When the Wolf King woke up, Qiqi had already cooked a meal herself. She had no choice—spending a large sum to fish him out meant they’d have to tighten their belts in the days ahead. She led the Wolf King to the small kitchen and had him sit down. The two faced each other as they started dinner.
The handsome man was just recovering from an illness, so he should eat something nourishing. Qiqi slid the two boiled eggs she’d specially made for him into his bowl and said, “Eat up. Get some protein—it’ll help your wounds heal!”
The handsome man gave her a faint smile with his chopsticks in hand, truly seductive and enchanting, enough to topple cities and kingdoms. Gu Qiqi’s heart thumped wildly, “pitter-patter, pitter-patter.”
Without a word, the handsome man began peeling the eggs. Soon, he had them clean, scooped out the egg whites, and pushed them into Qiqi’s bowl. “You eat too,” he said.
Qiqi felt a little touched but still tried to be polite: “You eat, you eat! You’re the patient here!”
The Wolf King smiled faintly, blocking her chopsticks. “I don’t eat egg whites.” Then, ignoring Qiqi’s stiff smile, he lowered his head and started eating.
Qiqi gritted her teeth and stabbed the egg whites into bits.
After they’d eaten their fill, they brewed a pot of tea, sat in the yard, and opened up a conversation—
Gu Qiqi asked, “Wolf King, where are you from? Ancient times? Another world? Outer space? Or maybe you came from some secret underground lab at a U.S. military base?”
Wolf King (looking puzzled): “U.S. military base?”
Qiqi replied, “Yeah, yeah! America’s military bases. I hear they’re always running secret experiments in underground labs, studying superhumans, mutants, aliens, stuff like that…”
Wolf King grew even more curious: “What’s a superhuman? What’s a mutant? Do humans in the mortal world have that many races? That’s not much fewer than our demon realm!”
Qiqi: “…” *Sci-fi lesson in progress…*
Wolf King (persisting with a “dig to the bottom of it” spirit): “What’s America? Why is it called America? Is it because everyone in that country is beautiful?”
Qiqi: “…” *World military lesson in progress…*
Men are always interested in military topics, and the Wolf King was no exception, so Qiqi spent a long time explaining this.
Finally, the handsome man replied, “I am the king of the wolf clan, so of course I come from the demon realm.”
Change the subject.
Gu Qiqi: “Wolf King, what brings you here? Searching for a past-life lover? Defending a crumbling nation? Saving Earth from a crisis? Or…”
Wolf King: “What’s Earth?”
Qiqi (carefully choosing her words): “Earth is… the universe, or the ground beneath our feet… Actually, the Earth we live on is round, like a ball—oh no, like an orange…”
As she spoke, she pulled out a world map: “Look, these are the seven continents and eight oceans. We’re in the Northern Hemisphere…” *World geography lesson in progress…*
The Wolf King stared wide-eyed at that beautiful blue planet, his face showing an expression of utter disbelief. Finally, he summed it up calmly: “Absurd.”
Qiqi: “…” *(Qiqi, your science outreach mission is looking grim!)*
Change the subject again.
Gu Qiqi: “Wolf King, how did you get to the mortal world? Did you time-travel? Use magic?”
Thinking of the three-meter-wide hole in her living room, she added, “Or did you come in a UFO or something?”
Wolf King: “What’s a UFO…”
Qiqi decided to save this kind of educational topic for another time, so she dodged the question and asked instead, “Then tell me—what were you doing when you arrived in this world?”