Daily Feeding for My First Love

The down-on-his-luck rich boy suddenly discovers that at night, he turns into a paper doll in a mobile app raising game. He is studying abroad, busy juggling school and part-time work, and unable to get his hands on any good Chinese food. Every night, he lies on his mattress thinking about Sichuan-style boiled fish, taro chicken stew, and the little cake shop downstairs from the home he can't return to, sighing wistfully. Until one day, he starts getting fed little cakes, snacks, and gifts in his dreams. He gets a big blue-and-pink house, with a skylight where he can see the stars, and his favorite flowers growing in the garden. Everything is just like the wonderful life he imagined as a teenager. Like his first love, which came to nothing, it is a dream he never dared to imagine. Until he realizes that the person keeping him as a pet in his dreams is none other than his former classmate from middle school, whom he hasn't seen in years. The one who came to nothing: his first love. * The middle school classmate, the gong, has no idea either that the paper doll he created based on the shou is actually the shou himself. A student at a top-two university, the gong works hard at his studies and job. The things he sticks to most every day are keeping up with the middle school classmate shou, who is twelve hours ahead of him, and playing this cyber pet game. He decorates a villa based on the shou's sketches. During the day, he opens the game and watches the little figure who looks like the shou walk around the villa. At night, the little figure isn't in the house anymore (the shou is awake because of the time difference). The gong figures the little guy in the game must be going out to play, too. If the shou can make lots of friends overseas and go out and have fun, he'd be happy, too. Sometimes the little figure stops during the day. A cloud-shaped bubble appears over his head: "xxx wants jasmine milk tea." Every time the gong buys it, he finds several more bubbles over the little figure's head, asking for desserts and hot pot. He tops up his account and splurges on the game again, all while pretending to be annoyed as he pokes the little figure with his finger. "What a glutton." The shou is in his pink room in the dream when something pokes him out of nowhere. "Ow!" The gong sees an "Ow!" and a huge sulky expression appear over the little figure's head, and starts buying flowers for the room again. He hopes that until he has enough strength saved up to go abroad and see the shou, the shou can be just like this little figure. Happy and carefree. * At first, the shou is only fed in his dreams. Later, the feeding continues during the day and in real life. The shou is torn: should he tell the gong to stop raising an electronic paper doll? He's really raising the shou himself. But the gong seems more and more obsessed with spending money on the game. He's even started buying outfits for the shou, and every day when the shou wakes up, he finds himself wearing one. Finally, after waking up in a little nightgown with a bow, the shou decides he has to face the matter and clear things up with the gong. * One summer vacation, they meet again at a class reunion. Shou: ...So, what do you usually do these days? Gong: (trying to stay calm) Just play games and stuff... Shou: What kind of games do you usually play? Gong: Single-player games, some little virtual pet games. Shou: Getting too absorbed in the virtual world isn't good, is it? (dropping hints as hard as he can) Gong: I think it's pretty good. Classmate: Gong, what are you raising? Did you get a cat? Shou: ... Gong: ... Gong: Yeah, it eats quite a lot. Shou: (unsure whether he should serve himself some food) Every coincidence and miracle is leading you to my side. A sweet little story about two people whose mutual crush finally comes true. Theme: