials, he was so bored he felt suffocated. Gathering materials was monotonous work, like a chanical job—continually chopping down trees to gather wood, picking wild fruits.
He suddenly realized,
That such a tedious task was what Little Miao had often been doing at ho, gathering materials all day long just so that when they played together, he wouldn't have to feel the tedium and could fully enjoy building houses and fighting off monsters.
In his mind, he pictured Little Miao lying on the sofa, gathering materials with gusto like a little hamster, eagerly awaiting his return from work to play the ga together.
He rembered one ti,
When Little Miao handed him the controller with a look of anticipation, he smashed the ga console, scolding her for being so childish every day.
"..."
In the darkness,
Chen Miao lit a cigarette and put it to his lips, lying on the sofa with his eyes shut, but tears involuntarily slid from the corners of his eyes.
After a long while,
He sighed softly.
Slowly, he snuffed out the cigarette butt in the palm of his hand.
He had to go find Little Miao. Even though his business had failed this ti, he believed he could still rise again.
However, just as he opened the front door, he saw Little Miao sitting in the fire escape with the dog and the fat cat, eyes red and staring straight at him. With tears streaking down her face and a trembling voice, she forced a smile, "You took a long ti to co out, I've been waiting for a while."
"I thought you really didn't want us anymore."
"I'm hungry."
"Can I go ho now?"
Chen Miao stood at the doorway taking a deep breath before walking over to Little Miao, bending down and burying his head in her shoulder, whispering, "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."
...
Ti passed, a lot of ti,
Until Chen Miao had beco a middle-aged man.
He had married Little Miao, and they had their first child, a girl, who was very cute.
At Lord Miao's insistent request,
They nad the child Lord Little Miao.
"Why did we have to na her that?" Chen Miao, lying on the sofa playing gas with Little Miao, said sowhat helplessly, "It feels strange to na a baby that."
With a huff, she replied, "You don't understand."
Little Miao pursed her lips, apparently with no intention of explaining.
"Oh, right."
Chen Miao suddenly rembered sothing and looked at the screen where Little Miao's character was, saying, "I also went to gather materials last ti, and the process was really boring. How do you save up so many materials every day? Don't you find it boring?"
"Not at all."
Little Miao pointed to her character's backpack on the screen, speaking earnestly, "Every ti I see the backpack stuffed with materials, I get a feeling of great satisfaction. And besides, Miao, don't you enjoy building houses?"
"Every ti I think about you coming ho at night to see so many materials for you to build houses with, the happy expression on your face makes even happier when I'm picking up materials."
"You work so hard outside."
"The only ti you're happy is when you're playing gas, and I want to make you happy for a bit longer."
Chen Miao was taken aback for a mont, then turned his head to look at Little Miao and suddenly laughed softly, "You're really kind, and so beautiful. I think I might really have fallen in love with you."
As soon as the words fell,
Little Miao bounced up from the sofa imdiately. Before Little Miao could get angry, Chen Miao hugged her right away, begging for rcy, "My mistake, my mistake, I had a brain cramp just now, I don't know why I suddenly blurted out such a thing."
"Hmph."
"I'll forgive you this ti. Lord Little Miao is my childhood nickna, let's just go with Mr. Chen for my formal na."
"Mr. Chen?"
This ti Chen Miao was genuinely confused. He turned to look at the girl lying in the stroller, "Are we really going to give our daughter such a bold na? Even adding a word in the middle would be better. Mr. Chen feels too arrogant. How about... Chen Beibei?"
"No, it has to be Mr. Chen!"
Little Miao pouted in dissatisfaction, "Chen Beibei sounds too ugly, it must be Mr. Chen!"
"All right, all right, as you wish, as you wish."
...
Days passed, one after another.
And on this day—
It was Chen Miao's seventieth birthday, and he ca to the seaside with Little Miao. Over the years, a lot had happened between them, with argunts and joys, and there were countless tis when they almost split up.
But in the end, they kept the promise they made when they were young.
To grow old together.
They had three children.
Besides the first child, who was a girl, the following two were boys. The second child was nad Mr. Chen, and the third was nad Mr. Chen.
Though Chen Miao had many objections, they were all strongly overruled by Little Miao.
When it ca to naming rights, Little Miao didn't listen to anyone else's suggestions.
"Little Miao,"
Chen Miao sat in his wheelchair, his face creased with wrinkles, looking sowhat dim-eyed at the sea in front of him, murmuring sowhat vacantly, "I think I'm really getting old. I can't see the sea clearly anymore, I can only sll the briny wind."
"Lately I've been having a dream."
"I dream that I used to have so very close brothers, I can't rember their nas, but it seems there was soone called Hungry Monkey."
"You think I'm getting senile? Why do I keep having the sa dream over and over?"
Little Miao stood behind Chen Miao, holding onto the handles of the wheelchair, not speaking, just gently stroking Chen Miao's wrinkled cheek. After a while, she spoke softly, "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry?"
After a difficult cough, Chen Miao shakily took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and put it to his mouth, "Why suddenly apologize?"
Little Miao shook her head without replying, just murmuring to herself, "Thank you, Miao. I regret not having t you earlier. It's in these decades together that I found the real aning of living."
"I suddenly realized that what I sought after all this ti was aningless."
"Thank you, Miao, for bringing this vibrant life in the last stage of my life."
"It's just that I'm sorry..."
"Forgive my selfishness for keeping you here with for so long. I really don't want to leave. Before I t you, I wasn't so afraid of death, but after eting you, I suddenly beca very afraid of it."
"I can't bear the thought of living without you. How would I face it?"
"I've grown so used to you standing before ."
"What are you talking about?"
Chen Miao's eyes showed a trace of panic. Struggling to turn his head to look at Little Miao, who was also white-haired standing behind him, his voice began to tremble with urgency, "What's happened? Don't you think of doing sothing foolish!"
"No matter the cost, we can afford it. We are wealthy; I have plenty of money."
"Please don't think of suicide!"
Little Miao shook her head, looked up towards the end of the vast sea, feeling the refreshing breeze, and suddenly laughed, "I really don't want to say this because saying it ans everything will co to an end, but I have to."
"Because the bus is almost at its stop."
"If I don't say it, you'll never wake up."
"Everything you see isn't real. We're in a dream, the fourth level of the dream. Rember?"
"It was you who took here, and we're actually on a Hell Bus heading to hell, and you are my ticket inspector. I'm just one of your ordinary passengers."
"What nonsense are you talking..."
Chen Miao, startled by this bewildering speech, stood up agitatedly, wanting to check Little Miao's forehead, but his movents gradually slowed and after a mont,
he sat back down in the wheelchair, took out a mirror to look at his own aged, unfamiliar yet familiar face, and then slowly lit a cigarette and put it back to his mouth. After a long silence, he said hoarsely, "Thanks, I might have really forgotten without you."
"When did you wake up?"
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