Lin Yue

Chen Wanting was Yang Genshuo's girlfriend. She was twenty-two this year, a senior in college, and they had met at his Mystery Murder Game shop two and a half years ago. She was graduating this year, and they had agreed long ago to get married after graduation.

At this very moment, Yang Genshuo urgently needed Chen Wanting to come share in the Lineage's growth dividends and taste the force of a giant dragon's collision!

On the other end of the call, Chen Wanting said unhurriedly, "Brother Shuo, I still have my graduation thesis defense in a few days. I'm pretty busy. I'll come by another day."

"Today. It's urgent. I've got good news to tell you. Get here, quick!"

"Did the Mystery Murder Game shop come back from the dead? Or did you sell it for a good price? What good news could there be? Just tell me over the phone, Brother Shuo. I'm really busy."

"Mm." Yang Genshuo pondered for a moment, then switched to a teasing tone. "I sold all three of my shops, and I still owe the bank two hundred thousand."

"Fine, fine. I don't understand business anyway. I can't go over to your place for a while. Let's talk after I graduate." Her voice on the other end had turned impatient.

"Then what about our wedding? Shouldn't we discuss that too?"

"Brother Shuo, we need to put marriage on hold. I called my mom the day before yesterday and told her about us. My family's rather traditional. My mom said that where we're from, getting married requires at least six hundred thousand in bride price."

"In the West, the word 'dad' was invented in 1500. So do you know what they called dad in 1499?"

"Huh? What?" Chen Wanting was completely baffled.

"Motherfucker!"

Beep, beep, beep~

Listening to the dead tone from the phone, Chen Wanting froze for a moment, then touched her face.

"I got cursed at?"

Her upper-bunk roommate asked, "Was that your considerate Brother Shuo calling again? We haven't been busy lately, so why aren't you going out to have fun with him?"

Another roommate said, "Six hundred thousand in bride price, wow! Wanting, that's really high where you're from! Aren't you afraid of scaring him off?"

"Tch~ I was just playing around with him. Who knew he'd start talking about marriage? Does he even look at how old he is? So speechless!"

The upper-bunk roommate chimed in, "Exactly, exactly! Middle-aged greasy men are such a turnoff!"

The other roommate, who had been silently reading by the window, closed her book, picked up her bag, and walked straight out of the dorm.

"Anhe, where are you going?"

Liu Anhe turned around, revealing a face that made everyone in the dorm envy her, and said calmly:

"There are flies in here. They're bothering me so much I can't read. I'm going out for some air."

After hanging up, Yang Genshuo gave a cold laugh.

"You drink, go clubbing, and stay out all night, then call yourself a modern independent woman. But the second bride price comes up, you start listening to Mommy, huh?"

"What the fuck kind of XXN is that?"

He still remembered asking Chen Wanting what they would do if her family disagreed with their marriage. Nestled in his arms, she had said, "I can make my own decisions about my own life."

"Fuck, she really knew how to act."

For the past year, he had been running himself ragged over those three shops, trying to bring them back from the dead. He had had no time to think carefully about their relationship, but the signs had been there in the little details all along.

Her WeChat replies had grown slower and slower, her temper had gotten worse and worse, and their sex life had become less and less frequent.

"Heh~ Then get lost."

For someone like Chen Wanting, the sort who quit the Party in '48, Yang Genshuo could only answer with a string of cold sneers.

"Heh heh heh heh~"

Once he was done sneering, the medicinal effect surged up again!

"Damn it! Why is this medicine so strong?!"

He remembered that every time Yang Shi took an Essence-Sealing Rejuvenation Pill, he would go wild practicing fist techniques and staff techniques, as if his body contained inexhaustible strength.

Now he understood where that source of strength came from.

"Do I have to practice boxing too?"

"But I don't know how!"

The medicinal power spread through him. The cool sensation had already vanished, while that scorching heat spread outward from his lower abdomen, growing even more intense.

At a time like this, he had to find some outlet.

"Whatever. I'll just wing it!"

He opened Keep, found a fitness course he had bookmarked five years ago, and started following along.

Burpees, squats, lunges, high-knee runs with ground touches, push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, planks.

He stopped caring about anything. Whatever the course had, he did. Once he finished one lesson, he moved on to the next. As he exercised fiercely, the medicinal power spread through his entire body, and the blazing heat gradually evaporated away with his sweat.

"It's working!"

Yang Genshuo trained with even greater vigor. Under the medicine's effects, his body recovered quickly, and he felt no fatigue at all.

A five-year cloud fitness enthusiast had his Ren and Du meridians opened by a single pill.

Ding-dong, ding-dong~

A burst of doorbell ringing pulled Yang Genshuo out of his immersive workout. He checked the time and realized he had been exercising like mad for an hour and a half.

"Huff~ My body feels much better. Otherwise, I really would've suffocated."

He grabbed a towel from the yard and wiped away his sweat, then opened the door.

Outside stood a girl in a loose white shirt and denim overalls. Her sleeves were rolled up, exposing arms as pale as scallion stalks. A folk-style wind-chime bracelet circled her wrist. She looked fresh and serene, like the girl next door in a comic.

"Lin Yue, why are you here?"

The corners of Lin Yue's lips lifted into a smile. Then she extended her right hand and raised a bag of bananas.

"Oh, okay. Give it to me."

Yang Genshuo took the fruit from Lin Yue, but his expression suddenly changed. Bent over at the waist, he hurried into the yard.

Lin Yue watched Yang Genshuo's strange behavior with a puzzled look.

"Sit, sit, sit."

After inviting Lin Yue to sit on a wooden chair beneath the pomegranate tree that had just sprouted green leaves, Yang Genshuo made a gesture.

"Wait for me!"

Then, still bent over, he went to the study to fetch a small blanket and draped it over his lap. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

Lin Yue watched Yang Genshuo bustle about, her face full of confusion.

She took out her phone and typed.

Ding-dong~

Lin Yue: "Brother Shuo, are you cold?"

Yang Genshuo picked up his phone and replied.

Yang Genshuo: "A little."

Lin Yue: "But you're covered in sweat."

Yang Genshuo: "Cold sweat."

Oh no, oh no, oh no!

Don't raise your head! Don't raise your head!

Fuck! Why hasn't this medicine worn off yet?!

Beside him, Lin Yue glanced at Yang Genshuo, who was drenched in sweat and clutching the little blanket tightly. Her eyes were filled with confusion.

She took a banana from the bag, peeled it, and handed it to Yang Genshuo.

Jingle, jingle~

Lin Yue shook her left hand, and the wind chime rang.

Yang Genshuo accepted it naturally. As he ate, he typed on his phone. Lin Yue looked at her phone too, and the two of them sat beneath the pomegranate tree, chatting while holding their phones.

"Why did you come?"

"To see the boss."

"Why see me? It's not like I'm sick."

"Why didn't you take Lin Yue's money? Brother Xiao Zhi said the boss still owed money."

"Uh, it's not much. I can scrape it together easily enough. I don't need yours. Keep it for yourself."

"Oh." "Will the boss still be a boss? I want to work with you."

Yang Genshuo's hand jerked, nearly flinging his phone away.

What kind of thing was that to say!

He glanced at Lin Yue, who was typing with her head lowered. Her neck was slender, snowy white, and smooth without a single flaw. A sliver of tender pale skin showed through the opening of her loose shirt. A faint fragrance drifted through the air, and her entire body radiated a breathtaking aura of youth. Yang Genshuo swallowed and quickly turned his gaze back to his phone.

"Let's see. I'm planning to rest for a while first and work out a little. Over the years, I've eaten myself into a fat slob. Hahaha."

"Without work, Lin Yue doesn't know what to do. Ever since the shop closed, I think about the boss every day."

"."

"Boss, open another shop. I'll work for you. I don't need money."

"Uh, let's talk about it later. You don't need to wait for me. Go find another job first."

"No one except the boss will give Lin Yue a job."

"."

He raised his head, and his gaze collided directly with Lin Yue's eyes, as clear as a lake.

Everyone at Mystery Murder Game agreed that Lin Yue's eyes could speak. She only had to look at you, and you would know what she wanted to say.

At this moment, a trace of reliance showed in Lin Yue's eyes.

"Sigh, you're so pretty. How could no one give you a job? But then again, how could anyone truly want you to work?"

He said those words only to himself. He did not type them to Lin Yue.

Ding-dong~

The doorbell rang again.