Late at night.
After sending off Zhou Yan, who had drunk himself unconscious, Lin Fan returned home with a late-night snack.
"Click."
The door opened, revealing Long Yue sitting in the pitch-black living room, slurping instant noodles with only her phone's built-in flashlight for illumination.
When she saw Lin Fan return, Long Yue froze for a moment, noodles still dangling from her mouth.
"Why aren't you turning on the lights? Did the power go out?" Lin Fan asked curiously.
"Electricity costs money too, so I didn't turn them on..."
Long Yue sucked the noodles into her mouth in one gulp and muttered quietly, somewhat guiltily.
Last month, she had spent money recklessly ordering takeout and buying food, while keeping the lights on and watching television all day, which was why their money had run out so quickly.
She had originally hoped to exchange her magical artifacts for money, but that plan had come to nothing...
To save money, she had been too embarrassed to turn on the television or the lights anymore.
Looking at Long Yue eating instant noodles alone in the darkness, Lin Fan found it both amusing and somewhat heartbreaking.
The dignified Empress of the Immortal Realm could not even bear to turn on a light, sitting alone in the dark and eating instant noodles...
"You don't need to save on something like electricity. It doesn't cost much."
Lin Fan reached out and switched on the living room light, then placed the fried chicken he had bought in front of her.
"Here, I brought you a late-night snack."
"Ooh! Fried chicken!"
Long Yue's eyes lit up as she stared at the fried chicken before her. Drool nearly ran from the corner of her mouth, but reason ultimately overcame her appetite, and she looked at Lin Fan with a troubled expression.
"Isn't the household almost out of money? Why did you still buy fried chicken for me?"
"It's fine. I've temporarily figured out a solution to the money problem. From now on, you can still order whatever you want to eat."
"Really?!"
Joy flashed across Long Yue's lovely face, but then she suddenly seemed to think of something. Her gaze narrowed, and her expression gradually turned serious.
"Demon Supreme, where did you get the money?"
"You didn't... go rob someone, did you?!"
As far as she knew, this world had an institution similar to a money vault called a bank, where countless amounts of money and gold were stored.
As long as one robbed a bank once, one could live without worrying about food or clothing for the rest of one's life!
In movies, many desperate criminals had attempted to rob banks for money. She could not help suspecting that Lin Fan had done the same...
After all, it was perfectly reasonable for the Demon Supreme to rob a bank, right?
Lin Fan shot Long Yue a speechless glare, unable to help admiring her imagination.
"I wouldn't waste my remaining precious spiritual power on something like that."
"I borrowed the money from a friend of mine in this world."
Long Yue chewed on a drumstick, her face full of surprise.
"A friend? Demon Supreme, you have friends?"
Lin Fan was speechless, so annoyed that he wanted to walk over and pull the drumstick out of her mouth.
"I did live in this world for over twenty years, you know. I have a few friends, at least."
"Oh... sorry."
Long Yue realized she seemed to have said something rather insensitive and hurriedly apologized, offering Lin Fan a drumstick from her hand.
"Want some?"
"I already ate outside. You eat."
Lin Fan pulled over a chair and sat in front of Long Yue. As he watched her eat, he asked curiously,
"Why are you eating so late tonight?"
"I wanted to wait for you to come back so we could cook noodles together, but you never came back. I sent you a message too, but you didn't reply..."
Long Yue set down the drumstick and cast Lin Fan a resentful little glance.
Lin Fan opened his phone and only then saw the text message Long Yue had sent around six o'clock.
Demon Supreme, I plan to cook noodles tonight. Will you come back to eat with me? If you are, I'll wait and cook them with you.
"Sorry. I didn't check my phone while I was out. Next time, you can call me directly."
At his words, Long Yue lowered her head dejectedly. "I thought you weren't coming back, so I didn't call..."
After Lin Fan left, she had felt a faint unease in her heart the entire time. She kept wondering whether the Demon Supreme thought she was a burden and had found an excuse to leave her...
The thought of being left all alone, with no idea how she would survive in this world in the future, only made her more anxious.
With a probing mindset, she tried sending Lin Fan a text.
After sending it at six, she had held her phone the entire time, constantly watching for a response. Yet she received nothing even after ten o'clock.
It had made her think, for a time, that the Demon Supreme truly was not coming back...
Lin Fan looked at Long Yue, who had actually been afraid of being left alone, and his expression turned stunned.
He had only been gone for half a day, yet the Empress had worried this much...
This seemingly strong-willed Empress also had a vulnerable side...
With that thought, Lin Fan smiled apologetically and gently placed his hand atop her head.
"Empress, this is my home. If I don't come back here, where else would I go?"
Long Yue fell silent for a moment, then gave a delicate snort and pushed Lin Fan's hand away.
"Hmph. Whether you come back or not, I don't care."
Lin Fan saw through the feelings she was hiding behind her words. He merely smiled without saying anything, not exposing her.
If she truly did not care or feel afraid, she would not have looked so downcast just now...
As Long Yue took huge bites of fried chicken, Lin Fan caught sight of the phone she had placed on the table. Its screen was displaying a page from a job-hunting app.
"Empress, are you looking for work?" Lin Fan asked curiously.
"Mm..."
Long Yue glanced at her phone and nodded gently.
"I don't want to live here with you for free, Demon Supreme. I promised you a thousand in rent every month, and I will definitely give it to you!"
Back when she had been the Empress, she had no concept of money whatsoever, since she had never needed it.
Even after coming to this world, she had not cared about its currency. But after spending a month learning about this world, she now deeply understood the importance of money.
Not only to pay the Demon Supreme the fixed monthly rent of one thousand, but also so she could freely buy whatever she liked, she decided to start working hard to earn money!
"Hearing that from you puts me at ease, Empress."
Seeing Long Yue's determined expression, Lin Fan could not help showing his approval.
The thousand in rent he had mentioned back then had only been a joke. He had not taken it seriously, nor had he truly expected her to pay him a thousand every month.
He had thought that, as an Empress, she would never possibly take a job to earn money and certainly would not be able to pay the rent. Yet he had not expected her to genuinely plan to look for work...
This was also an opportunity for her to learn more about this world, so naturally, he had no reason to stop her.
"So, Empress, have you found a job you like?"
"Not yet, but I've already completed the most crucial first step. I'll find a job very soon!"
Long Yue proudly raised her head, her face brimming with smug confidence as she handed Lin Fan the résumé she had spent an entire day filling out on her phone.
"Look, I wrote this résumé myself. What do you think~!"
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