After Falling in Love with a 2D Character as a Socially Anxious Person - Chapter 13

Just moments ago, An Jing had been terrified, but after calming down, he began to reconsider.

As the commander-in-chief of an army, Yan Qili was constantly surrounded by people reporting military intelligence. How could it be that someone would meet a tragic end just for approaching him while he practiced his sword? At most, others simply didn’t dare to watch him as openly and for as long as An Jing just had.

So, Yan Qili had let Chu Muli live in fear for a year, and just as the man felt a glimmer of hope for survival, he disposed of him over a trivial matter? And by execution by a thousand cuts, no less…

Thinking of this, An Jing touched the faint scar on his own neck. He felt a shiver of shared anxiety.

Although Yan Qili was smiling now, his expression was definitely not friendly. An Jing deeply understood what it meant to be moody and fickle. Yan Qili was exactly like that. And mean!

…

An Jing didn’t have the habit of waking up early for breakfast. Occasionally, if he woke up hungry, he would just grab some fruit or a snack, or wait until lunch to deal with it.

Yan Qili’s eating habits were much healthier than Jing An’s; he had already finished eating while An Jing was still fast asleep upstairs. After washing up, An Jing bit on the straw of his yogurt, thinking about how to tell Yan Qili about Saturday’s event.

After a long internal struggle, he had decided to go see it in person. It wasn’t just for Wu Yu Zi’s signing; he also wanted to meet Baili. He wanted to see what kind of person Baili was in real life before deciding whether to consult the friend Baili mentioned about the household registration. Of course, he planned to watch from a distance without revealing his identity.

Ding-dong, ding-dong—

The doorbell rang suddenly.

As someone with social anxiety, every fiber of his being resisted answering the door. He turned to look at Yan Qili. “Is that someone delivering your bed?”

When ordering takeout, An Jing always told the riders to just leave it at the door—no need to ring the bell or call. Consequently, his doorbell almost never rang throughout the year. The dormant doorbell rang today, and An Jing remembered he had scheduled the furniture store to deliver the bed this morning.

Yan Qili glanced at An Jing, saw through his little hesitation, and stood up to open the door. The front door pulled inward, but the person standing outside wasn’t a delivery worker; it was Xingyi Hou.

Xingyi Hou looked surprised to see the unfamiliar Yan Qili, but he quickly smiled and introduced himself: “Good morning, sorry to bother you. I’m the owner living downstairs.”

Yan Qili’s expression was cold. “Is there something?”

Not seeing An Jing and instead being met by the icy Yan Qili, Xingyi Hou couldn’t help but peek past him into the house. “And you are…?”

Xingyi Hou was certain that An Jing had lived alone since moving in. Now that this tall, intimidating man had appeared, he felt a bit confused. Who was this? What was his relationship with An Jing?

Yan Qili, whose mood was already sour because An Jing didn’t remember Muli Chu, shifted his body to block Xingyi Hou’s probing gaze. Yan Qili spoke sharply: “State your business.”

With his view blocked by the tall figure, Xingyi Hou couldn’t see inside, so he withdrew his gaze. He hadn’t expected Yan Qili to be so unfriendly. A flash of annoyance crossed his eyes, but he quickly smoothed his expression and spoke politely:

“I heard quite a bit of noise from your place this morning. I wanted to ask if everything is alright? Do you need any help?”

Having lived downstairs for so long, Xingyi Hou almost never heard noise from above. Even the sound of dragging chairs was rare. However, early this morning, he heard thumping and humming sounds and couldn’t help but come up to check. Fearing it might be rude for a first visit, he even brought a basket of fruit.

An Jing, waiting a moment and seeing that Yan Qili wasn’t letting the person in, walked over to see what was happening just in time to hear Xingyi Hou’s words. He immediately realized it was Yan Qili practicing his sword early in the morning that had affected Xingyi Hou downstairs.

Now, someone had come to complain!

Before An Jing could even get close, he heard Yan Qili say in a tone that suggested the man owed him eight million dollars: “It’s nothing. No help needed.”

Xingyi Hou: “…?”

An Jing: “…”

An Jing’s hands went numb instantly. Yan Qili, you disturbed the neighbors—how can you be so self-righteous!

Oh no, he forgot to teach Yan Qili about the “Public Security Administration Punishment Law”!

Before Yan Qili could offend the man further, An Jing suppressed his internal panic, rushed to the entrance, and apologized to Xingyi Hou: “I’m so sorry. Nothing is wrong; we were just exercising a bit on the terrace. I’m truly sorry, we didn’t mean it. We’ll be more careful next time.”

In a corner where Xingyi Hou couldn’t see, An Jing poked Yan Qili’s back, signaling him to say something too. Since An Jing didn’t wear a mask at home, his clean, fair face was fully exposed to Xingyi Hou as he appeared from behind Yan Qili.

“Oh, you’re home.” Seeing An Jing, the smile on Xingyi Hou’s face became a bit more genuine. “As long as everything is okay. I just came up to check.”

As soon as An Jing showed his face, Yan Qili moved aside, remaining unmoved by An Jing’s poking. He acted as if the person disturbing the neighbors was An Jing, not himself.

Xingyi Hou looked at An Jing’s face and offered the fruit basket: “I’m sorry to bother you. It was a sudden visit and I didn’t have much prepared, please take this.”

“No, no, no.” An Jing waved his hands frantically. They were the ones in the wrong; how could they accept someone else’s gift?

Standing next to Yan Qili, An Jing felt awkward. He didn’t take the fruit. After refusing twice, Xingyi Hou gave up. “Alright then.”

Once Xingyi Hou left, An Jing closed the door and saw Yan Qili leaning against the entrance, arms folded, watching him.

An Jing: “?” What’s with that look?

Yan Qili: “I advise you to stay away from him.”

An Jing blinked. “Stay away from who?”

Yan Qili glanced at him. “Who do you think?”

“You mean…” An Jing realized. “Xingyi Hou?”

Yan Qili didn’t speak again, leaving An Jing with only a cold, distant back. Standing there, An Jing was completely puzzled and followed him. “What’s wrong? Did you see something off about him?”

Yan Qili: “He looks sneaky. Doesn’t look like a good person.”

An Jing: “…”

The total number of words he had spoken to Xingyi Hou didn’t exceed fifty, and he didn’t have the courage to stare at the man’s face, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know what Xingyi Hou looked like. Xingyi Hou looked refined, and even when he was disturbed early in the morning, he was polite and friendly… How did that fit Yan Qili’s description?

Seeing An Jing’s silence, Yan Qili didn’t argue. He had said his piece; whether An Jing listened or not was not his concern. He never bothered with such things, and if anything happened later, it would have nothing to do with him. He wouldn’t live here forever; he would move out when the time was right.

It wasn’t just the socially anxious An Jing who was unwilling to live with others; Yan Qili, who had been a loner all these years, was equally unwilling to share this small space.

The bed and mattress were delivered near noon.

“We could have been earlier, but there was a huge traffic jam for over half an hour.” The worker grumbled, wondering where all the cars came from since the morning rush hour was over.

His colleague replied: “There’s a big anime convention here tomorrow. How could there not be cars on the road?”

The socially anxious An Jing had hidden upstairs early but still heard the conversation. The two workers finished installing the bed in less than fifteen minutes.

“Are they gone?” Hearing the door close, An Jing poked his head out from the corner of the stairs.

Seeing An Jing hiding and acting sneaky in his own home, Yan Qili: “…They’re gone.”

An Jing breathed a sigh of relief. After coming downstairs, he asked: “That convention the workers mentioned, do you want to go?”

Yan Qili looked at him sideways, looking completely uninterested.

Rather than going to the signing alone, An Jing preferred to go with someone relatively familiar—even if that person was the grumpy Yan Qili. Wanting to go himself, An Jing tried to persuade him: “If you want to understand this world, you need to go out more. This is a good opportunity.”

A carnival for fans of fiction was the perfect place for a fictional character like Yan Qili to visit. An Jing usually spoke very little, but since being with Yan Qili, he had become the talkative one: “There will be many things related to novels there, you—”

“Fine,” Yan Qili interrupted him.

An Jing thought he would have to spend a lot of effort to convince him, but he hadn’t expected him to agree so readily.

“You want to go?” An Jing suppressed his real emotions, wrinkling his nose and pretending to be reluctant. “Since you’re unfamiliar with the place, I guess I’ll go with you.”

Yan Qili found it amusing and asked intentionally: “There will be a lot of people. Won’t you be uncomfortable?”

It wasn’t that he was worried about An Jing; it was just that if An Jing’s legs went weak and he couldn’t walk, Yan Qili would be responsible for hauling him back. A hassle.

An Jing forced himself not to think about the dense crowds. “I can endure it for a bit.” He had endured large university lectures with several classes combined. For Wu Yu Zi’s autograph… You can do it, An Jing!

The matter was settled.

In the blink of an eye, it was Saturday.

A gentle breeze blew, and the sunlight was warm. The two of them got ready, but before leaving, An Jing thought of something very important: “Wait.”

He pulled Yan Qili back. “Did I teach you how to scan a code to pay yet?” If they were out, what if Yan Qili wanted to buy something?

Yan Qili: “I know how.” Over the past two days, he had already mastered the common functions of the phone.

An Jing blinked. “But do you have money?”

Yan Qili: “…”

Before Yan Qili could look at him with that chilly gaze again, An Jing quickly explained: “I don’t mean anything else. I just want to remind you that your WeChat is linked to my bank card. You can buy whatever you want then, don’t worry about it.”

After speaking, An Jing paused and added cautiously: “However, this card has a limit. You can’t buy anything too expensive.”

He didn’t remember exactly how much money was in the card, but if Yan Qili wanted to buy a house in Nancheng or a multi-million dollar supercar, the money definitely wouldn’t be enough.

To Yan Qili’s ears, these words were quite a novelty. A few days ago, he was still the war god of the Northern Borders, the noble Ninth Prince. While not wasteful, he never had to worry about food, clothing, or expenses. Now…

Yan Qili looked down at An Jing, meeting those clear, bright eyes. His mood was subtle and complex. Now, he had actually fallen to being supported by a little grass-eating rabbit.

And the little rabbit didn’t feel at all that his words sounded like “keeping” someone; he even generously stated: “If you don’t have enough to spend, just tell me. I’ll transfer money to you.”

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