Chapter 8 Runny Egg
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The wind blew in from the window, causing the milky-white curtains to flutter gently. Orange polka dots adorned them, and as the sunlight passed through, each orange dot melted away, flowing with brilliant golden light.
Chu Feng woke up in the arms of two Xie Shiyus.
The Xie Shiyu on the right was already awake. Nineteen-year-old Xie Shiyu sat half-reclined on the bed, quietly reciting vocabulary words. When Chu Feng opened his eyes, he lowered his head and kissed his cheek lightly, saying, “Good morning.”
—His movements were light, not wanting to be noticed by the Xie Shiyu on the left.
Chu Feng blinked, the Xie Shiyu on the left had his hand draped around his waist, with a tattoo on his forearm. School bully Xie Shiyu was still asleep, holding him tightly, like a koala clinging to a tree.
“I’ve placed new clothes for you on the chair. Remember to get dressed when you wake up. I’m off to the library.”
Now it was not even six o’clock yet. Chu Feng, with sleepy eyes, watched as 19-year-old Xie Shiyu briskly got up, slipped on a T-shirt, covering his well-built figure.
Feeling Chu Feng’s gaze on him, Xie Shiyu turned back with a smile. “What’s the matter? Couldn’t get enough of looking at me last night? Want another round? Little Shiyu is very energetic in the morning.”
Chu Feng quietly shrunk into the blankets, like a cocoon, his voice muffled and adorable under the covers. “Go study.”
With his backpack on, Xie Shiyu couldn’t resist teasing as he turned back and squatted at the head of Chu Feng’s bed. “Studying is so hard for me. Would you like to give me a kiss?”
Chu Feng peeked out from under the covers, reached out, and was about to lean in to kiss him—
“Do you guys think I’m dead or something?”
School bully Xie Shiyu grabbed Chu Feng by the neck and pulled him back under the covers, hiding him away, forbidding any kisses. Then he turned to scold 19-year-old Xie Shiyu, “Don’t disturb people so early in the morning. Get lost!”
Repeating student Xie Shiyu retorted with a middle finger, his expression cold. “If your grades weren’t so poor, would I need to wake up early to study?”
“Enough.” Chu Feng pulled them both, giving each a kiss, and said, “That’s okay right.”
With his backpack on, Xie Shiyu provocatively glanced at the school bully Xie Shiyu and walked away.
The school bully Xie Shiyu hugged Chu Feng back into the covers. “Let’s sleep a little longer. That guy makes so much noise every morning.”
Chu Feng closed his eyes and sighed, “He’s going through a tough time in his senior year.”
The year he turned nineteen was the only year they were separated. While Xie Shiyu was repeating a grade, Chu Feng was in his freshman year at college, and they were in a long-distance relationship, unable to see each other every day. Chu Feng didn’t dare to disturb Xie Shiyu, not even sending many messages. He spent his days scrolling through their chat history on WeChat to pass the time.
“If he’s struggling, aren’t I struggling too? Aren’t I in my senior year?” 18-year-old Xie Shiyu was dissatisfied. “If I hadn’t been working hard since the second semester of my senior year, how could he have repeated a year and still gotten into your university?”
Chu Feng was a top student since childhood, attending one of the top 20 universities in the country and studying the most prestigious major at the school. Xie Shiyu chased after his grades desperately.
“Why did you have to take the exam for my university?” Chu Feng touched Xie Shiyu’s head, feeling a bit sorry. Later, he learned that Xie Shiyu, who was repeating the year, stayed up reading until past two in the morning every day, waking up before six in the morning, not taking any breaks on weekends or holidays, reading himself to exhaustion. Chu Feng was really afraid he would suddenly collapse.
“Going to another school is fine too. You don’t have to work so hard.”
“No.” Xie Shiyu hugged Chu Feng. “I don’t feel at ease unless I keep a close eye on you. I’m afraid someone else might snatch you away.”
“That won’t happen.”
Chu Feng closed his eyes, burying himself in Xie Shiyu’s warm embrace and wrapping his arms around him. In the game, he held the virtual Xie Shiyu. “I’ll always be with you.”
***
Rumble…
A sound.
Chu Feng blinked.
Xie Shiyu looked down at Chu Feng’s growling stomach and asked, “Hungry?”
“…Yeah.”
Xie Shiyu said, “I’ll make you breakfast. What do you want to eat?”
“Anything.”
Wrapped in the blanket, Chu Feng squinted his eyes contentedly. Suddenly, he felt a warm breath in front of his nose. Chu Feng opened his eyes and saw Xie Shiyu leaning in with a mischievous smile, asking him, “Do you want to eat deoxyribonucleic acid?”
Chu Feng paused for a second, then playfully slapped him and laughed, “I’ll eat it if you score six hundred points on your test.”
“…”
The academically challenged Xie Shiyu quietly got up to make breakfast. Still a bit worried, he turned back and reminded, “You mustn’t mention what just happened in front of him!”
—-Repeating student Xie Shiyu can really score over six hundred points.
“I know.”
***
Sizzle…
Oil sizzled in the pan as eggs were fried.
Chu Feng wore a brand new white shirt and black trousers. Yesterday, the four Xie Shiyus were too intense, and their clothes and pants were torn. Chu Feng walked into the kitchen, smelling the long-lost aroma of breakfast.
Xie Shiyu was frying his favorite runny egg.
—Chu Feng was a bit picky about food. There were so many ways to make eggs, but only Xie Shiyu’s runny eggs suited his taste.
Boiled eggs with runny yolks made Chu Feng nauseous. Sunny-side-up eggs had one side fully cooked and the other side runny, which made Chu Feng feel sick after just one bite.
Over-easy eggs had both sides fully cooked but were chewy, lacking tenderness. As for the soft-boiled eggs like those from McDonald’s or KFC breakfast sandwiches, they were too tender and lacked the crispness of fried eggs.
“It’ll be a while. Have a piece of candy first.” Xie Shiyu handed Chu Feng a White Rabbit milk candy.
Chu Feng sucked on the candy, standing behind Xie Shiyu and watching him roll up his sleeves to cook. His slender fingers held the eggs, lightly tapping the edge of the pan. With a gentle crack, he opened the eggshell, and the yolk slid into the pan with the whites, sizzling like a little sun in the oil.
When the transparent egg whites turned white from frying, with one side fully cooked, Xie Shiyu lifted the pan handle and flipped the egg gently. After two seconds, he immediately turned off the heat and transferred the egg to a plate.
—At this point, the egg had one side golden and white, fully cooked, while the other side was only seventy percent cooked. When bitten into, it would release a thick, orange yolk, like a runny salted egg yolk, hot and fragrant. It wasn’t completely raw like a sunny-side-up egg, nor completely cooked like an over-easy egg. One side was tender and juicy, while the other side retained the crispness from frying in oil.
This was his favorite runny egg. Chu Feng sat at the dining table, looking like a cat waiting to be fed.
The key to making runny eggs was to flip them properly. If the force was too strong, the egg would break, and if the heat was too high, the egg would be fully cooked.
Only Xie Shiyu could make runny eggs perfectly every time.
“Dig in.”
With breakfast steaming hot and the golden runny egg in front of him, Chu Feng had not felt this hungry in a long time.
Sunlight streamed in through the window, and there was warm dust in the living room.
The breakfast was steaming hot, and the golden, runny egg was placed in front of Chu Feng. It had been a long time since he had such a good appetite.
Sunlight streamed in from outside the window, casting warm dust particles in the living room.
After finishing breakfast, Xie Shiyu went to his room to do homework, while Chu Feng walked out the door—
It was almost time.
He should return to reality.
***
Drip—
The blue brainwaves disconnected, and Chu Feng returned to the king-size bed in his bedroom in reality.
As he was about to roll over and get out of bed…
Bang!
His entire body lost balance, and he fell directly to the ground.
His body couldn’t support him anymore.
Chu Feng groaned. Luckily, his back didn’t hurt as much in reality, otherwise, he would have definitely twisted it after such a fall.
The “Dream City” game was linked to brainwaves. If his back hurt in the game, his back in reality wouldn’t be harmed. But if he died in the game, he would experience brain death in reality.
If one lingered in the game for too long, their body in reality would also die from dehydration and starvation.
Chu Feng laid on the cold floor, unable to get up. He felt dizzy, and the buzzing in his ears grew louder…
He hadn’t eaten or drunk anything in reality for a day and a night.
Approaching twenty-nine this year, his body couldn’t endure his actions.
His stomach started to ache.
Curling up on the floor, Chu Feng hugged his stomach.
When Xie Shiyu was around, he always had his meals on time, especially breakfast, never missing a day.
—Xie Shiyu’s mother died of stomach cancer, so no matter how busy he was, Xie Shiyu would always get up to make breakfast and make sure Chu Feng ate it.
His stomach was so well taken care of by Xie Shiyu that now, if he missed a meal, it would act up.
Chu Feng laid still, waiting for his stomach to feel a bit better and the buzzing in his ears to quiet down. Then he slowly got up, supporting himself with the bedside table. As he passed by the living room, he grabbed a piece of candy.
He squeezed it, but it was empty.
—It was the candy wrapper he left from last time, forgotten to throw it away.
The candy was gone.
No one would remember to buy him new candy.
Chu Feng dropped the candy wrapper and slowly moved towards the kitchen.
Opening the fridge—
Sure enough, there was nothing.
Chu Feng opened every compartment and found two eggs, unsure when he bought them, hoping they weren’t expired.
He heated up the pan and poured oil.
When the oil was hot, Chu Feng, imitating Xie Shiyu’s manner, cracked the eggs with his slender fingers on the edge of the pan…
But they didn’t crack.
He tried several times, and the egg liquid burst out from the cracks, splattering all over his hands, dripping into the pan—sizzle!
Splattering oil, Chu Feng was suddenly scalded. He recoiled, the eggshells cracked, and the mixture of egg yolk and white sizzled and spluttered in the pan.
Chu Feng didn’t have time to think about it. He turned to the faucet, ran cold water over his scalded hand, which turned red.
When he finished rinsing and came back, the eggs were already burnt. The pan looked like an erupting volcano, filled with burnt soil and a few pieces of reddish eggshell.
Chu Feng turned off the heat, scooped the burnt egg into a bowl, sat at the table, poured himself a glass of water, and paired it.
That was his breakfast.
He picked up the charred egg with chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth…
Chu Feng looked up and saw a map of the Pacific Ocean hanging on the wall behind the dining table, with the area where Xie Shiyu’s plane crashed circled lightly in red pencil.
Every meal, he would look at it again, torturing himself.
Chewing, chewing, mechanically swallowing.
Chu Feng picked up another piece of egg with his chopsticks.
He heard that eating such charred food could cause cancer.
—Doesn’t matter.
He picked up the egg with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, chewing mechanically, as if chewing on candle wax.
—
At this moment, in a certain island nation in the Pacific.
It was a bright summer, with sunlight flooding everywhere.
Regulator Center.
X sat in a wheelchair, reaching out to hold a frying pan, cooking eggs.
A, who had just woken up, yawned and passed behind him. “Morning, X!”
“Mm.”
With a light shake of his hand, X flipped the eggs in the pan obediently. The force was as skillful as if he had done it thousands of times before. Two seconds later, he plated them and placed them on the table.
“Ah!” A exclaimed, “X, you’re making these strange eggs again! I’ve told you before, eggs should be cooked thoroughly on both sides.”
B added, “Don’t listen to him, X. Frying eggs destroys 97% of their nutritional value. You should make boiled eggs like me next time.”
C asked, “X, do you really like eating these kinds of eggs?”
“Not really.”
A, B, and C together: “Then why do you always make these half-cooked eggs?”
X picked up a soft-boiled egg with his chopsticks, and the yolk flowed out in a beautiful orange color, looking like something someone would love to eat.
—”Forgot.”
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