Mobile Game Wife Comes Knocking

Ye Ming was worried—if Laffey got drunk and went on a rampage, turning into a hundred-meter destroyer and firing wildly, that would be terrifying.

But such an adorable Laffey—Ye Ming didn't want to disappoint her.

After thinking it over, Ye Ming decided to pretend he hadn't seen anything. He'd hide the wine once they got home, so Laffey wouldn't be able to find it.

He faked looking at his phone for a while, waiting until Laffey had successfully tucked the red wine under the cart before clearing his throat twice and putting his phone away.

Having done something wrong, Laffey flinched guiltily, quickly stepping back two paces away from the cart, pretending to calmly examine the laundry detergent on the nearby shelf, though her little face was slightly flushed.

Ye Ming acted as if he hadn't noticed, calling Laffey to follow him. They wandered around the supermarket, buying Laffey daily necessities like a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. He also let Laffey pick out her own pillow. After checking out, they went next door to buy Laffey skirts and shoes, and finally, on the clerk's recommendation, two sets of pajamas and underwear for rotation. Then they headed home.

By the time they got home, it was past nine in the evening. Normally, this was Ye Ming's gaming time, but sleepy Laffey's little head was nodding, her eyelids fighting a losing battle, already half in a dream.

Ye Ming dropped the stuff in the living room, went into the bathroom to run a bath for Laffey, tested the water temperature, came out, and shook Laffey's shoulders vigorously. "Wake up, Laffey! Take a bath first! Sleep after the bath!"

"Mmm~"

Laffey looked at Ye Ming drowsily, closed her eyes, and spread her arms. "Laffey's so sleepy. Commander, wash Laffey."

Ye Ming wasn't some perverted lolicon, so of course he couldn't agree.

"Laffey is a girl. Girls can't just let boys help them bathe."

Ye Ming's face was expressionless, his tone stern.

"Mmm~ But Laffey is the Commander's Oath Ship, the Commander's wife." Laffey muttered discontentedly.

"Still no!" Ye Ming's tone was firm. "Laffey is still young. There are things Laffey can only understand when she grows up a bit. In short, do your own things yourself."

"But back in the Port District, the Commander always had the Royal Maid Corps do his own things." Laffey retorted quietly.

"Did I?" Ye Ming wanted to deny it, but seeing Laffey already lying on the sofa like a lazy cat ready to sleep, he quickly pulled her up.

"Bath first, then sleep. An Oath Ship that doesn't bathe won't be popular with the Commander, you know."

"Mmm~ So troublesome."

Laffey rubbed her eyes. "Then, Commander, wash Laffey's hair. Laffey's hair is super troublesome to wash."

As she spoke, Laffey seemed to recall life back in the Port District, a hint of sadness in her voice. "Before, Belfast and Newcastle would wash Laffey's hair. Little Belfast often helped Laffey too."

Hearing those two familiar names, Ye Ming froze.

Belfast, the all-purpose maid skilled in every technique, the head maid of the Royal Maid Corps, was Ye Ming's third Oath Ship. Because both Belfast and Enterprise wore white wedding dresses and had long white hair, Ye Ming had mischievously renamed the two and put them in the training ground. Belfast was called "Enterprise's Belfast," Enterprise was called "Belfast's Enterprise," and he even added a Little Belfast, specially oathed and renamed "Enterprise and Belfast's Daughter."

As for Newcastle, Ye Ming remembered she was a light cruiser released not long after the game launched, the former head maid of the Royal Maid Corps, Belfast's sister. Since she was decently strong, he'd leveled her to max early on, but as more powerful ships came out, she ended up in storage. He couldn't recall if he'd oathed her or not.

Since Laffey had said so, Ye Ming naturally couldn't refuse anymore.

Besides, compared to bathing, helping a little girl wash her hair was perfectly normal.

"Alright then, the Commander will wash Laffey's hair first, and then Laffey can bathe herself, okay?"

"Mm."

Laffey nodded in agreement.

Chapter 7: The Commander's Skill, Lousy

Little Laffey—though in the game you could give rings, make her an Oath Ship, and occasionally tease her with jokes—in reality, you still had to be mindful of appearances.

Since the clothes Laffey would change out of would need washing anyway, Ye Ming didn't bother making her grab a towel. He simply pulled the half-asleep Laffey into the bathroom and sat her down on a small stool.

Laffey cooperatively sat on the stool, legs together, arms on her knees, little head drooping onto her arms. Within seconds, she was breathing evenly.

Seeing this, Ye Ming sighed helplessly, crouched beside Laffey, fumbled to remove her two bunny-ear hair clips, and her cute ponytails instantly spread out into a gorgeous cascade of white hair.

Ye Ming set the clips aside, turned on the showerhead, tested the water temperature, and slowly wet Laffey's hair from top to bottom.

"Mmm~?"

Feeling the warm water, Laffey let out a dazed, adorable sound, but her body didn't move.

After wetting the little girl's hair, Ye Ming turned off the showerhead, poured shampoo into his palm, and began washing Laffey's hair.

An awkward situation arose.

As a guy, Ye Ming had always kept short hair. His daily routine was just wetting his hair, applying shampoo, rubbing it a couple times, and rinsing it off. But that experience didn't work well on Laffey's long hair.

For normal humans, metabolism happens every day. The first time someone washes their hair, because of oil and dust on the hair and scalp, the shampoo doesn't produce much foam as it carries away the grime. The second time, even with very little shampoo, a lot of foam appears.

Considering Laffey's long hair, Ye Ming deliberately poured a bit more shampoo. But Laffey's hair was cleaner than most people's after a fresh wash. The moment Ye Ming gently rubbed the shampoo into her hair, massive amounts of foam appeared, dripping down from the top of her head, covering her hair, clothes, and the floor in white froth. Ye Ming panicked and quickly rinsed with water.

The foam washed onto Laffey's face. Half-asleep, she sneezed, lifted her head, and blinked dazedly until her eyes slowly focused. The little girl looked at Ye Ming's hands covered in white foam, then at her own foam-covered self in the mirror. She wiped some foam off her face and looked at Ye Ming.

"The Commander's skill, lousy~"

"Sorry, Laffey." Ye Ming apologized.

"Giggle!"

But the little girl wasn't angry at all—she laughed instead.

"The Commander doesn't need to apologize. Laffey is very happy. This is the first time the Commander has washed Laffey's hair. It feels so fun."

"It's definitely not as good as the Royal Maid Corps head maid Belfast, but the Commander will work hard from now on." Ye Ming, surprised to be comforted by the little girl, said this.

"Laffey will always believe in the Commander." Laffey sat back down on the stool. "So, shall we continue, Commander?"

"Okay."

Ye Ming rinsed the foam off his hands and picked up the spray nozzle again.

The rest of the process was still a bit clumsy here and there, but overall, he managed to wash Laffey's hair without too much trouble. Ye Ming turned off the spray, twisted her hair up, wrapped it in a towel, then rinsed the foam off the floor before heading out.

"New memories, Commander."

Just as he reached the bathroom door, Ye Ming suddenly heard this voice from inside—different from Laffey's usual lazy, drowsy tone during the day.

"Huh?"

Ye Ming turned in surprise and happened to catch Laffey taking off her clothes. He quickly whipped his head back around.

"Commander says he doesn't remember the past. Laffey thinks that's fine. Commander is Commander, Laffey's favorite Commander. As long as we're together, we can make new memories like this every day. Maybe it won't be as smooth as in the game before, and we might run into some trouble, but that's okay. As long as I'm with Commander, we can definitely create the happiest future and have the most wonderful memories."

My Laffey, you're way too good at this.

Ye Ming closed the bathroom door, leaned against it, and let out a deep breath.

During the day, his mind had been racing with thoughts about Laffey's arrival—wondering if more Ship-Girls would show up, if girls from other games might appear. But now, that restless heart of his had finally settled down.

Commander is going to work hard from now on too, my adorable Laffey.

Chapter 8: She's Too Flat

After Laffey finished her bath, Ye Ming used a hairdryer to dry her hair, firmly rejected her request to "sleep with Commander," and pushed her into the second bedroom to sleep. He then tossed her changed clothes into the washing machine, hung them out to dry on the balcony, and finally had some free time.

After hiding Laffey's two bottles of red wine under his own bed, Ye Ming sat down on the edge of the bed, facing the wall, lost in thought.

Even though he'd made up his mind to work hard and earn money, work wasn't something where determination and action always brought positive results. Sometimes, excessive effort could even backfire.

On the work front, he needed a solid plan and steady progress. The only way to increase income in the short term was to pick up a side hustle.

The first thing Ye Ming thought of was becoming a content creator.

As an early Bilibili user, Ye Ming's account had a rare five-digit UID. After years of careful management, his account boasted a grand total of six followers. Relying on that to make money? Yeah, he'd need a lot more effort.

Next up was writing novels. To his shame, as a veteran web novel reader, Ye Ming had once published a crossover fanfic on a site called Happy Pigeon House back in college. In his first month after going paid, he'd actually earned a few thousand yuan in royalties. Back then, excited by the success, he'd confidently promised his worried readers that he would definitely finish the story—at least two million words.

But reality was always cruel. After the initial passion faded, the steadily declining subscriptions chipped away at Ye Ming's confidence day by day. Sitting in front of the computer every day, racking his brain to type, could never beat the joy of gaming with his roommates or reading other people's novels. In less than two months, Ye Ming had gone from author back to reader—just like everyone else, wanting to lock the author in a dark room whenever a favorite story got dropped.

Maybe he could try writing a novel again?

This is a simple record of his daily life with Laffey—a warm, slice-of-life story with a single female lead.

Thinking this, Ye Ming opened his computer and typed in the Ciweimao website.

He'd long forgotten his old author account and password, so he simply registered a new alt account. Entering the novel creation interface, he typed "Laffey Wife Loves Me" in the title field. After a moment's thought, he figured the title might not pass review, so after a brief pause, he changed it to "Mobile Game Wife Comes Knocking."

With the title set, the rest went smoothly. Ye Ming wrote a rough chapter about his experiences that day and uploaded it. Right before publishing, he thought for a moment and added an author's note at the end: "PS: Newbie here. Hope the readers who've made it this far will leave comments and votes to give this newbie some motivation to keep writing. Thank you so much!"

"Will anyone read it?"

He hadn't written a novel in a long time, and the genre was a warm slice-of-life he'd never tried before. He wasn't confident about how the story would turn out.

Hopefully, he could earn enough to buy Laffey some clothes.

Buzz~ Buzz~

The phone on his desk suddenly vibrated twice. Ye Ming tapped it open—a WeChat message from his mom.

"How's work lately? Found a girlfriend yet?"

Short, direct, straight to the point.

"Fine. No."

Ye Ming typed back three words. He didn't want to tell his family about Laffey just yet.