There was probably nothing happier in the world than holding the girl you love in your arms.
I hugged Lin Yixin tightly as she pressed her wet, warm lips against my own, quietly basking myself in this moment of ecstatic sweetness. She was still so inexperienced in the art of kissing that it was amusing; her tiny tongue clumsily attempting to respond to my ministrations and her wet tears dripping on my cheeks.
I could feel her s.h.i.+vering slightly in my arms. A while later, she started sobbing while our lips were still pressed together.
She had definitely endured too much in the past couple of months.
……
A while later, I put my coat around her and asked, "Are you cold?"
"What do you think?" said Lin Yixin while looking at me from above. Her long eyelashes were already covered in snowflakes, and some of it fell on my face when she blinked.
I said again, "I missed you so much!"
"Mn."
She made a noncommittal noise and kissed me again.
It was at this moment a deliberate coughing sound came from the living hall, and Lin Yixin jumped to her feet as if she was electrocuted. Helping me to my feet and pus.h.i.+ng the hems of her pyjamas together nervously, she bowed a bit at the young lady standing at the entrance to the living hall and smiled. "Mom…"
That"s right, the woman standing at the entrance was none other than Mama Lin herself. She had awoken from her coma.
I must confess that I had no idea how to react at that moment. It wasn"t every day you got caught red-handed by your girlfriend"s mother after all.
However, Mama Lin smiled gracefully and said, "You must be Lu Chen. Come in now, unless you want our Yiyi to turn into a snowman?"
I smiled back awkwardly before supporting Yiyi back to the villa. A comforting warmth instantly enveloped our bodies the moment we stepped into the house.
Lin Yixin patted away the snow on her person before smiling at me. "I"m surprised you managed to find this place. Well done. It was Qingqing who told you where I was, wasn"t she?"
I nodded. "Still, Qingqing was pretty loyal. It took me days of threats and pleading to finally break her down."
"So what? She still spilled the secret, hmph hmph!"
……
I looked up at Mama Lin and greeted her politely, "Good evening, auntie!"
"Come now, there"s no need to act so courteously!"
Mama Lin smiled at me and said, "I remember your voice from when I was still in a coma. I also know about your relations.h.i.+p. You haven"t eaten dinner, have you? Yiyi and I were just about to eat a steamboat. You should join us!"
Instead of answering, I stretched my neck higher and tried to look around the corner.
Lin Yixin immediately burst into a giggle and held my arm. "Calm down, you. Father is working at the company and not coming back tonight. Hmph hmph, are you that afraid of him?"
I recalled my argument against Lin Xiao on the forums and felt a chill up my back. "How could I not…"
Mama Lin said with a smile, "Just ignore him. For whatever reason, the old fool"s stubbornness is growing with his age. I"ve heard about the bet from Yiyi already, and I believe that you did the right thing as well. Plus, you did manage to protect the city in the end and rescue much of China"s virtual wealth, didn"t you? You proved that you were right in the end."
I felt guilty, however. "But… it came at a great cost to Yiyi…"
Lin Yixin had wrapped herself in a leather robe before I knew it, and she looked even prettier than before. She said, "It doesn"t matter, I can just retrain a new fighter account. You"ll have to carry me though!"
I shot her a mysterious smile and said, "Actually, you don"t need to retrain anything."
"Huh?" Lin Yixin"s eyes widened.
I revealed the truth. "I went to the southern HQ of Eternal Moon Corporation and freeloaded off President Ling Xue and Shusheng themselves a few times. Long story short, Shusheng personally traveled to the New York HQ himself to get your account back, and half your account is restored. Your level, equipment and warehouse inventory is reset, but your pet, cla.s.s, skill and even your Famous General Skill, Divine General Skill and Great Earth Transformation have been saved."
"Really?" Lin Yixin was beyond happy. She abruptly jumped into my lap again and kissed me on the cheeks.
"h.e.l.lo, I"m here," Mama Lin teased her daughter.
Lin Yixin turned bright red, but she said, "Mom, you said you were going to prepare the steamboat, right? Go on, I want to eat some fresh meat…"
Me: "..."
……
A short while later, the three of us sat around a steaming pot surrounded by frozen vegetables, beef, lamb meat and more. Lin Yixin and I d.a.m.n near chanted "Food! Food! Food!" as we clutched our chopsticks and stared at the boiling soup in the pot hungrily.
While waiting, I said, "Yiyi, your equipment, level and even pet level were completely reset, so you"re basically restarting from zero. I"m planning to bring you to a Level 100 map so you can grind up the EXP faster without missing too much. We"re gonna get you back to Level 100 in a single day!"
Lin Yixin giggled. "Cut the show-off. You"re only Level 70 yourself…"
I declared proudly, "I"m different from you. I may be Level 70 only, but I"m clad from head to toe in high-level equipment. I have the Heaven-grade Cyan Netherworld Sword, the Dragonlight Helmet, the Earth-grade Crimson Rock Dragon Armor, the Soul Suppressing Cloak, the Battle Flame Wristguards, the Stormy Waves War Boots, the Apparition Ring and even the Level 150 Phantom Wolf King. What do you think?"
"Well, I guess you"re right…" Lin Yixin pouted.
I laughed. "EXP distribution depends on DPS, you know. You can"t get experience if you do nothing at all."
"Oh right!" Lin Yixin"s eyes suddenly widened. "You were the MVP of the Nation War, right? You must"ve gotten an equipment reward, right?"
"I think so? I haven"t checked yet, to be honest…"
"Well, that equipment is mine!"
"Sure!" I agreed and blurted out before my impulse control could stop me. "I"ll give you myself if you want, let alone a piece of equipment…"
Lin Yixin immediately blushed again.
Meanwhile Mama Lin said while chopping vegetables, "I didn"t hear anything, please continue…"
My G.o.d, what an amazing mother!
……
By the time we finished dinner, it was already past 10 pm. Mama Lin went to sleep after cleaning up the table and the dishes.
I was arranged at the room at the right side of the house; a room with an exceptionally comforting design. However, it didn"t take long for boredom to get to me as I stared at the nearby fireplace. I didn"t feel sleepy yet, but I didn"t even have a computer to keep me busy.
Lin Yixin"s room was right next to mine. What is she doing right now?
I walked to her door and raised my hand to knock. In the end though, I just couldn"t muster the courage and retreated in shame.
A few minutes later, someone knocked on my door. I opened it, and as expected it was Lin Yixin with a blanket wrapped around her. She gave me a smile and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Thinking about you," I replied without hesitation.
Lin Yixin replied with reddened cheeks, "Mn, I was thinking about you too. I"ve been thinking about you for a very long time."
I hurriedly closed the door and hugged her. "Yiyi, don"t you want to log into the game and take a look at your account?"
"No, I"ll wait for you." Lin Yixin smiled at me with cunning dancing behind her eyes. "You were waiting for me to log into the game too, weren"t you? I know you haven"t played the game even though you dropped all the way to Level 70."
"Mn, okay then, I"ll head back tomorrow and log into the game with you."
"Mn."
Lin Yixin sat quietly on my bed for a moment before turning red for the umpteenth time of the day. She asked in a small voice, "Can I… can I sleep with you tonight?"
I nearly turned into stone there and then. I never dreamed that the words I would never dare to say would be spoken by the girl of my dreams. I could"ve pa.s.sed to the afterlife peacefully in that moment.
My mind raced like a million stars in that moment. I replied, "Sure, but… I"m not ready yet?"
"Ready for what, exactly?" Lin Yixin giggled.
I said honestly, "I might… just lose control…"
"Oh, you have nothing to worry about!" Lin Yixin pointed at the wall and said with a bright smile, "The walls of a wooden house are thin, and mom is sleeping right over there. If you dare to try anything at all, I"ll scream and send you to the cops immediately!"
My mouth twitched a bit. "Fine…"
……
We laid down on the bed together. Lin Yixin"s back was pressed up against my chest, and we stared at the falling snow outside the window together. Everything was quiet and peaceful.
A while later, Lin Yixin unconsciously closed her eyes and fell asleep with a beautiful smile on her face.
Holding her in my arms, I pulled the blanket over our bodies, closed my eyes and fell asleep myself. Everything was perfect in my dreams today.
……
The next day, early in the morning.
"Ah…"
I heard a girlish cry next to my ears and opened my eyes in a hurry. I was immediately greeted by the sight of a curled up Lin Yixin glaring at me with her eyes, "Are… are you okay?"
I nodded. "Yes? I slept very well. What"s wrong?"
"Your…" Lin Yixin said embarra.s.sedly, "What"s wrong with your… you know?"
My mind turned blank for a second. G.o.dd.a.m.n, this is bad!
I hurriedly explained, "Have you read the Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Sabre?"
"Yeah?"
"Then you must know the ultimate move Zhang Sanfeng taught Zhang Wuji…"
Lin Yixin turned even redder and punched me. "How dare you say that to my face. Do you want to die…"
"Alright, alright, time to get up and get grinding. We don"t know when the next Nation War will begin, and surely you don"t want to clash against the enemy as an itemless, Level 1 noob, do you?"
"Mn, fine…"
Lin Yixin was a bright and beautiful girl. She quickly jumped out of the bed and sneaked back into her own room.
……
Lin Yixin and I bade Mama Lin goodbye and returned to Suzhou together. She still had her university courses to attend. Mama Lin prepared many delicious dishes and insisted Lin Yixin bring them all with her. Even I got Jinhua ham by a.s.sociation. Jinhua ham was some of the most delicious food you could barbecue over an alcohol burner.
Lin Yixin wore a snow white down-filled garment as Mama Lin sent us to the door. The snow had stopped, and the sky had returned mostly to azure. Considering how thick the snow was, I wouldn"t be surprised if the girls were making snowmen at our Suzhou gaming base right now.
We drove back to Suzhou and reached the university at 12 pm. While escorting Lin Yixin back to her hostel, we promised to meet up in the game at 1 pm and grind all the way until midnight.
When I finally returned to the workshop, He Yi, Beiming Xue and Murong Mingyue were all waiting for me in the living room.
……
"Is it done, big bro?" Beiming Xue asked with a smile.
Murong Mingyue said, "You only need to look at his face to know that it"s done. Who knows, he might even have taken Beauty Lin…"
He Yi looked at me nervously. I hurriedly denied, "I did no such thing…"
"Well, let"s eat lunch. It"s time for you to grind back your levels!"
"Mn!"
……
After lunch was over, I logged back into the game.