Chapter 62: What are you doing? Are you asleep?

Chapter 62: What are you doing? Are you asleep yet?

When Lu Anzhi returned to the shop by taxi, Wang Ping's daughter-in-law, Liu Xiuting, had already prepared dinner and brought it to the shop in meal boxes.

Seeing Lu Anzhi walk in, Wang Ping introduced them, "Boss, this is my daughter-in-law, Liu Xiuting. Xiuting, this is my boss."

Liu Xiuting exchanged pleasantries with Lu Anzhi, greeted him, and said with a smile, "It seems my mother-in-law wasn't exaggerating. Boss, you really are quite handsome."

Lu Anzhi smiled modestly, "You flatter me, you flatter me."

Liu Xiuting placed the meal boxes on the corner of the long table and said, "Come and eat while it's hot. I just made some simple home-cooked food, nothing fancy, I hope you don't mind."

Lu Anzhi looked at the opened meal boxes and smiled, "This is much better than what I can cook. Sister Wang, you should sit down and eat too. There's so much food, I could never finish it all by myself."

There were several meal boxes, and they weren't small either. The portions inside were quite generous. Let alone one person, two or three people might not even be able to finish it all.

Thinking that a portion of this was meant for Wang Ping, Lu Anzhi said this to her.

Unexpectedly, Wang Ping shook her head and said, "I've already eaten. Boss, just eat your fill."

Lu Anzhi said, "With so much food here, I can't possibly finish it alone." He looked up at Liu Xiuting and asked, "Have you eaten? Why don't you sit down and have some too?"

Liu Xiuting shook her head with a smile, "I've eaten as well. I thought your family of three would be here, so I made a bit extra. I didn't expect them not to be around."

"Where are your wife and daughter, Boss? My mother said your daughter is adorable, and your wife looks just like Zhang Suxin. I was hoping to bring the food over and catch a glimpse of them. I used to be a loyal fan of Zhang Suxin back in the day."

Lu Anzhi said, "They went back home. It's just me staying at the shop tonight. Thank you so much for thinking of them and bringing so much dinner over. Had I known, I would have called them over as well. It would be such a waste not to finish all this."

Liu Xiuting replied, "It's fine, just eat as much as you can. We'll worry about the rest later."

Lu Anzhi didn't stand on ceremony anymore and began to eat.

Outside, heavy clouds gathered, and the faint light stealthily seeping through the clouds had already sunk behind the high-rises.

Night had fallen early.

"It really looks like it's going to rain soon. Boss, go ahead and eat, we'll head back first."

Wang Ping glanced outside the shop and said to Lu Anzhi.

Lu Anzhi got up, fetched the umbrellas kept in the shop, and handed them to the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. After expressing their thanks, the two quickly hurried out of the shop and stepped into the gloomy clouds.

A short moment later, the last sliver of light outside the shop was completely swallowed by the dark clouds. Standing at the doorway, Lu Anzhi could no longer see the figures of the two women, hoping only that the rain would hold off a little longer so they wouldn't get soaked.

He went back to the table to finish his meal, packed the leftovers into the refrigerator on the second floor, and then called Wang Ping to confirm that she and Liu Xiuting had safely made it home before finally setting his mind at ease.

"Splash, splash, splash..."

A torrential downpour arrived. Raindrops beat a rapid tattoo against the windows, and the indoor lights cast a reflection of the splashing water outside—wave after wave, resembling countless tiny figures splashing ink across the glass.

Lu Anzhi had already closed the shop door. After watching the rain for a while by the window, he started up his computer, opened the document for *First Intimate Contact*, and prepared to write.

The auto-login Qiuqiu icon had once again been replaced by a stubbornly blinking avatar. Lu Anzhi opened the chat box and saw a message from Guku: "Great news! Boss B, the first batch of two million copies of *Dragon III* has completely sold out, and current pre-orders have already exceeded another two million copies!"

Lu Anzhi asked bluntly: "How much royalty will end up in my pocket?"

Guku: "Orz, I haven't calculated it yet."

Lu Anzhi: "Orz."

Guku: "Also, the copyright value has increased too, worth several million now!"

Several million nowadays was indeed quite a substantial sum, practically an astronomical price. Adjusted for cost of living, it was already equivalent to tens of millions in his past life. But Lu Anzhi didn't manage to register this sentence.

He alt-tabbed out to check how far along he had written in *First Intimate Contact*. Ever since opening the shop, he had grown somewhat lazy and hadn't touched the keyboard for several days, inevitably losing track of his progress.

After confirming his progress and recalling the subsequent plot points in his mind, Lu Anzhi switched back to the chat box and saw Guku asking: "Boss B, don't you have any reaction at all to this great news?"

So Lu Anzhi replied: "Read. Dismissed."

Guku: "..."

Sitting in her office, Guku thought to herself that fortunately she wasn't dating Big Boss B; otherwise, she would surely be angered to death.

She had never seen any other web novelist talk in such a prickly manner.

By this time, Lu Anzhi had already begun typing. He wasn't in any rush now, and his typing speed wasn't fast. Whenever he felt tired, he would stop to rest.

During a break, the phone resting beside his laptop started to vibrate, forming a unique rhythm intertwined with the sound of rain beating against the windowpane.

Lu Anzhi picked up his phone and took a look; it was a text message from Zhang Suxin. The content was very simple, consisting of just three characters and a punctuation mark: "What are you doing?"

Lu Anzhi found it amusing and smiled involuntarily. In his past life, men and women whose romantic feelings were just beginning also loved to chat via text apps like WeChat, and he hadn't expected Zhang Suxin to be the same.

Unfortunately, Zhang Suxin felt she had no use for the myriad functions of modern smartphones and hadn't changed her phone. Right now, she probably didn't want to turn on the computer to log into Qiuqiu, so she could only resort to text messaging.

Lu Anzhi simply stopped typing, closed the computer, and replied to Zhang Suxin's text: "Just wrote some novel for a bit. It's raining right now, the shop is closed, and I'm just idling. What's up?"

Zhang Suxin quickly replied with another text: "I just checked the weather forecast, and it's going to rain for the next few days. We'll have to postpone looking at cars for a few days."

Lu Anzhi replied: "It's fine, there's no rush for these couple of days. We'll go once it clears up. You and Xianxian stay safe at home, I'll come over when I have time."

Zhang Suxin's text: "Remember to take an umbrella, don't get caught in the rain."

Lu Anzhi replied: "Mhm, alright."

After that, the conversation stopped.

Yet these few simple text messages made Lu Anzhi feel exceptionally comfortable and warm.

Having lived in this world for over three years, who else would chat with him about such mundane daily trifles? These trivialities served as warm tethers, connecting him to this world.

Before, Xianxian was the only one anchoring him; now, there was one more person—Zhang Suxin.

He got up to take a shower and crawled under the covers. With the heavy rain pouring outside and the sound of raindrops filling his ears, it was the perfect time for sleep. Going to sleep early today wasn't a bad idea. Tomorrow, depending on the severity of the rain and whether it interfered with going out, he would go visit the mother and daughter.

Thinking this, Lu Anzhi closed his eyes.

"Bzz..."

The vibration of the phone rang out again.

Lu Anzhi picked up his phone to check, and Zhang Suxin had sent another text: "Asleep yet?"

Lu Anzhi couldn't help smiling again: "Not yet. What about you?"

That truly was a redundant question. Who could send text messages if they were already asleep?

As it turned out, Zhang Suxin seemed completely oblivious to the flaw in her text and replied to Lu Anzhi: "I'm not asleep either. Xianxian is asleep."

Lu Anzhi texted back: "Mhm."

After a long while, Zhang Suxin sent another message, having presumably brewed and struggled over it for quite some time: "Nothing much, just wanted to remind you—it's raining, make sure you tuck yourself in under the quilt."

Then a quick follow-up text arrived: "Otherwise, if you catch a cold and can't come to my place, Xianxian will be heartbroken."

*(Special thanks to Book Friend 20211220214717299 for the tip.)*

*(End of this chapter)*