Chapter 15: Goodbye

A blatant threat, an undeniable threat.

It could even be called a naked threat.

“You’re quite bold.”

The faint smile on Li Huayu’s lips vanished, her gaze turning slightly cold as she watched Lin Yi.

Lin Yi met the gaze of this youthful-storm of a bombshell, several years his junior, without showing any weakness.

“But fine, I accept your proposal.”

Li Huayu smiled exuberantly.

‘Interesting, this is getting more and more interesting. This man resists going to the hospital, yet he’s willing to let me examine his body.’

‘In that case, I’ll have to prepare properly. The little pet’s preferences also need to be satisfied.’

The door opened.

Zhuang Yayun, her face flushed red, walked leisurely into the living room from the corridor, wearing a floral dress.

“Doctor Li, is my husband’s diagnosis report ready?”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing major. Just a slight psychological barrier. You just need to spend more time with your little pet,” Li Huayu said.

“Doctor Li, my husband is not in the ‘little pet’ category yet,” Zhuang Yayun looked at Li Huayu seriously.

“Is that so? I thought he was your little pet. I didn’t realize he hadn’t reached that level yet.”

Li Huayu was slightly surprised, looking at Zhuang Yayun with a rather strange expression.

“I don’t like raising men like little pets. And he is my husband now.”

“You’re quite good to him then. I hope you’ll always be this good to him.”

“Of course. My husband is my thing, I am his wife. Of course I’ll be good to him. I love him, I love him very, very much.”

Hearing Yayun express her love for him so directly, Lin Yi didn’t know whether to laugh or to hide under the covers and cry.

“Hubby, do you want to do it again tonight?”

Back at home, Zhuang Yayun’s face was brimming with the same smile she usually had at home.

“No, I’m tired today,” Lin Yi shook his head. He was planning to study the system tonight.

He still didn’t understand how to use this system.

The smile on Zhuang Yayun’s lips stiffened for a moment, then she gently caressed Lin Yi’s face. “Then do you want to sleep in the bedroom tonight, or on the sofa? If you say you’ll work hard again tonight, then I’ll let you sleep in the bedroom. How does that sound?”

Lin Yi couldn’t hold it together.

‘No way, Zhuang Yayun, how did you, a person from a female-superior world, also learn about paying the ‘public grain’¹ like on Earth?’

But a man of his word does not go back on it.

“No, I’m tired.”

Lin Yi lay down directly on the sofa.

“Fine, be tired then. Go on and be tired.”

Zhuang Yayun pouted, lifted her delicate little foot, and her pink, fair toes playfully grabbed at the flesh on Lin Yi’s chest, as if it were a punishment that she was letting him off the hook for.

This was also one of the playful little games he and Zhuang Yayun usually played. After all, who doesn’t like cute feet?

Those who don’t like feet are all heretics.

Watching Zhuang Yayun turn off the living room light and return to the bedroom, only his own breathing remained in the dim room.

‘Yayun still loves me.’

‘It’s just that her way of loving belongs to this female-superior world.’

He had originally planned to tell Zhuang Yayun about Shen Xixi and Luo Tianyou, but it seemed impossible to say it now.

Lin Yi saw it very clearly.

From now on, he could no longer be as naive as before, thinking that this world was as simple as it appeared on the surface.
With the existence of special women like Li Huayu, all women were also potential wolves in sheep’s clothing.

What he should do now is to truly carve out a world of his own in the field of writing novels.

Even if Yayun eventually revealed her corrupted side, he would still be able to survive independently in this society.

Lin Yi lay on the sofa, wrapping the blanket around himself.

He began to peacefully study the system.

But no matter how he moved his thoughts, the system showed no reaction.

It was like a husband lying motionless next to his cuckolded wife.

It seemed he had to complete the “Little Pony Bumps Big Truck” quest first.

After another fruitless attempt, Lin Yi could only give up and choose to sleep.

The next day.

Gold permeated the air as the morning glow melted into the light.

The sun gradually climbed higher.

The weather was excellent.

Lin Yi woke up early and finished his writing task in the morning.

Today was the time he had arranged with Yun Ling.

He was going to meet his ex-girlfriend, Shen Xixi, to discuss the novel’s illustration and cover.

“Have a safe trip.”

For some reason today, Zhuang Yayun, despite having her work restored, still didn’t go to the office.
She stayed at home, sending my brother off with a sweet smile.

‘It must be that the company hasn’t arranged Yayun’s specific work yet.’

‘After all, many people were laid off this time. A large company experienced a sudden change and needed some time to adjust.’

The hallway was quiet, and the boxes from yesterday’s corridor were all gone.

Lin Yi got in the car.

Traffic lights, vehicles, pedestrians, asphalt roads…

The green light turned on. He turned left and parked in an open-air parking lot.

It happened to be under a grove of cherry blossom trees.
Pink petals were either falling or being swept up into the sky.

Lin Yi watched as he got out of the car and walked.
Cherry blossoms fluttered all around, landing on his shoulders.

He stretched out his five fingers, and a single pink cherry blossom petal landed in his palm, stirring a wave of memories…

Back then, it seemed he had also met Shen Xixi under a cherry blossom tree.

The Shen Xixi of back then was like a river snail girl,² taking perfect care of him, until the color of her basement was exposed.

Lin Yi searched for the address Yun Ling had sent, arriving at a business-oriented Chinese restaurant.

The name was Ju Ya Ju, with a per-person cost of seven hundred, which wasn’t expensive for a business setting.

Lin Yi stepped inside, placed his umbrella in the rack by the door, and after a word with the service staff, went upstairs to a private room by the window and knocked.

“Come in.”

Yun Ling and Shen Xixi were already seated, chatting amicably.

“Teacher Lin Yi, Teacher Shen Xixi and I were just discussing whether your current work was inspired by your own married life as a prototype?”

Lin Yi sat down. “Yes, my wife herself is a very good person, gentle, virtuous, and quiet. I love her very much.”

He deliberately emphasized the last sentence, his gaze sweeping over Shen Xixi without leaving a trace.

Compared to the relatively professional attire Shen Xixi wore when they met again two days ago, her outfit today was more suitable for an outing.
A blue and white shirt was wrapped over a milky white dress, looking like a first-love style.

This private room was by the window.
It was a six-person room, very spacious, with three leather-backed chairs on each side of the dining table.
Lin Yi sat alone on one side, while Shen Xixi and Yun Ling sat on the other.

Shen Xixi’s lips curled into a smile as she asked, “Then has Teacher Lin Yi ever thought that although the current plot development is warm, it lacks the waves of life, making it impossible for people to know the value of happiness?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Don’t you think it would be better to add a first love to the plot development now, to stir up some waves in the story? After all, a warm and happy daily life can also cause reading fatigue for the readers?”

Shen Xixi smiled, her gaze sweeping wantonly over Lin Yi’s face, her eyes charming. “I can be Teacher Lin Yi’s source of inspiration. Whether it’s my body or anything else, you can refer to it as you please.”

¹ “交公粮” (jiāo gōng liáng), literally “handing over the public grain,” was a term for the agricultural tax in old China. It’s now a common and humorous slang term used by married men to refer to their “duty” of having s*x with their wives.

² The “river snail girl” (田螺姑娘, tiánluó gūniang) is a character from a Chinese folktale. She is a magical being who secretly comes out of her snail shell to cook, clean, and take care of a poor, hardworking farmer, eventually becoming his wife. The term is used to describe a perfect, diligent, and caring domestic partner.